December 16 - Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Weather

– 26º and

clouds!!

cloudy, rained
torrentially, but only for about 5 min

Steps – 8,632

This is the first day we’ve set foot on land in 4 days. It felt great to stretch my legs. We were here on last year’s Christmas cruise but are visiting a different part of the island today.

Guadeloupe is a lush volcanic island. I remember this from last year’s visit…dense vegetation and

waterfalls. We visited a waterfall last year and did again today - Cascade aux Ecrevisses (crayfish waterfall.) I will never tire of waterfalls. This one different from last year’s is a short walk from the car park. As we were on the way back to the bus, it starts to rain a bit, nah,

Cascade aux Ecrevisses

we don’t need a hat or umbrella…then…whoosh…yup, get the hat and the umbrella. In the 5 minutes back to the bus we got pretty wet despite the hat and umbrella.

Next, was a visit to a rum distillery – we can’t visit the Caribbean without sampling some rum. This place wasn’t exactly set up for tours. They thought they were, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Fine, but meh.

Lastly, we visited Les Jardins de Valombreuse, a

garden where we saw orchids, cacao trees, a palm grove, many other exotic flowers, and birds. We had a bit of a tour on a small train and then explored on our own.

just as the rain was falling

It was interesting to drive all over the island through lush forests.

 

We had hoped for a beer at the pier, but there was

Guadeloupe street art

little going on. Last year things were a bit more hopping, but I think another ship was in port as well, so there was a reason for the shops and bar to be

flowering vines

livelier. So, it was back on the

gorgeous flowers

boat for a late lunch, a nap and the usual evening routine.

red ibis

distillery

December 15 - AT SEA, was supposed to be Gustavia, St. Barts

twins

gingerbread house display

Weather – 27º, less windy, but still windy

Steps – 4,256

As I said yesterday, Mother Nature didn’t smooth the waters for us to get to St Bart’s yet again. I suppose life isn’t too bad when we can say we missed St. Bart’s…twice. Of course, we’re disappointed-ish, saw it coming and we’re over it – I’m always up for a sea day, even if it is a third sea day in a row.

Today the winds died down a bit, so we spent the morning at the pool.

Included laundry has got to be one of the best perks Regent offers. Until
recently, included laundry was a perk for repeat guests having sailed for 200 days (of something like that.) We achieved that status just before Covid…yipee! There have always been self-serve launderettes on board Regent, which we’re discovering few other lines have even if you have to pay. Anyway…about 2 years ago Regent added laundry to its ‘all inclusive’ inclusions.

food fight

Speaking of # of days sailed…today marks our 296^th day with Regent. Status has never meant a lot on this line due to its ‘all inclusive’ model. Nonetheless…it’s interesting to think about how many days we’ve been on a Regent boat.

There is little to report for the rest of the day. We opt not to see the juggler from 2 days ago and retire early…tomorrow will be the first day in a long time we have to wake up with an alarm.

Chris tried to start a food fight in the dining room with his salt twist…he loves those salt twists, so I’m not sure what he was thinking. Photo gave me an excuse to take a pic of my shoes!

December 14 - AT SEA

breakfast

Weather – 27º, sunny with wispy clouds, less humid than yesterday and WINDY, wow…went to the pool deck for a post-workout juice and it was blowing

Steps – 5,543

Hallelujah, I made it to the gym. When I got there, there was a class going on that was PACKED. I’ve never seen a ship fitness class as packed as this! Good thing I hadn’t planned to join in and just did my own thing. The gym here is small, but functional - 10 cardio machines, a handful of weight machines and dumb bells, if there aren’t too many people here

our view for the next couple of days

it works.

Breakfast was a post-workout made to order juice (I had spinach, cucumber, pineapple, ginger, and grapefruit) and a bowl of dried fruit and nuts. We took all of this back to the room to eat on the balcony – it was too windy on the pool deck.

The rest of the morning was spent like yesterday…blogging, reading, and looking at the ocean searching for animals…sadly again…none were seen.

