DaKahuna

I took one for the team tonight and ordered two scoops of vanilla in Luminae. It tasted just fine. I added a couple of tablespoons of Bailey’s and it still tasted just fine. I then added a couple of tablespoons of black coffee and it tasted even better. (Pictures in my live review). Hopefully any issues on Solstice are fixed by the time we sail on her next April. @Norwaylady I do hope your ice cream situation improves. Nothing can spoil and evening like bad ice cream before bed. Please keep those wonderful stories and pictures coming. I can tell you really enjoy spending time with your mother and her with you.

Well you are just going to have to wait. Then again, you could always join us on the cruise!! There is still time and still rooms available.

Question — for my fellow CC passengers on this cruise - what are your thoughts about getting together around 1400 - 1430 on Monday, our last sea day at the Sunset bar? I know we tried to have an embarkation day get together but I don’t think more than 10 - 12 of us ever managed to meet up at the bar. There are still names, I’d like to put together with faces, included a few of you I met and have not seen since.

Dinner tonight in Luminae was amazing. I have to apologize now as our entrees were so inviting that I failed to capture a picture of either of them and did not realize it until we were half way through. I come from the @Jim_Iain school of picture taking in that no pictures after the first bite, with very rare exceptions. This often causes a problem as my DW tends to be quick with a fork. After our amuse-bouche, which was a blue cheese macaron with grape preserve — no picture — we both dug right in. For our first appetizer, my wife had the Cauliflower Veloute (a cold soup) And I had the escargot from the MDR For her second appetizer, my DW had her usual French Onion Soup — I think she does this just to make our daughter jealous And I had the spinach salad — it was in a word — delicious. For our mains, which we dug into so quickly I forgot all bout the camera, she had the Vadouvan Chicken, with was very tender and juicy. I went with the braised lamb shank. When the Maitre’d came by to ask how or dinner was I told him that it was terrible. I told him I went to cut a bite and when I touched it, the meat fell off the bone. Tender, juicy and delicious. For our desserts my wife had the peach soufflet And I decided to construct my own — Two scoops of vanilla ice cream And a couple of table spoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream And then add a couple of tablespoons of black coffee - Can you tell I could not wait to dig into my home made Affogato? The left over Bailey’s went into the left over coffee of course.

Anything related to the Retreat is for all Retreat guest. Our experience has been that your CC status, except for Zenith, does not matter in the Retreat. The only real discriminator is what level of suite you are in.

After having a late lunch we stopped off at a Lawson’s close to the ramen shop we ate at and picked up a few items and then walked back to the ship. Once again we found interesting information from the Retreat Concierge’s regarding tomorrow’s port visit to Aomori. And even better an invitation to Martini Night in the Retreat. This will be pre dinner vs post dinner drinks from the timing on it. Now to pick which martini I want to have. I have been having a different one each night so I guess tomorrow night, I’ll have to pick multiple ones. My favorites are — cucumber, Mexicali, sidecar, and last night’s espresso martini was wonderful. I even had a Basil martini that they repeated for my DW last night. Of course, with the exception of a couple of sidecars, all of the ones so far have been at the martini bar. It is now time for dinner .. so I guess we’ll make the stroll down to Luminae

After the bus returned us to the port, we were both feeling hunger pains and my DW wanted to have some ramen. After passing up a couple of seafood restaurants we found a small ramen shop and each had a bowl of shio ramen. (I had a beer to go with mine) and we split an order of gyoza.

Our next stop was at The Trappistine Convent. The convent was the first in Japan and was founded in 1898 by a small group of French Catholic Nuns. There are about 50 resident nuns that live at the convent today. The grounds are simply wonderful and we were lucky enough that there were still some cherry blossoms in bloom. ‘ \

Todaywas a short ship’s excursion to two locations. I wish I had paid better attention to the timing of this as it was assemble at 1145, depart at 1230. Obviously everyone had to get through customs. We assembled in the theater and they actually called our group/bus number early. We proceeded down to deck 1 and off the ship, made the long walk down and then turned right and ran into the traffic jam of people waiting to clear customs. While there the Retreat Manager was walking back toward the ship after escorting some Retreat guest up to the head of the line and grabbed us and one other couple traveling in the Retreat and escorted us to the front of the long queue. All in all, I think it took us 15 minutes from the time we walked off the ship until we were in the terminal and headed for the bus. The bus did not depart until late because everyone did not get through customs in a timely fashion. I expect some people waited until 1145 before going to the theater while a lot of us arrived there much earlier. In any case we were about 10 minutes late leaving. Our first stop was at Goryokaku Tower, which overlooks Fort Goryokaku. There is an elevator that takes you from the 1st floor (ground floor), up to the top floor, which I believe is the 8th floor. You get off there and it’s the observation point for the tower and you can see in 360 degrees by walking around the top floor. To exit the tower you have to walk down one flight of stairs and again there are windows all around the perimeter of the floor. From this floor you catch the elevator down to the 2nd floor and then take more stairs to return to the 1st floor and to exit the building. Here are just a few of the pictures I took of and from Goryokaku Tower. In the center in all four directions there are these signs showing significant points that can be viewed from that location.

Good morning from Hakodate, Hokkaido. We are just now tying up to the pier. The whole ship will need to undergo Japanese immigration again today. We have a ships excursion booked that assembles at 1145 in the theater. Just a short 3.5 hour sightseeing tour and then we are going to be walking around on our own afterwards. Just a few photographs as we made our approach this morning. The pilot being dropped off by the tug Clearing the breakwater A JMSDF vessel, a frigate or destroyer not sure which A Japanese Coast Guard vessel Some random views from our balcony. Unfortunately, we are on the starboard side and the ship is docking with the port side facing the shore. Anyone up for a cable car ride to the top of the mountain?

