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By Marian Betancourt
Photos courtesy of Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Photo of the author with the Captain courtesy of the author
SAILING THE MEDITERRANEAN ON THE SEVEN SEAS VOYAGER
One of the many delightful anticipations of a week at sea on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager is wondering which great thinker will leave a message with the chocolate on your pillow each night. One night the great Buddha said, “It is better to travel well than arrive.” Perhaps the great Buddha will allow me to take  exception for I love both traveling well and arriving. In fact, arriving each morning in a new port was part of the adventure of an 8-day Mediterranean cruise with stops along the coasts of France and Spain.
The first morning out from Rome I watched from my balcony (every suite has one) as the early morning sun sparkled over Monte Carlo’s beautiful gardens and buildings. Not wanting to miss a moment of the day, I jumped into my elegant marble shower (bigger than the one in my New York apartment), dressed and headed to the top deck were I could absorb the wider panorama while enjoying the breakfast buffet at LaVeranda. With a fellow passenger, I headed out to explore the city of Prince Ranier and Princess Grace with the Grand Casino of James Bond. The Musee Oceanographique once home to the work of Jacques  Cousteau is perched on a cliff over the sea and we spent considerable time looking at the maritime collections.
In addition to a regular roster of shore excursions for each port, Regent offers “Circle of Interest” trips for passengers with special interests such as photography, or history and archeology. My “Circle” was food and wine led by wine writer and consulting chef, Alan Tardi. We visited the Jean Leon winery in the Penedes district outside Barcelona, but I was disappointed that we did not visit the Boqueria, Barcelona’s world class food market built in 1840. Another food and wine excursion took us to the Real Tesoro sherry makers in Jerez, where they play music for the barrels while the sherry is aging. (I remember this every time I have a glass of sherry.)
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of superior food and wine on board Voyager. Signature’s is the Cordon Bleu restaurant where the cassoulet d’escargot (Signature’s signature dish) is made with spinach and subtle hints of garlic and served in a hollowed out piece of French bread. Many classic French offerings followed. A frozen mint sprig on the red wine sorbet palette cleanser was a dynamite taste  sensation, and the kind of detail that made the meal - and the entire voyage - so memorable.
While all the Voyager restaurants are superb, La Veranda was my frequent choice not only because of the wrap around view at the top of the ship, but the bistro atmosphere and special themes were fun. For Mediterranean Night a striped awning was set up to create a market place atmosphere complete with Tapas bar. The tables were set with hand-painted chargers with different Mediterranean scenes. A waiter noticed me examining all the plates at my table and asked me if I could identify the scenes. We played “name that plate” (I wrongly guessed Istanbul was Athens) while in the background was music by George Bresson, who is from Sete, one of our ports. The special was lobster bouillabaisse that had a fresh “green” feeling.
The master of all this superb cuisine is Executive Chef Tobias Schreiber, who seems to be everywhere at once, making sure everything is just right. He was checking on the lunch service at LaVeranda one day and asked by way of greeting, if I would like to “try my grandma’s lentil soup.” It was the best lentil  soup I’ve ever had, and Schreiber is on the top of my list of favorite chefs. Born in Germany, Schreiber knew since age 11 that he wanted to be a chef. His cooking demonstration in the Horizon Lounge one day attracted a standing room only crowd, while he taught us how to make Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Tours of the ship’s multi-level hotel-size kitchen are popular and entertaining. (Did you know they use 27,000 eggs a week? And 8,000 to 12,000 dishes are washed every day in 11 dishwashing machines?) Schreiber runs his universe with passion and efficiency with a staff of 77.
But this is a ship as much as a fine dining venue and if you love all things maritime as I do, you will enjoy talking with the officers and visiting the pilot house at appointed times. During the voyage I spent lots of time hanging over my balcony so I could watch each harbor pilot meet the ship to guide us into port, a tricky maneuver as the pilot boards from one moving vessel to another.
You will never run out of things to do aboard the Voyager from the spa and fitness rooms to the casino. The library has current novels and magazines as well as a large atlas so you can follow the voyage on the map. A jigsaw puzzle is set up on a table and there’s also a computer lab, which I avoided. (This was a vacation, after all!)  Tea is served each afternoon in the Horizon Lounge followed by trivia, a fun game that gets quite competitive with the “regulars” who never miss a session. It’s no wonder Regent has won so many awards including the 2006 Conde Nast readers poll as favorite large ship cruise line.
The 700-passenger Voyager is perfect for solo travelers, which is very different from a larger ship’s “singles scene.” There is no match making here but social hostess Louise Ross, a former dancer from Manchester, UK, will invite you to join other solo travelers for dinner or drinks and there’s a permanent coffee corner on the main deck. You don’t have to dine alone unless you want to and in that case have your butler bring you room service. One evening when I arrived at Compass Rose, the ship’s main restaurant, I was asked, “Would you like to start a table?” Well, of course I would and soon I was joined by a young couple from San Diego, and then an older couple from North Carolina, followed by a dentist from Scotland, also traveling solo. We had quite a convivial table enjoying that evening’s Pouilly Fume, Domaine des Berthiers and Chateauneuf du Pape, Les Closiers. In all the restaurants you can eat and drink as much as you like. Everything, including tips, is included in the price of the voyage.
The entire crew and staff seem to enjoy being part of the sea going adventure because their enthusiasm is infectious. They make everyone feel at home, and assume we are all having as much fun as they are. At Captain Knut Hanssen’s welcome party we were introduced to the officers and staff who represent 36 nations including Norway, Sweden, Holland, France, Italy, India, the Philippines, Estonia, and Australia. (The diversity is just like New York!)
Near the end of the cruise the Food and Wine Circle had a wine tasting dinner in a private room of LaVeranda the night we would be heading through the Straits of Gibraltar, where I had never been before. I had asked every waiter and ship staff around to please let me know when we passed “The Rock.” They all did, and I ran outside to the deck around 10:30pm, wine in hand, feeling stunned and overwhelmed at the sight of this great monument lit with floodlights. It looked like a giant white whale close enough to touch. Rarely at a loss for words, all I could manage was “Oh Wow!”
Feeling joyful and a bit humbled, I later headed to my cabin to see which great thinker I would find tonight. The little purple envelope on my pillow had words from Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
Oh yeah!
(Editor’s Note: Marian Betancourt is a freelance author and journalist, who writes about food and travel for a variety of publications including Associate Press, Sante, and AmericanHeritage.com. She lives in New York City.)
© March 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
For culinary cruising information please see CruiseGourmet.com
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