2022-03-24 - Regent Cruise

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This blog is about our cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Explorer from Miami Florida to Rome, Italy. The cruise included stops in the Bahamas, Portugal (island of Madeira), Spain (Malaga and Cartagena), Palma de Majorca, France (Marseilles), Monaco and ending in Rome.

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March 23/24, 2022 - Miami

We flew our mid-day from Las Vegas to Miami, direct. We arrived mid-evening and then had a half hour plus taxi ride to the hotel. By the time we arrived at the hotel all the restaurants were closed. So, we hit the canteen where we found Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, chips and sodas. Was adequate.

On the 24^th we wandered around the hotel grounds. There is a large pool and water park area for kids. And the hotel is right on the beach.

A large conference checked in today and by the time we headed out for dinner there was a huge wait for a table at the two restaurants in the hotel. So, we asked a host about nearby restaurants, and he pointed us north. Turns out we should have asked more questions. The direction he sent us was to the Broadwalk. Turns out it was a 45-minute walk. Plenty of places to eat but my goodness, what a hike. And we had no luck getting ahold of a taxi so we walked back. As it is humid here we were both a bit wet from the hike.

March 25, 2022 - Regent Explorer

Our bus pickup from the hotel was at 11:00 this morning for the hour drive to the Miami port. Once there we got our COVID tests and were soon on board. This cruise is using a ship credit from our COVID cancelled Tahiti to Peru trip and we needed to use all of our credit plus the bonus they gave us to accept a credit instead of a refund. So, our cabin is an upgrade from our usual cheapest cabin on the ship.

We have both a nice sitting room and bedroom as well as a bit bathroom with a gigantic (for a cruise ship) shower.

And there is a large balcony.

And a butler. We don't know quite what to do with a butler, but he will get us any fruit we want in the room, keep the mini-fridge stocked, and generally help with any problems.

This is certainly a lovely ship. We will enjoy this voyage.

Leaving Miami.

March 26, 2022 - Nassau, Bahamas

The itinerary was originally to have a first stop in Bermuda. Unfortunately, they were having weather and high seas so instead we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas. We have been here before, years ago, but there is always something new to see. We selected a Land and Sea tour of Nassau.

The tour started with the catamaran ride out along the harbor shoreline where we had great views of the ships in port,

and the harbor shoreline.

There were many huge homes owned by some very wealthy people, including Oprah Winfrey.

We had a brief stop where we fed the fish. (They had a loaf of bread to feed the fish. Why they didn’t get healthy fish food is beyond us.)

Then it was back to shore where we boarded a bus for a tour around Nassau.

First stop was Fort Fincastle. Apparently, it was built to defend against pirates, but it never saw any actions.

We also stopped at a Rum Cake factory where we got to sample the cakes. We opted not to buy any.

We also drove out to the Atlantis Resort where we were dropped of and allowed to wander around the grounds a bit.

The casino (first place you could enter) had some very incredible glass pieces. Probably by the glass artist Dale Chihuly.

We were dropped off in the port shopping area of Nassau. We opted to head directly back to the ship.

The ship departed mid-afternoon for our seven-day transatlantic crossing.

By the end of the day we decided that the ship-board restaurants were very good, as was the entertainment on board.

March 27 - April 2 - At Sea

On our first sea day we decided to have breakfast on our balcony. The weather was lovely and we very much enjoyed the quiet time and good food.

Most days we spent the morning in the Constellation Theater for the Speaker series. Generally, there were two speakers, one specializing on the ocean (including topics on the wildlife [or lack thereof] to be seen on our ocean crossing) and the other specializing on astronomy.

We also attended some very good evening shows including a couple by London West End star Michael Sterling. He in particular was very good.

One day Mary elected to take a cooking class in their Culinary Arts kitchen. We made some really great food.

Evenings we always requested to share a table which gave us some wonderful dinner conversations. About half of our dinner companions were frequent cruisers on Regent and the other half were first timers like us.

On April 2 they had only one speaker in the morning, which freed up time just before lunch for a very fun Country Fair on the pool deck. The various departments within around the ship each had a fair booth. Everyone got a ticket for participating and at the end there was a raffle for some goods

The Beverage department had lots of bottles of wine and such for a ring toss. Housekeeping had towel folding, the entertainers were in the pool for another ring (hula hoop) toss, and so on. Everyone had a great time.