INCOMMUNICADO ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!

Aboard Regal Princess
Stateroom C512
Thursday, December 1, 2022
80F, sunny
 

TK on Deck 17

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.

Deck 17--a very nice area ship's aft
But, it is also a smoking area

TK at the Terrace Pool-Deck 17

This area overlooks the sea--ship's aft-Deck 17

Deck 17-midship

View of Deck 16 from Deck 17

Two pools, 4 hot tubs

Deck 17-Janie

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. 

 Every time I have made the crossing of the Atlantic, I cannot help but think of how small we really are compared to something so very vast. In the mid-90s I sailed on the Atlantic Ocean as crew on the U.S. Brig Niagara (square rigged tall ship), 110 ft. long with a 32 ft. beam. (As a comparison, the Regal Princess is 1083 ft. long with 126 ft. beam.) Just before we reached Boston, the captain decided we needed more practice night sailing.  It was 9 p.m.  We did not get back to the port of Boston until 8 p.m. the next evening.  I am glad that I had the experience, but I think I like night sailing on a much bigger ship.  The ocean seemed even bigger compared to the Niagara! 

The beautiful U.S. Brig Niagara on Presque Isle Bay, Erie, Pennsylvania

 This afternoon TK and I packed our luggage together for the first time ever. We have always packed our own luggage and on the last day of a cruise we repack separately. As in different times. The joint effort today was necessary because we had made many purchases and needed to divide the items between our four bags. I wasn’t sure this would end well.  It went better than I expected and fortunately we did not have to buy another bag. TK weighed each bag, all under 50 pounds. My largest bag weighed 48.5 pounds. 

 

The sign by our door--because of our Medallion, the door knows when we approach

and the door automatically unlocks

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.

 

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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. 

 

A view of the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary

There is a charge for using the Sanctuary

TK reserved the same two lounge chairs for us for the last 6 days

The lounge chairs are very comfortable

The cabanas in the Sanctuary are more expensive, with TV 

and several seating options-lounge chairs, couches, chairs

The Sanctuary, another angle

This area is in the front of the ship, with views of the ocean from all sides.

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 very deep books I read the last four days

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.

 

 There is an adjoining area to the Sanctuary called Retreat Pool and Bar with two hot tubs and a pool—TK has definitely taken advantage of both. Today the pools are closed because of the ocean swells. Yesterday the captain said we were experiencing 27 ft. swells. Since this is a big ship equipped with state of the art stabilizers, it isn’t too bad, but yesterday was a bit of a challenge. I attribute my balance to my experience as crew on the U.S. Brig Niagara, in the Atlantic. TK had four years’ experience aboard the “warship” U.S.S. Columbus in these very same waters and he navigated well too.

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

Retreat Pool area--you can see the difference in the lounge chairs,

compared to the Sanctuary Area

 

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.

These signs are on each deck outside the elevators

Some of the fresh fruit selections

Scrambled eggs, eggs Benedict, omelets to order, fried eggs all available

A variety of sausages

Cold and hot cereals

Pancakes

Croissants, breads

Danish

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. 

The gym is quite large

bikes

Over 30 treadmills

Wedding Chapel--I came here for a genealogy meeting