January 3 – Miami/Fort Lauderdale

arrow marks where we had lunch

Weather – 23º, sunny – lovely, unseasonable cool, but it was lovely for wandering

Steps – 16,392

Humidity – 60%,

Sleep – 2hr, 48 min. I feel that it bears mentioning that according to my Apple Watch I haven’t slept for days. It must be the motion of the ocean that makes my watch think I’m not sleeping, I can’t remember this every being an issue before.

We expected the disembarkation process to be arduous today because we are in Miami – we were right. We’ve disembarked in Miami before and the port workers don’t make anything easy. I’m not sure if they are always ‘working to rule’, but this is the third time we’ve disembarked in Miami, and it has never been smooth.

blimp in the distance

There were 800 guests (and probably some staff) disembarking and one immigration worker looking at passports (there were actually 2, but one very busy looking at his phone.) It took us 45

gotta get some sleep

minutes to get through. We were an hour late getting off the boat in the first place and then this delay made us late meeting our driver. I’m glad we didn’t have a flight to catch.

In the end we made it to Fort Lauderdale by about 1130. Of course, everyone hopes their hotel room will be ready early, we weren’t lucky. We checked our bags and headed out for a wander.

The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina is where we will spend tonight before getting on the Sun Princess tomorrow for a week. The hotel is a bit rundown, but the location can’t be beat. Chris and I agree, this is one of the best locations for a hotel room we’ve ever had. I mean the geographical location and the balcony room we (Chris) chose overlooking the hotel pool and the Intercostal Waterway.

The Intercostal Waterway is a 3,000-mile inland waterway stretching from

evening view

Massachusetts to the southern tip of Florida, some parts of it are natural bays, inlets etc. and some are artificial canals. We watch giant yachts, tourist boats and small boats going up and down all day.

We also saw the Goodyear blimp flying around…very neat!

The hotel is so close to the port we figured we could walk tomorrow rather than take an Uber but wanted to do some recon today without suitcases. It is about

a 10-minute walk without suitcases mostly along sidewalks. There will be a few spots where there will be brick sidewalks/roads which will be a bit rough, but all in all, it will be doable – we’ll see.

Then we walked…I wanted to get a good walk in and there was a place along the waterway about 3K away that we though would be good for lunch. 15^th Street Fisheries is a huge, casual place right along the waterway. As the crow flies, it is actually very close to our hotel, but it’s on the other side of a canal. We could

soon!

have taken a water taxi, but again…we need to walk.

The place was packed. We wanted an outdoor spot (there was also a musician playing out there who we wanted to listen to), so we sat at the bar and waited. It was only about 15 minutes before our table was ready which was good, because we didn’t need to

downtown skyline at night

listen any longer to the old guy next to us talking about how he never takes vaccines, never gets sick, and the only time in his life that he was forced to take a flu vax for the army was when he got sick – did you know the flu vax gives you the flu??? Good grief! I was about to tell him I have every imaginable vax when our table was ready…sheesh!

Lunch was a BIG salad (Regent’s food is great, but I just want a plain ol’ salad) and calamari – we shared.

Next to the restaurant’s deck is where you can park (or is dock the right term?) your boat, so it is a happening place to watch life. There are also massive tarpon fish…some a meter long that kids were feeding right off of the dock. I could see how fun that would have been as a kid…or as an adult really. You could buy food for 25 cents from an old school bubble-gum machine.

Then we were back to the hotel for some down time and a glass of wine. We didn’t ever end up drinking our in-room bottles supplied by Regent, so we figured why not bring them. We rarely bother, but we knew we’d have some hotel time and a glass or 2 of wine would be nice.

These bottles of wine made my backpack approximately 1,000 pounds. I had 2 bottles of wine and my laptop in addition to other things in there that made it HEAVY!

Good thing we drank one bottle, so my backpack won’t be so heavy tomorrow. Although we have a drink package on Princess having a bottle in our room will be convenient. Princess allows each person to bring on one bottle.

