American Cruise Lines - Day 6 - Wilmington, NC

Today's port stop brings us to Wilmington, N.C. The excursion choices were either a morning Historic Wilmington bus tour at 9:30AM or the Wilmington Trolley that ran every 15 minutes from 1:30PM to 5:30PM. We had originally been told that this trolley option would be like the hop on/hop off buses and take you on a nice ride around town so we booked that.

Here's the information related to the two tours:

Wilmington Historic Mansions Excursion - 3 hours long, activity level 2, and restrooms available. For some reason the little camera icon was left off both of these tours but I'm sure it was fine. This excursion was $55 per person. On the excursion information page, it's listed as a trolley tour that ends with a tour of "a local historic mansion." On Ali's schedule, it says a scenic tour of Wilmington via motor coach with a "closer look at the Bellamy mansion." We learned from new friends later who went on this tour that they were supposed to be able to go into the mansion and now couldn't. We also learned later from Robert and Stephanie that Ali had been calling corporate ACL repeatedly to secure confirmation that the tour could go inside the mansion. They finally told her the night before that they couldn't reserve it.

Wilmington Free Time Trolley - 3 hours long (or until you choose to come back), and activity level 1. This tour was complimentary. Looking back on these two tour descriptions now, it's obvious how this is really just a trolley shaped shuttle into town but when described during the first day's presentation, it was explained as a narrated loop through town that you could then get off as desired to shop etc. If that's what you're hoping for too on your trip, I'd stay away from anything billed as "complimentary" unless you already know what's in town to go to.

With no real rush in the morning, we took our time heading to breakfast. Last night's crab stuffed beef tenderloin - meet today's Poached Eggs Seafood Hash with lobster, crab, shrimp, and hollandaise.

I continued to work my way through the Pancakes & More section instead with an order of waffles, bacon, and sausage. I'm not normally a fan of bacon at breakfast because it's usually super crispy but I figured I had to see how they made it once. Verdict? Still not a fan but the waffles were good.

With time to kill and no other activity scheduled for the morning, I decided to wander the port area and see what I could discover. The first thing I discovered once off the ship was that we were docked at a pier that was at sea level and everything else in this marina was up on a higher level. I learned later by watching the morning tour people head to the bus that if you exit the ship and turn right, you can walk the short way around the raised level which leads to a ramp up to the top. At this time though I turned left being only able to see the stairs at the far end of the dock and figuring that was the only way up. The whole time I'm picturing all of my fellow passengers with mobility issues having to walk this far. On the plus side, it gave me tons of extra exercise, a much quieter solo walk, and I got to enjoy walking around both our ship and the yachts parked along the same level.

Here's what the "aunch" looks like from the side. In this picture you can also get a better view of the platform used when boarding the tender.

I climbed the stairs to the main level and walked over to look back down with a wave at the deckhand manning the gangway. The main level is a great vantage point for checking out the many small personal boats and rentable boats the marina has to offer. Do you ever look at a warning label and wonder who thought to do that very thing causing the label? I passed a two story boat that advertised being able to rent for parties and weddings but no overnight stays. Sounds like that would have been an interesting backstory.

I walked next past some parking garages to get up to true street level in hopes that there would be a nearby store. Alas, all I saw was highways in multiple directions. Back to the ship I headed in time to see the bus show up for the morning tour. I think I might have some reservations about boarding a bus named after Cape Fear:

We decided to grab lunch on the ship today before heading out on the trolley.

I went with the shrimp wrap and it was mighty tasty. I also appreciated the regular potato chips versus kettle chips. 

Unfortunately, the service was slow and we opted to leave before dessert. Our new friends told us that the peanut butter pie was heavenly. I asked if they had anymore at dinnertime tonight and unfortunately the answer was no. We noticed several menu items repeat during the second week but my hopes for a peanut butter pie reappearance never came to be.

When we reached the main deck to pick up the trolley, a good sized crowd gathered and it was getting well past the 1:30PM start time. Ali walked past us and up to the street level where the trolley must have been waiting because she soon came back down to us by riding on the trolley. The trolley did have a wheelchair lift but there was no management of how many people got on so by the time the passenger in her walker (with a seat) got up on the lift, there was no seats left for her and her husband on the regular benches. Her husband spent the ride holding one side of her walker in place on the wheelchair tracks and I held the other side. Thinking there was more to come after the first stop at some bookstore, I offered to move to the back couple seats where the legroom is hindered by wheel covers so they could have a proper seat but they declined to continue with the trolley ride. 

