Eric’s Blog

Day three of our adventure started off like the day before, we woke up, went downstairs, and had breakfast outside. I scheduled an Uber to pick us up at the hotel at 11 o’clock, one hour before we had to be on board the ship, the most excruciating part of this day was waiting for the elevator to come pick us up. It took forever for the elevator to get to our floor, apparently the hotel was filled with people going on cruises, and they were all trying to leave around the same time. I was so afraid of missing our ride; I think I still had PTSD from the Uber driver that bailed on us a few days before.

We finally made it downstairs, we checked out of the hotel, and our Uber driver was outside waiting for us. We loaded up and he took us to the cruise terminal.

Onboarding the ship

The atmosphere of the cruise terminal was chaotic because a couple of ships were in port at the same time, loading and unloading passengers, luggage, and supplies. We found the right place and dropped our luggage off with the porters. We boarded the ship immediately after passing through security. There were people waiting to get onboard, but we never joined them; we walked directly onboard with no waiting.

Once on board the ship we went straight to our emergency muster stations. They scanned our boarding passes and we were free to move about the ship. I like how they have the process streamlined. There are videos to watch and surveys to complete prior to boarding, then you muster at your emergency station and that’s it.

The whole process wasn’t horrible, but my anxiety was running high, so I asked Adrianne if we could sit down for a minute and catch our breath. The closest place to have a sit was the Schooner Bar, so we found a cozy corner and sat down to relax for a few minutes. The service onboard the ship is amazing and one of the staff members came over to take our drink orders. We each ordered a cocktail and had them in our hands within thirty minutes of leaving the hotel. It was that fast although it didn’t seem like it.

Another staff member approached and asked us if we had any specialty dining. We told him we did not, so he proceeded to give us the sales pitch. The deal was actually pretty fantastic, so we went ahead and signed up for it. We chose a package that covered the cost of three specialty dining restaurants. We also chose to participate in dining at the Chef’s table that same evening.

Delightfulness is now being held on the Lido deck

We finished our drinks and found our way up to the Lido deck where we located the solarium, an adults only pool area with hot tubs, a three tiered waterfall Infinity pool, and completely enclosed in glass from the outside elements keeping all the lovely heat inside.

We sat our things down in a cozy spot and changed into our swimsuits. Not much time passed before we parked ourselves in a hot tub. We didn’t have anywhere to be or anywhere to go or anything to do until 6 PM when we were supposed to be at the‘s Chef’s Table, so, we made the most of it and had a few Portside punches before the ship got underway.

We got peckish and decided to try the fish and chips restaurant on the same deck, so I left Adrianne in the lounger and went to grab some food. I also stopped by our room and picked up our sea pass cards.

When it was my turn at the counter of the fish and chips restaurant, I saw food sitting out, so I picked up what I wanted and was told that those were display items. Trying to laugh off my faux-pas, I returned the display items and they gave me actual food to take back to Adrianne.

We enjoyed our snack as the ship got underway. We finished our drinks and relaxed in the lounger finally glad to be on vacation. Eventually we went down to our state room to unpack, recover from the boozy cocktails we’d been enjoying since embarking, and prepare for dinner.

The Chef’s Table

We went back to the schooner bar, which was the meeting location for the Chef’s Table. Our acquaintance, Ganesh, who sold us the specialty dining packages brought us a pre-dinner cocktail made from Elder flower liquor and some sparkling wine. It was delightful and became our pre-dinner cocktail fro the rest of the trip. Then, we sat back and relaxed while we waited to be escorted to the Chef’s Table.

Eventually, we were seated with about six other couples, many of whom knew each other, but none of whom were unfriendly or uninviting to us. One gentleman sitting across the table from me was a previous senator and I felt like the poor country mouse; we were in fancy country. There were six wine glasses in front of me, plus a water goblet, and the cocktail that I’d previously been handed. There were three forks on the table and all I could think was, “start on the outside and work your way in”. I hope I got it right. Food made it to my face and no one gasped in shock because I used the incorrect utensil, so I’ll quantify that as a success.

At the start of each course, Ganesh would come out and explain the wine that he chose; he was not only the salesman, but also our sommelier for the evening. The chef would come out and explain every dish and how he prepared it.

Dessert wasn’t just wonderful, it was an experience all by itself. Our Chef made a dessert called The World. It’s a chocolate ball filled with peanut butter Ganache and chocolate mousse. Hot caramel Gelato is poured over it and…well…you just have to see for yourself, watch the video below. It is the epitome of sumptuous.

By the end of the evening, we were stuff and sauced rather well, so we went back to our stateroom to sleep it off and rest our heavy heads and bellies in preparation for the adventure tomorrow.