Splendor: Christmas on the Canal

[flossie009]

 

 

[flossie009]

Having departed Miami yesterday in pouring rain, today was a glorious day at sea

 

Hope that the many CC members on board, some new to Regent, will contribute their thoughts on this cruise.

The ship is sailing close to capacity.

 

[flossie009]

 

Senior officers & staff:

 

 

The entertainment has been enhanced for this cruise

  - The “Lemon Duo” finally arrived having resolved their visa issues. An Argentinian couple who will play in the lounges

  - Two speakers; Bob Ray & Brian Unger

  - Two visiting entertainers. The first is performing tonight - Jesse Hamilton Jr, vocalist

 

First port this cruise tomorrow; tendering in to George Town in the Cayman Islands

 

[daetchief]

I'm doing my best to pretend it is a year ago and we are on the Mariner - once again!   

 

Enjoy the ports we missed back then.

 

Joy and Merry Christmas to you and David.

 

Bob & Susan

Edited December 21, 2022 by daetchief
Gr and Sp

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

Having departed Miami yesterday in pouring rain, today was a glorious day at sea

 

Hope that the many CC members on board, some new to Regent, will contribute their thoughts on this cruise.

The ship is sailing close to capacity.

 

 

It was sold out as of Monday evening...perhaps some guests did not board? 

[Kristal Blade]

We are with you on board and having a fantastic time already.

The sea is so calm.

 

Yesterday we had a pigeon visit us on our balcony!

 

[cwn]

2 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

We are with you on board and having a fantastic time already.

The sea is so calm.

 

Yesterday we had a pigeon visit us on our balcony!

 

I love it when the sea looks like that!! It was never that calm during our 17 days. Have fun. We board the Navigator today, can see her from our hotel room.

Glad you and your luggage arrived safely. Have a great Holiday. Thanks for the report.
Carolyn 

[flossie009]

17 hours ago, daetchief said:

I'm doing my best to pretend it is a year ago and we are on the Mariner - once again!   

 

Enjoy the ports we missed back then.

 

Joy and Merry Christmas to you and David.

 

Bob & Susan

We will enjoy the cruise, ports or no ports, as we did last year with you 

All the very best to you over the holiday season, and may 2023 bring many more memorable times 😎

 

[1982CruzStart]

looking forward to your posts. Have a wonderful cruise. 

[flossie009]

Another fabulous evening on Splendor last night.

An excellent meal in Compass Rose on a shared table, with attentive efficient waiters.

Susan had the Lobster, David the Duck 😋  Sorry no pictures

 

The guest entertainer in the theatre was a good singer; full of energy & personality. Then off to Observation to listen to a few Broadway songs from the talented resident pianist/singer

 

Finally finished the evening at Karaoke in the Splendor lounge. As usual some good, some not so accomplished 🙄

 

Today we decided to stay on board by the pool. Very hot 😎

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

We have had a day in Grand Cayman. 
We originally booked a shore excursion that included a visit to QE2 botanical garden. It was cancelled and we didn’t fancy the other trips - we have been here before and petted the stingrays- so we decided to go it alone.

 

A taxi to and from the garden was expensive, but by local bus it was cheap and fun! It took us about 45 mins to reach the garden by public bus, just a minibus really. It cost US$10 for the 2 of us. 
 

Garden admission plus entry to the iguana centre was Us38. We had a wonderful time strolling through the different areas enjoying the plant life and wildlife. We took way too many pictures of iguanas, sorry none to add because they are on camera. We stupidly forgot to snap some on the phone. I think the heat got to us.

 

Getting back was interesting. The ladies at the visitor centre rang despatch to ask for a bus to swing off the normal route to pick us up. We had a 20 minute wait then an hour long journey back to Georgetown. 
 

We had a great day and now we are getting ready for the Block Party!

[ronrick1943]

6 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Another fabulous evening on Splendor last night.

An excellent meal in Compass Rose on a shared table, with attentive efficient waiters.

Susan had the Lobster, David the Duck 😋  Sorry no pictures

 

The guest entertainer in the theatre was a good singer; full of energy & personality. Then off to Observation to listen to a few Broadway songs from the talented resident pianist/singer

 

Finally finished the evening at Karaoke in the Splendor lounge. As usual some good, some not so accomplished 🙄

 

Today we decided to stay on board by the pool. Very hot 😎

 

 

Looking forward to reading more as your trip continues.  Ports aren’t important to me any more, I really enjoy the ship first and Ports 2nd if i really want to see something.  Have a safe and enjoyable cruise.  Thanks for posting.

