Since it’s a sea day, there was no need to get up early. The last few days have been early mornings so we decided to take advantage today. The ship was rocking pretty good last night. The captain explained that it was because we are in the waters where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea. Once we finally got moving, we headed to the Lido Restaurant to enjoy our buffet breakfast. Just like at lunch, there are many options and you can always find something great to eat. After breakfast we hit the sidewalk sale around the Lido pool.
We read in the Explorer (that’s the daily guide for what’s happening on the ship) that at 10:30am there would be a behind the scenes kitchen tour. It wasn’t a very long tour but we did see the dishwashing area, in room dining kitchen, cold kitchen, hot kitchen and pastry shop, and got to enjoy some samples while touring. Some facts from the tour … 150 people work in the galley where they prepare food for 2100 guests and 850 crew members. The bakery makes 5000 dinner rolls, 1000 croissants and danishes daily. They even make their own hamburger and hotdog buns. On average during a week’s cruise 11,830 lbs of meat, 137,500 lbs of fresh vegetables and 300 gallons of ice creams is consumed. After the kitchen tour, we headed back to the room for the mid morning nap.
We decided to have lunch in the Manhattan Dining Room. Menu as follows … Karen – Thai Curried Chicken Salad, Chilled Peach and Ginger Soup, Baked Macaroni Cheese and Chocolate Ice Cream. Dorothy – Banana and Orange Melange, Chilled Peach and Ginger Soup, Open Faced Steak Sandwich and Lime Sorbet.
It was time for some afternoon relaxation so we grabbed our books and found a couple of loungers outside on the 11th floor Observation Deck. We didn’t last too long because of the high winds so we headed indoors to the Silk Den. It’s just a small bar but it has small curtained off private areas with chaise lounges, and fabulous view of the ocean. We spent the better part of the afternoon reading and napping.
We thought we should break up the day with a bit of gambling. Our first stop was the casino but we didn’t do too well, although I left with more than I spent. So we then decided to hit the bingo game in the Queen’s Lounge. It costs $25 and for that you get three cards for each of the four games. With each game, the jackpot gets progressively larger. The last game was a full card and the winner received over $500. Unfortunately it wasn’t one of us. We went back to the room for some relaxation before dinner. I worked on the blog while Karen sat on the balcony and read.
The days at sea are formal nights and since neither Karen or myself packed our ball gowns, we had dinner at Canaletto which is the Italian restaurant. The meal started with an antipasta plate and different varieties of fresh bread. We each had the Insalata Canaletto (salad). Karen went with the Chicken Marsala Scaloppini while I went with the Spaghetti with Meatballs. The dinner ended with Limoncello Creme, Pistachio Gelato and a huge plate of cotton candy. I believe the cotton candy is used to cleanse the palate.
We came back to our stateroom to find our first towel animal. We are not really sure what he is but he’s very cute. Instead of hanging out in the room tonight, we went to The Showroom At Sea to see “NYC”. It was a Broadway style show that saluted New York City. Before the show started, the captain and the senior officers came out and had a champagne toast with the entire crowd.
Before calling it a night, we hit the late night snack. Tonight’s theme is Southwestern USA. We need to be up really early tomorrow. We arrive in Grand Turk at 7:30am.
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