curryshake

Home again, home again, jiggety jog. We were lucky to get off the ship as early as we did because we started running into heavy snow and then sleet on highway 95 about 20 minutes before we got to our town.

Back to last night for my final review...

Before we left, we decided to book reservations for Devinly Decadence in the hopes of kickstarting our return to a healthier diet the evening before we left the ship. In hindsight, I wish we had booked more meals there. The dishes really were quite delicious. The decor was rather lacking, however, and the air was warm and humid due to the venue's close proximity to the Solarium. Also, there was a lot of empty space without tables. I suppose a lot of people aren't interested in trying to eat healthy on a cruise, not that we were either until night nine.

We tried to take a photo of the menu, but it was so dark in the restaurant that it wasn't possible. It was a rather large menu, however, and the server explained that many of the starters could be served in entree portions, if desired. All of the entrees were 500 calories and below. DH and I were speculating about how many cruisers had ordered twelve dishes off the menu and then bragged to others about eating light and healthy.

I had the cold cantaloupe soup with toasted almonds and prosciutto. My brain must have been jostled a little too much by the ship's rocking up to that point, because I really don't like cantaloupe at all, but the dish sounded so intriguing that I wanted to give it a go. I'm glad I did too, because it was very delicious. The cantaloupe wasn't overpowering and the prosciutto was the first time any bacon or bacon-like product I ordered on the ship came out crispy, including during our meal at the Chef's Table. DH had the grilled salmon chipotle salad and thought it was kind of dry. He also said the lettuce was wilty and overall the dish didn't have much flavor.

For my entree, I had the grilled chicken enchiladas. I regularly make low/no-fat ranchero sauce from scratch at home, and I thought mine was better. The sauce at Devinly Decadence was a little too heavy on tomato (more like a marinara sauce than it should have been). But the dish overall was really good. I would happily eat it again. I was having trouble believing the the two large enchiladas were less than 500 calories, but they were light on cheese, so I suppose that's possible. DH had the drippy (no joke...that's part of the name) ahi tuna tacos and thought they were okay. Once again, he said the dish didn't have a lot of flavor, but he thought the wasabi and jalapeno on the side helped address that weakness.

I didn't get dessert. DH had the shotglass carrot cake. I think they were only supposed to serve one of the oversized shot glasses filled with cake and cream cheese icing, but the server brought him two. Perhaps this was because he was afraid I would change my mind about dessert and deprive poor DH, or because people typically ordered a second. DH said that this was one of his favorite desserts on the ship. I took a bite as well and thought it was excellent.

Having already packed before dinner, we took a look at the Solarium on our way out of the restaurant and noticed that it was completely empty. I don't mean very empty. I mean it was just the bar tender and the haunting sound of wind whistling past the forward wall of windows as we pressed northward into the cold night. Since we were going to be doing self-assisted disembarkation and didn't need to set our suitcases out in the hallway that night, we had left our swimming suits out just in case we wanted to go for one last dip. So we decided to take pity on the poor lonely bartender. It was nice having the hot tubs all to ourselves. We stayed long enough for a crew member to come and peer at us over the adjacent bank of lounge chairs. Sir, we're in our 40s and became boring years ago. Nothing to look at here.

After one final conversation and well-wishing to our favorite bartender, Zai Ma, we returned to the room and changed into dry clothes. We wanted to have one last cocktail in 270, but people were already queuing up for Starwater. So we went to the Schooner Bar for the only time on the trip, other than walking through it multiple times every day and one short round of general trivia. We found some good seats near the piano, and I had a gin and tonic, which I think became my new favorite cocktail during the cruise. There was a guy playing calm selections (sorry, but I can't remember his name and I'm officially too lazy to get up and dig out a Cruise Compass to check). He was very good and it turned out to be the perfect way to ease from a quiet post-dinner swim into an evening of music.

