Day 6: At Sea

I needed last night’s early evening to catch up on sleep after our busy day in Bilbao. I also needed a sea day today to catch up on blog posts. It’s 3:30 pm on that sea day as I start this blog post, and I’ve already written and published the past two days’ posts today. If I can keep this up, I may go to sleep with the blissful knowledge that I’m current. Oh happy day.

Good grief, we are getting spoiled by Sabatini’s breakfasts. We have Restaurant Manager Raj and his cast of four or five waiters falling over themselves to ensure our every need is addressed. I’ve learned to not even lift my eyes in their direction lest they scurry over to see if they can supply anything. Do some people really live lives where enjoying this kind of service on a private yacht is their norm? I can’t imagine.

We went from Sabatini’s to Club 6 for G to participate in a scavenger hunt with cruise staffer Alfie from India, but I was distracted by the replay of a college game being shown on a screen in there, so I quickly begged off so I could just stay put and watch…and start blog posts.

That was followed by more writing, this time in our cabin, and the morning pill taking activity, and then a very light lunch in the Allegro Dining Room (cauliflower starter which may have been roasted at some time in its life but had sat in a warming pan long enough to be steamed and the vegetable soup which turned out to be creamed, or maybe blended, but I couldn’t take a chance). But also lots of mint tea and, regardless the temperature outside, it has felt chilly to me on the ship, so tea is a good thing.

Then it was back to the cabin. G napped and I wrote, and then I decided to shower for the evening and get out of his way. I adjourned to the Vista-less Lounge while bingo was being played, and, oh my, I know some people love it, but I would have to puncture my eardrums to handle that on a regular basis. But that is where I finished yesterday’s post, so I decided to explore a little.

G has a theory that there are a thousand different cruises taking place on every ship, coupled with a belief that everyone has to be somewhere at any given moment. Determined to prove that, I wandered up to the Horizon Court Buffet and out to the Lido pool area, then to the Retreat Pool and down to the casino, through the Piazza and then I thought I’d go to tea, but it wasn’t in the Allegro Dining Room where I’d expected it would be, and so it was either in one of the other dining rooms or had been discontinued altogether (checking the Patter later told me it is held in the Concerto Dining Room, but no matter. We have a lot of sea days with afternoon teas to look forward to). And I finally settled in the library to listen to the fervent card games competition taking place in there and watch the intense puzzle putting-togethering and await the PES Lounge, starting at 4:30pm in the Vista-less Lounge.

That’s where I was when I made a spectacle of myself. I was wearing, for the first time ever, my new pair of shiny black patent leather Birkenstock Arizonas, bought special for this cruise because I figured it would be the only thing besides sneakers that I might be able to wear less than three months after surgery. Friend Janet had asked me to send her a pic of them, so I decided that was a good thing to take care of, sitting in a quiet corner of the library, and I snapped a couple of pics and then realized that this quartet of card players had paused in their game and were watching me photograph my feet, which is not something one sees every day, unless one is into that sort of thing. Thankfully, the doors to the Vista-less Lounge opened for the PES Lounge right at that time and I was able to move quickly on.

And yes, G is right. There are a thousand different cruises taking place and everyone has a different idea about how to spend their time, but I can safely say that no one else spent theirs taking photos of their feet in public this afternoon on the Regal Princess.

Cool and breezy today

I haven’t been posting the vegan menu because it’s exactly the same as on prior cruises, but am posting this one because this broccoli salad is soooo good.

Penne with red pepper pesto

It was also watermelon sorbet night. Yes, please! And while I’m talking about that, this summer I discovered a watermelon iced treat called Frollies that are virtually dairy free and low in calories. A box or twenty of these may have been consumed. I am obsessed!

We went directly to the Princess Theater for tonight’s performance by Scottish vocalist Hannah Howie. For a change, we sat at the top of the theater off Deck 7 and apparently people have their favorite seats up there, too. By 7pm they were filled, but I was completely unaware, as we are generally front row people, how much musical chairs play takes place back there. Apparently lots of people consider these the “just in case” seats and leave the show starting five minutes in if it doesn’t appeal, and standees take their place. This goes on the entire show. Who knew?

Hannah Howe was a real entertainer with a phenomenal voice. She went from a southern twang singing Dolly Parton to her own Scottish accent to opera so fast our heads spun.

The scheduled comedian didn’t make the ship, so we ended the evening at the Wheelhouse Bar by 10pm. Tomorrow is another port day with an all day tour and we need our sleep.

Day 5: Bilbao, Spain

Yay! A virgin port! This port alone was worth a repeat cruise after we missed it last year on the Regal crossing. We had the best day, but I’m telling you about it the next day, because there was not an ounce of energy left to do so last night.

G left the planning for today totally up to me, which was good, because I took one look at the Guggenheim Bilbao website and knew immediately what I wanted to do. And then I threw in something I knew he would enjoy and those two things provided a little structure for our day.

