Mini Blog - Live from Voyager - Barcelona - Miami

[Travelcat2]

I love to blog from the ship but likely will not have much to say since this is a transatlantic voyage.  So, I'm starting this to discuss activities onboard and, if interesting, will post some photos.  My hope is to be able to post a new bar list as it sounds as if it has changed a bit since I last posted the entire list.  As mentioned in a post a couple of months ago, I want to check out the pool area in the evening to see how well it is attended.  Despite the fact that it is November, the weather is predicted to be quite mild.  After paying close attention to photos with Regent passengers in the background, I have no issue with posting whatever I see on the pool deck (i.e. how they are dressed, what they are eating, etc.)

 

I also have quite an interest in the "new" champagne that is available in lounges.  

 

We depart tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. on Lufthansa (deviated air from Regent).  Arrival in Barcelona will be mid-day.  We booked our own hotel and selected Eurostars Grand Marina since it is so close to the cruise port.  Plus, having stayed in Barcelona previously, we have learned that the hotel can be lovely but if it is in a noisy area, it can be a problem (as most know, locals dine quite late in Spain and the party atmosphere can be loud).  Will report back on this.  Once we are settled, we will head off to an Irish/British pub (yes - they receive deliveries from both countries).  This is something that we've done all over the world for many years and helps make up for the fact that we do not have "proper" British food where we live (we especially miss Irish bangers/sausages).  

 

Roll Call has been delightful.  Some people have already arrived and have reported that it is a bit "drizzly".  It was decided that, while most posters will attend the Meet and Mingle, we can't wait that long to meet each other.  So, we will do our own "Meet and Greet" after muster and will attend the M&M once we know when it is scheduled.  In order to identify each other, someone thought that having Mardi Gras beads would be fun.  I agreed and purchased a bag of 100 of them.  Looking forward to meeting this very congenial group.

 

We are very excited that Davor is the G.M. and Daniela is F&B Director.  What a wonderful team!  

 

This has been a strange year for us with a Voyager Asian cruise in March followed by a mini cruise on NCL and a 7 night cruise on Celebrity.  We truly cannot wait to step foot back on a Regent ship which we feel is our second home.  After this cruise, all of our Regent cruises will be on Explorer (with the exception of the cruise that we booked on Explorer that became a Splendor cruise) through November 2020.  Itinerary is no longer an issue for us so we just want to be on a ship that we are comfortable on and Explorer is our dream ship.  To put things into perspective, after 31 cruises, our favorite ship is Explorer followed by Voyager and Mariner.  If I had to pick a ship after that, it would likely be Oceania's Riviera and then Silversea's Whisper - all wonderful ships.

 

Hopefully, others will post on this thread so readers can get feedback from different people.  

[vegasdriven]

Oohh, looking forward to this😀

[HotRoot]

Just curious.  With 31 cruises, how many different cruise lines and how many different ships?  I have been on 44 cruises on 15 different cruise lines.  Some do not exist anymore.  And have never repeated a ship.  I cruise for the itinerary.  But, I have crossed off entire cruise lines because of one bad cruise.  Again, just curious.

[bebop bonnie]

Glad to hear from you, Jackie.  Voyager is our favorite ship.  But in June we will finally be able to experience the Explorer!  Look forward to your posts on the Voyager!

[Travelcat2]

3 hours ago, HotRoot said:

Just curious.  With 31 cruises, how many different cruise lines and how many different ships?  I have been on 44 cruises on 15 different cruise lines.  Some do not exist anymore.  And have never repeated a ship.  I cruise for the itinerary.  But, I have crossed off entire cruise lines because of one bad cruise.  Again, just curious.

 

Our 31 cruises were on Regent (all ships).  In addition to Regent cruises we have 3 cruises on Silversea (on Whisper, Shadow and Spirit), 2 on Oceania (both Riviera), 1 on Celebrity (Infinity), 1 on NCL (Bliss) and a heck of a long time ago we did 1 cruise on Disney.  The reason that we no longer sail for itinerary is because we did almost 20 years of international travel before we began cruising in 2004.  In a million years I would not have thought that we would have cruised so much but feel blessed that we have.  Neither of us had any interest in cruising ....... until we sailed in Tahiti on the Paul Gauguin (while under Regent management).  The PG hooked us on cruising and we continue to enjoy every cruise!

[Bigdogwon]

Looking forward to your “mini” blog, as we sail on Dec. 06, this will be our second time on Voyager.  Interesting that you sailed on PG under Regent, the Tahiti cruise is what got us hooked on the Regent brand after being loyal to HAL for years.

 

Cheers

[poss]

Enjoy!   (as I know you will)

[RJ2002]

Safe travels...  looking forward to your reports!

