I do enjoy days at sea. They are so relaxing and laid back. You can do as much as you want or as little. It’s nice to not always be hustling around like crazy. Although I enjoy these days, they bore Doug to distraction. He can only read for so long. I, however, can read all day long.
Today was a reading day. We were at sea so we had nothing in particular we had to do until around dinner time. Doug actually slept in which is unusual for him. He got up just before my alarm went off. He must have been tired. I got up with my alarm. We dressed and then went up six flights of stairs to the Haven for breakfast. This morning I did an omelet with bacon. It was tasty and not too much food. I also indulged in an Irish coffee instead of a mimosa. Somehow that just tasted better this morning. Doug got his lox as well as shrimp toast. That was a new taste treat and he liked it.
Relaxing day on our balcony
After breakfast we went back to the room and proceeded to enjoy our balcony. It was a beautiful day and our lounge chairs beckoned. I had a good book to finish reading so I was all set for sitting out there all morning long. And that is exactly what I did. It was lovely with the breeze gently blowing and a view of the blue, blue water behind us. Sheer perfection.
Beautiful blue water of the Caribbean
Around 12:30 we went back up to the Haven for lunch. Like we were possibly hungry! I was very good. All I got was a Caesar salad with the dressing on the side. I did indulge in lemon sorbet but other than that, I was good. I knew a big dinner was coming up so I was saving room.
After lunch we went to the Latitudes member meeting. We were late but I don’t think we missed much. Mostly it ws a commercial for NCL. We were at the back of the room and an older gentleman kept talking to Doug which made it difficult to hear what the speakers were saying. I don’t think it was anything earth shattering. Doug wanted to talk to the Cruise Again people but nobody was at the desk after we left the meeting. The sign said they would be back at 3 PM. I wasn’t waiting around that long. We ended up back at the cabin. I read and Doug took a nap. I think he was bored. He likes to be much more active than this. I enjoy a lazy day every once in a while.
He wanted to go back to the Cruise Again desk before our cocktail event at 7 in the Haven. I wasn’t about to walk up 10 levels of stairs in between the two. That was just too much. So we ended up not going. We have all week to do it.
At five I cleaned up and got dressed. Doug was ready for Happy Hour. I’m not sure why he was so anxious to get there two hours early. Our cocktail event in the courtyard of the Haven wasn’t until 7. I think he was tired of being in the cabin. By 5:30 we had climbed the six flights yet again and were ensconced on one of their uncomfortable sofas. The lounge was full so it was loud in there. I guess people don’t use their inside voices anymore. Some of the younger folks were especially loud. One young man yelled “Sorry we’re loud but we’re just having a good time.” So they knew they were loud but really didn’t care because they were enjoying themselves. Oy vey! Most of the people were waiting to be taken down to see the early showing of “Choir of Man.” Once they left, the lounge became much quieter.
I have to laugh though. There were two young ladies in swimwear talking with a lady who was probably in her 40s. One of the girls knew the older woman. One of the younger ones cracked me up. You could tell she had been drinking. She was in a white bikini with a big straw hat on. I heard her telling the older lady that their “souls knew each other.” She was very sincere. She did seem to be a rather dramatic person. Then she started talking to us. She was very nice and polite but definitely three sheets to the wind. She loved my dress (Amazon special) and loved that we traveled. When she found out we had climbed Kilimanjaro she was so excited. Then she asked where it was. We told her Tanzania and she was over the moon. She had always wanted to go to “Tanzamia.” We thought she was just mispronouncing it but then she said something about it being an island. Huh? So then we thought she was talking about Tasmania. Nope, she said it was definitely Africa. The best we could come up with was Zanzibar. I hope she figures out where it is before she goes to visit her friend from Congo there. I’d hate for her to end up in the wrong place. Bless her heart, she was a sweet girl, just not sober.
We talked with her for quite a while and then were called into the Haven Courtyard for Cocktails with the Crew. We shook hands with the major officers and ship managers. The captain was a big guy! He was tall as well as broad, not fat, just built like a tank. I know they get tired of shaking hands and making endless small talk. I would. I had a glass of wine just for something to do as we didn’t know anybody there. Luckily we couldn’t stay long as we had dinner reservations at 7:30. So we hung out for 15 minutes and then boogied.
