Aboard Regal
Princess
Stateroom C512
Thursday, December
1, 2022
80F, sunny
Today at about
3:30 p.m. Atlantic Ocean time we were finally able to access the Internet,
which would have been about 2:30 p.m. EST-Erie time. Six days is far too long
to go without the Internet! I have read
a lot of books and TK has watched a lot of ocean go by in the past six days. We
have also seen several movies “Under the Stars,” including TK’s favorite, Mama
Mia. Every day it has been warmer and warmer—the ship took the southerly
route to Florida.
But, it is also a smoking area
Each day at noon (4 bells) the captain greets the guests through the PA system. Today he mentioned that we have covered 3,615 miles since Tenerife, our last port of call, and we have 295 land miles to go before we reach Fort Lauderdale. He was thoughtful enough to translate nautical miles into land miles. The ship’s speed is about 19.5 knots per hour, which translates to about 22 miles per hour, with 5 ft. swells.
According to the captain, we are in the Sargasso Sea and at 4 p.m. we will begin to see land—the Bahamas as we go through the Providence Channel. The sea temperature is about 79F, but he mentioned it is much colder at the bottom, the depth of the ocean at noon was 15,750 ft.
TK opted for a
tour tomorrow morning, “Everglades Airboat Ride and Eco-Adventure.” Friends,
you better stay tuned because I suspect alligators are involved and if I don’t
return to Erie, please be suspicious! He
told me this was a way to get to the airport—that is where the tour ends up. We
shall see.
Aboard Regal
Princess
Stateroom C512
Tuesday, November
29, 2022
75F, sunny
Most of the past
many days we have not had access to the Internet, which in today’s world is
very hard! Hopefully, while we spend a few more days relaxing and experiencing
peaceful hours, everything is still stable back home and around the globe.
There is not much
to say about what we are doing—TK is totally in his happy place in the “Sanctuary,”
a very quiet, private space on Deck 17 Forward, Regal Princess. Very few people
are here, and the attendants are especially attentive. TK used his onboard
credit to pay for this luxury every sea day.
Fortunately, he allows me to enjoy the space too.
Our lounge chairs
are thickly padded and very comfortable. The first few days we visited it was
cooler, but we were provided with blankets. Attendants bring us coffee, orange
infused water, Diet Coke, breakfast selections and lunch if we want, and then
teatime selections like tea/coffee, scones, cookies, and tea sandwiches at 3
p.m., just like at home—haha. It opens at 8:30 a.m. and we leave about 4 p.m.
each day, sometimes with a break at the buffet.
I have read almost
3 books during this time—brilliant choices like Michael Connelly (Bosch) and
Lee Childs (Jack Reacher). On Sunday I
did pack our souvenirs—fortunately I brought bubble wrap because we made some
purchases in glass bottles—very uncharacteristic of us, but we were in so many
countries we had never visited before and we could not resist. Our fear is that
we will need another suitcase, but we won’t know until Thursday when we have to
pack everything else.
The Sanctuary area is enclosed by glass so the ocean is always in view. In the past five days we
have only seen two ships. When we
crossed before there always seemed to be another cruise ship within view, but
not this time. We are on our own.
This is one for the four freighters we saw in passing the last six days
Every day at noon
the captain addresses the guests through a PA system, telling us temperature,
where we are by longitude and latitude and so on. Today we are 2,221 nautical miles from our
last port, Tenerife, Canary Islands and 1,246 nautical miles until Fort
Lauderdale. If I had google, I could put that into miles, but I think it is
about 700 miles to go—will check. The air temperature is 82F. He also noted that today the ocean’s depth is
about 21,780 feet. The ocean averages between 10000 and 13000 feet.
The Retreat Pool Area is adults only-Deck 17
The Sanctuary is forward of this area
TK in the hot tub - Deck 17
TK in the Retreat Pool-Deck 17
We acknowledge
that cruising isn’t for everyone, especially those with equilibrium issues.
Others may say they would get bored, but I can assure you after 3 weeks of
intensive port visits, we welcome this respite. As long as I have a book, I can
settle down. TK could watch the sea forever.
Last night we had
dinner in Crown Grille—a steakhouse with an extra fee ($30 pp), but TK’s cruise
booking agent gave us a gift certificate for dining in either Crown Grille or
Sabatini’s (Italian). The steaks were very
good. I had shrimp bisque as an appetizer and TK had seared scallops. We were
offered different salts with our steak: Himalayan salt, black Hawaiian lava
salt, and smoked applewood salt. Each had a distinct flavor and I liked them
all.
The other day at
lunchtime we went to the buffet and there was an extremely large selection of
Indian dishes and really nothing else appealed to me either. I saw a sous chef
who turned out to be the Executive Sous Chef why there were so many Indian
dishes. He did not really answer but said there were 180 selections. I told him
(very politely) that I eat much simpler and that I wish there was a grilled
cheese sandwich available. After trying to steer me to the fried calamari, he
said, “Done!” He told one of the line attendants to make me a grilled cheese
sandwich. In a short time, my grilled
cheese sandwich was delivered to our table—and I could tell much effort had
gone into it—like a club sandwich with two kinds of cheese, very lightly
toasted. I did appreciate the
effort—that was a very kind gesture.
Today I counted 17
different kinds of sushi in the buffet at lunchtime. That is extreme, but admittedly they
look like works of art. I am not a sushi person.
