(Not) Live from the Explorer of the Seas, March 2014

[EmpressofPurple]

I am really enjoying your review Empressofpurple. Looking forward to reading more. Thank you :).

 

Thanks Puggy your wish is my command! Let the posting recommence!:)

[EmpressofPurple]

DAY 3 - Sunday, March 23 – At Sea

 

Woken by alarm at 6:45, dress and to gym for 7am stretch and 7:30 abs class (with Alen this time; Tom led the classes yesterday). Stretch is a full 30 minutes, a nice change from other ships where it has been shrinking from 25 to 20!… and abs is a mercifully short 15 minutes (ah, give with one hand and take away with the other… but I’m not complaining about that one, abs is always excruciating).

 

After class I spent 10 minutes on the elliptical (because all of the treadmills were full!!) – cycling through 1 min. each with no hands, stable handholds, and moving handholds. Then 15 mins. weights (chest press, shoulder press, lat raise, arm curl, arm extend, leg press, seated row)… helped a woman get into the (broken) adductor machine… sigh, I remember when the fitness staff was always available and circulating on the floor to consult on machine use, suggest workouts, etc. I’m sure they’ll still do that… for a fee. Otherwise they’re usually hard to find… or giving one of those product lectures, not on the exercise floor to help guests make the most of the equipment.

 

I returned to the room to wash up, apply sunscreen (on the balcony), dress in a swimsuit and coverup, and head up to the Windjammer for breakfast: 2 fried eggs, corned beef hash (gotta love that fresh-made hash onboard), bacon – and from the Asian station: stir-fried veggies (yellow and green squash, red pepper, onion and bamboo shoots) – plus a tiny croissant, grits (which I eat with butter, salt, pepper and hot sauce) and a fruit bowl with pineapple, stewed prunes, watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew… plus OJ and coffee. (Following my principle of having desert at every meal while onboard, I did have an apple puff from the Promenade after Trivia, too.)

 

Windjammer Breakfast

 

Arrived a bit late at 9:30 logo trivia – joined Carol who had teamed up with four others. We won with 44 out of 50. (There were a couple of really obscure logos: Castle Dental? Chewys? Fiesta? Black cat fireworks??)

 

Logo Trivia

 

Regular trivia at 10 was HARD. We barely got 10 out of 20 – the winners had 15 (and Carol said they only knew the answers because they were on a B2B and had had the same questions on the last cruise). Some of the ones we got wrong: Technical name for space between North and South Korea? No, not DMZ – 38th parallel. Country with no public toilets? Peru (Um, I’ve been there, that’s not true; we guessed Colombia). Most popular Monopoly piece? Racecar (we guessed the iconic Top Hat). Flag with giant lion? (Sri Lanka; we guessed Luxembourg). Scottish meaning of the word “duffer”? (No, no golfer – cattle thief. What?!?) A few we got right: Longest river in France (Loire, thanks Carol); first billionaire (Rockefeller, not Vanderbilt); State named on Jim Beam label (Kentucky… not Tennessee, that’s on Jack Daniels). I still have the answer sheet… but I have no idea what the questions were for some of these answers!!!

 

We then headed down to the 10:15 Welcome Back party in the Palace Theatre. On the way in, rather than head to the right to greet the Officers and CD staff, as I usually do, I noticed Chef Gary and other food service staff on the left hand side, so I went to thank them for the wonderful demonstration I had been fortunate enough to see in the Windjammer. Chef Gary took the time to talk with me about my interests in cooking, and invited me to (1) a special tea at 3pm today (!!! Tea on RC!!!) – and (2) a special chef’s galley tour on our last sea day!!! : ) Wow, I was excited (especially when I asked if I could invite 3 guests and he said yes). He took down my cabin number and said they would send me an invitation to the tour sometime before Friday, and wrote down directions to the tea party later today.

 

At the event I had some fruit punch, enjoyed the 2 singers from the RC singers & dancers crew… and then we ran up for tri-bond trivia (lost by 1 point… and there was a 3-way tie for 1st place, with more tiebreakers to decide who got the ubiquitous keychain)… Only one we missed? House… war… finger… (PAINT). Grrr… Some of the ones we got right: Nail-Car-Golfball (DRIVE)… Family-Tree-Hair (ROOTS)… Person-Watch-Cliff (FACE)… (I don’t know the others, since we just wrote down our answers, not the three word clues.)

