Reports please, you lucky Turkeyites

Onboard the Voyager and having a relaxing cruise…

Just an update on our trip so far.

We arrived in Funchal on Thursday and had a wonderful visit. We stayed at Reid’s Palace which is a lovely property with stunning grounds and an easy walk to town (not as easy on the way back as you have to walk up a rather steep hill, but it’s manageable.). The hotel’s restaurants are excellent and the high tea on the terrace lived up to its reputation. The weather was lovely and we spent Friday walking around Funchal on our own and visiting the market. I have a huge bouquet of flowers which is still in pretty good shape. Saturday we took the cable car and spent some time at the Monte Palace Gardens. We took the death sled (aka toboggan ride) down the hill and survived unscathed. The three folks in back of us (also guests at Reid’s) were not so lucky – 1 broken wrist, 1 dislocated shoulder and 1 spectacularly bloody nose. Not life threatening but not fun either. We did a levada walk on Sunday morning which was great fun and an interesting peak into island life albeit a tad on the muddy side. We will definitely come back to Madeira for a longer visit.

We boarded the Voyager around 2:00 on Sunday. I think about 114 passengers boarded in Funchal. There were more than 500 already on board for the grand crossing. Check-in was fast. We had our champagne and headed up to the pool deck for our traditional embarkation cheeseburgers. Rooms were ready at 2:30. Lifeboat drill was at 4:15 and then sail away at 5. We ate at La Veranda as we could not get a table for 2 in Compass Rose. It was the surf and turf menu and we both had excellent lobster tail entrees. Service was a bit slow but the waiters were trying hard – there just didn’t seem to be enough of them to go around. The show was the 70’s and 80’s songs and was well attended. We went to the Horizon lounge after for some dancing.

Yesterday was the first full day for us and there are lots of activities to choose from. Jim and I are both taking the Cordon Bleu class. Chef Phillipe is an excellent teacher and we had a fun class making tomato and goat tart tian with lamb fillets and sautéed spinach. The kitchen in latitudes was a bit confining with 10 people trying to cook but everyone was in good spirits and there were not too many collisions. The weather was mostly sunny with some cloudy patches and you could occasionally see rain off in the distance. Last night they had the block party, the captain’s welcome aboard reception and it was formal night. We had dinner with some friends in Compass Rose. The food was excellent but the service was the slowest I have ever experienced. There was almost a 30 minute wait in between the first course and the second. The wine steward only made the occasional appearance and then there was another prolonged wait before dessert. The staff seemed especially stressed – they were running around like crazy and there was none of the usual friendliness and joking around. The show was a clarinetist – we stopped in and listened to a polka and then some Klezmer music – not really my cup of tea although I think he was a very talented musician. We wandered up to the Observation lounge and listened to the piano player – Bill Forrest. He’s quite good.

I managed to make it to exercise class this morning and then joined Jim in Compass Rose for breakfast. Again we had extremely slow service and the wait staff does not seem to be happy. There’s nothing obviously wrong – everyone is very polite and professional - but there’s something missing. We went to an interesting lecture “Is Conflict with China Inevitable?” this morning. It’s a spotlight on public television this cruise so we have good speakers. The seas are rolling gently today – about 9 foot swells according to the noon report from the boat driver. It’s a following sea so the motion is pleasant rather than troublesome. The captain has warned us the wind will shift tonight as will the wave direction and we could be in for a more pronounced motion. He advised sensitive people to take action. I have my seabands on and will probably take a bonine tablet pre-dinner just to be sure (I have managed to get seasick on our sailboat while we were still in the mooring field playing with the rigging – Jim is a very patient husband.). Let’s hope for the best.

The Voyager seems to be in good shape. Some of the new furniture is on board already. All the chairs in the coffee area have been replaced by gigantic brown and gold upholstered armchairs and big brown leather couch. The chairs in Latitudes are now all brown leather in preparation for the upcoming steakhouse theme. And all the chairs in Compass Rose have been replaced by upholstered chairs – I thought the old ones were much more comfortable than the new ones.

Off to tea soon and then we have the galley tour that’s part of the cooking class. We will lose satellite connectivity for 2 – 3 days and will be unable to post so there will be a silent period.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Mary Ellen

Diane,

Yes Ma'am report follows!

We boarded the Voyager at 1145 Sunday noon, took our formal wear to our swites which we gave to Heiden Berg to hang (was impressed our champagne of choice (Heidsek was there as well as extra pillows)...stolled down to the pool deck for a quick snack. Sailaway was at 5pm where we met the CD,Lorriane Weimerskirsch and watched a gorgeous Funchal recede as the sunset.

