Zuiderdam Thanksgiving Report - part 2 - long

[winemistress45]

Second full day of cruise -- first port day -- Grand Turk.

 

 

Well since we had partied the night before in Northern Lights til after 4 am -- my girls had ordered room service but put out the card when we got back from the club -- they thought room service would be their wake up call -- but no such luck -- they needed to put out the card way earlier -- I think the cut off was about 2 am -- so I had a tough time getting two teens up -- so we managed to get bathing suits on and were out the door by 10 am -- we took a cab to Bohio Dive Resort --- $30 ride. Nice driver who said he'd come back by noon.

 

This island has beautiful beaches and clear turquoise water. We dined in the little restaurant on the beach but the ocean view is blocked by tall shrubs.

 

The food was not good and I wouldn't go back. One of my girls ordered fried chicken and it was completely under cooked --- if she had attempted to eat it she would have surely had food poisoning -- it was that undercooked.

 

We went to the beach and there were only 4 other people there -- it did have a lot of seaweed and the water was about 62 degrees -- too chilly for me to go in.

 

I ordered a beer and before you know it our cab driver came walking up and gave us a tour of the island on the way back to Margaritaville.

 

There were many wild donkeys and chickens running around -- the cab driver had 4 grown children -- two of them are lawyers in New Jersey of all places.

 

He dropped us at Margaritaville where there were plenty of chairs to lounge in -- my girls hopped in the pool immediately and danced with some friends they had met the night before at the Northern Lights club. We stayed for about an hour and then boarded the ship.

 

We had dinner that night at Pinnacle Grill -- amazing food -- slow service at first -- Antonio our wine steward took 30 minutes to offer us drinks. But after I ordered a nice meritage for $130, he was more attentive.

 

The dining room was nice and intimate. I suggest you sit in Gusti's section -- he is this lovely Balinese man with a gracious demeanor and a lovely smile.

 

Finally it looked like I might get what I would call a good meal on the ship -- I had so much food that night -- clam chowder, beefsteak tomato salad, filet mignon (they show the meat selection raw via a cart prior to you ordering -- similar to Ruth Chris restaurants in the U.S.), baked potato, grilled asparagus and the cheese platter for dessert -- yep, I gained about 5 pounds that night! It was all perfection.

 

My girls loved their food also and said they wanted me to keep the restaurant reservation for later in the week -- done!

 

The seas were rough this night and we were headed to Tortola -- I was feeling a bit over full from my great meal in PG so I skipped the show and headed to my stateroom to decorate for the next day (an island theme). My girls went to Northern Lights with a 1 am curfew --

 

Din, my cabin steward showed up to see if he could help with the decorations -- he held the door open while I was on the stool decorating the door with palm tree garland and a little beach ball.

 

A few passengers came by and said they were sad to see the birthday decore go because they could judge where their room was from a long distance -- so up wen the little beach ball instead of leaving it inside the cabin.

 

Well, my girls didn't show at 1 am and I was in my pjs -- I called the front desk and asked if there were still people in Northern Lights -- they walked over and called me right back and said there were about 20 teens in the club dancing -- so I gave them a little more time and then had the DJ ask the girls to call me.

 

They did and the girls called immediately -- they got their fannies straight up to the room and got "the talk" -- they ordered room service --- club sandwich, diet cokes and cookies.

 

Club sandwich is like eating cardboard with low quality deli meet on it -- food was cold, potato chips soggy. Cookies were inedible. Took 45 minutes to get room service at 3 am.

 

Next morning the girls had spa treatments at 8 am -- so I made them get up and go -- they loved it -- said they had a "couples" room that had the most amazing view -- one of my girls was snoring thru her treatment. They both used the thermal suite and the mineral pool and thought it was amazing.

 

Meanwhile I was in the hands on culinary class with the guest chef and it was a great experience -- class was to be for 12 but we ended up with 13..we made an avocado and crab salad, jerk pork chops with a little mango chutney, fragrant rice with black beans and a banana napoleon. We were given aprons and I had the chef sign mine at the end of the class -- class lasted about 90 minutes.

 

They had a wine and cheese party on the Observation deck -- and I had a great Sauv. Blanc from Chile.....it rained a little in the morning and then it became partly cloudy the rest of the day.

 

We arrived in Tortola an hour late --- 1 pm instead of 12 noon. We were rushing because we had a private catamaran charter but they waited for us. We used a company called Patouche -- it was great -- we went out to some sea caves and snorkeled. The snorkeling was not impressive compared to other places we've been -- when I asked about it, they said it was just too trafficked and the coral is not thriving so the fish go elsewhere. Shame.

 

The ride was fun and we listened to great music and had the best rum punch ever.

 

We arrived back at the ship at about 5:15 pm and rushed to get ready for a nice night out -- we were in port til 10 pm and we had dinner reservations at Brandywine Bay Restaurant at 7 pm.

