Escape from reality / Splendor Feb 3rd. 14 days southern Caribbean

[macbest]

2 hours ago, poolechick said:

Thanks Macbest. We are booked for this excursion next February. 

The first time we saw Bequia was when we took a Windjammer cruise in 1999. Can't wait to see it again!

Super secret tip! Want to be in the shade on the long ride over to the island? Sit on the starboard side. The port side is in the sun Both ways! 

[macbest]

Dinner Prime 7 leaving St. Vincent 

 

We got back from our excursion went to the pool for a drink, said high to Datawcruiser, and then returned to clean up. Eric looked at the compass rose restaurant and didn’t see anything that grabbed us. Talked about going to Sette Mari but decided to see if we could get back into Prime 7. Recall one week today we had a less than great experience. Sure enough there was an opening at 6:30 for us. 

 

After a round at Meridian lounge (they know “Laura’s cosmo” recipe now and a new gin drink on the menu we went off to Prime 7. Welcome greeting from the maiter D and a nice table we started our meal. 

 

Won’t show repeats but again start you with a tomato soup shooter with a Parmesan blue cheese cheddar foam. Really enjoyable. For apps Laura had the crab cake i had a week and loved it. I was concerned that a week out from fresh food and the crab could be fishy. Nope they nailed it. On true side was a picked red onion and some microgreens. Don’t ignore these as they make a great add to the crab cake. In fact consider putting the crab cake on top of this and eating it together. Trust me on this one. 

 

I had the steak tartare which was excellent. If you order ask for a small dollop or dijon mustard. Other than that, perfect. 

 

We redid the wedge salad but this time received “ample” dressing. Bacon was excellent with it (more smoky and tasted fresher than the first night). 

Our entrees included a 18 oz bone in rib eye and I tried the double cut pork chop. With some help from our excellent waiter, Harish (the only Harish on any of the Regent ships I’m told), we included three different sauces for the pork. What a treat. The winner hands down was the habenero-maple bbq sauce. Everyone goes for the steak but don’t miss the other options as this was one of the best pork chops i have had in a while. 

Sides Included the crispy onion rings (dip those in the habanero-maple bbq sauce and tell me that is not the bomb!), green beans, mushrooms, and twice baked potato (don’t get this it isn’t anything special). 

A meal like that and that should be it but because we “paced” ourselves Laura had the key lime pie and I, for the first time in probably 20 visits to prime 7 had the 14 layer chocolate cake with a pistachio cream sauce. Ok and a scoop of the only ice cream made on the boat (the rest is “brought in”) vanilla (ok to be honest the chocolate in prime 7 is the other one). Both were incredible and while tough to finish it really is a treat to try. Besides look at it, it’s small! Not like a “real slice” or cake. 

Excellent meal all around. For wines they had  J Lohr Syrah (Ca) which was ok and then I asked for the Wente Merlot with the pork (from a previous night  selection) which was excellent

[DatawCruiser]

Barbados…We went past the main cruise docks this morning, which appeared to have room, and ended up docking at a bulk processing pier.  There is a loud steady noise from machinery of some kind. Not what I would expect from a luxury cruise.  Here is the view from my suite.

 

[DatawCruiser]

Barbados…We went past the main cruise docks this morning, which appeared to have room, and ended up docking at a bulk processing pier.  There is a loud steady noise from machinery of some kind. Not what I would expect from a luxury cruise.  Here is the view from my suite.

 

[PinkMEB]

We have the same lovely view! All the others ports have been so scenic. Hopefully, this is a one time thing. We love sitting on our balcony. 

[Pcardad]

5 hours ago, DatawCruiser said:

Barbados…We went past the main cruise docks this morning, which appeared to have room, and ended up docking at a bulk processing pier.  There is a loud steady noise from machinery of some kind. Not what I would expect from a luxury cruise.  Here is the view from my suite.

 

 

You could make a coffee table book with scenes like this from around the world. Myanmar was pretty awful.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Add Murmansk Russia to that list!

