Sea Day #3 part 2

We returned to the room and did some initial packing - then went to Michael's Club around 515pm to sit until dinner opened at 6pm - and it turned out there was somewhat of a special event going onboard - some guy had just met his long lost daughter (she was 50, so it was definitely long lost!!)  and had asked the cruise director if they could do something special - so, because suite guests are THE BEST (plus ZENITH, HI MICHAEL AND RICHARD!! WHO ARE BOTH!) all of the officers were in the lounge, and the cruise director Sue showed up and had the lead singers for the show tonight (December 63) sing us an acapella tune - with the small video below. 

 Dinner was fantastic - we had a good assortment of food because it was the 3rd Evening Chic meal (previously known as "formal night")  First - it's amazing what people think is acceptable clothing for a "dress up occasion"  even if it's not formal.   I had the French Onion Soup (which is off the standard dining everyday menu) and then the Cornish Game hen and mushroom risotto.  Chris had the mushroom risotto, the rack of lamb and ordered the gnocchi for the table to try.   It was all excellent and then we had some dessert (chocolate bar and baked alaska) and headed upstairs.

 













We decided to do a walkabout and see what was happening - man, the Martini Bar was packed and lots of people were hanging around (mostly because it was between 8 and 830, since the show gets out around 8pm as does main dinner) so it was a busy place!!!!! We also ran into the art auctioneer, Lies, who had hosted the Chef's dinner in Murano earlier in the cruise.

Decided to swing by Michael's Club and see what was going on down there - so we went and had a few evening beverages with our cruise friends, and made a valiant attempt to finish up the blogs....lots of pressure to get them updated!!!  Plus you need to try and do it when it's fresh so you've got the right stories down. 

Sea day #3 - pool games and wine tasting

Woke up this morning and wondered if we'd be able to locate a spot on the pool deck!  It's always a mystery if the chair hogs are going to be out in force or not.  Sea days are always more crowded, but it wasn't too bad on the first 2 days so I was hopeful.
Made it out of the room about 9am - and made our way up to the bright and sunny pool deck....and amazingly enough there were enough chairs - including the 2 I'd pretty much been occupying on every port day right near the bar and the pool.  Sold!!!  They actually worked out really nicely, because after about 2 hours they were mostly in the shade, but I could go sit in the sunny pool and read my book - so I just shuttled back and forth depending on how warm it was.
Last night at dinner we had signed up for a blending wine class at 2pm in Blu restaurant - so about 130pm (and just as the pool volleyball was going to start) we headed back to the room to quickly change our clothes into something slightly more appropriate than swimsuits.
We arrived at Blu about 155pm, and were the first ones there.  They had tables set up for 16 people, but when we checked in and saw the the list, it was pretty short.....and as it turned out, we were the only people there, so we had a private session with Kati, the sommelier from Cellar Masters who had led our premium wine tasting earlier in the week.  Here's the setup - there are 4 different wines (cab sauv, merlot, syrrah and grenache) and you get to test each one and then work on getting a blend we liked.   So we ended up trying 5 different total blends - mostly cab and merlot - and ended up with a 50% cab, 20% merlot, 20%, Syrrah and 10% Grenache)  which we ordered a few bottles when we were done.  So we had a great time with our blending - it's from a company that was on Shark Tank called Blendtique - it was a cool concept and I really enjoyed our experience - would recommend it!!!
Got back to the room and look at the pretty view out our wake!  The benefit of being all the way aft, at the end of that hallway!!!




The sky and the ocean were both so blue - it was a great photo to show what the day looked liked

And below - we are sailing in the Atlantic on our way back to Fort Lauderdale - I know, looks like we are in the middle of the ocean (also true!!)


but it's a fun photo nontheless!!!

Dinner and meeting the Captain!

