GeorgiaPeach Sails the Atlantic on Splendor

[carolina cruisin]

7 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

@carolina cruisin  I am THRILLED to hear such good news from you and I’m sure everyone else is also!  My heart skipped a beat when I saw you had posted and I was apprehensive to read it… but YAY!  Great way to start the day., and I welcome any and all comments on this trip report.  You are not intruding but are most welcome to post anytime.  Just so happy for you.  All os us could feel what it would be like to be in your shoes and it just pained me to read about your situation.  I purely LOVE a book with a happy ending!  🥰🥰

 

Joanie

We have to meet sometime. Here’s hoping.  

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Sorry to be missing for so long.  Time has run away with me.  Last night we went to Sette Mari for the first time.  Wow.  We LOVED it so much that we went back tonight.  Last night, heeding the warnings of the wise on here, we arrived at 6:30 and the place was quickly full.  I was bemused by the fact that there are no reservations so when the populace decides they are feeling Italian tonight and show up en masse it creates a conundrum for the staff.  They were as charming and efficient as ever but they were just run off their legs. I think both staff and passenger might be well served by reservations,  but what do I know?

The breads they bring almost as soon as you sit down.

 

 

My appetizer, or pasta course risotto.  Seriously good.

 

 

We both had one of the best steaks we have had.  Good grief.  I feel guilty showing you the photo since you can’t currently have it, but here you go…

 

 

and the yummy little lemon/orange cake.

Next up is what we did today, our first port day since leaving Barcelona.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Here is the daily for today.  Some of you might be interested to see what is offered when there is a port you’ve no interest in or which you have been to so often you are on a first name basis with the local folks.

 

 

We were in Arrecife, (Lanzarote) in the Canary Islands today.  (Air-eh-see-fay) and 

(Lanz-ah-row-tay) if you are pronunciation challenged like me.  Fascinating volcanic place.  Not quite sure how folks live there without trepidation since in places the ground is so hot you cannot hold pebbles in your hand….

 

there was a complimentary shuttle into town..more soon.  Headed to the show.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Holey moley, Lisa Marie Daniels can SING like nobody’s business.  What a voice!  And last night’s Divos and Divas show was exceptionally good…not a weak voice in the bunch and the dancers are fabulous.  I think the entertainment on this ship is really good.  
 

So back to Lanzarote.  We did a panoramic bus tour of the island.  About 20 on the free tour, which I thought was great.  Someone we played trivia with said they paid for a tour that had 16 people.  The tour of the volcanic landscape was very informative and I thought our guide was very knowledgeable. Very good English, though in a few spots the accent played havoc with my understanding.  There was also an excellent recorded section by a native English speaker complete with music.  Here are a few photos of this stunning moonscape…

 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

After the landscape tour we went to ride camels.  I thought it would be fun and I enjoyed it but found myself conflicted about using these animals for my own foolish human entertainment.  They are well cared for according to our guide, and don’t work all day, stopping usually at 1:00…..but still, I hated to see them chained together in a line with muzzles on and seats attached to their backs.  I don’t know, what do camels do all day if not this?  Lay around and sleep, I guess.  I ended up feeling about the camels like I do about the donkeys in Greece.  Still, it was an interesting experience.  I spared a thought for the ancient and biblical travelers who sat on camels for hundreds of miles.  Makes s stagecoach across the prairie look like a garden party at Buckingham Palace IMO.

 

 

The final part of the tour was a stop at a winery.  This was not a winner.  It was not worthy of being on the tour IMO, and was nothing more than a perfunctory stop where you filed in, and were given a (luckily) very small portion of a dry wine reminiscent of vinegar and a sweet wine reminiscent of cough syrup but without the medicinal benefits.  Oh, yes, and a small square of cheese with toothpick.  It was a time filler and a time waster and I promise to be very good so I never have to do it again.  

[GeorgiaPeach51]

And on the general info front, there is not one Regent staff person who has passed me without a smile and greeting.  Even the guys wearing white coveralls smiled sweet smiles and said hello.  Charming.  Love, love, love the people on this ship.

 

Passengers, too.  We have met so many wonderful people.  We won at trivia today…full disclosure, I contributed nada and even managed to grade one answer on our neighbor’s answer sheet wrong, but it was fun and I am shocked by the information normal looking people have stored in their heads.  Just sayin.

 

Cathy, one member of our trivia team, asked me to report that she arrived on the ship with a broken handle on her luggage thanks to an over-muscled baggage handler and don’t you know that her butler fixed it for her?

 

Tomorrow is Tenerife and we have an ATV ride.  Here is the planner for tomorrow.  Night, all.  Calling it a day.

 

 

 

[ChucktownSteve]

@GeorgiaPeach51I want to thank you so much for an excellent cruise report.  We've had our first two Regent cruises this year but on their older ships.  In January we board the Splendor so I was encouraged by your various posts.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Got up at 7 this morning.  Dark outside.  Felt like the middle of the night to me.  I have neglected to mention the stupendous and marvelous in every way Portuguese tarts on board.    They vary in flavor every day which is fun.