After that, we went to the Dance Hall where all the ship's bands and the orchestra were going to perform, one after the other, as a finale for the cruise. The seats nearest the stage to the left of the dance floor were open so we wound our way through the other seats and took them. The house band, Horizon, was playing. We only got to hear them cover three or four songs, including one by Ozzy Osbourne. Now, I love a good heavy metal lead guitar piece, and their guitarist was absolutely amazing. I felt bad for the band again because everyone was sitting around the dance floor looking like zombies. Again. I have a feeling that a lot of people thought the music was too modern, but most or all of the songs from their set were over 30 years old. So I cheered as much as I could, having come down with a case of laryngitis while passing through the cold front, and the band members smiled at us. By the end of their set, the audience seemed to have warmed up considerably.

After that, we were heading back to our stateroom when we heard a new pianist at Schooner singing an Elton John song. We certainly couldn't pass that up. He played a lot of really good songs, including a few by Carol King, one of my favorite composers. With that, we concluded our evening in public and retired to our stateroom to eat candy and watch an old episode of The Love Boat on my laptop, because we're weird like that.

We met a lot of great people on this cruise. Our group on the Old San Juan food tour was great. You know how there's always the one guy on a tour who never stops asking dumb questions, hassles the guide, and makes ignorant and inaccurate comments as constantly and loudly as possible? Well, he was notably absent from our group. Everyone was nice, friendly, and fun. We also enjoyed talking a few times to a couple from Northern VA. All of our dinner companions at the Chef's Table were wonderful, as I mentioned before, and we were glad to get a chance to talk to several of them again before the end of the trip.

There was also a group of three men that I noticed during our last breakfast in Windjammer. The oldest of the three was seated at a table while the other two (son, grandson?) asked him what he would like to eat and then promptly brought it to him. All three of them were smiling so politely the entire time, and were extremely kind to each other and the wait staff at every opportunity. It warmed my heart. So I was delighted when we stepped out of our stateroom for the last time last night, and were greeted by the sound of heartfelt laughter. It was the older gentleman and one of the younger men. They walked past our door laughing and laughing at a previously told joke, I suppose, and we fell in line behind them and were soon laughing as well. I told them that I wanted to have what they were having. Truly, if those men didn't embody the spirit of vacation and family, nobody on the Quantum did, and I was glad to have been around them even if I never had the chance to formally meet them.

With that, I will just say thank you to everyone for the kind words about our blog. And thank you to ftn807 for joining me in this adventure and in the adventure of marriage. Happy anniversary, my love, and here's to many more to come!

Though below me, I feel no motion

Standing on these mountains and plains

Far away from the rolling ocean

Still my dry land heart can say

I've been sailing all my life now

Never harbor or port have I known

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

And the earth is my blue boat home

Sun, my sail, and moon my rudder

As I ply the starry sea

Leaning over the edge in wonder

Casting questions into the deep

Drifting here with my ship's companions

All we kindred pilgrim souls

Making our way by the lights of the heavens

In our beautiful blue boat home

I give thanks to the waves upholding me

Hail the great winds urging me on

Greet the infinite sea before me

Sing the sky my sailor's song

I was born upon the fathoms

Never harbor or port have I known

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

And the earth is my blue boat home

Blue Boat Home by Peter Mayer

We left our stateroom at 6:45 and were driving out of the parking lot at 7:37. And that was with a delay because immigration wasn't quite ready for Quantum. We did the self assist disembarkation and walked to the parking lot rather than wait in line for a shuttle. Not too shabby.

We're waiting in 270 behind what I estimate to be all but 5 of the ship's passengers. So much for the early bird get the worm.

It's quite a juxtaposition between the last land we saw up close being Haiti with smoke from wood cooking fires rising over the forests and now the NYC skyline. The temperature is a little different too.

I will log back on later today to give my final review. Until then, Maryland, here we come!

Oh, apparently we're waiting for immigration to "get ready" before we can start leaving the ship. DH's hopes of getting to hear everyone's guesses about why we're not moving have been dashed.

DH is packing up the last of his things. I can't believe the cruise is almost over, but I'll be glad to be back home and back in my own bed. I will not be glad to have to catch up with work and personal/volunteer emails starting bright and early Monday morning. Looks like Maryland is in for a variety of fun and exciting winter weather this week as well.

After almost 9 nights on Quantum, I thought I'd make a list of things that I thought worked well and things that I would change, given the choice.

