Day 35 - February 7, 2008 - at sea

Past Days photos
We were without Internet/phones/TV etc since Montevideo. Sorry for the delay get the past day's entries posted. The only official information we got from the ship was a card in lieu of the newspapers we get every day. The cards said that due to the "ship's current position" we could not get the newspapers delivered. OK!! By now, Channel 3 which had a diminishing amount of information and what it had was wrong. We were still in Montevideo all day according to that. Today, Channel 3 is just a black screen, no info at all there. So, we still wait to find out what is going on, but we did get Internet back! We slept late and had a late breakfast in Compass Rose. Since we will be very busy this Saturday and Sunday, we are treating Thursday and Friday as our weekend days.
Debbie wanted to go to exercise since Leanne had left in BA. Our new fitness instructor is one Debbie knows from Voyager, Bebi. Bebi remembered Debbie from the Panama Canal pre-World Cruise segment in 2005-2006. That was amazing but Bebi said it was her first RSSC contract then and she had just marked her 2-year anniversary working with RSSC and so she had recently been thinking about it. Debbie did Cardio Groove in the morning and Basic Step and Beginner's Pilates in the afternoon. So, it was a good welcome back to the gym. We all went to Terry Breen's morning lecture. Then, as usual for whatever reason, no matter how entertaining the event in the Constellation Theater is we get sleepy. So, we all laid down before lunch. Captain Delavault did not make his noon announcement in the cabins. We waited and between 12:20 and 12:25 he finally came on only Channel 2, not over the speakers. He had little to say about the weather, waves, location etc. He said that if we wanted to know the ship's position that he had some maps/charts up on it the Observation Lounge.
OK. So, there was a Fish Fiasco, oh, al Fresco on the Pool Deck today. We did not like anything on the Compass Rose menu for dinner and it is Formal Night tonight with the Captain's Welcome Reception. So, Debbie decided we should go look for the Signatures menu and see if she could go tonight. We found the menu and it looked as good as it will get for her. She has gone 162 nights on Regent without a meal in Signatures. This would be the night. So, before going up to the Pool Deck for lunch for Clay to have fish, we went to look for someone to find out if we could get in Signatures. Last Formal night was a nightmare in Compass Rose because so few people went to Signatures and Latitudes, so we thought we had a good chance. Debbie asked in Compass Rose and Leilani told her that Mr. Remy was out front and would handle Signatures reservations. There was no one out front. Debbie leaned in on the other side and Remy saw her and motioned us in. Debbie shook her head no and pointed to Remy and crooked her finger to beckon him to her. He startled and looked around, pointed to himself and then jogged up. Debbie asked him about getting into Signatures and he was very funny. He told her, I can't believe it, you came for me, you are finally coming to Signatures, I was afraid I was going to have to approach you myself... He was pretty booked up for the segment apparently, but could take us tonight without a problem. Debbie told him we only need tonight, this is a limited window of opportunity here for you. She negotiated the time with him, so that we could attend the Captain's Welcome Reception and then he confirmed us at 7:15 tonight. He told Debbie, now I have something to live for. Uh oh. No one can play irony like the French, but now it was on. We all laughed about it. Clay said that Remy was on the World Cruise with us and must have remembered that we never came once then. Whatever, RSSC can make a big profit on us everyday, no worries.
Then we went up to the Pool Deck. Clay got fish and Debbie and Margie got other food. Ludovich finally found us today and told us he didn't look for us earlier because he was too busy with evaluations before Rio. Margie went to Arts & Crafts and Needlepoint in the afternoon, Debbie to the gym and Clay read and sat on the balcony. Then it was time to dress for the Captain's Reception and dinner. ThisCaptain's Reception was different. They had chairs set up on the stage with tables and Capt. Delavault asked Bryan the Cruise Director, Magnus the Staff Captain, Richard the Hotel Director, Giovanni the Chief Engineer, Terry Breen and Scott the Travel Concierge to sit in the chairs. Then he did a slide show on the big screen that had masked the Regent Orchestra while they were playing for dancing. He talked about the construction and history of the ship. Then he showed slides and maps about South America and spoke about places we had already been and where we were going. He had Scott and Terry talk about places we will go and not to throw things off the ship in the Amazon, or anywhere else, please. Champagne was delivered to the stage tables and Capt. Delavault asked for a toast. Bryan tried to give him a glass and he refused, saying that he did not drink because he is the driver and asked Bryan to make the toast. We drank and they left the stage and the screen rolled up and the band played. We stopped by the jigsaw puzzle on our way to Signatures. The sky over the fjords was finished and 2 different people told us that they had done that. We denied any involvement to anyone who came by. Dinner was as expected. Debbie was ranting about what sick person puts snails in ravioli and special places in hell... Remy came by and asked her about the ravioli and she smiled and told him it could not be improved. We had a long wait before our main courses and Remy came by and apologized. Debbie told him sweetly, oh it is only prolonging the anticipation. Remy finally got it and did a few double takes as he walked away. It was all fine really, with truffles in every single thing including the butter for the bread. Some people live for this. Others avoid it like the plague. Remy walked us out at the end of the meal and hoped we were satisfied and would return. We told him everything was fine, but we would probably wait another 160 or so days before coming back. Remy did not look happy. Not sure what he is worried about, his tables were all full. Not like Latitudes with only a single digit number of tables occupied almost every night.
This afternoon Margie had a phone call from Brendan at Reception, he told her that if we wanted to look for the Southern Cross tonight to go aft and starboard and look about 30 degrees above the horizon and if we couldn't find it to call Reception and ask for help. So, we were not planning to go to the show, a pianist, but we all stayed up to go look. We tried the back deck off Horizon Lounge first but it was all lit up. So, we went up to Deck 12 and the lights were all off up there, so someone had made some effort for us. We couldn't figure out what we were looking at or for. Debbie went into the corridor there in front of the elevators and called. Brendan was off and had not told anyone that we might call. Danielle asked Debbie to wait there and she would see what she could find out and call her back. In about 5 minutes, Danielle did call back and gave more explicit instructions from someone on the bridge who had stepped out up there and checked. Debbie and Margie came back and we stood where and how directed with Clay and waited to get our night vision back. Then we all turned our heads right 30 degrees and then up 30 degrees. We think we found it. We found it and a lot of other things that could have been it under the Milky Way. So, assuredly at least one of the things that could have been the Southern Cross was it, so we can say that we've seen it. We did appreciate the thoughtfulness of some unknown person on the bridge getting the lights turned off for us and telling us where to look, but a nicer gesture would have been someone there to point it out or even invite us to the bridge to point it out. But, we'll have to take whatever we can get. Debbie even more appreciates the time on Voyager with the Harvard astrophysicist taking small parties out on the darkened front of the ship to point out all kinds of things like the coal sack and planets as well as the Southern Cross. Clay is still kicking himself for missing that one special opportunity. On to bed and planning to sleep in and then laundry again in the morning since it has been almost a week and we will be off the ship for all day tomorrow and then 2 nights away.
We all realized that we need to be thinking about packing for that and we have had no confirmation that we are on for Iguazu yet. The Destination Specialist said that only 31 people were going on that. So, we will have to check with the Tour Desk in the morning.
Past Days photos