[mrlevin]

Fantastic trip so far!  We boarded ten days ago and have yet to get off the ship (except for customs in Miami).  Food, service, and drinks wonderful.  Really love the F2 cabin and have one of our best room stewards ever.  

 

I have one very small pet peeve; very few officers, staff, and crew address me by name (Franck, Stephane, and Sweets being the exceptions).  Hopefully by LA  . . . .

Edited December 23, 2022 by mrlevin

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Fantastic trip so far!  We boarded ten days ago and have yet to get off the ship (except for customs in Miami).  Food, service, and drinks wonderful.  Really love the F2 cabin and have one of our best room stewards ever.  

 

I have one very small pet peeve; very few officers, staff, and crew address me by name (Franck, Stephane, and Sweets being the exceptions).  Hopefully by LA  . . . .

Apparently we were on board together last week....

[flossie009]

Today is a day at sea. 
Windy & rough, but sunny skies. Pool is not available because of the ship movement but plenty are still enjoying the Pool deck.

 

I love Fridays - Almond Croissant day, Yummy 😋

 

 

Last night was the Block Party, with Franck GM and David CD making the dash around the decks with beer tankards in hand.

Comedienne at 9:30 pm then we tried “Guess the Tune” with pianist Gino de Luca. In our opinion he over-complicated the well attended competition ………… that’s our excuse for scoring so badly 😉

 

[Kristal Blade]

We really enjoyed our block party. Found out our neighbours used to live in the same village as I grew up in. Small world.

 

Had a delicious meal in Setti Mare. Before that I managed to get reprimanded by a 400 night Regent passenger. Who knew people would be so touchy about being given advice by a novice?

 

The comedienne wasn’t too funny, but she did her bit for the planet by recycling lots of old jokes!

 

It’s a much bumpier ride today. The interior of the ship is quite chilly, I was shivering in the lectures today. The lecturers are excellent. Today we had one about the Beach Boys and another about the history of the Panama Canal.

 

When we go to trivia I will have an extra layer on. We are relaxing in the warmth of our cabin now, warming up after the chilly theatre experience.

 

We are enjoying all the great door decorations on board, it also helps with locating the cabin! We had to attach some of our interior ones with blutak because our magnets aren’t strong enough. 

[flossie009]

We can certainly feel that we are on a ship today! and have to take more care when moving around. But Splendor seems to be handling the seas well

 

 

Heard some mutterings today about balcony doors whistling in the wind.

We have the opposite problem as the door is extremely stiff to open. Maintenance just attended and applied tlc, force & WD40 to remove salt build-up so it is a little better now but still a struggle.

 

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, Kristal Blade said:

We really enjoyed our block party. Found out our neighbours used to live in the same village as I grew up in. Small world.

 

Had a delicious meal in Setti Mare. Before that I managed to get reprimanded by a 400 night Regent passenger. Who knew people would be so touchy about being given advice by a novice?

 

The comedienne wasn’t too funny, but she did her bit for the planet by recycling lots of old jokes!

 

It’s a much bumpier ride today. The interior of the ship is quite chilly, I was shivering in the lectures today. The lecturers are excellent. Today we had one about the Beach Boys and another about the history of the Panama Canal.

 

When we go to trivia I will have an extra layer on. We are relaxing in the warmth of our cabin now, warming up after the chilly theatre experience.

 

We are enjoying all the great door decorations on board, it also helps with locating the cabin! We had to attach some of our interior ones with blutak because our magnets aren’t strong enough. 

There MUST be a good story here.....😃

[Kristal Blade]

A little expansion for you, Pcardad,

We turned up to Setti Mare last night to be told there was a wait of 30 mins. I think lots of people decided to eat there after the block party. We said we were happy to wait. Maitre d said go to Observation Lounge, tell them you are waiting and then when we ring they will let you know. Well, the wait was only 15 or 20 mins, we didn’t have time to finish our drinks.

 

Back at Setti Mare Mr 400 days was at the head of the queue stamping his feet because there was no table ready and he was being asked to wait in the Observation Lounge. I, helpfully, said we just did that, the wait wasn’t that long. He turned on me, saying “As a 400 day passenger with Regent I know how this works”. 
 