Dynamic dining - I loved having the ability to eat when I wanted and where I wanted every evening. The only downside I saw to it was that the servers seemed rushed and tired. I think RCI just needs to work a few kinks out of the way they they're managing this new dining style.

Food - I thought the quality of the complimentary food was quite low, with a few exceptions. I thought the quality of the additional charge dining was pretty good, with a few exceptions. I would never dine at Wonderland again. I would like to do the Chef's Table again on any other RCI cruises we might take.

Ultimate Drinks Package - This ended up being a good deal for us. We also liked not having to sign a receipt unless we ordered something above the allotted amount ($12 per drink).

Receipts - Speaking of signing receipts...RCI really needs to come up with a better receipt system for paid dining and drinks outside of package deals. There were meals (Jamie's, Wonderland, etc.) where we sometimes had to sign two or more receipts each. The servers seemed confused and we certainly were as well.

The solarium - This space was awesome. I wouldn't change anything except to stock mint at the bar so they can serve mojitos there.

Two70 - This was my favorite part of the ship. My only change would be to make it less cold in there.

Shopping - I'm an unusual woman because I don't enjoy shopping even when I'm on land. Seriously, I buy most of my clothes through a fair trade website and only go to the store when I absolutely have to have something. I think it would be a great idea to convert some of the shopping spaces on the ship into other types of venues, including a general market that somewhat resembles a magazine stand at an airport. Because how many new luxury watches and diamond rings do people really need to purchase in the middle of the Atlantic? I'd much rather have the ability to buy a magazine, pack of gum, bottle of water, Advil, band aid, cheap sunglasses, bar of chocolate, sewing kit, etc.

Announcements - The captain made at least one set of nice and informative announcements each day, including an overview of the weather and sea conditions and location on our journey. The only problem was that you couldn't hear them in many locations, including inside your stateroom (unless you have the TV on, and not always even then), in a hot tub, in a noisy pool, in a noisy dining room, etc. I think they should record every announcement session the captain makes and then show it on one of the in-room channels until the next series of announcements. The captain did this for his return trip weather overview yesterday, and it worked quite well.

Staterooms - We really love our room. As everyone else has already said, there's more than enough storage space. I also like having the bed by the balcony. The bathroom was perfectly adequate, and I liked the circular glass shower. The balcony was also a good size.

Shows and activities on the ship - I thought there was plenty to do on the ship, and it seems they have added back a few RCI favorites that passengers had missed. Unfortunately in my case, I'm a morning person, and as much as I'd love to stay up late into the night dancing and listening to live music, it just never seems to happen because I crash and burn so early in the evening. Sigh. But the evening activities that I did participate in were fun and the performers were all very talented.

Seaplex - This was a fun place. I wish I had spent more time checking out the activities there, but there's always next time on Anthem (I hope!).

The Spa - We only went for the one service (couple's massage), but it was wonderful. The spa wasn't the most beautiful place I've been to, but it was very relaxing.

Artwork on the ship - There's something fun and/or strange to see around every corner. We tried to take as many sets of stairs as possible so we could see the unique artwork on each landing.

Crew - The crew and staff have been wonderful. Other than the occasionally grumpy or tired restaurant server, we haven't had anything but exceptional service.

Ports - We loved each of the stops. I would do them all again in a heartbeat.

Wow. We just had our second Alpha (medical emergency) call of the afternoon.

Geeze. The ship has started that intermittent shaking/exploding thing again. I hope we don't have a repeat of last night. I wasn't the only person kept awake and in fear yesterday either - I spoke to a lady in the Solarium who is on her 15th cruise who said she was ready to tell her husband she never wants to sail again after having a night that was exactly like mine.

I guess I can always jump overboard and swim back to Maryland tonight, if needed. :)

OK - we need a story with this one.

Let's see...it was day 6. Or 8. Or 7. They've all begun to blend together.

