WEDNESDAY, MAY 12TH--DISEMBARKATION

The night before we had been invited to cocktails and dinner in celebration of Marji's birthday (which is actually today). Dave did a great job planning this and the 18 or so of us had a great time. We managed to get our luggage, all 9 bags we were checking, out in hallway by 10pm that night. We were out of our suite today by 8am as they requested and then had a nice breakfast down in Compass Rose where we waited for our luggage tag color to be called so we could disembark the ship. We sat with Kathryn & Bruce Cay also from Dallas as we waited. I guess it was about 9:45 when they called our color. So with our 2 additional roll aboard bags and our 3 1/2 foot giraffe, off we went. What followed in baggage claim was TOTAL CHAOS. Regent has to get a better handle on this. I think they are blaming the port folks. Of course with all the extra bags all passengers had everyone needed a porter. We were informed to get in a line but everyone was grabbing a porter as they reentered the terminal. There was a lot of unhappy people! US Customs was no problem and they should be commended. Did I just say that? Next we had to drop the 5 bags that LuggageFree was shipping via Fedex. That was also a disaster. Jeff did not have enough men to load the bags on the truck and as a result there were bags everywhere. Hightlight of problems was the Regent provided transportation to the airport. Once again we were told to get in line but there was so many people it was impossible to determine where the line ended. Lots of pissed off people!! I did not need this hassle so went further down the side walk and hired a van to take us and another couple to the airport for $11 a head. Sailed right to airport and American Airlines porters checked our bags curbside so no hassles there. Great job American! Security was a bit slow but we made it to gate with 2 hours to spare. Our inbound flight was late arriving so we departed a half hour late but still arriving at DFW close to our scheduled time. We were in back of plane so by time we arrived in baggage claim all of our checked bags were already there. Our limo driver was parked right outside the door so off we went. Yes, I made the driver stop at Costco so I could get a pizza. Stretch limo infront of Costco got some looks! So our journey sadly ended when we arrived home at 4:20pm. What a great journey it was and it was the fastest 4 months of our lives. Kudus to Regent but especially the staff of the Voyager for providing us with wonderful memories that we shall treasure forever. Rebecca misses Putu, our favorite bar server, pouring her St Fransis Chardonay every evening. Last night I missed the waiters, as after my chicken fried steak dinner, I had to clean up. Well, back to reality!!! I will be posting some more pictures in a day or two. Hope you enjoyed this blog. There may be another in 2012 depending on that itinerary and the stock market.

TUESDAY, MAY 11TH--LAST DAY AT SEA

This is the final day of our 119 day voyage from San Diego, around the world, to Ft Lauderdale. We are rocking and rolling today which I have found to be normal for this area during previous cruises. We still have some packing to finish and last minute items to get done. Today we will have to say our goodbyes to all the people we have met and become friends with during the four months onboard. When you live so close and see these people almost every day, you get to know them pretty well. Hardest part will be saying our byes to several crew members that have given us special service, and who we now consider to be our friends. As you might expect, this has been an incredible adventure for us and it is going to be hard to top this. What part of the cruise did we enjoy the most? Without doubt, our safari in South Africa. We will be going back for another some day. I hope you have enjoyed this blog as I have spent hours and hours writing it and uploading all the pictures. I enjoyed every minute and now we can relive this experience again and again by rereading my blog. Well, our flight tomorrow is on American Airlines 877 at 12:55 that will land at DFW around 3:15pm. We still have some time left on the cruise however. At 3:15 today there will be a “World Cruise Farewell Variety Show”. Tonight we were invited to a birthday party and dinner for Marji that her husband, Dave, has planned. There will be another post when we arrive back home.

