Friday the 13th of October
Sea day exploring the ship
A full day at sea is always welcome. It gives one a chance to relax, catch up on sleep, roam/explore the ship, overeat (again), do a bit of shopping, attend a show or watch a movie, play bingo, check out the many pictures the onboard photographers have captured of you, get in a workout, schedule a massage or hair appointment, or attend any number of a variety of onboard entertainments.
The Love Boat crew are the Godparents for the Regal Princess
One of the evening performances
On this cruise, our only “At Sea” day occurred on our final day when we were headed from Halifax back to Brooklyn. I prefer and enjoy it more when the breaks are interspersed throughout the cruise, but sometimes that just does not fit the itinerary.
For this trip, it allowed us plenty of time to get all of our clothes repacked into our carry on bags.
Cooking demonstration
We also attended a cooking demonstration that was presented by our Executive Chef, Florin Dragan and the Maitre D’Hotel, Ignazio D’Agostino. They put on one heck of a show, were hilarious, and it turned out to be my favorite presentation of the cruise.
Joanne with our Executive Chef and the Maitre D’Hotel
The demonstration was followed up with a galley tour where we paraded through the spotless stainless food prep areas. The number of food service crew members needed to prepare, serve and clean-up after the passengers on the Regal Princess was staggering. Between the galley and dining room staff, there are 615 dedicated employees.
Food Prep area
More behind the scenes
A display of over 45 ways they fix potatoes
The captain made an announcement regarding the HUGE amount of food that was consumed on this voyage, but I was not in a position to make notes, and it was not given to us in writing. I sent a message to Princess, asking if they would provide me the statistics, and am waiting a reply.
Sample dessert
In the meantime, I found some numbers from a similar sized ship that included amounts for a one week cruise in the neighborhood of:
- 24,236 pounds (10,993 kg) of beef
- 5,040 pounds (2,290 kg) of lamb
- 7,216 pounds (3,273 kg)of pork
- 10,211 pounds (4,632 kg) of chicken
- 3,156 pounds (1,432 kg) of turkey
- 13,851 pounds (6,283 kg) of fish
- 350 pounds (160 kg) of crab
- 2,100 pounds (950 kg) of lobster
- 25,736 pounds (11,674 kg) of fresh vegetables
- 15,150 pounds (6,870 kg) of potatoes
- 20,003 pounds (9,073 kg) of fresh fruit
- 600 US gallons (2,300 l; 500 imp gal) of ice cream
- 9,235 dozen eggs
- 5,750 pounds (2,610 kg) of sugar
- 3,800 pounds (1,700 kg) of rice
- 3,400 bottles of assorted wines
- 200 bottles of champagne
- 200 bottles of gin
- 290 bottles of vodka
- 350 bottles of whiskey
- 150 bottles of rum
- 45 bottles of sherry
- 600 bottles of assorted liqueurs
- 10,100 bottles/cans of beer
- Plus a lot of other things…
One of the great perks on board a cruise ship are the professional photos that are taken throughout the course of the trip. There are often package deals offered, and if purchased in advance of sailing, will save you a bit of money. For example, if you want to purchase ALL of your photos, the onboard package deal was $249, but if purchased online ahead of time, it was offered at $199. They also offered a different onboard deal if you wanted to get any five photos that came to $90.
Embark/Disembark photos: Almost every time you disembark, there is a photo opportunity where you can take a cheesy picture with a costumed crew member, perhaps dressed up as a sailer, or lobster, or pirate. These are not my favorite moments, but on occasion a fun memory gets snapped.
Dining Room photos: While seated at your table, the photographers wander around and capture you, hopefully with an empty mouth. One night may be couples, another night individual shots, or another evening a group picture of the entire table.
Inside our dining room
Our dinner table mates: (my shots, not professional ones). We once again were so fortunate to have wonderful company each evening.
Chris and Chuck
Fran and Pete
Our waiters, Richard and Cesar
On board or special events: This may include sail away parties, captain’s cocktail party, champagne pyramid or other activities/tours
Formal night portraits: Stationed around the main decks with an appropriate backdrop, couples are encouraged to have a portrait photo taken.