DH and I were climbing some stairs to our stateroom when we came upon a small crowd gathered around a guy lying face down on the floor just outside the elevator lobby. I grabbed DH and uttered something like, "Oh my God!" and started to check if any of the other panicked-looking people had called for emergency medical assistance. Then a lady that was with the guy said, "Um, we're starting to attract a crowd..." and I realized that the man straddling the prone guy's back was not actually preparing to administer CPR (you're doing it wrong!), but rather was rubbing his back. The guy's face was filled with pain. It became obvious that the poor guy was having back muscle spasms or something along those lines.

We left in short order to give him his privacy. Having had our share of back pain over the years, I hope the guy was able to get some meds from the dispensary and then spend some quality time in a hot tub.

On an unrelated note, the main shipboard activity of the day seems to be playing cards and reading. Couples are quietly playing cards at tables all over the place and individuals are reading books of all sorts. I saw an octogenarian woman reading "50 Shades of Grey" and passing furtive glances at her snoring husband. Just kidding - but I'm sure it's happening somewhere on Quantum as I type.

Everyone looks tired. And like they could all use some fresh veggies, a couple liters of water, and a nap. I know I could. :)

In honor of our last full day on Quantum, I thought I'd share some statistics DH and I have been arduously gathering throughout our journey. Enjoy!

Number of butterflies in artwork around the ship = 2,185

Number of hot tubs in the solarium = 4 (connected in pairs)

Number of times the bionic bar broke down = 18

Number of NJ folk whose voices are naturally above 83 decibels = 793

Number of times a wife was seen rolling her eyes at her husband = 973

Number of olives inexplicably lying in passageways = 3

Number of men seen lying face down in the stairwells = 1

Number of bad hair pieces = 93

Number of passengers complaining for the sake of complaining = 1,382

Number of squirts of Purell hand sanitizer distributed = 15,392

Average number of clothing changes per day, per person = 5.2

Average number of trips to the swimming pool, per person = 2.7

Number of flying fish sightings by Curryshake = 5

Number of times we saw that guy wearing that shirt = 3

Number of ship store items we felt compelled to buy = 0

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I was able to finally get some sleep late this morning. It's strange because the ocean doesn't look that rough, yet we're still having the occasional "bumps" as we travel. I don't know if they're noticeable across the entire ship, or just far forward (where our stateroom is located). I used to have an office near a site where the Army tested munitions and from time to time we would hear a loud bang and the building would shake so badly that my eraser would fall off of my white board. The sound/feeling from the ship reminds me very much of that. DH agrees.

At any rate, things always seem better in the daylight. I think we're going to grab some breakfast soon. I see a nap in my future!

We're almost even with Wilmington and it's 55 degrees out. The apparent wind has been around 50 mph off the forward starboard bow all night. The Beaufort wind scale got up to 8 at one point, which according to the all-knowing internet is equivalent to a gale. It looks like a good day to stay indoors.

It's supposed to be around 15 degrees when we arrive in Bayonne tomorrow. Yeehaw.

Okay. So it's 1 am and I suddenly feel the need to blog. Mostly because sleep isn't going to be happening for me any time soon. It's not that I'm not sleepy. It's simply that this ship is moving around more than a flight over a hurricane (and I should know...I've flown over the edge of a hurricane).

The captain made a special video earlier today discussing the weather for the remainder of the cruise. I should have bought a clue then. He said we would be passing through a front, and that while waves wouldn't be bad and we would still have smooth sailing during and after, the ship would seem to be moving a lot since it had been so calm before. He also said the worst would be during the very early morning hours, so it wouldn't be a big deal. I believe what he really meant was "the worst will be during the early morning hours, so most of you will be lying down and won't be tossed around in the public areas of the ship like ping pong balls in a wind tunnel."

So I keep dozing off, only to be awakened every couple of minutes by a lot of motion, followed by deep booming noises that shudder through the entire structure of the Quantum and through my very bones. I can only assume that this is a result of the hull slamming into a swell. It's either that, or we're running over every whale in the Atlantic, one by one. At any rate, it's a bad feeling and I hate it. I can't wait until we're past this front.

Did I mention that this has been going on for over three hours now?

Meanwhile, DH used to be in the Navy. His snoring is a constant friendly reminder.

