Day 30: Turnaround Day in Galveston

We must be slipping a little. I didn’t have a load of laundry started until 7am, but we did manage to watch sunrise over Galveston (and were thrilled to see that there was a sunrise in Galveston today) before we went to breakfast in the Allegro Dining Room. We kept checking on our new cabin- still occupied- as we finished laundry and started packing up a bit. It was after 8:30 before the prior occupants finally moved out. Our new steward Genghis descended on it immediately and we started hanging up clothes and storing luggage in the closet. Once Genghis was done, we threwg things everywhere and made several trips to retrieve and water bottles and alcohol. Prosecco bottles have dwindled…to six. We share liberally with anyone who happens to be sitting next to us at dinner. There has to be a better idea for minibars for Elites who purchase a package. 

Administration did a fine job tracking us down. Every time one of us entered either our old or new cabin, the phone would ring. We’ve gotten a little jaded, I guess, and know that immigration is usually an hour late. As it was today. We were in the Dumping Dining Room at least 45 minutes before someone from CBP cancer invited to look at our passports. 

G immediately wanted to go outside to see how embarkation was going. We’ve been hearing some bad things cruise after cruise, and so it was again today. Over a thousand people stuck in lines outside the terminal while the waiting rooms were empty. Security screening was the hold up. We heard tonight that some people waited in line three hours to board. 

While he was doing his investigative thing, I started getting th ins in the cabin unpacked and put away. And by that time it was noon, and we met up again in the Allegro Dining Room for lunch. And what an eye opener that turned out to be. Group after group of what looked like college aged passengers came in to dine, and several high schoolers with their parents. The average age in this cruise just went down at least 25 years. And we are sailing over-full with 4100 passengers, over 3000 of which are first time Princess cruisers. We weren’t expecting that until next cruise, but we like it. There is definitely a Carnival vibe on board. 

I spent the afternoon in the cabin making two long phone calls which took up much of the afternoon until we went to the Elite Lounge at 4:30pm and dinner at 5. The dining room was still pretty empty when we left. Something tells me the buffet and outdoor food venues are going to get hammered this cruise. 

Day 29: At Sea

I was up at 0 Dark 30, which is what happens when I fall asleep around dinner time. It was nice to wake up with no obligations (eg parties) to deal with. They come around fast and furiously on B2B 7-night cruises. The sea had calmed considerably overnight and I felt much more stable being out and about the ship. 

Ordering something different for breakfast (plus I was hungry!), the mushroom omelet with polenta and rosemary focaccia. 

It’s beginning to look even more like Christmas!

Gingerbread village in the Piazza

I had to go to Guest Services just to get change for tips. I really need to think ahead on this. The last day of the cruise is not the time to be doing this.

Roasted cauliflower (it’s really steamed, but still excellent) and

Beef and broccoli for lunch. Delish!

There was a pastry extravaganza in the buffet at lunch. 

I’ve been hearing about it every cruise and finally made it there. Plus there was a shaved ice station which was really a snow cone station. 

We spent the afternoon chatting with fellow cruisers on the Terrace Deck. I’ve think if I had to choose just one favorite cabin location on the Regal, it would be anything near the aft elevators. That’s based on five different cabins…so far. Another move is coming up tomorrow morning. 

A sunset from our window at dinner


Crab risotto

You have to look pretty hard to find the crab

We said goodbye to our waiters, Made and Dina, tonight. We’ve learned that they rotate every two weeks, which is another thing that happens fast on these cruises. 

Pre-show appearance by Santa

(who sounded amazingly like cruise staff Jed). 

People loved this.  

We were in the Princess Theater early to get good seats for production show Fiera. I may not see it again, but I wanted to be sure to catch the new cast performing it for the first time. They were fantastic, but that show rarely gets a standing O as people are too busy scratching their heads afterwards as they try to figure it out. 

We ended our evening listening to all the ship’s musicians performing a rock concert of sorts in the Piazza. It was fantastic, and, with all the dancing, a fun way to end the cruise. 