[Travelcat2]

At YVR and and impressed with the new and improved Air Canada lounge (Lufthansa uses their lounge in Vancouver).  Nice bar and good food choices.  They are making (to order) a thin spaghetti dish with shrimp, garlic, hot pepper flakes and olive oil. Really. Yummy.  They have beer on tap where you can help yourself.  Dennis poured himself a Guinness and is eating everything in sight (he is very thin and can do this without repercussions .... )

 

Traffic was light.  We made here in under an hour which includes the border crossing with our Nexus pass. Without Theo ass, it would have taken at least 45 minutes at the border.

 

Our flight to Frankfurt departs in 1 hour 50 minutes (but whose counting).

[RJ2002]

12 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

At YVR and and impressed with the new and improved Air Canada lounge (Lufthansa uses their lounge in Vancouver).  Nice bar and good food choices.  They are making (to order) a thin spaghetti dish with shrimp, garlic, hot pepper flakes and olive oil. Really. Yummy.  They have beer on tap where you can help yourself.  Dennis poured himself a Guinness and is eating everything in sight (he is very thin and can do this without repercussions .... )

 

Traffic was light.  We made here in under an hour which includes the border crossing with our Nexus pass. Without Theo ass, it would have taken at least 45 minutes at the border.

 

Our flight to Frankfurt departs in 1 hour 50 minutes (but whose counting).

 

Gotta love autocorrect, LOL!  Have a great flight.  Lufthansa is one of our favorite TATL airlines.

[Hambagahle]

Bon Voyage Jackie and Dennis!   Fly safely.  Will really look forward to reading all your reports.  We did a TA on the Voyager in 2006 - Rome to FLL in November.  Loved every minute of it AND had nice mild weather which I hope you will have too.  

[Skysurfr]

See my just posted thread about what wines are onboard now. I came off the rather messed up cruise that ended in Marseille other than Monaco on the 5th of Nov.  I"m thinking much of the wine will be the same.  Perhaps they have an updated list they can provide you as well. 

 

I found ear plugs to be a necessity in a level 9 concierge cabin. Everything squeeked and groaned while underway. 

Food was very nice with the exception of the cooked  beef in Compass Rose...it was just not very good quality. Other items were in fact fantastic. 

 

I joked about staying onboard and hitching a ride to home in So Florida.  

 

Enjoy the ride!

 

 

[TahoeTraveler]

Hello all, we are the ones currently in Barcelona and reporting on the weather.  I am HAPPY to report that today's weather was absolutely fantastic, with mild temps and no hint of rain. Mike and I opted to take a private tour of Barcelona and Montserrat, which was amazing.  If you've never been to Montserrat, you're missing out IMO.  Mike and I want to come back here just to spend a few days hiking around in that area.  It is just that breathtaking.  Anyway, tomorrow we are off on our tour of Sagrada Familia, as well as a self-guided tour of Gaudi's Garden, Park Guell. Looking very forward to meeting everyone onboard the Voyager...first time ever on that ship, and first ever transatlantic cruise.  Can't wait!!!

[cruiseluv]

Hello Jackie, Have a great trip, looking forward to your posts!

 

Tahoe Traveler, thanks for those pics, two of my favorite spots in the Barcelona area!

[Travelcat2]

Just arrived at our hotel in Barcelona.  Thrilled to see photos from Tahoe Traveler (the the pictures are beauties)!

 

Skysurfr - will check out your wine list - thanks for letting me know about it.

 

Flight from YVR to Frankfurt was lovely.  I had three glasses of wine in the lounge so only had two glasses of champagne on the 9 hour 45 minute flight.  Frankfurt was a mess as normal.  They have fixed up the airport but we still had to walk forever.  One change is that we did not go through X-ray again, however, the line for passport control was horrible (made worse by people cutting into the line constantly).  Did not eat or drink of the second flight.

 

While in Frankfurt for 1 1/2 hours I was thinking about the Regent passengers that would be onboard the flight and realized that these short flights get so full that it is yet another reason why Regent contracted flights from the U.S. run out of space.  There is plenty of room on flights on the large planes (we were on a 747) but the international carriers stop in Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, etc. and the flights to the port are generally 737’s.  Those flights are consistently full.

 

Regent’s private transportation was on time and the driver was wonderful.  Being a Sunday there was no traffic.  The hotel is 7 kilometers from the airport and last Friday the traffic was so bad that it took an hour to get downtown.  Today it took maybe 15 minutes.

 

The hotel, so far, is lovely and very quiet.  It is only a 5 minute walk to Las Ramblas and is next to the World Trade Center.  They gave us a complimentary upgrade to a room with a view that also has an extra room with a table, chairs and a sofa.  So, I’m typing this and looking out of thee windows so excuse any typos.