Hm. I guess it could be worse. Sounds like our neighbor has been made sea sick. I'll stop complaining now.

At the trivia game there was a team of young chemical engineers who didn't know that a substance made up of only one kind of atom is an element. Then we saw a mom berating her young son because he only made one piece of art while he was in the children's area, "this is UNACCEPTABLE!" I've lost all faith in humanity.

Just saw the news... RIP, Leonardo Nimoy. :(

Correction, we had to come down to the smoking area on deck 5, despite what DH was told earlier. Missing the nice cigar bar on Disney Fantasy.

The air is starting to turn cooler, it's overcast, and rain is in the forecast. We're at the Northstar bar smoking the hand rolled cigars we got in San Juan while we can.

The captain is hilarious. Also, he sounds like Baron Werner Ünderbheit from Venture Brothers, which is totally awesome.

I broke the robot bartender, and now this is happening. Seriously.

Earlier this morning, I could feel a palpable shift in the collective conscience of the passengers as everyone simultaneously realized that we are rapidly returning to Jack Frost's domain. It seems as though everyone on the ship is outside on a chair or in a pool, soaking in the rays of warmth while they still can. There is a veil of white haze stretching across our path to the north. I have named it the "wall of cold" and can't help but imagine that the sun will vanish and temperatures will plummet when we hit that barrier.

DH and I have been talking, and we've decided to open our own cruise line that will be geared toward geeks like ourselves. All the shopping venues will be overhauled to sell useful items, such as comic books, animation cels, and action figures. Instead of formal nights, there will be cosplay nights with various themes. The crew will all don Star Trek uniforms, with the exception of security who will wear superhero costumes. And speed will be reported in terms of warp units rather than knots. Also, there will be a Mos Eisley cantina and a Restaurant at the End of the Universe that serves steak.

Day 8 - At Sea

We're on our way back and are even with the south of Florida. The seas have been extremely calm and we are moving at over 23 knots.

Yesterday was a relaxing time at Labadee, Haiti. DH and I hadn't really planned on spending much time on the island, not having seen or read about anything in port that really caught our interest, but we did end up staying for two or three hours in Columbus Cove. We were able to make our way there without having to walk through the vending areas so many people have written about. There were many more shade trees than I had expected, and we soon had a couple of beach chairs beneath one that was near the water.

The water was fairly cool, but felt good in the bright tropical sun that was hot even in the morning hours. The beach in this area has soft sand and many people were snorkeling or floating on rafts. As more cruisers filed in, a local band began to play. We made use of the nearby bars, restrooms, and eventually dining facilities. The food was nothing great - just some mediocre hamburgers, hot dogs, bar-b-que with no sauce, sides, and desserts, but there's something fun and satisfying about eating a burger by the beach with a rum and Coke.

We stopped to check out the ziplining area on our way back to Quantum. It looked like fun, but we were more in the mood for relaxation.

Back on the ship, we sat in 270 and took in the lovely view of the island and spent a while talking to a couple that we've enjoyed speaking with several times on this trip. Haiti really is a stunningly beautiful island and Labadee is a fun place. We noticed that it was unusually warm in 270, a place that I always find to be chilly (and I've heard other women say the same), but we didn't think much of it. We then made our way to the Music Hall and played pool for a while. We could hear one of the crew members leading a game of bingo downstairs. The guy was hilarious and we laughed a lot at his antics.

We had 6:30 dinner reservations at the Chef's Table. Just before we left our room, the captain made an announcement. For the record, a captain should probably never start an announcement with the words, "ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid I have some bad news," especially when the ship is out at sea. It turns out that the ventilation system for the galley that services the four complimentary restaurants was out of order and they had to cancel all reservations for these venues until it could be repaired. He expressed the hope that they would be open again by 8:30. Wow. Our guess was that this was connected to the warmth we felt in 270 earlier in the day - it's aft along with all of those restaurants.