Something tells me I’m going to be a lot like the crew members who smile their way through the last cruise of their contract. A week from now I’ll be sleeping in my own bed, using my own shower, seeing my friends…and my guys, who will both be home from college at the same time. Pure joy. 

Day 28: Cozumel

I moved gingerly this morning, waking, as I might have expected, stiff and sore. But all that ice worked magic, and the scary swelling was down considerably. A year ago right now I was nursing a broken arm from a trip over the edge of an Aubusson rug while carrying a stack of boxes at home, so stiff and sore was an improvement. 

We barely made it to breakfast in the Allegro Dining Room before it closed at 9am (stollen spotted: 0), and then sat in the comfy seating on the Terrace Deck. I can see why this was G’s favorite part of the ship last year, and why we tried to book cabins toward the back of the ship this year. It’s nice back there, and much quieter than the mid ship pool with MUTS, or the Retreat Pool with no shade and a lot of wind. 

Lunch today was a slice of Margarita pizza from the Lido Deck, but while we were eating out there, a big rain moved in that forced us to first move and then to pick our way across the flooded Lido Deck. Thirty minutes later, the sun was back out, but it was like that the rest of the day. Even G was convinced to stay on the ship. 

As soon as we sailed, it was again obvious that we were going to be rocking and rolling tonight. Walking was a bit of a caution, reminiscent of our Atlantic crossing, and I was not up for it. I was also still full from the pizza at lunch, and decided to watch the end of the Army v. Navy game and college hoops on my iPad in the cabin. By 7 p.m. I was starving, and it would have been a perfect time to order room service, but without Princess Plus, I was unwilling to pay $14.99 for Ocean Now delivery. G later told me that the dining room had offered to send anything from the dinner menu to the cabin for me, but he figured I was already asleep. I survived without dinner for the second time this cruise, good practice for the food withdrawal we’ll be going through in a week. 

G made a big night of it, going to Kevin Jordan’s comedy show at 6:30pm, then to the Princess Theater for variety show time (with Willis White again, sorry I missed that), then to the Wheelhouse (close to the aft elevators and our cabin on a rocky night). I was asleep long before he returned, but he told me later that he had nearly fallen twice with the ship rocking so much. He took a step but the floor had risen by the time he set his foot down, catching it. I was wise to stay in. 

I am trying hard to get G to cut his hair like this when we get home, but he says he had his hair cut like this for 27 years and is over it. 

Day 27: Belize

This is the day that kind of ended with a bang, but, of course, I didn’t know that this morning. We did sleep in a bit, having been out late last night, and I had another big bowl of watermelon chunks for breakfast, and then stuck around for lunch in the buffet. I’m much happier there now that I’ve discovered the chopped salad area. 

Salad eaten from a huge ramen bowl

G just couldn’t sit still, and ended up taking one of the last tenders to shore about 2pm, and the very last tender back, just for the boat ride. It’s a long tender in Belize. They say it’s 45 minutes, but by the time you factor in loading and unloading, it’s closer to an hour. It’s been years since I’ve gone ashore in Belize, though the first time I did, we took one of my favorite shore excursions ever, cave tubing. That was incredibly beautiful (the scenery was like a calendar) and fun, and we even ate termites (taste like mint) on the hike to where we jumped in the river with our tubes. But, aside from that (and that required a long drive after the long tender), I don’t have a lot to recommend in Belize.  Last year G did visit some ruins and enjoyed that, and there are some manufactured excursions, like a zip line, but Belize City itself is a little sketch. 

Lychee, raspberry and rose mousse. 

Not very tasty. 