Informal and private appointments also available: These can be booked in advance and the theme may vary by cruise or your specific wishes.
What I love about the pictures is that there is never any sitting fees. If you don’t like your photos, don’t buy them. There is no pressure. The pricing is reasonable for a professional shot. We ended up purchasing two 8×10 portraits for $25 each.
We also chose to get the photos loaded onto a small flash drive for $10. We now own the rights to these photos and can use them online or have copies made if we want to. We no longer need to get a release signed by Princess as was the process in the past.
Since we celebrated our 25th anniversary earlier this year, I was happy to have a portrait done of the two of us to commemorate the special milestone.
To commemorate our 25th Anniversary
About two weeks before we left on the cruise, Tim started growing a beard. I wanted to capture the look, as I know that this facial hair is short-lived.
Tim at a rare moment with a beard
Our total distance traveled from New York, back to New York was 1,767 Nautical Miles (2,033 Statute Miles, 3,272 Kilometers)
GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful to have once again thoroughly enjoyed our get-a-way. This was a relatively short trip for us, being just under two weeks in duration. It seems like no matter where we go, or what we do, we manage to have a good time and appreciate the amazing opportunities we have been given.
One of my beloved authors, Eckhart Tolle, put it this way, “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” ~ from A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.
Feeling incredibly blessed…
A Note From Abroad 
You should look into this temporary job with the New York Times – 52 locations in a year.You I’ll site and blog about these locations. Expenses paid!
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Lisa, I saw that NYT posting. What a kick that would be!
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I love the pictures. What camera do you have?
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Most of our pictures are taken on the pocket sized Sony RX 100.
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Congratulations on the anniversary, great pictures and wonderful memory you have shared with us
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Thank you very much
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My pleasure, BTW Tim looks good in beard 😎
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Great photos, and aren’t the cruise days nice for a little breath of air. Looks like a wonderful adventure, thanks for letting us tag along.
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Terry, I always look forward to our “at sea” days where we have a chance to catch our breath. For me, an ideal itinerary would include two port days, one day at sea, then repeat often.
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I have enjoyed the first day on the ship as a sail day, lets me relax and get in to the vacation mood before the fun starts. Then one in the middle is nice even if it is a late arrival time to the port (like after 12).
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Looks like a wonderful time. Hubby and I love cruising and have been on about 8 so far. Those galley tours are amazing.
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Darlene, it is always fascinating to get to see “behind the scenes”. We still have never done an engine room tour though and hoping we can make that happen one of these days.
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What an incredible amount of food to prepare for all those guests on the ship. It’s very impressive how they can pull that off.
What was the cooking demonstration of? I’m sure I would have loved to have gone to that. The desserts you posted are presented so beautifully.
I’m glad they captured you both so well. Really lovely photos.
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Brenda, they prepared a four course meal and presented us recipes for Pasta with smoked salmon and vodka, Flambeed shrimp in hot &fiery tomato sauce with pearl rice, Classic Caesar salad, Black Forest cake plus a bonus Chicken Luai recipe. They have 615 crew members dedicated to food prep, cooking, baking, serving and cleaning up the dishes.
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Absolutely fabulous photos:-) You are both so photogenic!
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Thank you!
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Congratulations on the anniversary! I’ve never been on a cruise, but what an amazing amount of food they have to have!! I’ve heard the meals are quite something and those few desserts you showed look amazing.
janet
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Janet, the food choices offered at each meal are one step away from obscene – but in a delicious kind of way. At home I can fix healthy meals and eat a reasonable amount. But, on a cruise I find that I have absolutely zero willpower and want to consume everything in sight.
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🙂
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What a great trip. Lovely photos. Love the sea days too. You’re right about short cruises – we were on the Diamond Princess last year in Japan and 10 days is far too short! We hardly had time to explore the ship before it was over. If you get the chance, you should do the full ship tour, from the engine room to the bridge and everywhere in between. Only small groups and very interesting and fun.