Thankfully, the Chef's Table is in Chops and wasn't affected. We made our way to dinner past all the cruisers who were unhappily trudging up to Windjammer for dinner. The Chef's Table is in a separate room inside Chops, and we were seated at the lovely table with seven other couples. It sounds a little insensitive to say now, but after a glass of champagne there was something of a jovial air in the room regarding our ability to eat our planned dinner. Our table mates reported having seen people rushing away from Windjammer with piles of hoarded food. At this point, the captain came on again and announced free drinks at all of the bars for all passengers. Someone told us that a cheer went up outside the restaurant and all over the ship. We joked about barricading the door to our dining room in the event of an uprising by angry, drunk, hungry cruisers with pitchforks and torches. I did leave at one point to use the restroom, and the Schooners bar was more than overflowing. I heard some cruisers say this morning that they replaced their dinners with cocktails. I'm sure it was an evening that won't soon be forgotten. The restaurants were all back on line by 9:00. We heard a rumor that they also changed all their menus because of complaints they've had about food, but I find that difficult to believe and haven't been able to confirm it.

Dinner at the Chef's Table was fun and delicious. Our dining companions were all good conversationalists with excellent senses of humor. Our host for the evening was the sommelier who is from Serbia. He shared a lot of interesting information about the wines he had paired with each course. One word of caution if you plan to attend this meal - the wine servings were quite large (3-4 ounces, as opposed to the more standard 2 ounces), so be sure to pace yourself or leave some of your wine unfinished. Everyone at the dinner did well with this aspect of the meal. The food portions were also rather large for having so many courses. Everyone expressed concern about not having enough room left toward the end, but the dishes were so good that it was difficult not to finish them. In all, there were six courses, plus an added amuse-bouche as a gift from the chef - something that's pretty typical for such meals. I will upload a photo of the menu soon. All of the dishes were quite good, but my favorites were the ravioli, the beef tenderloin, and the chocolate desserts. There were multiple rounds of applause when the chef visited us toward the end of the meal, and again for our sommelier. I highly recommend the experience to anyone who can get reservations.

This morning we had breakfast at American Icon for the first time. It took a while to be seated (it was around 8:30) and service was fairly slow, but it was the best breakfast we've had on the ship. And yes, they had eggs benedict on the menu, but we didn't have them so I can't comment on how good they are.

DH is making reservations for us to go to a Caymus wine tasting later today at Vintages, provided the wines they'll be providing aren't all ones we're had already. If that turns out to be the case some of our dinner companions last night told us that Michael's offers wonderful flights of a variety of liquors and that the bartender there was quite helpful in making the experience an enjoyable one.

Also this afternoon, we plan on attending a talk that the captain is giving in 270 entitled Secrets of Ship Navigation. Then this evening we have reservations for Sonic Odyssey. All in all, the activities on the return trip seem more appealing to us than the ones on the way to the Caribbean, but we have not had any shortage of things to do or ways to relax on this vacation.

View from our balcony of the sun setting over Haiti.

We had a fun day on the beach at Labadee, and then relaxed on the ship and played a little pool. Tonight we're dining at the chef's table. Goodbye Caribbean; next stop - New Jersey.

Labadee.

Day 7 - Labadee, Haiti

Hard to believe this is our last day in port before we head back to NJ. We're up early again and I can just make out the outline of Haiti's mountains off in the distance as we approach Labadee.

I don't have too much to report from last night. Before dinner we stopped at Vintages for an aperitif. I realized I had left my seapass card back in the room, and DH was kind enough to go back to get it (a good 8 minute round trip) while I placed our orders. We have been waited on by Roongnapa almost every time we've been there, and she has learned what we like and has made some excellent suggestions. DH's first choice of wine wasn't available, so I asked for his second choice - the petite sirah she recommended a couple days ago which is quite good. Instead, Roognapa offered me a sample of the Torrione petrolo from Tuscany. I told her that since it was for DH, he could sample it when he got back. She pointed out that he and I have very similar palates when it comes to wine, which is true, so I tasted the wine and it was excellent. DH loved it. I tried a glass of the Mer Soleil barrel fermented chardonnay and it was a little too oaky for me.

We ate at Jaime's again. DH saw the waiter we had had the previous time, Kumar, so he asked the manager if we could have him again and he said sure. We had the meat board and accompanying side dishes again. This time we skipped the fried risotto balls and had an extra serving of the fried calamari. It was all excellent, again.