When the trolley driver came to the back to operate the wheelchair lift, they informed him they weren't getting off. We told him we'd be staying on as well intending to simply enjoy the visits to the other stops. This is when he informed us that there was no other stops, he would only be taking people here and back to the ship. Though annoyed, we tried to make the best of it by getting off and wandering among the shops and restaurants. I tried seeking out a pharmacy on my phone but after a couple blocks the area went from quaint small town to homeless camps and we were approached a couple times asking for money. Dad wasn't interested in repeating our attempts to see the town the hard way and we turned to go back toward the bookstore. On one of the street corners, I noticed a sign indicating it to be a stop for the city's free Hop On/Hop Off trolley and suggested we stop to wait for it. Dad was only willing to wait if it was soon to arrive so I used my phone to look up the schedule and found that the next scheduled visit to this stop was within 25 minutes. That scheduled time came and went. We gave it about 10-15 more minutes and when nothing came I gave up and agreed to head all the way back to the bookstore. We ended up waiting another 40-50 minutes before the ship's contracted trolley returned (so much for running every 15 minutes). As if it had heard me when I said moments earlier, if this trolley doesn't show in the next 5 minutes, I'm calling Ali. 

Ali had tried adding some new activities to today's schedule with a 2:30PM session of Bingo and a 3:15PM session of self-host blackjack. Unfortunately, our delays with the trolley made us miss the Bingo session and I heard later that no one had showed up to play. Another change to the schedule was replacing what used to be called "Office Hours" is now called "Rebooking Hours." To us, that just came off as "we only want to talk to you if you're ready to book another cruise with us." Ali also added a specific time this afternoon to meet her in the office, dubbed "Cruise Couch," for "finalizing your next cruise." 

Dad headed down to the Chesapeake Lounge to listen to Rachel's talk about South Carolina. I knew I needed some time to be by myself and cool down from the frustrations of the afternoon and the multiple little annoying moments that had all reached their boiling point. I used the time to share my issues on social media and in an email to ACL. I realized later that I should have sent it to the specific person noted in our mid cruise survey instead of the main customer service email. To this day, I'm still waiting on any response to my report from ACL on any forum. They however, have already sent us a "Welcome to Eagle Society" booklet with several referral cards and a 2020 wall calendar featuring their ships. 

It was also at this point that I found solace in the simple focused task of working on the latest puzzle someone got out to start putting together in the 2nd deck lounge. Others would come and go working on the puzzle and I loved coming back from tours the next few days to see the progress they'd made. There was often times when I had the lounge to myself and would sit there working on the puzzle so long, people would walk by once and then again a couple hours later to find me still there. I did take breaks as my joints would protest or my eyes begin to cross but would soon relish the chance to return. I enjoy the logic of all puzzle style activities and every trip I kick myself for not picking up some of those puzzle books to enjoy on the trip. My form bent over the puzzle trying to match the red yarn in this corner versus the slightly different patterned red yarn in this other corner of the cat themed puzzle got to be such a familiar sight that other passengers dubbed me "the puzzle girl." I'd be on a tour days later and in greeting, fellow passengers would simply ask "Did you finish the puzzle yet?" 

No worries, I took a break to reunite with Dad for dinner.

Who doesn't want a bowl of warm tomato soup when they're needing some comfort food?

Not seeing anything that really screamed "Wow, pick me!" on the entrée list, we opted to order off menu tonight. Frankly, if anything on the list did scream, I'd definitely be ordering off menu! Tonight's meal was a winner with a bacon cheeseburger and the good chips. 

Kevin asked each of us if we wanted ketchup, mustard, and/or mayo and they came as their own plate of three little cups. It's the little things like that that I adore about cruising. You could order something as commonplace or mundane as a hot dog and fries and get your ketchup in a little fancy dish or serving bowl. We also learned from Kevin (after he accidentally misspoke and offered us fries instead of chips with our burgers) that they don't have the capabilities onboard to make fries with any regularity like you might find on a big ship's buffet or poolside grill. The one time it was offered early in the cruise as a side to some dish had to have been pre-planned and prepared in some limited special way. 