Tonight we ate at my favorite restaurant on the NCL ships—Cagney’s. It is their steak house and boy, the food is fabulous. I had saved up eating all day for this. It did not disappoint. I got shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, filet mignon with truffle mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Doug got oysters Rockefeller, baked onion soup, NY strip with creamed spinach and sautéed mushrooms (he share a few mushrooms with me). My filet was excellent. It was perfectly cooked and so tender. Yum! The truffle mashed potatoes were tasty as well. My broccoli was still a bit crisp which I prefer. We topped off the meal with a miniature apple pie (I preferred the apple crumble that they use to have) and raspberry crème Brûlée. It was all wonderful and I washed it down with a couple of glasses of Chardonnay. Doug enjoyed his merlot. We were both stuffed by the time we finished eating. Plus we had them plate up our leftover meat to take back to the room. I walked on the wild side and got an Irish coffee to take back to the cabin.
Tonight there was nothing for us to see. “Choir of Man” was playing in the Escape Theater. We are seeing that on Friday. Another reservation only show was in the Supper Club. It was a show with dinner. Howl at the Moon was in the Headliner but they had already started so I knew we didn’t have a chance of finding seats. So we ended up just going back to the cabin. It was almost 10 AM anyway.
There will be no worries tomorrow as we take on Jamaica. We have a 2.5 hour island tour which should be good. We’ll get to see more than just the port. I was afraid for a while that was all we would get to see. Thank goodness for the $49/person Island Tour! And because I get $50 off every excursion, mine was free :-). So even if it isn’t great, we will still see some of the island and I won’t have to pay for it. I call that a win-win!
Lazy was the name of the game today. And it felt good although I think Doug was bored. He’s not fond of quiet days on the ship. He prefers to be out and going and seeing things. I like a quiet day every once in a while and not much beats a quiet day on a ship.
The day wasn’t all onboard the Escape, however. We anchored just off of Great Stirrup Cay which is owned by NCL. It’s changed a whole lot since I was here the first time in the 1980s. The first tender left for the tiny island at 7 AM. Needless to say, I wasn’t even up yet. We live in Florida so going to the beach had no real allure for either of us. Plus I was sleeping so well and the bedding and pillows were so comfy, I didn’t want to get up 🙂
I did finally convince myself at 7:30 that I better rise and shine or Doug would go to breakfast without me. He has done it before on cruises. Of course I don’t normally eat breakfast at home but it’s vacation and I don’t have to cook it! So I got up and dressed. The only downside to eating in the Haven Restaurant is the six flights of stairs we have to climb to get there. Sure we could take the elevator with 4,000 other people but I prefer the stairs. And I was pleased to notice yesterday that my bum knee was handling the stairs quite well. My lungs weren’t but my knee was 🙂
Now the Haven is its own separate area. You have to have a Haven keycard to get inside. Once in you have access to the concierge, the bar, restaurant, pool, courtyard, and sun deck. We have our own little cocoon which is quite nice. Not all NCL ships have the Haven, only the large ships like the Escape. The Star which we have sailed on three times is too small for a Haven, but then there is half the amount of people as well. Trade-offs.
Anyway, at the Haven bar I got a mimosa and Doug got a Bloody Mary and then we climbed one more flight of stairs to the restaurant. I was surprised that we didn’t have to wait for a table but the hostess took us right in. Doug found the smoked salmon on the buffet area which also had fruit, yogurt, and that type of thing. You could also order off of the menu. I went for the buttermilk pancakes which I never have at home. I also got grits. Doug got eggs Benedict to go along with his lox. It was way too much food and I could only eat half of mine. I hate wasting grits but what can you do. Maybe tomorrow I’ll just get grits and sausage. I’ll have to ask them to add cheese as cheese grits are the bomb.
After breakfast we had some items to take care of with the concierge. He explained to me how to fix my iPad which wasn’t wanting to stay on the NCL Internet system so I could text for free. My iPhone works fine and it’s been great being able to text with Sam. However, my iPad just hasn’t been cooperating. Renson gave me some things to try. I was sincerely hoping that I wouldn’t have to haul it up here to him to fix.