We started out in Sabatini’s for breakfast at 7am. It was still dark out but sunrise preceded the ship docking at 8am, and it was immediately evident from the surrounding hillsides that this was a beautiful port. The ship was cleared shortly after 8 am and we walked off right after that.

The port terminal was large and modern, with a visitor information desk manned by three staff. We left the terminal and looked for a free shuttle into the city center about which we had received a notice in our cabin the night before. It was easy to find.

It was about a 30 minute ride into Bilbao on highways, so I was especially thankful for the free transportation. Once at the Intermodal Station, we all wandered en masse up to another level where we found a counter where Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus tickets were being sold. This was a nice surprise because I had figured we’d have to walk to where I knew there was a nearby bus stop and buy a day pass there. Though their website states that the bus runs hourly after October 1, we were told it was more like every 20-30 minutes today because the Regal Princess was in port. That would definitely work for us. For €16pp, we would see the city, get an audio tour and have the transportation we needed for the day.

About 30 of us were escorted as a group (it’s nice to not be going alone when you’re in a new place) out of the station and down the street about a block and a half to Stop #2, is where I had intended we would have gone to buy a ticket and board the bus. We sat in the open top of the two level bus and it was bright and sunny but fairly chilly at that time of the morning. G had come prepared, and I had, kind of, with at least a jacket, but some were dressed for the forecasted afternoon temps (high 70s) in shorts and I suspected they were chillier than they let on.

Boarding at Stop #2, we made our way around most of the route, enjoying the exquisite architecture, many trees and flowers, fountains and abundant sunshine. It’s hard to visit a new city and not compare it in some ways to places already visited, and there were parts of the city that reminded me of Athens, but I think that, most of all, it resembled Malta. I expected more of a Barcelona feel, but it was much cleaner (pristine, really). It was immediately obvious that, although we were in Spain and the local language was primarily Spanish, signs, street names and places were in Basque, a language that is not a bit like Spanish (with lots of Xs), and words I couldn’t even begin to pronounce.

I loved the wide tree lined avenues

The Basque flag

Pedestrian bridge near the Guggenheim

An estuary runs through the central part of Bilbao, and the area on either side of it was beautifully developed with paths and sidewalks, with flowers everywhere and some interesting bridges crossing the water. The area around the Guggenheim Museum is particularly tourist friendly, and this was where HOHO Stop #1 was located and we disembarked the bus for the first time.

Now, I’ll confess that I am not at all interested in contemporary art, but I enjoy architecture, and the contrast between the city’s architecture and the museum was marked. Still, if we had made it to Bilbao last year, we had no intention of going inside the museum. Gazing at its architecture from the waterfront would have been adequate. But when I explored the website online this summer, I took note of a special exhibit that was ending tomorrow, and was instantly caught.

This exhibition combined movement, light, sound and technology, and I knew instantly that it had to be seen in person. I purchased our tickets online a day in advance (really inexpensive, €7,50pp for seniors) and had saved them in my Apple Wallet.

We wasted no time going directly to the exhibition hall, and, frankly, that one thing alone was worth taking this cruise. As with the D-Day beaches last year in Normandy, regardless of how much we enjoy the rest of the cruise, this may be equaled but won’t be topped.

I’m adding still shots that don’t even begin to convey the movement of the exhibit. The sensation it provided was that the floor was rising, falling, spinning and I almost choked when a very old man standing next to me remarked to his wife that it was a 60s acid trip all over again. I’m sorry I missed that experience!

Imagine being surrounded on four sides by this.

G felt we needed to see a few other things the museum offered, so we did, and some were quite interesting.

This was a vertically scrolling story and we all stood around for quite awhile watching the words go up and I couldn’t help wonder what the point was.

I called this one “6-year old’s bedroom”

Look in the middle to see spider sculpture Maman (1999) by Louise Bourgeois.

We re-boarded the HOHO bus and took it back around to Stop #10, about two blocks from the Funucular Artxanda, which was the G segment of the day. For €5pp round trip, we took a three minute funicular ride to the top of Mount Artxanda, where there were lots of views, walking paths and flower gardens to enjoy.

A gorgeous day in Bilbao

The Artxanda funicular

The Guggenheim is in the center right next to the estuary

Back at the bottom, we ended up waiting almost 45 minutes for the next HOHO and then two buses came back to back, which sometimes happens later in the day. We took advantage of the wait to pop into a cafe on the corner where G got a beer which could be enjoyed on the sidewalk. When I spotted the double decker bus coming, he finished it up and we were on our way back to Stop #2 near the Intermodal Station.

There were of plenty of Princess reps holding Regal Princess signs standing outside and inside the station, which was very welcome thing because we were all tired and a bit turned around, or at least it seemed more straightforward leaving the station in the morning than it did entering it almost eight hours later. Once back at the ship, we took a minute to wash up and then went directly to dinner with Berenice and Sebastian in the Symphony Dining Room. Along with breakfast in Sabatini’s, it’s the best part of the day!

