laurieal

I tried the fried cheesecake on a previous cruise and it was indeed delicious. Now that I’ve tried all their desserts (I think) I’m not sure I’d be able to pick a favourite. They’re so different!

That sounds like something I would enjoy a lot, thank you for sharing.

Day 9 Compass

This morning, I had my coffee from the Café Promenade again. Then, I brought it with me to the Boardwalk. I had breakfast at Johnny Rockets. It was a lot less busy than the last time I was there before the Top Tier event. I had the buttermilk pancakes with a side of bacon. One lady from the team thought I had brought my own honey, but I explained that it was maple syrup. She said the syrup they provide IS maple syrup. Oh, my sweet summer child. Next time I need to bring some small shooter glass to have maple syrup tastings. I ate quickly and then exited the Boardwalk to rush to the theatre.

Alright, let’s catch up on last night. I had dinner at 150 Central Park. I wanted to try all new things, so I decided to do a seafood feast. But first, the best bread at sea. Yes, I’ve said it. Come at me. I will die on that hill. For my appetizer, I had the scallops. They were cooked perfectly. Not a hint of rubberiness at all. I would absolutely get that again. Then, I had the lobster thermidor. I had heard not so good reviews about that entrée, with some people even saying their waiter had discouraged them from ordering it. I absolutely loved it. The lobster was cooked well and it was so decadent and creamy. I have never had lobster like that. I will get this again for sure. For my dessert, I also went with something new. The Hazelnut Passionfruit Bar. My first reaction was “why is it so big?” Again, that was a hit for me. I enjoyed those flavours together more than I thought I would. It’s completely different, but it reminded me of the dessert apple from Wonderland in the sense that I could eat the whole thing and didn’t feel awful afterwards. I think it was my favourite dinner I had on board. After dinner, I stopped at the Treillis bar for a chocolate martini. I’m not sure what my issue is with that bar, but I forgot to take a picture again. A couple from Cruise Critic spotted me and we ended up chatting for a while until it was time to head to Crazy Quest. I had not been to a Quest since before the pandemic. Isn’t it a weird activity? You get assigned to a team with all the strangers in your section and suddenly you would give your life, or worse, your bra, for those two captains to win a keychain. But that’s all I’m going to say, other than GO TEAM NUMBER 2!

I would never share about the Quest! I have no desire to put myself through that again 😂 Someone from our team had a camera, though, so pretty sure it will end up on YouTube eventually.

Very beautiful and peaceful. Thank you for sharing!

I’ve heard the name old bay seasoning, but I don’t think I’ve ever had some. What do you put it in?

It’s late. I’m so tired. I need some time to process The Quest 😂 I’ll get caught up on my dinner tomorrow morning. See you soon!

I will disclaimer this by saying I am not the most observant person. I don’t go in the corners looking for flaws or dirt. Overall I would say she is in good shape. I’ve seen people cleaning her or painting her every day. But I feel like some of the fabrics are showing their age. The carpets in the elevator bays are stained. The chair and sofa in my stateroom, are definitely showing signs or wear and tear. I’m sure you will have a lovely time! I think she looks great, but there is no denying she has been around for a while.

Once I had finished my Kraken Colada as well as my baby Kraken Colada, I returned to my stateroom for my usual pre-dinner shower and refresh. Now, let’s play a game! Guess what’s leaking? If you said me…wow, ok, weird guess. It’s actually my sink. I realized it when I brushed my teeth and toothpaste started running all over my bathroom floor. Charming, I know. But we’ve been travelling together for, what, two weeks now? You’re getting all the weird details. I told my cabin steward who was in the area and then I went upstairs to see the island of São Miguel. Our lil’ sister Odyssey is probably still docked on the other side. I kind of wandered aimlessly down the Promenade looking for a place to have a sit down and a drink. I wasn’t really feeling the pub’s menu, but Boleros had some room so I grabbed a spot at the bar. I ordered a Hotel Nacional. Even said it with my best Spanish accent and really went hard on the ç. Unfortunately, they don’t have any apricot liqueur so I asked for a Hemingway Daiquiri instead. I like Hemingway. Dude loved his cat, who was named after a Disney character. Also, he said this and I could not agree more. The guy at the bar handed me my drink, but then he realized he had made a mistake. My Hemingway had pineapple juice instead of grapefruit. I told him it was fine. I like pineapple juice. But he insisted on making me another. So that’s what I’m currently working on.

Reporting live from Boleros. It looks like they have replenished their stock of mango purée.

Good idea! It was delicious. Have you seen a bar that have passion fruit? It’s my favourite, but all the places I’ve been to only have strawberry, mango and peach.