Back down in the room, we had to plan our day out a little bit as we have an early dinner at La Cucina the Italian specialty restaurant. We had to be there at 5:30. Because dinner was going to be so early, we planned on an early and light-ish lunch on Great Stirrup Cay. So after breakfast we applied sunscreen (getting too much sun holds no attraction these days since Sam’s melanoma) and then clambered back up the stairs to the Haven.
One of the perks of the Haven is priority tender rides. We don’t have to reserve a time. We can go whenever we want. Even without the Haven we would have priority since I am Platinum. It’s good to be special! However, with the Haven, they walk you down the back way so you miss the crowds. That’s wonderful with the only drawback being you have to climb UP to the Haven before you can do down to the tender.
Boarding our tender
For me the tender ride was the best part of the whole island experience. Going over we were in an open air tender with no top on the second level. It felt good to have the breeze blowing on my face and to see the brilliant blue of the dazzlingly clear water. I enjoyed the entire ride over which wasn’t very long. It was probably fifteen minutes later when we pulled into the lush, green cove where the tender docked and we disembarked.
NCL has done a great job developing the island. It’s beautiful and has stunning beaches filled with happy beach goers. Lounge chairs, beach chairs, and cabanas you can rent sit back off of the beach but close enough that you can enjoy it. If you really want to shell out the bucks, you can rent a cabana in the special area with its own private beach. Needless to say, we did not do that.
Disembarking on Great Stirrup Cay
There was plenty to do on the island if you so chose. There was a short zip line for those wanting to experience that. We passed as we have zip lined in the jungles of both Honduras and Belize. This could not top those. You could rent kayaks and snorkel gear not that you would probably see much. And there were a couple of excursions you could sign up for. One was swimming with the pigs that live on a nearby island. We had signed up for that one two years ago but it got cancelled. We never knew why. But assumed it was COVID concerns. This time we thought about it but it just seemed really expensive. Later we talked with a lady who had done it and she had a great time. Oh, well….maybe next time.
The beach with the Escape in the background
We chose just to walk around the beach area. The sand was a bit hard on my knee but I hung in there. We checked out the straw market run by locals. I’m not sure where these “locals” live because the island is tiny. There is no town or anything. However, if they don’t live here, I’m not sure where they live. Anyway, they aren’t affiliated with the cruise lines so all sales were cash only. Last time I spotted a shirt I liked but we didn’t have enough cash. We had cash this time but the prices were even higher so we still didn’t have enough. Oh, well….
After wandering through the market and the beach for a bit, we got in line for lunch as it was almost 11:30. I wasn’t even close to being hungry but with such an early dinner, we needed to eat now. I was good though. I had a couple of bites of couscous salad and a couple of bites of warm potato salad that was actually cold, one rib, and a tiny corn on the cob. For dessert I had watermelon.
After lunch we hopped on a tender and were back onboard the ship before 1. I posted my blog from yesterday successfully from my iPad. Lo and behold, after that I could text for free from it. Miraculous! I texted a bit with Sam, washed the sand off of my body, and then crawled into our comfy bed and crashed for an hour and a half. It felt good to just totally relax and have nothing pressing to do or worry about.
By the time I got up, it was time to get ready to Happy Hour at the Haven bar before our dinner reservations. I got so mad at myself. I pulled out the pair of black pants I brought and they were the wrong ones. They didn’t fit. I knew I should have double-checked. I keep hanging on to them in hopes of losing the weight and being able to wear them again. I’m not sure how I managed to grab them instead of the ones that actually fit. Sheesh! Fortunately the shirt I had on went as well with my charcoal pants that I had also packed so I pulled those on and packed away the black ones.
My bad luck continued up in the Haven. I have been looking forward to ordering an espresso martini. I figured this would be the time to try it, when we have the beverage package and don’t have to pay for it. So Doug went to order our drinks while I found us a place to sit. He came back quickly to let me know that my drink was over the $15 limit. What! Who would have thought. If I got it, it would be an up-charge of around $3. I didn’t want to have to pay so I just went with an aperol spritz. I knew that was below the limit. Maybe another day I’ll go for the espresso martini but I’m very Scottish and the idea of paying extra just irks me, especially if I end up not liking it. So that was a bummer.