MONDAY, MAY 10TH--GRAND TURK

Packing day!! YUK! Marjorie, our suite stewardess, had our stored suitcases outside our door when we got up this morning. Unfortunately, we will have no room left to pack up Marjorie too. We will certainly miss this sweetheart. As I said yesterday, last night was our Texas Night dinner. By the time we left the Observation Lounge at 7:30, there were no more tables for 6 left in the Compass Rose dining room. Paulo made a quick call up to Signatures, the French restaurant, and got us a table there. Rebecca and I do not care for the food but we were with our friends. Apparently, others feel the same way as it is never full. The service, once again, was slow and we did not get dessert as we wanted to see the production show. The show was GREAT! So this morning we began the process of packing. LuggageFree, a shipping company, will ship at no cost to us 270 pounds of our luggage to Dallas. This was included by Regent as part of our World Cruise fare. So we now have packed 5 big suitcases that contains 270 pounds ready to go. I have luggage scales so know exactly how much it weighs. We also have 4 bags that we will check on our flight. They have to weigh less than 50 pounds and will. Then we will have our 2 roll aboard suitcases that we will put overhead in cabin. PLUS, I will have to carry my wooden giraffe. We arrived on Grand Turk shortly after noon today. The waters and beaches around the Turks & Caicos Islands are the most beautiful we have seen to date. I walked ashore for a half hour or so and it was nice to see the crew members playing on the beach. They certainly deserve some leisure time. We will sail at 6:30 for Ft Lauderdale and should arrive there by 5am on Wednesday. So tomorrow is a sea day. Tonight we are meeting Peter and Yasuko at 7:30 in the Observation Lounge for cocktails and then dinner. I have mentioned Peter before as we had dinner with them earlier in the cruise. Peter is 84 and was a British commando who landed on Sword Beach during D-Day. He’s a hero in my book and besides that, a true British gentleman. Yasuko is beautiful and sincerely nice woman. I know we will have a wonderful evening. Finally, tonight we are having, our several times promised but never delivered, veal osso bucco. Will skip the show as we did not like Ms Sager’s show previously. I uploaded photos today that I took on Barbados, Antigua, and Tortola.

SUNDAY, MAY 9TH--TORTOLA

We had a short but sweet stay in Tortola today. Right after arriving at 8am we boarded a large boat for our “Sea & See” tour. We took a ride around the bay and our guide pointed out all the islands and told us something about each one. Initially it was rather rough but I did not see anyone with sea sickness problems, including me. We eventually pulled into a marina on the other side of Tortola and boarded open air trucks with seating for our driving tour of the island. We climbed the mountain for a “bird’s eye” view of the different colors of blue ocean waters and of Tortola. We arrived back at the ship about 12:30 and sailed at 1pm for our next port of Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos Islands. We won’t be arriving there until 2pm tomorrow. This afternoon I began folding some shirts in preparation for packing on tomorrow and Tuesday. We do not have any tours tomorrow. Tonight is our last formal night and the Captain’s Farewell cocktail party and then dinner. The “Crew Capers Show” will be during the Capt’s party. We are having a “Texas Night” at dinner with two other couples from Dallas: Bruce & Kathryn and John & Cynthia. We also want to see the singers and dancers in their last production show. For some reason we are both really tired now at 5pm so hope we can make it through the evening. In fact, Rebecca is napping. Well, all this cruising is wearing us out. Hope you all had a very nice Mother’s Day.

SATURDAY, MAY 8TH--ANTIGUA

Love Antigua! It’s 6pm and Rebecca just got back from her tour and I got back at 5:30 and have showered and am ready for cocktails and dinner. Ole dare devil Rebecca came through the door with hair in a mess raving about how great a time she had doing a zip line over the canopy tops of the rain forest. She went with Cynthia and Caroline. John and I did a 4 hour island tour that was also fantastic. Our guide was the best of all our tours. Of course what made the tour so great was the beauty of this island. It’s no wonder that so many Hollywood stars have homes here or visit the island often. I hope my photos will capture the colors and scenic beauty of Antiqua. We both went to the gym this morning as the ship did not arrive until just after noon and we will sail at 7pm for the island of Tortola where we will be arriving at 8am tomorrow. So I decided to do my post-cruise weighing today. The news is good as I have only gained 3 pounds. I know some people on the ship that gain that much every day. I should have that weight off by the end of May. For dinner the chef is preparing veal osso bucco for us. (Trying to make amends for the fish last night) That is one of our favorite dishes. The show is “The New York Vagabonds”, four young, male singers who will sing a variety of songs. I think it should be a good show as it is with “young blood”. Most acts on cruise ships are people in the later stages of their careers.

