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