Yikes, some people obviously feel that they should be given due respect by everyone on board, just because they don’t have the imagination to try a different cruise line. 😉 

 

But we are having a great time, us novice players are learning how to wangle an extra booking at the speciality restaurants and loving the great service on board. We are going to “enter the dragon” tonight!

[Pcardad]

3 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

A little expansion for you, Pcardad,

We turned up to Setti Mare last night to be told there was a wait of 30 mins. I think lots of people decided to eat there after the block party. We said we were happy to wait. Maitre d said go to Observation Lounge, tell them you are waiting and then when we ring they will let you know. Well, the wait was only 15 or 20 mins, we didn’t have time to finish our drinks.

 

Back at Setti Mare Mr 400 days was at the head of the queue stamping his feet because there was no table ready and he was being asked to wait in the Observation Lounge. I, helpfully, said we just did that, the wait wasn’t that long. He turned on me, saying “As a 400 day passenger with Regent I know how this works”. 
 

Yikes, some people obviously feel that they should be given due respect by everyone on board, just because they don’t have the imagination to try a different cruise line. 😉 

 

But we are having a great time, us novice players are learning how to wangle an extra booking at the speciality restaurants and loving the great service on board. We are going to “enter the dragon” tonight!

I hope you have a wonderful dinner and apologies for the fellow with the poor attitude...

[SWFLAOK]

2 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

A little expansion for you, Pcardad,

We turned up to Setti Mare last night to be told there was a wait of 30 mins. I think lots of people decided to eat there after the block party. We said we were happy to wait. Maitre d said go to Observation Lounge, tell them you are waiting and then when we ring they will let you know. Well, the wait was only 15 or 20 mins, we didn’t have time to finish our drinks.

 

Back at Setti Mare Mr 400 days was at the head of the queue stamping his feet because there was no table ready and he was being asked to wait in the Observation Lounge. I, helpfully, said we just did that, the wait wasn’t that long. He turned on me, saying “As a 400 day passenger with Regent I know how this works”. 
 

Yikes, some people obviously feel that they should be given due respect by everyone on board, just because they don’t have the imagination to try a different cruise line. 😉 

 

But we are having a great time, us novice players are learning how to wangle an extra booking at the speciality restaurants and loving the great service on board. We are going to “enter the dragon” tonight!

If I had 400 nights onboard, I would expect to be seated before someone who was on their first cruise and had not made reservations. That's why Regent has a loyalty program to reward repeat customers We're only gold members after 6 cruises and never expect to make it to 400 nights. Unless we've made reservations in advance, we eat at Compass Rose and always enjoy enough of the meal to overfill us.

[cwn]

15 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

If I had 400 nights onboard, I would expect to be seated before someone who was on their first cruise and had not made reservations. That's why Regent has a loyalty program to reward repeat customers We're only gold members after 6 cruises and never expect to make it to 400 nights. Unless we've made reservations in advance, we eat at Compass Rose and always enjoy enough of the meal to overfill us.

Kristal was at Sette

Mari and no reservation allowed…. First come first served and Mr 400 days was not first. 

Glad you are having a good time. The Splendor has a lot of good things to offer. Just not necessarily a few long time cruisers sounds like.

[flossie009]

1 hour ago, SWFLAOK said:

If I had 400 nights onboard, I would expect to be seated before someone who was on their first cruise

I can only hope that you are joking.

 

[flossie009]

Time for some food photos from Pacific Rim

 

Duck & Watermelon salad

 

Duck Spring Roll

 

Strp Loin

 

Duck

 

Sides

.

Rum Coconut Cake

 

.Raspberry Saki Sorbet

 

………….. OK who ate the other chocolate before the photo?

 

An excellent meal 😋

 

[Kristal Blade]

We had a lovely dinner in Pan Asian too! The waitresses were really helpful with our menu choices, letting us try smaller portions of dishes so we could have a variety of tasty treats.

We tried mixed sushi, chicken gyozas and the duck & watermelon salad to start.

For mains we had the seafood laksa and the lamb with a few lobster tempura on the side. I had 2 scoops of sorbet for dessert, hubby had coconut tres leches and rum cake with raspberry sorbet. Everything was delicious and we are looking forward to our next visit later in the cruise.

 

We are awake bright and early, looking forward to our walking tour round Cartagena. Our tug has just assisted us to dock, there are loads of birds flying around including frigates and terns. I was trying to check them out with the binoculars but the air is very humid and I was constantly having to wipe off condensation from the lenses.

 

I will try to add some photos later.