Sleeping on the ship is so nice. Our bed is very comfortable very soft sheets and wonderful feather pillows although Rebecca used foam pillows. Ship rocks you to sleep. I usually wake up several times during the night when home but not on ship. We did not wake up until 8am then just laid there until 9. Finally got up and ordered coffee from room service. Showers on and off outside today as we head towards Samoa. Fairly good ride today so far. Did not go to the 10am enrichment lecture but they are taping it so can watch it on tv later. Lecture is entitled, “Pacific Landmarks and Lifestyles”. There are three lecturers on this segment: financial, history of Pacific, and astronaut. They will leave in Sydney and different lecturers will come on for next segment. At 11:15 will go to a Tahitian cooking demonstration by the executive chef and his Tahitian wife. There are several activities scheduled every day but more on sea days. Morning activities are usually exercise classes and enrichment lectures. Here are some of the afternoon activities for today: dance lesson, duplicate bridge, mah-jongg, social bridge, blackjack tournament, health & fitness presentation, games, art seminar, tea time, bingo, yoga, and Catholic mass. The TV is interactive so has a lot of free movies you can select or in ship’s library there is hundreds of DVD’s you can check out. We are usually too busy to watch movies though. We go to the gym about every day to workout. There are 4 treadmills (1 out of order), 4 elliptical trainers, 4 stationary bikes (1 out of order), exercise machines, and free weights. Place is pretty busy on sea days so go around 4pm. There are also both men’s and women’s steam rooms and saunas. The spa and beauty salon is operated by Canyon Ranch. You can get several types of massages or have you hair, nails, or toes done for a fee. Pretty expensive but they run specials on port days. The name of the main dining room is Compass Rose and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For example dinner hours are from 6:30 to 9:00pm. Unlike other cruise ships there are no assigned dining times or tables. You go whenever you want and join others or have a table for two just like restaurants at home. The dining room is beautiful and set with china, silver, and stem glasses. There are 3 glasses: water, white wine, & red wine. I will try to remember to take photo of the place setting. The dinner menu changes every night and includes choice of: 3 or 4 appetizers, 3 soups (two hot and one cold), 2 salads, 2 pastas, 8 entrees, 3 desserts plus several kinds of ice creams. If you want something special, like our veal parmesan dinner, all you have to do is ask for it. Last night I did not care for the appetizers so they brought me a shrimp cocktail (huge shrimp).
If you want to dine less formally, you can go up to the La Veranda restaurant on top deck where we normally have our lunch. There is a salad buffet and you can order from a few entrees that also change daily. OR, if you are lazy, you can dine in your suite. Can order same food they are serving in dining room if during the hours it is open. There is a basic room service menu available 24 hours a day. There are also two specialty restaurants that you can make reservations for. One is called Signatures and is French menu and the other is called Prime 7 which is a steakhouse. We don’t care for Signatures but love Prime 7. We normally go to lounge for a cocktail before dinner. Drinks are included on Regent so all bars are free. There is bar at pool plus 3 lounges: Observation Lounge on top of ship with great view, Horizon Lounge on back of ship the has view out the aft of ship, and Voyager Lounge which is near dining room and more like a night club. OR again room service will bring drinks to your suite. Also during pre-dinner cocktail hours they serve hors doeuvers with drinks. Just what you need, MORE FOOD. At 9:30 every evening there is some form of entertainment in the show room. Regent flies the entertainers to different ports so they come and go and we enjoy a variety of entertainment. Tonight, for example, The Platters will do show. I will be downloading their picture later. Platters were big in 1960’s with Motown sound. We have seen their show on another cruise ship so know it is great!! Next week we will be going to a special dinner and cabaret show starring Marilyn Maye, Australian singing star. There is also a library and computer room. There are probably 20 computers with printers for use. They charge about 40 cents per minute when on internet or searching web. Since we had cruised on Regent 21 days prior to this cruise we get free, unlimited internet use. The whole ship has wireless internet so can get the signal any where on ship even our suite. I have been using about $100 per day but not charged for it. As full world cruise passengers we are also getting free laundry service however it is taking 4 or 5 days to get it back. Our stewardess just said Regent is adding more laundry personnel when we arrive in Sydney. There is also a laundry room on each passenger deck with two washers and dryers in them for free use. Rebecca did a load yesterday. They get very busy during sea days especially. If not enough, there is a little refrigerator in each suite stocked with sodas, beer, & bottled water (also free). Stewardesses restock it daily. Several months before the cruise we asked Regent to have bottles of Lipton Diet Citrus Green Tea to be in our suite for the entire 4 months. It’s here! Well, when I say about everything is free onboard, it’s really not as was included in price of the cruise. Ok, tonight is a “formal optional” dress code. This means men should wear tuxedos or suit with tie and women dress nicely also. There are only 8 formal optional nights on whole cruise. Other nights after 6pm in evenings men have to wear slacks with collared shirt. NO shorts or jeans! On this world cruise I would estimate the 1/3 of the men are wearing sports coats every night although not required. We have been invited to dine with the Chief Engineer tonight. Although Norwegian born he now resides in Frisco, Texas, which is northern suburb of Dallas. It’s always nice to dine with one of the ship’s officers. Well, hope that helps you know our daily “grind” here on ship.
