Ultimate Dining in Bar Harbor? Change of Plans

While at trivia the night before, Commodore Nick Nash made an announcement that due to an approaching storm, we would have to skip our final tender port of Bar Harbor and the following day's port of St. John, New Brunswick in order to get ahead of the storm. Attempts were made to stay in Boston overnight which did not work out. The bridge crew worked to find alternatives and the decision was made that after a sea day today, we'd instead stop in Sydney, Nova Scotia instead of New Brunswick. Sydney was a port on one of our other cancelled Canada cruises so I was intrigued to have the chance to visit after all. 

I commend the crew for having to think on the fly making up a new Patter and having to find extra activities to entertain passengers on this unexpected sea day. It was like a personal throwback cruise because events I hadn't seen offered in the past few years were dragged out of the vault. There was so much offered that it was tough to keep up with all that we wished we could attend. Many things were scheduled so that they overlapped or were completely at the same time. I can understand the methodology given that we were on a large ship and everyone was stuck inside for the most part with poor weather as we rocked and rolled to outrun the storm. The plan was to offer as many activities as possible so that passengers had lots of options and no one activity had hundreds of people attending.

After our usual breakfast at Sabatini, we spent the morning at trivia, Goofy Golf, and Lyrical Poetry where participants picked a popular song and had to recite the lyrics in the style of performing in a Shakespeare play. Let's just say, there probably should have been a PG-13 rating on some of those performances. 

As with any sea day, the dining room is open for lunch. One of the blast from the past activities offered was the British Pub Lunch, an extra that had gone away since the pandemic and was only sparingly returning to ships recently. Between the popularity of that offering and the captive midday audience, the main dining room was the happening spot come lunchtime. We had a small line to get through for the Club Class entrance. They were letting the other side of the double door be where you lined up for non Club Class so it was a bit of effort to get around the long line to reach the Club Class podium. They had several servers lined up along the wall and each passenger group would be asked if they were there for regular dining or Pub Lunch. Then one of the servers would be directed to escort the groups let in by party size and table availability. 

I loved the use of Club Class dining on previous cruises so much that I was tempted to skip Sabatini's breakfast to dine there instead. However, this time, it made me glad we didn't have more reason to use the main dining room. Yes, nearly every table in Club Class was full and being short staffed is a struggle all ships are experiencing but this was a frustrating lunch service. We experienced long waits for everything from getting our order taken, to getting drinks, to getting food delivered, to getting drink refills, etc. The patience tends to run out when you start noticing other tables getting further along in their meals or ones getting their meals before you who came in after you. I did not want to eat a lot so I skipped the bread, salad, and appetizer options. I ordered the rigatoni carbonara and the waitress asked if I wanted the appetizer or meal portion. I asked for the meal portion and honestly, if this was the meal portion, the appetizer portion must come with a warning of "Don't blink or you'll miss it." I love carbonara and this in size and taste really missed the mark.

I was so disappointed and frustrated that I was ready to leave. Dad did not want to miss getting the gelato from the dessert menu and insisted we stay. That meant we continued to sit and wait and be ignored. Finally, a head waiter wandered past and we caught his attention. Once we informed him about our long wait, he directed a server to go retrieve the gelato and refilled our drinks. 

But of course, one of the things you'll never be at a loss for on cruises is food. We didn't have to wait long to have a much more redeeming meal experience. We had mentioned to Thor pre-cruise that Dad would be celebrating his birthday on this sailing. April then decreed that our pre-scheduled Ultimate Balcony Dinner evening was to be Dad's official birthday celebration. She asked that we stay out of our cabin in the short while before dinnertime so that they could surprise us. 

When we arrived at our cabin, we discovered that Dad's bedroom had been redecorated with a Happy Birthday sign, hanging decorations, balloons, and a cake sculpture made out of towels, toilet paper rolls, and mini bar sized liquor bottles. For the record, we later made our new trivia friends very happy with a gift of the liquor bottles.

Given the dreary weather outside, it wasn't practical to have our dinner actually on the balcony so our cabin's dining table was set up beautifully again with flowers and a white tablecloth. 

Thankfully before I had a chance to spill anything on myself, the professional photographer came in to take the included pictures. I was confused when these photos showed up for purchase on our app but had not been given to us in print by the last full day of the cruise. I asked April if that was still included with the dinner and she had the photos brought to our suite by the time we were back from dinner.

Given the modifications we made to avoid seafood on Dad's dishes, we were given two different canape plates. Above was my plate with tuna, salmon, caviar, and shrimp bites. Below is Dad's plate that is more meat and cheese based. Didn't quite understand the sushi roll in the middle though. 

They also brought Dad the amuse bouche plate from Sabatini and the melon slices he asked for in place of the crab cake appetizer. Dad had to make himself stop eating the melon in order to have room for the rest of the meal but said it was the best he's ever had. 

My appetizer: Pacific Blue Crab Cake Baked in a Puff Pastry Crown - thyme infused tomato chutney and whole-grain mustard cream. 

Dad's appetizer: Baked brie on crusty bread with breaded zucchini fries. He loved it all until I made the mistake of asking how he liked the zucchini. Once he found out that he was eating a hidden vegetable his brain screamed "Retreat!"

We both had the Marinated Chevre and Mesclun Field Greens - pear, walnuts, and aged balsamic vinaigrette. Except that Dad asked for blue cheese dressing and I think I ended up with ranch. I did make a special request of no walnuts on mine but both salads had them when served. I mentioned it and my plate was quickly whisked back into the hallway where they removed all the walnuts.  

Dad had the Grilled Filet of Beef Tenderloin Diane - chateau potatoes, vegetable bouquet, and mushroom demi-glace. I had the Surf and Turf option of Broiled Tail of Cold Water Lobster and Grilled Filet of Beef Tenderloin - served with rissole potatoes, vegetable bouquet, and a duo of sauces.

I had mentioned enjoying carbonara in a conversation with April so she surprised me with a plate of Sabatini's carbonara in addition to my entree. 

We both had the same dessert. Princess's Extraordinary Chocolate Quartet - delicate quenelles of dark, swiss, milk, and white chocolate mousseline. I was surprised when I went back to look at the menu because while tasting, I was convinced there was coffee and/or peanut butter flavors on the bottom.

A Princess formal night staple - listed on the menu as Friandises. Basically some assortment of small sweet bites for the table to share. Also sometimes listed as Gourmandises or Petit Fours on menus. 

Moments after our desserts arrived, we were given our second surprise of the night - a whole chocolate cake personalized with Happy Birthday, Allan! April, along with our waiters for this evening, came back into the cabin to give a wonderful speech to celebrate Dad before singing Happy Birthday to him. Then they gifted him with an Enchanted Princess themed shirt and a normal sized Stanley Bear from the shop. It was an endearing moment and nice to see Dad get all the fuss for a change. Stanley now has a place of honor on my TV stand. 

By the next evening, our steward thoughtfully put a room service dish cover over our cake leftovers to keep them fresh. Lots of cake late night snacks and tons of sugar high jokes about how much the message changed as more of the cake was eaten.