Splendor Transatlantic 04/05/22 - 04/19/22: Crystallized Foodies try out Regent...well cuz

[pnsnkr]

@pnsnkr& @islandchick

 

Jeez, another thread on the transatlantic?!?  We felt bad to pile on to the other thread but now that we've figured out how to transfer food porn from camera to the phone via Splendor Wifi, we got pictures... Lotsa pictures.  Maybe a few of the ship as well. 

 

The Captain woke us up this morning from deep food coma only to announce that there'll be more food to be had onboard because we are skipping Ponta Delgado!  We think somebody on our deck was so angry that they flushed their tour tickets down the toilet, cuz ours don't flush anymore.

 

Oh nooooo!

 

Anyway...

 

 

Now that we have five more sea days ahead including today, let's start at the beginning.  Or, before the beginning to bid adeau to Crystal; you shall be missed and hope you rise back from the ashes of Genting.

 

 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

I’ll be very interested to read your thoughts on Regent.  We had our first Crystal cruise lined up and we never got there...so on to Regent Explorer which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Our main comparison is suites on Celebrity and we thought Regent was significantly better in almost every area.  Thanks for posting your observations. 
 

Joanie

[pnsnkr]

The pre-cruise drama & ecstacy

 

It's the big five-oh milestone for the DW and to celebrate under the northern lights, we'd booked an elaborate dream vacation deep in the snowfields of Alaskan wilderness for early February - well, Chena hot springs, really.

 

But, DW wasn't feeling it come NY and wanted to be pampered on a cruise, instead.  So, we booked one on Crystal and the suite we wanted to try was also available.  Our joy lasted but a few days and life got suddenly frantic.  Luckily, everything was squared away and we were able to find rooms on the Regent transatlantic by late February.

 

Since it was last-minute by cruise standards, the Regent Air option didn't quite work out, what with every fine print getting triggered for our flight options making it more expensive and potentially hassle ridden than it was worth it.  So, we made our own flight plans but opted to keep the Regent pre-cruise hotel stay - more about the hotel in the next post.

 

And so the countdown to departure-day began and we couldn't get enough of the scant information available on the inter tubes that we watched the few available videos on YT multiple times to bide our time.  

 

[ronrick1943]

Hope you enjoyed the cruise, transatlantic are my favored.  Looking forward to seeing you post.

[islabahia]

Looking forward to your blog!  Our son is on this cruise also and loving it!

[pnsnkr]

The Departure

 

We live in the Texas Hill Country, "just outside of weird" and it's always an adventure to make it past the traffic madness to get to ABIA, but the traffic demons had a day off on Monday and it was a smooth uneventful trip to the airport; even the TSA-pre line was fast-moving and the agent shockingly didn't greet us with the usual scowl face.  Not wanting to risk the mystery food that awaited us on our AA flight, we tried Salt Licks sandwiches and they were surprisingly good for airport grub - pulled pork and brisket

 

The flight to MIA was uneventful, but we do have a love-hate relationship with MIA - we love to hate it, and it didn't fail to deliver.  Our baggage took a minor eternity to arrive putting us in rush-hour traffic to get to the hotel.

 

 

[Gilly]

Oh, the Salt Lick....happy memories of a July 4th eating brisket and burned ends there with dear friends. I'd forgotten that little bonus at Austin airport and the happy accident that results in a direct flight with BA to LHR from there.  Yum.

 

Have a great cruise - I'm looking forward to tagging along here.

[RetiredandTravel]

24 minutes ago, Gilly said:

Oh, the Salt Lick....happy memories of a July 4th eating brisket and burned ends there with dear friends. I'd forgotten that little bonus at Austin airport and the happy accident that results in a direct flight with BA to LHR from there.  Yum.

 

Have a great cruise - I'm looking forward to tagging along here.

 

The only thing more over rated than Texas Bar BQ  are the Dallas Cowboys.   Next time you want some real BARBQ son (ma'am) travel to North Carolina.

[Gilly]

14 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

The only thing more over rated than Texas Bar BQ  are the Dallas Cowboys.   Next time you want some real BARBQ son (ma'am) travel to North Carolina.

