Category Archives: House & Home

I didn’t sleep much last night. It was storming most of the night, so the ship was rolling more than normal. It’s actually not too bad falling asleep, but if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night (which I always do to go to the bathroom) then it’s harder to fall asleep. I swear, even though I know it can’t physically happen, when you feel yourself rolling and you can see how far the ship is actually moving from side to side/up and down, you do have a fleeting moment when you think the ship is just going to continue to roll completely over! Also, for whatever reason, my back really started hurting (Tom has been complaining about the hard bed all week, but it hasn’t bothered me until now.)

Tom got up early and went to the gym, then went to his “alpha capsule” massage—basically an enclosed chamber (you lay in it and stick your head out) that vibrates and emits aromatherapy scents. (It was something we got to test out for a few moments on our initial tour of the spa the first day and Tom really enjoyed it, so that was his treat.)

While we were getting ready for breakfast, the weather cleared up and we had high hopes of having a gorgeous day in Nassau. During breakfast, we looked out over the expanse of ocean and it was sunny blue skies as far as the eye could see. However, since returning from breakfast, the weather has varied from overcast with the occasional sprinkle (as felt from my seat on our balcony) to now partially clearing (but still mostly cloudy) skies with mostly calm waters.

We got off the ship and walked into town. It was all the same shops we’d just seen and visited in St. Thomas (which I liked better). Tom bought some cheap T-shirts (basically for running, except he can say he got them in Nassau) and then we decided we might as well try to get to a beach. Of course, it was a $10 taxi ride there and we didn’t even get dropped at the beach which TICKED. ME. OFF. I specifically asked the guy if he went to the beach and said we wanted to go directly to the beach, but he dropped us off at Atlantis (the upscale resort of the area). So, we thought he would know the best and that we would have easy access to the beach so we started wandering around and around and walked through the casino (everything from penny slots to $25 slots!) and guess what? No beach. As we knew from port briefings, we would not be allowed to use the beaches at Atlantis but there was supposedly a beach a few minutes’ walk away. We asked someone and they gave us directions…but we obviously missed a turn or something, so we’re walking and walking and walking and it’s hot and humid and I’m tired and we’re walking and walking and we finally see a beach access sign so follow that and keep walking and walking and walking and I am getting REALLY cranky and, frankly, bitchy because I had wanted to be dropped off at the beach initially to avoid this very thing! So, we FINALLY get to the beach (after climbing up a huge sand dune) and we can see the clouds rolling in (we were not surprised). So we look around for some sort of changing room and…oh, yes, you can change in the restroom at Atlantis down the beach. YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING. ME. We were just there (practically). So now we have to trudge probably 50 yards down the beach to change into our suits. And you can just imagine how thrilled I was, as tired and cranky as I was, to now have to walk through the sand… So we got changed, took a dip in the ocean, took a few pictures, watched the clouds rolling closer, swam around a bit…and about 10 seconds after we decided to go lay on the beach, it started raining. So we quickly dried off, grabbed our stuff, and headed to the waiting taxis. A nice sunny day at the beach (hell, a sunny vacation!) was just NOT in our cards. So once we made it through inspection to get back to the ship, it started POURING. We were also wet from swimming, so we just got wetter. At this point, all we could do is laugh—so much for a typical sunny Caribbean vacation (most of our pictures have a dreary overcast look to them and/or you can see the clouds rolling in).

Once we got back on the ship, we decided to hit the pool since we were already wet! So, for the first time this week, we sat in the hot tub and I took a dip in the pool. It was also so warm and humid that I didn’t even want to sit on the balcony! We checked out our formal pictures we had taken last night and didn’t like any of them (crap!) but that saved us at least $20!

Our last dinner was actually sad…we really hated to say goodbye to the people (workers) we had come to know over the past week! Tom and I were actually a bit teary-eyed as we shook their hands and said our farewells (we’re such saps!). I had forgotten my camera (again), so I wanted a menu to take with me, so we asked Rudi (one of the main dining room manager-type stewards) for one. He said no problem and disappeared for a good two or three minutes. When he came back, he had the menus from all seven days! THAT is a perfect example of the type of service we’ve had all week…and why we’ve decided we really want to take another cruise on this ship!! (If we had planned it correctly, we could have stayed on the ship and continued on to the Western Caribbean—the ship leaves Fort Lauderdale tomorrow!)