 

[macbest]

Dinner compass Rose leaving Barbados

 

Started with the spicy tuna maki. It came with salmon sashimi but neither one of us cares for slam on so they bumped up the maki. Very tasty. 

 

Next up was the chicken and vegetable spring rolls. They came hot and crispy just like they should be. Filled with delicious stuffing they were served with a Thai sauce. Really good. 

 

While Laura keeps customizing her salad (mixed greens, balsamic dressing with shaved Parmesan - not on menu) I tried the veal ragout over rigatoni noodles. The Broth was amazing almost like a meat broth but even taste year this was a real hit. 

 

For the main entrée we both had beef Bourguignon. I probably should’ve ordered mine without noodles as I just ate the beef part without the noodles. Nice chunks of smoky pancetta with carrots and mushrooms. It was good but not quite the way we make it at home which has more gravy/sauce. 

 

Our server, Kevin is awesome. He has now dialed in our special requests like our sparkling water with ice and lemon. And the wine steward is realizing Laura likes Chardonnay and I am more of a red fan. Tonight we had a nice Shiraz from Peter Lehman from Australias barrosa valley. 

[macbest]

Excursion - “discover Barbados”. This was a four hour excursion that visited all the back roads of Barbados. Almost entirely on the bus it made three stops. The first was at a tropical garden that I thought we were going to get out and walk around. Instead they gave us a drink coupon and had us walk through a store and sat there for 20 minutes resting. It was ridiculous. Then off to a church that after we came out of the church, and it was just ok (but a cool pipe organ given its age), I think it was Saint James parish, a hearse pulled up and they ended up having a funeral right then. Talk about odd. 

 

The last stop was to look at large waves on a beach on the Atlantic side. The rest of the 4 hours was going up and down super narrow residential streets, barely avoiding cars, with many pot holes. I think the driver made over 1000 turns on the many, many streets. 

 

I guess you can tell but I don’t recommend this excursion. 

[pdaniel]

We are also on this cruise.  Exceptional food, service, and splendor suite.

 

Just an interesting note… this morning on our way to LaVeranda for breakfast a little after 8, we could not help but notice that every single chaise lounger in shade had books, etc. reserving their space.  Only one gentleman was present, all of the rest were unoccupied.  When asked, the attendant said many held their spot even before he could set up the pool deck.  😂😂😂

 

We were then rewarded with a Saturday Bloody Mary and Mimosa and a beautiful rainbow!

 

We feel lucky and blessed to be onboard this beautiful ship!

[macbest]

1 minute ago, pdaniel said:

We are also on this cruise.  Exceptional food, service, and splendor suite.

 

Just an interesting note… this morning on our way to LaVeranda for breakfast a little after 8, we could not help but notice that every single chaise lounger in shade had books, etc. reserving their space.  Only one gentleman was present, all of the rest were unoccupied.  When asked, the attendant said many held their spot even before he could set up the pool deck.  😂😂😂

 

 

That’s a serious problem in noticing. And today we are in Roseau where you would think they would be getting off today on an excursion. Regent attendants need to hold to their policy that is in the passages daily of 30 min hold time or they pick up your stuff. But what pool attendant would want to get yelled at or worse be in some comment card! Hence they need an officer to do it. We have not been able to sit by the pool on this cruise yet 9 days yet!

[mrlevin]

5 minutes ago, macbest said:

That’s a serious problem in noticing. And today we are in Roseau where you would think they would be getting off today on an excursion. Regent attendants need to hold to their policy that is in the passages daily of 30 min hold time or they pick up your stuff. But what pool attendant would want to get yelled at or worse be in some comment card! Hence they need an officer to do it. We have not been able to sit by the pool on this cruise yet 9 days yet!

I was told by GM on Splendor that Regent policy is to never touch personal belongings on lounges.  This was due to an incident wherein a guest claimed that a valuable item was missing when his stuff was moved.  

 

Not a problem for the single loungers but definitely a problem on the two person loungers in shade.  If my wife wanted one I would get breakfast at 0700 and then lay in a lounger by 0715 until she got up.

