January 8 – AT SEA

we can see Cuba

Weather – 23º, overcast, one very small shower, so small we thought maybe water was coming from a higher deck

Steps – 6,094

We spent a very leisurely morning in the room with room service. Room service used to be something I’d always get on excursion mornings. I eventually realized that it was easier for me to grab a couple of yogurts for our room fridge rather than to schedule a yogurt delivery. A yogurt is all I want for breakfast, so this is so much easier.

Astern pool

However…this being our first day on Explora, plus the fact that I’m not at all familiar with how this ship works for grab and go, room service seemed like a good idea. As I mentioned yesterday, we have an espresso machine in our Explora room – (a significant weak spot for Regent’s basic room) so we don’t even have to go out for a breakfast coffee. I could never drink coffee again, and be perfectly happy, but I enjoy the ritual of it.

This ship has 4 pools! They aren’t the hugest pools but give a nice variety. None of these pools have a lot of shade (other than the indoor one), which on a sunny day would not be good for the shade loving 2 of us. However, today being mostly overcast we didn’t mind.

Asian place - kimono napkin fold

There doesn’t seem to be any ‘chair-hoggin’ on this ship (another major weak spot for Regent.) We found a lovely 2-person lounger in a bit of shade where we spent the late part of the morning before lunch. The morning shade was cool enough that Chris temporarily moved to a sunny chair for a bit of warmth.

Lunch was again at the food hall. Some food choices were the same, some were different – still an overwhelming array. We found a nice spot outside, overlooking
the pool we were just at and the sea.

After lunch we went to a different pool (the Astern Pool) where there was live music – 2 guitar players who also sang. The Astern Pool is as advertised…at the back of the boat, this means it overlooks the wake…the absolute BEST location on any ship I’ve ever been on. Again, we found a lounger for 2 (partially submerged in the shallow pool ledge which is lovely.)

organization station set up

Here the lack of shade was a problem. I am reading a book on my iPad which in the sun isn’t great, add to that needing to wear my sunglasses which I hate reading with, and I didn’t get much in the way of reading done. This is definitely not the biggest problem in the world, so instead of reading I napped a bit.

A lot of the music on this ship is familiar songs arranged differently. I love this kind of music. I prefer when musicians put their own spin on familiar songs.

love a bedside phone charger

Once the music was done, we headed back to our not-so-cool room until the
evening. Yesterday, when we arrived, it was actually chilly, so we figured the AC would be good – should be on a brand-new boat. We eventually figured that because this is one of those situations where we have to insert a card in a slot to turn on the room’s power the AC hasn’t been on since we went out. I’m all for conserving power, but I draw the line at a cool room and charged devices – how much power is charging my laptop really drawing anyway??? I know I could put my old Regent card in when we’re away, but I don’t really like doing this when the staff will be in our room. Between our evening cocktail and dinner, I popped back to the room and slotted my Regent card in.

Explora welcome gift next to our usual one

Dinner tonight was at the ship’s Asian restaurant. It was lovely with terrific service. Both last night and tonight it seemed to us that the staff was vying for tips because they were so friendly and attentive. All tips are included on Explora, so it shouldn’t be the case, and ultimately wasn’t at all, but we are constantly on a bit of an alert to this.

The after-dinner show was Broadway tunes…it was very good. There are 6 singers…3 male and 3 female. One of the female singer is excellent. We’ve

bacon in bed!!

seen many, many of these types of shows over the years on cruise ships and she is one of, if not the best singer we’ve ever heard.

The cabaret type theatre on Explora is small – maybe 300 people?? The ship’s capacity is 922. Apparently, the ship has never been full since it sailed for the first time about 18 months ago and this week
there’s about 600. Why it doesn’t sail full no one says, there are many theories, but who knows. The

grrrrr!

small theatre is nice, we’ve chosen front row each night which is good. There are 2 shows each night (at 8 and 10). I suspect the Explora Wi-Fi that I was so impressed by isn’t playing nice with my email for some reason, and I’m getting a message that my password is incorrect. Somehow this password isn’t in my phone’s list of passwords and of course I don’t know it. So…if you’re trying to email me…don’t bother. I hope when we get to Jamaica tomorrow and I get back on cell with the e-SIM I’ve been using, it’ll resolve – fingers crossed.

Diana (I think you’re the anonymous commenter with the friend Fran) I’m quite certain the Italian restaurant we went to in the Caymans was Casa Nova! The picture I posted was from there!