While I can polish off a cheesecake with ease, I rarely go for more than a couple bites of a cake or pastry style dessert. I've recently been into trying Bread Pudding, soufflés, and similar desserts so I was curious to try tonight's offering of Bread and Butter Pudding with Dried Cranberries. Or as Dad called every tiny shriveled up fruit invader in his food, raisins. Not a fan of the raspberry syrup but the bread underneath for the most part was good.

Dad returned to the cabin to relax and I went back to the lounge for puzzle time. He soon came back down venting that during turndown, we'd been left a bill for this first week in our cabin. While this was one of the few indications we'd had that this trip was to be billed as two separate bookings, Dad was actually mad about getting a bill that charged us both for excursions. Not only was Dad supposed to be comped for his excursions but we were both charged for the excursions we let Ali know that we wanted to cancel. He was able to catch Cheree in the office and she cleared the incorrect charges. We talked to some new friends who also planned to stay for both weeks and they never got a bill at all for this first week. One of them had planned to request a discount for the morning tour not visiting Bellamy mansion but opted not to bother since they never saw a bill.

Neither of us were interested in attending tonight's entertainment of another performance by Robert and Stephanie, this time with the theme of Divas and Crooners. Dad headed up to bed while I worked on the puzzle. It was also fun to hear all the little things that go on while it's quiet and no one realizes you're within earshot. First Ali paced the hall calling several dry cleaning places in hopes of getting uniforms cleaned while we were docked overnight in Charleston. Then while she out pacing, one of the female crew was looking for her so they went to her cabin knocking on the door and calling out "Cruise Director Ali!" Knock knock, "Cruise Director Ali!" over and over. All I could picture was Sheldon's door knock from The Big Bang Theory. Then when it was time for the show, no one could find the second microphone so Ali paced back and forth all over again between the office and the Chesapeake Lounge trying to find it. The show went on without it as I could still hear the performance from down the hall. Dad noticed during the second week that our new housekeeping manager was taking inventory in the cabinets by the ice machine and had a microphone in her hands when she finished counting up the drinks. Seems like someone was doing two things at once while cleaning up the lounge and put the microphone down while dealing with something else in the cabinet.

American Cruise Lines - Day 5 - Beaufort, N.C. (Part 2)

While I could have attended today's art class with a theme of making gift tags at 2PM because we chose not to go on our tour, I opted not to in favor of relaxing in the cabin. Today was also the first time Ali started including "Movies in your cabin" on the schedule because she would set up the ACL themed TV channel to show certain movies. Today's feature was the 1955 movie "To Catch A Thief" starring Grace Kelly and Cary (or Gary as Ali wrote) Grant. I did notice another day that the movie on the schedule was still playing on that channel later in the evening so I'm guessing once it's put in the system, it just runs on a loop. Despite always being close to shore, our cabin TV would pick up New York based local stations. Threw us a couple times to be half listening to the TV and hear them say it snowed today when we're looking out the window at cold but sunny skies. We soon learned that shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy air at the same time in NY as here at home but on ABC so we'd end up watching them between dinner and evening plans. Even though we'd randomly lose signal to several national channels during the trip, we watched a lot of crime drama and Friends reruns since TBS, TNT, and USA Network were the easiest to find something to watch on throughout the day. A few times we ended up watching shows live on the broadcast networks that we'd set to record at home in the evenings because we were already back in our cabins with nothing else to do.

While we didn't think much of needing sunscreen, the further south we sailed, the more bugs we noticed. At times stepping out onto our balcony was like trying to play a life size game of Frogger except the cars you were trying to avoid were gnats and mosquitos. Several times I'd step out to get some air or grab a photo only to jump back in when the bugs would try to come inside the room. I did hear one of the stewards talking about using a vacuum to try and get rid of the bugs on another cruiser's balcony after they'd asked if something could be done. Thankfully a couple ports later, the bug population seemed to go back into hibernation or the crew found a remedy to make our balconies usable again.