 

 

Today we were on what was called an ATV tour but it turned out to be a Jeep tour.  We went to the National Park to see the Mount Tiede volcano crater.  Fascinating.  Tenerife has a higher elevation than the other Canaries, and benefit from the winds from the Sahara, which push across the ocean and form clouds which then drop moisture on the native pines, which have needles up to a foot long.  The needles gather the moisture and it drops to the ground.  So Tenerife is able to get water from underground reservoirs formed under the forests.  What an intriguing world we get to inhabit!

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by GeorgiaPeach51

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@ChucktownSteve I will be glad to find out anything you have questions about if I can.  Just let me know.  

[mrlevin]

4 minutes ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

@ChucktownSteve I will be glad to find out anything you have questions about if I can.  Just let me know.  

We board Splendour on December 13th; who will be GM and CD?  Will Alex and Annabelle still be onboard?  Who is Cruise Consultant?  

[Mystictraveler]

I am enjoying your blog very much as well as the one from the previous cruise so Thank-You for taking the time to keep us all informed. My DW and I will be on this same cruise in 2023. If you have time, would you mind occasionally posting what kinds of temps (and maybe other conditions) you experience as you cross the Atlantic. I am especially interested in what it is like to lounge around the pool and the upper deck. Cheers...

[Anchorbuoy]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

We board Splendour on December 13th; who will be GM and CD?  Will Alex and Annabelle still be onboard?  Who is Cruise Consultant?  

Currently, CD is David Nevin

GM Massimo leaving today, replaced by Anatoli 

CC is Eddie P. 
Annabelle reports that they will be here until January 21. 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

1 hour ago, Mystictraveler said:

I am enjoying your blog very much as well as the one from the previous cruise so Thank-You for taking the time to keep us all informed. My DW and I will be on this same cruise in 2023. If you have time, would you mind occasionally posting what kinds of temps (and maybe other conditions) you experience as you cross the Atlantic. I am especially interested in what it is like to lounge around the pool and the upper deck. Cheers...

You bet!  In Barcelona the temps were 62 both days but dropped to 58 and very windy.  In Arrecife it was 74, and today in Lanzarote it was 74, cloudy to start, then sunny.

 

Tomorrow  at sea the Captain announced it will be 80!  I’ll let you know if that’s the case and will be glad to report back each day.  So far we have needed fall-type light sweaters and/or long sleeve shirts though I have seen some hardy souls in sleeveless tops!

[makai 7]

Thank you so much for your wonderful trip report.  I am reliving past meals at Setti Mari and thoroughly enjoying traveling along with vicariously!  😊

[KenzSailing]

22 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

Sorry to be missing for so long.  Time has run away with me.  Last night we went to Sette Mari for the first time.  Wow.  We LOVED it so much that we went back tonight.  Last night, heeding the warnings of the wise on here, we arrived at 6:30 and the place was quickly full.  I was bemused by the fact that there are no reservations so when the populace decides they are feeling Italian tonight and show up en masse it creates a conundrum for the staff.  They were as charming and efficient as ever but they were just run off their legs. I think both staff and passenger might be well served by reservations,  but what do I know?

 

 

Hi GP, I'm going to intrude on your very entertaining thread to ask a question(we are booked on our first Regent cruise).  I've read more than a few times that Sette Mari fills fast, so get there early.  We are the opposite.  If we show up 8:30ish, will the early birds mostly have moved on, and snagging a table once again becomes fairly easy?   

[Kwaj girl]

21 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Hi GP, I'm going to intrude on your very entertaining thread to ask a question(we are booked on our first Regent cruise).  I've read more than a few times that Sette Mari fills fast, so get there early.  We are the opposite.  If we show up 8:30ish, will the early birds mostly have moved on, and snagging a table once again becomes fairly easy?   

 

I'll chime in here as we recently spent 43 nights on Mariner and 27 on Voyager.  In both cases - yes - 830-ish arrivals generally mean the "early birds" have flown the coop by then.  That's what we prefer especially if the 930pm show is not of interest to us.

[mrlevin]

3 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

I'll chime in here as we recently spent 43 nights on Mariner and 27 on Voyager.  In both cases - yes - 830-ish arrivals generally mean the "early birds" have flown the coop by then.  That's what we prefer especially if the 930pm show is not of interest to us.

Let me add one more thing.  If you find yourself as a solo due a spouse under the weather; just call the restaurant manager and they will be glad to set up a one top for you in Sette Mari.  It is no reservation restaurant but they are very accommodating.

[Kristal Blade]

3 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

You bet!  In Barcelona the temps were 62 both days but dropped to 58 and very windy.  In Arrecife it was 74, and today in Lanzarote it was 74, cloudy to start, then sunny.

 

Tomorrow  at sea the Captain announced it will be 80!  I’ll let you know if that’s the case and will be glad to report back each day.  So far we have needed fall-type light sweaters and/or long sleeve shirts though I have seen some hardy souls in sleeveless tops!

