Thanks for the seamail. Love the posts. Fred, you are too funny!

Ola from Santander. We're up early (our guide doesn't meet us for another hour)and it's too early in the day (even for me) to hit the bar; so I will do a quick post.

We had a delightful dinner last evening with the Cordon Bleu cooking creatures. At our table were the lovely Clearance Officer (in charge of passports and such, not sale items at Macy's) and Franck Galzy, the Asst. F&B Manager. He is a charming guy (not to mention quite good-looking) who has been on RSSC for six or seven years, as I recall (my memory of our discussion becomes a bit hazy as the evening stretched - must have been the pasta going to my head...). In any event, he had some interesting dope (no, Masaki, that refers to good info, not good ganja) about staffing issues on the ships. First, he claims (and he is quite convincing in his earnest, soft-spoken manner - RSSC has a loyal spokesman in Franck) that the change to a single cabin stewardess is a positive one. The stewardesses are nearly all Asian and now have only half the number of cabins as they had when they had the male assistants. There is now a much higher level of accountability (yikes, what a corporate-speak word that is) for the care of their assigned cabins. I don't know whether that is all entirely accurate; but our stewardess, Ariane, is delightful and does not appear to be exhausted. Her service has been impeccable.

Some changes of note in the restaurants (for the inquiring minds and gullets which want to know): In Signatures, they are moving to an entirely French waitstaff. In Latitudes (with the Indochine menu which we enjoyed enormously), the waitstaff is all female and Asian. And in La Veranda, they will move to a waitstaff which is all European/Mediterranean. Has anyone seen the pattern? Yes, Marc, you guessed it correctly - the plan is to have the waitstaff reflect the region of the cuisine. Regent also plans to do more cross-training of the hotel and ship staffs. (I forgot to ask Franck whether that means they'll be sending the hotel lifeguards onto the ships - "Baywatch" Regent-style!!)

MUSH is already being discussed among the management staff. Franch knew that our little band of banditos and raucous revelers was scheduled to take over Deck 7. It seems that they are doing a few things in anticipation of our week aboard Mariner, as follows: They will be doing a series of sensitivity training for all members of the staff to show them how to gently guide MUSHers who have overindulged back to their cabins with the least disruption to the rest of the passengers. The provisioning people will be ordering several extra pallets of Cosmo ingredients (they will use the Conference Room for the extra storage required - sorry, Friends of Bill W. - no meetings on that cruise). Finally, the bartenders will be receiving from the ghurka security staff some special training in self-defense to prepare them for Suzette.

Enough for now. Santander, Santillana del Mar, and tapas await...

Cheers, Fred

Thanks for checking in with us. Freddie, your posts are the best, especially your last paragraph regarding MUSH.

Sounds like everyone is having a great time on WAVE!

Nancy

Freddie - you are our Walter Winchell and Mata Hari rolled into one, and we love you for it! :nw: :nw: :nw:

Now .. see if you can discover their plans when the LCT group mysteriously vanishes and they have to re-route the World Cruisers to stop our frolicking with the penguins in February? We'll only give up the penguins if they come aboard and give us an all-inclusive ride. We have our standards, y'know.

Cheers, Anne

Hi Fred,

Thanks for keeping us posted.

Enjoy Santander and Santillana. If you like the services your guide provides you , would you mind posting his contact info? I'll be in Santander for a few days in August.

¡Muchas gracias!

Thanks, Freddie, for your delightful post. You crack me up!!!!! So glad you are all having such a great cruise!! Lovin' the SeaMail!!

Freddie, you make me sorry that we had to cancel MSUH!

Yes, we've noticed the mostly European waitstaff in La Veranda on Voyager and Mariner. Now I know why.

MUSH sensitivity training, now that should be interesting!

Well, I am late for wine tasting or early for the chocoholic Tea, just read the update to the semail. Yes, we dearly love our Freddie!.


I saw Susan Wempe skipping ( really!) with a smile on her face in Compass Rose this morning (first day we haven't had room service breakfast) but thought she might beon vacation and opted not to say hi.

Santander was a very cute place. I took a lot of photos and snapshots today. Fred ordered Tapas, the sangria was the best I've ever had and we had a great Tour guide - finally! AMEX Party is tonight. We've been lingering over long dinners so we've only seen one show.