We sat and sipped our drinks across from a nice couple of ladies (one of them was the one that did the pig swim). We chatted with them until it was time to climb down the stairs (so much nicer than going up!) to La Cucina. That’s where we ran into our next issue. I have to explain something first. As part of our cruise deal, we have the beverage package along with two included dinners in a specialty restaurant. As a Platinum Latitudes member, I am entitled to a dinner for two with a bottle of wine as well as a second dinner for two. These meals are in the specialty restaurants as well. However, if you read the fine print, you get one appetizer, one entree under $35, and one dessert. You don’t have those limitations with the specialty restaurant package. You can get whatever you want.
Fast forward to La Cucina at 5:30. We tell the hostess we have reservations as part of our Platinum perks. She asks for our coupon. Huh? We didn’t have any coupons. Nobody told us anything about coupons when we made the reservations. However, the couple behind us had their coupon. Darn! As a result our only choice was to use one of our two specialty dinners for this dinner. Neither of us were happy campers. We had chosen the specialty restaurants for particular reasons and now we were all messed up. However, when I got back to the cabin, I went through all of our paperwork and found them. We had a small fold-out brochure listing some of our perks. It was like a fold-out page which I hadn’t really paid attention to. I thought it was just listing those particular perks. Oops. At least we found them.
Anyway, that was a bit irksome but we enjoyed our dinner anyway. We sat outside and enjoyed the scenery and the cool breeze. I got an arugula salad for an appetizer while Doug went for their charcuterie option. Mine was all arugula with a little bit of Parmesan cheese. I felt like a cow 😜. For my entree I got the shrimp in spicy tomato sauce with linguini. It was spicy but very good. And it wasn’t too much food either which I appreciated. I was glad of my glass of water though because I had to quench the flames from the tomato sauce. Doug went with the osso bucco or lamb shank. He enjoyed his as well. For dessert we got tiramisu. We should have just ordered one and split it. Neither of us could finish ours. It couldn’t compare to the decadent chocolate cake last night but it was still tasty.
We hadn’t dwaddle over dinner so we finished with enough time to make it to the 7 o’clock showing of the Uptown Boys who were singing Billy Joel songs. Originally we had planned on going to the 9:00 show. While Doug ran his leftover lamb back to the room, I hit the Ladies and then made my way to the Escape Theater to save our seats. Although the Haven has a huge chunk of seats reserved on the left-hand side, the theater was sparsely populated so I chose a couple of seats in the center and texted Doug as to where we were sitting. I told him to look for the gray head 🙂
The show itself was good but not as good as the musician Jumari who we saw several times the last time on the Escape. He was amazing. These guys were good, all had been in Broadway shows, but their performance was just okay for me. They all had nice voices but there was too much cutesy choreography. It was a throwback to the 50s and 60s. And one of the guys was too busy trying to be sexy. He over did it. However, one of the three—Tony—was very good. He had been in “Jersey Boys.” Doug thought he recognized him from when we saw “Jersey Boys” in Tampa. I enjoyed him. The third guy could really dance but when he sang I couldn’t always understand what he was singing. All in all, it was enjoyable but I wouldn’t give it an A+. They do have an all-new show later in the week so we will probably go to that one as well if it works with our schedule. They sang a few of Billy Joel’s big hits but left a lot of them out or just did bits of them in a couple of medleys. They did do all of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” That was good except the one “sexy” guy blew one of the lyrics. With that song it would be hard not to!
Uptown Boys wrapped up before 8 so we had time to find the comedy club Headliners to check out the show in there. It was Howl at the Moon Dueling Pianos. We had seen a dueling pianos show on a Disney cruise years ago and had enjoyed it so I thought it would be fun. We were 35 minutes early but I’m glad we were. The place wasn’t tiny and it was already filling up. If we would have been much later, we would have struggled to find two seats together. They were totally worth the wait though which is why the place was packed to a standing room only crowd.
Howling consisted of three performers. Because they were playing for four hours, they rotated so as to get breaks. Two of the three were always performing. Each of them was SO talented. Each played multiple instruments and played them well in addition to singing great. We didn’t realize it but all songs were requests and audience participation was required. We had a blast. The showed started with just the younger of the two men and Rachel playing the pianos. I believe his name was Tim but I could be wrong. I’ll have to find out tomorrow. First Tim played and sang. Then Rachel would do a song. After half an hour or so, Tim rotated out and an older man took his place. He started out playing the drums. Then he played the guitar, and then the piano. At one point he was playing the guitar and it came unplugged so he flawlessly switched to the piano in mid song. It was amazing. Tim not only played a flawless piano but played the drums and the sax as well. Rachel played the piano and the drums. We left before they finished their four hour show so I don’t know if she played anything else.
