Another lazy day at sea, but a special one for us. More about that in a bit. The sea day activities took place with the Hawaiian cultural group doing their special classes with ukulele playing, lei-making, and hula dance lessons. Since American Samoa is coming up in a few days, a talk on Pago Pago was given by Daniel. The specialty dinners in the Pinnacle Grill (also known as pop-ups)have been highly promoted with a flyer listing every specialty dinner that will be happening for the rest of the cruise. There will be a Tiki dinner ($90), Curry night ($35), Rijsttafel (Dutch/Indonesian) ($35), a seafood boil ($35), and the normal Tamarind ($35), and Morimoto by Sea evening ($55). The Canaletto and the Cellar Master's dinner ($95), and Marriage of Wine & Cuisine ($69) will be events too.
There were some news-worthy programs on TV today, but we had trouble watching them due to the erratic behavior of the reception. We know that we sound like a broken record, but even trying to report the problem was futile. No one at the front desk would even answer the phone. Everyone and their brother must have been calling like us. We are starting to think that if the majority of folks happen to turn on their TV's, perhaps it overloads the system. We have run out of possible explanations other than something is broken, and no one onboard knows how to fix it.
It took some time to sort through the photos from yesterday display of dolphins. It was quite a show, and we had hoped to see more today, but no such luck. Then we realized that we could watch for 100 days, and never see this again. Pure luck of the draw.
Lunch was salads and pizza. We kept it light, since we were invited to a dinner with Captain Smit and hotel manager, Glenn. Pre-dinner cocktails were at the Mix at 6pm. Welcoming us were the Captain, Hotel Manager Glenn and his wife, the future cruise consultant, the guest relations manager, and the food and beverage manager. Other guests besides the two of us were a very familiar man who was also in the President's Club, and his grandson who is traveling with him. We all had time for a drink or two before we were led to the Pinnacle Grill by Pulung, our friendly maitre'd.
We were seated in the back room with name tags at every place setting. We were seated across from each other with the food and beverage manager at the head of the table, and Captain Smit on the other side. Both gentlemen were good company who enjoyed sharing memories of people we all know and funny things that have occurred over the years. The menu was nice, mostly for the fact there was not a fish-related item on it. We forgot to save a copy of the menu like we usually do, and they were not handed back to us as we left the restaurant. Several glasses for wine were placed at each setting. Tihana, the cellar master, knows we do not drink the wines, so she removed the glasses. The rest of the group made up for what we did not drink. Guess they brought out the good stuff. We were offered any drink of our choice, but as usual, we chose regular still water.
For the wine connoisseurs out there, here is a list of the accompanying wines. Nino Franco Rustico Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore from Veneto, Italy was the first course beverage. Followed by K Vintners Powerline Viognier from Walla Walla, Washington served with the soup. Louis Latour Pouilly-Fuisse from Burgundy, France went with the roasted cauliflower and squash salad. The main course of veal chop was combined with Chateau Giscours Grand Cru Classe from Margaux, France. If that was not enough, a Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry from Jerez, Spain topped off the ample meal.
Fresh rolls with garlic butter were dished out. The starter was a tiny poached quail egg with sliced pan fried Fois gras on a piece of toast with dots of something on the plate for flavor. Then a surprisingly good soup was served……parsnip blended with a coconut cream dollop in the center. We have changed our minds about parsnips, since this soup was excellent.
Then a small salad was brought with marinated duck pieces, which sounded strange, but it was tender and seasoned nicely. Truthfully, there was enough meat here to fill all of us up. But it wasn't over yet. The next course was the veal chop or cutlet as they refer to it here. The Captain remarked that it looked like an elephant chop, since it was so large. Cooked on the special grill, the meat was tender and seasoned nicely. Really good, as it sat on a bed of something green and creamy (pea foam) with a savory pan jus along with with honey-goat cheese panisse. It resembled creamy potatoes, but different.
Last but not least was a dessert called deconstructed pavlova. Plates the size of our dinner plates were brought with a bright red strawberry leather strip in the center with three whipped cream-filled meringues. Fresh blueberries and halves of blackberries dotted the plate, and if that wasn't enough, a scoop of frozen mango sorbet was on the side. But there was more. They brought out long narrow plates with five different types of macaroons, the small ones they serve in the Pinnacle at dinnertime now. If we were there just by ourselves, we could have asked Tina to wrap some up and we would take them back to our room. But tonight, we did not do that. Stuffed to the gills, we left the room by 9pm. The Captain said we would have one hour back on the clock tonight, so that was welcomed news for all. It was a fun evening with a friendly group of folks.
The entertainment this evening was a performance by the Zaandam Rep Co. with music of Broadway and theaters of London's West End. And that was most likely the perfect time to end our dinner. We went back to see the almost 99% full moon tonight, which it was brilliant.
One more day at sea, and we will be in American Samoa. During his noon talk today, the Captain said we had 566 nautical miles to reach Pago Pago. The temperature was 82 degrees with waves at 1.7 meters. And there were three layers of different types of clouds, which might help keep the temperature down.
Bill & Mary Ann