Had a delicious repast (osso bucco & seared scallops) in Compass Rose then took in a 70's and 80's show...jet lag snagged me but not Ida as she went to the Voyager Lounge and helped close it (Monday a.m., she complained of a sore knee from all that dancing :)

Was a wonderful first day at sea...in a.m had our first enrichment lecture, by Dwight Owen Schweitzer, a succesful lawyer (extraordinarily eloquent--one of the best speakers I have heard, gave "Obama's vision of the future." Although, he was definetly pro President Elect Obama, his superb approach pulled everyone into his theme--can't wait to hear him again Thursday. Proctors had to cut off Q+A's after 50 min. In early afternoon, Ida was getting too caugt up (regimented) in the passages schedule itinerary, saying we now have to go to dance class after lunch and PBS documentary, "New York" by Ric Burns (ken Burns bother) lecture..then said, heck, we're on vacation "will do what I want" and she went to work out.

Monday night, we had a great block party where we met our deck 8 neighbors, Ida rcvd nice complements on her gown and I must have had questions all night about my mess uniform...will send pics when we download them on return. To avoid the CR rush, we went to the Observation Lounge and had a few Kir Royale's. CR Jet leg hit us hard (or was it the wine/champagne) about 9:30 and it was lights out.

Today, Ida starts her LCB cooking workshop itinerary, our next enrichment lecture, "is conflict
with China inevitable, part 1? more dance classes, pizza and pasta at lunch and then Spotlight on PBS, Great performances 30th Anniversary special--narrated by the award winning exec.producer, Jack Venza. What a great documentary (e.g.,Natlie Cole, Celine Dion, Harry Connick, Mary Poppins sang the Sound of Music, et.al) Jack Venza gave insightful opening comments and then he took Q+A's. Did I mention
we are 2300 nautical miles from Ft. Lauderale and steaming there in 9ft swells (no water in pool :( )--Captain Sanguenitti announced it will get rougher still tomorrow pm...thanks to Masaki's tip of generic Mecclicene (bonine) have a stash of 100 (plenty)

Believe we are going to Italian steakhouse night in La Veranda, Ida has her LCB group dinner
there (at 7pm). Prior to La Veranda it is "license to chill" martini's in Constellation
Theater with James Bond clips.

Dining is exceptional, we will be in Signatures Weds night for the first time--can't wait..bar service spot on..only one minor CR service issues
(forgot my desert last night--did not need the calories anyway) and noted they have served Geyser Peak SAv Blanc as a complementary white for dinner Sunday and lunch today.

Having a wonderful cruise on now my favorite Regent ship, Ida still prefers her first cruise ship love, Nav.

Thanks for asking Diane..still wish Marcia, Sue &Tom and you were cruising with us.

Best, Wes

Thanks to all.
Sounds great. Hope the swells lessen.
Keep enjoying. There's lots of time left!

Thanks for checking in, Wes and Mary Ellen! It sounds like you are off to a good start.

Us land-lubbing Turkey'ites sure do miss you, but love the Sea Mail! Continue to have FUN! :banana:

Thanks for the SeaMail all, it takes us back to last year when we did CROSS, oh the memories.

Wes, please give Lorraine a big, big hug from Frank and JoAnn and tell her now that I know where she is I will email her. She is a sweetheart, and for whatever reason 4 of our cruises have been with her and she has become a wonderful friend. Tell her I said "Happy Thanksgiving" too.

Have fun all - sounds like a few minor glitches going on, but it doesn't seem to be affecting your cruise. Hope the rough weather doesn't get too bad - we had near perfect last year.

MaryEllen - wow your story of the people on the sled behind you scared the wits out of me, as we did that as well and had no issues, but I'm not sure I would do it again, nor recommend it. Hope those people didn't suffer too badly - were they also boarding the ship?

Happy Thanksgiving all - thanks for checking in.

Thanks so much for the "swell" (ha!) seamail, Mary Ellen and Wes - it's great to hear from you! And Wes, Bonine has saved us from mal de mer (as well as the fellow passengers we've given it to). You'll do great!

Hello everyone,

We made chocolate tarts in the cooking class this morning. Jim managed to roll out his pastry dough with only minimal issues – not too bad for a first timer. The tarts look delicious – we are saving them for tea time today.

I was a little concerned about all the sea days but time is just flying by – the cooking class has three sessions plus two dinners and there is a very full schedule. I can’t go to all the things I am interested in.

We ate dinner at Compass Rose last night and things were back to normal from a service perspective although I am finding the food to be extremely salty. I seldom use salt to cook with anymore so I think I am really sensitive to its presence now. Chef Mike featured sauerbraten and red cabbage and potato dumplings (made from his great grandmother’s recipe which he had printed on last night’s menu). There was a comedian as the featured entertainer last night – he was not Kenny Smiles. We ended with a brief visit to the Observation lounge before calling it a night.

Note to JoAnn: the family that was injured in Funchal is not on the cruise, they were just visiting Madeira on holiday.