 We headed down to Michael's to see what was going on in the pre-dinner show - it was fairly quiet, with a few people around, so I got started typing away at my blog to get somewhat caught up for the day (it never seems to help either) since we usually end up chatting with people and I get very little written.  So when we look up because someone new has entered the room - and it turns out it was the Captain!  He had apparently decided to come and visit the suite guests in Michael's club as a surprise!  We'd had a little event earlier in the cruise (first evening chic night) with all the officers and the Captain as well - but this was a different guy!  Turns out, the original Captain left in St Maarten, and Captain Pappas was his replacement!  He noticed the computer, asked if I was working and I said no, it's a blog I do for friends and family and so I can remember all the funny stories that happen on the ship.  He thought it was a great idea, because we all take so many pictures with our phones and rarely do anything with them.  So he said nice to meet you and moved along to the last group in the lounge and then left.  So then we decided to head down to Luminae for dinner - and as we're walking, I'm struck with the realization that I should have gotten a picture with the Captain!  Would be a great shot for the blog.  Dang!  What a missed opportunity.  Oh well.  After we arrive at Luminae and are seated - guess who shows up to see the Suite guests in the restaurant?  The Captain!  He gets to our table and says "wait, didn't I just see you upstairs?"  why yes, you did!  He told us we move pretty quick and I agreed - and then asked for a photo!  So he walks around the table and sits on the window ledge and here's the picture!

I think the best part was when he was getting back up and out, and we were trying to move my chair to make it a little easier and he said "it's fine, I'm not so fat I can't make it"  which was HILARIOUS with a Greek accent.  Quite the highlight of the evening.  So onto dinner!!






Appetizers - I had the tomato consomme - which was a little odd - tasted like a really thin gazpacho soup.  Good, but not sure I'd get it again....

 Chris got the veal meatballs - he said they were really good.  So we're 1 for 2 on the appetizers.

 I wasn't feeling anything off the regular Luminae menu - so I had asked for the pork schnitzel off the main dining menu (that's one of the benefits of Luminae, you have your own menu but you can always get something off the dining room if you wish)  and this was one of the best I've had - the pork was perfectly cooked and crispy, with a warm potato salad and some cooked cabbage - all of them were really excellent and I had a happy plate at the end!  Need to remember that one for next time.

We also got a plate of the orecchiette pasta with oxtail - which was much lighter than it looked.








Chris got the "rack of pork" which is apparently a large pork chop - and he said it was really good as well, so all in all a very successful dinner.



 Some fancy swirls in the after dinner coffee tonight - a flower and a swan (it's upside down in the photo)


but you get the idea.  And finally, we had some after 8 ice cream (although it didn't have the chocolate bits in it) and a chocolate bar - which was really good, and even better when you put some in the ice cream. 

After dinner, we walked around the ship to see what was going on and try and work off that "overstuffed" feeling - with our regular nightly stop in Michael's of course!  Cranston helped us out with the drinks of course, and we had a nice evening chatting with all our cruise friends from around the world.  Then off to bed!! Tomorrow was a sea day and there was a pool to be utilized!!!

St Kitts - the Last Stop

It was a beautiful day in St Lucia, so we stayed on the ship of course!  Can't break a trend!  It was a very nice day and I even walked around the front of the ship so everyone could see the town!

 here's the pool deck - bright and early at around 930, wasn't very crowded yet, but would definitely pick up after lunch.

Here's a shot off the bow - the dock is pretty narrow and if you get off and another ship is pulling into dock (or if you are wanting to get off your ship) they restrict you from getting off right then, so you don't get in the way of the ship (I know from experience, we had gotten off to walk around and another ship was pulling up just as we wanted to get back on - so had to stand around for 30 minutes while they slowly moved in and tied up the lines.

There appears to be another ship tied up over in the container dock - but I can't tell what it is from this far away

 this is the right side of the port - where there is some parking and looks like storage.

 This is off to the left - it shows the front of the other ship (P&O Azura) and off to Brimstone Hill (which is where a British fort was located, because it was one of the highest areas to be able to see the surrounding area and ocean)






I thought this was an interesting view - it shows the dock with both ships tied up - and you can see the bridge wings from both ships - looks like they had to offset the tie ups so they didn't crash into each other!  Hadn't see something like that before.

After my walkabout, went back to the room since it had gotten HOT and there was almost no breeze.  Time to get ready for dinner - we were sailing at 4pm!

What's for dinner tonight!!!

After our beautiful sail-away, it was time for the lounge and some dinner, so we headed upstairs and changed our clothes for dinner (no shorts in the dining room!) and off to Michael's Club for a pre-dinner cocktail and then off to dinner.