[dodgerdoug]

Simple solution in reality. No one should be allowed to "reserve" their lounger at poolside. If you need to get up for any reason one relinquishes the lounger. If you go into the pool have your partner on the adjacent lounger hold your lounger until you return. They can always trade off. To do otherwise is just selfish and rude to all other passengers. As for the person who "claims" to have lost something valuable when they left the area, they have only themselves to blame. It's unfortunate but careless of them. This may seem Draconian to some, it is the best solution for ALL, IMHO.

[wcsdkqh]

51 minutes ago, dodgerdoug said:

Simple solution in reality. No one should be allowed to "reserve" their lounger at poolside. If you need to get up for any reason one relinquishes the lounger. If you go into the pool have your partner on the adjacent lounger hold your lounger until you return. They can always trade off. To do otherwise is just selfish and rude to all other passengers. As for the person who "claims" to have lost something valuable when they left the area, they have only themselves to blame. It's unfortunate but careless of them. This may seem Draconian to some, it is the best solution for ALL, IMHO.

Geeze. Lose you seat because you get up to go to the bar or restroom, or even in the pool. Get real.

[Granite543]

First of all, thanks to all for the amazing thread! Especially thanks macbest! Im living vicariously through your posts. 🙂

 

As for the chair issue, I agree it's a bit too strict to relinquish a chair to dip in the pool or go to the bathroom. I'd love to see an electronic chair registration system akin to how you reserve seats in movie theater. You can then restrict it by limiting reservations to a set amount of time per day, etc. Maybe a bit pricey to implement, but worth it especially for a luxury cruise line.

[-Lew-]

On 2/7/2022 at 4:01 AM, macbest said:

Also tried the pesto pasta with shrimp. I don’t know why they call it pesto when it’s not green but we have seen this before on regent. Either way it was delicious with bits of shrimp not while shrimp.

 

 

It appears you were a victim of the bane of basil pesto lovers everywhere...tomato pesto!!  Why restaurants don't specify basil or tomato pesto on their menus is beyond me.  I learned the hard way to ask.

 

Excellent trip report...thank you!!

[-Lew-]

On 2/9/2022 at 9:07 AM, dodgerdoug said:

On 2/8/2022 at 7:42 AM, macbest said:

Excursion review in Bonaire- Spice beach Resort...

 

...We spoke to everyone that came on our bus and everyone was disappointed. I wouldn’t recommend. 

 

Thank you so much for your review of Spice Beach Club.  We just booked this for January 2023...looks like it's back to the drawing board for Bonaire.

 

On 2/9/2022 at 9:07 AM, dodgerdoug said:

Most unfortunate that you picked this one. We were on the Explorer holiday cruise recently and went on the Samure, See & Sea in Bonaire. Of all the ports this was one of the best for us. The snorkeling was excellent with good, provided, equipment.

 

Looks like Samur Sail, Beach & Snorkel might be the way to go.  We'll certainly consider it when rebooking something in Bonaire.  Thank you...

[physadv]

Macbest- no need to wait another day for a double lounge in the shade. One just came open next to us near the smoking lounge.

Thanks for your posts.

[Huggsy]

This reserving of chairs is absolute nonsense and has got out of control; the crew should take onus on this and make a set rule so it's fair to all passengers.

[Camillus112]

When my DH and I go to the pool area, we do not need a lounge chair...we leave the towels, card keys and sun glasses at the edge of the pool in order to just get in the pool.  I wonder if we had a place to store our belongings in the pool deck, other passengers just wanting to enjoy the pool might not need a lounge chair to place their stuff...just wondering.

