Sugar Hit

I had a huge sugar hit at dinner tonight. The Ile flotante (Regent style) was delicious.

First World Problem

Although the internet antenna on our ship is broken we have a (mostly non-existent) internet connection until we pick up a spare part that is being flown to Fiji in a few days

Meanwhile we are having a fab time in the Pacific. Tonight we dined with Captain Aivo.

Atlantic to Pacific

Two sailors travelled on Regent Seven Seas Mariner from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean today via the Panama Canal. The action kept us amused all day.

The gates are about to open

Anchor Aweigh

 After a beautiful flight on British Airways from London City Airport to New York and a couple of smaller flights on American Airlines that we'd prefer to forget we arrived in Miami. Two nights sleep, no sightseeing and a lot of retail therapy later we are thrilled to be settled on Regent's Seven Seas Mariner for our South American journey.

Our Itinerary

It was lovely to put our feet under the table for a delicious fillet steak in the Prime 7 Restaurant this evening. The food, service and ambience were excellent as usual.

Shanghai Lights

We boarded our ship, Seven Seas Mariner,  in Shanghai this afternoon and are ready for our next adventure.

We didn't know about these lights before but are lucky to find ourselves on the right side of the ship to see the show in Shanghai and the parade of small tourist boats out to view it. It rivals the similar show in Hong Kong.

Hygiene Helper

One of the nifty inclusions in the public restrooms on The Seven Seas Mariner  (a ship on which we love to sail) was something that should be mandatory in all public bathrooms where one has to manually open a door after one has washed one's hands.

It was a paper tissue dispenser from which one could take a sheet of tissue to hold the door handle when exiting the restroom. Before the door self-closed one could dispose of the tissue into the pedal bin mounted  on the wall below the  dispenser.

Harvey

On my recent cruise my habit was to have a Strawberry Daquiri after dinner while watching the show. After about 20 nights of daquiris I thought I needed a change. I told my waiter that I wanted a long refreshing drink, not too sweet, with perhaps a vodka base.

After a few minutes Veejay, the waiter, came back beaming "I have a Harvey Vallbanger for you" he said. I exclaimed "A Harvey Wallbanger - that's perfect - we used to drink those in the seventies." I enjoyed my reunion with Harvey so much that from that time on I changed my post dinner drink to a Harvey Wallbanger.

I was quite a trendsetter as I noticed after a few nights that more ladies on the ship were getting to know Harvey.

Now I am home I thought I would find a recipe for a Harvey Wallbanger so that Mr Geniaus could prepare one for me.

This is from About.com at http://cocktails.about.com/od/atozcocktailrecipes/r/hrvy_wlbngr_ckt.htm

This drink was created as one of those "all I got in the bar" drinks. Supposedly, the host of a party in the mid 60's had only vodka, orange juice andGalliano available. After a couple of these drinks a guest named Harvey was found to be banging his head against the wall and cursing the drink that caused him his misery. As such, the Harvey Wallbanger was born.

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 2 minutes

Yield: 1 Drink

Ingredients:

• 3/4 oz vodka
• 1 1/2 oz orange juice
• 1/4 oz Galliano
• orange slice for garnish
• maraschino cherry for garnish

Preparation:

1. Pour the vodka and orange juice into a collins glasswith ice cubes.
2. Add the Galliano.
3. Garnish with the orange slice and maraschino cherry. 

Last sleep

 5 December 2012

Thanks to the ship's crew for reminding us it's our last night on board Seven Seas Mariner. 

It's fruit - it's healthy!

 I don't treat myself to pancakes every morning on Seven Seas Mariner but this morning I needed a dose of fruit!

Strawberry pancakes

Culture on the high seas

1 December 2012

Boat Building Competition

Needlepoint, bridge, enrichment lectures,deck sports, trivia games, bingo and casino capers are some of the activities available to amuse guests while at sea.

Vocalists, instrumentalists, jugglers and stage productions provide evening entertainment.

Tonight we attended the fourth recital on board given by concert pianist, Panos Karan, an exceptionally talented young man. Even Mr Geniaus who is not a fan of classical music (and tonight it was a heavy Chopin program) enjoyed Panos' performances. A spot of culture doesn't go astray on the high seas.

I am looking forward to attending Panos' lecture tomorrow about Keys of Change a charity he founded in 2010 to promote and establish musical education and its benefits in remote areas around the world.

100 not out

For my 100th post to this little blog I am sharing a photo of a fellow cruiser on the Seven Seas Mariner snapped at lunchtime today.