Those machines in the casino swallowed up a bit of my winnings, but, I am still way ahead. Back to Blackjack tonight.

This cruise is very relaxing but at the same time we've had our bits of touring. Tomorrow is Bordeaux. We have a VERY long day planned out.

Oh Anne, what I'd give if they could just combine POP and WC !!

If anyone can convince them to do it, Marcie, it is YOU!!

Cheers, Anne

Our table (Gretchen, Mark and Susan and I) won at trivia yesterday. Mark and Susan's first chips! They still have the lyre on the chips. Santander was very nice; just walked around (gorgeous cathedral)and bought some of their local spirits (Ourie (sp?)). Tasted a bit like Bailey's on steroids (the Chocolate version does anyway). We got a cute little "triple bottle" with the bottom third/bottle being apple flavor; the middle third/bottle, chocolate; and, the top third/bottle, vanilla. The top of the bottom bottle is nestled into a dimple (like in a wine bottle) in the bottom of the next bottle up and each is a different color, too. Not sure if we'll drink it of use as a gift. It's supposed to be sort of unique to this region. Tomorrow, Bordeaux.

Greg

Hi Greg,

Oh yes, that must be orujo :eek: !!! Wow, you're a brave man! It comes in all sorts of flavors but all of them lethal! I love Santander, I'm headed there this summer.
Did you go to the beach?

I heard from Susan today she has met Greg and Gretchen and was having drinks with Fred and Pat this evening. She said she is having a marvellous time and enjoying every minute.

FRED - your posts are so great. I am "hoping" that is my "franck" the ones that I know so well. If he has been on that long I am sure it is him. He is one of the most efficient men to have around when I have a group on. If you read this Fred tell him Ngaire is delighted he will be there to take care of the BLISS group.

The part about preparing for MUSH just cracked me up. I love the preparation for the onslaught of MISS SUZANNE - if only our little guy from the Diamond was on the ship - Francisco is that right Suzanne? That would be great, he was there last time I was on the Voyager or was it the Mariner --- cant remember.

It was in Mexico, PARTY!

Olivia,

Francisco was not on PARTY. Remember, I had to "settle" for Capt. Dag and Arnold.

I recall Ngaire was on Mariner (sometime between PIP and PARTY??) and ran into dear, sweet Francisco. (Maybe it was on the Navigator with you last year doing Norway).

Not to hijack this thread...

Love the fact that more of you are reporting in. No or spotty Internet would have been a good thing if you have a big stock portfolio (you can sneak a peak again with one eye covered).

Do take photos of all of you future chefs with your tasty creations.

It was South America I think with Marcie that I saw Francisco!

Yes pictures pictures.

Hello to Chef Cornel on WAVE - we had him on Voyager Transatlantic Nov '05 along with Cordon Bleu Chef Greg & Fleet Chef Ronald. Cornel can be very generous with the Cavier! Take your cameras to champagne party for graduation night. Enjoy! - Michele

YES, Ngaire!

Mainer SA this year on Mariner. You aked if he would be aboard on MUSH and he thought he'd be on vacation.

Francisco, What a sweetie pie.

A new young Chef has taken over the La Veranda. His contract has been extended thru August. He is French and his name is Romain. Very personable young man, came by our table the other evening to talk about how much we liked the Osso Bucco. He had been the pastry (I know there's another name but what to you expect country boy from SE Louisiana?) Chef and the Head Chef left (sounded like rather suddenly) and they asked Romain if he wanted the position. Voila!! He has also done a couple of contracts on PG, but much prefers Voyager.

Greg

Love the posts, guys! Keep it coming!

(and yes, Fred, this dope is not so dopey when it comes to dope any more!)

Masaki

Love all the posts guys!! Thanks for including us on your trip, feel like I'm there with you!!! see, I just knew I was there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoying the updates. Keep them coming.

Quick update from the WAVEers on this lovely sea day.

Maria - The guide service we used in Santander for Santillana del Mar & Santander was euroadventures: www.euroadventures.net . The two guys there with whom I dealt were Mike and Sean O'Rourke (traditional Spanish names, no??). Our charming guide, who works full-time at the Altamira caves and was on her day off, was Maria (last name unknown).

