The Regal Princess, Take Two

346 days ago, exactly, Jason and I stepped foot onto the Regal Princess in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a 36 night journey across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean. Immediately upon boarding, we found ourselves in a lovely wine bar called Vines. We had 2 gin and tonics that were made Thurman style- strong and with plenty of lime. Our bartender was a man named James.

If you’re a regular blog reader or even mildly know us, you remember how those 36 nights ended up going. And the 8 more we had to stay in Barcelona after disembarking.

Sometimes people ask me if I would do it again, knowing now how it ended. The answer is yes. Though it would hurt again and I sure would skip that last part again if I could.

Last summer, our friends from that cruise, Rich and Ginny, told us they were planning another cruise for their 55th anniversary and asked if we’d like to come along. Well, of course we would … if we could.

2022 continued to be a long, slow kick in the teeth but finally- right before Christmas, everything finally seemed to resolve. Grape harvest was done and barreled down. Olive harvest was done and barreled down. The Texas house sale concluded. All the money somehow worked. Hallelujah. Let’s Party. So, we called our favorite American Airlines Cruise planner to see if there was any way she could get us on the ship for Rich and Ginny’s cruise. Sadly, we learned Julie wasn’t there anymore but through some series of amazing luck (ahem- thank you, Lord!) suddenly we were signed up! 

And so, 3 days ago, we again boarded the Regal. We went straight to Vines for gin and tonics but sadly, James wasn’t there. We knew this- because we’ve stayed friends and we were delighted to hear he’d been promoted and moved to another ship. Yay for James. Sad for us. Know what? We were looking forward to seeing his smile. He wore a mask 100% of the time on the last trip. Crazy to think we talked to him every day and only ever saw his eyes!

But- waiting in Vines were Rich and Ginny and Mike and Dianna and it was an awesome reunion! We had a gin and tonic and then headed off up 7 flights of stairs to find our new cabin and get settled in.

There were 2 specific places I wanted to go to on the boat, other than Vines. Places I wanted to have a do-over moment at. One was E314- my quarantine cabin, which took 6 days of joy away from me. The other was the couch on the very back bar patio where I was sitting when they found me and told me I had to come into quarantine. I feel haunted by both spots and was very anxious to see them again and breathe a sigh of relief that this time wouldn’t be like that. And, hopefully, never again will I experience that.

Here we are at both!