So, for the last dinner review… Tom and I actually chose the same appetizer tonight—Thai Crispy Spring Roll (this was actually the first night where neither of us wanted any of the other appetizers—we’ve been tasting each other’s meals all week!). I actually wanted to try all three of the soups tonight, but gave up on the Chilled Avocado and Smoked Salmon in favor of the Bahamian Conch Chowder while Tom had Famous Italian Wedding Soup. (I know I could have asked for a second bowl, but honestly…we’re getting tired of eating!!) We both had the Greek Salad and then I had the Sesame Crusted Tuna Steak (with “crackling broccoli tempura and hot spicy wasabi mashed potatoes”) and Tom had the Caribbean Island Pot Roast (topped with “frizzled onions” and “pineapple-mashed yams”). For dessert, I had Strawberry Shortcake and Tom had Chocolate Truffle (crap, I forget what it was—we didn’t get dessert menus!) with a side scoop of Butter Pecan ice cream.

Then it was back to the room where we happened to start watching a movie on TV (Spanglish—it was very cute) and now here I am writing the final bit of the journal and using up the last of our internet minutes. Tom is upstairs packing—our bags have to be outside our room by 1am.

We are really going to miss this ship and everyone we’ve come into contact with, but it has been a great experience…and a great honeymoon!

I managed to sleep most of the night, but once I woke up to pee about 6am, that was about all she wrote—although I did manage to get a few catnaps after that. It’s hard because I really like sleeping on my side but that act is IMPOSSIBLE when the ship is rolling from side to side—you literally fall over—so you have to sleep on your back or your stomach. Luckily I can also sleep on my stomach, but once it’s about time to get up you can’t go back to sleep because you still feel every roll. I’ve decided that I don’t much care for the “at sea” days—that has been when the worst of the rolling happens (now, if the sea was totally calm, that would be another story and I would LOVE at sea days). From our higher level (7th deck) the ocean surface doesn’t look too bad—there are very tiny whitecaps and you can tell the ocean is moving…but when you get down to the 2nd deck…wow, you can REALLY see the water moving and you can tell why the ship is rolling so much! It’s not nearly as headache-inducing sitting on the balcony, however, so that’s where I tend to spend the majority of my time.

Oh, we did have a nice view this morning… Tom turned on the TV and happened to stop on the channel that shows the view from the bridge—and there was a stunning rainbow off the starboard side (our side!) so we rushed to the balcony and indeed, there was the rainbow! It was hard to get a great picture since we’re right behind and below the bridge deck (which is therefore hard to cut out of pictures) but we did get it. I said we should run up to the observation deck for an unobstructed view/picture, but neither of us felt like doing that since we had just rolled out of bed and weren’t really even fully awake yet!

We decided to eat breakfast in the dining room this morning, instead of on the Lido Deck as we usually do. I honestly hadn’t thought of eating in the dining room, but I saw it listed so we decided to try it. Of course, we hadn’t thought ahead about having to sit with anyone, so that was a bit awkward at first—but it ended up okay. As it turns out, it’s a small world. The older couple at the table (maybe late 60s) currently lived in New Zealand but had lived in Michigan for five years. The other couple (I’m guessing in their late 40s) had grown up in Michigan and now lived in Atlanta. The older couple had a few cruises under their belts, while the other couple was enjoying their first cruise. Oh, yes—the food report. I had a croissant, then Belgian Waffles with Strawberry Compote and Tom had a croissant and some sort of omelet and potatoes. After breakfast, we went up to the Lido deck because I had a hankering for some hash browns and bacon (I could have probably ordered some in the dining room, but I didn’t really think of it—I tend to not think outside the box from what’s listed on the menu). Tom also wanted more coffee! Then we grabbed the laptop and headed to the Crow’s Nest so I could work on the journal and watch where we were going. It was amazing at how much you could see the ship rolling around—we were on swivel chairs and it took some steadying to keep the chairs from turning with every motion.

