Sunday, July 15, Tallinn, Estonia

We sailed into Tallinn under cloudy skies with intermittent drizzle; however, the gray skies could not hide the beauty of Tallinn’s old town. We do not have any excursions planned, opting for the ship’s shuttle to explore the old town.

Meredith joined us in our suite for breakfast as her grandparents got ready for the day. We’ve always eaten breakfast in La Veranda, but with the unique experience of a roomy 7 Seas Suite, we chose to make the most of the opportunity and eat in our suite, enjoying the vista of our approach to Tallinn through our floor-to-ceiling windows.

Our sail-away from Stockholm through the archipelago was postcard-like under clear skies. We basked in the glow of family joy on our aft suite, toasting with champagne, smiling with contentment, and gazing with appreciation. Mother said that she was almost in tears and felt that life could get no better.

Mother and Dad’s first cruise was with us 3 years ago on the Voyager. Before that, there only ship travel was to and from England for a 2-year stint for Dad’s navy work; that uncomfortable and unpleasant time in steerage class blocked their willingness to cruise; they are world travelers, but it took years of pestering them before they would cruise with us; and now, this is their 4th Regent cruise.

Our butler, Ryan, is pleasant and efficient. In addition to the canapés, he promptly delivered Meredith’s requested strawberries during the sail-away, had a set of clothes for each of us pressed, and set up a laptop for our suite. (this is a great extra perk for the 7 Seas Suite and allowed me to give my laptop to Meredith for their suite).

Our Compass Rose dinner was superb, as expected. We love food and wine, and it’s a hurried dinner for us on a Regent cruise if we don’t spend at least 2 hours in the dining room. In addition, we love to try foods that we have not experienced and will not shy from multiple orders of our favorites (Oz is targeting another 3 servings of Beef Wellington to match his last Voyager cruise). Meredith has become our resident “foodie” having interned last summer in NYC for a caterer and event planner. And, her recent trip to Napa has furthered her interest in wines.

A few random notes:

At first glance, there appear to be a large number of children on this sailing. Not sure how many, but we’ve seen several toddlers (and even younger!) and “heard” other children. To each their own, but this is NOT the itinerary I would choose for young kids. Pay the cruise fare to a nanny to keep the kids at home.

I was disheartened to return to the room on our first night and find a “disembarkation questionnaire.” Almost like saying, “welcome aboard, and when you leave …..” I would prefer they wait at least a day or so to distribute that form.

Our kids are each on a rollaway in their respective suites. There’s plenty of room, but the rollaways leave something to be desired. I think Oz wishes he had his sleeping bag; he took the mattress off the frame and that worked fine. I never thought they would “prefer” a sleeper sofa in the suite. BUT, there are NO complaints … our family crashes hard and sleeps soundly and we LOVE our accommodations.

Yes, there was vibration as crossed the Baltic Sea last night, but nothing I would classify as “shaking” … no glasses rattling, no items shifting on tables, etc. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for that to continue. OR, maybe our senses were dulled from our sound sleep and onboard euphoria.

The rain has increased in Estonia, so we’re having another cup or two of coffee, hoping for the weather to clear before we head to town.

Luke