Escape from reality / Splendor Feb 3rd. 14 days southern Caribbean

[pnsnkr]

26 minutes ago, labonnevie said:

Ask any of the wine stewards to have a complete list of the complimentary wines for your cruise sent to your suite. Then you can pick what you want to drink right from the beginning and not wait for them to pour it later in the cruise. We immediately found a cab, a chardonnay, a Sauvignon blanc and a zin that carried us through the cruise nicely. The list was two plus pages long. 

 

Will the Butler be able to facilitate a wine tasting in our suite of a select few complimentary wines?  

[WesW]

Macbest, first, thanks for sharing your posts and photos.  If you like white noise and have an Iphone you can get six different choices

on your phone (Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain, Stream).

Edited February 4, 2022 by WesW

[macbest]

Awesome sunset on our first night. To 13 more!

[DatawCruiser]

There was a pool side party as we left Miami last night.  A Regent ice sculpture was on display with appetizers and waiters with drinks and champagne.  Kasia and Boogie performed.  Generally, mask free with every one enjoying themselves.

 

We enjoyed Compass Rose last night and ate at Prime 7 for lunch today.  Both meals were very good with excellent service.  We enjoyed the Meridian Lounge after dinner last night with Nemanje mixing up craft drinks for us,  This is one of the special Martinis for my wife, and two different Gin drinks for me.  We managed to try four different drinks from the specialty list.  A valiant start to my effort to cover them all over 14 days.

[vegasdriven]

Well, last night hubby came home from work and said “shall we go to the casino, or to the lounge for a drink”? To which I replied “what are you talking about , I’m in the middle of making meatloaf for dinner”. 
Then I realized we were supposed to have been on the Splendor with you lovely people😩

 

Just couldn’t take the chance of a horrible time getting there from Vancouver Island, and ending up quarantined for our efforts. 
 

So will be wistfully following and hoping you all have a wonderful time, and we will just have to wait till  Dec. 

[Boats07]

Following along, thank you to everyone for sharing your trip.  Just makes us excited for our Splendor cruise in October.

Looking forward to reading everything you each have to report.

[DatawCruiser]

The wind is really whipping today.  The upper pool deck is not usable with all the furniture tied down.  Consequently, the lower pool deck is very full.  The seas have been 6 feet all day, so there is a fair amount of boat movement,  Splendor seems to handle it well and eating, drinking and sleeping has not been a problem.  I was surprised however, to feel a persistent vibration when grabbing a coffee in the Coffee Connection on deck 5.  I don't feel anything on my room on deck 8, but it was very noticeable on Deck 5.  According to Captain Serena, we can expect the same weather and sea conditions tomorrow.

[tripperva]

3 hours ago, vegasdriven said:

Just couldn’t take the chance of a horrible time getting there

When you cancelled, did you have to forfeit  your fare or did you have a medical excuse to use for insurance?

[vegasdriven]

tripperva- being Canadian we were not able to get trip cancellation insurance. We were ready to lose all, but did contact TA, and ask if there was anything at all that could be done for us.

We had an alternate cruise picked out for the fall, but our TA, to our grateful amazement was able to get it transferred to our Dec. booked cruise.

 

Just another reason to search out a great TA! So glad we did, We have always done things without one in the past, but not anymore!

 

[natshala]

I’m really enjoying this thread and all of your contributions. Thinking of booking with Regent after Crystal troubles. Any solos on board? Special solo activities? 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

20 hours ago, pnsnkr said:

Will the Butler be able to facilitate a wine tasting in our suite of a select few complimentary wines?  

 

If you are just looking to try several of the complimentary wines, go to the Wines of the Old and New World (or whatever it's called) wine tasting on the first sea day, usually about 10 in the morning. All sommeliers are there, and you can discuss your tastes with them and they can make recommendations to help you find "your" wines onboard!

[macbest]

Second sea day. Love these. Yesterday is just what was needed. The stress of whether or not you will be denied boarding for Covid was a bigger strain than I expected. After clearing I crashed. I think the adrenaline stopped and all I wanted to do was sleep. As I am still working, 7-8 hours is what I shoot for in sleep. The first night on the ship I slept for 11 hours! That hasn’t happened in years (at least since Covid). The two sea days that starts the cruise was perfect. 

We looked at the menu in compass rose last night and nothing jumped out at us (sure the left side of menu, the recurring items are awesome and we would hit those soon enough once the “right” side or daily specials was more to our liking). We decided to try Sette  Mari the Italian restaurant. Normally, if you are not there when it opens at 6:30, the restaurant is full as they don’t take reservations. It was 7p and a long shot but we tried. No one was there! We had a super enjoyable meal and the service as always was over the top great. 
 

