Grandeur of the Seas - Day 5 - St. Croix (Part 2)

Our first stop once back on board was to the buffet now that our stomachs weren't doing flips on St. Croix's roads. On port days, the buffet is the only place outside of room service listed as open in the Compass. Certainly not the greatest but it was the quickest. On the plus side, I noticed a waffle station and real scoop able ice cream added to today's selections.

I think that English muffin thing was a ham and cheese sandwich with the rest being the usual pizza and fries

Today's suite treat plate was the same pastry assortment we get at Chops breakfast. Guess they run low on ideas on longer cruises?

After a stop at the cabin to drop off our stuff, we grabbed our soda cups and headed down to the Freestyle machine on deck 6. Perhaps the most convenient machine to our usual haunts but always the one with the most issues. The machine dumped enough ice for 5 cups but wouldn't dispense Dad's favorite orange soda for anything at first despite showing as in stock. The icon for any flavor that is out of supply greys out and doesn't let you select it. Once Dad had an acceptable choice in his cup, we headed over to Schooner just as True or False trivia was starting. Cori and Allan joined us for the usual 4PM trivia and we merged with some other new friends from trivia. We all made small talk about our day in port and it was funny to see people's reactions to hearing that we fed beer to pigs.

A little time back in the cabin where I checked out the side effect of our extensive walk being a new sunburn on my shoulders. I applied a spray on sunscreen everywhere skin was visible each day before going out but I still got burnt. We had brought along a 50 SPF bottle that was half used from a previous trip and one that was 100 SPF that we never got around to opening. Dad suggested that the 50 SPF bottle had expired its effectiveness and we left it behind when packing at the end of the cruise. The Caribbean sun is no joke even in the cooler months of the year so definitely check your sunblock and reapply especially if you're in the direct sun all day like at the beach. We also took the time to drink a lot of water once back on board and soon felt much better.

Tonight was the night that we decided to give Izumi a second chance so at 6PM we headed upstairs. Someone must have really put a bug in their ear so to speak because from the moment we arrived, they couldn't do enough to well...kiss our asses if you'll pardon my choice of phrase. Arden, the manager, seated us himself and asked if we'd gotten the chocolate covered strawberries he'd had sent to our cabin. Mystery solved on that 2nd plate of treats we thought were a redo for the rescheduled formal night. We explained that we didn't know what they were from and Arden was surprised to learn that his card was not included with the delivery. He gave us his card now and urged us to call him with any further issues regardless of wherever on the ship they might happen. He offered that if something went wrong elsewhere, he'd work with whomever to fix it.

This time our waiter was Prashant and it was like he'd been assigned just to us. He explained every part of the menu explaining the choices, covering what we could choose with the package, and giving his recommendations. I jokingly refer to him as our personal ninja waiter because I had no idea he was hanging out close behind me until I looked up to ask for a water refill and he was at our table immediately. We were pretty much the only table in the restaurant at this time until an officer with his guests came in near the end of our meal. Dad got the Pork Gyoza Dumpling (one we'd both tried and liked before, $8) from the Starters portion of the menu and liked it. I ordered the Snow Crab California for $13 from the Signature Rolls portion. This is a roll that sounded simple enough for me to recognize the ingredients to choose as a sort of starter sushi. Was pretty good.

Dad finally got to try his Tonkotsu Ramen bowl ($13) and liked it. He later agreed with Prashant that having that and the hot rock would be too much food. I got a good laugh out of Dad devouring the bowl before admitting that he didn't realize this was the same ramen I indulge in at home from the little packets.

I chose to also get the Crispy Philly roll again and even with Dad taking a couple I couldn't finish the rest of it from being too full.

Having enjoyed a complete 180 in service and continued good food, we definitely wanted to try the new Japanese Pancake with Vanilla Ice Cream dessert that had been added to the menu since we were last on the Grandeur. Prashant explained that it's made with slightly different ingredients than your usual breakfast pancake giving it more of a cake taste but not as dense. It did seem a bit odd in my mind to be looking at a plate of breakfast but following each pancake bite with an ice cream chaser. Overall delicious dish!