Before we left, we were speaking with the manager, and he mentioned that it was a good thing that we had early dinner reservations. He said they were overbooked for later in the evening and that he had told this to his management, to no avail. I'm not sure what the point of having a restaurant manager is if he doesn't have any control over reservations. I feel bad for anyone who had to wait in line last night or change their dining venue because of RCI's poor planning. I also feel bad for the staff at the restaurant who probably had to put up with understandably cranky patrons.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say something about dining on cruise ships in general that I haven't quite been able to understand. I love food. I love eating. I don't, however, have the capacity to eat a lot of food -- as sad as I sometimes find that to be. It seems that every time I've eaten dinner on a ship, whether here on Quantum or on the Disney Fantasy, the servers have been quite insistent that I take more food, to the point of seeming distressed when I don't. I can't figure out if it's because they think I'm just trying to be "ladylike" by ordering less or because maybe they think I don't care for the food. At any rate, what I really want is the ability to order just an appetizer and dessert, or just an entree without being made to feel as though I've brought the server's world to an end. Especially after I explain that I just don't have room for more food. Small eaters of the world, unite!

Last night after dinner we saw the scheduled entertainer, Ronn Lucas. He's a comedian with a puppet. I remember seeing his routine (probably on Showtime or HBO) when I was a kid. So I found the first one third of his act funny, but repetitive of what I remembered. The second third involved a member of the audience, who did a great job. That portion was hilarious. The final third (what he jokingly called his encore even though he never left the stage), was not as funny as the rest of the show. It was a fun performance, but probably my least favorite of the trip so far.

It appears as though we're not going to have a cover band for this cruise, unless we picked one up at Puerto Rico and they aren't starting until tomorrow. We do have the house band, Horizon, and they're quite good. They play a large variety of music.

Time for some breakfast, if I can drag myself away from this warm, sunny balcony with the increasingly stunning view of Haiti. I had no idea it was so mountainous.

I am really enjoying your review. We are on the sailing the Quantum soon.

Is there a place you can leave your carry on luggage on embarkation day befor the cabins are ready?

Thanks in advance, enjoy the rest of your cruise....my friends are on the same sailing as you.

Not that I'm aware of. But we were able to get into our room within an hour or so of boarding and spent the time in between eating lunch, so it wasn't a big deal.

Actually, he was sitting right beside me the entire time, giving me tips and proofreading my post. All while drinking tequila. We are the perfect couple.

We are now pulling away from Old San Juan. Adios, beautiful city.

In 270 some of the performers are rehearsing for Starwater. I guess it's important to practice swinging by your feet a few times before the real thing so you don't bash your head on a passenger.

Back to last night.......

After we returned from our lovely excursion to St. Thomas and St. John, we went to the Solarium and enjoyed a performance called Sunset. The artist was Mother Nature. And before anyone asks, no, reservations are not required. It was lovely.

We had dinner at Grande. This was our best complimentary dining experience so far. I had the tuna carpaccio. It was quite good, with a paper-thin slice of tuna under the same giant capers I loved at Jamie's and hard boiled egg slices. I was looking for something light, and this dish fit the bill perfectly. DH had the melted brie salad. It came with a lingonberry dipping sauce that complimented the brie nicely. The brie was mild (not the "stinky" kind that we get at home), but was good in the salad. We both had the lobster tail. I've tried lobster several times over the years (it was hard to get growing up in central Texas), and it has always been dry and disappointing. Not so, last night. The lobster tails were quite small, but extremely tender and juicy. They were served on a bed of watery leeks and there were a couple roasted baby potatoes as well. There was also a cream sauce that was pretty good. All in all, it was not a bad meal. The only down side was that the servers were clearly over extended, again, even with assistant waiters. It was obvious that they were tired and frustrated because they couldn't deliver the quality of service they wanted to. They were trying their best, however, as DH saw our head waiter grab a manager who then helped serve our dessert. Speaking of which...I had the key lime and meringue pie and DH had the molten lava cake, both of which were very good.