 

Oh no!  I didn't intend to begin a BBQ debate, honestly (because everything I've eaten on the west side of the Atlantic has been vastly superior to that in Europe...)  Perhaps @RetiredandTravel you'll forgive me if I clarify that the Salt Lick experience was special because of the occasion, the company and the circumstances too?   My USA BBQ sampling of each state is not quite complete - hopefully once we are all travelling freely again, I'll gather the remaining data from North Dakota (!) 🤣   and declare a winner.

(Ha!  As if I, an Englishwoman, would dare to do that 😉!  )

 

I'd love your recommendation for your favourite N Carolina BBQ though, please!  (with my apologies to the OP for taking this thread off topic 🙏)

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Gilly

[RetiredandTravel]

NC BARBQ is more vinegar based.  The best places are smaller off the beating path joints.  Great Stuff.

 

Here is a recent list of recommendations by Southern Living

 

https://www.southernliving.com/food/bbq/10-must-visit-carolina-barbecue-joints

 

 

[Turn 8A]

3 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

The only thing more over rated than Texas Bar BQ  are the Dallas Cowboys. 

👍 

[pnsnkr]

Ooohh, the thread has already become controversial.  Just got done with our dinner at the Pacific Rim and a fun "guess the tune" night at the observation lounge.  But, more about these down thread.

 

For tomorrow, it's pound-cake tea at tea time and so my DW has already sorta planned to kick me out of the cabin to go play poker instead, so I'll see how much I can get in the way of a review tomorrow.  Just for our sakes if you wish to follow this thread, let's hope it's not fruit-cake tea the day after or I'm gonna have to shlep my way back to the casino again.

 

Until then... Gnite all y'all.

[ronrick1943]

Looking forward to  reading more, sound like it’s going to be an great time if you don’t have BBQ on the ship😂—but if you do tell us about it.

[pnsnkr]

On 4/11/2022 at 2:23 PM, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

I’ll be very interested to read your thoughts on Regent.  We had our first Crystal cruise lined up and we never got there...so on to Regent Explorer which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Our main comparison is suites on Celebrity and we thought Regent was significantly better in almost every area.  Thanks for posting your observations. 
 

Joanie

 

We were Crystallized after our one and only cruise with them.  We were so looking forward to our second one but our excitement was snatched away after only a few days of booking the cruise.  Glad we found solace in Regent and it is indeed turning out to be a 6-star experience, but with one or two two-and-a-half star moments sprinkled in.  Will write more about them.

 

On 4/11/2022 at 2:50 PM, ronrick1943 said:

Hope you enjoyed the cruise, transatlantic are my favored.  Looking forward to seeing you post.

 

Still enjoying it! 😃

 

16 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Looking forward to  reading more, sound like it’s going to be an great time if you don’t have BBQ on the ship😂—but if you do tell us about it.

 

They did have a BBQ day but it's just grilling.  It was a hard pass for us.

 

9 hours ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

Pnsknr,

 

Welcome to the happy  Splendor TA cruisers! We must have been on the same flight from DFW!

 

If you haven't yet, join our Roll Call. We are still chatting away. We are also active out on RSSC on FB.

 

Loved your take on our missed port! Just more food opportunities. 

 

See you around the ship!

 

Martha

 

Yes we are on the roll call thread as well.  See you around, Martha!  We are hard to miss 😃

 

Just got back to the room after a mediocre lunch at the poolside grill.  Just chilling in the suite and catching up on writing, after deciding to skip poker.  There are still plenty of sea days left for a casino visit 

 

 

[pnsnkr]

The Hotel

 

AKA Brickell, seems to be a fairly new offering that even the cab driver at the airport didn't recognize it and asked us for the street address.  There used to be a Conrad before.  The lobby is on the 25th floor and we were directed to check-in at the Regent desk before visiting the front desk.  First sign of trouble was our assigned shuttle timeslot of 11:30a the following day when Regent had already assigned us the same time for check-in at the pier.

 

We then proceeded to the front desk to get our room that we couldn't change since it was pre-assigned by Regent; three floors down from the lobby with a C-view -  concrete jungle of Miami.  Second sign of trouble.  An absolute first-world problem for sure but for the $$$/pp charged by a 6-star line, our expectations were a tad bit underserved.  The room rates for that week were unusually high as per folks reporting on the roll call thread and so Regent did their best to accommodate, we believe.  

