Soloing the Caribbean: Live from the Regal - 22 Jan to 05 Feb 2017

[arizonaperson]

Thanks Croptop(John) for your great review. We were on the Regal for the first time in November ( same itinerary )and absolutely loved it.

My mom and her husband are on the Regal ( not on the roll call but they are a cruise critic member and Princess elite ) right now with you and I've been getting periodic updates via email. But my mom says the internet is not working very well on the ship. As a matter fact the WebCam for Princess under the Regal still shows that you're an Amber Cove which I know that you have long left . She also confirmed that in St.Thomas you will tender and then later in the day it will dock.

Julie

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review and great photo shots.

[seapals2]

Enjoyed the Regal and the ports you are visiting. Your report is bringing back happy memories and makes good reading ... keep posting. After many visits to St Thomas we made it to Blackbeards Castle (in reality a tower) a few weeks ago. Worth the 99 steps climb, and a few more, and the small entrance fee. There is a good bar with views and a small pool and sunbeds if you want to make it a longer visit. Those pirates knew how to live ashore! The rest of the historic area takes in a couple of houses with antique furniture and rum tasting!

 

It's an easy walk to and from St Thomas through the small shopping/marina area that not many passengers seem to discover if you are going back to the ship at Havensight. A couple of good bars too.

[AbbyGirl]

Great post and can't wait to read more.

 

My question - Your STT Patter shows noon-9:30 as your in port time. Our itinerary shows 10-10. Did they change the time for your cruise or were you always scheduled for noon-9:30? Just curious for our planning purposes.

 

Thanks!

Edited January 25, 2017 by AbbyGirl

[Croptop]

Great post and can't wait to read more.

 

My question - Your STT Patter shows noon-9:30 as your in port time. Our itinerary shows 10-10. Did they change the time for your cruise or were you always scheduled for noon-9:30? Just curious for our planning purposes.

 

Thanks!

We were always scheduled for noon to 2130hrs.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Croptop]

Welcome to St. Thomas. Here is today's Patter:

 

And my current view as I sit down to lunch:

 

More later.

[plan09]

John,

Thank you for your great and very funny report!

[arizonaperson]

Great post and can't wait to read more.

 

My question - Your STT Patter shows noon-9:30 as your in port time. Our itinerary shows 10-10. Did they change the time for your cruise or were you always scheduled for noon-9:30? Just curious for our planning purposes.

 

Thanks!

 

My mom is on the Regal right now and I have her itinerary printed out and it says in St.Thomas 10 AM to 10 PM so yes the current voyage the time had been changed .I believe because there was too many ships in port for the dock.

Julie

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Croptop, looks like a beautiful day in St Thomas. Looking forward to your comments.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

[Croptop]

There's really not much to report today. I'd had every intention of continuing my streak of attending the early morning stretch and abs classes but opted to sleep in instead. Then it was a leisurely breakfast in the Horizon Court before dropping down into Club 6 for the morning trivia session at 0900hrs. I played on my own this time and managed a respectable 12/20 (the winners only scored 15 and they were a team of 5).

 

Then it was the main event: at 1015hrs, about 20 or 30 of us joined Gordon in the Vista Lounge to hear about how to build shelters out of palm fronds, sticks, mud, or whatever you laid your hands on. Then Gordon set the lounge on fire.

 

Three times.

 

Seriously.

 

Ok. Not really. He set some coconut husk on fire before dousing it in a bucket of water. But by the time he was done, the Vista Lounge had a nice campfire smell to it. I had totally meant to take some pictures of the event to share with you all but ended up so engrossed in the demo that I completely forgot. Sorry.

 

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent on deck watching the tenders shuttle people into the pier at Charlotte Amelie, watching the NCL Epic depart, and watching as the Regal slowly, over the period of an hour so, crabbed its way across the bay and nestled into the empty space at the Havensight pier created by the Epic's departure.

 

Then I went ashore for a short, hot run along the shore.

 

Cleaned up for dinner and hung out in Club 6 until 1800hrs. I decided to split the difference between the wait time at 1730hrs (none) with the wait time at 1830hrs (people were getting pagers) and see what it would be like at 1800hrs. No wait. I walked in and was seated immediately. Of course, some of that could be due to the fact that we were still in port so a bunch of people were probably still ashore.

 

So far, the food has been consistently good so for the rest of the cruise, I'm not going to report on it unless something out of the ordinary occurs.

 

I was finished with dinner in plenty of time to make it to comedian Miguel Washington's 1900hrs show. Again, everyone's tastes are different but I enjoyed the show and the majority of those in the theatre seemed to as well.

 

The rest of the evening was spent watching a couple of movies before retiring.

 

Remember, I warned you in the first post of this "Live from" that I'm a boring guy.

 

Coming up tomorrow: St Maartin. And there's no survival lecture so we'll just have to forage on our own.

[AbbyGirl]

My mom is on the Regal right now and I have her itinerary printed out and it says in St.Thomas 10 AM to 10 PM so yes the current voyage the time had been changed .I believe because there was too many ships in port for the dock.

Julie

 

Good to know! Thanks for the information. Looks like there are only supposed to be 3 in when we arrive so we might be ok with the 10-10. Fingers crossed.

