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

[Fletcher]

On 5/8/2019 at 10:06 AM, Hambagahle said:

Will try it and see.  My "problem" if you like is that I live in Switzerland, in the French speaking part, surrounded by some very good restaurants.  What I see from your photos of the dishes at Chartreuse doesn't "thrill" me.  But photos can't transmit taste - at least not yet!!

 

I agree with the thought behind this.  If you live somewhere with a great restaurant culture or travel simply to visit major restaurants around the world you will inevitably be disappointed with the food on cruise ships.  I find they can do breakfasts and lunches superbly and almost always fail to deliver at dinners. That is when they pretend they are 'fine dining' restaurants - yes, the presentation is often impressive but they are inevitably forced to use frozen ingredients and a lot of pre-prepared stuff - almost ready meals.  A restaurant in New York or Paris or London will have daily deliveries from trusted suppliers and rarely serve more than 80 covers a night.  Cruise ships, no matter how elegant etc, are simply a form of mass catering.

 

I'm enjoying this thread and am keen to see and hear about the Alaskan experience. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Fletcher

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

 

I agree with the thought behind this.  If you live somewhere with a great restaurant culture or travel simply to visit major restaurants around the world you will inevitably be disappointed with the food on cruise ships.  I find they can do breakfasts and lunches superbly and almost always fail to deliver at dinners. That is when they pretend they are 'fine dining' restaurants - yes, the presentation is often impressive but they are inevitably forced to use frozen ingredients and a lot of pre-prepared stuff - almost ready meals.  A restaurant in New York or Paris or London will have daily deliveries from trusted suppliers and rarely serve more than 80 covers a night.  Cruise ships, no matter how elegant etc, are simply a form of mass catering.

 

I'm enjoying this thread and am keen to see and hear about the Alaskan experience. 

I agree about great restaurants being great restaurants.  Regent does a really good job with dinners, but one shouldn't expect fine dining on any ship-it's just not gong to happen.  That said my opinion is that Regent does an outstanding job for being on a ship. Also it's a lot better than mass catering, but isn't really fine dining.  We'll be doing some off ship eating once we hit bigger cities in Alaskan.

[liptastic]

Rick continuing to enjoy your live blog and photographs. The views look stunning. Thanks for taking the time to post,   Jean. 

[rusty2]

Thank you for posting the bar menus. Very much enjoyed your posts and all the photos.

 

 

[Hambagahle]

7 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

I agree about great restaurants being great restaurants.  Regent does a really good job with dinners, but one shouldn't expect fine dining on any ship-it's just not gong to happen.  That said my opinion is that Regent does an outstanding job for being on a ship. Also it's a lot better than mass catering, but isn't really fine dining.  We'll be doing some off ship eating once we hit bigger cities in Alaskan.

extremely well put!   We have had some lovely meals on ships - and some "pretentious" ones that failed totally as well.   When I took a Cordon Bleu course on the Mariner years ago we spent quite a bit of time in the galley and I gained an understanding of how hard it is to keep up high standards AND be at sea for days on end!  On balance I think Regent - and even more so, Oceania - succeed at this.  But sometimes one is disappointed.  I really don't like the Italian restaurant on the Oceania ships, Toscana.  And I also don't like Sette Mari.  I love eating in northern Italy though!  Conversely I really like Red Ginger on the Riviera and hopefully will feel the same about Pacific Rim.  We don't get that sort of food here.

[Hambagahle]

On 5/8/2019 at 7:33 PM, Travelcat2 said:

Gerry, IMO, you certainly may be correct about Chartreuse.  While we love certain dishes in Chartreuse (rack of lamb, etc.), I do not feel that it is typically French.  To give you an idea of our tastes (which may be different than yours), we love Jacques on Oceania.  Both you and Rick are familiar with that dining venue. 

Jackie - Ken and I love Jaques as well.  We find their food consistent and very "French".  Not high end dining but really nice.  Bistro type food in fact.   We'll see about Chartreuse...

[ronrick1943]

Thank you for the comments, today we go to Hubbard Glacier I believe later this afternoon. ( Should be nice).

The morning i just starting, raining right now and breakfast in the suite.

Thanks again, glad your enjoying the post.

[ronrick1943]

As I said before its still raining and places like the Coffee Connection are very busy, crowded finding a place to sit is next to impossible.  This is why we enjoy a little larger suite during a cruise.  It has nothing to do with Regent; it’s just the amount of people on a smaller ship.  I think they do a great job trying, but it’s a matter of space.

 

Things are going well, still enjoying the cruise as we come near the end.  Then crew/staff really have been outstanding.  In our suite we have Jelly and Celine taking care of cleaning, turn down and just general care.  They really are great, you almost never see them and when you do they always have a smile and ask if we need anything at all. We don’t because everything is perfect.  And Bobby our Butler, you couldn’t ask for a better person-he’s been the best Butler we’ve had on a ship.  Except maybe for Mr. Churchill on “O”, but at least it’s a tie.  After all this is a big part of a cruise for us, not that we need a Butler - but it sure is nice when you have one that know how to handle everything and you.

