We didn’t wake up to until almost 8am having had our best sleep of the trip so far. We were not sure if was the lack of sleep the night before, the amount of alcohol we had consumed, or the gentle rolling of the boat – we really didn’t know or indeed care, we were just grateful for it.
Today was an at sea day and we didn’t really have any firm or set plans other than we intended to go to the gym at some point. And so dressed ready for the gym we headed up to the Lido Market for breakfast. It was quite acceptable apart from the Hot Tea that was delivered and turned out to be Earl Grey which in my opinion is not tea and just perfumed water.
After this we popped along to the Theatre and caught the end of the talk about various excursions, we could take but didn’t really fancy any of them or learnt any more than we already knew..
Before finally going to the gym we went up to the Explorers Lounge to get Karen a proper coffee and me a proper cup of tea. We found dome decent seats and sat for while enjoying them whilst planning what we wanted to do the next day at the first stop in Juneau.
Then we did make it to the gym which was not very busy. We found a couple of cross trainers and used them for 30 minutes. I listened to Mark Steel with his Podcast about Coleraine. Karen had to shush me a couple of times as I was apparently laughing so loudly at his show.
Then we grabbed another quick cuppa before heading back for a shower and change. The ship was really starting to roll through some rougher seas at this point.
We met up with T&G for lunch in the Lido Market. The food I got to start with was disappointing forcing me to seek out some more. I found a counter serving some lovely Lamb which was much more acceptable. We sat and chatted for a while catching up with what we had all been doing during the morning. Following this we headed to the outside deck to blow the cobwebs away. We didn’t stay too long as the temperature was noticeably cooler than when we had left Seattle.
We found some seats in one of the lower floor lounges. Karen & I thought we had better make a start on our 15 drinks a day quota and had a couple of glasses of bubbles each followed by a ‘Mosquito’ cocktail. T&G re-joined us after having had a quick nap back in their cabin.
Karen was keen to try the Royal Dutch High Tea that was now being served in the Dining Room, I less so. But ‘Happy Wife – Happy Life’ and so we went in and were immediately shown to a table. It was a good decision. We were given a small 3-tiered cake stand containing what we would call a miniature afternoon tea. Each cake or sandwich was not much more than a mouthful and was delicious. On top of that we had the best 2 cups of tea of the trip. We decided that if we were on board when this was being served, we would come again. It was a good call by Karen even if it did use up her quota of good calls for the year.
We re-joined T&G who hadn’t come along with us, and ordered another ‘Mosquito’ to finish the afternoon. T&G went back to get ready for their very early dinner reservation. We sat a while and totally by chance had the first other Brits we have come across on the ship sit next to us. Not only that but they were from Cambridge. We sat and chatted for a while about cruise life.
Tonight, we were using our free posh restaurant credit in the Pinnacle Steak Restaurant. So, we headed back to shower and dress. I wore the only shirt I had brought and Karen put on a posh frock.
Our table was waiting for us and we were served by Raj who was trying his best to upsell us on the menu and kept hinting for a tip. We did neither as the menu covered by our credit was perfect for us as was the wine. I had to refuse several times the offer of buying a bottle of different wine for a mere $75 extra. Our package includes all gratuities so I was not prepared to fork out more for anything.
We couldn’t decide if the service was slow or just paced. We were not bothered either way though. The food was superb. We both had the Jumbo Crab Cakes as our starters (and another Shrimp Cocktail to share brought by Raj still trying hard for an additional tip), followed by Filet Mignon which tasted and was cooked to perfection.
For dessert Karen went for the very appropriate Baked Alaska with Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream inside. Even I had the dessert of Chocolate Souffle which was not as light as I expected and more like a sponge pudding but still really good.
More than 2 hours after taking our seats we were walking out with no doubt glares from Raj as to the lack of additional tip situation. We headed to the Theatre where the performance had started. It was a variety show of singing. It was dire. It made us realise how good the Cromer Pier show had been. The singers themselves were very average. The production and direction though were so bad it made us shake our heads and laugh. After 25 minutes we got up and left.
We went to the Piano bar. Now we like a good Piano bar. We quite liked the performers on our last cruise. The two here were not up to that standard. The girl was not too bad but I didn’t think the guy was great. They certainly were not reading the room and the few songs we heard were not getting any reaction.
So, we moved onto to the Rolling Stone Lounge which was heaving with people. This was unsurprising as the band were again terrific. They were playing a ‘Funk’ set and the place was really rocking. It seems whatever set they play that they manage to give the impression that they is their preferred type of genre. Their rendition of Kiss by Prince and Play that Funky Music by Wild Cherry were both top class. Despite our tiredness we found a seat and waited to listen to part of their Disco set that followed. They are all extremely talented.
Back in our cabin we were greeted by chocolates on the bed and a Bear made from towels which made us smile. A day at sea that I had not been looking forward to had mean much better than I had been expecting. The gentle rocking so sent us off to the land of nod.
