Fell asleep with a starry sky and near gale force winds. Woke to same. Ordered my coffee for 8am delivery and the knock on my door was right on time. This isn't your grandmother's coffee...it's real coffee. And for the first time that I can remember, my croissant was wrapped in a cloth napkin and still warm from the oven. I call this my pre-breakfast. An hour or so later, I saunter down to the dining room for a "real" breakfast. Eggs Benedict is high on my fav list, so I order it. Be forewarned: it is not served with the usual gloppy sauce. This was fresh, very light and nicely complimented the perfectly cooked eggs.
My afternoon was spent checking out areas of the Lirica that I missed yesterday and getting some sun time on my verandah. Luckily, I remembered to check the Daily Program and I scrambled up one flight of stairs and scooted into the buffet with only minutes to spare. Heaven forbid I should miss a meal. Soon, my plate sported a nice portion of Greek Salad and they didn't skimp on the feta cheese. The Seafood Shepherd's Pie looked interesting so I tried that also and was not disappointed. Instead of lamb or beef, there were good-sized pieces of salmon, clams, squid and a few other species I did not identify other than being a mild white fish.
Since shopping onboard is important to some people here is the lowdown. There are five shops onboard: the Boutique, with really nice quality logo items; the Duty Free Shop (a.k.a. the liquor store); a not-too-small, elegant jewelry store; the Perfumery and a Colombian Emeralds Jewelry store. There was 35% discount on makeup and cosmetics (Lauder and Lancome) which was indeed a bargain. Time to stock up on mascara!
Formal night. Not sure how or what to expect in the way of dressing up. So I donned my usual formal night "uniform" and headed to the Captain's Gala Reception. Lately, I have been known to skip this event, but on a small ship it is much more personable. To my surprise, added to the list of the customary champagne and fruit punch were martinis and manhattans. The pass-around tidbits looked nice, too. Afterwards, I mosied over to the Beverly Hills Bar and met Charlie, the bartender. We chatted a bit and I listened to a one-man band with a repertoire of Elvis, Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdink, among others. Quite a few septuagenarians were dancing up a storm.
Onto dinner. We were down to only four people at our table. The lady from New York and the man from La Mancha were missing. Prime rib was the featured entree and was prepared perfectly for me. I also sampled the gnocchi in a marinara sauce, a Caesar salad, lobster bisque and the assorted cheeses for dessert. Afterwards, it was time to watch the Guests' Dance Contest, then up to the disco for a few minutes. Very large dance floor, good sound system and DJ Tapia can get everyone movin'!
That's it for Day Two.
Comments