Grandeur of the Seas - Day 9 - St. Maarten (Part 2)

Today we joined up with our new group for the afternoon trivia. Bitty came rushing in announcing that she was here and ready for the Elvis trivia. Only problem was that the Elvis trivia was scheduled for 4:45PM and we were all here for the 4PM trivia. Bitty explained that she had thought it was actually 5PM, not 4PM and cursed herself for rushing back early from the beach when she didn't have to. Not sure who was then supposed to be doing 4PM trivia but she ran it now. We ended up with second place and they were so happy to be getting better scores with our help that one of the ladies, Diane, tried to bribe me with getting me into the Diamond lounge for coffee if I continued to play trivia with them. I of course politely laughed it off since I don't drink coffee and my suite cruise card also opened the Diamond lounge door. Not that we ever bothered to try and get free drinks during the Diamond happy hour there but we have on occasion popped in while in the nearby South Pacific Lounge to get a cup of water or juice.

After a quick visit to the cabin to change, we popped up to the Concierge Lounge where we said hello to Carlington and told him about the "special suite line" for room service being published in the Compass. He was totally surprised and offered to get us a different number but we assured him it wasn't necessary. It was advertised in today's Compass that at 5:30PM there would be a "up to 75% blowout clearance sale" in the shops so we headed down to see if that was the sale that would include the one shirt I wanted. They had several shirts discounted but they were only the generic ones that sit out in the shop all the time. Once again we were told, my shirt will only be available on day 11.

Tonight's dinner was in Giovanni's and unfortunately, despite only one other table in use for the bulk of our meal, our waiter tonight Karl wasn't as great in service as Johannes or Prashant. 

Mozzarella di Bufalo appetizer - loved the flavors themselves but I'd much rather see it in the form of cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls so it can be picked at and shared.

Rather than an entrée, I opted for ordering two pasta dishes and Karl mocked me for it. When I found both pastas to be a little tougher than they were the other nights and offered the real reason as to why I finished neither plate, Karl defended the food by pointing out how it's all homemade. I told him I knew that to be true because I took the pasta making class they offered on my first Grandeur sailing and he seemed impressed by that. 

Top - Tagliatelle Alla Carbonara, Bottom - Pasta Del Giorno (Pasta of the Day) Linguine with pesto and olive oil

When nothing else sounded enticing for dessert I chose the Panna Cotta and didn't like it either. Karl thought he'd help me like it better by telling me how it is made up of strawberries and Greek yogurt. Not sure how knowing what's in it would make me think it tastes better plus while it does have a cream base, I seriously doubt it's Greek yogurt.

Then they dedicated the other half of the restaurant to the dinner for all Pinnacle guests and several officers. We learned this was only something they do if they get enough Pinnacle members onboard. Once everyone arrived for that dinner, the noise level went up tenfold with toasts, speeches, and applause and of course a lot of the waitstaff was pulled to tend to them leaving their regular tables waiting. It felt like it took us about half as long to get someone to swipe our card so we could leave as it did to eat our entire meal. On our way out, we stopped to make a reservation for the Giovanni brunch which we now learned was only to be on the last sea day, not every sea day for the rest of the cruise like Carlington had thought. Deckster didn't show any reservation for us yet even though Carlington had said he'd made one. Dad asked if the brunch would include Giovanni's famous lasagna and Deckster said it would but also offered to have it made for Dad whenever he wanted as long as they had 24 hours notice. We had Deckster make our final dinner reservations for the rest of the cruise. 

We were planning to step right out of Giovanni's and sit in on Pub Night trivia but Bitty had started super early for some reason. I had hoped to use our unexpected free time to drop in on John & Katrina taping the morning show since they were open about doing it each night before at 8PM and encouraged people to stop by and say hi. Dad wanted to check out the return of Friendly Family Feud in the Centrum so his choice won out only for him to choose to bail a few minutes later. We next headed into the theater to see Alfred & Seymour as we both enjoy comedy performers and I especially enjoy improv comedy. The place was already getting crowded and I hope the powers that be see it as a sign of what types of entertainers cruisers want to see. Production shows and musical acts can be great too but it's nice to have a mix of everything. Alfred & Seymour had some pretty funny moments, especially when they messed with the people who came in late. Would have liked to see more improv and inclusion of the audience though.

One of the things I've always enjoyed doing, especially in the evenings is to take a moment and walk around the promenade deck outside. Sometimes when you're running around you can forget that you're on a ship out in the majestic ocean and it's nice to step outside and feel the natural elements around you. It turns out that it's also a great way to circumvent the snail pace of a large crowd exiting the theater after a show. We stepped outside from the doors right by the theater, walked along the outside deck in the super high winds until we came across our next door to go back inside. We came back inside just ahead of the crowd still shuffling their way through the casino.

We decided a snack was in order and popped up to the Park Cafe. Dad went with a hamburger while I tried the nachos again. Unfortunately, the nachos weren't as good today so I didn't eat much. 

As we sat in the solarium, the semi peace and quiet was interrupted by maintenance work being done on the pool. They had drained the pool and were first working in and around the far pool wall but then disappeared out of sight to work on the pool from underneath. It was so weird to hear the power tools and see the sparks emitted but you couldn't see the person working. Not sure what they did but the pool was back open and in full use the next morning.

Our 5 straight port days are now behind us and I was looking forward to three straight sea days.