After dinner we checked out the virtual music concert in 270. I'm a big fan of jazz, which I'm not sure is what the recorded band would consider itself, but it was a little easy-listening for my taste. Still, they had an awesome sound and I would have enjoyed watching the whole show if I hadn't fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion 15 minutes into it. Maybe I'll try to catch another showing if they offer one. After that I went straight to bed, being the fuddy-duddy I sometimes am, and DH checked out the casino.

This morning at 6:30 I couldn't tell if we had stopped moving, so I pulled back the curtain (I love having a bed next to the balcony), and was awarded with a stunning view of one of the forts at Old San Juan just as the sun was rising. I was so excited that I woke poor DH and we watched as we rounded the island and pulled into port.

Having gotten up early, we were ready to leave the ship as soon as the captain allowed. Once again, we were docked next to the Disney Fantasy. She actually kept us waiting to disembark because she was still docking and it's not considered safe to have passengers walk down the pier while that is happening. There were a total of five ships here in San Juan today, so it was quite crowded. But since we got off early, we were able to walk across to the forts and old city walls long before anyone else got there.

Our excursion for the day was the Spoon Food Tour. I will say this now, although I'm sure people are going to ask again, but this tour is not one of the RCI approved excursions. We chose it because it had over 500 reviews on TripAdvisor and got five stars and it sounded right up our alley. And it was. We met our tour guide, Caroline, at the totem at Quincentennial Plaza. The tour lasted for almost three hours, and was the perfect combination of history and authentic Puerto Rican cuisine. We sampled coffee grown in Puerto Rico, a brioche-like pastry who's name I didn't catch (my Spanish is non-existent), another pastry called quesito ("little cheese") that was a crispy shell filled with sweetened cheese (like that in a cheese Danish), grouper tacos (yes, tacos aren't Puerto Rican, but this was a favorite dish of our tour guide and amazingly good), and empanadillas ("little epanadas") filled with a choice of meats/seafood - I had mahi mahi and DH had conch. The dishes on their own were mild, but there were two types of popular local hot sauces, one made with tamarind and the other with avocado. They were spectacular, as was the food. My favorite was the taco. We also had a drink with rum and chinronja, a fruit that is a hybrid between an orange and a grapefruit. It was excellent.

After this wonderful lunch and fun conversations with the other tour participants, Caroline walked us to a nice art and gift shop and we all went our separate ways. DH and I found a nearby shop and got a nice vase/planter for our library which features the local image of a coquito, an indigenous frog common in Puerto Rican art.

Unfortunately, the all-aboard was at 2:30 (not sure why since you can practically skip a stone from Puerto Rico to Haiti). On the way back to the ship, we stopped and had a Cuba libre at an outdoor cafe while musicians and dancers performed in the same courtyard. After purchasing some hand-rolled cigars, we returned to the ship.

All in all, we felt this was the best non-beach excursion we have been on. The food tour was a perfect blend of history and food. Not too much food, not too little history. Caroline gave excellent recommendations to people who were staying at San Juan, and answered everyone's questions. The tour was relaxing, but managed to take us over a large portion of the island. I would not recommend it to people who require large portions, who don't like to try new foods, or who have trouble with mobility (the streets are very uneven and there is a lot of climbing/steps). But it was perfect for us and I would recommend it to anyone who likes food and history.

Tonight we're back at Jamie's and have reservations for the headliner, Ronn Lucas. The photo of his show includes puppets, so I have my doubts. But if he's half as good as the other entertainers on the ship so far I'm sure he'll be wonderful.

One thing we've noticed is that there seems to be a disproportionately large number of crew members from China on board. Our favorite bartender (Zai Ma) told us that he had suddenly been moved from a cruise that goes out of Florida and hadn't even had the chance to buy any warm clothes for the trip to New Jersey. My guess is that they are starting to train crew members on this ship for when it repositions to China in a few months. People fluent in Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese) have to be more difficult to come by than people fluent in English. At any rate, service has been amazingly good.

Thanks for all the thanks. We're having a lot of fun with this blog.

Back on Quantum after another wonderful port excursion. Time for a drink and a dip in the solarium before we cast off. More comments later!