Yesterday while docked at Bordeaux, we used the highly recommended (by Marcie, Anne, and Claudia), and quite justifiably so, services of Jean-Denis Coulon: jdcoulon@bordeaux-map.com . We had the good fortune to have Alain as our guide, as did the aforementioned ladies. Our day in St. Emilion was marvelous, including lunch at a cafe built into the rocks, a visit to the underground church (which should be 15 minutes instead of 45 - enough talk from the guide about the monks who built the place is enough!!), and two good visits to wineries. It was a long, but delightful day. St. Emilion is one of the most beautiful towns we've ever visited.

Tonight is the second formal night (we will follow the dress code despite my firm belief that neckties are symbols of corporate oppression). Tomorrow night we will have a cocktail party and dinner at Signatures for the Cordon Bleu class. It will be a special menu designed by the instructor and Michael, the chef at Signatures. (I am sure that it will be quite light and heart-healthy...)

On the dancing note, I hope to be dancing on MUSH. Shortly into this cruise, I managed to cause major damage to both my achilles tendons (which had already suffered an insult when I was jogging in Monte Carlo while watching Voyager dock and stepped quite badly off of a curb on that nice walkway along the port). Despite my stressed tendons, I danced for a couple of hours one night (amazing how a few bottles of wine can make one less cautious about health matters, isn't it), with the result that I have been limping around doing a rather pathetic imitation of Grampa McCoy and popping ibuprofen like M&M's (where is Rush Limbaugh and his bottomless supply of oxycontin when one needs him??) In any event, sweet Helene Golden and I will not be repeating our rather stupendous (not to mention stupid from a podiatric viewpoint) interpretation of flamenco dancing on this cruise. Nothing like 15 minutes of major stomping to really blow out a weakened achilles tendon. Oh well, with luck I will be back in good drunken dancing form by the end of August.

Ngaire, I will let Franck Galzy know that you are looking forward to his care on BLISS.

Tomorrow, lovely little Honfleur.

I must now close and go practice shallow breathing in order to not hyperventilate when I have to wrap that silk noose around my neck tonight.

Cheers, Fred

Fred, love hearing about your trip and glad everything went so well with Alain in Bordeaux. Sorry to hear about the "hitch in your git-along" !!

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the info.

Sorry about your foot problems! I know it's tough for a person that likes to dance not to be able to when the music is playing!

Enjoy Honfleur,

Another fine post, Freddie. Sorry to hear about your foot problems.

I've jotted down your guide/touring info. for our trip next year. Thanks for posting that.

Have a lovely time in Honfleur, which is a beautiful port. We had very limited time there during our river cruise this year. However, Honfleur is on the itinerary for next year and we'll have, hopefully, more time to enjoy this charming port.

Freddie - so sorry about your foot! Bad stuff, indeed.

I agree - St. Emilion's underground area is neat but the guides, to quote a friend of mine: "My, how they do go on!!". When I saw them locking us in like jailers, I made a break for it and had a cup of coffee instead.

Don't forget elevation and periodic icing in addition to the ibuprofen.

Cheers, Anne

HaHa Anne!!! so funny - I didn't even go in, had a gelato instead and waited for Frank to come out!!!

Freddie - so sorry to hear about your foot problems, but please get them better before MUSH, so we can all dance with you. Isn't St. Emilion the most wonderful place??? We loved it!

Oh yes Anne....brings back memories of how they want to make sure you see everything even if you can't even stand up any longer!! Alain (bless his heart) we finally had to say NO MORE! WE'RE DONE! He looked bewildered..."but what about going here, there, there". NO MORE!

Marcie: Yes Tony and Tom were ready to jump out of van - enough enough!!! Tony thought there were locks on the van doors - when you have had it - time to stop!!! Joanna

Dear Friends of the WAVEers - We've just come back on board from a lovely day of wandering about in Honfleur (with the exception of two wasted hours on the "outer harbor boat tour" which showed us lots of the industrial port and spent about 45 minutes showing us the Pont du Normandie - Normandy Bridge - which is either the longest suspension bridge in France, or in Europe, or in the world, or in the universe - the endless superlatives in French coming from the onboard narrator made it quite confusing to determine what was in fact the reality of the bridge). But all that was forgotten over a huge pot of mussels in white wine, with frites and a chilled bottle of muscadet, in an outdoor cafe overlooking the inner harbor.