FRIDAY, MAY 7TH--BARBADOS

I am writing this a day later. Rebecca and I went on different tours yesterday afternoon in Barbados. I got back too late to write as had to get ready for dinner. For some reason after eating my lunch in the Compass Rose I did not feel well all afternoon. Probably not due to the food there however. Rebecca, Cynthia, & John did the “Harrison’s Cave & Arlington House” tour which they said was good, especially the cave. I went on the “Capture Barbados Photo Tour” hosted by a well known local photographer. Well, I was not very impressed. I felt it was a way for him to sell this photographs. We did make some stops where I hope I got some good photos. I haven’t looked at them yet. We have been on Caribbean cruises many times so have seen the islands and are not impressed any more. Dinner last night was in the Compass Rose restaurant with our friends and next door neighbors here on the ship, Caroline & Don. Don and I love soft shell crabs so I made a special order for them as our appetizers. They were GREAT! Not sure what the deal was last night but service was slow. More people boarded the ship in Barbados so dining room was fuller than it has been in a while. As usual lately the menu did not have anything we really wanted so Rebecca & I ordered Cajun blackened salmon and emphasized not to over cook it as usual. IT WAS! I sent it back just as I have had to do every time I have ordered fish in Compass Rose the past 4 months. The last time Paulo, restaurant manager, assured me it would not be over cooked again. Weird thing is I can order the blackened salmon from room service for lunch and it is PERFECT! By now it was 9:45 (the show starts at 9:30) and we have not even ordered dessert yet. We had arrived in the dining room at 7:30. We all skipped dessert as wanted to see some of the show. Guess you would say our dining experience last night was a disaster. Marius, one of the head waiters, assured me tonight would be better. Can’t get worse. Ok, enough of that. An ex-Broadway singer, Teri Sager, was the headline entertainer. Everyone has their opinion and we all thought she was average at best. Caroline had worked in NYC as a talent evaluator and she was not impressed either. So today was not a good one for me. Must be time to go home?

THURSDAY, MAY 6TH--AT SEA

I should have been taking a nap this afternoon. Instead I was watching the stock market PLUNGE nearly 1000 points. I was perched on my balcony railing ready to jump when it started coming back. Just kidding of course but it certainly was an ugly day on The Street. Another beautiful day out in the Atlantic with smooth seas, lots of sun, and a pleasant 82F. The Captain says we will be docking at 9am tomorrow in Barbados. Clint Holmes cabaret show last night was very good as we expected a Vegas performer to be. After his show we went to the main showroom for another fantastic performance by Pearl Kaufman. Tonight we are dining with our friends from Las Vegas, Jane & Martin, in Prime 7 Steakhouse. We are dining early as we want to catch Clint Holmes cabaret show again at 8:30. Later in the main showroom we are anxious to see another of Greg Bonham’s shows. Absolutely the highlight of today was a 3:15pm show put on by some of our crew members. There were 10 very talented acts and the house was packed for this special show. Lots of fun!!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5TH--AT SEA

This is day 3 of our 4 day Atlantic Ocean crossing. It was another nice day but a warm one. Lots of sun and smooth seas. George and I played in the shuffleboard tournament this morning but lost by 1 point. It was a very relaxing day except we both did our workout in gym. Last night we really enjoyed the Italian night up in the La Veranda grill. Jerry Vasi, singer/guitar player, had the place laughing and enjoying the evening. Greg Bonham’s show was outstanding. It may have been the best we have heard on the cruise. His show and Brandi Chapman’s show I’ll call a tie for the best. Tonight we are going to Signatures, the French restaurant, for “Dinner and a Show”. We will dine with Cynthia and John, our friends from Dallas. It is a set menu at 6:30 with a cabaret show at 8:30 in the Horizon Lounge. Clint Holmes will be the entertainer. He use to play at Harrah’s in Las Vegas and the folks who saw the show last night say he is great. Well sad to say, but next week at this time (3pm Central) we will be landing in Dallas.

TUESDAY, MAY 4TH--AT SEA

Today we are mid-Atlantic and has been a wonderful day just sitting out on our balcony enjoying the ocean. At noon it was 81F, sunny skies, and lower than normal humidity so very pleasant. Now we are only 3 hours ahead of the central time zone. Last night’s show with Pearl Kaufman was a classic. She was the pianist who recorded the sound tracks for many old Hollywood movies. She still plays a mean piano but when she told the stories of her getting started and musical career, you could hear a pin drop in the showroom. I have never heard it so quiet during a performance. Tonight’s show should be great too. It features the headline entertainer, Greg Bonham, from Australia. Tonight we will dine up in the La Veranda grill as it is Italian night with Jerry Vasi performing during dinner. Guess we were the last to find this out but Captain Dag has resigned. He left the ship in Cape Town and the story then was he was going home on his break. Captain Dag was loved by nearly everyone who had sailed with him, especially his crew. This was our first cruise with him but it did not take me long to see he was a special man in love with the sea. He was a man who knew his, his crew’s, and his ship’s limitations. For sure he did not lack confidence and quietly commanded the respect and admiration of his passengers and crew. I strived to possess many of the same traits during my career as an airline Captain. It was difficult two years ago when I had decided to retire 6 months earlier than I was mentally prepared. I have respect for what Capt Dag may be thinking now. Hopefully, he is not retiring, but merely, “changing the course” of his life. We wish him the best!