 

 

The hotel restaurant didn't have good reviews so went with Uber Eats to have dinner from nearby Swagat Indian restaurant and wine from local market delivered.  They forgot to include utensils so DW improvised 😃

 

The two curry dishes were delish, but the chicken 65 ought to be removed from their menu.  We retired for the night after a while, all excited for the next day but still very tired from a really long day.

 

 

 

 

[pnsnkr]

Embarkation

 

Woke up ever so eager but still unable to shake the fatigue from previous day, we made our way to the 3rd floor ballroom for special breakfast arranged by Regent.  It was a buffet spread, quite sorry-looking with boring and tired options.  We just had toast, juice and coffee knowing the feast that awaits us once we get on board.

 

We made our way to the valet station downstairs a few minutes before our allotted time for the ride to the pier and were greeted with fellow cruisers waiting for their turn:

 

 

After a few more minutes of waiting, they finally got us in an orderly manner to our respective motor coaches and off we were ferried to the pier - and all of us from various buses dumped in front of the COVID screening tent.  We snailed our way through the long serpentine line for our turn to finally get screened inside the tent that had scant air conditioning and no bathroom in sight - luckily it was early April.

 

Once inside the pier, the security clearance was a breeze only to find us in another line for the Bermuda TA approval check.  Our application was still under review when we left Austin and I had a few minutes to kill at the hotel room before the shuttle ride to the pier.  So, I got on the phone with Bermuda government to expedite the approval; on good advice from the roll call thread.  We were very glad for this hint as the folks were directed to two different lines based on approval status, with only those with approval being allowed to check-in to get on the ship.  We later heard that folks were stuck for 2-or-more hours to get the approval.

 

The check-in by itself was a breeze and we finally made our way on the ship, too frazzled to even stop to take a picture of this momentous occasion.  

 

While there were requirements beyond Regent's control, there were others that Regent could have organized better and these will be communicated to them in our mid-cruise feedback.

 

Definitely not a 6-star experience. 

 

We were welcomed by a couple of crew who directed us to our muster station for check-in - what, no welcome champagne after we'd conquered the maze?  There was cheese though, along with champagne on Deck 11.  But, first order of business, where's the nearest bathroom, I gotta pee!!!

 

We are booking our own accommodation and transportation next time.  

 

[cwn]

1 hour ago, pnsnkr said:

Embarkation………

…….We are booking our own accommodation and transportation next time.  

That is the only way to go as far as we are concerned!
Anytime Regent is dealing with and depending on non Regent personal to provide service for a Regent customer there is likely to be a disconnect in good smooth service, be it getting on the ship the first time getting on and off the ship in ports of call, getting off the ship and at the pre - cruise hotel. That is our experience over the years. We do our own pre and post arrangements, period. We are always a lot less frazzled doing that. The only times we have encountered crowds and lines are these choke points. Regent shore excursions can have the same problems, but again Regent is not in control and in some areas Regent does not have a lot of choice. But Regent has never failed us on board where it counts. 

[Pudgesmom]

We saw the list in our hotel lobby- 4 buses all leaving at the same time- 11:15.  We grabbed a cab for $20 at 10:45, arrived at the port at 11:00, (boarding time was 11:30) and then proceeded through the check points without waiting.  We sat down in the terminal for about 5-10 minutes and then about 15 stations were opened for check in. The process took less

than 1/2 hour. Thanks to those here who suggested a cab.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Pudgesmom

[pnsnkr]

The luxury life begins

Day 1

 

Our room wouldn't be ready until 2:30p - I did go through a weaker moment during the build up to the cruise in March when I contemplated getting a second mortgage so I could nab the Master Suite that had just opened up; but, this was quickly nipped in the bud by the home office ( DW. ) "We could have completely bypassed the melee and be sipping the finest champagne in our suite by now, honey!".  Back in the real world, we made it to the La Veranda on Deck 11 to finally begin to unwind and take in the scene. 

The included Champagne is Heidsieck Monopole.  While it's labeled as a brut there's a fruity tinge of sweetness to the note and this is perfect for us.