 

We may take a quick nap and then take a cab to the pub.  Happy to finally be here.

 

[sea lover]

Jackie, am sure you and Dennis will have a great cruise and I shall look forward to reading all about it. Thanks for taking the time to sharing it with us at home. Elaine

[TahoeTraveler]

2 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Just arrived at our hotel in Barcelona.  Thrilled to see photos from Tahoe Traveler (the the pictures are beauties)!

 

Skysurfr - will check out your wine list - thanks for letting me know about it.

 

Flight from YVR to Frankfurt was lovely.  I had three glasses of wine in the lounge so only had two glasses of champagne on the 9 hour 45 minute flight.  Frankfurt was a mess as normal.  They have fixed up the airport but we still had to walk forever.  One change is that we did not go through X-ray again, however, the line for passport control was horrible (made worse by people cutting into the line constantly).  Did not eat or drink of the second flight.

 

While in Frankfurt for 1 1/2 hours I was thinking about the Regent passengers that would be onboard the flight and realized that these short flights get so full that it is yet another reason why Regent contracted flights from the U.S. run out of space.  There is plenty of room on flights on the large planes (we were on a 747) but the international carriers stop in Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, etc. and the flights to the port are generally 737’s.  Those flights are consistently full.

 

Regent’s private transportation was on time and the driver was wonderful.  Being a Sunday there was no traffic.  The hotel is 7 kilometers from the airport and last Friday the traffic was so bad that it took an hour to get downtown.  Today it took maybe 15 minutes.

 

The hotel, so far, is lovely and very quiet.  It is only a 5 minute walk to Las Ramblas and is next to the World Trade Center.  They gave us a complimentary upgrade to a room with a view that also has an extra room with a table, chairs and a sofa.  So, I’m typing this and looking out of thee windows so excuse any typos.

 

We may take a quick nap and then take a cab to the pub.  Happy to finally be here.

 

So glad you two made it safely here!!!  See you tomorrow!!!

[TahoeTraveler]

Hello everyone, reporting in from the Hilton Diagonal Mar Executive Lounge in Barcelona.  All of us will be boarding the Voyager tomorrow, and I for one could not be more excited.  The weather today in Barcelona was nothing short of perfect...clear skies and weather in the 60's and 70's.  It actually got warm enough that I had to ditch the lightweight sweater  I was wearing.  A welcome change from the weather we had when we landed on Friday.

 

Mike and I had tickets for Sagrada Familia at 2:30, so had to change our plans to take the train to Tarragona.  We opted instead to take the Metro to Montjuik (the hill on which the 1992 Olympic stadium sits, along with a very old castille and some government buildings).  The Metro was...interesting.  We couldn't get our ticket to work properly in the machine that lets you into the subway, and when the doors finally opened for Mike, as he was walking towards me, all I could think to do was yell, "RUN!" He turned, and did.  Suffice it to say we both finally got through the turnstiles and made it to Montjuik.  Whereupon we were "greeted" by literally thousands of women wearing pink shirts saying something about "Chicas." Come to find out, it was just some sort of women's march (we thought it had something to do with breast cancer, with the pink shirts, but apparently not). Anyway, the place was literally swarming with pink shirts...and we were salmon swimming upstream.  Nix the idea of returning to the same Metro station to get to Sagrada Familia in 2 hours.

 

After an hour and a half of walking pretty much straight uphill, we finally came to the castille (after visiting the Olympic stadium, which was, quite frankly, a bit of a disappointment...somehow I thought those things were a lot bigger).  We had just enough time to check out the magnificent scenery up on the hill before we had to hike down (and when I say down, I mean almost straight down...I thought I was going to just pitch forward and start rolling there a few times).  Finally got out of the park, and down a couple of not so nice streets, before emerging onto a busy street, and...gasp...a Metro station.  And off to Sagrada Familia we were.

 

Had an hour to spare, thanks to my impeccable navigational skills, and we quenched our thirst with a couple of beers at a local dive near the cathedral.  Then we entered the Sacred Family church, only to find ourselves amazed at the beauty it held within.  While I don't much like Gaudi's strange sense of incorporating "nature" into his  "art" (which really is in the eye of the beholder), I have to admit that cathedral was absolutely stunning.  Definitely worth seeing if you ever find yourself in Barcelona.  Definitely.

 

And now we are safely back in the hotel, relaxing and excitedly awaiting our departure for the Voyager tomorrow afternoon.  Life really is good.  It really is.  We've talked to many people about Regent and how much we love the line, the ships, and the people.  And isn't it just wonderful that we are at a place in our lives that we can afford and enjoy it.  We are truly blessed.  Next post...from the Voyager!!!