Dad headed down to hear Rachel's talk in the Chesapeake Lounge on The Late Great Lord Proprietors while I stayed in the cabin. As I started getting ready for the Cocktail Hour and dinner, I noticed a great looking sunset out the window. It was the perfect moment to capture as the sun disappeared behind the cliffside as fast as I was snapping photos.

Plenty of artichoke left over when it was time to prepare snacks for cocktail hour:

It's always good for a chuckle when I see a cruise menu item listed as Maryland Crab Cakes. It's a fancy nicer way of saying from frozen patties. I must say though seeing Maryland Walnut Cake on tonight's dessert choices was a first. Though the mention of "Apple-woo" bacon in the Organic Spinach Salad sounded intriguing. Yes, I'm that nerd that delights in finding typos in books. 

The Lobster Cake appetizer with Mixed Greens, Saffron Mayo, and Roasted Red Peppers:

How could I resist a Crab Stuffed Beef Tenderloin:

Reminded me of a Beef Wellington where instead of pastry it was the tenderloin encasing the crab. 

Dad decided to try the Maryland Walnut Cake for dessert but said he couldn't tell there had been any walnuts in it. I pointed out the tiny chopped up walnut pieces that had been sprinkled on the top for garnish.

I normally love cheesecake but am not a big fan of apple or caramel and mentioned that to Andre, our waiter tonight. He offered to get me a plain cheesecake and I thought that sounded delightful. He started rattling off other toppings he could add instead and begged me to let him play around because he loved decorating desserts. I told him no nuts or berries and he brought me out this beautiful personalized plate of plain cheesecake with chocolate drizzle:

It was perfect and delicious and my tablemates were impressed that Andre had brought out a special cheesecake just for me. One of them did order the regular caramel apple cheesecake and it turned out to be a piece of plain cheesecake that they'd added a couple slices of cooked apple on top with a drizzle of caramel sauce for decoration. Lifting off the apple topping would have given me a plain cheesecake anyway but the gesture was much appreciated. 

Tonight was another performance by Tim Sells but this time the theme was "Music Through the Ages." He joked about overlapping with some of Robert and Stephanie's song choices and encouraged couples to get up and dance.

Feel free to comment below if you spot yourself in these dancing photos or if you're in the cruise protection program and need your photo removed:

Back in the cabin for the night we discovered a new Eagle Society themed present of one hat. A while back I noticed that I was accruing a collection of cruise line branded baseball caps mostly because they were trivia prizes or for participating in an onboard activity so it was cool to still get one from ACL. We noticed at the next week's Eagle Society cocktail party that they had a bin with tons of extra hats so if we really wanted a second one, it was there for the asking. One gentleman who'd come in for the regular cocktail party right afterwards asked about being able to take a hat from the bin. By then we had a more hands on housekeeping manager on board and when she asked if he was an Eagle Society member, he dropped the hat like a hot potato and left. If he'd have pressed the issue, I have no doubt she would have let him take one.

American Cruise Lines - Day 5 - Beaufort, NC (Part 1)

Today's port visit brings us to Beaufort, N.C. (Pronounced Bo-fert) I guess there isn't that much to do in this tiny seaside town as we only have one tour option even though we're here until 5PM. There are two sessions of the same tour, one at 9:15AM and one at 2PM. It cost $50 per person.

The tour is called Historic Beaufort Exploration and uses a 1967 English double-decker bus with local narration covering tales of Beaufort's rich past of pirates, star-crossed lovers, and Confederate spies. Following the excursion, there will be visits to the Josiah Bell House, the Apothecary, and the Old Courthouse. It is unfortunately due to the transportation, not wheelchair or scooter accessible. It is a level 1 in activity, 2 hours long, cameras permitted, and restrooms available.

We signed up for the 2PM tour time so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get up and get down to breakfast. There was an earlier breakfast time of 7AM to 9AM for those on the early tour. This morning is when I first started noticing how ingredients from the previous evening's dishes would show up as the "Feature of the Day" at breakfast. Remember last night's blue cheese crusted steak? Meet today's Steak and Eggs!

