Craig's Travel Journal Day 8: Monday, May 23

Monday, May 23

Breakfast in our room, ship rollicking. Another lazy day in our room. Laura takes a morning nap. We head out midday (after another time zone change) for lunch, but due to the fact noon becomes 1 pm and we have a spa appointment at 1:30, we decide to forgo a formal lunch in the dining room and instead grab something quick in the King’s Court Buffet, our first meal in the buffet all cruise. We shared a chicken kiev and I had some shrimp with cocktail sauce.

We went to the spa to get our second couples massage, this one a hot stone massage. We’ve never had one and thought it would be different. I really enjoyed it, getting warm, smooth stones rubbed across my back, neck, arms, and legs. Evidently I dozed off (again) and both masseuses and Laura noted my snoring, to many giggles. Afterward, we showered in the locker rooms and came out in our swimsuits to enjoy the spa pool, which featured many high pressure water jets to massage your scalp and shoulders, rainfalls to sit in, odd underwater stainless steel tube chaises to sit on, and a pool-in-the-pool that featured lots of bubbles. Laura sat the Jacuzzi for a while, but it was too hot for me.

We went into an adjacent room and took ice to scrub our heads, faces, and Laura’s back. If we hadn’t done the “rainforest” experience at the spa at Banyan Tree in Ras Al Khaima in the UAE last year we would have looked at the various features in the spa pool and the ice as inexplicable oddities, but given we were “seasoned” spa-goers, we knew just what to do. ;-)

After showering again, we dressed and went to afternoon tea at the Queen’s Grill Lounge, a private lounge for suites guests. This, on the heels of the previous day’s tea experience when we said we were pretty much done with tea. But, because of our early and light lunch, the idea of some savories and sweets seemed like a good plan for a snack.

We went back to our rooms to relax for a bit after our “exhausting” afternoon of activities, then set about to get ready for our final formal night at sea, Laura slipping into a simple black cocktail dress and me in my tux with a plaid bow tie.

We went back to our rooms to relax for a bit after our “exhausting” afternoon of activities, then set about to get ready for our final formal night at sea, Laura slipping into a simple black cocktail dress and me in my tux with a plaid bow tie. We chose to get cocktails in the private Queen’s Grill Lounge because we had yet to do so the entire cruise. They brought us little nibbles to enjoy with our drinks.

 Dinner was to be another special one, with lobster served, but I found the dish quite odd. The tail was served with shrimp tempura and an almost Spanish rice. I don’t know what they were going for.

I had half-joked previously that when we went on our Celebrity cruise that I had expected Baked Alaska or a sabayon and had received neither, so I was looking forward to getting such a dessert on the QM2. I was not disappointed. Their version of the Baked Alaska was prepared tableside with chocolate and vanilla ice cream inside a marshmallow crème merengue with liquor-soaked cherries. I liked it, but Laura did not. We shut the restaurant down and were one of two tables to leave last, it being at least 10:30, possibly later, by the time we all left.

 We went to Commodore Club for cocktails, finishing them and deciding to wander the ship a bit. We ended up in the ballroom, seeing our friends Ken and Catherine in the dance floor. As we arrived it was getting quite late and they called for last dance, a waltz. Laura and I had meant to take more dance classes before our cruise so we would be prepared for the formal dances on board, but with the end of Laura’s semester and our hectic schedules, that didn’t happen. On board the ship there was a dance class daily, but each day it fell directly at lunchtime, so we never had a chance to take a single class. But when the waltz began to play, we slipped into the waltz mode we learned in our dance classes from a couple years ago and managed to pull off a rather successful waltz. We were quite pleased with ourselves.

After that one single dance we went off with Ken and Catherine in search of a place for a drink and a snack. Laura needed something to eat. In the bar with a jazz band on Deck 3 we had cocktails and a lovely discussion until we shut down the bar at after 1:30 am.