The not too controversial Explorer live holiday report!

[kjbacon]

7 hours ago, GOARMY said:

kjbacon:  Reference your #90 posting--

 

A bit-tardy on this response, but please extend our best to Richard.  He was our Butler on Explorer's Barcelona-Miami October 31-November 15th TA crossing.  A consummate professional.  

 

Happened to mention, when initially meeting Richard on the 31st that this TA cruise was our first reentry having had three other Regent segments canceled due to COVID.  The most-significant of which was to have been at San Diego on March 14, 2020.  We were set to board Splendor on that date for a cruise to NYC, during which the plan was to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary onboard with CD John Barron presiding at a Renewal of Vows ceremony. 

 

Well, we got to Regent's hotel on March 13.  That was as close as we got to Splendor.  Got the word that afternoon--cancelation due to COVID.  So, on the 14th--back to the airport for return to SEATAC.  And--basic stay-at-home for the next 19 months.  

 

Back to early November '21.  Upon returning from dinner at about 2100H--there was Richard in the hallway outside our Penthouse.  Also present were our Suite Attendants.  Hmmm--

 

All escorted us in.  They had rearranged the entire Suite.  Like--for a Honeymoon.  Table set-up for a 4-level Chocolate cake, with accompanying Champagne, and all the trimmings.  The only thing missing would have been a violinist. 

 

Just kidding.  Point being: total attention to detail.  Typical of Regent. 

 

Our hope is to meet Richard--or one of his associates--again sometime on segments planned for 2022 and 2023.  Time and Tide will dictate. 

 

Please pass on our best regards to Richard, as well as his Regent colleagues. 

 

Jim and Sue, Redmond, WA.

 

(GOARMY!) 

 

 

Jim and Sue, you warmed my heart with that story and I thank you for a special start to my day.

 

12 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Test positive?

 

I wonder how many in isolation without testing positive?

 

What happens in 2 days when we get to Miami and you are still in quarantine?

I can’t speak to this particular circumstance but I can tell you that my room steward is in isolation, with a current negative test, due to contract tracing. Rumor has it that several people in the laundry area are in that spot as well.

 

Last week, on Sunday, was mandatory testing for all crew so it should be interesting to see how that plays out today.

 

The suggestion made yesterday by some for specific staff to monitor the face mask compliance is a very good one.

 

We are currently at 25 confirmed cases but without any testing for passengers and a week without crew testing, the actual number is bound to be higher.

 

Yesterday, we had 2 more encounters with an unmasked passenger in an elevator. Guess I’m that magnet everyone talks about!

 

It looks like the Sunday sea day brunch is not happening today but I’m sure to learn more as the day progresses.

Edited January 2, 2022 by kjbacon

[kjbacon]

And just like that, the sun rises on our last full day!

We have had an absolutely wonderful time despite the challenge or two. We have been so lucky to meet so many nice people, crew and passengers, and to reconnect with crew that we’ve cruised with before. We have been truly blessed to have met 3 couples that we now call friends. Thank you (in last name alphabetical order) Lori and Chris, Nanette and Dennis, and Linda and John for the good times that become the memories!! We will certainly see you again.

Yesterday was a relaxing sea day with a swim in the spa pool, sunbathing, and booking more cruises.

We have settled into a reasonably isolated table in the observation lounge for cocktail hour and we are thankful for that. The canopy selection was good last night. My favorite was the salmon tartare.

 

We had dinner in Sette Mari and the service is improving. Food is consistently good. It is such a beautiful venue and outdoor dining is a plus.

Last night we had a potato sausage soup, lobster risotto, ricotta truffle purses in cream sauce, pan seared bronzino, and lamb shanks braised in red wine.

 

We grabbed a hazelnut cheesecake to go, finding ourselves struggling to stay awake with the time change and yes ok, maybe a little wine 🍷 

An area that could use some improvement is the breakfast variety in La Veranda. The food is very good and fresh but it is the exact same everyday except for the one daily special. It’s limiting if you want to have a healthy breakfast to start the day, especially after a couple weeks. I’d love to see an avocado toast station and a plant based (or at least turkey based) breakfast meat. 
 