 

Lunch today is in La Veranda with our friends from Canada.  Nice lunch, nice afternoon.

 

The weather today isn’t good, rain and fog most of the day.  The pilot boarded the ship to take us into Hubbard Glacier Bay.  Today wasn’t the day to be here, they got as near as they could.  Sorry for those guests that have never been here before, the fog was just too much to view the Glacier today.  We did get to the ice flow which was beautiful on its own but not the show you wanted to see.

Here are so photos of Hubbard Glacier, the photos don’t do it justices at all.  The area is just beautiful and you really have to be here in person to appreciate what you’re seeing.

 

All in all a nice day, sunset is 9:46PM tonight and seas aren’t so calm – a little bouncy with 10 foot swells.

 

Tonight dinner will be in Sette Mari, yes it is not our favorite but we want to try it one more time.  Let you know later how it worked for us.

[Hambagahle]

Churchill is simply the best butler we have ever had!   He is a totally amazing man and a real delight to get to know as well.  It would be just heaven if he moved from Oceania to Regent and then was our butler on the Splendour!!

[bissel]

 thanks particularly for your comments on the suite.

[HonTri]

8 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

As I said before its still raining and places like the Coffee Connection are very busy, crowded finding a place to sit is next to impossible.  This is why we enjoy a little larger suite during a cruise.  It has nothing to do with Regent; it’s just the amount of people on a smaller ship.  I think they do a great job trying, but it’s a matter of space.

 

Things are going well, still enjoying the cruise as we come near the end.  Then crew/staff really have been outstanding.  In our suite we have Jelly and Celine taking care of cleaning, turn down and just general care.  They really are great, you almost never see them and when you do they always have a smile and ask if we need anything at all. We don’t because everything is perfect.  And Bobby our Butler, you couldn’t ask for a better person-he’s been the best Butler we’ve had on a ship.  Except maybe for Mr. Churchill on “O”, but at least it’s a tie.  After all this is a big part of a cruise for us, not that we need a Butler - but it sure is nice when you have one that know how to handle everything and you.

 

Lunch today is in La Veranda with our friends from Canada.  Nice lunch, nice afternoon.

 

The weather today isn’t good, rain and fog most of the day.  The pilot boarded the ship to take us into Hubbard Glacier Bay.  Today wasn’t the day to be here, they got as near as they could.  Sorry for those guests that have never been here before, the fog was just too much to view the Glacier today.  We did get to the ice flow which was beautiful on its own but not the show you wanted to see.

Here are so photos of Hubbard Glacier, the photos don’t do it justices at all.  The area is just beautiful and you really have to be here in person to appreciate what you’re seeing.

 

All in all a nice day, sunset is 9:46PM tonight and seas aren’t so calm – a little bouncy with 10 foot swells.

 

Tonight dinner will be in Sette Mari, yes it is not our favorite but we want to try it one more time.  Let you know later how it worked for us.

We had Bobby for our butler too. Boarding in Vancouver on the 16th. Say hi from the Flatt's.

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm hoping we can find some meals at Sette Mare that we enjoy, since I do like more casual dining sometimes.

 

On 5/10/2019 at 10:43 AM, Hambagahle said:

...  I really don't like the Italian restaurant on the Oceania ships, Toscana.  ...

 

I so agree about Toscana--so ersatz even compared to a good Italian restaurant here in Toronto, let alone Italy!

[Travelcat2]

We really enjoy the antipasti bar in Sette Mari and can make a meal out of that and some soup.  While I do not think that it is the best Regent dining venue, it is fine occasionally.  In terms of Toscana on Oceania, it is also okay - not nearly as bad as the the Terrace Cafe on Oceania where they serve pasta that just came out of cold water.

[kjbacon]

We were very surprised by Sette Mari and it was our favorite restaurant on board. We loved the antipasto bar and it was great to have the regular fist bites to count on like the roasted garlic as well as rotating first bites so it was never boring.

[Travelcat2]

As the Mariner heads south, the weather should warm a bit. We (Bellingham, WA and Vancouver, BC) have had a heatwave that will break tomorrow (Sunday).  Weather will be in the mid-60's next week so that hopefully will be more comfortable.

[SWFLAOK]

On 5/7/2019 at 6:16 PM, ronrick1943 said:

Dinner last night was at Chartreuse, we both started with the foie gras which was very rich and full of favor.  Very nice presentation as you’ll see.  Ron had the filet of beef and I had the lamb, both cooked to perfection.  Dessert was an apple tart and a napoleon which ended the meal.  At the table next to us was 1Teacher53, they joined us for coffee as we enjoyed the rest of the evening.

