Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Trip Day 5 - cruising

Monday May 28

Today we didn’t stop anywhere but the ship kept going the whole day, so it was a leisurely day but probably with too much food. First thing we noticed ... it was bitterly cold. James tried to walk his rounds on deck #6 but he could do only half. The landscape had changed. There were some mountains, some quite tall with snow on top.



For breakfast I liked the Omelet station. Spinach, mushroom, smoked salmon and cheese. Very taste with a good piece of bread.




At 10:30 am ( oh I forgot, time changed 1 hour to Halifax time) we could go on a tour through the kitchen. We had to change our shoes though. Closed toes required. What a battlefield that is. Huge. Of course all stainless steel and very clean. It must have been staged for our benefit. It was way too quiet.






Pictures hang up how everything was supposed to look when being served.



At the end we were offered a canapé. Lots of things were going on. We spent quite some time at an art auction. None of us could find even one piece we liked and wouldn’t think of bidding hundreds or thousands on anything, framed or unframed.


Because James and I had previously been passengers on a Holland America ship we were invited to the captain’s lunch at 1 pm. Gosh, even had to change for it. We were ushered to a table for 8 (us included). Well, we had lively conversations and it was very nice. We were given French champagne and the captain said a toast. I had the cream artichoke with scallop soup and the tart. The taste was very nice but of course they are feeding so many people so most things are already a bit cold.







Afterwards we tried again to get some steps but it is just too cold and when the wind comes around the corner ... It takes your breath away. We hang out in one of the many lounges, always eager with one eye over the water. The captain had explained over the intercom that we were in whale protecting waters and the ship had to go less then 10 knots. It sounded that seeing them was quite possible but we were not so lucky. He talked about the northern right whales, a very endangered kind. 






At one lounge where a pianist tickled the ivories a couple from Ontario sat next to us and played a card game with their college age daughter. They were really into it and even described the rules to us. It was called something like “screw your buddy” and seemed very complicated.

It was a very relaxing day. At 6:45 we met in Kate and David’s stateroom for our predinners. Then it was time for dinner. The daily info had billed it as “Tonight’s Dress: Gala Attire”. Well, we did our best but since we had not expected it to be quite that cold we had to improvise. We had to laugh about James footwear.


This came first with compliments from the chef: watermelon juice (?)



Tonight we actually did order beer with our dinner. I had escargots which were most delicious and so was my lamb.






The soup is always somewhat funny. They try to be fancy, bring the bowl with something in the bottom first and then pour the soup over it. The result: it's cold! But most of the time still tasty.



We are always pretty much on time for dinner but seem to be always last leaving. We enjoy taking our time and enjoying everything. 

Afterwards we wandered over to the showroom for the second performance. Tonight: comedian Andrew Kennedy (which was so-so). 
And then it was time to call it a night. Not doing much is exhausting.



1 comment:

Kim S. said...

Another lovely day, though cold. Is there nowhere inside the ship to walk?

And topped off with escargot and lamb - two of my favorites!