It was my very favorite Italian night menu, perfectly timed, because we hadn’t had time for lunch today, and I was very hungry. I had two salads, shrimp and scallops, caponata and ratatouille from the vegan menu. Oh, and penne arabbiatta made by Roxanna. Pure joy!

G wanted to at least try the ventriloquist’s show in the Princess Theater but I couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm at all for that. Instead I decided to try to watch The Greatest Showman on MUTS, unsure of whether it would be warm enough to sit up on deck, but for Hugh Jacknan I was willing to try. It was, at first, especially after they brought around blankets, and I even enjoyed some popcorn, but I lasted only an hour and then retreated the warmth of the cabin. G wasn’t long behind me, and that was as exciting as our evening was. We had walked almost 13000 steps, and I’m tempted to add “only” before that, but the reality is that’s the most I’ve walked since surgery and I was hurting, but hopeful that a Tylenol and a good night’s sleep would have me feeling fine tomorrow morning.

Day 4: At Sea

With no schedule until this evening, I had a bit of a lie in and didn’t join G in Sabatini’s until after 9:30am. It was a lot busier in there this morning, as it was a sea day, but that is still a most relaxing place to start a day on a cruise. I miss being able to have a mimosa but it what it is, and even G admitted he feels so much better limiting his alcoholic beverages to one or two each day. He was living large this morning and enjoyed freshly made eggs Benedict with fresh squeezed OJ but I again had smoked salmon, avocado, berries and orange segments. Oranges that have been peeled and segmented are the height of cruise decadence for me.

I needed to stop by Guest Services again today after breakfast. Our sink stopper hasn’t worked at all, and I know I sound like a broken record on this point, but with hard contacts, a perfectly sealing sink stopper is a necessity. I mentioned it to our cabin steward the first evening and he tried to fix it himself but that didn’t go so well. After he came through with the mattress yesterday, I hated to bring it up again but mentioned it to G instead and he said he would try to fix it. After getting through one contacts removal and one insertion without it, I either needed to fix it myself or officially report it. I can do those kinds of things but I’m on a cruise, dammit. A stop by Guest Services this morning brought a plumber to the cabin within 20 minutes and it was done.

G had a veterans get together at noon, and I had no reason to go to lunch, but that didn’t stop me from going anyway and getting mint tea and seafood curry. I spent part of the afternoon writing yesterday’s blog post and planning our day tomorrow in Bilbao.

Speaking of this blog, there’s a reason you might notice the appearance has changed a bit this cruise. BlogTouch Pro, the app I’ve used exclusively for over ten years, has basically closed up shop. It hasn’t been supported for a couple of years and I soldiered on with it because when it was good, it was very very good, but when it was bad, it was horrid. I fought it through Alaska, but when I got a new iPad, I could no longer download the app and that left me no choice but to find another option. I settled on Blogging for Blogspot.

I’m adjusting to it, though it does have a few quirks. I can’t double space to get a period and then a leading upper case letter on a new sentence, something that is so ingrained in me that going without it is akin to attempting to write cursive with my left hand. But the most troublesome issue is that I can’t futz with photo size and placement (ie centered) as I could with BlogTouch Pro (there was a lot time spent on that over the past ten plus years!). It’s painful for OCD me, but if we can both deal with it, I’ll continue blogging and (hopefully) you’ll continue reading.

Tonight was the first formal night of the cruise, and I wore the same black kimono that’s been on almost as many cruises as I have. Long gone are the days where G packed his tuxedo and related accoutrements; for this cruise he packed a dress shirt and a tie (because it takes less luggage space than a sport jacket) and we are what we are. I actually wore my sneakers, which, thankfully, are grey/black and not turquoise/fuchsia instead of the patent leather Birkenstocks I brought with me. No, we won’t be used as models for Page 1 of the Princess Patter anytime soon.

DRO Enache stopped by at dinner to make sure all was good (how could it not be?) at our little table for two tucked between the two entrances to the galley. He offered us our favorite table for two next to a window and we had to decline, as we enjoy the wonderful service by Berenice and Sebastian so so much, which, I think, pleased them to no end. Plus I’m really enjoying the fact that there is not another table for two less than a foot away.

I had the roasted basa tonight (aka sea bass) and it was pure perfection. On the Ruby I couldn’t finish an entree; here I’m pondering the etiquette of licking my plate.

Production show Bravo should have been the end of our evening (should have been but wasn’t). I miss the soprano in Bravo, but one of the female vocalists filled in admirably, and such cutbacks are what they are.

As soon as Bravo had finished and the Princess Theater had started to empty, we stayed in our seats to watch McGee compete in an invitational race in Oregon. With nine hours time difference, I knew that, if the race started on time (cross country races usually do), we would just be finishing up Bravo in time for the start. He’s so tall that he’s easy to spot, and it was a wonder to be able to watch the livestream on my iPhone while on a ship almost halfway across the world.

We have already found our favorite live music on the ship, and made the rounds listening to a set by each, and then finished the evening at the silent disco in the Piazza, as much fun as can be had in public at sea.