 

That pretty much did it for us, we by passed the theater and went up to our suite for the night.

 

Lunch today will be at La Veranda of course and dinner will be at Compass Rose.  And believe it or not we’re going to the theater as the Production Cast will be doing Broadway in Concert.

 

 

That looks so delicious. I can't wait to get back onboard a Regent cruise. I'm not someone who ever orders a large steak. Chartruese has my perfect menu. Prime 7 has my husband's perfect menu.

[ronrick1943]

18 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

Churchill is simply the best butler we have ever had!   He is a totally amazing man and a real delight to get to know as well.  It would be just heaven if he moved from Oceania to Regent and then was our butler on the Splendour!!

If you get Bobby, you'll be happy.

[ronrick1943]

8 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We were very surprised by Sette Mari and it was our favorite restaurant on board. We loved the antipasto bar and it was great to have the regular fist bites to count on like the roasted garlic as well as rotating first bites so it was never boring.

And that's the way it should be, everyone should have an opinion--how boring it would be if everyone liked the same thing.

[ronrick1943]

Good morning from Sitka, a small village type of town.  The town is cute and small and partly sunny this morning with a chance of rain later today and a high of 49 degrees.  We’ll get off the ship and go in to town today, no tour for us today.  We got here early and docked around 8AM, a few minutes later, the Maasdam (Holland America) ship pulled in next to us, first time this has happened on this trip so it looks like season is starting.  Just found out that Sitka is really a city, in fact the biggest city in the United States, but that is land wise, not people.  I think the 49 degrees is the high today because it does seem colder than that.

 

And now it’s really cold with rain and more rain.  The rain finally stopped, but it’s still cold.  Goes to sunny, no sun and cold.  I guess one could say you have no idea what the weather will be during the day here.

 

Dinner last night was Sette Mari, good but nothing special and I think it’s my least favorite on the ship.  Being honest service really was excellent; Jackson did an outstanding job as always.

 

This morning was Hot Chocolate and lunch once again was in La Veranda which is always good.  I really don’t like buffets at all, but I do enjoy this one as Regent knows how to do it right.

 

Surprising they ran out of Ron’s non-alcoholic chardonnay wine, I mean looking around I don’t see too many people drinking non-alcoholic drinks on this cruise.  Knowing ahead of time that we don’t drink running out doesn’t cut it with me. Oh! What to do?  We’ll get over it within a few minutes, or not.

 

Internet?  Good, Bad, Maybe…..Well today from this morning we have No Internet period, it’s been out all day and they have no idea went will be back but are hoping sometime tonight.  It’s on so we can send this now.

 

Here’s a photo at port here in Sitka.

[ronrick1943]

One more....

[ronrick1943]

On 5/10/2019 at 1:13 AM, liptastic said:

Rick continuing to enjoy your live blog and photographs. The views look stunning. Thanks for taking the time to post,   Jean. 

Thank you, glad you're enjoying the post-we are having a great time.

[ronrick1943]

It’s evening in Sitka and we decided to have a few people over for cocktails and Hors d’ oeuvre for sail away party in our suite.  These are people we’ve met on the ship and had dinner, lunch or drink’s with during this cruise.  Nice group of guest with lot’s to talk about making it an enjoyable evening.  It was nice that Adam (Ass’t cruise Director), Marla (Social Director) and Vladimir (Food & Beverage Director)

Stopped by to say hello and see how things were going.      

 

Nice extra we didn’t plan because we’re having a good time no one was ready with their camera so no pictures taken of the whale we saw just off the port side of the ship.  Came up a few times and spouted water. 

 

We didn’t want to overdue and keep light and fun, Regent did a great job.  Bobby our Butler handled everything making it easy for us so we could enjoy the company.

 

We had enough food during the party so we didn’t go to dinner tonight. 

 

Tomorrow is Juneau arriving at 9:00AM and departing at 11:00PM.  So we’ll be off the ship lunching at Tracy’s Crab House-which we’re looking forward to eating a lot of King Crab, a lot. 

[crusin7]

Looks  scrumptious!  I’m glad you both are having such a good cruise.  So are we.  One of our best. 

[Hambagahle]

13 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I'm hoping we can find some meals at Sette Mare that we enjoy, since I do like more casual dining sometimes.

 

 

I so agree about Toscana--so ersatz even compared to a good Italian restaurant here in Toronto, let alone Italy!

I said on a previous post that I have had some "pretentious" meals on board at times.  Nothing more so that Toscana - choosing the olive oil from an olive oil "menu" - there is NO restaurant in all of Italy that would do that.  It took the prize for pretentiousness!!  And we do not eat there any more.

[kjbacon]

10 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

And that's the way it should be, everyone should have an opinion--how boring it would be if everyone liked the same thing.

So true 🙂

 

Your party pictures are fabulous! Is that artichokes under the olives on the charcuterie tray ? I also would have made a meal out of that gorgeous spread.