The captain’s noon announcements are typically heard via a specific channel on TV or in the public areas of the ship…they don’t come on the room’s PA speaker

so many options

unless it’s important. During covid, we had a lot
of in-room PA speaker announcements. Today’s announcement came through our room’s PA speaker. We as soon as we heard today’s via the PS, we knew St. Bart’s was being cancelled. Sure enough, that’s what the captain reported. Based on what he said yesterday, we’re not surprised. In fact, Chris had predicted that we weren’t getting into St Bart’s before we even left Calgary. The captain can tell already that the conditions will be bad enough not to be able to run the tenders tomorrow.

The swells are currently 2 meters, but the ship is handling that just fine…there is a bit of rocking and rolling, but nothing we haven’t experienced before. Nevertheless, it’s so windy that we can feel the ocean spray on our deck 8 balcony. Luckily, we are on the leeward side or the boat, so we are nicely sheltered on our balcony.

We were feeling cozy on our balcony and there was no cool by the pool to get to thanks to Mother Nature, so we decided room service for lunch was in order…we got our usual…spaghetti bolognese, a club sandwich, veggie spring rolls and some sliced red peppers. All of this was washed down with a glass of rosé from our minibar.

more options

BTW…everything and anything you could imagine in a mini bar is part of the cruise fare on Regent. I think they limit what you can have at any one time to 2 bottles of hard booze, and maybe 2 bottles of wine. We got one bottle of gin once and felt so wasteful having only made a couple of drinks with it. We drink enough on the outside on cruises, that we don’t need much in the room. Right now, we have a bottle of rosé, a bottle of champagne and a few beers. This of course is in addition to any non-alcoholic drinks you could imagine.

Pre-dinner drinks tonight were courtesy of the ship’s ‘block party’. This is where everyone on the boat spills into the halls outside their rooms with an empty wine glass to meet neighbors. Room stewards wander up and down the halls with wine and snacks. It’s quite nice to meet the people sharing your hall.

Dinner was at the ship’s main dining room…’Compass Rose’. This is where we have most of our dinners. Often this place is seen as less desirable than the 2 reservations-required restaurants on board. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The reservations-required restaurants (one steak and the other French) are fine, but the menus never change, so one visit per cruise is sufficient for us. The main dining room has a different menu every night, plus items that are ‘always available’, there’s also a bit more of a vibe in there.

Tonight’s show was ‘Divas and Devos’, a song and dance production – no story, just hits sung by the ship’s entertainment team. I’m sure we’ve seen this show on every Regent cruise we’ve ever been on. It’s time for it to be retired, but they do change it up by adding current songs and the dancing is different, so maybe it’s fine. Thankfully, it’s no comedian/juggler. Lastly, Chris hit the casino and won apparently and I hit the hay.

December 13 - AT SEA

here we are

Weather – 26º, humid, and windy

Steps – like yesterday…3714, not many…sea days don’t provide for very much movement

Today we are sailing the Bahamian Channel between Cuba and the Bahamas.

We lost an hour of sleep last night, we expected this somewhere along the way, but not necessarily TODAY. We will be in St Bart’s on Friday, and we are getting on their time zone now. Hopefully few other people will be in St. Bart’s on Friday…I’m

and here we are

talking to you Leo DeCaprio! Last year we tried to go ashore in St. Bart’s just after New Year’s and couldn’t get close enough to drop anchor and tender due to the yachts of the rich and famous in the bay. Fingers crossed for this year, although the weather forecast is for rain, so…who knows what we’ll do.

Kasia and Boogie

Every sea day Captain Ivo makes a noon announcement – I think it’s all captains we’ve sailed with, but last night this captain mentioned that he always does it,
suggesting that some don’t…who knows…I kinda live for these noon-announcements. This is where you get all the details for the next day’s weather and sea conditions. Today we heard that getting to St. Bart’s will be a ‘challenge’…we knew about the forecasted rain but didn’t know about the sea conditions. According to the captain, today we are experiencing ‘gale-

what should we do?

force’ winds, up to 3 metre swells, and lots of motion to the ocean. So, maybe St. Bart’s won’t be in the cards for us once again.