 Had to start with the French Onion soup of course - this was Chris' bowl so that's why it's upsidedown!!!!  It was cheesy and delish he said.  Looks like it from the picture!!!








I had the smoked potato soup - which was awesome.  I love how they do the soups in this restaurant, they bring out the bowl with a few small garnish in the bottom, and then the pour the soup out of a little insulated bottle.  The great part was our waitress knew I liked soup, so she grabbed an extra one so I could have extra soup.  :)  That was awesome.   

And for dinner - Roasted Herb Chicken with polenta.   They always have these really weird chicken breasts on the ships - they are boneless but still have the wing attached....with the bone.  I've heard them described as "airplane chicken" (since it still has the wing) but I've never seen them anyplace other than on a ship.  This one was very tasty and I enjoyed it.




Pastrami and short rib ravioli - it was really good, but always too much after soup and the chicken for me.  But I had a few bites.







Chris had the veal, he said it was good but my chicken was better (I *may* have shared) but that's OK.  Onto dessert!







And chocolate souffle for dessert.   Mmmmm.  Always tasty.   They do a great job with these - they practically run them out from the kitchen so they stay hot and fluffy!







 Of course, you have to try the raspberry sorbet - which they make fresh on board so it's awesome.  Very tasty dinner.  And wine.  So - tonight was the night of our "premium wine tasting" at 10pm in Cellar Masters (the wine bar) and Carlos has informed us it's not cancelled, so I have high hopes it will be a fun time!

Dominica and the fun sail-a-way

Dominica is a tiny island with very few shops - we had to laugh this morning because the map (provided conveniently by the cruise line had 1 recommendation - for the hotel at the port if you needed a restaurant or pool to be hanging at!!   Anyway - we got up and headed for the pool, which filled up early - I don't think a lot of these guests were as interested in the Dominica experience - this island was hit pretty hard by the hurricanes last year (Irma and Maria) and is just starting to recover.  There is only 1 dock in the main downtown area - and it appeared a Holland America ship was tied up over in the container port. 

you can see the downtown area is pretty small and tiny









Off to the right side there is a hotel (the one from the shopping map!)  that looks like they have a pretty nice pool area.

We got an opportunity to get out on the helipad for the sail-away - so had to make sure we were ready to go with our close-toed shoes at 445pm!!










The helipad experience is always nice - and especially so on a beautiful day like today.

 pulling away from the dock

 happy fun people - it was a little windy

 Looking back up a the captain and the bridge!

the dock and downtown once we've pulled away from the dock

 another selfie

looking across the deck and into the

 you can see how nice and quiet it was on the sailaway.   a great experience overall.  Goodbye Dominica  - and time to head back to the room to get ready for dinner!

Sunday Funday in Barbados

And the day dawned in Barbados - not sunny and bright and just ready for the pool!!! So off we went. and then hung out at the pool hoping the weather would clear up  (which it did!!!)

 this is the Marella Explorer, which is the former Celebrity Galaxy - originally launched in 1995, and transferred to Marella in 2018, but had been out of the Celebrity fleet for several years.  Marella used to be known as Thompson Cruises - sometimes TUI





We also had a Holland America ship in port as well - not sure if she was just there for the day or leaving from there (probably for the day) but just across the bay from where we are docked

The pool was great - super quiet and a nice breeze so it wasn't too hot - and because Barbados is a popular port, we got a great location next to the bar and the pool.

It was sunny and hot and nice out by the pool - with a good breeze so we didn't get overheated - although it was somewhat windy and we had a nice
breeze/howling wind noise.

Headed up to room - got cleaned up and tried to head to Michael's Club.  Here's the menu for this evening,  Looks pretty tasty!!

So - had the Corn Soup -which was outstanding, Chris had the French onion soup and then for mains we had the guinea hen and the pork tenderloin for dinner.

Both were excellent - but no photos unfortunately- other than the corn soup and dessert!!!  Which was a chocolate sphere - or my preferred term - flaming chocolate balls!!!  Video is below - it's quite funny.  We finished dinner and had a hangout in Michael's Club, then headed for bed!  Tomorrow - Dominica!