It literally looked like they merely cut those leftover steaks in half (or even 1/3rds as what we got looked more like what one might have left behind after deciding they were full) and stuck them on a plate with fried eggs. I must commend them on giving me the over medium style of fried eggs that I prefer without having to explain how to make them. It was years of trying to describe this where the yolk is cooked until solid to waiters until one Princess waiter says "Oh you mean over medium?" Total light bulb moment! Wait, you mean this style had a name that I could have been using all this time? Thank you sir! The Bernaise sauce on the steak was great. I wish it had been on last night's steak or even the potato. The one drawback (aside from those breakfast potatoes always being badly cooked and bad tasting) is that my already small piece of steak had 1/3rd of its contents as fat/gristle. 

On the buffet style table today they had two new additions, smoked salmon and caramelized bananas. Normally Dad loves the slices of cold smoked salmon with cream cheese on a bagel but this is the first time we'd ever seen it offered like this:

I'm guessing it's just me that saw this setup and wasn't sure whether or not we were supposed to take the whole dish or scoop some out onto our plates:

As we were finishing up breakfast, Ali makes an announcement over the intercom that there would be a shuttle service into town this morning. Huh what? Wasn't she just insisting last night that there would be no such shuttle service today? No hey I'll look into that or yeah that would have been good to offer, a straight out refusal. Unfortunately she didn't give much clear information in her announcement this morning either about where and when to pick up said shuttle. We headed back to the cabin to grab the camera and our jackets before heading off the ship. The ship was docked behind a shipyard/construction company so it was a bit of a maze figuring out how to get up to street level. Then we stood there at first all alone waiting and wondering if a shuttle was coming soon or were we even at the right place? Soon our cabin neighbors joined us and we both stood there looking confused. Finally a white passenger van pulls over and we pile in. The downtown area that we'd been told by Ali was 30-40 minutes away, our driver says no just about 10 minutes from here. Dad asked him when he'd been told about having to drive the shuttle and he said they called him at 8AM this morning. Not only was this a last minute arrangement but our driver was the double decker bus driver hired for the tours today. He had to get to the dock with the bus, take those passengers and guide into downtown, park the bus while they got off to explore, retrieve the shuttle van and make these runs. He had to stop shuttle service at 12PM so he could make it back in time to pick up the bus at the end of their tour!

After looking at the first couple shop windows together, the four of us went different ways to browse the shops. Dad had realized that he'd rather have his preferred brand of eye drops so we wanted to find a pharmacy or grocery store. After browsing a couple streets worth of antique shops, I tried to use Google Maps on my phone to find the nearest store for us. Maps showed that a pharmacy was about 1.5 miles up the road so Dad said that was close enough to walk. About 4 blocks in he changes his mind and instead we resort to randomly wandering (aka "I'm a man so we should follow my directions on how to get back to the shuttle"). I didn't expect to find 10 Diamonds International and Del Sol shops in these ports but I didn't realize how hard it would be to find a nearby drugstore! Getting frustrated at the situation and each other, I insisted on trying to make it to the nearest grocery store that came up in my Google Maps search. Turns out this "grocery store" was more of a gas station mini mart/bodega mash up. No eye drops but you can get sodas and shoes in neighboring aisles. By now we were just happy to find a place to get a cold drink and picked up a couple soda bottles. Dad also picked up a couple candy bars because that's his answer to any ailment and ate the first one on the walk back to the shuttle pick up spot. 

As we walked, we passed by where the double decker bus was parked and watched the morning tour cruisers walking back and forth between these couple blocks. Guest speaker Rachel was on this tour and she explained to us when we passed on the street that the tour was merely parking here in the downtown area and having the passengers wander amongst the historic buildings. 

By now we were both thinking how unappealing having to turn around and come back out here for an afternoon tour was. That thought was even more solidified when we spotted the shuttle driver coming down the street and waved him over. This time the van was almost full with people who'd been on that morning tour and chose to bail. We rode about another block before the driver pulled over to pick up another couple that turned out to be Phiz and Tony completely filling our van. They'd spent the morning exploring the local architecture on their own. It was sweet to chat with Phiz on the way back as she was fascinated by all the different materials used to build houses here. According to her, all the buildings back in Australia are only made of brick.

Once back at the ship, we ran into Ali in the hallway so we stopped to tell her that we'd changed our minds about taking the afternoon tour. Dad felt compelled to explain that it was because we'd run into the morning tour group who didn't like their tour. Ali was somewhat sympathetic to hear this report and of course didn't care that we were canceling. Now if only that stopped her from still trying to charge us for the tour anyway at the end of the week, it wouldn't have been an issue.

