Day 2 - April 15, 2007 (Sunday)
The Daily Program has a conveniently perforated edge, which detaches the lower half of it. This portion includes the daily event and show schedule on one side and a separate listing of the food/bar service hours and locations of all of the food venues on the reverse. There is an additional entertainment and services listing with hours and locations. It all folds easily into one's pocket.
We started our day with fresh coffee in our room, and then leisurely showered and dressed. As Don and I felt like being served and not going through a buffet line for breakfast, we went to the main dining room. We were seated with three other couples, and we were surprised that one couple was also from Portland. It's a small world!
After breakfast, we decided to really explore all the decks of the ship. We went to the main office to ask a few questions and to get a daily schedule (for some reason, we didn't get one in our room). While in the main office area, I saw a chalk board saying the Limeliters were on board. I immediately thought of the famous Glen Yarbrough and the Limeliters of the 1950s. I asked if this was them and, if so, where were they playing. Not one person at the information desk knew what I was talking about - even when I pointed out the sign. My brother-in-law even said that it wasn't that group. So I gave up the idea and forgot about it until high tea time.
We went to the Culinary Arts Center to watch the Executive Chef, Andreas Sommerfeld, demonstrate making some dishes. He was not "mister personality" and not very entertaining. He demonstrated a Chilled Sour Cherry Soup and a Smoked Salmon Tartar.
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Executive Chef, Andreas Sommerfeld. |
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In the
afternoon, Don and I attended the Royal
Dutch High Tea in the Vista Dining Room.
We decided to skip lunch and wait for
tea time. Just a few of the many tea photos
that I took:
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While standing in line, we met a woman, Sylvia, from Los Angeles. Slyvia was wearing a badge that said Limeliters on it. Of course, I had to ask her what the Limeliters were on her badge. To my surprise, she said that this was a reunion cruise of the famous singing group, the Limeliters, and their fan club. Her husband was one of the singers in the group. Naturally, I started talking to her about this. She also joined us for tea. She said the group only has one remaining original singer, Alex Hassilev, who is retiring. Her husband is one of the new Limeliters singing group. She also introduced us to another member of her group, the wife of Alex Hassilev.
After tea time, they tried hard to get Don and I into their meeting to hear the group sing. The coordinator of the group would absolutely not let us in. They did invite us to a jam session that will be held later in the evening.
The photo on the right is the new Limeliters singing group and is from their web site: http://www.limeliters.com/
Formal Dinner Night - Dinner
tonight was just as the night before - only ok! Our table situation was not
solved for tonight's dinner. We again had two tables. Our displeasure was
duly registered by everyone in our group, and we were again reassured of a
larger table tomorrow night. This time, they gave us the new table
number for our group. We'll see what happens tomorrow night!
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Oyster Rockefeller Trio Most of us ordered the Oyster Rockefeller as an appetizer. It was fair, but not great! I think they cut up each oyster into three little pieces and put one piece in each of the three shells on the individual serving plates. The spinach didn't even taste like spinach. I'm not sure what it was! |
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail |
Since my dinner last night was not very good and was overcooked, I thought that I would be different and order a pasta dish. I ordered an Asparagus and Fresh Mozzarella Fettuccine. It was very bland! Just three small asparagus spears and three very small mozzarella pieces were sitting on top of the pasta. Don ordered a Beef Wellington. He ordered it rare so maybe it would be cooked to his liking (medium rare). This worked and he enjoyed it. My brother, Jim Stewart, did the same thing with his rack of lamb and ordered it rare, hoping for medium rare. It worked! I don't know what I could have said to have my fettuccine be more tasty and exciting! Following are photos of some of the dinner entrees ordered:
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Fettuccini with Asparagus and
Fresh Mozzarella
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Filet of Beef Wellington |
Oven Roasted Rack of Lamb
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For dessert, I ordered a frozen cappuccino bombe with a chocolate coating. The chocolate dessert was delicious! Like I said before, I'm a chocolate lover!
Others ordered some kind of ice cream sundae. I forgot to write it down. They enjoyed it also.
Our wine steward, Francisco, went to great pains to find some pinot noir wine for us at dinner. He found a 2004 Sokol Blossor pinot noir from Oregon for us. Frankly, it was not worth the $84.00 they charged us, as the alcohol content was too high. It was 14% alcohol instead of the usual 12% to 13%. That is just too high of alcohol for a pinot. We should have checked the bottle before opening it - our mistake. The wine steward did find us some wonderful Riedel red wine glasses to drink our wine in, as they normally just use white wine glasses. This is a "pet peeve" of mine when dining, as I want the correct glass. Francisco put the Riedel wine glasses aside for us to use every night. We really appreciated this! Thank you Francisco!
After dinner, we found the Limeliters' jam
session that I mentioned before. Mom really enjoyed listening and singing
along with the group. Other musicians played along with them. This made a
very interesting and enjoyable evening for everyone.
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Other musicians jamming with the group. |
Jo'ey, Laura, and the "Moms" like to hang out in the casino every night. All of them seem to be lucky and are winning. Especially Jo'ey's Mom, Marie. She won over $700 on her first night! She immediately put it in the safe in her room for safe keeping. She would not use any of that money to gamble with on the rest of the trip.
I'm not a gambler and would rather watch the shows and listen to music groups.