Yesterday, we forgot one other highlight of our day which happened to be "planting day". While in Ft. Lauderdale, we paid a visit to the Dollar Tree and purchased 4 little boxes of seed starters (As Seen on TV). Each box contained a type of dissolving foam that had been implanted with 500 flower seeds each. Having shipped the soil and pots, we planted these discs along with sunflower and nasturtium seeds. If all of this germinates, we will have a jungle. But that is wishful thinking. It will be fun watching how they progress.
At breakfast in the dining room, we finally noticed that vases or small bowls of flowers have been added to each table. The public areas have larger displays with flowers that will last longer. So glad this tradition has continued at least on the grand voyage. There still are a few of the white branch displays that hold vials of orchids or single flowers, but they are small in number compared to the newer HAL ships.
At his 12:30pm talk, Captain Jonathon informed everyone that at 7:15 am, there had been a strong earthquake in the Caribbean, causing a strange type of vibration with the ship. We were still asleep at the time and never felt it, but it did wake Barb up. The Captain claimed this was the second time in his entire career that he experienced this type of event. During the day, we tried to find this information on TV, but other news stories took precedence. But now that we have the much better megabyte internet plan, we should be able to get complete news reports online.
The temperature must have been higher than 61 degrees, since we were able to spend a few hours out at the Seaview pool. The winds were blowing at least 40mph, but we clamped the towels down and laid low. It was a good afternoon visiting with friends as well.
There is a guest chef traveling with us now by the name of Carlos Esteves. He is doing a series of port to table cooking featuring the flavors of authentic Caribbean food. On January 12th, he will host a guest chef dinner in the Pinnacle Grill ($39), serving various dishes from that region.
Lectures continued that revolved around the region we are visiting. They are getting us ready for the first port of Roseau, Dominica tomorrow. We had heard a rumor that there were no more port guides or the nifty currency conversion cards we have always gotten on world cruises. However, they did appear today, so you cannot depend on rumors.
Later in the day, we spent some time in our favorite chairs on deck five. It just happened that there was a table of Beach Essentials for $10 each, or buy 4 and get the 5th one free. This was an assortment of caps, visors, sun hats, beach bags, and flimsy tops. And this table sat right in back of our chairs. So we had fun with this. Many folks we knew strolled by, and made offers with us on the merchandise, only because there was no salesperson there. We assume the person manning the liquor shop was also selling the sale items outside. We did get her attention when she heard us say three for $10, at which point, she came out and joined in the fun. By the way, we made no sales.
Dinnertime snuck up on us again, and the entrees were good. One of us ordered the barramundi, while the other went with the linguini pasta dish. Both were quite good, equal to the quality of the meals we had on the Tales of the South Pacific recently. They even had a soup new to us….cabbage/bacon with a clear tomato broth. Dessert got mixed reviews. One of us ordered a pavlova, while the other a chocolate cake. But they had run out of the cake, and in an attempt to make a quick one, it melted according to Angga, our assistant waiter. Oh well, we can always get two desserts tomorrow night.
The entertainer this evening was a comedian by the name of Tim Kaminski, who we definitely saw on the prior cruise. Greg and Heo jump-started their meal, so they could leave at 9:30pm. They really like the shows, and this is the only way they will be able to make it on time. The rest of us stayed until almost 10pm, and by then, the dining room was almost empty.
We are all ready to be on land tomorrow with our first stop at a Caribbean Island.
Bill & Mary Ann