The starters are similar to what we have experienced on other ships with one exception, the fried zucchini chips. OMG what a delight. Like potato chips and not greasy at all. We spoke to the chef on how they were made as we would have sworn they were air fried. So good we ordered a second batch during our entrees. 
 

There are so many options here it is hard to pick, hence this place deserves a revisit later in the cruise. 
 

I did an appetizer portion of the lasagna and if you like lasagna, this one is not to be missed. The cheese is creamy, noodles perfectly cooked, and a great bolognese sauce. My entree was veal Marsala (with requested mushrooms) was about the best I have had. Super tender perfectly cooked veal that was really hot and mushrooms were perfect with the Marsala gravy. Yum! [notice the extra zucchini chips added alongside]. Laura had a vegetarian cannelloni. Very tasty but despite being extremely hot in the ramekin it cooled off quickly. We skipped dessert. 
 

A little gambling, listened to music with Boogie and Kashia and then went to the show. Levent is a comedian /magician (more the latter than former) who appeared on Penn and Teller “Fool me” show. He was good but we weren’t into it as much as the crowd. It was packed! They do allow you to drink in the theater now which was nice. 
 

Everyone on the ship had been wonderful including the adherence to masking. And yes it is easy to forget but staff are very nice in reminding you. 
 

I ordered the complimentary wines list as labonnevie suggested but they haven’t shown up yet. Also noticed no Hendricks gin on the menu but if you ask for it, they will find it and give it to you (classic Regent great service). 
 

The only other item I wanted to mention is we called prior to traveling to see about a paid discount upgrade. Others seem to be getting the offers and we have in the past. We were told check at the pier. We did when we boarded and they said check with the receptionist. We did and they said they would have to check with corporate. Later on the first day we got a message from the desk that they were available (many penthouses), but at full list price from what we “paid”. So from an F1 to a PH-A for example, $6300! Something about some certain level of revenue per day needed. No thank you. A shame as they could have made a couple of thousand more for the cruise (I guess with slightly higher expense for the extras provided) from us. We are very happy with our F1. One note. This cruise was as a result of a FCC due to a cancelled cruise in July 2020 to Iceland. Essentially our entire cruise today was a FCC with little outlay. Maybe this is the reason for not enough “revenue”. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by macbest
Attempting to remove extra pictures

[DatawCruiser]

Rough seas today. No outdoor activities.

[DatawCruiser]

Macbest,

If you’re interested, we can meet for a drink at 4pm today at the pool bar.  I will have a black golf cap on.

[DatawCruiser]

A couple of quick comments about our PHC.  This suite is head and shoulders above our previous experience with a PHC on Voyager.  The layout is very spacious and we have more space than we expected.  The closet is huge, the bathroom is incredible, and the shower is great. Unless you plan on entertaining others in your suite, I see no reason to get more than a PH on Splendor.

[sherkston]

On 2/4/2022 at 1:51 PM, vegasdriven said:

 

Just couldn’t take the chance of a horrible time getting there from Vancouver Island, and ending up quarantined for our efforts. 
 

We’re also on Vancouver Island and can completely appreciate the travel efforts to get to miami from here.  We’re booked for march 7 with splendor out of miami…knowing the chances and risks…but i gotta get off the Island…and some sun. 😉Feels like this has been an extra ordinary grey fall and winter.    In the spirit of the Regent experience, i hope you broke out a really nice red wine with your meatloaf 😎

[sherkston]

Thanks to those on board for posting…and feeding those who are eagerly awaiting our turn to get on. 😎🙂

curious if you know at this stage if they are keeping to the original itinerary, or have they advised of port changes - either cancelled or substituted for another port/stop.   Thank you

[SWFLAOK]

On 2/4/2022 at 12:26 PM, pnsnkr said:

 

Will the Butler be able to facilitate a wine tasting in our suite of a select few complimentary wines?  

We've never had this on any cruise that we've ever taken, but perhaps it's available to those above the Penthouse level on Regent. We've been at higher cabin levels on a few other all inclusive cruise lines, and it was not offered. We have never felt a need for this on any of our cruises, and asking for a free wine tasting in our cabin just seems wrong. The included wines served on Regent have always been very good. And higher end wines are offered for a higher price. There are wine events available and they also cost extra.

[DatawCruiser]

1 hour ago, sherkston said:

Thanks to those on board for posting…and feeding those who are eagerly awaiting our turn to get on. 😎🙂

curious if you know at this stage if they are keeping to the original itinerary, or have they advised of port changes - either cancelled or substituted for another port/stop.   Thank you

No changes of any kind as of now.   We are scheduled for Aruba at 9am.  We have received all our excursion tickets for the entire cruise.

