CanadianBurger

Hello again CCers, and welcome to another one of my Live blogs. So happy to be cruising again after 2020 and 2021. Today begins a too-short four day voyage to Princess Cays and back. But this trip is 80s Themed! Arrived at the port at 9:45 to a short line. It was a short wait and the doors opened at 9:55.

Ahh: the sadness of disembarkation information. A few final personal thoughts: Entertainment: I enjoyed the Magician, Ottavio Belli. His close-up sleight of hand card work was amazing. Bravo was good as always. The Comedian, Phil Tag, was lame. Same tired old jokes about airports, losing luggage, cruise ship cabin size, etc. I heard the Whitney Houston singer was incredible, but I didn’t go. The Crooners player Anthony Michael was meh. A poor replacement for Tommy McPhee, who had just left a few weeks prior. No Bar Flair Show at SeaView, just the scaled down demo in the Piazza. Food: While I heard grumblings, I was quite happy with the quality of the MDR food and the Horizon Court breakfast, although I found the menus had less variety than in past years. Service: Crooners bartenders Kelvin and Jefferson were among the best bartenders we’ve ever sailed with. MDR service was adequate. Cabin service had a bit of a hiccup where our steward disappeared for three days. He was apparently ill, and there were people filling in for him. They were adamant that it wasn’t covid. Casino: Apparently gone are the non-smoking nights, which was a big disappointment. After an evening of blackjack, I had to quarantine the clothes I was wearing due to the stench. I’ll be returning to the Regal in a few days for the 80s Themed 4-day to Princess Cays and back cruise. I should be back to my normal Live posting. See you then!

We had the elite tea delivered to our cabin on the last sea day.

Again, been to Grand Turk, so stayed aboard to relax. A low-key vacation was the plan for this cruise. It would appear that since our last voyage, motion sensors have been added in an attempt to blind you when going to the bathroom at night. If you cover the little protrusion at the side with whatever you can find, it won’t come on. I used black paper and bandaids, but next time I’m taking a roll of electrical tape. Patter from the final sea day

Some shots around the ship, and the Patter for Grand Turk Captain Paolo was very visible throughout the cruise, and came through the dining rooms a few times. You may recognize him from “The Real Love Boat”. Ciao for now!

We’ve been to San Juan before, so spent a relaxing day aboard ship. Met some bartender friends from past cruises, Mark Anthony and Neal. Carnival’s newest behemoth was docked beside us. No thank you. Got some good shots of The Old San Juan Fort as we sailed out of the harbour.

Shot of the Regal walking along the St. Kitts pier, and the Patter for San Juan tomorrow.

St. Kitts Day. We had booked a tour with Thenford Grey of Grey’s Island Excursions. He was on time at the welcome pavilion with a sign. There were 17 of us split between the Regal and the Voyager of the Seas on his 20-passenger minibus. We headed off on a tour of the town of Basseterre, during which Thenford gave an interesting fact-laden commentary. Then it was off to Romney Manor for the Batik and Bottanical Gardens. Thenford must have a botany background as his knowledge of all the plants was impressive. Next up was Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. I really enjoyed exploring the fortress and it’s views. Following that was a drive to the Southern Peninsula for the spectacular views of where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean. There are roadside shops selling local beer: Three for $5! What a deal. The Carib Lemon Radler was delicious! Our last stop was the beach stop, the Shipwreck Beach Bar and Grill. When booking, Thenford said he would take people that didn’t want to stay at the beach back to the ship, which was fortunate. Even if I was a beach person, which I’m not, this was a sub-par beach. There were monkeys around though, which afforded some photo opportunities. Decide for yourself. Other than the beach, which we hadn’t planned on staying at anyway, I enjoyed the tour, and would recommend Thenford Grey to others. It was $65pp.

Next day was St. Kitts. Here’s the Patter

St. Maarten day. We’ve been here several times, so stayed on the ship. It was eerily deserted, which I love. Deck chairs galore on Sun Deck. the TUI Mein Schiff 2 was docked beside us. Went to Alfredo’s for lunch, which never disappoints. The veal ravioli pasta pieces seemed to be much smaller than they used to be, but still delicious.

Thanks! Three years without a cruise was an eternity!

Patters for the first two sea days and St. Maarten.

Our first two days were relaxing sea days. The ship was not crowded at all, with only 2066 passengers, composed of 178 Canadians, 16 Mexicans, a smattering of others, and 18-hundred-something Americans. Fully one third of the passengers were Porsche Club members. We headed to the Sanctuary for afternoons, and we’re delighted with the comfortable loungers, afternoon tea, and quiet, serene surroundings.

Went to the MDR for lunch, and met Winston, a fantastic head waiter. We expressed our preference for a large table to share for dinner at a later time like the old late traditional seating (something the app doesn’t allow you to do) and he said No Problem. I also asked nicely if it was possible to get fettuccine in a Parmesan basket. He winked, and said he would see what he could do. Turns out fettuccine is no longer on the favourites menu, replaced with Mama’s Lasagna. The beef tenderloin at lunch was excellent as was dinner. Lo and behold, my fettuccine in a Parmesan basket arrived, to ooohs and aaahs from the table. Unfortunately I neglected to take my usual MDR menu and food pics, but I’ll post the ones I did take.

Here’s the current drink menu at Crooners if anyone’s interested.

Crooners is always our first stop once we’re settled, for our traditional welcome aboard drinks, a Midnitini and a Skyfall. Princess has replaced liqueurs such as Chambord and St. Germain with cheaper generic ones, which was a disappointment. I’d gladly pay more for the genuine versions. The bartenders, Kelvin and Jefferson, were wonderful, and we hit it off immediately.

Once on board, we hurried up to the Sanctuary to make some bookings. There are two types of people making bookings. Those that have no idea, and take literally TWENTY minutes to book a couple of loungers. And those like us who walk up, and say “two loungers, mostly shaded, sea day afternoons“. “How about these?” “Fine, thank you, good bye” and done in 30 seconds. Once that was sorted, we dropped off our carr—ons in the cabin and headed down to Promenade. I was pleased to see the full elite minibar already set up. Shot of the extended balcony and today’s Patter:

Doh! Thanks!

Hello again CCers. It’s been a long time, but finally back aboard! I didn’t report on this one live, but I’ll do my best to recreate the experience. We flew a day early as usual to FLL, staying at the Residence Inn Dania Beach. No issues at all with travel or bags. Arrived at the port around 10 am. There were perhaps 50-60 people ahead of us in three lines, regular, elites, and Porsche Club of America members. It should be mentioned that there was a group of over 650 Porsche club members on board. Once the doors opened up, things moved fairly quickly, but since the regular line was much shorter, many elites were still waiting for security when the other lines were empty. Had to wait to get our medallions (C’mon Princess, when are you going to mail them to Canadians!) and then headed to the elite lounge, which was in a strange area since the Porsche club was using the regular lounge. When boarding began, they opened it to the Porsche Club first, which caused murmurs of discontent in the makeshift elite lounge. Some folks got up to have a “discussion” with the port folks, so they began boarding of elites as well. There weren’t very many Porsche people yet, so it really didn’t make a difference.