Reporting from the lovely Voyager on Monday, the 7th of December, in the Y.o.o.L 2009:

Although we’ve not yet had the pleasure of running into Betty & David, we are keeping our eyeballs peeled (yikes, kind of a creepy ophthalmologic reference, isn’t it??) for them. Hmm, all things considered, that is pretty much what I just had done a couple of months ago when I had Lasik, wasn’t it??!! Oh well, this post has clearly begun so medically bizarrely that it has nowhere to go but up…

A few early impressions of Voyager, as this is our first cruise since the big dry dock. She looks wonderful. Despite my admitted fondness for Latitudes and consequent sadness that it has gone away, we had a very decent dinner at Prime 7 a couple of nights ago. Our waiter was a most amiable Scot, Andrew, with just the perfect blend of product knowledge and Scottish cheek. We’ll definitely return to Prime 7 on this cruise.

The new décor in Compass Rose is visually quite lovely. The new chairs are comfortable for the seated passengers but a total nightmare for the serving staff, since that ridiculous return on the back of each chair effectively reduces aisle space by at least six inches per chair. The serving staff hates those new chairs and surely has erected somewhere down in the staff quarters a little voodoo shrine where they can poke pins into a model of whichever dimwitted interior designer came up with the idiotic notion to place such heavy and walk-space-intrusive chairs into that dining venue.

Last night at CR, I had a beef preparation that was as close to perfection as it could be – seared on the outside, red all the way through, yet fork tender. We were worried that with our beloved Cornell leaving for the Mariner, things might go a bit south in the galley. So far, we have seen no evidence whatever of that, to our great relief and to the not-so-great relief of our already-tightening clothes. There is something quite odd about the air on Regent ships that seems to shrink our clothes even when they are simply hanging innocently in the closet. Maybe this is something that the EPA should investigate, no?? Where is Al Gore when you need him??

Today, we were in Salvador da Bahia (also spelled loosely in various Regent documents as Salvador de Bahia, Salvador de Bahai, and Salvador do Bahaa). The first one I mentioned is the correct one, according to our guides and the two atlases in our suite. In any etymological event, we had a very good city tour, the absolute highlight of which was a magnificent one-hour performance (just for the 30 of us) by the Bale Folclorico da Bahia. It was stunning!! The dancers were splendid.

Regent absolutely did its job on this tour, despite a lot of tedious carping from people on the tour who complained that there was far too much walking. The description said that there would be about 700 yards (total) of walking – that’s about half a mile, dear friends and fellow travelers – and that is exactly what it turned out to be. One old fool repeatedly and loudly yammered on that he’d been forced to walk at least five miles in the course of the tour!! We didn’t quite understand that measurement, unless he’d made a hell of a lot of visits to various men’s rooms, in which case he might be well advised to: (1) read his tour description; and (2) get his Flomax prescription renewed.

We are now at sea, having departed Salvador de-whatever a couple of hours ago. Tomorrow, another wonderful sea day on which we can sleep in, drink all afternoon, take naps, etc. Ah, life on Voyager is indeed good!!!!

I remain, your more-or-less conscious chronicler of this voyage, Fred