 

We met some nice new friends and they went along with us -- so we had a party of 5 -- we got in a cab with a driver named CRABBE -- we all then had new nicknames -- lobster, shrimp, flounder, salmon and halibut -- he got a kick out it --- we went along a narrow winding road and it was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride -- we pulled up a long winding stone driveway in the dark and then we saw the restaurant -- a large terrace over the bay with twinkle lights in the trees --- we were greeted by the owner/chef -- he loved having 5 women guests -- he sat us with another couple on "beds" covered in soft white leather on the terrace -- there were persimmon covered shear drapes blowing in the tropical wind -- it was magic.

 

They took our drink orders and it took quite a while -- then we were shown to our table -- we split a large order of spaghetti -- I know it sounds weird -- but it was the most amazing al dente prepared spaghetti in a spicy arrabiata sauce -- that was our appetizer -- two of us had the seared ahi -- one crispy duck, another shrimp and another lobster cakes.

 

We had a great bottle of wine -- which only I indulged in but they were happy for me to take it back to the ship. Dinner here was expensive -- about $575 for 5....worth it --

 

Crabbe came back promptly at 9 pm and we were walking towards the ship by 9:20 pm -- I know we were cutting it close -- we sang all the way up to the gang plank -- and there were lots of passengers out on their verandahs watching the stragglers come in -- right after we boarded we heard four names called - two made it back and two did not --- ouch!

 

The girls went and changed clothes and I went to the PG to tell Andrew and Bong about our great dinner and they all tried the wine I brought in from the restaurant -- I got to know them a lot better this evening -- saw pictures of their children, learned about the culture, their onboard lives', etc. All I can say is "wow". These folks are making a lot of sacrifices.

 

I met the girls in the Northern Lights again, ordered lots of french champagne, but we stayed only til about 3 am and was glad for that as they shut it down. I think the DJ was not used to working so hard and he acted a bit put out by the late night partying.

 

By this time I'm officially worn out -- but the next day is a day on ST. Thomas and my girls are born to shop! :)

 

This day we had remembered to put out the room service card ahead of time -- so we got our breakfast as a wake up call -- we ordered bacon well done, patty sausage, orange juice, tea, english muffin, bagel and croissant.

 

It came late, it was cold, the meat was inedible and the english muffin was like cardboard -- o.j. watered down.

 

We got a later start and that was unfortunate because we really enjoyed St. Thomas -- we headed to dine at Glady's Cafe -- now this was fun! We sat at the bar to eat and the place has the best ambiance -- old stone walls, a classic bar -- great music and Glady's was behind the bar singing. She makes her own sauces and they are spicy and delicious --- she gave me a tasting of them and I bought 6 to bring home and a couple of fun t-shirts.

 

We then started shopping -- we bought tons of stuff -- at the flea market the girls bought 5 knock off purses for $200. I bought many food items and hand painted xmas ornaments -- we had so many packages we had one shopkeeper offer to hold them while we went elsewhere --

 

We ended up at Tiffanys and the girls had their new jewelry from the birthdays cleaned. Note: do not wear silver jewelry in the hot tubs -- it tarnishes in a second.

 

We saw some very sick lady losing her cookies in Tiffany's --- so awful -- but they were helping her the best they could.

 

There were 5 ships at this port so it was really busy but we had a great time -- we made it back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare.

 

At this port they left 3 people -- we saw one lady casually strolling up to the ship and they were calling her name -- the taxi drivers were all yelling and waving to the captain -- the ship was only about 10 feet from the dock but he left her high and dry -- it was a sight to be seen!

 

When my girls got in the elevator the sick woman from Tiffany's was getting in with them -- I saw that and took the stairs!!!!

 

That night we dined in PG again -- we had the same servers -- but it was crowded and we had to wait 30 minutes for our table -- I ordered my french champagne and we chatted with Bong, Andrew and Antonio while we waited.

 

I ordered the Thai soup -- so good and spicy, beefsteak tomato salad (again), but now that I think of it, they never brought that course -- wow. Okay, then I had the filet again and asparagus -- scalloped potato this time. It was all delicious....great service this night.

 

I went back to the room and decorated for Thanksgiving --- we all had jammies (boxer shorts) with pumpkin pie pictures on them -- the girls loved it....

 

The girls came in early that night -- I think they were in the piano bar that night listening to a couple of guests sing -- This night we had the chocolate extravaganza on the lido deck -- it was a sight -- I didn't have any but my kids sure did. By this time the Northern lights thing was getting pretty old to me -- I left and the girls stayed til 1 am -- and they came back on the dot!

 

They ordered room service again -- burgers this time -- they said they were just okay -- took over an hour to get.

 

Looking forward to a quiet sea day the next day.

 

Part 3 coming up.....

[maxout]

This is great. Rock on! :D ;)

[wynkys]

Another entertaining report and it's great to hear that you had so much fun with your daughters.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Wayne