It’s April 7th, and our ship’s clocks moved forward an hour at noon today. We’ve been told that all 6 of our time zone changes will take place at noon instead of midnight, which in theory will be less disruptive to sleep cycles.

I managed to drag myself out of bed in time for a quick breakfast of melon and a small pre-sliced piece of “breakfast quiche”. It’s only my second breakfast in the buffet, but a pattern is already emerging of becoming so frustrated with the physical layout that I give up on what I was actually looking for, which this morning was a made-to-order omelette. A very friendly crew member directed me to the omelette station, which wasn’t open. A more seasoned (than we) Princess passenger then directed me to a manned station, but the process – unlike on Viking or HAL – is NOT to stand and watch your omelette being made, but rather to place your order, be given a ticket, and return in 10-15 minutes. Given how hard it was to find the omelette station in the first place, I was pretty sure that by the time I found a table, I’d be lost a second time and never get the omelette. I do understand not wanting long winding lines of people waiting, but in our past experiences omelette station lines move fast.

I did pass a waffle station, but no wonderful crêpe station like HAL’s.

My plan for the morning was to attend the 11a.m. talk about Ponta Delgada, in the Azores Islands, by destination expert Veni Shykin, a historian by education, and former Princess photographer from the Ukraine.

What a great, funny speaker! Unfortunately I only made it through half of his talk before the rolling seas got the better of me. Back to our room to lie down for a bit and let the meclizine I’d taken earlier kick in. I never cease to be amazed that the ocean can look fairly calm on the surface and yet have 10-15 ft (3-5m) swells underneath that make the boat roll.

Around 2:30 (really only 1:30 since we’d only just changed clocks) I definitely needed food. Determined to give the buffet every chance, I headed back to deck 16 for some lunch. I grabbed a small pre-made sandwich (they’re all presented as half portions) and went looking for salad. Not all salad ingredients are in the same area of the buffet. I found a section that seemed to be specific to Greek salad, with fresh feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, Greek dressing, and tiny black olives that turned out to be black beans. Odd, but a protein boost I guess, and tasty despite not being olives.

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I should note that, unlike on the smaller HAL Koningsdam (2650 passengers) and Viking ocean ships (930 maximum), the buffet on the Regal Princess almost never totally closes. You can find food, from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., even when they’re switching over meals (i.e. lunch to dinner selections.)

Live music with the terrific house band started in the Piazza just after 3:00, so that’s where I headed for coffee and a tiny slice of peach pie. The saxophone player is particularly good, and it was a lovely mellow set.

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Because I’d found a comfy seat that happened to be in the Good Spirits bar, I ended up inadvertently being part of the daily mixology show in the bar during the band’s break. The GS Bar makes specialty destination-focussed cocktails, developed by Rob Floyd, available nowhere else on the ship. You can access the amazing menu here: Good Spirits Menu. Today Niño, the “chief resident alcohol doctor”, demonstrated the Aperitivo Roma, made with Limoncello, Aperol, Canadian Whiskey, bitters, and mint leaves. It’s called an “evolving” cocktail, whose flavours develop on your palate as you drink it. They described it as a less bitter Negroni, since the Campari in a traditional Negroni is replaced with Aperol, and the gin is replaced with Canadian whiskey. We watched the bartender crush the mint leaves into a highball-style glass, add 3/4 ounce of Aperol, 1/2 ounce of Limoncello, and 3/4 ounce of Crown Royal. He then added fresh ice, and 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters over the ice before “stirring it into perfection” until the ice sinks to the halfway level in the glass. He then grabbed a fresh rocks glass with mint leaves and ice, and strained the mixed drink over the fresh ice, garnishing it with a twist of orange and the rim of the glass rubbed with orange peel. It was a fun diversion.

Since Negronis are one of my favourite pre-dinner drinks, the Aperitivo Roma may be something I need to try one evening on this cruise – maybe on the night we eat in Sabatini’s, the specialty Italian restaurant.

Good Spirits Bar also features a martini bar on wheels with a roving bartender who crafts specialty martinis (you can shake your own if you wish!) in fancy martini glasses that you keep as souvenirs.

We shared a dinner table again, with couples from Las Vegas, Seattle, and Niagara Falls (Canada), and had fun talking about favourite travel destinations. There’s always more inspiration to be found!

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The evening’s main show was the comedic due Alfred and Seymour. I found their combination of physical and verbal humour, much of it aimed squarely at making folks see how ridiculous racial stereotyping is, hilarious – as did the audience, who laughed, clapped, and whooped. Ted, as usual, didn’t really enjoy it; he’s more into a Bob Newhart/Carol Burnett style of comedy.

After the show, we found a new (to us) place on the ship: the Wheelhouse Bar just outside the Crown Grill, which we were going to need to find at dinner time tomorrow anyway. In the Wheelhouse, Luis Melgar, who plays trombone (his main instrument) occasionally with the house band, plays piano and sings most evenings after 9 o’clock. He’s the kind of quieter vibe we’d been looking for, so I suspect we’ll be back many times when the party bands in the Piazza don’t suit our mood.

At midnight the ship was still rocking, but that’s not so bad when we’re asleep. The forecast for tomorrow suggests I’ll be starting my day with another meclizine though.

It’s worth it!