taxman1

That is correct.

Good morning, afternoon and evening to fellow cruisers. My wife and I are gearing up for the Miami to Miami cruise leaving port on Feb 5th. We live in Sarasota so will be driving to Miami. Based on previous posts embarkation seems pretty smooth as long as you can meander around the pre-night hotel bus arrivals. We have cruised numerous times and pretty much go with the flow on that first day. My anxiety really lies with dinner. Seabourn has never disappointed with respect to being seated upon arriving at the dining room. Silver Seas consistently disappointed which is why we have never gone back. How well does Regent score with regards to wait time? We love to have cocktails 6-7ish and then make our way to the dining room. While I recognize this is prime time how well does Regent manage the push? Should we be gearing up for wait times? Any inside tips for us to consider? Thanks for any insights you can share.

Yes there is clearly a limit, however, numbers are sketchy as to the exact amount. I have not seen the line up at the Club for dinner but we don’t eat at 5pm. I have not tried the Club for breakfast as we usually skip that meal unless we have a tour planned and are not returning to the ship until after 1pm. If you are interested in signing up for Club Orange best to do it sooner rather than later. The room upgrade is a nice perk.

We have encountered the lines around 6 ish when we are making our way to the Ocean Bar for cocktails. And yes we have noticed fellow cruisers walking around with pagers for the main dining room. Can’t say this happens to all but we have certainly noticed fellow passengers coming into the bar with their pager and remaining there when we we leave after 20-30 minutes from their arrival. Yesterday was St Lucia. Breakfast in the morning was delivered almost 30 minutes early, but hot and correct. The tour which included a beach break was a train wreck. Too little time at the beach and was constantly hawked by locals who did not understand the meaning of “No Thank You”. Dinner at the Club was outstanding as usual and was crowded when we arrived after 7:15pm. Wilder and Genesis found us a table for 2 and we enjoyed a glass of wine before dinner. I tried the flat iron steak while me wife had the eggplant. Both were outstanding, however, the Peruvian chicken still holds the title for best dish. BB king Allstate were on fire again last night. She covers Tina Turner with such feeling, all without shouting like most need to do when covering Tina. The beach break today at Barbados was excellent. Night and day compared to our experience yesterday in St Lucia. Only complaint is the 4 hours seemed to go by way too fast! The port here in Bridgeport is a bit chaotic and confusing for most to get with the right tour. Celebrity and Aida both had representatives insight to help passengers. None could be found for HAL. An afternoon at the pool was most enjoyable and now off to get our 10k steps before cocktail hour on the veranda!

We are currently on the Rotterdam and enjoying the Club. The food has been excellent and the service picking up since the first night. We have only waited one evening for dinner and that was only 10 min. Our times to dine have fluctuated from 6pm to 7:45pm. I believe the 6pm slot was when we had to wait 10 minutes. Again - nothing compared to the wait at the main dining room if you don’t have a fixed time. We tried Tamarin two nights ago and while the food was outstanding and table location was perfect the service was way off the charts and not in a good way. Very disorganized with various table orders. I feel the ship is lacking in the number of staff. If you are on the fence about Club Orange don’t hesitate and do it. You will not be disappointed.

Yesterday was another day at sea. We enjoyed the sun deck on 12 most of the afternoon as we got our steps in on the Promenade first thing in the morning. We have found the Lido for lunch satisfying with the salad bar and sushi. As we tend to just have coffee for breakfast our lunch is typically 11:30-11:45 so no crowds to deal with at that time. Dinner at the Club was fantastic yet again - short ribs are a must try. The group playing at BB King’s is a must see. The female singer came alive last night with a Marvin Gay classic. Last night we attended a Mariner’s special event and met some great fellow cruisers. The sentiment was pretty consistent amongst the group that HAL is losing its touch. Today was St Maarten for shopping. 4 ships in port today so a busy one on the streets. The water taxis is a great addition since our last visit to the port a good number of years ago. A great day was had by most I am sure. We ordered breakfast from room service and must say they food was hot, correct and on-time. Coffee was ok, but I prefer the Dutch cafe. When coming back onboard late this afternoon. We decided to try the Dive-In for a hamburger. I placed an order on the app from my room and left almost immediately to pleasantly find our order ready as we approached the counter. Burger and fries were hot and very good. Tonight is Tamarind so will provide more insights shortly. St Lucia tomorrow - Beach time!

My wife and I decided to it was time to get back onboard as our last cruise was in 2018. This is our 5th on HAL and 14th overall. As most we utilize the CC boards to gain valuable insight from fellow cruisers and share our own thoughts. Well here we go … We boarded the Rotterdam yesterday at Port Everglades. We were about 30 minutes ahead of our boarding time after dropping the car off at Park n Go. The boarding process was fairly smooth and took approx 45 minutes from the time we stepped off the shuttle until we reached our aft cabin. This is our first venture into an Aft cabin (more to come on that front). The standard aft room is a bit smaller than expected but we got ourselves organized and seem to have our process in place. Thanks to those providing the shoe storage over the door idea - brilliant! The magnets for the walls have also allowed for excellent organization and saved on the precious closet space. The bathroom is clearly a one person only space and probably my biggest surprise on size. However, the actually balcony space is larger than expected and the main purpose of grabbing that cabin. Although the temperature was a bit chilly for us Floridians we still enjoyed watching the Harmony of the Seas maneuver out from behind us before we pushed off for our journey. Looking forward to many afternoon cocktails on our balcony until we return back to Port Everglades on the 15th. We booked this cruise under the HIA promotion and added Club Orange. Dinner in Club Orange was excellent. We had a sinking feeling when proceeding to the Club as we passed the long line waiting for the dining room. The line extended the length of the hallway onto the staircase. Club Orange had a full house, but the wait was less than 10 minutes, as Wilder promised. We wanted another 10 minutes at the table before being greeted by the waiter which allowed plenty of time to nail down our choices for the evening. The Burrata salad and corn chowder was excellent. Fresh greens in the salad and very cold. Soup was hot with a nice amount of heat for the tastebuds. The Peruvian Chicken was the star of the show! The rub on the chicken had the right amount of kick and the meat was juicy and flavorful. Looking forward to another meal at the Club tonight. After dinner we made our first contribution to the one arm bandits and explored the shops. The band playing at The Rolling Stones venue sounded great when playing a Joe Walsh cover tune which caused us to pause in the hallway and watch a bit. We made it an early evening as the night before was not restful due to the excitement of our first cruise in 5 years. We expected more movement in an Aft cabin but oh Nelly - very rough seas last night caused us both to jump up several times. White caps this morning have started to disappear and the sea legs are getting back in shape. An officer we met in the elevator suggested another 24 hours of high wind and bumpy seas. All in all not a bad return … more to come.