PART#2 CRUISING IN THE SS MARINER FROM TOKYO TO VANCOUVER

[ronrick1943]

Ok, still rough sea’s but really not that bad and you do need to watch as you walk around the ship.  We had dinner with the Captain Armellino and Marla Social Director.  We also had an enjoyable evening talking.  The Captain did state that it would be smooth sailing after 10:30 tomorrow morning.

 

We dined at Compass Rose; food was very good we both had Dover Sole (no Picture).  We also ended the meal with a Lemon Chiffon Pyramid from the Canyon Ranch menu and it was really good.  Could have had 2 or 3 of them it was that good. (Photo below)

 

Now with all that has happened with our suite one may think we’re having a cruise from hell, you’d be wrong.  Yes we had a few hiccups along the way, but nothing that could be fixed.  With Regents service in our suite or outside the suite one couldn’t ask for a better cruise over all.  It really comes from the top down; the staff on this ship cares about what happens on this ship.  You just have to look around and you see it that they care for all guests on board.  They always want to seat us at the window table, but we like a table near the center so we can see everything going on.  Who’s doing what and why!  Sorry but it’s fun to watch!

[Zqueeze1]

Put me down for a dozen napkins and charge it to John and Karen’s OBC. 

Z and TB

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 5/2/2019 at 8:30 PM, mountaindoc358 said:

Someone wanted to know about closets and I have included a photo for Veranda suite (G). 6 drawers,  3 shelves (including safe shelf) and a shoe shelf. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks, looks like other walk-ins in Regent, which is good to know since we had no walk-in on our only previous Mariner cruise (accessible cabin.)

 

How is the rest of the cabin outfitted?  I've heard that the last refurbishment somewhat simplified the storage possibilities in the standard cabins.  Are there spaces where one could perhaps add some storage, like a set of drawers or boxes?  (Thinking ahead to a world cruise.)

[1teach53]

6 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

Put me down for a dozen napkins and charge it to John and Karen’s OBC. 

Z and TB

Only a dozen?? Sad to say our OBC is gone  😞 Miss you guys!

K

[ronrick1943]

8 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

Put me down for a dozen napkins and charge it to John and Karen’s OBC. 

Z and TB

Done!🙄

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, 1teach53 said:

Only a dozen?? Sad to say our OBC is gone  😞 Miss you guys!

K

Cash will work, no credit cards🤑

[RachelG]

Enjoying your posts.  George could probably collaborate on the book about doing nothing if you need help.

[ronrick1943]

46 minutes ago, RachelG said:

Enjoying your posts.  George could probably collaborate on the book about doing nothing if you need help.

We may it's not going so well, still on page 1 the title page. But all is good. Oh, and "V" says HI back.

[ronrick1943]

Another sea day starts this morning (this is 2^nd Saturday as we crossed the International Dateline), and one more sea day coming on Sunday.  For those of us that love Caviar tomorrow it’s Caviar Sunday, but still a sea day.  Feeling sorry for the crew as they are taking good care of all the guests on this ship!  It’s got to be hard work trying to keep everybody busy, but they are doing it with a smile.  Most everybody wants to get off the ship, but all are doing good and no one out of line as far as I see.

 

And now for the weather report, this morning did not have clean blue skies with clouds around, but its foggy and now you really can’t see ocean as the fog horn goes off every few minutes or so.  The ocean has calmed down some during the last few hours.

 

Are first stop will be Dutch Harbor, Alaska and they say its town that isn’t set up for tourists.  However they do have a shuttle bus to town-that should be a busy shuttle.

 

Now realize why I like crossings so much, you get to stop at Ports from time to time.

 

As the cruise is over half way I’m going to review what OUR OPINION ONLY is of the restaurants on the ship.  Remember this is our opinion from this cruise only.

 

Pool Grill, didn’t go to this one as it was just too cold to eat outside.  It was closed most of the cruise however when we walked passed it, it did look good.  If the weather gets better we’ll try it.