A sea day, as with all sea days brings a whole lot of nothing for us. There is plenty to do for those who want to be busy...bridge, puzzles, needlepoint, trivia, crafting, bingo, casino – however, no water slides, ice skating or go-carts…this isn’t a mega ship! I considered the gym until we had to turn the clocks and we were back late last night after the show and disco…maybe tomorrow.

It was nice to have a lie-in this morning. A cruise starting with sea days is perfect, especially for people who just arrived yesterday or who had far to come. We never arrive on the day of a cruise…just too many

more choices

things to worry about going sideways. Our personal policy is to get in at least one day ahead. This way, although a pain, if luggage got lost or planes got delayed, we wouldn’t miss the boat. Plus, we get to experience the departure city. Usually, the departure cities on cruises are just that the city we leave from, not one we explore as part of the cruise.

noooooooo!

This is the perfect cruise morning…sleep in then sit on the balcony for some blogging. I should have ordered room service, but I’m happy to drink sparkling water (Suraj has loaded me up) and eat out of our fruit bowl until lunch.

Lunch was a Tex-Mex buffet. I am always up for some spice, but we know how much spice we’ll get there with this crowd…as Ol’ Bobby (a guy we met years ago on a cruise, same cruise we met Alan Thicke BTW, but that’s another story) said often “on a scale of 1-10, I like a zero

a few more Miami shots

for spice”…I think that about sums it up on here. There’s always a way to doctor our food with hot sauce and jalapeños. Sometimes there will be an Asian or Indian dish that’s spicy…it’s rare.

We were planning on a pre-lunch drink at the pool for ‘cool by the pool’ (this is one of our few appointments on a cruise) but it was so windy the band didn’t set up. We had to enjoy our margaritas listening to piped in Dr Hook…for some reason this boat loves Dr Hook…I’m OK with that.

Miami yachts

The rest of the afternoon was spent napping, reading, and listening to the enrichment talks on the TV. Regent cruises always has a few people on board who are experts in topics of the areas we are sailing in. These lectures take place in the ship’s theatre but are recorded and then shown on the TV. This is the perfect

adios Miami

way to listen…whenever we like in the comfort of our room.

Tonight, our predinner cocktail was at the ‘captain’s reception’… everyone heads to the theatre to see the captain and other senior staff introduced and then a bit of entertainment. That was followed by dinner at the ship’s steak restaurant and then a show. The show tonight was a juggler/comedian…he was probably the worst cruise ship entertainer we have ever seen. This ship has its own entertainment team that put on production shows, but also brings on guest entertainers for a couple of shows. 

December 12 - Miami, FL

welcome Champagne 

our ship!

Weather – the interwebs said it was 24º today, but I’m not sure I
buy it. It’s windy, overcast and coolish, not quite cool exactly, but certainly not a warm 24º. The Miami weather forecast is for 300mm of rain over the next 4 days…I’m glad we’re getting out and had a good day for touristy stuff yesterday.

Steps – 4,588…as expected for a ‘getting to the boat’ day

the ship we toured the harbor on yesterday

There was no need for us to get to the boat until the afternoon, sail away isn’t until 5PM, and out official check in time isn’t until 1:30, but we figured we’d check out of the hotel at 11 and

storm is coming

get there shortly after that. 

The port was a 20 min, 15USD Uber ride from the hotel. We arrived at the port before 11:30, at 11:30 the doors opened, and we were checked in and onboard before noon…being onboard in the AM is a record for us.

provisions!