@Maui4us @Jim_Iain The big island of Hawaii — snow skiing in the morning, surfing in the afternoon. Or vice versa - you often have your choice most any time of the year.

I hear you on that one. I am very tempted to fly to Honolulu, spend a day or two, then fly to Sydney. Coming from the East Coast - going direct to Sydney would be one heck of a travel day, or should I say two days. 14 hours non-stop to Japan was bad enough. We’ll just have to see how flights and schedules work out.

Sorry - neither my wife nor I participated in the dress up and did not want to seem like a creeper by taking pictures of other men’s wives so, no I didn’t take any pictures.

If that is the April 9th sailing, we just booked a room on that sailing last night!! Small world!

If you phone is compatible, an eSIM basically allows your phone to connect via cellular vice WiFi to the Japanese system. Due to government restrictions, foreigners normally cannot get a Japanese phone number so the eSIMs only give you access to data. This means you can browse the Web, send and receive text messages but may not be able to make or receive phone calls.

It was really smooth and creamy, almost more like gelato than ice cream.

Dinner this evening in Luminae was very good. the Amuse-bousche was a plug of watermelo with some goat cheese on top My wife started with the Pear and Radicchio Salad i tried ordering 5-gallons of the Spiced Louisiana Gumbo again but instead all I could get was a very large bowl. Words cannot describe how much I really love this gumbo, even with the lack of adequate rice. I mean okra is the gift of the gods and improves every dish you add it to. We both had the pork tenderloins for our entree And at our waiter’s recommendation I ordered a small portion of the Linguini Alle Vongole for us to share — very good in my opinion. For dessert my wife was in the mood for some fresh watermelon And I went for the chocolate ice cream — there has been a discussion on @Jim_Iain and @Norwaylady live reviews about the taste and quality of the ice cream. The ice cream tonight was very good. I even had my wife, who has a much more refined palate than mine, taste it and she even said it was good. After dinner we sacrificed some OBC to the casino gods, who were not in a sharing mood tonight, and stopped at the Martini Bar for a drink on the way to the room.

We attended the Japanese Styled Tea in the Retreat Lounge this afternoon. It was a lot of fun. There were kimono’s for me and women to dress up in and have their pictures taken, there were four different types of Japanese green team, and there was Japanese beer and sake. We hung around after it was over as we had a scheduled meeting with the future cruises manager at 4:45 PM. We ended up booking a 17-day Sydney to Honolulu, via Fiji, for April of next year on Solstice. There goes more of our kids inheritance 🤣

@Jim_Iain I warned you and now you are to blame .. We just finished with our appointment with the Future Cruise manager in the Retreat Lounge and are now booked on Solstice, April 19, 2025 - Sydney to Honolulu. Now I have to start looking at flights and hotels on both end of the 17-day Transpacific cruise.

@scorfman Wow what an amazing tour that must have been. Kind of wishing now that we had taken advantage of the offering when we saw it on the Roll Call. Quite a bit more immersive than our walk to the Lotte Mall and back. Greatly appreciate your sharing it with us.

I was introduced to the Mexicali Martini last night at the Martini bar. They were quite delicious and I’ll have to go back for another - but ask them to add a little more Jalapeño as I think he only used two pieces and I think three would have been more to my tasting.

The Ghost Tequila is what Clifford, the evening bartender in the Retreat Lounge, used to make my spicy margarita’s on Cinco de Mayo. They were surprising delicious for a drink made with Blanco.

Just before lunch I received a call from the Luminae Sommelier informing us that our World Wine Tour scheduled for 2 PM this afternoon had been cancelled. Seems we were the only two that signed up for it. He indicated that he would be crediting our account for the cancellation and that he also had a “bottle of my favorite wine” as a consolation gift. I told him I would pick the wine up when we went to lunch. Lunch was in Luminae and was very good. The Sommelier dropped by and set a bottle on Conundrum on the table for me !! He’s getting a nice tip! My DW started with the tuna tartare And I had the Key West Salad from the MDR menu For her main course my wife chose the Pan Roasted Salmon, and the waiter removed the skin for her. And I went with the Mediterranean Turkey Club Sandwich I allowed the sommelier talk me into a white wine and he served me a nice Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I usually do not drink white wines but made an exception since this is the second time he’s mentioned Sauvignon Blanc this cruise. For dessert my wife went with the Ricotta Cheesecake And I had two scoops of coffee gelato, creamy and smooth as always.

After breakfast I hung out in the lounge while my wife went window shopping. She did not buy anything but has her eye on a necklace she wants to get for our granddaughter who will be graduating from High School in just under two weeks. When she finished her window shopping she joined me in the lounge and when I finished my soda we came up to the room. Our Retreat Host was just finishing up cleaning and maintenance did some work on a faucet in the sink. Upon leaving our host presented us with documents regarding immigration tomorrow. So here goes… The Disembarkation Card for Foreigners is one per person. I spoke with the Retreat Concierge and he informed me that my wife, as a Japanese citizen, does not require one of these but I do need to include her on the Customs form. The Yellow Customs Declaration is one per family

Today’s Friday and our third of four sea days. We decided to sleep in today and went to the Elite Breakfast in Tuscan Grill. We shared the Ultimate Platter and my wife ordered the Freshly Baked Viennoiserie as well. I managed to snag a single bagel and a single almond croissant. Here is the menu The only thing out of the ordinary that has not been posted many times before is the mixed berry smoothie I had. Someone must have read my previous comments regarding the temperature as this was served cold and very much to my liking. We enjoyed the breakfast and the relaxed atmosphere very much.