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Camillus112
left out word

[macbest]

Excursion - Dominica - River tubing and Emerald Pool

 

Two completely different excursions rolled into one. We started at the river where you put on a life vest and helmet. You can’t really bring anything since everything gets wet. Hint: bring a waterproof camera as these are photos you would want. The staff is super helpful putting you in the tube and they follow along with you so you don’t get stuck on rocks or slow moving water. This trip will be different depending on water level and speed. There were maybe 30-40 of us and it was a great time. Anyone can do this and I saw a number of older people having a jolly good time (their words). It lasts maybe 45 min and you get out at the end before the river dumps into the ocean. You can leave items on the bus as it meets you down river. Sorry no pictures. 

 

Then a 45 min drive to the Emerald Pool, a UNESCO site. The drive there is full of turns and climbs along with a bumpy road for about half of it. When you arrive there is a 15 min walk, but it drops like 1000 feet. Some downhill walking and then 110 steps down to the pond. Pictures shown. This is a beautiful refreshing stop but not for the faint of heart. Those steps you came down now must be climbed. 

 

I recommend this trip but not that there are other combinations. River tubing with a waterfall and one other. So you do have options and the are all totally separate. 

[macbest]

Dinner compass Rose leaving Dominica

 

Started with a yellow fin tuna carpaccio, super thin sliced with a light olive oil and pepper. Very good.

Laura stayed on the left side tonight (the always available menu). She had the signature foie gras and it was really good. Something you rarely have. with a fig jam. 

She went with a Cesar while I had a left side item, the poached egg with truffle on an asparagus coulis. Wow forgot how amazing this is. The egg is warm with a soft yoke the the truffle shavings really make it. Don’t miss this.

A hearts of palm salad with a green goddess (remember this from the 70s? Where did it go?) was delicious. 

 

We both went simple for the entree, a spaghetti bolognese and a pad Thai (minus tofu, add chicken which they so warmly replace just for asking!).

Ice cream for dessert. A nice meal. We calculated our extensive on board credits won’t get used (and are non refundable) so we ordered a Cakebread Chardonnay. Yummy. Crisp almost Chablis like which was great with the meal. The included red was a Pinotage from South Africa. 

 

Oh and a wonderful sunset!

[mrstanley]

RE:  POOL CHAIR HOGS

Since the crew is not allowed to enforce or remove someone's belongings from a pool chair I removed their things myself and placed their belongings on a table. These two people were gone 2 hours and my friends wanted to sit in the chairs. So... I moved their stuff. They had no idea who moved their things and I didn't feel badly about doing so. 

[macbest]

Excursion - Antigua - champagne and Lobster catamaran sail

 

We went around and around on selecting an excursion for this port. On a previous trip we did the Nicole’s Table cooking class which was amazing. We tried to get Into the Blue Waters resort  each retreat from the beginning (the first day months ago when you could do an advance booking as a gold member) and it was sold out then! So we settled for the Dickinson bay beach break. I got a little worried when i had heard that due to Covid we might not be able to rent chairs and umbrellas (at an additional charge!). 

 

Then when we got on board the waitlist for the Blue Water resort  cleared! We were so excited as an excursion that includes  a beach and pools (and meals and drinks) would be perfect for us for relaxing. 

 

One day prior to the excursion we found out that Regent overbooked and we (and 6 others!) lost the reservation. Bummed, we wondered what would be left as we tuned our other tickets in. 

 

Mariia from destination services recommended the champagne and lobster tour. It ended up being one of the best tours yet!  Super leisurely sail to two different beaches. And between the two, they set up tables on the shaded catamaran and grilled some fabulous lobsters!  (I think I’ll have the lobster vs the cracked crab!). 

 

Now I’m not much of a lobster fan as it usually is over cooked and rubbery. Not so this time. It was perfect! And what a setting. See pictures. The booze was nonstop. Way more than champagne pretty much whatever you wanted. Wine, beer, rum punch, pina colada, etc. super relaxing great day. Highly recommend. “Champagne wishes and lobster dreams”. And no additional charge! Amazing after paying $99 a few ports back for a similar experience.  And no where near as good food as this trip. 

sailing down the coast  
first beach stop 

second beach stop 

Giorgio Armani’s house. Only $88,000 a week to rent!

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

We did the lobster and catamaran tour several years ago… it still is a great memory!