Grandeur of the Seas - Day 12 - Sea Day (Part 2)

Our next stop was for some real sustenance at Giovanni's for their Sea Day Brunch. It was listed in the Compass as the "Shrimp Brunch" starting at 10:30AM. It is an extra cost, $30 per person if I recall correctly, but free to us with the Ultimate Dining Package. By the time we got there, there was only a few people still dining and a good bit of the buffet setup had been descended upon. There was still plenty to partake that fit both our palates.

The shrimp on ice for shrimp cocktail was the main thing that was nearly depleted. Giovanni's did a good job of keeping everything else stocked.

We loved the soft rolls pictured in the bottom left of this photo. We tried to ask the waitress why those weren't available all the time but she just kept telling us that everything they make is made fresh that day.

Doesn't everyone enjoy their risotto with a side of fries? It was nice to see a few highlights from Giovanni's main menu as well as typical brunch items.

Deckster was right about having lasagna today, just in much smaller portions

Chicken Parmesan and Beef Tenderloin next to Fried Eggs. Nothing like a brunch.

And of course the lox was represented

That's a bowl of caviar though looking back at this picture, it does look like that watermelon swan left behind a nasty present.

Yummy fruit salad cups - this is definitely how I prefer to use champagne flutes

My smorgasbord of a plate - I tried the chicken parmesan, fried eggs, fries, potato salad, and rolls. The cinnamon roll was a little dry but the rest was tasty. Dad was surprised I didn't get any shrimp. 

We were essentially the last people to dine as they came over a few times to confirm we didn't want to go for seconds before putting everything away. Honestly, unless I'd gone back a few times and hadn't been eating specialty restaurant food all sailing, I don't know if I'd have found this worth the cost. Other than the few Giovanni's menu items and of course the shrimp and caviar, this was all items you could have gotten from Windjammer.

Our next stop was to an event that was new to me on any ship but I'd seen it featured in ParoDeeJay's vlogs on their Grandeur cruise, the Grandeur Fair! This is a fun event where several crew departments set up stations around the Centrum on decks 4 &5 and passengers go around from station to station trying out things somewhat related to their department. Some stations gave you a raffle ticket just for participating but others insisted that you succeed at the challenge to earn a ticket. John and Katrina had printed dollar bills with each of their faces on them known as Johnny Cash and Katrina Kash. The backside of each bill had a line for entering your name and cabin number.

The bar staff's table encouraging passengers to try out bar tricks with drink glasses and one next to it asking passengers to solve riddles with toothpicks was the most popular. Culinary department hosted a table giving you the chance to decorate cupcakes with rolled fondant.

Housekeeping challenged you to make up a bed in a certain amount of time.

Laundry showed us how to fold a shirt - who knew there really was a right way to do that?

The bulk of the stations were about skill games such as bean bag toss or putting golf balls. The youth staff offered face painting. Guess Dad won't be looking for a new job as an exterminator since he missed both times on Splat the Rat. (Note the large bruising that covered his forearm by this point of the trip)

The bar manager featured on the morning show giving out the drink of the day walked around with a riddle to solve. We both tried every answer we could think of and were declared wrong. A guy nearby suggested that the answer is "name" and was also told no. Eventually he gave me a ticket for trying so hard.

We compared failed answers with another cruiser who was just as confused by the riddle. When we saw him again, he told us that he'd learned the answer was "the name." I'm the kind of person that spots typos in books so the thought of how "the name" fit into "Ben is the _______ of John's father" didn't sit right with me. "The the name?" 

The look you get when John spots you sneaking a picture of them:

Followed by how it looks when you dance like no one's watching:

It was a bit of a mad rush to get your raffle tickets filled out as you went around and drop them back into the bin on the stage:

One of the things I regretted not getting last time was a picture with John and/or Katrina so when Katrina wandered past me, I seized my chance to ask for a picture. First she pretended at the last second to be interviewing me:

And then posed for a regular pic as well:

Several raffle tickets were drawn and cruisers won everything from mugs to kids toys. A couple free drink certificates were also given out, including to one name that ended up being a kid. They asked him if mom or dad was around and his mom was very quick to run over and accept the certificate. It was a very cute way to get a taste of what the crew does for all of us. I could see this being done earlier in the cruise even so they can give away other prizes like free dinners or internet.