Menus and food onboard the American Pioneer (Part 4)

 

Cinnamon and Vanilla French Toast served with maple syrup and pork sausage:

I regret not trying that Lobster Hash & Eggs option. It was a really nice surprise to see so much lobster included on several menus in so many different ways.

Plain Buttermilk Pancakes with pork sausage

Sausage omelet with bacon and breakfast potatoes

Italian Wedding Soup

Braised Patuxent Farms Short Ribs of Beef topped with a cabernet braising jus. Served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and sauteed cauliflower and broccoli florets.

Caribbean Spiny Lobster Tail Pasta - Spiny Lobster Tail with bow tie pasta, blistered heirloom tomatoes, basil & shaved parmesan caviar in a creamy butter sauce.

Amaretto Chocolate Mousse

Our final dinner onboard:

After taking a napkin folding class the crew put together to fill time when our schedule changed, I noticed and appreciated the tablescape greeting us as we sat down to dinner this final night. I learned that this pictured example is known as "the envelope fold."

Creamy Burrata Salad - Heirloom tomatoes, basil pine nut pesto, pecorino romano cheese and aged balsamic reduction over mixed greens.

Creamy Lobster Bisque

Tonight's entrees featured an option to have surf and turf or just turf.

Farm Raised Seared Beef Tenderloin - Seared with brandy peppercorn sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, and lemon zest dusted asparagus.

The Surf & Turf - Beef Tenderloin with Shrimp and Crab Stuffed Lobster Tail. Served with brandy peppercorn sauce, baked potato, lemon zest dusted asparagus, and drawn butter. Looks like by choosing the surf with my turf, I got less turf than Dad did choosing the turf only option. When I asked the waiter about why I didn't receive the mentioned baked potato, he revealed that they had run out. Plenty of lobster, shrimp, and crab to go around but apparently there was a run on baked potatoes.

White Chocolate Kahlua Creme Brulee

After completing a cruise around the Florida Keys that had to be altered due to high winds and rough seas, we thought it only fitting that our flight home to Georgia ended up being cancelled due to snow! Delta helped us rebook for a later afternoon flight. By then all of the dusting of snow had melted but was such a shock for this area in the moment that they weren't allowing flights into Atlanta. Thanks to modern technology, being still in the US, and ACL's good included internet, we sat onboard the ship and booked a day room at a Hilton hotel in Tampa through ResortPass.com. We used ACL's transfer to take us back to the airport and then got the hotel shuttle to pick us up from there. The only drawback was that our hotel room air conditioning seemed to be stuck on the Antarctica setting and it was uncharacteristically wet and freezing outside already. It was worth it to have a comfortable space to relax, a TV to pass the time, and a private bathroom. We made a brunch out of hotel convenience store snacks then took the hotel shuttle back to the airport a few hours later. Overall a great first experience using ResortPass.com for the first time. Use my link provided to get $20 off your first day room booking as well! After we used them, I completed their emailed survey about the stay and got a code for a future discount. 

Plus while we shivered, we got to warm up with laughter at how my name was misspelled on the TV when we made it into the room. 

I'd like to take a moment at the conclusion of our last food photo post from this cruise to share how proud I am of my Dad. He has been working with a trainer here not only to improve his balance, strength, and flexibility but her guidance has inspired him to try many foods he wouldn't ever try before. He has now tried several new to him fruits, vegetables, and seafood. He tried shrimp cocktail, a cruise menu standard, and told me he's kicking himself for not having tried it sooner. 

Stay tuned for the next cruise post series featuring said shrimp cocktail and many other dishes from our first Oceania cruise! They even let me do some of the cooking! Did the suite life (with a butler) and the food live up to the hype or sink like a stone in the Ocean (ia)?

Exploration of Military History Fun with Simulators

Our would have been two day stay in Punta Gorda was shortened to a single day since we had to stay in Key West an extra night. As a result, ACL and our shore excursion manager onboard did their best to squeeze every excursion into this single day. If we had stuck to our original plan of doing two excursions in this port, we would have had to do the museum in the morning and with less than an hour in between get back onboard, change into swimwear, and get back out to the buses for our afternoon Sunseeker Resort Pool Experience excursion. With this being a tender port and a bit cooler than typical weather, we opted out of the afternoon excursion. The Sunseeker Resort Pool Experience lasts 4.5 hours and would have cost $50 per person if we didn't have the Premium level excursions included. 

The museum excursion we did attend in the morning was called An Exploration of Military History - Military Heritage Museum. This two hour excursion was complimentary for everyone. ACL was well organized with the tender process calling groups to line up based on their excursion. There were still people who tried to line up to get off for independent plans but ACL did a great job with keeping them in a separate line and letting them get on the next tender only if there was enough room left after the excursion participants were loaded. There was multiple ACL staff on hand to help passengers step into the tender along with the use of a portable set of steps with a handle. Several passengers with canes used the tender but I did not see anyone with scooters or wheelchairs.

The museum itself was located a few blocks from the tender boat dock so you had the option of walking there and back on your own if you so desired. The buses stuck to a schedule, especially now that several of the excursions were happening at the same time, so if you wanted to stay longer than the two hours, you would have to either walk back or call for your own transportation. Our bus ride to the museum was treated like a public bus with stops announced for various people to get off for their different tours. As soon as we unloaded fully, the bus driver had to loop back and get the next excursions' worth of passengers.