MONDAY, MAY 3RD--AT SEA

This is the first of 4 sea days we have now as we sail across the Atlantic for Barbados in the Caribbean. It is now 3pm with sunny skies, 77F, and a pretty good ride so far today. We really enjoyed our dinner last night with John & Hee Ann from Boca Raton, FL; Rusty from Montreal, Canada; Akemi from Japan; and Father Kelly. Hee Ann, like Rebecca, enjoys wearing St Johns outfits. I even managed to dance a couple of times before dinner. For lunch the chef and his team of cooks prepared a “galley brunch”. The extensive buffet was set up in the kitchen so we got to see the kitchen as we loaded up our plates. So far today I have not done one thing yet the day is nearly over. I will head to the gym after posting this. Tonight we are dining with Berry from St Louis. We are also looking forward to tonight’s headline entertainer, Pearl Kaufman. We have heard her sing on other RCL cruises and she is excellent. After her show we will sit in on the “Liars Club” which is always entertaining and lots of laughs.

SUNDAY, MAY 2ND--MINDELO, ST VINCENT (CAPE VERDE)

I think today was the most beautiful day we have had on the cruise. The humidity is very low and temperature in low 70’s with lots of sun. From our balcony we have an incredible view of the picturesque city on Mindelo. This morning we had a 4 hour tour of the town with some dramatic views of it from the side of the 2500 foot high Monte Verde mountain. We were impressed with this very colorful and super clean town. It was Sunday morning so very few of the locals were out on the streets yet which was an eerie feeling. The Portuguese claimed the 10 islands that form Cape Verde back in 1460 and was a hub for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It gained its independence from Portugal in 1975. St Vincent is a very arid island so there is little agriculture here. Fishing, shipping, boating, and tourism form its economic backbone these days. The islands were formed from volcanoes millions of years ago and it is now very rocky with little plant life on its arid mountains. The streets and sidewalks in town were mostly cobblestone. So with the cobblestone streets and different colors of houses and buildings, it is really quite beautiful here. It is a place I would not mind coming back to for sure. It has a new airport with air service to Portugal. As with Portugal and Brazil, Mindelo is known for its Carnival celebration and associated dances. We were scheduled to depart here at 2pm but Captain Mario said they were still pumping fuel onboard so our new departure time would be 5pm. We will have 4 days at sea before arriving in Barbados. The ocean smoothed out last night so we are hoping that will continue as we head further across the Atlantic Ocean. Our interdenominational church service will be at 5pm. There is a pre-dinner show at 6pm and we will be meeting 2 other couples at 7pm in the Observation Lounge for cocktails and then dinner. The chef is preparing veal parmesan for us again tonight. Yummy! Ok, I have the photos I took here today already on the blog.

SATURDAY, MAY 1ST--AT SEA

We rocked and rolled all last night and it continues today. I posted yesterday’s remarks this morning on the blog and also got The Gambia’s photos edited and uploaded on the blog. This afternoon we have made an inventory of all the things we have purchased on our cruise. I put it all on Word in my computer and will print it as we near Ft Lauderdale. US Customs will be interested in what we purchased and how much it all cost. So far we are under the limit and will not have to pay any duty. All four of us were disappointed with our steaks in Prime 7 last night. The meat was noticeably tougher. Think they ran out of US prime beef. I ran into the Food & Beverage Mgr this afternoon but forgot to ask him. Tonight we will be dining with Joan & Charlie Davis from San Francisco. They are our neighbors here on the aft part of deck 6 and super nice folks. George and I were back in great form this morning as we won the shuffleboard tournament. Tomorrow we will be docking on St Vincent island which is one of the 10 islands that make up Cape Verde. We will be departing at 2pm as it will be a long way to our next stop at Barbados in the Caribbean. I hope it smooths out some for our 4 ½ day cruise across the Atlantic Ocean.