 

Coffee Connection, Nice place to sit, snacks top rate and coffee good.  Wish they had French Press (Why not).  Service was outstanding.

 

Compress Rose, Lunch not so good for us, we tried it twice only.  Not so great service on the days we ate..

 

Compress Rose, Dinner was very good but needs some work (it’s a hit or miss on temperature of food), but service was top notch.

 

La Veranda, Lunch was always good and service wouldn’t have been better.

 

Sette Mari, Dinner so-so at best, buffet part good.  Very nice service.

 

Chartreuse, Food was very good, the service was too.

 

Prime 7, now this was our favorite, food was outstanding and service very good.  We liked it because the menu had so much to choose from, can’t really put my finger on it but we just liked it better than the others.

 

All the lounges were very good; service couldn’t have been better, pre dinner appetizers nice.

 

We haven’t tried teatime yet so we can’t say anything regarding it.

 

Tonight dinner will be in Prime 7, shared table with some CC’s new friends.

 

[bissel]

So enjoying following you on your travels. You must be a lot of fun in person!

The book  writing attempts are very funny and I think your title cannot be improved upon. Perhaps adding more text than what he has would dilute the seriousness of it all.

[vegasdriven]

On 5/4/2019 at 2:05 AM, ronrick1943 said:

Ok, still rough sea’s but really not that bad and you do need to watch as you walk around the ship.  We had dinner with the Captain Armellino and Marla Social Director.  We also had an enjoyable evening talking.  The Captain did state that it would be smooth sailing after 10:30 tomorrow morning.

 

We dined at Compass Rose; food was very good we both had Dover Sole (no Picture).  We also ended the meal with a Lemon Chiffon Pyramid from the Canyon Ranch menu and it was really good.  Could have had 2 or 3 of them it was that good. (Photo below)

 

Now with all that has happened with our suite one may think we’re having a cruise from hell, you’d be wrong.  Yes we had a few hiccups along the way, but nothing that could be fixed.  With Regents service in our suite or outside the suite one couldn’t ask for a better cruise over all.  It really comes from the top down; the staff on this ship cares about what happens on this ship.  You just have to look around and you see it that they care for all guests on board.  They always want to seat us at the window table, but we like a table near the center so we can see everything going on.  Who’s doing what and why!  Sorry but it’s fun to watch!

Oh yes!😋 That was my favorite dessert on our first Regent cruise back in Jan.

[RJ2002]

Thanks for your comments so far on the dining venues.  Very balanced.  

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, RJ2002 said:

Thanks for your comments so far on the dining venues.  Very balanced.  

Thanks, have to say once you say anything at the table they go all out to make it right.  The Mariner is well managed with a crew that follows up.  

[ronrick1943]

Last night we had dinner with two new CC friends from Florida; it really was a delightful evening.  After dinner we went to the Observation Lounge and closed it.  Surprising not too many people out in the lounge tonight, but the service wouldn’t have been better.

 

Drinks in the Mariner Lounge with a nibbles before dinner.

 

Dinner was outstanding, the photos to follow shows how good it was from the starters and then main dishes.  Tonight I had a cold seafood plate and it was good, the others had steak and lamb chops which all was cooked to order.  Dessert not only looked great but tasted great.  This was topped off by outstanding service thought out dinner. 

 

Last night we crossed the International Date Line, and the weather still is cold but no fog and a calmer ocean.  It’s Sunday so it’s Caviar Sunday, so good.

 

Today their going to have the Fair we were told, but it will be held inside.  We’ll go for a little while, have lunch in La Veranda my favorite place for lunch.  Because of dinner last night I’ll have a big salad for lunch.  Just a note, yesterday they had a prime roast at lunch which looked wonderful and cooked perfectly at the caving station.  Yes I wanted it but going to Prime 7 I didn’t and I’m sorry I didn’t have it as I love prime rib. 

 

Tonight dinner will be in the suite, not course by course just a simple Sunday relaxed evening in the suite watching movies and very casually dressed (jeans, shorts or PJ’s.)

 

To sum it up, another nice cruise.

