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Over The Water And Back Again—A Transatlantic Trip
By Snookums, edited by Filbert, photos by Filbert

Part 2-- below (or at the "read more").

April 29 (Tuesday, Day 3, Arriving Miami) –

We woke up and immediately went to work out. We found out that everyone else must like to work out at 10:30 AM, too. But we found spots on the floor and did 30 minutes of core work followed by 30 minutes of cardio work (bike for Filbert and elliptical for Snookums). Our trainer would have been proud of us!

Sailing into Miami (with bonus camera blotch)

HMS Richmond at Miami

Our television had no picture so we called maintenance and a guy came within 20 minutes and fixed it.

We ate lunch in the main dining room today and ordered off the menu. We didn’t want to be social and have to join people at large tables in the buffet dining area, so we asked for a table for two. After a short wait we were seated. The lunch was OK, although Filbert’s shrimp and catfish were slightly breaded so he didn’t eat them as he’s (still) trying to watchhis carb intake. He had plenty of salad, though, so he didn’t starve.

The afternoon found us spending quality time looking out at the ocean which was as smooth as glass. So far, so good on this trip, since the ocean has really been calm. The Gulf of Mexico has been good to us and we’re hoping the Atlantic will be, too. While we were looking over the balcony railing we saw a shark. It was very close to the top of the water and was quite green. We were not sure what kind of shark it was, but it was definitely a pretty big shark since we’re high up on deck 10 and we could clearly see it. Other than flying fish, that’s the only sea life we’ve seen so far.

We came back inside and turned on the television and once again it had no picture. We called maintenance again prior to leaving for the concierge lounge. While at the concierge lounge we met a nice couple (Anthony and Deb – just friends) from Australia. During the conversation Anthony said that he would be very happy showing us Sydney when we dock there in November for one night. (He later turned out to be something of a raving leftie, which did put Filbert off somewhat.) The people on this ship have been very nice. We met another couple at lunch the first day who are very interested in taking an around the world cruise so we told them what we’ve learned about them and we had a good discussion with them about cruising and cruise lines.

After dinner we got back to our suite with a TV that still didn’t have sound. That meant Snookums made several phone calls and requested (okay – demanded) that the Guest Services Manager call us in the morning to set up a face-to-face meeting to review the issues we’ve had since boarding the ship. (Really, we don't go out of our way to find problems . . . they just seem to find us—Ed.)

April 30 (Wednesday, Day 4, Departing Miami) –

Snookums woke up and went to the fitness ball exercise class. It was only 30 minutes long and had twice as many people in it as there were balls so she then did more on her own. When she got back to the suite Filbert was up and they walked around the 12th floor deck for around 25 minutes. Five laps is a mile which is nice since the other ships we usually sail on have either eleven laps to the mile or nine laps to the mile. That gives you an indication of how big this ship really is compared to our usual cruise ships.

The ship had put into port at Miami, so after we showered we took a cab to the nearest Walgreen’s to stock up on diet soda. A $20 cab ride and $9 for diet soda makes a lot more sense than buying it at ship’s prices, believe it or not. We came back and had a nice quiet buffet lunch since most people were still off the ship exploring Miami. We also took advantage of our last hours with cell phone service and talked to several of our family in the US since this will be the last time for “free” telephone service until May 22.

Blue sky, blue sea: Miami

Yachts of the rich and/or famous

We were delayed for one hour from leaving Miami because the the food for the voyage didn't get loaded onboard the ship in time. It was a good thing the captain delayed our departure since some passengers would get irate without food! The captain also informed us that 3 low pressure systems were forecast for Saturday, so we would sail a more southern course in order to avoid them. But, he warned that there might be “motion in the ocean.” What would an Atlantic crossing be without some rough seas, though?

Regent Seven Seas Mariner, off Miami

About 45 minutes out of the Port of Miami we saw Regent’s Seven Seas Mariner on the high seas. That is the ship that we were on most recently in March of this year, and is overall Filbert's favorite cruise ship (so far). Our friend Bill is on it. It was departing Ft. Lauderdale on its way through the Panama Canal (and we did that same cruise on that ship last April).