Besides their fabulous musical talent, their repertoire of music was phenomenal. They sang everything from Bluegrass to Beyoncé to Garth Brooks to the Eagles, CCR, Dolly Parton, Brittney Spears, ABBA, old songs, new songs….they did just about every genre. I was amazed. Of course this is how they make a living but they knew all of this music at a drop of a hat. Incredible.
They were funny as well and got the audience involved. Every song was a sing-along if you so chose. People were invited to get up and dance. One lady probably in her 60s had some tiny hand thing attached to one of her fingers. She was either a care-free person or had been drinking for a while because she was all over one of the servers with that “tiny” hand. She even patted him on the butt with it. That went too far for me. If a man did that to a woman, we would be aghast. Since it was an older woman doing it to a server, it was “funny.” I didn’t think so. And being a server, he had to take it. I noticed he moved as soon as he possibly could. To me it was harassment. She was outrageous all through the show. People laughing at her just egged her on.
We did have some older people who were quite the dancers. They really cut the rug when the group performed “Play That Funky Music.” Then later one of the older gentlemen went to town solo dancing to “Rocky Top.” I hope I’m that agile when I’m his age. They were all great. I enjoyed watching them much more than Miss “Little Hand.”
We sang and clapped to Howl for over an hour and a half. It hadn’t felt that long. Eventually Doug was ready to go. It was way past his bedtime. And I was ready to get my Irish coffee on the way back to our cabin. We made a stop at the Atrium Bar for it and then headed up five flights of stairs. I didn’t spill a single drop. I was proud of myself.
We had some treats in our room (no towel animals or chocolates on our pillows though) left from this afternoon. We get little snacks every afternoon as one of our perks. We hadn’t eaten them then so we enjoyed them tonight. We each had a chocolate covered strawberry. Then Doug had a tiny little cake of some kind and I tried the coconut chocolate thing. Not liking coconut, it was only okay. I did scrape the coconut off as well as I could. It all went smashingly with my Irish coffee 🙂
Lazy will be the key word for tomorrow as well. It is a day at sea. I plan on sitting on our balcony and reading a good portion of the day. Some napping may be involved as well 🙂
Finally a trip that I can enjoy!!! It’s been a rough five months since our daughter Sam was diagnosed with two types of cancer—Stage IIIC melanoma and thyroid cancer. That poor kid has had surgery, every type of scan possible, biopsies, and has a goodour daughter start on her immunotherapy treatment which she will be doing for the next year. It’s been tough but she is a trooper and is doing well.
We have taken two trips stateside but I really couldn’t enjoy them. I was too worried about Samantha. I only went because they were a distraction for Doug. And he had been planning them for close to a year. I did keep a journal on both trips but I just wasn’t in the correct frame of mind to post anything. However, since Sam is doing so well, we decided to take a seven-day cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. I’ve been to all three but Doug hasn’t. We thought it would be nice to see something other Tampa and relax as well. I always sleep so much better on a ship. I will miss the dog kicking me in the head during the night though😜
Our ship the NCL Escape was docked in Cape Canaveral which is a bit over two hours from Tampa so no really early wake-up which was nice. We kissed the kid and the dog and were out the door a bit before 9 AM. Our boarding time was 11:30. We THOUGHT we would have 30 minutes to spare. Ha! We hit two traffic snarls that put us back 30 minutes. There was no accident or any real reason for the stoppage. Travel around Orlando is always a pain. The traffic is always bad. But we made it to the port right at 11:30. By noon we were being escorted onboard the ship.
Now the Escape is a large ship. She holds 4266 passengers which is really much larger than I like. However, we booked a small area within the ship called the Haven. It has its own restaurant, bar, and pool. That makes the crowds a bit more manageable. We have sailed on this ship before, right at the end of COVID. I think there were only 1200 passengers onboard then which was great. No such luck this time. It seems pretty full.