We found a pub near the hotel for a late evening snack. It was actually a bit chilly around 9, not cold, but chilly.

We were back and in bed before 11.

January 2 – AT SEA, Cruising The Bahamian Waters

Chris talking to An about an Aperol Spritz

Weather – 23º, sunny, windy

the requisite 'chips for the table'

Steps – 5,971

Humidity – 50%

Today is the last day of this cruise. It’s been a great cruise. We haven’t had to miss any ports or excursions – this is rare. Neither of us got sick (despite there being a lot of respiratory illness onboard, or so we are told) or dragged a door across a toe – not that we’ve ever done that!

Fridays on Regent they have frittata and sangria for breakfast. Although Chris isn’t big on breakfast, he is ok with going for the themed breakfasts. They had peach, cherry, watermelon, and berry flavours…we both had peach – pretty tasty.

so sad

We spent the rest of the morning at the pool. It was sunny, but the wind was cool. Then we got a noon time Aperol Spritz while watching Ross’ Cool by the Pool.

Lunch was Tex Mex…I can’t say no to guac, chips, roasted peppers, and tacos.

another Regent ship sailing past

After lunch it was back to the pool, this time in a bit of sun. The wind was still so cool, that we had to find sun…this is rare for us.

We visited the future cruise consultant to purchase an onboard booking certificate. There are incentives for booking a cruise onboard. Sometimes you’re not sure what cruise you want to book, but this way you can figure that out later, but still get the incentives.

tonight's menu

Then it was time to pack. I hate packing. I think what I actually hate about packing is packing things I didn’t wear. I haven’t no problem wearing the same thing multiple times, I don’t get bored of clothes and tend to repeat what is comfortable and I think look good on me. I think I bring things I have and feel should wear but end up ignoring – there is a reason I don’t wear these things. Vacations remind me how little clothes I need and inspire me to purge when I get home. Then somehow, when I’m home, I unpack and forget about getting rid of stuff.

I had the pina colada mousse

As we were packing the captain came on the PA saying that the Grandeur, another Regent ship was passing just outside…neat!

We were once perfectly happy with a rolling case and a backpack for a cruise. Especially with Regent (and Princess next week) including laundry, there is nothing we need that can’t fit into a carry on and a suitcase. This does NOT apply to a cold weather cruise – we will definitely need large cases for next year’s Antarctica journey!

a typical sea day part 2

The show was pre-dinner tonight – Broadway Unplugged. It was good (as usual, we’ve seen it before) but there was a fair number of newer selections.

We had dinner a bit earlier because of the early show and were back at the room by 9. It was 8 actually. We had to turn our clocks back one hour to be on Miami time and the ship decided to do it tonight instead of last night. Seems like the wrong decision when we have just had 2 sea days to adjust on disembarkation day, but at least it was back and not forward.

a typical sea day

January 1 – AT SEA, Cruising The Atlantic Ocean

my balcony set up

Weather – 23º, partly cloudy, a couple of tiny sprinkles of rain

Steps – 7,406

Humidity – 65%

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We rang in the new year like the mature folks we are – stayed up late but drank very little…had the cocktail of the night - a ‘snowball’ (coconut and crème de menthe – surprisingly tasty) and a sip of champagne to toast the new year. I didn’t even have my own champagne at midnight – Chris’ champagne was flat, so we shared mine…fine with me…I’m responsible.

As a result of being so responsible and mature, I felt fantastic this morning!!

Krew Kapers!

Nonetheless, we had no where to be, so were in no rush to get up. We figured our balcony would be in shade for the 2 days sea days back to Miami, so would use the balcony this morning.