As Wes already mentioned on another thread we will get to have another full day onboard due to a pod issue. I’ve already re-booked our flight home on Tuesday – hopefully the insurance and Regent will cover the not inconsiderable cost of making the change. There was no problem with the hotel cancellation. Our friends Pete and Emily were going to get married on Monday in Ft. Lauderdale which is why we were staying an extra night after the cruise. They met two years ago on the Mariner New Year’s Panama Canal cruise. Lorraine and Engelbert have swung into action and now they will be married by the Captain on Monday on the ship – they’ll need to complete some paperwork in Florida to make it all legal, but they’ll be able to celebrate December 1 as their wedding date and have their wedding ceremony on board a Regent ship as a bonus.

Seas are relatively calm at the moment but the captain announced that he expects significant motion this evening. It is getting very grey with lots of low clouds. I have already taken my bonine just in case. Unfortunately I’ll have to skip this afternoon’s wine tasting as the combination of bonine and wine just puts me right to sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary Ellen

Thanks for reporting in M'ellen!

Have a great thanksgiving...latest report follows:

Last few days on the Voyager have been chock full of extraordinary dining, educational opportunities, and a transatlantic rhythm that
puts you in wonderfully relaxed mode. Yesterday, Ric Burns screened his documentary film, The Donner Party. We had a wine tasting of
Portugal wines (Sandleman Ruby Port, Sandleman Tawny Port and Madiera wine)...interesting, fruity/sweet wines that would pair nicely with cheese and/or creme brulee. As Mary Ellen reported the LCB class (LCB workshop has three separate groups; A,B,C or about 10 folks) made their desert--Ida proudly brought hers back to the suite. Late yesterday (4:30pm) they had
another Dancing with the Stars competition (they started this w/Rome leg) and narrowed the field from 10 couples to 5 (for Monday's finals)...winners get $1000. PBS's Charlie Cook
hosted a cocktail party in the evening in the Obsvn Lounge.

We ate in Signatures and invited the couple we met on the flight over to Portugal...dinner was
sensational and for desert they brought a special
choc cake they made in honor of my retirement--nice sweet topper to a truly memorable meal...and we get to dine their again with the LCB graduation dinner Friday nite. We caught the tail end of a broadway show in the theater and then had a nightcap in Vlounge...Ida closed the lounge at 2 a.m.

Today is another enrichment lecture by Dwight Owen Schweitzer..at noon they will have a Thanksgiving parade that goes up/down atrium and
out to pool deck (should be interesting as we are
rocking/rolling (12 ft swells with hardy gusts of wind--running this a.m was like running in a hurricane on the jogging track. Special lunch in La Veranda--Fine Feathered Feast (incl Turkey) Pool has had no water or half full the last three days. This afternoon we have another film presentation on the life of Judy Garland presented by PBS personality, film producer Jack Venza.

And to think, we get a bonus of an extra Voyager at sea day!

ps..JoAnn..told Lorraine, Frank and you asked for her and wished her a happy Thanksgiving..she gushed and in turn passed on wishes for a happy thanksgiving.

Best,

Wes

Thanks Wes for passing our message.

Sounds like you'all are having a great cruise in spite of rocking and rolling, plus of course you get an extra day. We were on MUSH when Mariner had a problem and we got an extra day.

The Thanksgiving festivities sound fun.

Hello everyone,

Well, we are docked at Port Everglades and waiting for clearance. We had some wonderful blue water sailing towards the end of this cruise - flat seas, sunny skies and warm temperatures. Yesterday was a bit rainy but as it was our "bonus" sea day no one seemed to mind.

We had the finals of Dancing with the Voyager Stars last night and Lorraine and her team managed to assemble a very full program for our unplanned day. The Public Television at Sea team put on a few more excellent lectures and Chef Phillipe from the Cordon Bleu class did a cooking and knifework demonstration. All in all a very pleasant day.

We continued to have some persistent service (or more precisely lack of service) issues in Compass Rose - the staff there is new and still in training so things did not go as smoothly as we have come to expect. I hope with additional training and some more experience things will return to normal. The food was great and the wines were very good too.

Our friends were married by the Captain yesterday. Regent did an excellent job. Amanda the social hostess has a future as a wedding planner. They somehow managed to find some fresh flowers for a bouquet, produced a lovely - and delicious - wedding cake, and provided champagne and vegetarian canapes. The captain was charming and we received an extensive bridge tour as a bonus.

We are ready to leave our stateroom now - it is pouring rain at the moment. If all goes well we should be home by 5:30 tonight - in time to feed the cats.

Thanks for sailing along with us.

Mary Ellen

Thanks M'Ellen for all your Seamail and postings. Have a safe trip home.

Wes and M'Ellen - Welcome home! Thanks for all the posts. It was great to ride along with you.

