May 24 – AT SEA, Cruising the Indian Ocean

Weather – 28º

Steps – 7,046

Humidity – 70%

Sea depth – 4,500m

The weather is getting more and more pleasant as we move south. The best spots we could get at the pool were about 2/3 in the sun at first, but the shade only grew, so within about an hour we were totally in the shade. Not that this was all that cool, but it was pleasant in the shade. A few days ago, even in the shade it was still hot.

Throughout the morning, we watched gannets (a sea bird) dive bomb for flying fish. Where birds come from this far from land always amazes me.

All cruise the has been going fast. Fast for a cruise ship in my experience is anywhere near 20 knots. Today we are going 17 and have been hovering around the 17/18/19 mark all cruise. We have a lot of distance to cover. We’ve been in the Caribbean going 5 knots…just not that far to go there. We had 8 foot sea swells all day and those increased to 14 foot in the evening. We had our predinner cocktail at the “Observation Lounge” on deck 11 (the very top of the ship) and I could feel the differece from being up there to where we
came from which was a predinner show at the theatre on deck 4. Our room is on deck 6 (679) so we don’t get as much sway. We get motion, just not as much sway as up higher.

upon request only

Gorgio is the Observation Lounge baretender. Each of the last few nights when we've sat down our drinks are in front of us before we have to ask. I get a champagne, and Chris has an Italian Getaway. The Italian Getaway (Campari, grapefruit juice, and prosecco) is a drink that was on the Regent bar menu way, way back - Chris continues to order it. The bar staff will jokingly tell him it’s no longer on the menu, but of course anything is available. Good think we like these, can’t change our usuals now!?!

The ship has 2 ‘specialty’ restaurants – a steak place and a French place, where reservations are required and are limited. We typically visit these places each

Chris living his best life!

cruise, but aren’t hell-bent to get in. It seems like Compass Rose (the main dining room) is regarded by some as lower quality or less than…we totally disagree. Compass Rose has a different menu each night (the ‘specialty’ restaurants don’t) and has a livelier vibe.

I trade tonight’s show for some time on the balcony before turning in. Until today, it’s been a bit too hot and humid for a post-dinner, pre-bed sit. Tonight, it was perfect. The sky wasn’t clear enough to see many stars, but sitting in the dark, listening to, and watching the rush of the water in the ship’s wake was lovely.

It was another round of Name that Tune tonight. We were likely to go until we heard the theme was going to be hits of the 50s and 60s.

Apparently, some people have had gastro issues. Things that were once self serve like the water bottle filler in the gym, and the daily crossword and Mensa puzzles are now only available on request; the reuseable menus in the restaurant have been replaced by individual pages that are then pitched after one use and there is no more jigsaw puzzles. These measures have been done pretty half-assed, so I’m not really sure what’s what. Regent takes health issues seriously, so who know. All I know is that so far, we are AOK. We don’t do much socializing, so are probably less likely to catch…that’s what we hope.