Alan & John
Cynthia & Carolyn
Jamie, Cruise Director
If you want to dine less formally, you can go up to the La Veranda restaurant on top deck where we normally have our lunch. There is a salad buffet and you can order from a few entrees that also change daily. OR, if you are lazy, you can dine in your suite. Can order same food they are serving in dining room if during the hours it is open. There is a basic room service menu available 24 hours a day. There are also two specialty restaurants that you can make reservations for. One is called Signatures and is French menu and the other is called Prime 7 which is a steakhouse. We don’t care for Signatures but love Prime 7. We normally go to lounge for a cocktail before dinner. Drinks are included on Regent so all bars are free. There is bar at pool plus 3 lounges: Observation Lounge on top of ship with great view, Horizon Lounge on back of ship the has view out the aft of ship, and Voyager Lounge which is near dining room and more like a night club. OR again room service will bring drinks to your suite. Also during pre-dinner cocktail hours they serve hors doeuvers with drinks. Just what you need, MORE FOOD. At 9:30 every evening there is some form of entertainment in the show room. Regent flies the entertainers to different ports so they come and go and we enjoy a variety of entertainment. Tonight, for example, The Platters will do show. I will be downloading their picture later. Platters were big in 1960’s with Motown sound. We have seen their show on another cruise ship so know it is great!! Next week we will be going to a special dinner and cabaret show starring Marilyn Maye, Australian singing star. There is also a library and computer room. There are probably 20 computers with printers for use. They charge about 40 cents per minute when on internet or searching web. Since we had cruised on Regent 21 days prior to this cruise we get free, unlimited internet use. The whole ship has wireless internet so can get the signal any where on ship even our suite. I have been using about $100 per day but not charged for it. As full world cruise passengers we are also getting free laundry service however it is taking 4 or 5 days to get it back. Our stewardess just said Regent is adding more laundry personnel when we arrive in Sydney. There is also a laundry room on each passenger deck with two washers and dryers in them for free use. Rebecca did a load yesterday. They get very busy during sea days especially. If not enough, there is a little refrigerator in each suite stocked with sodas, beer, & bottled water (also free). Stewardesses restock it daily. Several months before the cruise we asked Regent to have bottles of Lipton Diet Citrus Green Tea to be in our suite for the entire 4 months. It’s here! Well, when I say about everything is free onboard, it’s really not as was included in price of the cruise. Ok, tonight is a “formal optional” dress code. This means men should wear tuxedos or suit with tie and women dress nicely also. There are only 8 formal optional nights on whole cruise. Other nights after 6pm in evenings men have to wear slacks with collared shirt. NO shorts or jeans! On this world cruise I would estimate the 1/3 of the men are wearing sports coats every night although not required. We have been invited to dine with the Chief Engineer tonight. Although Norwegian born he now resides in Frisco, Texas, which is northern suburb of Dallas. It’s always nice to dine with one of the ship’s officers. Well, hope that helps you know our daily “grind” here on ship.