Unfortunately, the frustration of the day grew even more when Dad developed a large blister on his foot from the walking. For the next several ports, our quest went from trying to find eye drops to trying to find eye drops and large Band-Aids since our standard travel first aid kit only had regular sized Band-Aids. There were times where I was so close to just using my phone to order from Amazon Prime Now and seeing if they'd come to the ship. Now you might be thinking "why not just call a taxi or Uber to take you to the nearest drugstore?" For some reason, that wasn't an option as Dad was sure there'd be someplace near the ship. 

Once we relaxed for a bit, we headed down to the dining salon for lunch. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find today that repeated a few times throughout the cruise - Old Bay seasoning on rolls. It was just enough to get the taste without the burn of eating a whole snack bag of crab chips. That's not to say I haven't gladly enjoyed many bags of crab chips over the years but it's an acquired taste sensation.

Here is where I took advantage of requesting differences to the menu. I was really curious to try the BBQ Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese Sandwich but also was interested in the Spaghetti and Meat Balls. To make sure I had the appetite for both, I asked for just the sandwich itself and then have the spaghetti as well. That threw Kevin a little bit as he just kept confirming that I want only the sandwich. Sure enough, that's what he brought out, a single plate with just the sandwich. I must say though, it was a great sandwich! A tablemate got the whole dish and I think I would have been fine as well since the tomato soup barely filled a ramekin sized bowl. 

Dad had gotten the spaghetti and meatballs so once I confirmed with him that the meatballs were indeed only beef, I asked Kevin to bring me a plate of that as well. The noodles were good but you could tell that the meatballs were the kind you can buy frozen from the grocery store. Still tasty though.

Dad chose the peach cobbler dish from the dessert menu and while he thought it tasted okay but clearly looked like canned peaches in syrup, a couple other cruisers later lamented that it tasted like something was wrong with the peaches in taste and consistency.

Since we had no afternoon tour to rush off to anymore, we headed to the Deck 3 lounge for the self-host Gin playing that Ali had put on the schedule. Turned out to be so self-hosted, Dad and I were the only ones who showed up to play! However, the good news is, it also means we won!

American Cruise Lines - Day 4 - Coinjock/Kitty Hawk (Part 2)

With the damp conditions outside and the tons of walking on tour this morning, we were ready for a hot lunch.

Not sure if I asked to have just the Caesar Salad without salmon or they had added it to the menu since breakfast but that's what I had for an appetizer today. It became a debate during the cruise with these Caesar Salads because whether or not we got anchovies mixed throughout, a couple on the side, or not at all seemed to differ by the day and by what was served to the people at the same table. I've had anchovies by default since they are part of the Caesar dressing but I've never actually eaten them straight as much as I did on these salads. The two brownish looking curled up mushrooms on the left of the cup were today's anchovies.

Several of us got the Old Fashioned Roast Beef Sandwich and several of us at the table joked about how one plate would barely have any peas and mine had a ton piled on top of the open face sandwich. The meat, gravy, potatoes, and peas were good but the bread was kind of tough underneath.

One of our tablemates at lunch turned out to be Tim Sells, tonight's entertainer who would be performing a tribute show to Kenny Rogers. We all had a nice chat about music during the meal and we started asking Tim if specific songs from Kenny's discography would be included. Dad of course wanted to hear "The Gambler" which Tim joked about never considering such a song like that for his show. I asked about the lesser known favorites of "The Greatest" and "Buy Me A Rose" as I love when songs tell a story and especially when the lyrics feature a play on words. Tim assured me those songs would be included.

Service was pretty slow again today but according to our tablemates, it shouldn't have bothered us. We got the speech about how the waitstaff is just young people working until they find better jobs so the fact that they aren't doing their best at this job shouldn't matter. One gentleman remarked "At this point in my life, I don't care if I ever get served." Yes, we're used to foreign born crew who work hard and are grateful for any tips to send back to their families but that shouldn't mean that we can't be disappointed by the slow service on an American staffed ship. By the end of this meal, I did take the time to speak to the dining room manager taking the time to praise the good wait staff and let him know about the not so well performing staff, just like you should on any cruise ship. He listened attentively but seemed to care about my logical words as much as a child being told he can't have the candy in the store. I did notice that he stepped in a lot more as the cruise went on to do things like refill our water glasses and send other wait staff over to bring our table's meals quicker helping out our main waiter. We also started seeking out the tables belonging to the better wait staff.