We went to the pre-dinner show. It was 3 guys from Argentina. The first half of the show was a puppet show (Fluorescence) that Snookums liked and Filbert thought was embarrassingly bad. The second part of the show (Los Pampas Gauchos) was the Argentinians dancing with bolo balls (~5 foot string with a hard ball on either end of the string) and drums. Snookums was bored after the first three minutes but Filbert liked it since “guys like drums.”

Sunset over Miami

May 1 (Thursday, Day 5, At sea) –

Sunrise over the Atlantic

We woke up and went to breakfast in the dining room. It had a buffet as well as menu service. Filbert had eggs and turkey sausages from the buffet and Snookums ordered blueberry pancakes and hash from the menu. Each pancake had four fresh blueberries in it. Kind of skimpy on the blueberries, Snookums thought, but the pancakes were very good.

Smooth Atlantic seas

Snookums spent the rest of the day in the suite in her favorite spot which is in a French chaise angled in front of the big picture window. She read and slept and read and slept some more. Snookums figured that she slept for 5 hours doing this – a perfect day at sea.

We returned to the room after dinner to find an invitation for tonight’s past guest party. We left our room at 6:30 PM and when we returned at 10 PM it was on the bed for the 7 PM party. Oops. (Really, we don't go trying to find service problems like this. Really we don't – Ed.) Snookums immediately called Guest Services demanding to know why it had been 48 hours since she first asked to have the Guest Services Manager call her and still hadn’t heard anything and to let them know that getting an invitation AFTER the fact was unacceptable. The woman she spoke with promised to get a meeting set up with the Guest Services Manager and called back saying that we would meet at 11 AM on Friday. As a result, we stayed up and typed our list of 15 issues and 2 successes (room service was correct one time and the service in the dining room has been okay).

May 2 (Friday, Day 6, At sea) –

We woke up in time for our 11 AM meeting with the Fleet Guest Services Manager, Carly Ackerman. She was dismayed to hear about our issues and promised to call us around 5 PM with answers.

We went to lunch and then Snookums worked out for an hour and then played for 30 minutes in the 3-on-3 double elimination basketball tournament. Snookums’s team came in third out of five which wasn’t too bad since she was the only girl in the whole thing. It was very windy, too, so no one could attempt any outside shots. Then Snookums attempted to climb the rock wall two times. The first time she used too much upper body and her arms were very shaky when she said “enough”. (She was 2/3 of the way to the top.) After resting for 15 minutes, she tried it again but was just too pooped from the events of the day. She’ll make it to the top, though, before the cruise is done.

Yesterday was Snookums’s day to be pooped and today was Filbert’s. He stayed in the suite most of the day and read his sci-fi book he got from the ship’s library and also wrote some of his own science fiction story he's working on. By the way, the ship’s library is very lame but for some reason 25% of the hardback fiction is sci-fi so that works for Filbert. Snookums was able to swap paperbacks so that is working, too, but it really is a pathetic library.

Our call from the Guest Services Manager came at 5 PM and she wanted to know if the Deck Supervisor had met with us yet. Filbert told her “no” and she was surprised. She asked if we would enjoy dinner at Portofino which is the $20/per person Italian restaurant. We said “OK” and have dinner reservations for Sunday night. She also asked Filbert what kind of wine we prefer and he answered “red” so we think there will be some wine at some point, too. She said we would get invited to the Diamond Plus past guest event so that is good, too.

The TV guy came and replaced the black box under the cabinet and said that should fix the intermittent problem. The drape guy came and took our drapes away (and we didn’t know anything was wrong with them so we’re thinking there might be another suite that complained about the drapes and they confused them with our suite!) and replaced them with new ones.

Ice show at sea

We had tickets to the ice show before dinner. The tickets are free for everyone but there are limited seats so you have to get a ticket for a particular show. Although the rink is very small, they really did a good job and one of the men even did a triple jump. It seemed like when he got going fast enough he had to jump or else he would have hit the wall. Even Filbert—no particular fan of ice dancing—enjoyed the 45-minute show.

After we got back from dinner there was a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a cheese plate in the room. No note, just the two plates. Snookums ate the strawberries and Filbert wrapped up the cheese for later.