At this time, let me take a moment to talk about stupid people. I needed to use the restroom while were at the Crow’s Nest so I walked out to where the handicapped bathroom is. I didn’t think much about it when I saw a gentleman outside the door, but when the ship rolled, the door started to fall open and you could tell someone was in there, and the guy made a grab for the door to try and hold it shut (which was about impossible because there was no handle, as the door was operated by a push button). Okay, I had been in that bathroom before and couldn’t figure out why they were having problems. So as the woman was exiting, the husband said something to the effect of “Watch that door. It just flies open!” in this totally flabbergasted manner. So, of course, I felt compelled to let him know there WAS a lock on the door and you just had to actually use it. I mean, have you ever seen a bathroom door without a lock? It wasn’t hard to find—it was right on the door where a normal lock would be (like in any of the other bathrooms). And this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened… One night after dinner, I stopped by a restroom and tried opening a stall door (the stalls are totally enclosed, so you can’t tell if it’s occupied by looking for feet!) and it opened so I started to push the door in and some old lady started freaking out because she was in there! Before I could stop myself, I said, “The doors do have locks!” or something like that. WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT LOCKING THE DAMN DOOR? But I digress.

So then was the mandatory disembarkation meeting. Blah blah blah, pack your bags and put them in the hall the night before. But, we did get mimosas and the Cruise Activity Director was quite funny in his presentation—he warned us not to pack ALL our clothes, otherwise we’d be disembarking in PJs or the shower curtain (which he said happens more often than you’d think). We are, however, able to stay in our staterooms while waiting to disembark (this is apparently different than it used to be) so that’s nice. We will be able to eat breakfast, as well. The only bad thing is that we were told we’ll be getting our tentative charge list tomorrow. Eek. I am not looking forward to that. We haven’t bought much on board, but it all adds up—$10 here, $7 there, $20 at the bar (you get the idea). I was trying to keep a running tally in my head so I wouldn’t be totally surprised, but once it hit a certain amount, I gave up!

Now, Tom is at the gym and I’m on the balcony typing away. The ocean sounds absolutely wonderful (it’s actually quite loud, although not loud enough to drown out our neighbors chatting on their balcony!) and the rocking is not nearly as noticeable out here—thankfully. Of course, the weather is absolutely gorgeous…so the big joke is that it’s going to rain tomorrow in port (because it’s rained at every port so far). We’d love to hit the beach in Nassau so we can take a swim in the ocean (the only ocean we’ve been in was when swimming with the dolphins and that wasn’t really “swimming”), but any of the beach excursions are like $45pp, which is ridiculous just to go to a beach. If it’s nice, we may see what we can do to get to a beach (of course, it’s usually a $20 round trip cab ride from the dock) but if it’s crystal clear with blue water, we might just have to do it. After all, I need at least one or two good pictures of a lush Caribbean setting!!

Lunch was our usual trip to the Lido Deck (we both had Italian today) and then it was off to see a movie. I didn’t really care if I saw it or not, so I actually thought I would take a little nap. Or would try to, I should say. First, let me say that I hate people who come into a movie late and then have absolutely NO consideration for those already seated. We got there early so we could have a good view, and 10 minutes after the movie starts, some asshat comes in and sits directly in front of Tom! If he would have taken a minute to look around, he would have seen a multitude of other chairs he could have sat in…so, Tom got up and went to sit next to him. So, it’s at this point at which I decided to lie down on the booth and take a nap. The movie had been going about 15 minutes so I figured I was safe. As a precaution, I took off my shoes and placed them in front of me, so if anyone happened to try to sit there or move past me, they would literally have to trip over my shoes so they would at least know someone was there. So what happens within the first 10 minutes? Some guy is trying to get past me and I wake up because he kicked my shoes—but he doesn’t even break stride and then puts a hand down ON ME like he’s going to sit down. And then you could tell he didn’t feel what he thought he should be feeling (the hard seat) so HE PUT HIS HAND DOWN ON ME AGAIN! Hello? Have you ever heard of LOOKING before putting your hand somewhere? Especially if it doesn’t feel right the first time? Yes, I realize it’s not common to have someone napping on the bench in a theater setting, but didn’t you notice the shoes you tripped over (and made a ruckus)? And why would you just put your hand down on the seat without looking? ARGH. Of course, he was apologetic, but still…a bit more common sense could have avoided the situation altogether. So, fast forward maybe an hour (so now it’s the middle of the movie) and some woman actually sat on me!! Which means she had to trip over my shoes to get past me, then NOT EVEN LOOKING just sat down—on me. HELLO? Who are these people? And it’s not like it was pitch black in the theater—there was plenty of light to see me…if she would have taken two seconds. It’s the same thing as like with the old people pushing past everyone to get seats—it’s like some of these people have absolutely no regard for anyone but themselves! After the movie, Tom asked me how I liked being sat upon—he could tell what happened from the three rows in front of me!