 

 

We scoped out the buffet offering and picked a smorgasbord of items for our maiden Regent taste test:

 

The chicken makhanwala was perfectly rendered with the spices melded with the richness of the butter - an amazing start to the delectable culinary experience onboard.  The prime-rib rib was delicious though required some work.  One thing Crystal failed consistently on our Bahamas cruise was to deliver any good shrimp, but these ones on our plate were just right; succulent and fresh.  The seafood in the paella was great but there was a lack of flavor, it was just too subtle for our liking.  Overall, it was an awesome start, just the kind of rejuvenation to put us in festive mood.

 

By this time, announcements were made that the cabins are now open so we made our way to the home-away-from home that awaits us.

 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@pnsnkr
“when I contemplated getting a second mortgage so I could nab the Master Suite that had just opened up.”

 

Got a good laugh out of that!  😀😀

 

Love that you call your wife the home office!  My husband says he is in Finance and I am in Procurement.  That’s about right!

 

I’m really enjoying reading your comments and impressions.  Thanks for posting them.

 

Joanie

 

[pnsnkr]

Day 1 - Our Suite, sail away, Sette Mari

 

First thoughts walking down the corridor were the elegant light fixtures and the decor, quite beautiful!

 

We did splurge a bit and picked a Penthouse Suite as soon as one became available and boy are we glad!  We'd watched a few videos on YT to prepare ourselves, but stepping in made it quite real.  We're gonna enjoy this one!

 

The layout is well thought out, plenty of US power outlets by the bedside, double entry to the balcony which are lacking in other high end suites, rain shower with jets for a deep clean, an amazing closet, comfy beds that come with a pillow menu; and above all, Zahid the most wonderful Butler and Jonnel the ever-attentive suite attendant. 

 

We could get used to this.

 

Took a few pics today on Day 9 after they'd decorated the living room for DW's birthday:

 

 

 

Before long, it was time to say farewell to Miami - it always feels great to leave Miami, even better when done in style and not having to return - and we settled down in the balcony for the sail away

 

 

We wanted to enjoy alfresco dining while the weather permitted and so headed over to Sette Mari at La Veranda for dinner.

 

They have a combo buffet spread and a dinner menu but start with a wide selection of antipasti when you sit down.  The Parmesan cheese and the zucchini chips were the stand out options. We requested just these two on our next visit 

 

Overall a very tasty and flavorful selection - yummy lasagna, mussels, very fresh Branzino with crispy skin, Penne Alla Bolognese, and the flourless chocolate hazelnut cake; but, there were a few notable misses - the carbonara had cream, lotsa cream almost like an alfredo that it overwhelmed the egg part of the dish.  The sauce in the cioppino was just badly rendered tomato soup, we fished out the seafood and left the sauce alone.  The profiterole dessert was too much dough.

 

 

 

 

We were still too tired and so retired for the night after dinner.

 

 

[Camillus112]

Many years ago we visited the original, and then only, restaurant in Via de la Scrofa, which created the Alfredo sauce.  The meal was prepared table side, and it did not contain cream al all!!  Lots, lots, lots of butter in the pasta.  The butter created a cream like heaven where the pasta flowed.  Unfortunately, we in the USA expect an Alfredo sauce to be cream based...and I know differently (smiley face here).  Just saying this since I agree with the OP that the Carbonara should not have cream...neither should the Alfredo.

[RetiredandTravel]

Thanks for the Sette Mari pics, maybe our favorite.  We've never had luck with the Cioppino, getting repetitive here but the Veal Chop Milanese is awesome.

[pnsnkr]

 

Just returned from a birthday celebration dinner at Prime 7.  We've now eaten at all venues - except the cook your own food but pay us venue or the Champagne lunch - and so which one won us over?  

 

We'll get there soon enough.  Gnite all y'all.

 

 

[rallydave]

3 minutes ago, pnsnkr said:

 

Just returned from a birthday celebration dinner at Prime 7.  We've now eaten at all venues - except the cook your own food but pay us venue or the Champagne lunch - and so which one won us over?  

 

We'll get there soon enough.  Gnite all y'all.

 

 

Not aware of any Regent cook your own food or any any pay us food venue. You must explain/clarify.