I'm going to post a different point of view here. I've done the waffel and fish stop with Dag too. A year earlier than you did, I think, Marc. Fun. But theatric and totally irrelevant, to me, to the larger cruise experience which was wonderful. As long it is a great cruise, I don't care if the captain is a "mixer" or the officers are "mixers." I don't derive ego satisfaction from dining with them. Mixing well is part of their jobs. They all do it well or they would be otherwise employed. But I find the other passengers are usually more interesting dining companions because they aren't role playing whereas the officers are. Dag is a great captain. I like Knute even better. So is McNeil. But lets face it, captains are hired first to be sailors. Most highly qualified sailors, I presume, aren't cut out to be "hosts" too. The number who can do both well and with easy must be small. So it doesn't bother me at all if Regent decides to stay away from hiring "personality captains" and sticks with highly qualified sailors who will look out for their cargo (passengers) first. The captain can get me there safely and the "General Manager" can focus on making my journey enjoyable. I'm still a very happy camper.