Those “hardy souls” will be the Brits, delighted to be escaping the wind and rain at home! 
Really enjoying the daily updates, thank you. I have one small query for you. Are there any fitness classes? I’m hoping to have some sort of aerobic class, Pilates, yoga…

Thanks for any info and thanks for taking the time to report on your experiences.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

I have to honestly report on one aspect of our Jeep tour this morning.  Ya gotta drive.  If you want to see the good volcanic interior stuff you have to pay the windshield time penalty.

 

And,  also, Jeeps need steps.  When we saw the Jeeps as we exited the ship, I gave them a malevolent glare, cause really, the floor of the stupid thing hit me at mid hip.   The seat was at shoulder level for cryin out loud.  And I am 5’8”.  
 

So do you attempt to kind of hop up so you are then sitting on the floor?  This presented a whole different realm of unappealing options that were no better.  I perused the door.  There was only the handle.  There was no bar of any kind so I went for it, grabbing anything I could get a grip on, felt momentarily hopeful, but found myself sliding backwards. I contemplated this fact as I hung on the side of the Jeep, too far up to go back down because of the effort already expended, and yet, too far down to assure victory.  So I hung there, sloth-like wondering how best to preserve a little shred of dignity and pondering the dark heart of the person who refused to install a grab bar of any kind.  
 

Suffice to say every exit of the odious Jeep required a similar ignominious repetition of the above described debacle.  Every woman in the Jeep was similarly tortured until finally my seat mate Leslie put her foot down, folded her arms and refused to exit the Jeep again until she could see the Splendor and was assured of escape.  So, Dear Splendor Excursions staff, please make a step stool a required item.  At least half the ship will thank you.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@KenzSailing I would agree with @Kwaj girl based on our two experiences in Sette Mari so far this trip.  On our first visit it was packed at 6:30, but there were open tables starting at 8:00.  On our second visit the next night there were plenty of open tables the whole time we were there, but it did get busier by 8:30 as the later diners came.  So I think it will suit your schedule.  We will certainly eat there several more times and if it is different I will let you know.

[ChucktownSteve]

GeorgiaPeach51, I came up with a question I hope someone can answer.  We'll be doing the Splendor L.A. to Miami through the Panama Canal in January.  My DW asked if we will be transiting the old or new locks?  Does anyone know or can you ask a crew member who might know? 

Thankx. Steve

[labonnevie]

4 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

GeorgiaPeach51, I came up with a question I hope someone can answer.  We'll be doing the Splendor L.A. to Miami through the Panama Canal in January.  My DW asked if we will be transiting the old or new locks?  Does anyone know or can you ask a crew member who might know? 

Thankx. Steve

Don't know how much it varies but the Explorer (sister ship) used the old locks in January.

[Kwaj girl]

31 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

GeorgiaPeach51, I came up with a question I hope someone can answer.  We'll be doing the Splendor L.A. to Miami through the Panama Canal in January.  My DW asked if we will be transiting the old or new locks?  Does anyone know or can you ask a crew member who might know? 

Thankx. Steve

 

Most likely the old locks as the new ones are used by the megaships that can't fit through the original locks

[tnr]

2 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

I have to honestly report on one aspect of our Jeep tour this morning.  Ya gotta drive.  If you want to see the good volcanic interior stuff you have to pay the windshield time penalty.

 

And,  also, Jeeps need steps.  When we saw the Jeeps as we exited the ship, I gave them a malevolent glare, cause really, the floor of the stupid thing hit me at mid hip.   The seat was at shoulder level for cryin out loud.  And I am 5’8”.  
 

So do you attempt to kind of hop up so you are then sitting on the floor?  This presented a whole different realm of unappealing options that were no better.  I perused the door.  There was only the handle.  There was no bar of any kind so I went for it, grabbing anything I could get a grip on, felt momentarily hopeful, but found myself sliding backwards. I contemplated this fact as I hung on the side of the Jeep, too far up to go back down because of the effort already expended, and yet, too far down to assure victory.  So I hung there, sloth-like wondering how best to preserve a little shred of dignity and pondering the dark heart of the person who refused to install a grab bar of any kind.  
 

Suffice to say every exit of the odious Jeep required a similar ignominious repetition of the above described debacle.  Every woman in the Jeep was similarly tortured until finally my seat mate Leslie put her foot down, folded her arms and refused to exit the Jeep again until she could see the Splendor and was assured of escape.  So, Dear Splendor Excursions staff, please make a step stool a required item.  At least half the ship will thank you.

Omg, this sounds like my experience in Iceland on a day long (12 ish hour) tour.  My DH had to help push to get me in, and my shin was literally bloody by the end of the day.  

[labonnevie]

4 hours ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

Most likely the old locks as the new ones are used by the megaships that can't fit through the original locks

Mostly true, although this catamaran was entering the new locks at Miraflores.