After lunch we headed over to the "Next Cruise" presentation in the Chesapeake Lounge. If you chose to book another ACL sailing while on board, you could save 15% off plus your port charges and fees waived on the next cruise. Dad was really interested in considering the offer for a couple other ACL or its sister line Pearl Seas itineraries. They opened the bar and offered snacks for this as well. I've seen this kind of talk on the big ships and it's very similar to how it was today if ACL had the big giant video screen and a much more knowledgeable cruise director/cruise line representative. Granted, the talks done on the mainstream lines are done by the crew member whose job it solely is to know about the other cruise options on their line and try to sell them to you so you're going to get more of an informed sales pitch either way. 

For this talk, Ali set up a small production screen in the front of the lounge and Cheree helped her run the Powerpoint style presentation on the connected laptop. It wasn't a very engaging presentation because Ali simply showed the provided promotional slides from ACL and read off the bullet points from each slide. When other cruisers had questions, she didn't know the answers but did use her phone to call and ask someone for them. It felt a lot like I could have simply grabbed a snack before sitting down at the computer to look at ACL's limited official website and accomplished the same thing. All I personally know about Ali is that she'd sailed on the Maine/New England itinerary before our sailing so perhaps she had no other personal experience or knowledge about the other routes. However, if it was my job to try and sell you your next cruise on my employer's line, I would have at least done some research and be able to pull some key features off the top of my head that would make the cruiser want to come back for something unique and excitingly different than the one they're on now. Yes, the Puget Sound cruise visits the Northwest states. I can see that on the website. Tell me what kinds of things I could see or experience while on that cruise that I wouldn't see here in the Southeast states.

Today is the first time Ali tried adding more scheduled activities by dedicating a time and a lounge for anyone to meet up for cruiser hosted card or dominos playing. I saw a couple people who randomly picked up these games to play throughout the cruise but don't think anyone really gathered for these assigned times.

Next up for us was the Eagle Society member cocktail party in the same lounge. Bar stayed open and snacks were most likely replenished. This time it was Cheree on the microphone who gave a nice speech of thanks and then went around the room asking everyone to share what their favorite itinerary was. Dad spoke for our turn and instead chose to mention one of the choices he'd been interested in. 

Then we got our next gift of wooden cheese boards. One of the people who just happened to be in the lounge reading when the cocktail party started was the husband of a couple we'd gotten to know at meals who were on their first ACL cruise. We all joked later about how he also got asked his favorite itinerary and received a cheese board. I remember being asked when we booked this sailing if we were members like it was a requirement to book. Guess it was another inconsistency like how these two itineraries were displayed for people to book. Several couples only took one cheese board when Cheree passed them around and I am pretty sure the expectation was to only offer one per cabin. We both ended up taking one as they were passed around not realizing otherwise at the time. They are quite nice heavy duty cheese boards emblazoned with the ACL Eagle Society logo and gift wrapped. I like the extra touch of the wooden tag as well. They are almost the entire width and depth of my large suitcase.

Back up to the cabin to put away our latest gifts and to relax until the regular evening cocktail hour. Tonight I branched out and tried a vodka and cranberry on the rocks, hold the vodka. The cheese and crackers were back and I tried some mini quiches.

Tonight's dinner choices were definitely not lacking in the cheese or vegetable department.

My appetizer for tonight was the Cauliflower Cheddar Soup. Reminded me of some French Onion soups where the cheese layer just sits like a disc you push around to get at the soup versus the better French Onion soup where the gooey cheese layer melts into the soup. If you ever get the chance to sail on Princess in their Crown Grill specialty restaurant, definitely try their version of French Onion soup. I believe they refer to it as the Black & Blue Onion soup. Just be sure to wear your napkin as it is gooey and drippy. Brought home a couple grease based stains of honor over my Princess cruising history. All of ACL's soups were served in these little bowls the size of their coffee cups so don't hesitate appetite wise if you want to try the soup and another appetizer.