Anyway, after the movie, it was straight to the dining room for the Dessert Extravaganza. We had our choice of a multitude of desserts, including a chocolate fondue fountain. We were then seated at a table of six and got to meet a few new people as we tasted the wonderful desserts (some better than others, of course). And we all joked about having to go back to the room to go get ready for dinner (it was announced during the Extravaganza that tonight is Lobster & Steak night). On the way back from the dessert feast, we picked up our professional photos—they weren’t bad at all, except we didn’t like either of the ones he took where we were in odd positions…so we chose the headshot. They will be taking photos tonight (it’s the last formal night) so we may try having more shots taken (and this time we will not be splayed on the ground, as Tom will be in his dress blues and I will be in a formal dress) to hope we get something fabulous.

So on the way to dinner, we were stopped by a photographer (yes!) and she took a few pictures—I can’t wait to see them and hope they turn out well enough that we want one of them! Dinner tonight was the “Farewell Dinner” plus it was the formal dinner, so it was fan-ceeeee. Tom looked absolutely smashing in his dress blues (of course) and he actually got stopped a few times by people saying “Thank you for serving” and shaking his hand. It’s amazing how your dining staff get to know you—all four of them commented about us not being there last night and they all knew we had eaten at the Pinnacle Grill! We told them we had a great time, but missed them all! (They enjoyed hearing that!) We had our second (and last) bottle of wine with dinner—and chose to have the same Riesling we had the first night. Unfortunately, we were still full from the Dessert Extravaganza…but I forced my way through the pain (okay, not really pain) because I was NOT going to miss any of the great food!! (Tom, on the other hand, skipped his salad. Wuss. Tonight’s lineup for me was Escargots Bourguignonne (don’t ask me how to pronounce it but it was “delectable snails marinated in Pernod and Chablis and lightly baked in an herb garlic butter with French bread”), Chilled Strawberry Bisque, Caesar Salad, and Surf & Turf (lobster and petite filet mignon)—while Tom enjoyed a Trio of Salmon with Grilled Shrimp and Pearls of the Ocean (“a selected tasting of delicately hot smoked salmon, pickled salmon and gravlox, with grilled shrimp and a salmon caviar garnish with creamed horseradish mayonnaise”), Dos Frijoles – Cuban Specialty (a two-bean soup), and Penne with Seafood Bolognese. Dessert tonight was an affair to remember, as they did Baked Alaska and all the waitstaff and cooks carried the desserts throughout the dining room to great fanfare with patriotic music blaring—it was quite the production (and of course hard to get good pictures of since the lights were out so we could see the flames).

We went back to the room to ditch the dress clothes and Tom is now sleeping (or probably, more accurately, listening to his ipod) and I’m down in the computer lab finishing up this entry. I had wanted to go to a show tonight, but oh well… Thomas seemed to forget he said we could go once he hit the bed!! (It’s amazing how exhausted you can get from doing nothing but eating!)

The ship is still really rolling (and it sounds like it’s raining—go figure) so I hope I can get to sleep…and stay asleep. I’ve already decided—if and when there’s ever a next cruise…sleeping pills.

Well, so much for the sunrise. We were up in plenty of time, but it was overcast so we didn’t get to see the spectacular sunrise we had hoped to (and I doubt I will be up that early again this trip). The sleeping, however, was awesome. We both got a great night’s sleep—it was very calm going. We ate an early breakfast and then it was off to Tortola for our Royal Dolphin Swim.