Before we even got onto the boat we ran into Skinny (yes, his name is Skinny…maybe it’s a nickname), one of our waiters from last cruise (and maybe even the one before that.) Then not 5 minutes later we ran into Monica who runs the dinner reservations, and Abigail
who gets us a table by the window. It’s nice to see familiar faces. Sometimes we’re not sure if they remember us, but when they call us by name…I
think they remember…it’s amazing that they remember us…BY NAME! Like always…it’s Miss Lisa and Mister Chris…at least we convinced them to not call us by our last names…we’re not that formal.

home for 25 days

First order of business was to check in at our muster station – champagne in hand I might add. Post covid there is no more cattle-call safety briefing where everyone marches with their life jackets to their muster station all at once, sometimes even marching to the lifeboats. In these after-times, we are required to watch a 2 min safety vid at home pre-cruise, then check in to the muster station and then listen in our cabins to a safety announcement. I assume this is just as or safer than the old system, but it certainly is more convenient.

really big nice shower

We finished our champagne at the pool, got a bit of lunch and our rooms were ready. Our large bags hadn’t arrived before we did, so all there was to do was unpack our carry-ons and wait.

the rest of the bathroom is big too

We finally met Suraj our room attendant, got our big bags, unpacked, listened to the safety announcement and were off to the top deck for sail
away. 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ is where the map is from. We're on the Seven Seas Mariner

December 11 - Miami, FL

morning view from our room

street art

Weather – 22º, sunny, not humid, and WINDY!

Steps – 18,773

One of my priorities when considering a hotel is their HVAC system. We made the mistake once (and ONLY once) of not ensuring the hotel had AC. That doesn’t mean the AC is actually good, but it’s the best we can do. I was a bit worried when we arrived yesterday…the room was a bit toasty, and I couldn’t seem to adjust the thermostat. Eventually, I figured it, and things cooled off – so much so, that it

Miami skyline with cruise ships

was quite chilly. Every hotel seems to have a different thermostat, all of which are mysteries to me. Eventually I persevere, sometimes even googling for “hotel thermostat hacks” …why be uncomfortable when a fix seems like it

cool buildings

should be so simple.

Today was our one and only full day in Miami, so we went full-on tourist. No included hotel breakfast means we have no real reason to get up too early. We were out of the room and on the hop-on, hop-off bus by

former car factory

11. HOHOs are both super touristy and efficient. They give lots of info via a running commentary delivered through headphones AND let you cover a lot of area. We’d never see what we do via HOHOs for as low a price (41CAN) as they cost.

HOHOs are usually open-top, and today’s weather was almost perfect – warm (but not hot) and sunny. Almost perfect because it was a bit too windy – the wind coupled with the wind caused by riding in an open-top bus and my hair was what my mother might

requisite Wheel amongst the yachts

describe as a “rat’s nest” – it took more than a bit of effort to brush at the end of the day.

Despite endless tangles to contend with, the top deck gave great views of Miami.

We saw…

Miami Beach, including South Beach - where we stayed last time we were in here (2020) and Mid Beach (where we are staying now) and North Beach. The entire area teems with Art Deco style and vibe - nightclubs, restaurants, boutiques and hotels. Definitely a good choice for where to stay in Miami as far as what we like.

J Lo, Ricky Martin, Pitbull???

Little Havana, where if we had more time would be a cool place to wander around in and eat.

Miami’s design district, where you could shop till you dropped.

Wynwood Walls and surrounding street art hub, where you can’t lay eyes anywhere without seeing – street art. Another cool place to wander if we had more time. Wynwood Walls specifically is a series of warehouses covered with murals that admission is charged to visit. However, buildings in the area surrounding are covered with murals that you can see for free.

random art

Miami Beach art deco style

We hopped off at Bayside Marketplace to hop on to the Island Queen, a boat with a 150-person capacity to cruise around Biscayne Bay and Millionaires’ Row. This 90-minute excursion took us past homes of the rich and famous including Oprah, Ricky Martin, Pitbull, and J Lo. Here was my first bit of food for the day…popcorn, Doritos, washed down with a beer! I’m pretty sure this is the same tour my mom and I did back in 2006.

