Sea Day, Indian Food Dinner

Aloha Everyone,

Regal Princess has a large contingent of chefs from India. For tonight’s dinner, they prepared one of the best and authentic Indian dishes using my favorites spices.

J.J. prefers less spicy food. Except for a few such as Tandoori chicken, Indian dishes are predominantly vegetarian. Personally, I welcome having Indian food served once or twice a week.

Aloha -- Cathi

Port of Call: Funchal, Portugal

Aloha Everyone,

Highly promoted shore excursion activities in Funchal include taking a cable car to the top of a hill, hike around and visit a beautifully maintained botanical garden. One could return to the port area via cable car or ride a two person wicker basket aided by basket handlers sliding down one of their steep and winding streets.

J.J. and I opted to rely on our feet and walked nearly 1.5 miles along the shoreline route. Local chestnut roasted in gray ash had a milder taste than the ones we had in Spain, but still delicious!  At McDonald’s we paid €1.25 for a cappuccino to use their very fast and reliable WiFi.

Dinner theme for tonight was Asian fare. We have to forgive Princess cooks for confusIng Japanese and Chinese dishes. Under brightly lit Chinese red lanterns, a Japanese noodle dish was offered with a selection of 10 different chopped vegetables, 3 types of noodles, meat and soup base plus toppings of green onions and diced seaweeds. My miso-based vegetarian selection spiced with hot chilly pepper and sesame oil was good, but tasted far from any traditional Japanese noodle dish.

An excellent day for my daily walk. Finished 6.8 miles, exceeding my current daily target of 5.2 miles.

Aloha -- Cathi

Two Destination Presentations

Aloha Everyone,

There was greater interest for today’s Destination Presentation on Barcelona. We’ve already met at least a dozen passengers who will be disembarking there. Trying to maximize and how best to spend our shore time in Barcelona would be challenging.

J.J. and I also attended a Top 10 Bucket List Future Cruise Presentation. 

1.  Alaska
2.  Mediterranean & Greek Isles
3.  Baltic
4.  Norwegian Fjords
5.  Hawaiian Islands, Tahiti & American Samoa
6.  Spain & Portugal
7.  South America, Cape Horn & Strait of Magellan
8.  Australia & New Zealand
9.  Panama Canal
10. Canada & New England

Aloha -- Cathi

Happy Happy Birthday JJ!

Aloha Everyone,

Photo chronicle of today’s special day. Several notable changes which we applaud are:

• No Happy Birthday singing in dining rooms.
• No Happy Birthday cakes.
• No photographers roaming around in dining areas.

Aloha -- Cathi

Time Changes During our Mediterranean Cruise

Aloha Everyone,

There are a total of 6-time changes between Port Lauderdale, Florida and Cartagena, Spain. These changes occur at noon which confuses us, affects our sleep schedule as well as dining time.

J.J. and I listened to a deeply passionate moving plea by the Ukrainian President, Vladimir Zollenskyy addressing via zoom the Parliament of Canada. I hope leaders and politicians of the western world are listening and they come up with acceptable compromise to end this senseless war.

Today’s destination presentation, Malaga included an organized trip to Rhonda, one of our favorite provincial cities where we would love to return for a long-term stay.

Aloha -- Cathi