Unfortunately, in our excitement to get to the dolphins, we didn’t really plan ahead as well as we should have, and we arrived over two hours early! So, we sat around for a while—and it was SO hot that we eventually changed into our suits just to cool off. Of course, as soon as we did this, it became overcast and…it started raining! Fortunately, they took us early, so off we went!

The best thing was that Tom and I were the ONLY ones there…so we got ALL the dolphin time to ourselves (typically, you would have to share the period with the other guests). Everything the dolphins are trained to do is accomplished through hand signals and fish treats after they complete their task. We started by standing about chest deep in water and holding our hands out in front of us, palms down…and the dolphins swam right under our hands, so we got to rub their backs. After we did this a few times, it was time to “ride” the dolphins. Taking turns, we each swam out to the middle of the enclosure and waited with arms outstretched, palms down. Before you knew it, two dolphins were at your sides and you had to grab on to their fins and they pulled you back to the dock. It was great! But the best was yet to come!! Then came the “push” where we once again took turns in the middle of the enclosure and waited floating on our stomachs, toes pointed down and knees locked. Before you knew it, two dolphins were pushing you forward and you actually came up out of the water! (Forgive the bad picture—it’s a screen capture of a video we took.)

It really was a unique experience—definitely once in a lifetime! After we did this, we spent more time touching them and enjoying their tricks (splashing, chattering, rolling, jumping)—all amidst the rain. The only bad thing about the rain is that it made for dark pictures. And speaking of pictures…they had a photographer and a videographer out there the whole time—which was great, except that they charge an arm and a leg for the products. We went into it thinking we’d get the DVD because even at outrageous prices we’d want a great memory of it…except we didn’t quite anticipate just HOW outrageous the prices would be. We honestly thought $30 would be pushing it…but it was $50! FIFTY! For a 15-minute DVD!! No way, no how, so sorry dolphins. (I swear, they would sell SO many more DVDs if the price was somewhat more reasonable!) And the pictures? A 5×7 was $12. Of course, we wanted SOME memento so we got one of each of us. They really aren’t that great (remember, the weather was gray and dreary) but we couldn’t take our own pictures so we were stuck with theirs. (Oh, they let you take your camera in the water, but we were kept so busy with the dolphins that we rarely had time to take pictures. So, I guess that was the catch-22…we were spoiled by lots of face time with the dolphins, but because we had so much time, we didn’t have time to take any pictures.) And of course I hated how I looked in the video and pictures (I should never be seen with wet hair in a ponytail, as well as in a bathing suit or from the side or in anything sleeveless!) so I’m sorta glad we didn’t buy the video—I would have been embarrassed to show it to anyone!! Tom did get a hat (because he forgot his at home) and I got a wooden dolphin to go with the camel on our mantle.

After the swim, we took a taxi back to town and walked around Tortola—but there wasn’t much to see. We hit a few shops, but it was mostly touristy stuff (you know the drill—plastic figurines with TORTOLA written on it). Of course, there were some nice things, but nothing we were interested in. (Apparently the Caribbean is THE place to get watches, diamonds, and emeralds…but we could really care less about any of that.) We did pick up our Christmas ornament, however…and will be on the lookout for something else to bring home as a souvenir. As it was still rainy and overcast and we were hungry, we headed back to the ship in time for lunch, and then we caught a matinee. Now, Tom is at the gym and I’m catching up on my writing. It’s not quite as great sitting on the balcony when it’s not all sunshiny…but a yucky day in the British Virgin Islands on a cruise ship is still miles ahead of a yucky day having to work in North Carolina!

Before dinner we had drinks at one of the multitude of bars—we splurged because today’s drink special ($4.25 vs. $6.25 regularly) was my favorite, a margarita. Now, for the prerequisite dinner menu choices from tonight—complete with descriptions from the menu as a one-time event—were as follows:

Appetizers: Chef’s Dutch Country Pâté—A savory duck, pistachio, and port wine pâté with lingonberry marmalade and crunchy waldorf salad (Tom) and Pasteitje with Seafood—Pastry shell filled with a light seafood râgout (Jen).

