Weather – 21º, not too bad for sitting outside,
welcome to the ship 
our usual, plus Nawaz
especially
when the sun poked out
Steps – 5,420
Without any reason to get up
until 10:30, we lazed around for the first bit of the day. Last night when I
(Chris spent some time, not money this time, at the casino) arrived back in the
room, Vandana (our room attendant) left us some sweets...which I assume she
intended for our breakfast…haha! I’m sure she didn’t, but I popped one in my mouth
last night and had another 2 this morning with an espresso I made for myself
with the in-
room maker.
Some rooms have these makers
depending on the
breakfast tray
room category. We’ve had rooms with makers before and somehow,
they are just too hard for me. We have a Nespresso, which I have become expert
at, but these…too hard…it has turned into Chris’ job…that’s fine with me.
Espresso and fudge aren’t my typical breakfast, but why not??
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| room service breakfast |
Each cruise has a gathering of repeat
guests. We had one earlier in the cruise and another one this morning – this morning’s
gathering was for those of us who have been on for more than 200 nights, we
have
293 nights. There used to be more advantage to accruing nights. The best perks
for us were that after 200 nights we got unlimited internet for unlimited
devices AND included laundry. The internet is still a perk, but now laundry is
included for everyone. Regent cruise line is all-inclusive, so everything is
paid for in the cruise fare…excursions, drinks package, laundry, gratuities, even
flights (but you can get a reduced fare to book your own) so really there is
little we can think of (if they asked us) to incentivize repeat bookings. This is where the
gathering of repeat guests comes in.
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| one of our TV channels |
About 50 of us gathered in one of
the ship’s lounges for a Spanish brunch…tapas and sangria. It was nice. By far
the best thing about Regent cruises are their staff. I mentioned Nawaz, and
today I met a new food server from the Philippines, Jackie who chatted with me
about how to make the Spanish custard dessert. She said they make similar ones in
Philippines and proceeded to describe it to me. This NOT in her job description
and I wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t, but she did and I definitely noticed…lovely!
Next it was more chores for us. Apparently, the tour we selected for tomorrow in
Portimão is sold out, so on to our second choice – we had hopped we could have selected a second choice when we submitted our request, but nope…have to try again today. We got our second choice.
typical sea day
We had planned to have a “Cool-by-the-Pool” cocktail before
lunch but opted for a glass of wine on our balcony. It was windy (windy enough
to close the upper deck) and cool – sadly not that kind of cool. Today’s “Cool-by-the-Pool”
entertainment was provided by the ship’s piano player. The piano players on each
cruise are a bit of a draw for us (as are all of the musicians) – we are
suckers for a cocktail over a bit of live music. The current guy is a bit of a
disappointment – I HATE to be critical, he obviously can play, but plays to what
seems like a karaoke accompaniment and his singing is just not
Italian al fresco, windy, but lovely!
good. We’ve been
entertained by some fantastic, engaging players who are also great singers…this
guy is not one of them…too bad…entertainment options on these small ships are kinda
limited to begin with.
Although we were hardly hungry
after our morning tapas, by the time 1:30 rolled around we figured we had
better get a few veggies into us, so we headed to the lunch buffet for a salad.
Tonight’s show was Flamenco and
violin…awesome!
tonight's menu
I didn’t take make (as the guides
seem to say)
more Italian
photos today, so included some ship shots. One of them is our best
friend Nawaz the bartender I mentioned in a previous post…he has continued to
be terrific!
I also added a shot of my typical room service breakfast order.
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