The first post of each season:

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Day 25: Roatan 1

We were in bed last night about 11:15pm when I heard the thrusters kick in (they’re hard to miss in the back of the ship), and I knew, even from our inside cabin, that we were docking in Roatan. That’s kind of different, but it reminded me of our many overnights in Papeete after leaving Moorea. Cruise Director Olivia had told us after last night’s show that the gangway would open at 5:30am today (also kind of different) and my first thought was that G would be out there. 

So when I woke up at 7am and G was not in the cabin, I knew he had gone further than the Horizon Court to get coffee. Sure enough, he had gone for a run on the beach at Mahogany Bay. “At 5:30am?” I asked. Well, it was closer to 6am. He said it was him and the life guards out there at that hour. 

The ship experience felt different today, even before the normal departure time of 5 or 6pm, but it felt very different this evening, as the Regal is staying in Roatan until tomorrow night while maintenance is done on the engine. I love being on a stable ship. Everything is just a little bit simpler (and I’m sure the galley crew and waiters would agree). 

We met up for breakfast in the Allegro Dining Room and then I took advantage of a quiet ship to do a load of laundry (there is a real advantage to having a cabin right by the laundromat) and make some phone calls. G found a like-minded gentleman to chat with on the Terrace Deck, and they were out there for hours. I would stop out to check in with him but it was so hot and so humid that I lasted about five minutes. Even the Filipino buffet waiters and cabin stewards were talking about it, so you know it was bad. 

Lunch was watermelon (surprise!) and a ‘chopped crunchy detox salad’ from the buffet and it was really delicious. It had ginger in it, which is what made it detox, I guess. While we were sitting there, I started to Shazam the Christmas playlist that we have been hearing nonstop and uninterrupted. Yeah, there’s a few Side Bs sneaking in there. It’s all Christmas, all the time, and, as I remember from prior years, it gets a little tough after a few days. Actually, some of the songs are really beautiful, but every so often we get a “Please Daddy don’t get drunk this Christmas (I don’t want to see my mama cry)” type of song and all that kumbaya gets dashed. 






I could do without anything by Gene Autry for a start. 

We spent part of the afternoon at the Lido Pool. Though the forecast had been for rain, it didn’t really cloud up until the late afternoon and didn’t rain until this evening. 

We went to the Elite Lounge before dinner, and I finally made it back to the Allegro Dining Room when it opened at 5pm to give thank you notes and tips to Marvin and Gift. It was like seeing long lost friends. We took another bottle of Prosecco to dinner and, for once, didn’t have to cut our meal short to go to a party, come from a party, or get a seat in the Princess Theatre.  


We’ve never had this much fun in the Elite Lounge. 😆


Sunset from the Promenade Deck


The Carnival Mardi Gras sailing away











Tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment was illusionist David Gatti, which kind of gives us the night off. We changed into shorts and went up to MUTS to watch the movie Reagan. While we were there, it did finally start to rain and chased us inside. We ended up just going back to the cabin early. We should get an extra good night’s sleep tonight, and won’t even have noise of the ship docking in the morning. I’m not minding this overnight one bit!