Just because it was a sea day, did not mean it wasn’t a special day at sea. When we arrived to the dining room for a very light breakfast, we found the chairs covered with turquoise and white covers, and the tables set with dark blue and white napkins. Sure looked nice.
Now this could have been for the Sunday at Sea Brunch that was introduced on this cruise, but it was for the Mariner Lunch instead. No more brunches this voyage, as we have run out of Sundays. This affair was split in two, with the first meal being served at 11am, and the second seating for 1pm. A few days ago, we received an invitation for this lunch, without an RSVP. Usually, our fellow President’s Club members are seated at the larger tables with a host. We would all have nametags marking our spots at the table as well. Several years ago, the hosts would have included the Captain and his top officers. The remaining large tables would have hosts that had staff members such as the future cruise consultant, the cruise director, or shore excursion managers, for example. These days, the meal goes “unhosted”, and there are no more assigned seats. Apparently, it has become easier to make it open seating for everyone, with no hosts. You can never make all the people happy all of the time, we are told. Or the new excuse for not doing things as they used to be, is that there are too many of the highest members to acknowledge. In our opinion, that is not really a good answer. We are talking about 40 people that could dine at two different lunch times today. So that puts about 20 folks that can be seated at the larger tables with a host. In our minds, that is quite do-able. It was the same excuse for the America’s Test Kitchen hands-on cooking classes. The powers to be found it to be too much work to figure out a class for all of the folks that qualified for it. Just a little venting here, but we sure hate to see some of the nice touches disappearing one at a time.
One other thing missing was the complimentary sparkling wine toast that we always did for this luncheon. There was none…..only house wine or whatever you might want to order like soda perhaps. When we asked what happened to the champagne, we were told they figured wine was good enough. From what we saw, the way the wine was being guzzled, there will be quite a few folks napping this afternoon.
The menu was nice, and had different choices. Both the seafood and gazpacho came to everyone, followed by your choice of entrée. These were filet mignon with shrimp, seared black cod, or a mushroom ravioli. Key lime pie with coffee or tea ended the nice meal. And more white or red wine was poured for most.
Our table of five was deep in conversation, when one of the head waiters strolled through the dining room with the ding-dong bell, in order to clear the room for the next group. With our HAL ship tiles in hand, we left by 12:30pm. A walk on the outside deck was in order to get some fresh air. The temperature and the weather was close to perfect today. And the seas have leveled out somewhat.
We stopped by the beverage manager’s office to find out if we can exchange our five bottles of wine and champagne for other beverages we can use on the following voyage next month. We had squirreled these bottles away in the back of the closet, forgetting we had them. Each time we went there, we found the door closed and no one home. Hopefully we have not waited too long to do this.
Other things happening today included a talk by Barbara H about what to do and see in Puerto Rico, our last port of call. It has been many years since we have been to Puerto Rico, and we don’t know what to expect. Especially in light of the damage that occurred here with the hurricane last year. Guess we will all find out when we get there.
Guests speakers are continuing their series on the history and economy of the Caribbean area we will be visiting. Last minute promotions are ongoing, attempting to part the guests with some of their money before the trip ends. It has been a lot of fun for us (well maybe one of us more than the other), spending shipboard credit.
At dinner, all we present. George and Ken have been coming with some of the daily trivia questions, especially the ones that stumped them. Sometimes we actually get many answers correct. If not, we make up something as silly as we can make it. Barb is good at that. Truthfully, she has played this game for many years now, and pretty much remembers most of the answers. Recently, Barb quit playing because the fun has been taken out of the competition. The winners get no more than those who did not win. A DAM dime. Period. And that is for just showing up to play.
The choices on the menu were good tonight, especially the brie appetizer and the prime rib had to be the best we have tasted so far. Since two of our tablemates had already vacated the group, several desserts arrived without being ordered. We did have fun testing the butterscotch brulee, no sugar-added amaretto ice cream, and tiramisu. This is going to be a hard habit to kick………
The show tonight was a musical treat with a lady named Suzanne Godfrey. Her performance was featured as a radiant sound that crosses stylistic borders and musical boundaries. And she does it with great ease and beauty, giving her a worldwide appeal. Boy are they getting over-the-top with their descriptions, or what?
Bill & Mary Ann
The final Mariner Society Luncheon of the 2018 Grand World Voyage
The menu was great
Lunch mates
The guests sat where the wanted
Our buddy, Lee