[vegasdriven]

2 hours ago, sherkston said:

We’re also on Vancouver Island and can completely appreciate the travel efforts to get to miami from here.  We’re booked for march 7 with splendor out of miami…knowing the chances and risks…but i gotta get off the Island…and some sun. 😉Feels like this has been an extra ordinary grey fall and winter.    In the spirit of the Regent experience, i hope you broke out a really nice red wine with your meatloaf 😎

Hope you have a wonderful cruise. Think things should be a bit easier by then restrictions wise, so hopefully you won’t have too many problems getting there, if it was just me, I might have taken the risks, but hubster really dislikes airports at the best of times, so for us it just wasn’t worth it, even if we lost our payment.

The meatloaf was surprisingly good😊

[macbest]

Second sea day evening. Went to the meridian lounge for the mixologist. Fun menu shown below. 

 

We tried three on the list. The Quintessentially Britain was a winner.  

This was the Cinco de Mayo. You know when you go to the dentist and they stick that swab in your mouth to numb you prior to a shot for a filling? There you go. This was terrible. Have no idea what would have given it that taste! 

Another favorite below, Gin made me do it (what fun names!) the rosemary is interesting. You smell it when you take a drink along with what is Included in the drink. Fun concept. We like others before us will work our way through the list as the two weeks goes on. 

One challenge is that there was only one bartender/mixologist. When a few couples come in, expect to wait. It took 20 min for our second round. Also odd was the Regent Orchestra which is quite good, start at 6:15 and go to 7:30. But they take a break from 7-7:15. Would have thought they would play right through? Must be in there contract to break after 45 min?

 

Dinner was in Compass Rose, the first time for us on this ship. The restaurant is lovely. Much brighter and better lighting than than Explorer. Makes it easier to see the menu (I’m not getting any younger). We asked the Maiter D for a “fun” waiter. 

 

Started with a “left side” (always available) appetizer the crab and avacado with a Bloody Mary sauce. Really excellent with a snow crab sticking out. 

The chicken and goose liver parfait was smooth and decadence. Always a favorite this is a heart attack but what a way to go!

The parsnip soup with tarragon was delicious

Once again we missed taking pictures of our main course, ribeyes. The meat quality just wasn’t great and mine was raw (asked for medium). By the time they came around for a possible redo it was too late to wait for another. Both steaks were undercooked - they continue to struggle getting at least our steaks cooked to order. The sides were all excellent (again sorry no pictures.). The head waiter came by to apologize and said they would ensure it was perfect tomorrow. 

 

A few little snacks to end

And a lingonberry soufflé that was Devine. 

Coffee ice cream and a NY cheesecake that was delicious. 

Although I have requested three times for a list of complimentary wines on board and still have not received it we decided to order a bottle of the reserve (paid) list. A Belle Glos Pinot Noir. They poured it through this contraption that aerated  it. I have something similar but not with the screen on top. Got to have one like this….

We were the last to leave the restaurant and that was nice as it was very quiet and serene. 

 

Another loss at the casino and we were off to bed! Aruba awaits tomorrow!

[Pcardad]

On 2/4/2022 at 9:26 PM, vegasdriven said:

tripperva- being Canadian we were not able to get trip cancellation insurance. We were ready to lose all, but did contact TA, and ask if there was anything at all that could be done for us.

We had an alternate cruise picked out for the fall, but our TA, to our grateful amazement was able to get it transferred to our Dec. booked cruise.

 

Just another reason to search out a great TA! So glad we did, We have always done things without one in the past, but not anymore!

 

This is an unwritten Regent policy....nice things they do but do not advertise.,

[macbest]

De Palm island snorkeling excursion today. A very small island off the coast of Aruba. The place is a water park (not unlike what is on top of a lot of cruise ships, ugh), a kids park, a beach to wade in, flamingos, and snorkeling. There is shade for the included chairs but a NCL ship got here before we did and there were only a few left. So not the experience (at all) of staying at a nice Palm beach hotel. Food and drinks Included. And snorkeling gear. Even banana boat rides Included. 

The snorkeling was excellent especially away from the pier. Coral wasn’t bad either. But this is our first stop on many great places to snorkel. 
 

I wouldn’t do it again but it wasn’t a bad choice for our first day off the ship. 

[DatawCruiser]

Arrived early to Aruba at around 7:30am.  This guy was waiting to help us in.

in.

 

[DatawCruiser]

A picture of the shoreline.