Day 10 – a little magic all around
The night before, we were too tired to fill out the in-room breakfast card, so the buffet it was.
For the morning, there was a cooking demo with Chef Christophe. He’s French and funny, and it was great. He made a Bouillabaisse that looked and smelled amazing to me (and not to him). I’m going to have to see if I can make a version of it when we get back. It has 30 ingredients including five seafoods and four alcohols. I’ll leave out the icky cilantro, though. In my cooking style, I’ll probably also dumb it way down. I can’t exactly eat a soup that starts with four pounds of seafood, anyway.
Next, we ducked into the card room (during a non-bridge time, which is difficult to find) for some more cribbage. He skunked me and won another, so now he’s winning 5-4. I’m switching decks. I think the other cards like me better.
For lunch, we wanted be ahead of the trivia crowd, because I suspected that they were the chaos from the day before. And as we were eating, they all came flooding in. So, we’ll make sure to have lunch just a touch on the early side. One of our new friends joined us and then the three of us headed to the Ice Cream social where she got to have her favorite vanilla gelato with Kahlúa. We were both too full for more. I got a couple of pics and videos of the band and the party, but it was also quite windy on deck.
Every time I pull out a real camera, we get dreary skies and too many clouds. It’s like it has it out for me and any of the gear I lugged along. These are from our GoPro right before it died. Apparently, it was left on at some point and ran until the battery was almost dead.
Before heading back into our cabin, I told “the Brits” that if the boat felt steadier, it was because we were holding down our bed. They didn’t miss a beat and asked if the boat rocking meant anything different. It’s nice to find the people you can make fun a joke with.
After he napped and I blogged, we went to the Destinations desk to ask what there is to do on the three ports of call where there are no Excursions. Turns out, some of the islands are only a 20 minute walk from one end to the other. They don’t have taxis or clubs. They do have beautiful nature and lovely beaches. One has a forest walk. We’ll be just fine with relaxing wandering. (Though, I do wonder about the guests on board who have mobility challenges. They may not be able to leave the ship though since those islands don’t really have docks. Those who do get off our ship, will get to those islands by tenders.)
But then something a little “magical” happened. The attendant noticed one of our phones, shared a giant smile, and then held up his own. We are all One+ users. We shared our love for the Hasselblad camera tech and the great photos and videos they capture. We also got a little giddy for the folding version set to drop in a few months.
We even talked about the Insta360 cameras and how much they can add to a shooting day. He puts one on his motorbike for some stellar captures. After seeing so many people struggle hard to connect to the Internet and using real digital cameras circa 2005, it was nice to find someone who understands tech. And, he’s a photographer. Too bad he’s Nikon. j.k. I don’t care if he uses the inferior brand. LOL.
Our dinner for this night was a special invitation. We were invited to sit with the spa manager. I think it’s cool that people get to sit with one of the higher ups a time or two, but I hate that they have to be “on” and talking about work through their dinner. I’m sure some don’t mind, but I’m sure for some, it’s their least favorite thing. Marie was very quiet and seemed nervous, but it didn’t matter. The table carried the conversation all through dinner.
During it all, we found out that there are 89 44 singles on this voyage. It’s a huge number for a trip like this. Our table had great conversations and we really liked everyone. A couple of others also blog their journeys, but we all kept our blogs private. After all, it wasn’t about gaining followers. To all of us, it is about personally recording our respective journeys.
The show was another performance by Martin Kaye. This time he did a whole set of Elton John music. It was quite good. He is one hell of a performer with a grand stage presence. He also did a number with the Citizen West Trio from the night before.
Later at the Club, he appeared on the dance floor and led us in a goofy “conga” around a big column. He complimented me for not wearing shoes, something he is famous for. It was totally on brand for him. It was also a lot of fun for me and the British gals from our area of our deck. J asked, “Where have you been? We missed you!” Oh, and we were invited to the vow renewal of one of the couples, C&E. What an honor. I was flattered all around. Oh and the two friends we had dinner with on formal night, N&R, will be on the same tour with us at our first port of call in Maui.
I danced through all three band sets with another new friend who is a ball of fun. And then, another friend showed up at the very end. I offered to get her a drink and found out she’s been cut off because she was repeatedly getting too drunk to get herself back to her cabin. Oops.
We ended the night with a bit of room service.
