Sunday, May 22
We awoke to the ship still in heavy motion
with gale-force winds and whitecaps on the sea out our window. Laura barely
slept a wink all night and I didn’t sleep much better, though certainly I slept
some. We got dressed and made our way to the dining room, ordering breakfast.
The dining room was largely vacant, either because the passengers were dining
in their rooms or they simply didn’t want to be vertical in the weather. We
were lucky to make it downstairs to the Princess Grill Dining Room in one
piece, moving down hallways and staircases like drunken sailors, zigzagging as
we went.
Laura's poached eggs on toast rounds with "American" bacon.
My breakfast of poached eggs, Cumberland sausage and black sausage.
As soon as Laura had any food in her she was
exhausted and we returned to the stateroom and she promptly went back to bed,
sleeping for three hours. I showered and spent some time writing, watching the
sea, and keeping up on this journal before heading out to go to the Observation
Gallery that looks in on the Bridge on Deck 12 at the front of the ship.
Watching the sea and the bow of the ship raise and fall I was lulled into a
calm by the sheer boredom presented by the officers and crew. This “storm force
10” was nothing to be alarmed about. It certainly wasn’t anything like the
night Laura, David/Dad, Judy/Mom, and I had dinner aboard the Celebrity
Millennium as dining staff crashed trays, smashed meals, and otherwise lost
their balances attempting to serve in the midst of a rather rocky night.
Actually, I think our conditions were worse than that night on the Millennium,
but the combination of the ship’s design for ocean faring and the experience of
the staff on the open seas kept the chaos at bay.
Up from her nap, Laura felt lazy and tired so
we ordered lunch from the 24-hour room service menu, a very limited selection
of typical lunch-y fare. Laura had soup and a caprese salad and I ordered a
burger. I was none too fond of the burger but ate it anyway. We had scheduled a
tea at the champagne lounge and when we went later in the afternoon, I was
sorry I had eaten the burger at all. The tea consisted of a glass of champagne,
proper English tea service, a small lime mousse, and then a tower of sandwiches
and sweet delicacies stacked on three levels. I thought we’d just get little
white bread and cucumber sandwiches, because that’s what I thought came with a
tea. Laura had pointed out these towers, which I was certain was some kind of
upcharge. Soon enough though we had our own tower of treats.
The tomato and cucumber sandwiches lived up
to expectation: they were horrible. An egg salad was flavorless and an egg
curry wrap no better. After nibbling through most of the savories, we gave up
and moved on to the sweets. Sipping lukewarm tea (is it supposed to be barely
warm at all, we wondered?) we tried the tiny pastries but only really liked the
teeny scones and sweet clotted cream. After about an hour and 15 minutes of
this, plus a decent string quartet playing right next to us, and we were bored
and left wondering what all the fuss regarding “high tea” was about. We left
the champagne bar vowing to avoid such things in the future.
By the time tea was over it was almost time
to get ready for dinner, such is the life on the seas on a luxury ocean liner,
I suppose. It was another formal night (the third) and we returned to our cabin
so Laura could straighten her hair and do her makeup. She looked absolutely
amazing!
Dinner was going to be a special one as I had
preordered the Chateaubriand for two and our tablemates had prearranged an
off-menu preparation of bananas foster, both of which would be prepared
tableside by one of the head waiters. We went to dinner late, both as a
precaution following our tea to make sure we would be hungry and also so we
could dine with our friends with the dog from Newport Beach, Catherine and Ken.
My shrimp cocktail (more salad than shrimp).
Our chateaubriand, prepared by the restaurant manager who took great joy in his job. He is the one who also would bring Laura her "homework" each day.
Bananas foster.
Bananas foster being flambéed.
Dinner was as good as we had hoped. We even
had a full table as our other tablemates, Ben and Joyce from Pasadena, were
there as well. (They normally sleep until 3 pm each day, missing breakfast and
lunch. They’re train wrecks.)
Ken ordered a bottle of one of my favorite
Spanish Rioja wines, Marques de Riscal, and the ship’s cellar had a Gran
Reserva in a very good year for a Rioja, so I copied him and ordered one for
us. We have a drinks promotion meaning any drink under $12 is free, so we’ve
taken to ordering small portions of wine by the glass (and ordering a few of
them) to avoid a per-glass charge over $12. If the price is over $12 you pay
full price. But the bottle of wine with the Chateaubriand was a worthwhile
treat.
The flaming bananas foster was a delicious
ending to our meal. After, we went to the ballroom to see about dancing but the
music was odd and the dancing seemed formal in a way we weren’t’ comfortable
with trying out. Laura was already fading after the previous night of lack of
sleep in the stormy seas and we ended up going to the Commodore Club, the
lounge at the front of the ship with a better selection of spirits and
cocktails. Laura had enjoyed the “Chocolate Affair” and I had a Sazarac again.
Craig and Mimi, the lawyers from Seattle we had met the first formal night on
board, saw us and came and sat with us and we chatted for a bit until our
glasses were empty and Laura’s multiple yawns gave me no option but to excuse
ourselves to put her to bed.
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