Chris isn’t as big a fan of balcony time as I am. He prefers to be at the pool where the ‘action’ is. I question his definition of ‘action’ – people sleeping, walking the track, staking their claim and taking off…not exactly action in my books. Plus…if someone offers to bring me a mimosa at 10am I don’t want to be rude and refuse – I refuse a lot of the time, but still don’t want to be rude.

almost full

For the first time this cruise the ship put on “cool-by-the-pool” – the duo played. We had our regular noon-time Aperol Spritz served by Dipak, a waiter we knew from our Africa cruise…he remembered us because we always have an Aperol Spritz at noon…he said “Giorgio always sent me with Aperol Sprits for you”…YES! that’s right!

We sipped and listened to the duo, ate lunch in our favourite spot watching the wake, Chris got a haircut, I read a bit…and that was the afternoon.

The predinner show was Krew Kapers…the best show of ALL of the Regent shows.

tonight's menu

Krew Kapers is a talent showcase for the ship’s crew…the house keepers, the deck hands, the cooks and the waiters have the opportunity to sing a song or dance a dance – I LOVE this show and try to NEVER miss it. No one was particularly amazing, but WOW, the effort and enthusiasm! It always chokes me up. We had a cultural dance from Indonesia and one from Philippines, there were a couple of hip hop dances, a Lionel Richie tune (yippee!), a few others, and of course ‘Dream the Impossible Dream’. Then many of the rest of the ship’s crew flood the stage – there are 458 staff from 37 countries.

always available!

Dinner was at the main dining room as usual, and another reason that this is our place…sat in Melona’s section…a server we got to know on our Africa cruise. The staff makes the experience so much more fun. She is halfway through her 8-month contract! We also chatted with Pratap, a bar waiter we have gotten to know…he just started his contract and won’t be back to his home in Goa until August!

The show was the comedian – not good, oh well…

Chris ended the night at the casino and was fortunate to be playing at the same time as the super loud woman from a few nights ago was…that was the only place he found luck.

Back at the room, we found our last delivery of laundry. This is such a fantastic service. I have no problem doing my own laundry but this service is very nice. I’m actually looking for the cruise ship room (or hotel room for that matter) with en suite laundry machines…I would LOVE that!

Lori - I love that idea of a collage or reel of Chris bringing the drinks

December 31 – Tortola, BVI

Weather – 28º, sunny

Steps – 13,811 (could be counted as 15,811…got 2,000 after midnight!)

Humidity – 65%

This is our second visit to the British Virgin Islands (pop.30,000). The last time we were here, we visited Virgin Gorda and the Baths. It was such a cool experience, that we decided to try to replicate it…don’t do that. We were worried it wouldn’t live up to our memory.

to The Baths

We had fun but weren’t as wowed as we were the first time. Plus…there were more people here this

boats in the Viegin Gorda bay

time – or at least it seemed that way especially in one spot where it is very skinny between the boulders. Everywhere else seemed similarly full of people.

Anyway, a visit to Virgin Gorda and the Baths requires a 45-minute ferry ride from where the ship is docked on Tortola (one of the 4 main islands of the BVI). Then a 10-minute truck trip and we are at “the baths”. The last time we were here the guide, who was more of an escort than a guide, told us to ‘have fun and be back in a couple of hours’. This time the 3 escorts, led us to the first point of

giant boulders

interest which was a beach. We dipped our toes in the water, admired the beauty and finally told the escorts we would continue on our own.

This was a good plan because when we

waiting in line

got to the entrance to the caves (more like narrow passages between huge boulders) there was a line up. It is very narrow so that you need to go single file. There are stairs and ropes to use, so that it goes slow…but this was really slow. At one point about 10 people ahead of us an 80-year-old man had a seizure. This is not a good place to have a seizure. I think they eventually got him out on his own, we were told emergency folks were coming, but we didn’t see any.

painkillers

The ship gave everyone who booked this tour a reminder that this was a strenuous tour, that you had to be physically fit, couldn’t be claustrophobic, and other cautions…and that this wasn’t a beach break. Even if someone just wanted to go to the beach where we first stopped, they would have to traverse a steep, long path.

