Fun, food, friends, and football live! Splendor February 8-22, 2023

[gwesq]

Packed.  😞    Cruise over tomorrow, after one more night of food & fun.  Overall it was a terrific  cruise. Entertainment was excellent.  Service terrific ( except for our particular cabin attendant).    Ship itself was wonderful.  Food varied from bad( veal dishes generally) to excellent.  One issue they need to work on is provisioning.  Were out of way too many things.  For example, surprised last night at Prime 7  when I ordered the Prime Rib, and was told “ we are out of that.”   No Prime Rib in a steak house?  They were also out of Four bourbons on the printed menu, and very short on  vodkas as well.    

[red1head]

Thank you for sharing your journey!

[kjbacon]

Good morning, Miami!

 

This was a great cruise and yes, there were a couple flaws. The weather is finally perfect and it’s a shame that it was so bad for most of the trip. I have to agree with gwesq about provisioning. They have indeed been out of a few things, bananas the most noteworthy for me.

 

We had our farewell dinner in Pacific Rim with Mudhen ❤️ and had one more wonderful time together. I was so excited to have my favorite duck and watermelon salad that I nearly licked the plate clean before realizing I didn’t snap a picture. The lobster tempura was delicious.

 

Overall, this cruise was excellent. Service was outstanding, hold for one department. Food was very good, often excellent, but there were some misses. The included wines have really improved and we found several we enjoyed very much (too much?). I may do a detailed review once home and settled. We are already looking forward to our next Regent adventure later this year! Safe and happy travels to

all.

[puppyluv1]

Excellent thread and fantastic pictures. Thank you so much for sharing!  

[RachelG]

Sad to see the cruise and commentary end!

[carolina cruisin]

9 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Good morning, Miami!

 

This was a great cruise and yes, there were a couple flaws. The weather is finally perfect and it’s a shame that it was so bad for most of the trip. I have to agree with gwesq about provisioning. They have indeed been out of a few things, bananas the most noteworthy for me.

 

We had our farewell dinner in Pacific Rim with Mudhen ❤️ and had one more wonderful time together. I was so excited to have my favorite duck and watermelon salad that I nearly licked the plate clean before realizing I didn’t snap a picture. The lobster tempura was delicious.

 

Overall, this cruise was excellent. Service was outstanding, hold for one department. Food was very good, often excellent, but there were some misses. The included wines have really improved and we found several we enjoyed very much (too much?). I may do a detailed review once home and settled. We are already looking forward to our next Regent adventure later this year! Safe and happy travels to

all.

Other than it being windy just about all of the time, I thought the weather was good. In my glass half full world I enjoyed the food, some more than other. Service great. Best production cast I have seen recently. We will be staying on for another week. 

[gwesq]

1 hour ago, carolina cruisin said:

Other than it being windy just about all of the time, I thought the weather was good. In my glass half full world I enjoyed the food, some more than other. Service great. Best production cast I have seen recently. We will be staying on for another week. 

Enjoy your 2nd week. Wish we were still on as we were having a wonderful time.    I agree with you that the weather was good.  There was one area of the ship that really excelled, but I rarely saw anyone partake:  GINO up in the Observation Lounge after the evening show.  There were usually no more than about 15 or so people up there. He is tremendous!  I felt bad that he was performing to so few people.  The only really bad part was that we got to watch the Eagles lose!  😞  

[carolina cruisin]

23 minutes ago, gwesq said:

Enjoy your 2nd week. Wish we were still on as we were having a wonderful time.    I agree with you that the weather was good.  There was one area of the ship that really excelled, but I rarely saw anyone partake:  GINO up in the Observation Lounge after the evening show.  There were usually no more than about 15 or so people up there. He is tremendous!  I felt bad that he was performing to so few people.  The only really bad part was that we got to watch the Eagles lose!  😞  

At least the Eagles played. Was a good game. Sorry we never hooked up. Gino is good although have to admit we didn’t see him as often as we would have liked. Just got underway. Will be home for a couple of weeks after this cruise then back to Sarasota. Take care. 