We got checked in at our assembly area and then went and talked to the concierge in the Haven about making dinner and show reservations. I’d rather make dinner reservations in advance but until you are onboard, you don’t know when the shows are. And I love the shows. They are one of my favorite parts of cruising. So we always work dinner around the shows. That took a while but we got it done. We have two extra specialty dinners because I am Platinum with NCL. I even get a free bag of laundry. Doug is Gold so he gets 50% off his laundry (not that we plan on using it since it’s only 7 days).
After getting both the shows and the dinners reserved, we headed upstairs to the Haven restaurant. I know they are really busy today but the service seemed very slow. The people seated next to us and sat down just a couple of minutes before us got their main entree before we even got our appetizers. Eventually Doug got his lobsters bisque and I got my mushroom flatbread. Both of them were excellent. I remembered the flatbread from last time. I went simple and just got a Cobb salad for my entree while Doug got a Caesar salad and seared scallops. I have to admit that I splurged with dessert and got a chocolate walnut brownie. Doug and I shared it. Together we couldn’t eat it all. It was very rich and honestly, not very much like a brownie. It was too fancy for me. Doug mostly ate the ice cream with it.
After lunch we finally headed down to our cabin six decks down. Since we were toting our carryons, we took the elevator. Generally we do the stairs to help keep the pounds off. Our cabin was ready for us. It was at the aft of the ship which we prefer. We have a lovely balcony with a table and chairs as well as two lounge chairs. It’s a NICE balcony. I can’t complain about the room although I honestly prefer the one we had last time on Deck 13 (we are on Deck 11 this time). The sitting room is great. It is very similar. The “bedroom” is very cramped. The bed barely fits inside. It is very tight. Doug has a bit more space on his side because the closet is over there. I have to sidle sideways between the bed and the wall to get into bed. He also had a power outlet. I have nothing but light switches. That bothers me more than the lack of space. Now I have to plug my phone/watch/airpod charger in the outlet in the sitting room. It was either that or the bathroom.
Tight quarters in the bedroom
The bathroom is larger than the bedroom. I am NOT joking! It is BIG. It has a huge shower as well as a huge soaking tub. Each have a window looking outside. We have two sinks as well as a small vanity area. We also have a second small bathroom by the door into the cabin complete with a tiny shower. No fighting over the toilet! The bathroom is very nice but honestly, I would have preferred more room in the bedroom and less in the bathroom. I really liked our last cabin. However, there is truly nothing to complain about. I’m just nitpicking :-). The cabin is great and we will enjoy our seven days in it. It has plenty of storage which is lovely. I just have to remember where I stowed everything🤪
Massive bathroom
I unpacked my carryon while we waited for our luggage. That honestly didn’t take too long. With so many people on board, it did take a while to get our luggage though. Doug actually laid down and took a nap. Once it came, we unpacked and then enjoyed my Platinum level complimentary sparkling wine while standing on our balcony. We could see a Royal Caribbean ship motoring out to sea. We weren’t set to sail until 5:30. Not too much later the Disney Fantasy bid Canaveral a fond farewell and sailed as well. Their horn use to be the theme to “It’s a Small World” but we didn’t hear it this time which was kind of sad.
Love this balcony!
Once we finished our sparkling wine, we put on shoes and set out to explore a bit. We were going to check out the Sail Away party out by the pool. Doug thought it was on Deck 6. Wrong! It was on Deck 16. Sheesh! We wandered around Deck 6 for a bit seeing some of the restaurants and bars. The Art Gallery was down there as well. Then we started up. Going down wasn’t bad; going up wasn’t so much fun. My knee tolerated it quite well; however. I was thrilled about that. The rest of me was huffing and puffing. For whatever reason, we continued on to Deck 17 and to the Haven Lounge. I’m not sure what happened to the Sail Away party plans.
In the Haven Doug signed us up for an excursion in Jamaica. We originally had one but NCL changed our port from Ocho Rios to Falmouth. We didn’t know what the excursions were from Falmouth. The flyer they gave us listed several. In the room we tried to book an excursion on the television but it was $100 more per person than what the flyer said. So we decided to talk with the concierge. The TV had been correct. Highlights of Ocho Rios was $179/person, not $79. However, there was a 2.5 hour island tour for $49 each so we went with that one. And that will give us time to wander around Falmouth which is suppose to be one of the oldest towns on the island. Interestingly there wasn’t a single tour of Falmouth. I found that strange.