May we all have a healthy and happy last day 🏝🐠☀️

Edited January 2, 2022 by kjbacon

[TomTN]

11 hours ago, GOARMY said:

kjbacon:  Reference your #90 posting--

 

A bit-tardy on this response, but please extend our best to Richard.  He was our Butler on Explorer's Barcelona-Miami October 31-November 15th TA crossing.  A consummate professional.  

 

Happened to mention, when initially meeting Richard on the 31st that this TA cruise was our first reentry having had three other Regent segments canceled due to COVID.  The most-significant of which was to have been at San Diego on March 14, 2020.  We were set to board Splendor on that date for a cruise to NYC, during which the plan was to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary onboard with CD John Barron presiding at a Renewal of Vows ceremony. 

 

Well, we got to Regent's hotel on March 13.  That was as close as we got to Splendor.  Got the word that afternoon--cancelation due to COVID.  So, on the 14th--back to the airport for return to SEATAC.  And--basic stay-at-home for the next 19 months.  

 

Back to early November '21.  Upon returning from dinner at about 2100H--there was Richard in the hallway outside our Penthouse.  Also present were our Suite Attendants.  Hmmm--

 

All escorted us in.  They had rearranged the entire Suite.  Like--for a Honeymoon.  Table set-up for a 4-level Chocolate cake, with accompanying Champagne, and all the trimmings.  The only thing missing would have been a violinist. 

 

Just kidding.  Point being: total attention to detail.  Typical of Regent. 

 

Our hope is to meet Richard--or one of his associates--again sometime on segments planned for 2022 and 2023.  Time and Tide will dictate. 

 

Please pass on our best regards to Richard, as well as his Regent colleagues. 

 

Jim and Sue, Redmond, WA.

 

(GOARMY!) 

 

 

Great story!

Makes me look forward to our first Regent cruise in late march. Fingers crossed.

[Host Dan]

Thank you kbacon for taking the time to post!  Very much appreciated!

[cwn]

54 minutes ago, Host Dan said:

Thank you kbacon for taking the time to post!  Very much appreciated!

Second that……really enjoyed your posts!

[flossie009]

@kjbacon,  Thanks for your excellent live blog. It was interesting comparing our experiences over the past month on Splendor, and then Mariner, with yours on Explorer.

You definitely outdid us on food photos 😋 We found every dish so delicious we kept forgetting to capture the moment before the plates were empty!

[Gilly]

I'll echo the thanks of everyone here and say how much I appreciated being taken along for dinner too!  It takes time to sort out photos and sit down to post them during a cruise, especially when internet speed isn't super fast, so thank you for continuing to post all the way @kjbacon!   

 

Wishing you safe travel home and continuing negative test results!!

[InsGuy3]

43 minutes ago, cwn said:

Second that……really enjoyed your posts!

Third that, kbacon. Living vicariously thru your posts. We are on the Explorer on February 4 and very much looking forward to it but also a little nervous. 

[califsealion]

Thank you for your posts!  I greatly appreciated being able to follow along.

[kjbacon]

Good morning, Miami!

 

Thank you all for the kind words! We succeeded in keeping it low on controversy, despite the circumstances, and full of what we all love … food porn!!
 

A real quick review on last night at Compass Rose. Since we were able to get a very isolated table, we had our last night there.

 

We had a mostly great meal with one fail, the Peruvian ceviche. Literally, tasteless.

Jack’s foie gras was delicious and he also enjoyed the shrimp risotto. I had spaghetti puttanesca that was an absolute home run and made up for the ceviche.

 

Jack had lamb chops (again!) and I had the Thai red curry chicken. Both were delicious.

More later, heaven forbid that we are late for our last breakfast!

[lprp]

I have loved travelling vicariously with you, salivating at the food porn 😋

Safe Travels Home

[loriva]

On 1/2/2022 at 5:57 AM, kjbacon said:

 

And just like that, the sun rises on our last full day!

We have had an absolutely wonderful time despite the challenge or two. We have been so lucky to meet so many nice people, crew and passengers, and to reconnect with crew that we’ve cruised with before. We have been truly blessed to have met 3 couples that we now call friends. Thank you (in last name alphabetical order) Lori and Chris, Nanette and Dennis, and Linda and John for the good times that become the memories!! We will certainly see you again.

 

Thanks, Karen and Jack, for making our first cruise with Regent special and meaningful!  Looking forward to meeting again.