I am now here in the computer room in order to avoid the dreaded task of packing (see thread on "The Six Stages of End-of-Cruise Grief). Perhaps after another gin & tonic or two I will be able to face the music and the suitcases. We intend to pack before going to the Cordon Bleu cocktail party and dinner tonight, as we assume that we will not be the most efficient packers afterwards. Then, we can have a final lovely late night in the Observation Lounge listening to Hal Fraser (who, by the way, was last night the target of a shocking and obscene verbal assault by a passenger who did not like Hal's choice of songs - we have all pledged to show our solidarity to Hal tonight by showing up and protecting him from such abuse by creating a shield of appreciative fans at all of the tables close to the piano).

Tomorrow, it's on to London for a few days.

Cheerio - Fred

OMG Freddie what in the world possessed the passenger to these verbal assaults? What a jerk!

Enjoy your last night onboard and enjoy London! Hope your foot is feeling better. Thanks for all the great seamail you've sent us!

Fred,

Enjoyed your posts - I hope your dancing feet are recovering. Enjoy London - I am expecting a full report on your pilgrimage to Chartwell.

Love to Pat,

Mary Ellen

Freddie: Your outdoor cafe meal sounded perfect! Hope your foot is better - sad tale about the bad passenger - glad you are gathering the troops to support Hal - Joanna

Sounds like a lovely day in Honfleur! (sans the crummy outer harbor cruise!). That's unbelievable behavior from that passenger. Was it really caused by his dislike of the songs??Amazing!

We had a great day today! Started out going to Pegasus Bridge, far and away one of the best war museums I've ever seen. Got to stand on the original bridge and see where each of the three gliders landed. Clearly one of the finest feats of airmanship in WW II. Then went to Point du Hoc. All of the original craters from the April "carpet bombing" of the point are still there and the spot where Col. Rudder's men scaled the 150ft cliffs is within the park. BTW the area at Pt du Hoc and the 176 acres at the US cemetary at Omaha is US territory. The French ceded it to us in the 60's with the proviso that we never make a profit from it. We were at the Cemetary at 2 PM and the Clarion Bells played a melody of songs, including God Bless America, at that time. Got to walk along Viereville (think Saving Private Ryan)and Coquville Draws (exits from Omaha heavily defended by the Germans). Probably not of much significance to non-history buffs, but I was in tears. We had a wonderful guide who showed us a lot, was very knowledgable and worked very hard to get us back to the ship on time.

Tomorrow England next Summer Fiji!!!

Greg - what a moving experience it must have been to stand on D-Day ground. thanks for your report; I'll file it for our next trip that way.

Freddie - hold the line for Hal!! I started on UK time this morning.

Cheers, Anne

Hi Greg,

I'm sure your touring was something you will never forget. Good hearing that your guide met your expectations.

Thanks for taking the time to share with us. Best to you and Gretchen from Alan and me.

Okay, I am suffering from LCT Withdrawal but I am now HOME from London. The hotel's business center hours conflicted with the hours I was out having fun - just as the ships internet was down when I went to Club.com but Greg and Fred did and excellent job of reporting in.

Quick thoughts ( if I can still think after a day getting up at 5 AM London Time and still being awake at 8:40 PM Pacfic Daylight time!)

The ship had the best service we've experienced on any of the Regent Ships; Food was spectacular. Chef Cornel does a great job. The Cordon Bleu was much better this time than last time in the cooking dept. The Fun was great both times and yes, I'd do it a third time. Recipes were different. Only negative was that there were fewer sea days and so sea time was taken up with class.

I never went to trivia or tea :ohmy: but they were most popular activities on board as always - because of Cordon Bleu it was the only time I knew I could book spa time!

I won the Blackjack Tournement and previously mentioned Slot Tournement I came in third!

There were more younger people (including well behaved kids) and a more European crowd on board than I'd previously experienced.

Fred, Pat and Frank & I got a chance to say hi to Ngaire and Ken and Ray and Penney. They were pulling us off the ship (we were LAST off - ha ha) and lo and behold there was our fearless leader arriving at 10 AM. What fun and our driver was a sport. We all had a great time in London meeting up nightly for dinner and theater.

Okay, time to rest my brain and sleep so I can unpack tomorrow. Today's good news was an upgrade to World Traveler Plus from RSSC Economy Free Air. I would definitely fly on British Air again.

Kathy, welcome home! I'm glad that you had a good time. The Cordon Bleu sounds like something I'd love to do, some day!

Dena