Soups: Island Chicken Gumbo—A Caribbean soup generous with sweet okra, tomatoes, and onions and spiked with Creole seasonings (Tom) and Dutch Green Pea Soup—Simmered until meltingly rich with meaty ham hocks, celeriac, and smoked sausage (Jen).

Salads: Chiffonade of Bibb Lettuce with Tuna—Bibb lettuce, diced cucumber, tomato, olives, green beans, and boiled potato with flakes of tuna garnished with a hard-cooked egg and red onions (Tom) and Classic Caesar Salad—Romaine tossed in a fresh-made Caesar dressing topped with cheese shavings and fresh garlic croutons (Jen).

Entreés: Zander Perch Meunière—Drizzled with a lemon and parsley browned butter sauce and served with bright steamed asparagus, carrot sticks, and minted new potatoes (Tom) and Nasi Goreng—Indonesian fried rice feast with juicy pork saté, spicy chicken drumstick, beef Sumatra, scallions and julienne of omelet, served with a pickled cucumber, crisp prawn crackers and crisp-creamy fried banana (Jen).

Desserts (no full menu description—it was on a different menu I forgot to ask for): Banana and Coconut Soufflé (Tom) and Chocolate Mousse (Jen).

Of course, everything was deeeelicious!! You got the full menu descriptions tonight because I forgot to take the camera (to take a picture of the menu so I can remember what we ate) so I asked for an entire menu. Of course, I only tell you the things we chose, but there were four appetizer choices, three soups, seven entreés, and about 12 desserts. It’s really neat how your stewards (I still can’t remember if that’s what the dinner people are called, and I keep forgetting to look on their name tags) get to know you. Tonight, there was a diet coke ready and waiting for Tom before we even sat down and, after the meal, coffee was brought without even asking. As I’ve said before, the service is AMAZING. Tom and I joked tonight that we’re going to really have a hard time surviving at home without them!

After dinner we decided to hit the casino again—but only because it was a smoke-free evening!! So, Tom and I each took a roll of nickels and hit the slot machines. Tom quickly lost his entire roll, but I raked in the winnings…again! However, on the way to the cashier, Tom put his lone dollar bill in a $1 slot machine…and won $5!! We kept two of the coins for souvenirs and cashed out the rest. My total winnings were $17.80 (a mere 5¢ less than my previous night’s winnings) in about the same amount of time. Okay, this time, I swear it was our last casino venture!!

We topped off the evening with another margarita in the Crow’s Nest and then went back to our room to relax and go to bed. Isn’t it sad that we’re on this great vacation and we’re generally in bed by 10? But then again, we’ve been up since six. Tomorrow we do plan to stay up late (the show is a comedian and it doesn’t start until 10:30) so we will have to take a nap sometime after we return from St. Thomas.

Until then…

Sleeping wasn’t too bad…we were at sea overnight and I woke up a few times to rolling side to side but I would say it wasn’t bad at all since I always managed to get back to sleep (although I did dream about cruise ships!). Tom said he had a bit rougher time and maybe only slept two hours! Poor guy! For most of the time, it felt like you were sleeping in a camper and someone was moving around—just a slight motion. Other times, you could actually FEEL the ship rolling back and forth—not enough to have things slide off the counter, but enough to be able to physically feel it.

We had breakfast delivered in the morning so we could eat on our balcony—and it was quite good! Cheese and ham omelets, sausage, bacon, fresh fruit, croissants, coffee, hot chocolate…mmmmm. After breakfast, I was off to the spa for my massage. It was nice…but certainly (and unfortunately) not worth the price of admission! It was a nice treat, however…but I won’t ever have to do it again (unless it’s about one-half or one-third the price). I also got a scalp massage that was really nice. Of course, they try to sell you the products….which I would be more than happy to purchase if they weren’t so ridiculously overpriced (a la the massage). Yep, they had stuff that was GUARANTEED to make my under eye circles disappear in two weeks…for $70 per tube. Hoo boy. If it was even half that they would have made an instant sale…but $140 is WAY too rich for my blood, even with the promise of non-raccoon eyes!

