March 13 – At Sea. Today is the first of two days at sea. We went on daylight savings last night so we lost an hour. Good time to do it while you're at sea.
Our first night in the new room was as would be expected. Because we are as far aft on the ship as you can go there's a little side to side motion, not much really, but some. For me it's like a free version of the 'Magic Fingers' motels used to have where for a quarter the bed would shake for half an hour. Lulls me to sleep. Some people might find it annoying but not Diana or me.
My usual day at sea starts with breakfast at about 7:30am followed by Tai Chi at 8:30 then goofing off until 11:00am when our travel agency, Cruise Specialists, Inc of Seattle has a 'chat time' in the Explorer's Lounge with our hosts Lucia and Henk. They are traveling with us and are on the P-Dam so much that the staff really relates well with them and if you need something done by the ship, Lucia and Henk make it happen. It's very cool.
For lunch the Lido restaurant has two buffets, what I call the long side and the short side. Most people like the long side. As the name implies it has more choices. To go with the buffets there's the sandwich shop, pizza and ice cream stations every day. On special days they may set up another station that specializes in something like Dutch apple pancakes or sushi. Of course there's a salad and fruit bar. You can eat in the main dining room but that's too slow for me or you can eat in the Pinnacle Restaurant. It's a small extra charge but I have to say the food is extra special there. That's saying something because the food everywhere on the ship is great.
Prefer to have breakfast and lunch on the short side buffet. At breakfast they have an omelet chef there and that's what I always have. At lunch they have a stir-fry chef one of the three dishes he's serving is always to my taste. He also makes pasta dishes but not in the wok. They do a wide variety of styles, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian and some I'm not sure where they are from. Of course they have a jar of Sambal (Indonesian red chili paste) at the end of the line if you want to spice up your dish, and I usually do.
We had our first 'chat time' today with our CSI hosts Lucia and Henk. It was nice to see them again and also other CSI clients that stopped by. They set up shop in the Explorer's Lounge from 11AM to Noon and if CSI clients have questions or just want to chat, they attend. You just come and go as you wish, there's no agenda. As I mentioned before Lucia and Henk are a wonderful interface with the ship for information or problems.
Unless we have a late tour or some conflict we always eat dinner in the La Fontaine Dining Room. I like the assigned table and time. Leads too much less confusion and waiting than the 'as you like it' dining. I always thought it was ironic that the 'as you like it' dining is not how I like it at all. We tried it once and that was enough. Wisely HAL does not offer it on longer cruises. If we are celebrating something special we will schedule dinner in the Pinnacle Restaurant. They have a limited menu with some specials but everything, and I do mean everything is extra special. We've never had a bad meal there and most exceed my expectations. I used to like the porterhouse steak but it's 22 oz. and more than I want so now I'm usually ordering the rib eye steak and it's only a pound. They have a wonderful desert called the chocolate volcano but as I've aged I find that the caffeine can keep me awake so we split one. More about that after we eat there on Diana's birthday.
Tonight was formal and the Captain's greeting and welcome aboard party. That's always interesting. He introduces a few of his key staff and best of all the Employee of the Month. This is someone that you mostly never see; this month it was one of the sailors. They are always very proud to be part of the introductions and get the biggest round of applause.
The evening's entertainers were Horizon, three men who sing Motown from the '50s and '60s. When we first started sailing everything was big band and show tunes. I'm so glad they've updated the music for the Boomers who make up a large part of the cliental now. They were very good and it was a trip down memory lane. Do you redeemer who the first artist was to sign with Motown Records? That's right Smokey Robinson. They sang his music as well as The Tops, James Brown, Temptations and others. It was a fun evening.
After the show we sat in the Explorer's Lounge and listened to the string trio. The violinist in this group is one of the best we've heard on the ships. He not only plays well but he plays a more difficult repertoire than most will attempt.
Tomorrow's another day at sea and then we start port hopping.
That's Diana with Horizon above.
No comments:
Post a Comment