Cruise: Aruba

After 2 days of travel 'at sea' we reached the island of Aruba. For some unknown reason, Princess had shortened the time we would have there so that all the longer tours had to cut out a portion -- tho there was no cut in the price we had to pay! For us this meant our snorkeling trip did not go to the ship wreck and a coral reef, we went only to the wreck. Personally I wish they had cut the "lunch" portion and let us be in the water longer... after all, we had to be back to the ship by 12:30pm and that is plenty of time to catch lunch on the ship.

As it was, we had 45 minutes in the water of a shuttled oil ship from WWII. The corals have built up on it and the fish have made it their home. They were such beautiful blues and yellows and silvers and black & whites.

From there we went to a place along a beach where we had lunch. Himself and I ate quickly so we could shop and walk along the beach for a while. Too soon we were headed back, running late because the young men who ran the tour were in no hurry and knew Princess wouldn't leave without us.

Our little excursion catamaran.

Enjoying the ride.

Our laid back "captain" Edsel.

And Alex.

Ready to go snorkeling.

Beautiful fish at the wreck.

The beach.

Himself at lunch. Talk about a "water front" table!

This painting of a divi-divi tree is our souvenir from Aruba.

Cruise: Carved fruit & veggies and decorated cakes

Something we looked forward to every day was to see what new fruit/vegetable and pastry/bread displays there were in the buffet.

Isn't this stuff amazing?!

Reynald, who carved the fruit and veggies.

Cruise: Food, Glorious Food!

Everything you've heard about food on a cruise ship is true... great food and lots of it. You could have a steak and potato or you could have something a wee bit different. You know me... if it was "different" I had to try it. After all, if I didn't like it I could order a different entrée.

Check out some of the better things I tried...

*Free-range Guinea Fowl Smitanne: Grandmother's Sunday Roast served with a wild mushroom cream sauce, Vichy carrots and chateau potatoes.

*Sea Scallops Mediterranean Fashion: Presented on a bed of eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, black olives, capers and fresh herbs.

*Lobster Tail and King Prawns with Tumeric-Fennel Emulsion: Wilted arugula and romaine lettuce, whipped potatoes.

*Royal Pheasant in Pan Juices: An oven roast with Brussels sprouts, caramelized shallots and Parisienne potatoes.

*Oven-Baked Spring Leg of Lamb, Aussie Style: slowly oven roast with aromatic herbs in a pungent apple cider, sweet mint baby peas and sliced potatoes with onions.

*Braised Lamb Shank Pirate's Style: slowly braised tender lamb, flavored with fenugreek and cardamom served with gratinated calabasa, corn bean casserole and fruitbread croquette.

*Risotto con Pollo e Asparagi: a combination of Italian rice with green asparagus tips and strips of chicken, finished with fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.

*London Mixed Grill: Beef Medallion, lamb chop, English banger, tomato with green beans and shoestring potatoes.

*Alaskan Salmon in Dill Sauce: broiled filet with garlic mashed potatoes and cucumber sauce.

*Vol-au-Vent a la Reine: creamed chicken, sweetbreads and mushrooms in a puff pastry case.


*Moroccan Orange Salad with Dates and Golden Raisins

*Chilled Yogurt and Tamarind Soup sprinkled with grated lemon rind.

*Chilled Banana and Strawberry Soup


We won't even talk about the desserts...

There are several dining options. First is the dining room, a formal served meal. This is where you get the best meals. But if you're tired and don't feel like dressing up, you can go up to the top deck for the buffet, which runs 24 hours. It will have a few things from the dining room menu but not the best stuff. There's also a pizza place and a grill where you can order a burger or hot dog. Finally there are several "upcharge" restaurants that you have to pay to eat at. The Italian restaurant is Sabatini's and they advertise a "20 course meal". We decided we had to check that out... 20 courses is a bit amazing even if it is tasting portions. Well... it wasn't 20 courses... it was 20 items. There was an appetizer course, antipasti, pizza, soup, salad, pasta, entrée and dessert courses. Eight courses... 20 items.


Have you ever seen the Food Network series "Iron Chef" where 2 chefs compete making a complete meal using just about anything and one select "secret ingredient"? Chef Ulrich must have dreams of going one-on-one with Bobby Flay because our Thanksgiving menu looked like it could be an episode of that TV series... Iron Chef Battle Pumpkin!


Appetizers

*Pumpkin Gnocchi Gratin: potato pillows with fresh tomato and truffle pumpkin coulis.

*Delicate Snow Crab Salpicon: sweet crab surrounded by pumpkin puree and crisp pumpkin straw.


Soup and Salad

*Roasted Pumpkin and charred Sweet Corn Chowder with Cumin Croutons

*Double Chicken Consommé with Pumpkin Quenelles

*Chilled Cream of Pumpkin & Chestnut Soup with Fried Pumpkin Seeds

*Winter Mesclun Greens Salad Tossed with a Pumpkin Seed Oil Vinaigrette


Entrees

*Broiled Filet of Deep Sea Cod: served with pumpkin risotto and a cardamom cream.

*Slow Roasted Vermont Turkey: dressed with a traditional stuffing, oven roasted sweet potatoes, pumpkin polenta and warm cranberry chutney.

*Center Cut Pork Loin Chop: braised red cabbage and pumpkin spaetzle in a tarragon jus.

*Grilled Medallion of Aged Beef Tenderloin: with a sautéed pumpkin rosti and caramelized shallots on a rich bordelaise sauce.