 

Lori and Chris 

[HongKongAlan]

Thanks you also for the very enjoyable review, 

[RJ2002]

I've so enjoyed your posts and especially the photos.  Thanks so much for sharing.  Safe travels home.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Thanks so much for your fabulous photos! Safe travels home!

sheila

[crusin7]

Thank you for your uplifting views.  Your food pics were drool worthy!  Your posts were one of the highlights of my day. 

[rkaratsu]

I'm sure I gained a few pounds just looking at the yummy food pix! 😀  Thanks for your review and safe travels home!

[kjbacon]

22 hours ago, loriva said:

Thanks, Karen and Jack, for making our first cruise with Regent special and meaningful!  Looking forward to meeting again.

 

Lori and Chris 

It was our pleasure to meet you and we would love to meet again. We should compare our upcoming cruise bookings via email. Thank you for turning me on to the skinny latte!!

13 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Thanks for all this, it's been great.  A couple things:

 

- I think it's outrageous that people are not masking up.  I guess it's par for the course, but really!  I agree that they should have specific security staff warning people strongly and discreetly about this., moving randomly around the ship.  There have to be consequences of some sort.

 

- As for elevators, in my condo in Toronto, only 2 people are allowed per elevator right now.  If I was masked with my partner, in an elevator on Regent, I would ask others to wait for the next one, certainly not vacate in favour of a couple of maskless idiots.

 

- Peruvian ceviche that's tasteless, that's a darned crime!  Love that stuff, what a disappointment.

Wendy, most people did comply with the mandates but there’s always that handful of characters that just won’t. We took the stairs to and from deck 11 but when we went down to deck 5, we often took the elevator. Over the 2 weeks, we had 5 incidents with unmasked guests in the elevator and we quietly exited since tempers were already short among the passengers over this issue. The other issue was the number of people in the elevators and we felt that regent should have put a limit on just like your condo did.

 

It’s probably a good thing that the ceviche didn’t work because when I weighed myself this morning, I nearly fainted. Couldn’t spare one more ounce. The only thing that saved me is that today is the first in a couple weeks that I don’t have a hangover!! In the hopes of living long enough to cruise again, there will be lots of salads and very little wine in my future.
 

The food and beverage was tremendous with a few misses but mostly hits. Best restaurant of this trip is stuck in a tie with Jack picking Prime 7 and me picking Pacific Rim.

 

This trip’s last place restaurant this time is Chartreuse and even at that, it was still very good but with more missed dishes than any other venue.

 

Disembarkation was delayed as we waited for the luggage to be offloaded first. We weren’t told why we were behind schedule but logic suggests that the baggage handlers were short staffed. Waiting to disembark is always a bit stressful but it was not a good look for the end of this cruise with way too many people, way too close together on deck 5, with too many people not complying with  the mask mandate. Once we were cleared, it was fast  and easy for us. We learned that driving and parking at the port is best for us.

 

Hoping that our fellow passengers got home safe and sound as we all look forward to our next adventure!!

[Zqueeze1]

Great reporting and wonderful pics that made us salivate.  I hope that you got  home safe and let us know when you cruise again so we can enjoy another one of your adventures. 
Z and TB

[kjbacon]

11 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

Great reporting and wonderful pics that made us salivate.  I hope that you got  home safe and let us know when you cruise again so we can enjoy another one of your adventures. 
Z and TB

Thank you, Z, that’s quite a compliment coming from the top dog of trip reports!!

[LoveToBeOnTheSea]

I very much enjoyed your report, always looking forward to the next post. I believe I'm currently occupying your suite (a forensic photo investigation revealed the plant in your dining area picture to be the same one. 😉) My sister and I are traveling together and this suite really is the dream for us. I told Richard that you and others have made such kind comments about him on here. He was so happy to hear that!

 

(However did you manage to fit the piano in your luggage? They said it's out for repairs, but I dunno...🤔🤣)

[kjbacon]

17 hours ago, LoveToBeOnTheSea said:

I very much enjoyed your report, always looking forward to the next post. I believe I'm currently occupying your suite (a forensic photo investigation revealed the plant in your dining area picture to be the same one. 😉) My sister and I are traveling together and this suite really is the dream for us. I told Richard that you and others have made such kind comments about him on here. He was so happy to hear that!

 

(However did you manage to fit the piano in your luggage? They said it's out for repairs, but I dunno...🤔🤣)

It’s a great suite and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!! Not telling about the piano ….