After taking care of business, we enjoyed a pre-dinner adult beverage. I enjoyed my aperol spritzer. It hit the spot. A beverage package came with our cruise so we can enjoy any drink that costs less than $15. Tomorrow I might just try an esspresso martini. I’m not a fan of martinis but I’d like to try one of those :-). We kicked back and relaxed in the bar area for a while and then headed upstairs to the restaurant.
Last time on the first night the Haven Restaurant was packed. We had to wait a good bit of time for a table. Tonight we walked right in. The service was much faster than it had been earlier. I think at lunch many of the servers were working at other chores like delivering luggage. Tonight there were bunches of them and they kept busy. Our guy was quite funny and very efficient. When we ordered wine, he inquired as to whether we wanted a “high tide” pour or a “low tide.” I went with medium.
Dinner was delicious. I got the prime rib and it was perfect. It came with a tiny baked potato and some steamed veggies that were still crisp which is just the way I like them. I also got a Caesar salad. I skipped the appetizer. Doug got the lobster deviled eggs and he let me try one. They were good. He also got beets. Rather him than me. He went for the gusto with his entree and got surf and turf. I’m not sure how he managed to eat it all. Once again I splurged with dessert. The decadent chocolate cake was WAY better than the brownie. It was thin layers of chocolate cake squished between heavenly layers of chocolate mousse. It was so good. Doug and I shared it and we polished it off. I also enjoyed a cappuccino along with it.
I have to say that I was vastly disappointed when I saw the schedule for shows. Tonight there wasn’t one. Usually they have a welcome show that showcases all of the talent onboard. Nope. Tonight there was nothing like that. It was a bummer. However, at 8 down in the Atrium, Quick Silver was playing Golden Oldies so we checked them out. They were very good, The young girl singing had an excellent voice, much deeper than her speaking voice. She sounded like she was from somewhere in or around the old Soviet Union. She could sing! The three men played instruments. The songs totally fit the crowd that had gathered. Lots of gray hair :-). I recognized all but one song and enjoyed them all. She rounded out the set with “My Girl” which everybody loved. An older couple danced through a couple of songs. You could tell they really knew what they were doing. It was fun watching them.
After the set we headed back up the stairs to the cabin. I was sorry to see that we got neither towel animal nor a chocolate on our pillow! What’s up with that!!!! I always save the chocolates and take them home for night time treats when I want a little something sweet. And I love the towel animals. They didn’t do them last time but I thought that was because of COVID. Maybe they were too busy today between unloading and loading up new passengers. Tomorrow hopefully I can report that I got my towel animal. It’s the little things that make me happy 🙂
Before I could take my bath in the “swimming pool” they call a tub, we had to call and get some soap and shampoo. Like so many hotels these days, they provide soap, shampoo, and conditioner but it is in containers attached to the wall. Both of our showers had them but there was nothing for the tub. I wasn’t going to dash between the tub and the shower for soap and shampoo. Doug called and a young man came to help us. He seemed perplexed by the problem. Does nobody else take baths? Finally I got him to understand and he took the shampoo, etc. from the secondary shower and put the bottles on the ledge at the tub. We had to do the same thing last time. I don’t understand why they give you a tub and then don’t equip it with soap. Oh, well…. It was an easy fix.
That chore accomplished, I luxuriated in the tub while Doug watched some Marvel movie on the TV. Normally he doesn’t watch the TV while we are on trips. Not sure what struck tonight. I read through the schedule for tomorrow and tried to remember our reservations for our specialty restaurants. Normally we get a list but so far today we haven’t. I did write them down fortunately. We have an early dinner at the Italian specialty restaurant tomorrow night. That was the best time I could get. It was either that early or much, much later. We’ll have to either have an early lunch or a very light lunch. Then at 9:30 we DO have a show. It’s called Uptown Boys and features the music of Billy Joel. That should be lots of fun.
Meanwhile, I plan on getting a lovely night’s slumber. I can already feel the ship rocking me to sleep 🙂
Tales from the Trail 