DAY 39---MANZANILLO, MEXICO

 LOTS OF NEWS IN THIS POST!!!!

Our position today is docked in Manzanillo, Mexico (yellow arrow).  Our stop here last segment was canceled due to hurricane Roslyn so this is the first time we will be here.  Just about to dock now at 10:30.  It is mostly sunny with haze and 82 degrees but by noon it is 90 very humid degrees!

LAST NIGHT:

        Siva had this champagne chilled perfectly for us to take with us to the Seven Seas Society cocktail and canope party.  Caviar was also served.  The three of us just had a glass each so at the end of the party I took the over half bottle left over to Sandy & Dana Wells.  They appreciated getting it.  We were announced as the "most cruised" with 858 nights and the Well's were #2 will 100 less nights.  There are only 7 Titanium (400 to 999 nights) and 20 Platinum (200 to 399 nights) on board.  Most are "newbies".

          The production cast entertained at the party by doing 3 or 4 ABBA songs.  Loved it.
        We stopped at the Mariner Lounge and had Paul make Jeff a mint julep and me a Grey Goose martini.  Of course Rebecca chardonnay.  While at the bar Cedric (F&B) stopped by to tell us that the Captain would like to dine with us tomorrow night.  We politely declined as want to spend family time with Jeff.

                    This is Ketut from Bali.  He assisted at Dara's station in Compass Rose.

       I ordered escargot as an appetize but Dara said it was not available.  So I had a double order of fole gras.  Jeff had a Ceasar salad.  Rebecca and I had the Greek salad.

        I had a big issue with our wine service this evening.  As you recall the "Pirate" red blend wine we tried to drink the night before was WAY to tannic and was like sand going down my throat with no after taste.  So we had it sent to Compass Rose and Arthur, head sommelier, was to decant it an hour prior to our arrival this evening.  He had decanted it but it was still not drinkable so I asked our wine steward, Janine, to have Arthur come to our table.  He had still not arrived after 15 minutes so I got up and found a head waiter and asked for Cedric, the Food & Beverage Director, to come to our table.  Well, that "stirred up a bee hive" with headwaiters and the restaurant manager talking to Dara and each other.  Arthur showed up about the same time as Cedric.  I explained the problem with the wine and suggested they test some more bottles and consider removing it from the Connoisseur Wine List as it was a $105 priced wine.  Arthur apologized for not arriving sooner but I explained Rebecca had her chardonnay but was waiting for Jeff & I to get our red.  Arthur removed the wine and asked what other I would like to have.  We had had the "Trilogy" prior so asked for it.  It came right away.  We were not charged for the "Pirate".

Rebecca and I had made a special order for this veal osso buco with polenta.  It was HUGE and neither of us could eat even 1/3 of it.  Delicious!!

I ordered a small piece of the miso glazed seabass to see if it was back to our standards.  It was very good and what we had been used to on other cruises.  Jeff did have the miso sea bass with sticky rice and enjoyed it.

Jeff and I had this white chocolate croissant pudding with berry ragout.  It's one of my favorite desserts.

                                                         We did go to Tom Franek's show.

We sat up in the balcony so we could make a quick escape.  Which we did mid way through his show.

TODAY:

        The alarm went off at 7:15.  The ocean was super smooth when I opened our balcony curtains.

        On our way to breakfast in Compass Rose we were at the Coffee Connection getting Rebecca another double shot coffee to take with her to CR.  Coffee there is not very strong.  So Captain Aivo approached us and asked if we had received the invitation to dine with him.  Apparently, Cedric had not gotten back to him with our regrets.  So I again politely explained that we wanted to spend family time with our son.  I said how about we have dinner with you on the up coming world cruise.  He liked that.

        

                                    I had a large order of the caviar with melba toast to start with.

                      Jeff and I had omelets and Rebecca had a couple eggs over medium.

        Jeff and I were supposed to do the 5 1/2 hour "Cuyutlan Turtle Experience" excursion that was to depart at noon.  But we turned our tickets in.  Too hot!!  Jeff said he may just walk around in town about noon time.  Way to hot and humid for me to get off.

        For the past several mornings we have heard a noise going down our hallway around 7am.  Not a vacuum.  I suspected it to be a hydrostatic sprayed used to kill covid.  We ran into Jolanta, the head housekeeper when returning to our suites after breakfast so I asked her about it.  I asked if there were any passengers with covid now.  She confirmed that they use the hydrostatic sprayer in all hallways every morning and evening.  She said they even spray all the lounges and theater every night after closing.  Jolanta explained it was a proactive procedure to prevent any possible spread.  She said there are NO passengers with covid now.

        Jolanta will still be on Mariner for the first almost two weeks of our world cruise.  She asked if we needed anything in our suite.  We asked for additional small clothes storage units.  We will have 8 large suitcases (400 lbs) of clothes.  Annie, whom we have known for years, will be replacing her.

        Just after docking I went up to the Observation Lounge (forward on deck 12) and took some photos.

                                                 Long walk from ship's gangway to shore.

I believe the main part of downtown is not close to our pier and there is no free shuttle today.

     

Other side of bay with the main part of downtown is.  There is a Walmart over there as I Google Mapped it.

                                                   This blue artwork is a sailfish statue.

This is Anam who was cleaning all the chairs up in the Observation Lounge this morning when I was up there taking photos.

We went up to La Veranda for a bite of lunch.  This is another Bali Mafia, Komang.  This is the second Komang working on the ship.

        I just had a small bowl of spaghetti bolognese due to having big breakfast.  I placed a special order with Alvin for tomorrow evening in Compass Rose.  I ordered veal piccata for Rebecca and I and a beef stir fry for Jeff.

        Cedric stopped by our table and I told him we did not want to get Arthur in trouble from last night's wine issue.  He assured us everything was cool.  He had just been out on the pier as the local officials presented a plaque to the Captain.  This happens when it is the ship's first visit to a port.  Cedric said that Mariner's name on the plaque was wrong however.  So we have been to two new ports of call for Regent:  La Paz (last segment) and Manzanillo.

        We have been keeping track of the play-by-play of the Dallas Cowboys/Chicago Bears game this afternoon.  Cowboys won 49-29.  Be glad to get back home so we can see the college and NFL games on TV.

        I just heard back from an email I sent to our great next door neighbor, Melissa.  She says she can pick us up Thursday night at DRO (Durango airport).  We are blessed to have incredible neighbors on both sides of us.  They both are very conservative just like us.

        Plan for this evening is cocktails and poppers in our suite at 6pm followed by dinner in Compass Rose with Dara.  Another production show at 9:30, "Broadway in Concert".  Not one of our favorite shows as mostly singing.

        The ship is to sail again at 7pm and is scheduled to be docked in Puerto Vallarta at 7am tomorrow. This will be our last port of call before our cruise ends in LA on Thursday.