Hope you all got home and the kitties are well fed.

Cheers, Anne

Anne, JoAnne;

Thank you too Jo Anne, Anne;...it is a pleasure to give back to LCT as we get to vicariously enjoy your posts when you post onboard...last Friday had an opportunity to meet Mary Ellen at the LCB graduation cocktail party--then it was on to the best meal on a cruise ship Ida and I had. We ate in Signatures (they do a special menu just for the LCB graduates and spouses (lucky me). For our extra sea day this past Monday, (due to fishnet in propeller) we dined in Latitudes for the first time. What a tasty, different dining venue. We deligtfully enjoyed Voyager's remarkable variety of four unique dining venues (vs. Navigator's, SS--two). We are already changing our cruise from Med in 2010 back to Crossing in 2010 if on Voyager--we loved the cruise rhythm you truly relax/enjoy on a crossing.

ps...know there have been some questionable posts on the new Voyager Captain's seamanship..we found Capt Sanquinetti (as he sez, "our designated driver" to be the most engaging Captain we have had in six cruises. He is warmly engaging/personable, eats in all dining venues (had his wife on board--who was very friendly) and you will find him in every part of the ship (fitness room (daily), horizon lounge, etc)...after his
announcement last week about our one day delay..I noted he made himself available on deck five (reception area, travel conscierge desk, coffee corner)and engaged in personal (one-on-one) discussions with many passengers (who were naturally anxious/curious about our delay)

pss..our suite neighbor Norm took these picutures
during the LCB cooking class...there are a few with M'Ellen and Ida..enjoy:

http://normando.smugmug.com/gallery/6698006_JT7V4#P-1-15


Best, Wes

Welcome back home Turkey'ites! Wes; I am so glad you and Ida enjoyed the crossing...for Tom and I a crossing is the way to go to totally unwind and relax...I hope Voyager does one soon! :)

A question: I saw Mike in the LCB photos . . does anyone know if he'll be on the Voyager WC?

Thanks . . .Peggy

Hi Peggy - we're on the Voyager now and one of the headwaiters told us that Cornel will be the executive chef on the WC (and that he's already on the ship).

Dena

fyi, wanted to share the nice note, rcvd from
Mark Conroy last night concerning TURKEY:


Dear Colonel Weiner,

Thank you for your kind comments and congratulations on your retirement.

As a cruise guy I am happy you have more time to sail as a committed citizen I
am sorry to hear we are losing an experienced leader in our military service.

I have shared your kind comment with the ops team along with my thanks for a job
well done.

Next time you are in South Florida we have to get together for more then a few
minutes.
Mark

If

Mark S. Conroy ©¦ President

Regent Seven Seas Cruises ©¦ 1000 Corporate Drive, Suite 500, Ft. Lauderdale,
FL 33334

tel: 954.940.7320 ©¦ fax: 954.772.4113

©¦website. www.RSSC.com



Best Small-Ship Cruise Line ¨C Cond¨¦ Nast Traveler Readers¡¯ Choice Award
(2007)

Best Large-Ship Cruise Line ¨C Cond¨¦ Nast Traveler Readers¡¯ Choice Award
(2006)




Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 4:40 AM
To: Mark Conroy
Subject: kudos Voyager Leadership

Mark,

Ida and I are now on the Voyager steaming towards Ft. Lauderdale...know you are
aware of the Voyager propulsion problem that has delayed us a day. Wanted to provide u a
short note describing the immediate positive steps your Voyager Leadership team took to
make this cruise challenge easier to take as a Regent cruiser.

Captain Sanquinetti made a short, reassuring announcement of the problem a little before
10 a.m., yesterday. Lorrain Weimerskirsch immediately followed describing the
steps we could take to make travel arrangement changes--her confident tone, helped
reassure passengers. Your travel concierge and reception desk personnel did yeomen/women's work
dealing with passengers lined up to see them over the next few hours. A fellow Atlantan commented how seamless it was using the travel concierge to re book his air to Atlanta

Within an hour, the hotel manager, Engelberdt had placed a well written page and a half letter
in every suite succinctly describing the problem with the propulsion system and what steps Regent
was taking to assist with travel arrangements and reimburse passengers for incidental expenses.

It is of course, awkward to have our disembarkation (flight change, pet sitter,
etc) but your Voyager team shined during this
minor cruise crisis.

ps...am a runner and run 6-7 miles every morning noted to Engelberdt (Weds a.m.)that (for early
riser runners there was no readily available water) by early evening Wednesday
there was a cooler with iced bottled water up on the running track.

pss...dining is sensational (we ate at Signatures last night) celebrating my
retirement from the US Army (after almost
32 years end of dec) and they prepared a special cake--wonderful sweat treat to
cap off a memorable meal.

Best,

Wes

Colonel, US Army