There were elevators for use inside but I don't recall seeing such an option for avoiding these steps to enter the building.

Admission into the museum was included for ACL passengers. Those wishing to visit on their own can purchase tickets at $18 per persons aged 15 and older with a reduced price of $14 if you're a military veteran. If you are currently Military Active Duty, the admission fee is completely waived. 

When we arrived, we all lined up to get wristbands and were offered times to sign up for the flight simulators and the Virtual Reality Room. Dad's time for the flight simulator was for around 25 minutes after our arrival so we used the time to explore the artifacts and exhibits starting on the first floor. 

The flight simulator room had 4-5 different setups so they worked through the line pretty quickly. Each setup had a veteran volunteer to guide you through your choice of a F-16 Fighting Falcon or a P-51 Mustang. You also got to choose a type of terrain. You do get to sit in a realistic pilot's seat but your seat will not be rocked or jolted like a 4-D IMAX theater. Each simulator experience lasts about 20-30 minutes but you're welcome to go back and sign up for another time if there is any available. 

Dad was in his element trying out the flight simulator and had a blast!

Afterwards, Dad went into the Virtual Reality Room and tried out using the virtual reality goggles to visualize a Special Forces Parachute Jump. He could have also chosen a spacewalk outside the International Space Station or experience the evolution of flight from the Wright Brothers to modern times among other programs. This too was available as many times as you wanted.

After taking the time to browse the remaining exhibits, we spent a good while chatting with a veteran volunteer about their own personal military history. He and Dad had an enthusiastic conversation about military aircraft and weaponry. While Dad had more interest in this museum excursion than I did initially, we both left there feeling like this was one of the best excursions of the trip!

Menus and food onboard the American Pioneer (Part 3)

 After all that exploring it's time to resume our favorite cruise activity - dining!

Caesar Salad with anchovies - they may look like chicken in this picture but they don't taste like it!

Braised Beef Pot Roast with Bourbon Demi-Glace

Chocolate Iced Banana Cake

Another day's breakfast menu trading an Eggs Benedict Feature of the Day for a Surf and Turf option

Surf and Turf Breakfast

Leige Waffles - or technically one waffle

Apologies for the less than stellar shot of this day's dinner menu!

Steakhouse Iceberg Wedge Salad (reminder, this cruise was taken at the end of January before salads became potentially hazardous to our health)

And some very thin corn chowder

Pork Chop with Bourbon Glaze - Beeler's Farms pork chop in a bourbon glaze, served with whipped sweet potatoes and sauteed broccoli rabe.

Mint chocolate chip ice cream

Our second tour that wasn't worth it & some later fun

The second tour that we regretted booking was held in St. Petersburg on our last full day of the cruise. This two hour tour is called the St. Petersburg Historical Trolley Exploration and cost $55 per person. This was classified as a Premium Excursion and thus included for both of us. The activity level was listed as low and was deemed partially accessible. A couple people on our tour had walkers so their walkers got stowed in the back of the trolley.

Having had many trolley rides in our travels and no specific desire of what to see and do in St. Petersburg, we thought this excursion would be a light easy way to see the town. And for those people who got to sit in the actual forward facing trolley seats, it probably was a nice tour. However, they filled our trolley so full that about 10 of us were stuck sitting in the back of the trolley on sideways benches. Our only view was the faces of the people across from us. We could see nothing that was being pointed out by our guide. Our section was separated from the forward facing seats by a cloudy vinyl partition so only by the fact that our guide used a microphone did we at least get to listen to the explanation of what everyone else was seeing. 

For the entire ride, it was either stare like a voyeur at the people across the trolley or stare at the reflection of the people down my row in the vinyl. Only to realize about 3/4ths into the ride that it wasn't a reflection but the actual poor gentleman in the last row of seats before the partition who started staring back at me. We were so packed in shoulder to shoulder on these back benches that the gentleman next to me literally had his arm wrapped around my shoulders in order to sit comfortably. Each time he'd try to reposition his arm, I'd get smacked in the back. I also learned that I make a very good pillow because the gentleman on my opposite side fell asleep leaning against my arm. And yes, he snored but thankfully wasn't a drooler. Sorry no pictures from this tour as I couldn't move my arms. The one place we stopped was some outdoor park/plaza and were given just enough time to walk across to the bathrooms and back. I'd say that was the most expensive trip to the bathroom I've ever had!

On a more positive note, one of the fun experiences we've enjoyed on American Cruise Lines is the fact that they include a scheduled opportunity for anyone, in small group sessions during designated times, to come see the bridge or as it's known on a river cruise, the Pilothouse. We've had the privilege of being invited to tour the bridge on many ocean cruises so it's very cool to see how the two compare. I would also like to commend our Captain who was routinely visible around the ship and happy to stop for a chat.

And simply because I'm a nerd who loves finding typos - 

And because I'm also a nerd who likes to admire the other ships in port - I was amazed to spot a Celebrity Cruises ship so close to shore as it passed by the Pilothouse's front windows.

Two important storage drawers in the Pilothouse

Some ACL ships have the latter drawer marked as the candy drawer but the American Pioneer opted for the rhyming label of The Snack Pack.