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Thursday 31 March 2016

Vacation Blog VI: The morning after the crying


Thursday, March 31st

9: 00 AM – Oh seriously, 4 hours sleep? No thanks.

10:45 AM – That’s a little better. We are up and headed to the buffet before they pull the breakfast options. I want my damn bacon.

11:30 AM – Back to the room to relax for a while and watch the thunderstorm roll in. I was sitting on the balcony typing the blog when the thunder hit, and it took me about .03 seconds to get my ass of the balcony and back into the room.

No plans for today except a little R&R until our dinner reservations at 5:30. Tonight is Moderno, the Brazilian Steakhouse. We ate here last cruise and really enjoyed it. There is an extra charge for this one, but it’s a flat rate and we paid it a while ago. It’s very different than all the other restaurants as they bring you big hunks of meat at the table and carve them to order.

Nappish Bear has come to say hello today so Tracey lays down to attend to her and I screw around on the computer for a while. We head back to the buffet for a small lunch to tide us over until dinner. When we get back to the room, Tracey heads outside to sit and read. An hour ago our balcony was being pelted by rain and was completely soaked, and now you can hardly tell any rain occurred. The lounge chairs are totally dry.

When we get back to the room reality hits us right in the face as all the disembarkation information has been delivered including our Customs forms. Can’t believe that tomorrow is our last full day on the cruise, it seems like it just began. What a way to end the cruise, though as we have something very special planned for the Bahamas.

5:30 PM – Dinner at Moderna restaurant, the Brazilian steakhouse. Meat, meat and more meat. Chicken legs covered in parmesan, chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon, marinated flank steak, and some kind of high-end Brazilian sirloin, which was described to us as the “best meat there” (and it was). Oh, and one of the best pork sausages I’ve ever tasted and a nicely spiced pork loin. And that’s not even counting the two kinds of lamb because we don’t eat lamb. What a terrific meal, same as the last cruise. This is one we will do over again.

7:00 PM – We head to the Theatre where we have tickets (free of course) to a Broadway-style show called After Midnight. 75 minutes of high energy singing and dancing from the Roarin’ 20’s, in a jazz club known as the Cotton Club with music in the style of Duke Ellington. I’ll tell you, some of these performers were incredibly talented. I’m not sure how many actual performers there were, because, as we all know, all black people look alike.

Oops sorry that is quite politically incorrect of me. Let me try again.

All African-American people look alike.

There, now the political correctness police will be off my case.

(I highly doubt anyone reading this blog doesn't already know that I refuse to be politically correct and I was kidding about that last joke....but if you were offended by it, you might want to go read something else. And buy a sense of humor).

In all seriousness, there were about 30 individual performers if you count the band, and all of them were good and a few of them were great. It’s not really my style of music, but I was certainly never bored. Tracey loved it more than I did.

It makes you think of the magnitude of running a cruise ship like this and the reasons that cruises aren’t all that cheap. Think of the wages of just those 40 people. And then think of the waiters and busboys and room stewards and on and on and on. The logistics of handling a ship of this size, and all the entertainment and food, and scheduling of staff, etc……wow. Glad it’s my job only to sit and enjoy the fruits of their labour. It’s a little bit humbling.

9 PM – We stop and make reservations for dinner tomorrow at the Manhattan Room for 6 PM. This has become our favorite place to eat on this cruise and there is a 70’s tribute show playing as entertainment while we dine. Should be fun.

Back in the room, sitting on the patio typing up this blog entry and wondering how we are so lucky to be here. I cannot get enough of the view of the water against the lights of the ship and the moonlight. Earlier today we marveled at the colour of the water that didn’t seem to be natural. I tried to take a video but it didn’t really do it justice. The water directly behind the ship appeared almost to be a fluorescent baby blue. I know that’s not really possible but that’s what came to mind as we stood on the balcony and watched. Breathtaking.


Tomorrow around Noon we arrive in Nassau, the Bahamas, and if you think we’ve had a good cruise so far, you haven’t heard anything yet.

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