At one point, the setting sun came in through the side door at such an angle that it bothered Dad's eyes. Both Arden and Prashant were watching us so intently (plus we were at the table right next to the podium) that when Dad commented on the sun, they both moved the large sushi class sign over in front of the door to block the sunlight. They both stood on either side of the sign in front of the doors looking so triumphant with big smiles that I thought they might have stayed there blocking the sun with their own bodies for the rest of the meal if we'd asked.

At the end of the meal, Arden came back over to check in and invited us to come to Izumi's sushi making class for free to be held later in the cruise. I had briefly considered booking this class pre-cruise since our Ultimate Dining Package included a discount for these extra fee "culinary experiences." I told Arden I'd think about it (Dad had no desire for sushi making) and I'm not sure Arden intended to take no for an answer. Each time we saw him around the ship, he'd smile, wave, and yell out Hi Danielle! before reminding us about the class. A couple days later, we had a confirmation card for the class delivered to our cabin as Arden had signed me up anyway.

After dinner we headed down to the Centrum to sit and watch the second of the night's 60 Seconds or Less Game Show. We've participated in these little challenges on other cruises (patterned after TV's Minute to Win It game show) and saw several that were the same tasks. Dad didn't like how some of the contestants modified what they had to do (i.e. holding the weighted pantyhose tied around your waist to aim it at the water bottles rather than the rules of solely swinging your hips to do it). If it was a matter of them doing that to win and keeping me from winning a free cruise (and no not just a free cruise back to Baltimore), rather than a keychain I might have cared a bit more.

The next activity in the Centrum was the Battle of the Sexes Game. We've seen it played in various forms from straight trivia games to some trivia and some physical challenges. This time they split up the men and women to sit on opposite sides of the Centrum and Dad volunteered to be part of the group of guys to participate when Jeff was having a hard time getting anyone else. I'd been part of this game on the previous Grandeur cruise so I wasn't feeling the need to do it again. The bulk of the challenges were relay race based such as getting a keychain across the space and dropped into a cup while tucked between your legs.

After all the challenges, the teams had a tie score so Jeff added the balloon popping relay game as a tie breaker. When I last participated, the cruise staff member running that game had me be the one to sit in the chair (as the heaviest person on the team, not said but understood) while the other ladies blew up a balloon, tied it off, and ran at me to pop it in various ways between our two bodies. The final round required the runner to pop her balloon between her front and my back while I was bent over the chair. She got so into pulling me against her to pop it, I had bruises along my upper arms for the next several days. This time Jeff picked Dad to sit in the chair.

Dad started out standing in front of the chair to pop the balloon between the two guys facing each other. The first guy to run at him was so overzealous and most likely already getting the most out of his drink package that he knocked Dad so far back, Dad slammed his arms against the chair behind him before falling into the chair itself. Thankfully the chair was there or Dad would have hit the hard floor directly. I had moved over to get pictures of each balloon popping and caught the moment Biddy reacted to the fall.

The guy did apologize and the staff did ask if Dad was alright. Dad chose to continue on with the game.

The guys won the tie breaker round and were awarded gold medals:

By the time we'd gotten an elevator to head back up to our cabin, Dad's left wrist looked like he had his own balloon underneath the skin.

Dad didn't want to go down to medical (we had purchased insurance) as it was after hours so after a brief first aid assessment to make sure he could still move freely we followed it up with a dose of Advil and a makeshift ice pack made up from a cabin towel and our ice bucket. He sat with the ice pack on his wrist for the next hour and the swelling went down to looking more puffy than the original large bump. We had both planned to shower tonight which he was able to do despite the sore wrist and he sat with more ice afterwards for a bit before heading to bed. We set our alarm for somewhat earlier than necessary for our privately booked tour in Antigua tomorrow so we'd have time in the morning to head down to the medical center if Dad deemed necessary. Leave it to us to walk away from Battle of the Sexes with real battle wounds.