Anyway, The Baths are impressive…huge, granite boulders sprinkled at the edge of the water. As you wind through the rocks you are walking through ankle and sometimes kneed deep tide pools. Because we’ve been here before and because of the crowd, the shine was off of this place for us a bit.

beautiful bay

We knew there was a beach bar at the end of rocks and planned to spend some time there chilling in the shade. We weren’t rushed but didn’t have that much time for chilling.

finally got the conch

We also wanted to stop at the restaurant at the top of The Baths for a painkiller (famous BVI cocktail) and conch fritters. We had a drink, but no fritters.

Back on Tortola, we went back to Pussers, where we had lunch last time – this time we got the fritters!

A short nap before we were out for New Year’s festivities which started with Jassan Allen’s pre-dinner tribute to Lionel Richie – it was fun.

Pre-dinner meant it was over at 645. We went back to the room for some reading on the balcony time before our usual pre-dinner cocktail followed by dinner and then the party. We planned to be out until midnight so starting at 6 and staying out was just too long.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The ship’s New Year’s party took place in the theatre. This is our 3^rd New Year’s in a row on this ship – the last 2 had the parties in the theatre. This sounds odd,

our usual

but it’s great. There’s lots of room for people to spread out, for servers to serve, and for the band to play. Lots of people danced on the dance floor, but some danced all over the theatre…that’s what we did – how we got our steps up!

We got to bed around 1 – it was a great New Year’s Eve!!

December 30 – Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

Weather – 27º, sunny

Steps – 8,664

Humidity – 62%

Saint Kitts and Nevis (pop. 54,300) is country 106 and is part of the British Commonwealth. Saint Kitts is one island and Nevis is the other, it is the smallest country (pop and area) in the western hemisphere.  

Our tour was an afternoon one, so we had a chill morning. The first morning I’ve visited the juice guy – today we had grapefruit, pineapple, ginger, and spinach. An advantage of being only one floor below the pool is easy access to the juice guy.

our view today

We docked across from the 2,000 passenger Aida Blu cruise ship – has robots to interact with passengers, is

steel drum entertainment

mostly German speaking, allows smoking on balconies and has a nudist area! Our balcony was bathed in morning sun which I do not prefer and was hoping this ship might provide shade…nope. It was cloudy enough to sit while being entertained by the goings on of the Aida.

This cruise has been busy, with only 2 sea days so far. We’ll have another 2 at the end. A lack of sea days limits our visits to the juice guy.

Today we are docked at Saint Kitts and visited Nevis on a tour.

waiting to hit the beach

We took a party boat from Saint Kitts to Nevis for a ‘beach break’. About an hour on the boat, followed by 90 minutes at the beach and another hour back. For not being beach people, it was a great tour. We

watching the surf

didn’t get much in the way of local info, but did get a flavour of the music, drink, and what people do in their leisure time – there were plenty of locals at the beach.

3 small rum punches were included, and we took a bucket of local Carib beer ($20USD) to the beach. Once at the beach we paid for 2 chairs and an umbrella for $10USD – I thought that was reasonable. We brought our books, which was a good idea – 90 minutes listening to the waves, drinking beer, reading…lovely way to pass some time.

On the way to the beach, a steel drummer played and on the way back we listened to a DJ…made for a fun atmosphere.

beer?

our last Carib

Tonight’s we had a reservation at Chartreuse, the ship’s French, reservation required restaurant. As I’ve mentioned the reservation required restaurants don’t do much for us. Last night we were at the steak place, and it wasn’t great, so we are bailing on the French place…the main dining room is the place for us. It was the right choice – the vibe is better because we are more familiar with the staff there.

last 2 rum punches

The show tonight was Blazin’ Boots. It is one of the ship’s entertainment team’s shows. I think we’ve seen it approximately 1 million times, but it’s good. In fact, at one point Chris leaned over and said “what do you think this one is this one?” as they were setting up for the next song…we almost remembered their entire set list.

