Well, today is November 1st on the west side of the International Dateline. Once we cross that imaginary line, we will be having November 1st again – same day of the week in fact. Bet this messes with the computers and internet devices for everyone…including the ship's systems. Now that we have a few days at sea to kick back, we are sure each day will be similar to the previous, something like Ground Hog Day, the movie.
A few days ago we received an invitation to join Captain Paul and hotel manager Glenn for an exclusive dinner for the President's Club members. We found it necessary to inform the Pinnacle Grill manager, Anton, that one of us has a shellfish allergy. So many times we have discovered that some items have even the smallest amount of clam or oyster juice, for instance, incorporated into their recipes, and it would never be tasted. Anton was kind enough to share the entire menu with us last evening in the dining room. He wrote down everything that could be suspect and promised they would substitute something else for me. As it turned out from reading the menu, it was heavily laden with shellfish and oil from shellfish. Good thing we asked ahead of time. Some folks are vegetarian, so that would eliminate almost all of the courses as well. Showtime for this affair would begin at 6:30pm and we shall get back to that later.
Our day was a good one, although the ship was only doing 7 knots. At that speed, the vessel can pitch quite a bit, which you don't notice until you go to the promenade deck. It seems like many folks go out for a morning walk around 9am, making it like a ping pong machine. They fly around you, most times not saying "on your left", then eventually duck in the next door to go to a talk somewhere. We sure do not know what the obsession is with people that need to be first. But there are a lot of those on every ship we have sailed. We gladly move over and let them by so as not to cause an accident. This ship does not have the mirrors that were installed on the Amsterdam on the promenade deck. They were really a big help being able to see the traffic coming from the opposite direction. Especially if they were using walkers, canes, and wheelchairs. It helped to avoid those nasty head-on collisions. There is no designated direction for walking here, where on some ships, it is counterclockwise. No jogging still applies.
The weather remained comfortable with a strong breeze blowing across the decks. It kept us cool at the Seaview Pool. So far we have not heard of any storm headed our way, which is good news. We would learn more later at dinner with the Captain.
As we said previously, pre-dinner aperitifs were on the roster for our group of seven PC members at 6:30pm in The Mix Bar. A cozy corner had been reserved near the piano, which was OK until it was time for a game in the Shops. People began gathering to guess the weight of an opal to receive a free gift, a promotion of course. When it began to get loud with one of the staff members talking on the microphone, our group was led to the Pinnacle Grill for dinner.
Joining us at the table for twelve in the back room was the chief engineer, Kimberly, Glenn and his wife, as well as Captain Paul. We all had a name tag by our place setting. Hoping to be near friends Bill & Leta, we were at opposite ends of the long table. They shared their end with the chief engineer, while we had Glenn, his wife, Kimberly, and the Captain on our end. One of the PC members was traveling solo without her husband, and she was at our end of the table. At least we have finally met Kimberly, the most vivacious cruise director we have yet to meet. She will be a nice addition to the staff on the Zuiderdam's Grand World Voyage next year. She admitted that she is quite excited about going on the world cruise, and looks forward to chatting further with us about it before this trip ends. Kimberly also followed up with a book list for future reading, so we do hope these books will be available onboard the Zuiderdam.
Now to the menu. It was more of a wine-pairing event with the sommelier describing each wine with each course. They began with Italian wine, then on with one from California, Argentina, and finally France. As we do not drink wine, cocktails were offered. The head chef came into the room and described the meal we were to enjoy. Beginning with lobster tails, a 4 -day marinated salmon with shellfish oil, a tiny shreds of salad fixings, only one of us could eat it. I had a vegetarian plate instead.
Tiny cups of a chicken broth and a pumpkin sage cappuccino were served, the latter being the best. Following that, they served halibut with risotto, scallops, clams, mussels and a green mystery sauce. Obviously, I was served chicken without the shellfish. Then a slow-roasted veal tenderloin was the last entrée with artichoke puree (would have sworn it was mashed potatoes) with baby vegetables. If we were not full enough, the dessert arrived which was cheesecake with a tiny panacotta sitting on top with a flower on the top. A little bit of malaga and pistachio ice cream added color to the plate. Almost too pretty to eat. A very nice liqueur was served with this dessert which was dark raspberry and very potent, but a great finish to the meal. This drink we did enjoy served in large brandy glasses.
The conversation continued around the table until 10pm, which was a record for us. And asking about the upcoming weather, Captain Paul mentioned that things might be deteriorating, although the brewing storm was in the Vanuatu area, far from where we were heading. We might have deeper swells and choppy seas, perhaps some showers. Glenn, the hotel manager, was quite the conversationalist and all of us felt comfortable asking some basic questions. One of which was why are some things done so differently among all of the HAL ships? His answer was that the head honchos are trying to get everyone on the same page, while giving the staff the chance to do their own thing as well. Grand Voyages are treated differently as they should be, but "Legendary" cruises may not be at the same level of a grand. Each hotel manager has the option of creating various venues as they see fit and keeping within their budgets – a major factor these days.
Hearing recent stories of the Amazon River being historically low this year, we were concerned about the Zuiderdam even going up that river on the next world cruise. We do know that this ship, the Volendam, actually got stuck on a sand bar a few years back. Captain Paul reassured us that the Zuiderdam has less draft than the Volendam, a fact we were not aware of.
We are sure the excellent waiters were patiently waiting for the party to end since it ran well beyond their normal hours. They sure have a nice team in this venue.
Since it was so late to write last night, we are catching up this morning.
Bill & Mary Ann