 

 

[eliana]

Bon voyage . I hope that all of you who are sailing from Barcelona to Miami behave yourselves and keep the ship in good nick. After the Voyager cruises around the Caribbean for about four months, it needs to remain in good fettle with well stocked bars. We are sailing on her next March from Miami back to Europe.

[Travelcat2]

Only 3 1/2 hours until embarkation.  It sounds as if Tahoe Traveler had a great time.  Our afternoon and evening was much lower key (like we took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon). For some reason I found the journey to Barcelona very tiring.  We have decided (once again) not to take flights that go through Frankfurt.  No matter how much they update the airport, in our opinion, it remains a mess with way too much walking and waiting in lines.

 

We did manage to wake up and go to Flaherty’s Irish Pub where Dennis really enjoyed his “Sunday Roast”.  Looking at his enormous plate of food it did remind me of Ireland where they serve potato’s with potato’s.  In this case, he had roasted potato’s, mashed potato’s and sweet potato’s. With lots of veggies and chicken.  When Dennis was raised in England, they only had roast beef for “Sunday Roast” but this pub offered a choice of beef, chicken and pork.  

 

If anyone in England wonders where their young people are, it appears that they are in Barcelona.  The pub was packed with young people from England.  They were watching “proper football” and were really having a blast.  They have smoking inside as well as outside which was a bit annoying but we found a table outside which was quiet and the smoke wasn’t as intense.

 

We enjoyed this hotel very much - the location is great and, fortunately, it was quiet.   We could not hear the traffic, sirens, etc. that tends to go on all night in Barcelona.  Breakfast was good - not great but there was plenty to eat.  I saw my first automated pancake machine.  You press a button and a small pancake rolls out on a belt and drops into your plate.  I do enjoy gadgets!  

 

Time to repack and get ready to leave.  We hope to get to the port around 11:30 a.m.  Really looking forward to meeting the lovely folks on our Roll Call.

[Hambagahle]

I TOTALLY agree with you, Jackie, about FRA airport.  It is a disaster.  signage is poor, you have to walk miles and entering or leaving Schengen there is a nightmare.  It is "off" my list as a transfer airport unless I am staying in Schengen and even then is at the bottom of the list...

 

I am really surprised that there was smoking inside that Pub.  Perhaps bars have different rules for smoking than restaurants in Spain but I was under the impression that smoking indoors was not allowed.  Will bear your experience in mind next time I am in Spain.

 

Keep posting!

Gerry

[TahoeTraveler]

1 hour ago, Hambagahle said:

I TOTALLY agree with you, Jackie, about FRA airport.  It is a disaster.  signage is poor, you have to walk miles and entering or leaving Schengen there is a nightmare.  It is "off" my list as a transfer airport unless I am staying in Schengen and even then is at the bottom of the list...

 

I am really surprised that there was smoking inside that Pub.  Perhaps bars have different rules for smoking than restaurants in Spain but I was under the impression that smoking indoors was not allowed.  Will bear your experience in mind next time I am in Spain.

 

Keep posting!

Gerry

I was under the same impression about smoking inside in Spain.  When we stopped at the bar yesterday, we specifically asked the question and were told that smoking is not allowed indoors in any establishment, including bars.  I guess I'm glad we never made it to the pub yesterday, as neither of us can stand being around smoke.

[jimbri]

Enjoying the blog and looking forward to the rest.  Have a great time!

[Travelcat2]

2 hours ago, TahoeTraveler said:

I was under the same impression about smoking inside in Spain.  When we stopped at the bar yesterday, we specifically asked the question and were told that smoking is not allowed indoors in any establishment, including bars.  I guess I'm glad we never made it to the pub yesterday, as neither of us can stand being around smoke.

 

I could be mistaken about smoking inside.  I made the assumption after seeing someone with a lit cigarette walk into the pub.  The place was so packed and loud that we spent about 30 seconds inside and opted to be outside.  Perhaps the person with the cigarette was a tourist and didn't know better!?  We also cannot stand being around smoke - even outside when the smoker is close to us.  Still, we're happy that we went.

 

Currently onboard the ship ..... have already spoken with Daniela and Davor as well as Francisco and a few other crew members that we know from prior cruises.  Lunch was great - waiting in the suite for luggage to arrive.  Muster is 4:15 p.m. which is followed by our informal Meet and Greet.  Looking forward to everything.

 

Tomorrow is Cartagena where we will do a tapas tour for lunch.  Should be fun.

[susar]

We’re having our first cocktail at the bar in the observation lounge.