[kjbacon]

Afterthoughts and memories from a wonderful trip are a beautiful thing. The Splendor is a gorgeous ship with a very positive vibe and has improvements over the Explorer. Among those improvements are the expanded Coffee Connection that we just loved. The crew there is top notch and yeah, their coffee is a whole lot better than mine! There was always a nice spread of food available, including the most delicious cookies on the planet.

 

We had rainbows in more ports than not.

 

 

Beautiful sunrises and sunsets were abundant.

 

 

We loved the special touches like the bouillon, Sunday morning caviar and champagne, and the long stem roses on Valentine’s Day.

 

We would love to see more shows in the 5:00pm time frame. The ones we saw were fantastic and since we are very early risers, we miss most of the shows.

 

I’m sure to have more thoughts to share. We are very excited about our next trip on the Splendor later this year.

[Mudhen]

And all that the Bacon duo said, over the past two weeks, goes double for us! 

Although I'm REALLY late to the party, I just wanted to say that we had a fabulous time on the Splendor these past two weeks. It might've been one of our best cruises!

There are really few things that I could mention as less than perfect....

I am, however, concerned about Regent's demographics....We're older, card carrying members of the "Green Bananas Group", but I do think Regent could punch up their appeal to some younger folks...

Start with music....not necessarily hard or acid rock, but maybe something a little more upbeat and contemporary. Some venues (bars, maybe just one?) could be more pub-like or less formal and more fun? 

I realize that Regent's bread and butter is an older crowd, but that "older crowd" (of which we're a part of") isn't going to last forever. We adore Regent but don't want it to go the way of the dinosaur.....

[GOARMY]

kjbacon:  

 

Explorer can't easily reconfigure the Theater's sitelines or sidelines.  BUT--Explorer can knock out an interior wall, when necessary. 

 

The "new" (er) Explorer has now emulated Splendor by expanding Coffee Connection by--literally-- knocking a hole in the wall to the exterior deck area.  Installing sliding doors now allow access to an exterior seating area.  Very pleasant, recently, when enjoying a late morning Irish Coffee.    

 

GOARMY!

 

 

[gwesq]

On 2/22/2023 at 5:53 PM, carolina cruisin said:

 Sorry we never hooked up. Gino is good although have to admit we didn’t see him as often as we would have liked. Just got underway. Will be home for a couple of weeks after this cruise then back to Sarasota. Take care. 

We settle into somewhat of a routine that sometimes doesn't allow for meeting others.  Sorry we didn't get together.

Warning for when you come to Sarasota:   I've been here since 2010 and have never seen traffic so terrible!  Tonight on Main street the traffic was backed up for blocks trying to get into the parking garage.  But it did thin out by around 7:30.   Likewise, traveling on 41 any time during the day is bumper to bumper.    I'm glad I can walk to lots of places.     Do you have O's tix? Which games? I'm hoping to go to a game or two.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

23 hours ago, Mudhen said:

And all that the Bacon duo said, over the past two weeks, goes double for us! 

Although I'm REALLY late to the party, I just wanted to say that we had a fabulous time on the Splendor these past two weeks. It might've been one of our best cruises!

There are really few things that I could mention as less than perfect....

I am, however, concerned about Regent's demographics....We're older, card carrying members of the "Green Bananas Group", but I do think Regent could punch up their appeal to some younger folks...

Start with music....not necessarily hard or acid rock, but maybe something a little more upbeat and contemporary. Some venues (bars, maybe just one?) could be more pub-like or less formal and more fun? 

I realize that Regent's bread and butter is an older crowd, but that "older crowd" (of which we're a part of") isn't going to last forever. We adore Regent but don't want it to go the way of the dinosaur.....

I do so agree.  Then again, when we started cruising 23 years ago, they were still playing big band music to dance to, so things have progressed.  I must say that as much as I agree with everyone that Gino, the pianist on Splendor right is very, very good, we didn't go listen to him too often because his repertoire, although pleasant, was staid and dated.  I much prefer Ross, who is currently on the Mariner WC I believe, despite Ross not singing at all (as I remember. ) (Our historical favourite was Hal, who was on the PG for years, who played and sag, and whose repertoire included Elton John, for example.) We enjoyed the Lemon Duo for that reason--a more eclectic repertoire, and more recent.