Then we hopped back on to take the HOHO back to near our hotel so we could change into something a bit warmer for when the sun set, and we were on our evening food tour.

first food stop...dips

We could have walked the 40 mins or so to Lincoln Road (a pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants) where our evening food tour was to meet, but we decided to take the free Miami beach trolley – these are vintage trolleys – or at least they look vintage that ferry people up and down the 9 miles of Miami beach. Taking the trolley got us to Lincoln Road with time for a quick happy hour cocktail.

ice cream!!!

We joined Sabrin our guide and 5 Polish tourists here for business and pleasure on tonight’s food tour – this group of 8

Venezuelan patacones

was the perfect size. We made 5 stops starting with a few dips, then a stop for Cuban sandwiches and Cuban coffees, next was Venezuelan patacones (description in photo), second last was a Turkish spot for baklava, and we ended with kosher ice cream – I opted for
dulce de leche…they said it was their best flavour. All along the way Sabrin told stories, talked about the food, and described how these foods are significant to Miami’s culture.

another art deco hotel

art deco hotel

Food tours have become our go-to tours. I
would recommend them even for the not-so-adventurous eaters. Chris isn’t exactly adventurous, and he likes them…maybe he does it a bit for me, but not entirely.

everything is painted

Although we didn’t exactly eat a meal today, we weren’t hungry and just wanted some chill time at the hotel…me blogging and Chris watching the football games,

more street art

so we picked up some snacks and a bottle of
wine at the CVS across the street and were in by 8:30.

the art is endless

December 10 - Calgary to Miami, FL

Weather – leaving Calgary in the winter 1º (not terrible for mid December) and arriving in the Miami humidity was glorious, 26º at 8PM

Steps – not many - 7933, typical travel day

Other than an hour delay leaving Calgary, today was uneventful. A couple of glasses of prosecco while watching Barbie followed by a short nap and we are in Fort Lauderdale.

We are staying at the Miami Beach Hyatt Confidant hotel. This hotel was built in 1940 and is along Miami Beach’s art district…When we arrive the area is packed. It took us about 45 minutes, longer than usual 25 to get from the airport in Fort Lauderdale. According to our Uber driver, this is due to Miami’s art week that is ending tonight.

We aren’t unpacking a lot as we’re only here for 2 nights, so after a bit of freshening up time, we head out for some food…or so we thought we were heading out. We left the room, double checked that the door was locked, it wasn’t locked…it wasn’t even latching! UGH…called the front desk and they sent someone up. Eventually…about a half an hour (surprisingly fast) later we were on the go once again…that just worked up a bit of an appetite.

This is the second time recently that we’ve had hotel door issues. How on earth are we the first people to notice that the door isn’t even LATCHING!!!!! This is exactly what happened in Barcelona in the summer. The last people staying in the room didn’t notice?? The cleaning staff?? It’s mind boggling.

When we finally did get some food, we were ravenous and tired. It was 9:00 Miami time…only 7:00 Calgary time, but we were beat.

December – vacation prep

Malaria pills…check.

Yellow fever vax…check.

Probiotics for my belly in case I eat anything my delicate Canadian system can’t handle…check.

Long pants and long sleeves even though it’ll be a million degrees…check.

Shoe condoms…check.

A wheely carryon with just-in-case-my-checked-bag-goes-missing…check.

Old lady foot brace for my plantar fasciitis…check.

Fiber gummies for my fibre-needy-probably-won’t-get-the-required-flax-system...check.

My house cleaner than it is when I’m actually living in it…check.

Visiting far-flung lands or even lands not so far-flung is always exciting and fun

but getting there can be stressful. Research shows (apparently), that the anticipation of vacation is as beneficial or even more beneficial to our mental health as actually being away from the stresses of home. Fortunately, I have few stresses at home.

shoe condoms, malaria pills, bug spray, etc.

This time tomorrow we should be in Miami. We’ll be in Miami for a couple of days before boarding a cruise ship on Tuesday for a 25-day trip through the Caribbean up the Amazon and back to Miami via more Caribbean islands.