After trivia, we made a quick jaunt up to the concierge lounge. This time we both asked for water expecting a nice glass of ice cold water to hit the spot. After a couple shocked looks from the bar waitress, she returned with cold sealed bottles of water. This was one of the things we'd considered upgrading to the next non alcoholic drink package for if only it wasn't twice the price of the soda package even on sale. We saved the bottles and refilled them to always have cold water to drink in the cabin.
 |
Spring rolls, grilled shrimp, and cheese cubes. The finger foods of champions!
|
We headed back to the cabin and enjoyed the perk of two showers to get ready for tonight's dinner at Giovanni's. My bathtub shower had a bit of trouble draining but by the time I showered again, both the tub drainage and our cloudy bathroom sink water had cleared up. While we had been out of the cabin, we had a second treat plate delivery, this time another chocolate covered strawberries. While odd to get two plates this day, we chalked it up to tonight being the rescheduled formal night.
Compared to last night's letdown at Izumi, tonight's dinner at Giovanni's was like night and day. Another evening of dining with very few other tables in use. Our waiter Johannes was great and told him about our bad time in Izumi when we heard him mention how he used to work there. He concurred that it definitely should have been better and took care of our next three nights of dinner reservations while we ate.
In my quest to try new foods, I started my meal with the Grigliata Di Polpo - a fancy name for an appetizer of grilled octopus. Trying this made me nervous because all I could picture was those little suction cups "tasting" me back. While a little tough to chew, I was surprised to discover that the feeling of those suction cups wasn't so bad. It still grossed me out a little bit when one or two would pop off as I chewed.
As always, I had to make sure to try this cruise's Tagliatelle Alla Carbonara. Like Oasis, they left the poached egg on top to be broken by the diner whereas Princess will mix it all together as a sauce. This dish was good but I still think Princess wins, especially since they use spaghetti noodles and it's a little easier to enjoy the flavors when you're not having to fight through thick ribbon cut noodles like the tagliatelle. Save that for a stroganoff style dish where the meat can stand on its own.
Dad ordered the Filetto Di Manzo Rustico and while slightly undercooked, Johannes remedied it right away.
When it comes to dessert at Giovanni's, they still wheel over the cart so you can see your options and have it dished out right then. At this point, we've tried most every choice. This time I noticed that they've changed up the chocolate hazelnut cake into a load shaped chocolate cake with caramel and pistachios that they cut off a slice for you. Normally I don't go for things with nuts but decided this would be simple enough to pick out any nuts I'd find. Turns out the nuts were few and far between so I was able to eat most of the cake until I'd had my fill of rich chocolate. They also offered to drizzle more caramel or chocolate sauce overtop.
As we finished eating, Giovanni's manager Deckster came over to introduce himself. We shared with him how great tonight's meal and service was compared to last night. He was very interested in hearing about our trouble in Izumi and promised to speak to Izumi's manager about getting better service next time.
With our evening delivery of the next day's Compass, tonight we had a flier advertising the Loads of Savings Wash and Fold Laundry Special. Everything one could stick in the provided bag would be washed and returned within 24 hours for the cost of $24.99. The chart to fill out with the bag's contents only lists pajamas, socks, shorts, swimwear, t-shirts, and underwear so it doesn't look like they'd be willing to wash anything you brought for formal nights in this promotion. I also find it silly that they advertise this as "Arrive home with a suitcase full of clean, folded laundry" yet they offered it on the 3rd day of a 12 day cruise.
After a quick jaunt to the cabin where we took the time to go over tomorrow's newly delivered Compass, we headed down to the packed Centrum to check out the Rock the Room game show hosted by Mark and DJ Marius. Mark set up a chair in the middle of the Centrum and to play the game, you had to be the first to run and sit in the chair to earn the chance to answer his question. His questions were all song clip related but they varied in what he wanted to know. Most required naming the song but some required naming the singer and a couple called for answering about a movie or TV show where the song was used. Several of the songs I was able to recognize but not know/remember the answer to the question. Lots of near collisions and hilarity as one lady tried to dance her way up to the chair only to lose out to someone who simply ran up. The one time a country song was played, I was the only one to bother jumping up so I earned myself a keychain. Now if only it didn't have to be Achy Breaky Heart which they only had on hand for use in line dancing sessions but that's another diatribe for another day. The next chance for a song I stood a chance at getting right, Mark asked for the name of the music competition show won by this next artist. Posting news for a TV fan site comes in handy in the rarest moments because my brain went right to the list of the most popular winners. Something in my head just said "He's going to play Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood" so as soon as those first few notes from Kelly's song started, I ran for the chair. Another woman ran up at the same time and she hesitated just enough for me to go low and slip into the chair as she was going high ending up half on the arm of the chair and half on my lap. Mark gave me the chance to answer first being the true butt in the chair and had her stay in case I was wrong. I got it right with American Idol and tried to give the other lady my 2nd winning keychain of the game. She turned me down saying she won something already and I couldn't find any other takers. We sat there through the rest of the game enjoying watching everyone else run for the chair. I was finally able to hand off both keychains to the ladies who'd agreed to share seats with us.
Carrying on the fun, we moved on to South Pacific Lounge for the Famous Places visual trivia. While we waited for it to start, we noticed several people come in talking about dancing and how the floor would be for them etc. I was beginning to wonder if this was the most popular trivia topic ever given the turnout when Katrina came in to announce that they'd made a mistake in the Compass listing both the trivia and the ballroom dancing music hour to be held at 9PM in this lounge. Never occurred to either of us to even notice what was listed in the "Music and Dancing" box at the bottom of the Compass until one of the dancers pointed it out to us. The dancers were disappointed but Katrina promised to move the ballroom music hour to tomorrow night and to tell the current Centrum band to throw in a ballroom number or two. We had chosen seats in the front row knowing this was a visual trivia and Katrina joked with us about being in the same spot as when she ran into us this morning. The bulk of the crowd left upon learning there was to be no dancing so when we tied with another team for first place, Jeff gave us all highlighters and keychains. Passed through the crowd enjoying piano music in the Schooner bar and passed off my newly won highlighter to the same young family we'd given keychains to after the 4PM trivia.
Over to the theater to enjoy the first night's comedian Gary Couette performing a late night (as in 10:15PM for this crowd) adults only comedy show. He was much funnier than his act the first night. We decided afterwards to return to the Park Café for a snack and it turns out so did 100 of our now closest friends. I sent Dad off to hold a table while I joined a line already about 25 people deep. By the time I got up to the front, the line snaked throughout the rest of the Solarium. So many people asked for nachos that the young man behind the counter assumed I wanted some as well. Instead I asked for enough pizza slices for both Dad and I and looped myself back around to the table we'd thankfully snagged beforehand. Dad then got up to get drinks from the dispensers and had to wait in a line about 8 people deep for that! Was there some sort of subliminal messaging in the comic's show tonight? "You will laugh at my jokes and then have this deep seated desire for nachos! Ha Ha Ha!"
We retired to the quiet privacy of our cabin and settled in to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment