CGTNORMANDIE

The Taverna on the Bremen was deep down on a lower deck. You are correct.

Renting a deck chair was de rigeur. If someone was sitting in your deck chair all you had to do was tell the Deck Steward. He would ceremoniously evict the interloper. It was a great system. This actually happened to me one time. The lady that was sitting in my deck chair was stunned that she had been caught. She had to go none the less.

RK you are a gourmet. You have a very experienced and discerning palate. There are gourmets and there are gourmands. Food can never be subjective to a gourmet but it can almost always be subjective to a gourmand. A gourmet knows with certainty that gazpacho is always served cold. A gourmand could easily mistake it for bouillabaisse.

The daily activities were very limited. Onboard the Bremen at sea you would start with a great breakfast then up on deck for exercise. There were calisthenics (pre aerobics) then sometime around 9:00 AM there was the ship’s Omm Paa Paa band made up of crew members. This was really unusual and fun. Then came the bouillon on deck. You had the usual card games and trivia with bingo. There were always complimentary dance lessons offered. Then came the pre luncheon cocktail hour. This was called the Neapolitan Cocktail Hour on some ships. Lunch was another major affair featuring German specialties as well as the usual haute cuisine. After lunch came the usual afternoon activities along with a movie. Most of the afternoon was spent in a deck chair resting up for the evening activities. Late afternoon brought skeet shooting and bingo. The focal point was afternoon tea. This was a formal affair with white glove service, Viennese pastry and violins. Somewhere around 5:00 PM there would be a radio newscast in one of the public rooms followed by organ music in The Black Forest Room. Then came the pre dinner cocktail hour followed by an incredible dinner. The rest of the evening was spent dancing or taking in a movie. The dancing went on into the wee hours when the Taverna opened at 11:30 PM. There were snacks around Midnight. It was not unusual to stay up past 2:00 AM.

I have been writing cruise reviews for the past 40 years…with a concentration on food since that is my field of expertise. To me it boils down to hearing from pax who don’t know good food, those who don’t want to be judgmental, and those who really do know quality. You have to sift through the information and make your own decision. I’ve also noticed that most reviews really don’t go into the food to any extent. Since a cruise is made up of eating morning noon and night this makes no sense to me. IMO good food is not subjective it’s the mediocre food that is subjective.

I had written what a typical at-sea day onboard Bremen was like. It was quite a contrast to today’s ships. While the current ships offer a high intensity activity level the Bremen offered incredible comfort and top notch service, dining, etc. Back in those days it was up to the pax to create their own enjoyment. Evenings were spent dancing to a live orchestra in the main lounge. The main entertainment was the conversation between the pax as friendships were forged. Of course the never ending rounds of drinks aided greatly in this endeavor. In those days it was not uncommon to stand a round of cocktails for a friendly group of ten or more. If you had 5 couples…ten people…that would equal 5 rounds of drinks over the course of an evening…more than enough to make for a fun time. The snack buffet at 11:30 PM helped immensely to level the playing field…so to speak…lol.

If we could only go back in time. I wrote an extensive response of some of the old liners but as usual CC swallowed it up by asking me to sign in in the middle of my response…UGHHH!!!

Your fears of storms in the Southern Atlantic are greatly exaggerated. They are rare when compared to Northern Atlantic crossings. If you are going to sail on a TA all you need is some Bonine just in case. 90,000 tons is nothing to sneeze at. That is 50% bigger than QE2. We experienced 135 mile an hour winds off of Bermuda one night onboard RCI Jewell Of The Seas…90,000 tons. Usually these storms do not last more than 12 hours at the most. This storm was the remnant of a hurricane and we only had about 6 hours of rough sailing. We slept through it. We have been through some hairy storms in the Northern Atlantic but never in the Southern. There is a big difference between the North and South Atlantic. Put your fears aside and enjoy.

I do believe that Pier 88 is correct.

Tipping with Dollar bills…maybe 30 years ago. If you want to establish a good rapport with your favorite bartender then I would suggest a ten, or better yet, a twenty. This will get their attention and save you from handing out small amounts that are soon forgotten. I would rather tip one or two bartenders than handing out a few dollars to everyone.