American Cruise Lines - Day 3 - Norfolk (Part 2)

It seems I was an artist in high demand after all because it seemed like everywhere I turned today, someone was asking if I planned to come to today's art session. I was hesitant to come back even though the topic was Sailboat Art but I ended up deciding to go. Got a little bit of critique again when my initial painting of the blue water came out too dark. I took Mary's tips into consideration and trusted in my own abilities to complete the picture. As I was finishing up, Mary came by to check on my work and exclaimed with surprise "Oh you fixed it! That actually turned out really nice." Thanks I suppose. Here is my shark fins formally known as sailboats - or if you tilt your head to look at it upside down, cookie monster with claws or fangs?

While I was channeling my inner Van why did I Gogh to art class, today's 3PM delivery of cookies arrived and Dad showed up (do cookies have homing beacons?) just in time to grab one of the last cookies to bring over to me. This time we were back to a smaller amount of larger cookies and now featuring M&Ms and chocolate chips. Since it was the last one, I broke the cookie apart and shared it with my new art classmate and as it turned out, next door cabin neighbor for this first leg.

Took a moment while I was in the Chesapeake Lounge to investigate this public area on the bow of the ship. You step out here via the door on the starboard side. They have the actual machinery and anchor area roped off for crew only but you're welcome to walk around next to the ropes all you like. Several people took advantage of stepping out here for sunset photos. Just be wary of the large step to go through the doorway and if it's windy, it can be tough to open the door.

After my plan to use the downtime after class to use the internet in the library/lounge was thwarted by a gentleman who opted to play videos loudly on his tablet (a cruise itself is common space, please pick up a pack of cheap ear buds to add to your packing list), I ventured outside to the common aft balcony space. It was a lucky break because I came out there right when a sailing class was happening across the harbor. After drawing and painting sailboats, I enjoyed watching this whole group of colorful sailboats run through their techniques and shriek in delight as they passed each other. The sun started to set on the water as I stood out there and it really highlighted the sails' bright colors.

Special shout out to this deckhand named Sean. He and my Dad really hit it off becoming buddies. Sean would come hang out with us around the ship if he wasn't called to work. One day, a new deckhand joined the crew and we'd enjoyed chatting with him as well when we saw him on gangway duty. When he saw us talking to Sean in the hallway he stopped to chat as well and Sean told him that he'd better "take good care of us." He was definitely a bright spot during our cruise and I made sure to praise him in our post cruise survey.

Back down to the Chesapeake Lounge for cocktail hour had me trying the new to me food of falafel. I'd heard of it but never had it. I asked the young lady serving tonight what was in it and she said "I don't know. I keep asking but they won't tell me." If only I'd had my camera out to capture her reaction when I looked it up and shared with her that it's a cake made from fava beans or chickpeas. Dad liked the beef topped crostini they passed around. When another young lady came by offering pigs in a blanket, Dad was ecstatic and she was just as relieved because we were the first people to actually want some. He'd been saying after the first day, "Can't they have different snacks, you know like pigs in a blanket?" Guess the walls were listening. :) Only downside is that they drizzled mustard across each one. Dad wolfs them down and says "they tasted a little weird though." "That's because they had mustard drizzled on top." "Mustard?!" This from the guy who didn't want to try his first Cubano sandwich during a tour of Miami because it had mustard and pickles so they special ordered him one without those ingredients. Shh, no one tell him it also had ham on that sandwich he devoured.

Above: beef crostini with horseradish.

Below: crab cake, pigs in a blanket, dried out falafel (reminded me of a green version of "If it's round and brown, go around." 

Down to the dining salon we trekked where our tablemates informed us that the Botanical Garden tour was disappointing as well. Another tablemate tonight was one of those frequent cruisers who had so many stars on his nametag, they just gave him one big star on the board. He told us that the slow service is not the norm and when he talked to management about the issues we've all experienced, the answer was "Well this week is just a repositioning cruise to bring the ship down from the Maine route to Charleston where it will do the southern route back and forth." This combined with the unfamiliarity with these ports in between was the excuse given for all the organizational and scheduling mistakes.

Tonight's appetizer for me was the Caramelized Garlic and Crab Soup. I found out where the rest of those cocktail hour crab cakes went.

The entrée was the BBQ Pork Shank. The abovementioned tablemate got the same dish and he spent so much time talking about how it was too much meat to eat that I almost felt guilty about devouring 90% of mine. Had plenty of appetite to finish it since the broccoli on the side was barely edible.

Not a fan of coconut or lemon so back to the ice cream options we go. Tonight's choice was rainbow sherbet. Imagine the overt sweetness I described in the orange sherbet times 10. Could only stand a couple bites and that was only in the name of science - had to taste each color after all.