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We are taking a two week cruise in December and I will find out if a total ship tour is offered.
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It does give him that distinguished professorial look, doesn’t it? 😀
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I liked the beard. It had the same colorization at George Clooney. It has now morphed a bit. The sides have been shaved and it is a goatee and mustache.
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I am certain that boarding a cruise ship automatically enlarges your stomach. At home I will normally eat a small portion of meat and a small side for dinner. On our cruise in Sept. most evenings I ate an appetizer, entree and dessert! I love how you can mix it up as well; one evening I made a meal of 3 appetizers as I couldn’t pick which to try.
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Tracy, I did the exact same thing one night – three appetizers for my meal. Plus dessert, of course 😬
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That is a lovely portrait of you both.
Alison
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Thank you Alison. It will be fun to look back at when we hit our 50th 😃
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Great photos!
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Thank you
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Sister-in-law Michelle is on a version of this cruise as I write — a repositioning from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale. A sudden illness forced us to cancel but I enjoyed reading your posts.
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I’m so sorry you were forced to cancel your trip but certainly hope your situation has improved.
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45 ways to make potatoes! That requires quiet some imagination. And I’m jealous as I can eat potatoes every day but can’t figure them out. Challenge accepted … 🙂
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When I spoke to the Chef, I commented on all the samples. He laughed and said his was just a small representation as they actually have over 300 ways of preparing them. Kind of boggles the mind 😃
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Crazy! 😉
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I’ve never taken a galley tour. Now I see I made a mistake. It sounds very interesting, and the food amount you shared are amazing. Also, like you, I don’t care of the cheesy photographs they take when, many times exhausted from travel and registration, you finally make it aboard and need a restroom, food, and your room.
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This galley tour was quite basic. Really, just paraded past the large stainless food prep/staging areas. But it was free and a chance to see a bit more behind the scenes.
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What a fab blog from you two. Thank you so much for sharing your travels. And I really needed to see the Mark Twain quote today x
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Thank you Jacqui and welcome! The Mark Twain quote has been my inspiration for many years. Never one to shy away from an opportunity to see/do/experience/grow. ~ JJ
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Very interesting glimpse into life at sea on a cruise ship. I spent 20 years in the Navy–a very different at-sea experience! By the way, Tim should keep the beard. It looks very distinguished!
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I’ll bet our cruising experience was QUITE different than being in the Navy. I liked Tim’s beard as well. He did attack it a bit with a razor though and now is sporting a goatee with a mustache. Still rather debonair 😊
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Lovely post with remarkable information. You make me want to go on a cruise! Thanks for sharing.
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Cynthia, I’m glad you enjoyed reading a bit about our cruise.
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This was a fun and interesting post! The quantities of food consumed are almost obscene though…I wonder how much of that ends up wasted. We were offered a galley tour on our Alaska cruise, but it was so crowded, we passed, so it was nice to see some of yours.
Your portrait was very nice. 😀 I bet by the time I’m getting around to reading this you are already on your next cruise!
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Yes, as a matter of fact we (almost) are as we will be embarking tomorrow on our 14 day South American adventure.
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Oh how wonderful! Enjoy, and I really look forward to reading about your South American tour!
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Tim and Joanne
Thanks for adding our picture on your blog. I am sad to say that Chris passed away on 12/27/17 I do not know if she ever got a chance to see your blog. But I really enjoyed see the places we visited on the cruise through your eyes.
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Chuck, we were so heartbroken to learn of Chris passing away. Pete and Fran advised us of her diagnosis shortly after we returned from our cruise. I immediately sent Chris a note but understandably did not hear back from her. It is almost unimaginable to have seen her so vibrant and full of life one moment and then gone so quickly. Our shared dinners hold special memories as well as a stark reminder to embrace every moment. Tim and I send our most sincere condolences to you and your family.
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Thanks for the good times we had on the trip. I emailed you a flyer of the Celebration Of Life
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