Day 11 – the Frigate
Another time zone change happened on ship in the middle of the night to get us on Hawai’i time. Our first port and tour is getting close!
Today was a lazy day of breakfast, mimosas, and champagne, watching the more fun version of cornhole on deck (“Baggo” gave you two boards to hit from with 5-10-15-20 points, had rounds including turning the second board backwards and a -5 points option in round two, and pitted the officers against the guests). We then went to the front Observation Lounge to play more cribbage. Current count is 6 to 5 with him ahead. I did change decks, but they were new cards, so that wasn’t the trick.
While there, he spotted a Frigate off our port side headed east. Luckily, I had the big camera with me. Of course, I’m not sure they make a lens that would do it justice, but I did catch a little bit of the Frigate. Since this was around 11:45am, he called Guest Services and asked if the Captain could tell us about it at the noon briefing, but he didn’t.
However, when we got back to our cabin, we had a message from guest services. The vessel was US Naval but did not identify itself. The Captain expected they were doing exercises. And so, without more information, he did not include that in his noon update.
The UV coating on the windows helps.
After a light lunch, we went to the Square (coffee shop) for a tiny dessert and to daydream about more adventures like this one. After that, we had to go back to our cabin to nap/blog and to get dolled up for Afternoon Tea and our special dinner reservation.
Our evening kicked off with Liars Club. In the UK, it’s a television game show. The ship version was quite funny. Afterward, I suggested to him that our late seating (8:30) could probably be bumped up. If any table finished early, they’d want to seat us early so they could clean up early. About five minutes later, a woman approached us. She was the hostess for the small restaurant and wanted to invite us to dine at 8:15 instead. He was befuddled; how did she find us? Well, they have our pictures, and she called our cabin. When we weren’t there, they assumed we’d be at one of the two places that were open. With most people at dinner, we were easy for her to spot, so she walked right up to us and called us by name. To him, it was just more magic. The service level is a bit magical.
We headed to one of our three reservations at Solis for an elegant dinner. Our food was amazing.
Our server made a little joke about ordering dessert first. He took that as permission and did. She was thrilled.
- Our tiny tasting trays included a laminated roll that was like a cross between a puff pastry and a croissant. It came with puff-pastry bread sticks, herb salt (rosemary, thyme, and lemon zest), olive oil, and three dips that were amazing versions of carrot, hummus, and a spicy walnut that I wish I remembered enough about to re-create. It might have been Muhammara, so I’ll start there. The dips and breadsticks were served in tiny crystal shot classes with tiny spoons.
- My tomato salad included paper thin slices of young cucumber and red onion along with caper berries. The tomato salad I usually make is getting an upgrade. He had their pasta appetizer that was a Mediterranean version of buttered noodles after he had them hold the olives and capers.
- My main was 4 grilled shrimp; he had a beautiful sirloin.
- We both got potato side dishes: gratin Dauphinoise for me, and lemon herb for him; both were amazing.
- For my dessert, I wanted one of their chocolate ones without the espresso, but they “couldn’t take it out” because it wouldn’t be creamy enough. So, they mixed the flavors I did want and had the bartender make me the most elegant mud slide ever. It was served in a cut crystal champagne coop. Even Marie Antoinette would have found it decadent.
This is a tiny Mediterranean restaurant. The tables are tight, and our neighbors were interesting. One couple that we couldn’t remember meeting at all remembered that we were from Denver but used to live in Austin. After they left, the strange woman of the couple on the other side of us wanted to chat. I couldn’t decide if she was really really stupid or really really drunk. I’m going to go with a bit of both. She was very nice, but I hope she will always have someone to take care of her.
Our portions were small, but we were full. I told him I have got to cook more when we get back. I am inspired to level up.
We were quite late to the Dance Party that had newer music choices than most nights; they finally played a song from the 80s. — Nearly everything else has been from before 1970. I get the older demographic of the ship, but overall, the music choices have been quite dated for 2024…as if there has been no music in the last 50+ years. “There is nothing from this century…” — At least they sticking to mainstream genres and jazz standards; it could be so much worse.
At the club, I also realized we hadn’t seen the woman the bar cut off the night before. It’s a small ship with about 370 guests (of 458 capacity) on this voyage, so paths tend to cross daily. I hope she/they aren’t in trouble or angry with the crew.
We turned in pretty early because the next day was our first port of call.