Each day when we visit the pool deck we see some very silly people roasting themselves in the midday sun. These people fall into two categories - pale-skinned people from the UK or northern US states who turn red as a beetroots and wrinkled old folk with tanned skin like old boot leather. In both cases these people must not realise that they are putting themselves at risk of skin cancer or melanoma.

If you are lucky enough to spend a bit of time in the sun please heed the message of the old Australian sun safety campaign and Slip, Slop, Slap. 

Slip, Slop, Slap! Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat,

County Fair

23 October 2012

The ship's crew requested that all passengers leave the pool deck by 2:00 pm so that they could set up for the County Fair. At the appointed time of 3:00 pm the 650 adult kids on board the Seven Seas Mariner were allowed back onto the pool deck to join the fun of the fair.

Gone were the deck chairs, tables and chairs to be replaced by what we in Australia call Fete stalls. Each stall was hosted by a department of the ship: casino, waiters, housekeeping, beauty salon, bar staff, galley etc. At each of these stalls was a different game or challenge; those who were successful at the challenge were awarded a yellow raffle ticket for each "win". At the conclusion of proceedings 15 lucky people won a prize when the captain drew their tickets from a barrel.

Mr Geniaus netted one of the best prizes of the day - he won me a bottle of Vera Wang "Truly Pink".

There was a great carnival atmosphere on board as most of the passengers engaged in the simple activities on offer in the quest of the yellow tickets. It was great fun.

The crew members go to an enormous amount of trouble to entertain the old kids in their charge.

The old girl with white hair won the stewardesses relay

Helmeted for American Football

The beauty salon game required women (while blindfolded) to apply makeup to their men

Report from the Bridge

20 November, 2012

Each day at noon our Captain, Stan, gives a report from the bridge. Today we learnt that we will cross the equator at 5:50 am (we won't be rising to celebrate the event), that the ocean beneath us is 13,000 feet deep and a few other facts about our journey. In case we need an update we can tune our television at any time into the channel that gives the latest news from the people driving the ship.

Here are a couple of screenshots from a few minutes ago (Sorry if they're fuzzy - this boat is rocking).

Fears averted

17 November 2012

It wasn't the crossing of the vast Atlantic Ocean that bothered me most about this cruise it was having to endure "Days at Sea" when we would not set foot on or even see land.

I am pleased to report that both Mr Geniaus and I have survived our first two such days and look forward to three more after our visit to the Cape Verde Islands tomorrow.

Even though the internet connection has been poor (because so many passengers are using it) we have been able to amuse ourselves. I had thought that we might take part in the many organised lectures, games and activities on offer but there was no need. My children will be relieved that their father didn't fritter away their inheritance at the art auction. With books from the ship library and a ton of free inroom movies on offer we were able to amuse ourselves. We emerged from our suite at least three times a day for nourishment where we met even more new people to share our tables and chat with.

Life on board this ship is grand. At last night's reception for returning cruisers on Regent Ships we were surprised to hear that 86% of the passengers on board are returning cruisers. With only 6 Regent cruises under our belt we are relative novices, many of our fellow travellers have taken lots more then us.

No land ahoy

Amusement on deck

Three under plates for a bowl of soup - Pleased I don't have to wash up

At least the dessert servings are dainty 

This is your Captain speaking

Another refuelling stop on Deck 11 Aft

Bruscetta - Regent Style

Julia and Lorraine entertain us in cabaret

Hairpin Bend

Our room at The Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo is labelled as a Hairpin Bend Room - in other words it does not have a panoramic view of the Mediterranean but a view of one of the tightest hairpin bends on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit so at that time of the year it would be a premium room. Presently it is just an ordinary room that they try to make sound special with a bit of marketing spin.

It was just a 90 minute flight from London's Gatwick Airport to Nice Airport where a quiet young man was waiting with a nice car to whisk us to our hotel. Gatwick which we reached in 35 minutes on the Gatwick Express train was a much quieter and less crowded airport than Heathrow. In Nice we were greeted by brilliant blue skies and a comfortable temperature of 19 degrees.

Already we have met some of our fellow cruisers and all are enthusiastically looking forward to being collected at 12:15 pm tomorrow for delivery to our ship that is moored just near our hotel. Our first job when we get on board is to find the laundry and wash our clothes; some of them are suffering from being washed in washbasins and baths for the last five weeks. A woman's work is never done!

There is a wedge of waterview from The Hairpin Bend Room

The Monte Carlo Casino is right next door 

The artworks in the hotel remind me of someone

Spied our ship as we had dinner in the hotel lounge

It was easy to choose a bevvy to accompany dinner

As we get ready to go to bed Monte Carlo is waking up