 

[MalbecWine]

At least Regent uses a non- metallic proper spoon for caviar.  I assume it’s mother of pearl.  The food photos are beautiful on the presentation.  Now I want a piece of that key lime pie. Yum!

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, MalbecWine said:

At least Regent uses a non- metallic proper spoon for caviar.  I assume it’s mother of pearl.  The food photos are beautiful on the presentation.  Now I want a piece of that key lime pie. Yum!

Yes they do, mother of pearl.  And the key lime pie, I want to say to die for but nothing is that good.  But really worth every calorie.

[ronrick1943]

9 hours ago, bissel said:

So enjoying following you on your travels. You must be a lot of fun in person!

The book  writing attempts are very funny and I think your title cannot be improved upon. Perhaps adding more text than what he has would dilute the seriousness of it all.

Now that he's thinking about it and really hasn't done anything at all--he may just teach a class about "Doing Nothing".  But when you thing about it he'd have to go to the class to teach, that may be difficult because he'd have to do something😓.

[bissel]

And students who are interested will not show up.

Less really is more.

[ronrick1943]

Lunch at La Veranda celebrating Cinco de Mayo, a very go try but if you’ve ever had good Mexican food it just wasn’t up to par.  But we’re out to sea and it’s been 6 days at sea so what would you except.  They did a pretty good job.  Headwaiter Tomasz, Server(s) Ko Ko, Ronald and I Wayan as always did an outstanding job in La Veranda.  We took a few pictures of the buffet should you want  to take a look.

 

Foot Note: The refried beans and chili con carne was really tasty.

 

Tomorrow we have to do a face to face with U.S. Immigration before we get off the ship, should go fast since everyone once to get off the ship for a few hours.

[Travelcat2]

Agree that Regent needs help when it comes to Mexican food. Having grown up in Los Angeles, we know "real" Mexican food and it does not resemble anything that Regent has.  On the other hand, they do wonderful Indian, Indonesian, Italian, and Asian food.   One day they may hire a chef that is familiar is Mexican cuisine.

 

Did you participate in the country fair?  

[rcandkc]

I find Regent Mexican food so bland but by the time they offer it I’m so hungry for it , I put a lot of tobasco on it and enjoy it anyway.  I also think their Italian needs more garlic. I appreciate the effort very much though. 

Edited May 6, 2019 by rcandkc
Added

[Silver Sweethearts]

16 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

Agree that Regent needs help when it comes to Mexican food. Having grown up in Los Angeles, we know "real" Mexican food and it does not resemble anything that Regent has.  On the other hand, they do wonderful Indian, Indonesian, Italian, and Asian food.   One day they may hire a chef that is familiar is Mexican cuisine. 

 

As we recall, you were not smitten with the Lobster Nachos on the lunch menu at the Pool Grill on the Explorer, but this past March they were pretty good (and we were born and raised in Los Angeles).  Do you know if they are on the menu on all of the ships or just the Explorer?

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

Agree that Regent needs help when it comes to Mexican food. Having grown up in Los Angeles, we know "real" Mexican food and it does not resemble anything that Regent has.  On the other hand, they do wonderful Indian, Indonesian, Italian, and Asian food.   One day they may hire a chef that is familiar is Mexican cuisine.

 

Did you participate in the country fair?  

No we didn't, we planned on but didn't get up in time.  It was raining so they did a small fair inside.

[ronrick1943]

52 minutes ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

 

As we recall, you were not smitten with the Lobster Nachos on the lunch menu at the Pool Grill on the Explorer, but this past March they were pretty good (and we were born and raised in Los Angeles).  Do you know if they are on the menu on all of the ships or just the Explorer?

Didn't see that on the Menu.

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, rcandkc said:

I find Regent Mexican food so bland but by the time they offer it I’m so hungry for it , I put a lot of tobasco on it and enjoy it anyway.  I also think their Italian needs more garlic. I appreciate the effort very much though. 

And that is why we bring our own "Sriracha" Chile Sauce".