I spent the next couple of hours just staring at the ocean, hoping to see some wildlife. I actually saw several dolphins, which was great, but no whales. Do you think I could have seen a turtle? I saw something that was very turtle-shaped, but I guess it could have been some debris. I have no pictures of dolphins/potential turtles because taking my phone out while I’m excited and to close to the ocean stresses me out. I need to take my phone leash out of my luggage and take it with me. At one point, I went down to running track on deck 5 hoping to see the dolphins from up close. However, the water way too agitated and there was nothing to see. Back on deck 16, I asked myself “what kind of drink could I order to give myself good wildlife karma”? Kraken Colada! The bartender was nice. Instead of throwing away the excess piña colada mix, he put it in a small glass and added some Kraken rum to it. Baby Kraken! I can’t say it helped with the wildlife, but it sure brought me joy. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds eventually and some people came out to enjoy the pool deck. Shoutout to those bave people in the pools.

I got it at one of the Lime & Coconut bars on deck 16, but they should be able to make one anywhere they can make frozen drinks.

Shows for the second week

This is the way. Sure, I still need to work and do a pile of laundry, but not being jet lagged helps. Do yo have another TA planned? Perhaps we could race again, make it a 2 out of 3.

That party looked WILD (in the best way). I’m not much of a partier, but I would have gone because it looks like a true “you had to be there” moment. Feels cruel to take away an hour after that 😔

Aw, that would bum me out so much if they weren’t doing it in real time. I will just close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears and choose to believe 😂

It’s funny how quickly lunch time rolls around when you wake up at teenager o’clock. I have dinner plans tonight, so I decided to have a bit of chili at El Loco Fresh. I may have gotten a bit enthusiastic with my portion size. It was just as good as the other day. I have brought two things on board that I think could be considered exotic. The first one you saw the other day at breakfast: my maple syrup. The other one you can see in the picture above: I brought some cardboard trays to carry food. They were very useful at Disney World when one of us was picking up some food for all three of us. Now they’re helpful on the ship when I have to carry my own food. It’s my first time bringing some, but they don’t take much space so I think I’ll bring them again next time. While I was having my lunch, people were lining up to play Pickleball on the sports court. My stepfather is really into Pickleball, so I sat close by to report on how they are running things. There was a pretty long line, I thought, but with 12 people playing at the same time I guess it’s not so bad. It seems like they were playing for periods of 10 minutes and then switching up players. Most players went back in line once their 10 minutes were over. After my lunch, I returned to my whale-spotting spot on deck 16. I haven’t seen any whales, yet, but I’ve seen a couple of dolphins. I got a Mango Lava Flow to make whale-spotting a bit more festive.

Good morning and happy Sunday, everyone! I don’t remember the last time I slept past 9:00. I was shocked this morning when I saw the time on my phone. I got ready quickly and decided to go down to the Promenade for my morning coffee. But then I realized that my SeaPass card was in my stateroom, so back to deck 6 I went. My cabin steward was in the area and he let me into my room. Royal Promenade, take 2. They were setting up for some sales. You may have noticed that I’m not a big shopper. I have not set wheel in any of the stores, yet. However, this morning they had something out that caught my eye. Food 👌 I’ll probably go in and see if they are selling individual rum cakes eventually. I don’t need three and I’m pretty sure even if I did I couldn’t fit three in my luggage. I went to the Café Promenade. Some of their sandwiches looked nice, but I think I prefer the options at the Park Café. Because I felt ambitious, I got a doughnut. Turns out that carrying an iced coffee AND a doughnut at the same time is not something I can do. If you saw me on deck 16 stuffing that doughnut into my mouth because I just couldn’t make it through the door without dropping it, I’m sorry. I swear I was raised right. And you know what? That doughnut was STALE! I felt insulted, I felt betrayed, I felt… Oh! Land!

Day 8 Compass

Hopefully I can catch a glimpse of you when we’re closer. Enjoy your day in Ponta Delgada!

Sounds like everyone made it up on where they needed to go. Excellent. Team Odyssey, were you there on time?

I originally had the comedy show booked for day 3. But then, when my day 2 Aqua 80 show got moved to day 3, I had to move my comedy reservation to the only evening without conflicts: day 13. I figure that on day 13 I’ll want to go to bed early to get ready for Valencia. With that in mind, I joined the standby line for the Comedy Club as soon as I exited the ice show. Everyone waiting in the standby line got in, plus some other people that arrived later. I enjoyed both comedians a lot and found myself laughing for most of the show. I’m also happy that I freed up my evening of day 13. After the show, I was feeling cruise-hungry (meaning I hadn’t eaten in almost 3 hours and I felt like chewing on something). I ended up running into the same couple from earlier (and yesterday) while I was on my way to Sorrento’s and I joined them for a while. How weird is it that some of the people I met I never see again. And then some people I run into all the time. Pizza with an elephant to end the evening.