4 ships in

December 29 – Pointe-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Weather – 28º, sunny

Steps – 8,212; unless we put in some effort, we can’t make over 10,000

Humidity – 70%

ginger - all over the park

As soon as we looked outside this morning, we recognized Guadeloupe (pop. 395,700). This is our third visit, and the port is easy for us to remember with it’s 5 story buildings decorated with street art. Guadeloupe is an “overseas department” of France - people are French citizens with French passports, the Euro is

1 or 14 suspension bridges

the currency.

1 of 14 suspension bridges

Because we have been here previously, we have done the typical things…rum and waterfalls. This time, we picked a tour to a nature park with the highlight to be suspended wooden bridges…this turned out to be a zoo with a course of 14 narrow suspension bridges in the
treetops. The suspension bridge (65 feet above the ground) part was quite cool, but the place was too
busy to accommodate people very well. What was supposed to be a 30-minute suspension bridge trek took at least double that time. We didn’t have anything else to do, and weren’t pressed for time, but sheesh! There was dense, lush foliage so gaze upon, but after 10 minutes of that…I could have moved on.

lush everywhere

enormous leaves

Then there were animals that were cool to see, but I’m not a fan of enclosed animals. In the end, we figured the tour was a bit inaccurately described, with the suspension bridge part being over hyped. We thought the suspension bridge part would be a main focus…it was in terms of time needed, but otherwise, not so much.

It was a bummer, but again…some tours are duds, and some are great. Sometimes it’s good to
experience duds to know when you get a good one. Plus, dud tours are really pretty rare.

There were some really cool plants and flowers - birds of paradise, bright yellow cannas, wild orchids and wild ginger.

what's the hold up???

On the way back to the ship, we stopped at Cascade aux Écrevisses one of Guadeloupe’s 100

Cascade aux Écrevisses

waterfalls. I am a sucker for all things waterfall, so I wasn’t sad we stopped here. We had in fact visited these falls on a previous trip – we remembered that one being in a torrential downpour. It was a short walk over a cobbled tourist friendly pathway (the French seem to pour money into the nature infrastructure here) to look at the falls and then back to the bus. That’s all that was necessary.

We grabbed a plate of lunch from the buffet and ate on our balcony. We were in the shade again, so took advantage. We are on floor 10 this trip, right under the buffet and pool on 11. I was a bit worried about the sound from above, but we’ve heard little. It is very convenient in terms of popping up and down.

Our entertainment was watching Mormon door knockers stream out of an apartment building across from the ship. 4 or 5 at a time would come out, pile into a car and be off. We didn’t see any return.

good bye Guadeloupe

On cruises, you typically choose the specific room you will stay in. There are pros and cons to location. With Regent, we usually (not always, if we can get an OK price on a aft facing room we’ll splurge a bit on that) choose the least expensive room – on Regent, once you are out of your

local beer - 3.5 euro

room everyone is treated the same in terms of inclusions. Unless you really splash out, all of the rooms are the same size and layout…the difference is the location.

don't know what they are but...gorgeous!

When we booked this cruise, the inexpensive rooms were booked, all we were able to get was a ‘guaranteed’ room. Meaning, you are guaranteed to be on the ship, but the room you get is a crap shoot – the price is better too for guarantee. You could
luck out and get a primo room, or not. As we always pick the least desirable category, we figured it would work out. We ended up with in a ‘Concierge E’ room.

more flowers

Regent introduced a category of concierge rooms a while back – these give more internet log ins (we get unlimited), a pre-cruise hotel night (not bad) and a ‘better’ location (not important to us). With the guarantee we had, we got none of
this, so essentially, our room is the same size as most are in a better location (higher up).

Diana – Yeah, a bust…you win some and you lose some. I figure getting the Wordle in 3 is skill, in 2…luck. Yesterday it took us ALL the tries, we finally got it, but it took some time.