Day 8 Friday, Jan 11, 2008 At Sea

Sea day photos
Friday, January 11
Today is a lazy sea day. The seas were really calm last night, and still calm through the afternoon today. Debbie came out on the balcony this morning and annouced it as good as Indian Ocean cruising. It was like a pond. Both Debbie and Margie have their fingers crossed that this calmness will continue. We all sat through an interview with Captain Romeo in the Constellation Theater this morning from 9 to 10. At 10, Terry Breen gave another lecture on Equador, where we will be tomorrow, docking at Manta. Terry ended her talk with a discussion of Panama hats which are made in Montecristi, close to Manta. Among the three of us, it was decided that Margie should buy one to replace her current hat. But she will not be looking in the superfine range (a Panama hat rating) where the price might be more than $500. Her range is in the $20 lessfine, trash hat (not a Panama hat rating).
Stephane Motir from the Tribeca Grill in NYC gave a cooking demonstration this afternoon. He made 2 recipes, Passion Fruits & Milk Chocolate Mille Feuille and Chocolate Rum Truffle Cake. This segment is a Spotlight on Chocolate cruise, and other than a couple of specially marked desserts served in Compass Rose, this demonstration is the 2nd evidence of the spotlight that we have seen. (The first was a chocolate and rum tasting.) Tomorrow they are showing Chocolat, the movie, and serving 'chocolate delights' during. But, it is at 3pm and we are ashore until 7pm. Margie and Clay sat through the demo while Debbie caught a nap with the goal of staying up for the show tonight. The demo was good and he did the 2 recipes in about 30-35 minutes, but as Margie put it, they required way too many bowls and pots for her to make. Debbie went to yoga from 3:45 to 4:45 and Margie went to needlepoint.
We finally received our dinner invitations for the 12th. The "TV actor on board" turns out to be the Hotel Director Richard Fenn. We look forward to dining with him Saturday night.
Clay had our room stewardess Aida remove 2 of the chairs on our balcony and add a lounge chair instead. This allows him to sit on the balcony and be below the top rail so he can easily stare out at the ocean. Earlier in our trip, we requested the partition removed from our 2 adjoining balconies. So now with the added lounge chair, we should be fixed for the duration. We have included a picture of the combined balcony.
Dress is Informal tonight. Thisevening we have a special event exclusively for Gold and Platinum members of the Regent's customer loyalty program. The event is Champagne & Canapes out on deck 8 forward in a part of the ship generally reserved for crew. The event is timed to see an outdoor sunset. It has been cloudy all day, but maybe it will turn into a good sunset. It was comfortably windy up front and a crowd, but not too crowded. The sunset was blocked by low, dark clouds but after it set the rest of the sky good some nice pink color. King Neptune showed up to welcome us to the Equator. He milled in the crowd and blessed Roy on his first Equator crossing. He posed for a photo with Bob, but no blessing. Like Bob cares. We talked with Bobbi and Sherm, Bobbi busted us for leaving Latitudes and going into Compass Rose. Sherm said he argued with her that we could not have gone in there to eat. Sherm's mouth dropped open when Debbie told him, yes we went in there after Latitudes dinner for chocolate souffle. It was very funny.
We all agreed there was nothing at Compass Rose to tempt us. So, we walked over and up to LaVeranda. It was a new Mediterranean Bistro menu. We didn't really like it either. There was some kind of problem and we waited a very long time for entrees. Sadly, not worth the wait. Not to worry, we won't starve if we eat light now and then or even skip a meal!
We are planning to go to the show tonight for once. It is Elaine Delmar singing Gershwin and Porter. We only have to stay up 15 more minutes before showtime! Tomorrow we have a daylong private tour. Up early, docking at 6:30am and ashore 7:30.
Back from the show. Clay conked out after a couple of Gershwin tunes. Debbie and Margie stayed and enjoyed it. Debbie suggested that we watch De-Lovely on DVD and she and Margie stopped by the Reception Desk to check for it. We requested a call when it comes back in. Before the show started a young man came up to us in the Theater and asked if we knew he was. The glitter remaining on his face gave him away, it was King Neptune! He is also BiggieFlip03 from Texas who has posted on Cruise Critic. Known to his family as David Guy. Hi, David! To his Mom, if you're reading, we posted a couple of great photos of your son! So ends a very good day.
Sea day photos