Our biggest complaint about this cruise is how busy it is, with ports of call almost every day. There is no time to simply rest!  Today is one of the few days we can do that. We actually slept in until 9 AM. Yvonne says I am the energizer bunny, always on the move. Today I attended the 10AM lecture on the history of wines in this part of the world, giving by our on-board history professor from California. Later on I attended a question/answer session with the production staff, which gives us a chance to delve into the lives of young people who perform on cruise ships. I find the discussions to be informative and interesting.

Yvonne and Marlene tried their luck again at morning Bingo. This time Marlene won the first game and received $91 for her effort. Yvonne had won a game earlier in the cruise, but today she had no luck.

The promise for the luncheon buffet by the pool was Mexican and we were ready for it, after eating rich food this entire trip. Unfortunately, it was a bust in our opinion-everything was bland and there was no salsa! Given how fabulous the rest of the food has been on this trip the buffet was a big disappointment. We did soothe our egos by having some of the marvelous cookies the pastry chef produces each day.

My afternoon was consumed by playing a bit of blackjack (broke even) and joining the sports competition to win the coveted reward points that can be redeemed for prizes at the end of the cruise. The sports competition include such strenuous activities as ring toss, ladder toss, shuffleboard, putting on the carpeting in the atrium and other crazy activities that the sports staff can come up with. The good news is even if you are not the best you are awarded “participation points” so gradually your point total increases throughout the cruise. My goal is to receive enough points this trip to earn a Regent baseball cap!

Yvonne’s afternoon goal was to watch the 2 PM movie about Kurt Warner in the theater. Unfortunately, she fell asleep in our cabin and she missed it!

Our team showed up for trivia again but we probably should not have bothered as it was one of the toughest we have endured, scoring on 8/15 points! Luckily cocktails soothed our bruised egos.

Prior to dinner we went to a show put on by members of the staff. This has become a tradition on many cruise ships and we are usually surprised at how much talent some of the staff have. There were some folk dancers, and several singers as part of the show.

Dinner tonight was in the last of the three specialty restaurants on the ship-Chartreuse, where the cuisine was French inspired. Most of us chose one of their specialties, Dover sole, and we were not disappointed. It was superb! I added escargot and lobster bisque to my meal while Yvonne treated herself to foie gras. Even the desserts were exemplary. We all agreed it was one of the best dinners we had experienced this trip. Too bad we do not have time to visit it again.

The after dinner entertainment was performed by our English lady fiddler. Tonight her performance featured more fiddle/jazz numbers which did not appeal to me but she did finish the show with a rousing version of Orange Blossom Special.

Tomorrow we will be in our diverted port of Le Havre, France, rather than the original scheduled visit to St. Malo. Needless to say we are disappointed at the change, but cruise lines have the ability to make these sort of changes if they deem it necessary.

Steps today:  surprisingly, 4,348, more than I expected since we were on the ship the entire day.