For my entrée I stepped out of my usual box and tried the Blue Cheese Bacon Crusted Strip Steak. The steak itself was a pretty decent size and the crust on top had good flavor. After a while I didn't care for the hard crunch that it took to get through chewing the topping to get to the steak. Note the lack of any toppings besides the always present butter pats on the table for the rolls. One thing I was surprised by was that when we ordered the steaks (Remember, you put the words steak and potatoes in front of Dad and it could have been encased in the cauliflower cheese soup. He still would have devoured it.) our waiter Kevin warned us that it would be cooked medium rare. Never have I been told what my meat choice would be cooked to instead of being asked what level I'd prefer. I believe that if it wasn't the better waiter of Kevin, we wouldn't have been given a choice at all. We both asked for medium well instead and that was what we were served. Honestly, that's a plus for ACL because we've had to send undercooked beef back on the bigger lines even after asking for medium well.

I give kudos to Cheree as well here for her routine presence in the dining salon helping out with the little things like water refills. The couple times I've gotten the wrong order, she had it whisked away and replaced instantly. When Dad asked her about yet another day without chocolate ice cream, she apologized and blamed it on herself for not having the time to go buy some. The next day she had gone out shopping and told Dad that she got so much chocolate ice cream, he'd never be able to eat it all! 

Tonight's dessert was a choice I rarely make, red velvet cake. The cake was good but the raspberry syrup swirl throughout the vanilla ice cream made it too sweet to finish.

Back up to the cabin to relax until showtime where we found a new gift left on our beds, a small but very soft throw blanket stitched in one corner with the Eagle Society ACL logo. Having been given two tote bags on day 1 and two cheese boards during the party earlier, it made me wonder why we now only had one blanket. I was concerned given all the effort we put in to make me show as Eagle Society on the books that the ship still only had Dad on record. The next night when Cheree happened by our table, I took the time to ask if the gifts were one per person or one per cabin. She confirmed that it's supposed to be one per cabin but then asked if I wanted another one. I said no thanks, we don't need another blanket I just wanted to know for information sake. She countered by asking "Yes, but do you WANT one?" I said no thanks but now that I use it here at home to cover my arms while watching TV, Dad is jealous that we didn't get two since it's so soft!

We were looking forward to tonight's entertainment and it looked like a lot of other cruisers were as well since by the time we walked down to the lounge, most of the single chairs were taken. We ended up sitting on one of the couches pushed off into the front corner of the room. When Tim spotted us walking in, he told me that he was going to dedicate a song to me tonight. I asked which song and he only replied "The one you asked me about at lunch." I asked which he meant since I'd brought up two songs but he just nodded. The show was very nice and included a handful of songs I either hadn't thought of in years or didn't even realize were Kenny's songs. He performed "The Greatest" and I noticed several cruisers singing along. Everyone laughed and applauded at the unexpected ending in the lyrics. Then Tim mentioned me asking him to sing a song in the show tonight and so he was dedicating "Buy Me A Rose" to me. A loud "aww" rose up from the crowd. The song was beautifully done but it was a little embarrassing when Tim then took the time to confirm that I appreciated the gesture in front of everyone. Apparently my random seat choice and Tim's spotlight made lots of fellow passengers take note of my singing along and toe tapping during the show. I got tons of pleasant comments about how much I was visibly enjoying the show. I was a little taken aback though by one cruiser I'd gotten to chat with frequently who stopped me after the show to share how shocked she was that I'd actually requested a song from Tim. Her tone and reaction made it seem that she thought such an action should have sent me to the stockade back in Williamsburg. I explained that it was more a chance conversation while sharing the same table at lunch and she seemed reassured that I hadn't committed such a capitol offense. 

Tomorrow's port visit has us stopping in Beaufort, NC named after a prominent figure from the area. The town has a sister city of the same name in South Carolina but they distinguish the two by pronouncing the one in NC like the man's name Bo-fort and the one in SC is so beautiful, they call it Bu-fort. It was comical during Ali's pre-port visit talk tonight as they all tried to remember how to pronounce tomorrow's city. After going over tomorrow's shore excursion, Ali was asked about whether there would be a shuttle into town for those who just want to walk around. She insisted that there wouldn't be any such option and people would have to find their own transportation either by taxi or rideshare.