 

Funny about the "older crowd".  I'm 74, and have some orthopedic issues that affect getting up and down from sitting.  I angsted about how to do that gracefully in Compass Rose onboard Splendor in January. I needn't have worried.  Looking at the nightly 'parking lot' of walkers, wheelchairs and scooters outside the dining room meant that no one even blinked at me when I was a bit wobbly. 😉 

[Emdee]

24 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I do so agree.  Then again, when we started cruising 23 years ago, they were still playing big band music to dance to, so things have progressed.  I must say that as much as I agree with everyone that Gino, the pianist on Splendor right is very, very good, we didn't go listen to him too often because his repertoire, although pleasant, was staid and dated.  I much prefer Ross, who is currently on the Mariner WC I believe, despite Ross not singing at all (as I remember. ) (Our historical favourite was Hal, who was on the PG for years, who played and sag, and whose repertoire included Elton John, for example.) We enjoyed the Lemon Duo for that reason--a more eclectic repertoire, and more recent.

 

Funny about the "older crowd".  I'm 74, and have some orthopedic issues that affect getting up and down from sitting.  I angsted about how to do that gracefully in Compass Rose onboard Splendor in January. I needn't have worried.  Looking at the nightly 'parking lot' of walkers, wheelchairs and scooters outside the dining room meant that no one even blinked at me when I was a bit wobbly. 😉 

I too admired the line up of scooters on the Explorer for my future needs. Am planning on taking these cruises from nearby ports in the years to come.

For now we are still booked on port intensive trips but picking our excursions carefully. 

[CruiserFromMaine]

Interesting discussion on music. It’s like food, in a way—very subjective. We’re in our early 60s and really enjoyed the American Songbook repertoire of Gino’s. But we also enjoyed the Beatles show in the atrium and the dance party on deck. All great music, and a nice mixture. The Lemon Duo was good for a change-up for us, but we didn’t love her voice; the guitarist was very good though. 
 

Not saying I’m right, just offering another view for anyone reading along. 

[carolina cruisin]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:06 PM, gwesq said:

We settle into somewhat of a routine that sometimes doesn't allow for meeting others.  Sorry we didn't get together.

Warning for when you come to Sarasota:   I've been here since 2010 and have never seen traffic so terrible!  Tonight on Main street the traffic was backed up for blocks trying to get into the parking garage.  But it did thin out by around 7:30.   Likewise, traveling on 41 any time during the day is bumper to bumper.    I'm glad I can walk to lots of places.     Do you have O's tix? Which games? I'm hoping to go to a game or two.

Think we have wandered “off thread”. Perhaps we chat elsewhere. Will arrive Sarasota on Mar 17

[gwesq]

10 hours ago, carolina cruisin said:

Think we have wandered “off thread”. Perhaps we chat elsewhere. Will arrive Sarasota on Mar 17

Your messaging here is disabled.  I don't think mine is, so send me a message here.

[carolina cruisin]

4 hours ago, gwesq said:

Your messaging here is disabled.  I don't think mine is, so send me a message here.

@gwesq. Will send dates of games when I return home

[mrstanley]

The music in all the lounges before dinner were too loud. You could not have a conversation with friends due to the loud music. Pre- dinner music in a lounge should essentially be background music.

Not a performance by the act in the lounge.

At time’s beyond loud.

[Catlover54]

11 hours ago, mrstanley said:

The music in all the lounges before dinner were too loud. You could not have a conversation with friends due to the loud music. Pre- dinner music in a lounge should essentially be background music.

Not a performance by the act in the lounge.

At time’s beyond loud.

 

I just finished reading this thread, and thank kjbacon for her beautiful, enticing food  pictures and sharing her enthusiasm.

 

Mrs. Stanley, I agree with you that lounge music should be background music (but there is a trend on many lines to have music louder and louder, for unclear reasons -- perhaps so some people don't feel bored? Or is it because people are getting deafer?).  

 

It sounds like you had some less than ideal dining experiences.

I would be interested in hearing what were favorite dishes and/or specifc dining experiences were, and if you will cruise on this ship again.

 

I hope you provided feedback to the chef when things were off (though I know that can get tiring, especially when the reaction is apathetic, or worse).