[Croptop]

Today's Patter:

 

There's 5 ships in port today so it's going to be crowded.

[SteelMagnolia9]

Cleaned up for dinner and hung out in Club 6 until 1800hrs. I decided to split the difference between the wait time at 1730hrs (none) with the wait time at 1830hrs (people were getting pagers) and see what it would be like at 1800hrs. No wait. I walked in and was seated immediately. Of course, some of that could be due to the fact that we were still in port so a bunch of people were probably still ashore.

 

Is there an opportunity in Anytime dining to share as a solo or are you just seated by yourself? As a solo, I'd enjoy dining occasionally with others at dinner, but don't want to be constrained with traditional dining.

[Daniel1313]

If you get a chance, could you please look on form for the ez check baggage and see what airlines are participating?

 

Thanks...

[gotta cruise again]

 

Then Gordon set the lounge on fire.

 

Three times.

 

Seriously.

 

Ok. Not really. He set some coconut husk on fire before dousing it in a bucket of water. But by the time he was done, the Vista Lounge had a nice campfire smell to it.

 

I laughed until I had to wipe the tears out of my eyes!

 

I totally hope Gordon will be doing these presentations when DH and I are onboard in about 10 days!!

 

Thank you for your review; truly am enjoying it :p

Edited January 26, 2017 by gotta cruise again

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Croptop, love your style of writing, you tell it how it is with humor. I may have to check out Gordon's lecture's on survival tactics when we board. Do you think he will be onboard the Regal come February 12th? Thanks for taking the time to amuse us.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

[Croptop]

Is there an opportunity in Anytime dining to share as a solo or are you just seated by yourself? As a solo, I'd enjoy dining occasionally with others at dinner, but don't want to be constrained with traditional dining.

You can definitely dine with others if you wish to do so. I'm just being anti-social on this cruise.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Croptop]

If you get a chance, could you please look on form for the ez check baggage and see what airlines are participating?

 

Thanks...

I'm on for another week so I didn't get the traditional disembarkation paperwork this week but I'll see if I can get an advance peek at the form.

[Croptop]

Croptop, love your style of writing, you tell it how it is with humor. I may have to check out Gordon's lecture's on survival tactics when we board. Do you think he will be onboard the Regal come February 12th? Thanks for taking the time to amuse us.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

I'm not sure how much longer he's on the ship but he's a member of the ship's orchestra in addition to his lectures so I suspect that it will be for a while yet. I also don't know if he will continue to do these lectures. But we've still got one more to go tomorrow so I'll try to ask him about his upcoming schedule and reply back here.

[CruzinNoony]

We are embarking the Regal this Sunday and hope to meet you. I've really enjoyed your "live from". If you run into the CD Billy, please mention that the treasure hunt drawing is at a bad time (8:30pm) because so many people are eating then.:(

[jlf1]

Could you describe in more detail what types of stuff is done in this class?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

Judy

[Croptop]

Well if you thought my report from St. Thomas yesterday was boring then you're going to really hate this one.

 

With the exception of a couple of loads of laundry and a short run ashore, I did a whole lot of nothing.

 

I was wrong with my post from this morning. There weren't 5 ships in port today. There were 6. Along with us were the HAL Koningsdam, the Carnival Sunshine, the P&O Azura, the RCI Oasis of the Seas and some Celebrity ship that snuck in later in the day. I never did find out which one it was. But we were definitely packed in.

 

Not wanting to battle with six ships' worth of crowds ashore, I opted to treat it like just another sea day and lounge around with a book.

 

Highlight of the day came around 1700hrs and onward as we watched various ships slip and proceed. First the Koningsdam, then the Sunshine (after a chorus of boos rained down on some late arrivals). Likewise, the Azura was a bit late in departing but eventually sailed, unblocking us and allowing us to back out and swing around.

 

I did end up having an interesting conversation with a fellow Cruise Critic member but, alas, my manners failed me and I neglected to get his name (or even the username that he posts here under) so unless he happens to read this, he shall forever remain anonymous.

 

Could you describe in more detail what types of stuff is done in this class?

 

Sure Judy. Every morning from 0700-0730hrs, is a stretch class. It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect. The trainer runs us through a series of stretches (some dynamic and some static) usually starting with upper body and working our way down to lower body. Each trainer (there are three on the Regal) seems to have their own routine that they follow so each class has been a little different.

 

From 0730-0800hrs is the abs class. It's run by the same trainer as the previous stretch class. Again, it's pretty much what you would expect: a series of ab exercises designed to make you grunt, groan, and cry -- at least that's what they do to me. Once again, each trainer has their own routine. One guy really likes planks while another one is big on all different forms of crunches.

 

Both classes are free and -- at least for my sailing -- lightly attended. No need to sign up. Just show up in the Fitness Centre, grab a mat and a towel and grunt away with the rest of us.

[Colo Cruiser]

[Daniel1313]

I'm on for another week so I didn't get the traditional disembarkation paper work this week but I'll see if I can get an advance peek at the form.

 

Thank you so much....

[cindsue]

I am thoroughly enjoying your live reports! Your writing style is so fun, all the while being informative! We sail on the Regal March 5th, so all the information you're sharing is most appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

 

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Edited January 27, 2017 by cindsue