Dessert
*Pumpkin Crème Brule with Cinnamon Ice Cream

*Traditional Pumpkin Pie with Bourbon Crème Fraiche

*Caramelized Pumpkin and Apple Strudel

Cruise: The cruising experience

We took our first cruise this last November, just got back on Sunday. I had decided I wanted to take a vacation where once it started I wouldn't have to be taking care of a thousand details. I wanted to be the Queen.

First thing you have to do is to decide WHERE you want to cruise to. At first we thought Hawai'i, but then discovered the Panama Canal cruises. Wow! Then you have to decide which cruise line to use. For us it was between Holland America and Princess. We picked Princess because of the ports of call. Besides going all the way thru the canal, you also stopped in 6 countries.

We boarded the Island Princess on 16 November, not knowing what to expect but very excited. Over the next 14 days there were ups and downs... mostly with the cruise line itself. But overall we had a great time as most things are what you make them.

The Good:

*We had a balcony mini-suite and it was wonderful. Lots of space. Queen size bed, sofa & chair, desk, 2 TV sets (so you could watch from the sofa or bed!) and a mini fridge. Nice size closet (and you could store your suitcases under the bed). Big bathroom.

*Our balcony. It was lovely to sit out and watch the ocean slide by and catch the sea breeze. And on canal day, it was fantastic.

*The food in the dining room was delicious!

*Free room service. Gotta love it!

*The server staff (dining rooms, pursers, our room steward) were people (mostly in their early 20s) from all over the world. Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, South Africa, Italy, Portugal, England, Wales, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, India, Thailand, Bali, Philippines, Australia, Austria, New Zealand.

*Crafts. The cruise line hires people to come on and do craft classes. What fun! I learned to watercolor. I'd always wanted to try it, but didn't want to shell out the $$$ to take a whole class. Here I was able to take 3 free workshops and discover that I do enjoy it.

I learned to throw pottery on a wheel. What a hoot! It's still fun to play in the mud!

And I also painted a ceramic mug.




*Room stewards. Now THIS I could get permanently used to! Go out for breakfast and come back to a made bed and fresh towels. Go out for supper and come back to a turned down bed with chocolates on your pillow and the schedule of the next day's events to peruse.

*The gym (this was a plus for Himself - I never went near the place! Hey, I was on vacation, you know!)

*Going thru the Panama Canal was awesome! There was a commentator brought onboard who told all about the canal over the speaker system and in-ship TV channel.


The Bad:

*The bed. Well, the bed wasn't fabric covered concrete as some had implied, but it was pretty hard. Two egg-crate pads made it OK. For me, the more annoying thing was the rigid metal framing and the way it sagged to the middle. It was uncomfortable to sit on.

*No towel animals! OK, I know this is silly... but I was looking forward to that!

*The ship's officers were pretty stuck on themselves. 'Nuff said.

*Excursions. Whoever writes up the descriptions for each excursion package must have at one time written real estate ads. Only 2 of the 6 packages we went on met their description (although we did have good time on all of them - you know us!) Some of the bus drivers were pretty wild (one of ours, and ones we heard of from fellow cruisers). If we cruise again, we won't be doing any excursions thru the ship. At every port were companies offering trips (sometimes the very same ones as the ship at a lower price!) or a taxi you could hire. We did the taxi thing twice which I'll write about later.

*The spa. When you got there, you had to fill in a form that asked all sorts of questions about your aches and pains. They tell you the info is needed so they can take care during your massage. Baloney. During my "Relaxing Hand Massage with manicure" the girl didn't shut up trying to sell me things I "needed" - like a gel that would fix my ankle I twisted years before. I cancelled my back massage. Living commercials are a drag...

*The photographers were along the order of your standard no-name-set-up-in-a-mall-walkway variety. They didn't wait for you to get ready for the picture. Talk about some BAD photos. I didn't see a whole lot sold.

*"First run movies" were not so. All the movies had already been released to DVD or would soon be so. Example: The Great Debaters was released in theaters Dec 07, released in DVD May 08.


The Ugly:

*We were shocked by the 'entertainment' provided by Princess Lines. Every show (even the culinary demos!!!) where loaded with sexual references. And the "International Crew Show" where regular crew members could share their talents was made downright vulgar as between the real acts there were "skits" put one by the Cruise Director's staff. We had no idea that the Princess was one of Hugh Hefner's girls!

*There was an incident where we were unwarrently loudly verbally attacked by a member of the Princess crew who accused us lying about having permission from the Cruise Director for Himself to play a piano in the wedding chapel. I filed a complaint and said I wanted to see that person's superior. I was assured I would be most definitely contacted that day (Thanksgiving). Got the same assurance again on Saturday. Never happened, never got an apology. Now I write corporate.

*The boozing. I saw too many people who are going to have no memory of those 2 weeks except thru the DVD movie of them acting the fool. Oh my...

A New Tradition

From reading yesterday’s post, you already know how I feel about Halloween…

Yesterday night – to avoid it – Himself and I went out to supper, and then went shopping to finish up getting what we needed for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. We had to get them done this weekend, since we aren’t going to be around for the drop off time.

It was such a wonderful evening, that we have decided that from now on we will spend 31 Oct by going out to eat and finishing shopping for the ‘shoebox’ items and putting the boxes together.

All the items laid out for packing into the six boxes.

Almost done!




What each box contained.