Day number three at sea turned out to be another busy day. We did try to keep our breakfast on the lighter side, but that is not always possible. It's the healthiest meal of the day for us, and missing out on fresh berries with Greek yogurt would not be our choice. Every day now, they are baking blueberry-filled muffins just for us, so we cannot turn them down. And that is why we never eat lunch until 2 or 3pm. Some days, we have gone without lunch, so we are hungry for dinner.
The reason for the light breakfast was an invite we got a few days ago for the Mariner Recognition Event, the first one of two, held in the lower dining room at 11:30am. This was done way different from what we have attended on most past cruises. Usually, there is a medallion awarding in another area, such as in the World Stage (grand voyages), the Explorer's Lounge or the Rolling Stones Lounge on the Zuiderdam. Only the reward recipients and most times their spouses are invited with the highest number of sea day guests, such as the President's Club members. Today that included the silver, gold, and platinum people that were getting their medallions as well as all of the guests that have already achieved that status. We estimate that about half of the passengers had been invited to this affair. This was held in the center of the lower dining room with the silver medallion guests being singled out and standing for all to see. Honestly, they should have called them up for their medals and photos with the Captain and Glenn, the hotel manager.
Moving forward, the gold and platinum folks went up one or two at a time to receive their medals and photos. Finally, the seven of us President's Club members were singled out and recognized with our number of days we had achieved with this last cruise. Photos were taken as well. We felt it strange that the tables of the newly "medaled" guests had a host joining them. That would be Kimberly, the hotel director, and the Captain. There may have been more officers that we did not see. We have always had a host with our group, but today, we did not have anyone. We think the problem was that one of the members had brought another guest with them, and the seat meant for an officer was gone. In our way of thinking, they should have given us a larger table especially if they knew we had eight people instead of seven. That oversight was mentioned to the Captain and Glenn after most of the guests had left the room. We really did not get a straight explanation of that either. Just a roll of the eyes from the Captain, acknowledging the oversight.
Anyway, the lunch consisted of a choice of three starters of lobster with veggies, a pear salad, or a soup. The mains were a choice of filet mignon, a fish, and a vegetarian dish. We had the steak and it was delicious. Wish we had lightened up on breakfast, as we could not finish everything. Sparkling wine had been poured for the general toast, then if we wished, we could have ordered wine, as two of the guests did at our table. One of our guests asked for more champagne, but a sweet white wine was poured instead. Yuck….we still do not prefer wine. Water is better. Dessert was served which looked like two brownies with a sliver of a strawberry and a chunk of brittle. A small piece of candied popcorn was in the center. Coffee was offered, but by then, two of our tablemates departed. That's when our fun began and the conversation flowed until almost 3pm. By that time, we looked around and the waiters were done and the surrounding tables were already set for dinner. By the way, there were no HAL tiles handed out, because we think they do not have any onboard. There was no mention of it, so we will have to inquire about that tomorrow.
The remainder of the passengers will have the same event tomorrow afternoon. That should include the one and two star Mariners, which must be half of the guests onboard.
Since the temperature was in the low 80's, we went to the Seaview Pool to relax in the sun for a while. There were scattered clouds and we noticed that the humidity was only at 75%. With 20mph winds blowing across the decks from the northeast, the heat was tolerable. The seas had become rougher we thought with swells up to 12 feet. We are pitching and rolling noticeably much more than yesterday. Sadly, there was no sign of the booby that had been tagging along.
Sitting on our veranda, we actually got chilled after the sun went down. It was another nice sunset, but nothing like last night's. As we travel further north, we expect it to get cooler every day.
Dinner was in the dining room with a good hot soup of baked potato and cheddar cheese. One of us had the veal tataki, and both of us had the small salad. Mains were the prime rib plate with a small baked potato and beans with carrots. Looked pretty….tasted good. Dessert was an apple tart right out the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Perfect. Three alternates for dinner this evening were the Canaletto, the Tamarind pop-up for $35 in the Pinnacle Grill and a Seafood Boil in the Lido for $35 as well. For that reason, the dining room was not crowded tonight.
Entertainment in the show lounge was the women of Gravity, a singing group back on the stage with an all new show. Gosh, we never saw the first one. Hard to burn the candle at both ends. Tomorrow we have to seriously begin to pack. Hate to wait until the last minute. Oh yeah, the clocks went forward for that final hour. Now we are on "home" time for us.
Bill & Mary Ann