Service has picked up considerably at dinner with the Made-Dima pairing, plus Inna as our Restaurant Manager.  We didn’t have to rush at all to be able to get to the MTG cocktail party at 6:30pm, but it didn’t help that I did a major face plant at the door to the dining room. Actually, I caught an edge of my sandal on one of those metal thresholds and did a major knee plant, boom, right down in my knees. I guess I’m lucky that I didn’t break anything, and was able to get up and walk to the party, but, oh my, I had a huge swelling on one knee, and was a little shaken. And then Restaurant Manager Uday, who had heard about it, tracked me down in the party to express his concern and see how I was. How I was was sore, and word got out, so when the party was over, we returned to the cabin full of ice buckets and towels and anything I might need. And I needed it all.  I was still very lucky it wasn’t worse, but I can’t recommend doing this. At all. 

MTG cocktail party food

Captain Traverso had told us that last night would be quite bouncy, and it was. The hangars were dancing and banging in the closet, and as stiff as I was, I had to shove a towel around them to quiet them. If you’re a cruise newbie, this is not an uncommon thing to have to do. In fact, you can almost count on it the last night of the cruise when your hangars are empty because your clothes are packed. Just shove a towel between the hangars and the ceiling, allowing it to fall a little behind the hangers. This silences them immediately. And if that doesn’t work, just throw the hangers on the floor. 😉

Day 26: Roatan 2

We both had a fantastic night’s sleep with the Regal Princess spending the night in Roatan. As for work being done on the engine…we were oblivious to it. No interruption of power at all. Of course, it was hard not to wonder if all would go well and we’d be able to sail in the evening (spoiler alert: we were), but even that wouldn’t have been the end of the world. If you’re on one of the January cruises with work being done, bring a passport and don’t worry about it. 

We went to the Allegro Dining Room for breakfast. I have been on Stollen Watch all cruise long, but, so far no luck. I have my fingers crossed for next cruise. It would be tragic to be a ship this close to Christmas and not get stollen. 

It was a bit cooler or less humid or both today in Roatan, and we sat on the Terrace Deck between breakfast and lunch. It seems like very few people are actually getting off the ship in port on this cruise, but that is the nature of Galveston cruises. They all go to the same places, and many of the passengers drive to the pier and have done these cruises over and over on different ships, so the ports are not the point. Yeah, I can understand that. 

It’s been pure pleasure to not have to go to Guest Services every day to work on our folio. So far, everything has been perfect. Is this what it’s like for everyone else?  I like it!

Something else I like…I have finally found my place in the buffet. It’s where I discovered the detox salad yesterday, right next to the salad bar. I don’t care for salad bars on a ship because it’s hard to cut the salad up with the knives they have. But right next door are a variety of chopped salads chock full of healthy stuff like lentils and beans and kale and quinoa, all of it delicious. Wish I’d discovered this sooner!

A perfect lunch


Followed by a perfect dessert

While we were sitting in the buffet, I again Shazamed the Christmas carols we were hearing. They were quite different today, with more contemporary artists, and I found them much more enjoyable. 

I made a point of taking my contacts out for an hour or so before dinner in an attempt to stay up later tonight.  I’m really missing those eye drops. They’re not store-bought, so there was nothing I could do to re-stock when we were at the hotel. I figured this might become an issue and take no pleasure in being right. 

We had a party-less evening, with time to linger over dinner. And I was beyond excited to see a new menu tonight. Made explained that we were seeing a new one because this is an 8-night cruise. Well, bring on the 8-night cruises then. I wanted to order one of everything, but contained myself. 

There were a lot of good entertainment choices tonight. We started with production show Bravo in the Princess Theater and I was devastated to see that, like on other ships, the soprano is no longer included in the show on the Regal. This changes the whole feeling of the show in addition to shortening it considerably. If you’ve never seen the original, you’ll likely still be pleased, but if you saw the original just last week, this one falls a little short. A sad cutback. 

We followed that up with a comedy show in search of the elusive iPhone comedian. Joe Duece wasn’t him, but he was good, and we enjoyed his show. And then we stayed in the Wheelhouse for all of Colin Salter’s sets there, getting back to our cabin after midnight. 

Note to self:  take a contacts break tomorrow afternoon, too. It works!