Tom went to the gym while I was at the salon and the plan for afterwards was to head to the shore just to look around. But the weather turned horrid (they actually suspended boats inland for awhile and had to reposition the ship) so we opted to stay on board while it was storming and blustery. Now, as I’m composing this on the balcony, it’s sunny and probably 85 degrees…almost too warm since you don’t get much breeze unless you stand up—the balcony is made of a sheet of glass so you don’t get any breeze except through the bottom 4” or over the top of the railing. It’s also VERY bright and sunny and I’m starting to get a headache, even having had sunglasses on the whole time. Tom was out here for a bit but is now in trying to take a nap to recoup some sleep he missed last night! I do feel a bit guilty for not physically doing something while we’re on the ship (there’s SO much to do and see!), but I just keep reminding myself this is a VACATION and we don’t have to be busy every single minute. So I assuage any residual guilt by enjoying the quiet time on our lovely balcony…writing my journal/blog or reading a book!

Oh, lunch was good, too. I had asked our waiter last night if there was sushi anywhere on board and he assured me I could find it in the Lido Restaurant…which we did. The Lido Restaurant is basically one gigantic cafeteria with different nationality foods (as well as a salad bar, soup bar, sandwich bar, dessert bar, etc.) so today we ate Japanese (in addition to sushi, I had lamb with garlic and fried noodles and Tom had Szechwan shrimp with fried noodles) and who knows what we’ll have tomorrow…I could easily have sushi again, but it’s “fast food” sushi and nothing made-to-order so I’m thinking to hell with semi-healthy and having chili cheese fries or loaded nachos instead, LOL! We also got to sneak a peak at tonight’s dinner menu and I already know I will have trouble deciding on a main course!!

I finally had to shower to get the flower essence oil off my head from the scalp massage earlier (it works better the longer you leave it on, but it made your hair look really greasy) so now I’m waiting for Tom to get up (he missed the Texas Hold’em Lessons that started 10 minutes ago) so we can do something before dinner.

Okay, so we ended up NOT doing anything before dinner…so let’s go directly to the dinner report, shall we? Appetizers were Sweet Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella, Oyster Rockefeller, and Duck and Black Bean Quesadilla (I had two because I just could NOT decide). Soups were Caribbean Corn Chowder (Tom) and Chilled Apple Vichyssoise (Jen)—both were absolutely divine! Salads were Californian Gourmet Greens (the ranch dressing was lacking, so I didn’t finish mine). Our main courses were mushroom ravioli (Tom) and Caribbean Island Style Paella (Jen). Each time dessert rolls around, I swear I am going to get the cheese and cracker platter, but something else always wins out. Tonight was Tiramisu (of course, for Tom) and Chocolate Avalanche Cake (Jen).

During dinner Tom signed up for a wine tasting tomorrow, but it conflicts with the art auction, so we will split up to hit both. (I have permission to buy a Thomas Kinkade if the price is right!) We headed back to the room to see what the evening events were, and nothing really excited us, so I said I wouldn’t mind hitting the casino. Tom didn’t care to go or play but he went with me anyway and listened to his ipod while standing behind me! (As a sidenote, we are cruising full speed ahead to Tortola, so the ship was rolling quite a bit—we actually felt a bit drunk while walking around the ship! I can’t even imagine if we were actually drinking!) So I got my $4 worth of nickels (and I swear the cashier had to stifle a laugh) and sat at a machine. I didn’t like any of the machines there (they had nine payout lines—I like the simple one payout line) but there weren’t many options. Within about five minutes I had won 200 nickels so I cashed out—and even though I completed my rules: leaving as soon as I win back what I started with—I said I couldn’t leave after only five minutes, so I played a few more rounds, never really winning much. Tom actually sat down to play a few minutes (and finish out my second roll of nickels) when I won again—another 200 or so. I cashed out and headed to the cashier window…and I walked away with $17.85 after less than a half hour. This time, the cashier actually congratulated me!! And the best part is I was completely satisfied and don’t need to go back again! So now I have margarita money come Wednesday when margaritas are the drink special of the day and are only $4.25!

Now we’re just back in the room, chilling. It will probably be an early night since Tom is still tired from his lack of sleep last night…