 

Once we lost, we ran back down to the Welcome Back party to see the featured dance couple perform (they’re really amazing), and to talk with the Loyalty Ambassador regarding the fact that neither Carol nor I had received invitations to any of the loyalty events… and that we were both due to receive crystal blocks! This would be my first (140 cruise points, or 20 7-night cruises in a standard cabin)… and Carol would be receiving her 560-point block on the second leg of her B2B!!! (RCI gives crystal blocks of the ship on which you are sailing when you pass each 70-point marker over 140 points, so 210, 280, 350, etc., corresponding to 10 cruises under the old cruise vs. point system). Loyalty Ambassador Wendy assured us that we would get them at the high-tier loyalty party.

 

I also planned to talk with The LA later about why I would NOT be purchasing a NextCruise on this cruise – something I have done on EVERY cruise I have ever taken in the past – because they dis-emboweled the value of the Open Bookings, and I never want to take the time to sit down and select a specific sailing, cabin, time, date, etc. with the LA when I could be enjoying my cruise (and I want to leave the LA’s time to work with people who are not as comfortable researching their own cruises online). Such an odd business move on RCI's part; I always feel like "they've got me" when I have a NextCruise... I may see great deals on another cruise line, but since I've already paid $100 for a NextCruise, I end up booking with RCI. Well, I don't have any NCs now, so I'm free to book wherever there's a good deal on an interesting cruise!! Sorry, RCI, bad move in my opinion.

 

Afterwards, I headed up to the pool deck at 11:30, planning to meet Carol for MDR lunch at 12 (or soon thereafter). I got a lounge in the sun in the Solarium, read and dozed, swam in the pool (and took photos with my cell phone in my new nuud case that my son had gotten me for Christmas, too late for the Oasis cruise, but a delight for cruising, completely waterproof).

 

Pool pictures taken with phone in nuud case

 

 

I dried off by 12:15 and headed down to the dining room, where I found Carol just starting her tutti salad… but there was no space at her table, so I went back to the Solarium, read and sunned a bit more (I had lost my lounger, of course, but I just laid out next to the pool).

 

At 1:30 I went to the Windjammer for some food… and Ariel found me on line in the buffet! I went to sit with her and Tom, they’re so excited about Tea with the Head Chef and the Galley Tour, too. Wow!! Lunch: usual bed of raw baby spinach leaves, a hot dog (no bun), sauerkraut, steamed veggies, roast turkey from the carving station (moist!) and a small piece of blackened fish… plus crab & asparagus soup. For dessert, fresh, warm rice pudding. An Arnold Palmer (half iced tea and half lemonade) and water to drink.

 

Windjammer Lunch

 

Water or Iced Tea, anyone?

[EmpressofPurple]

After lunch, we sunned for a little while longer on the pool deck, then headed back to the cabin to shower and dress for our special tea!! I wore my tie-dye purple and white scarf-edge skirt, purple top and silver & white Toms shoes. So excited!!

 

Tea was a “private function” on deck 4 of the dining room. Staff were collecting invitations at the door (we were on a list as Chef Gary’s guests – I never did find out who the other guests were at this event. Suite guests, maybe?). There were maybe 50-60 people all together, seated in one small corner of the dining room. Chef Vinnie and Chef Gary walked around the tables and chatted with all the guests. The spread was amazing: lox, and egg salad (separately) on small brown bread pieces with a mayo drizzle… crustless cucumber and cheese (separate) sandwiches… savory pasties of sausage, potato, ground meat (beef or lamb)… sweet sponge cake with cream and jelly… glazed fruit tarts with pastry cream… and of course scones with strawberry and apricot compotes, clotted cream, walnut chutney… plus there was a plate of cookies and a plate of full-size rye bread slices (that was a bit odd)… and sadly, the same indifferent new tea brand that is served at every venue and meal onboard! Feh!!! (Please please please RCI, bring in a good tea provider.)

 

Tom and Ariel are excited about Tea

 

Carol and I ready to enjoy a beautiful repast

 

Scones with fruit compote and clotted cream

 

After this special event, I planned to see the 4pm showing of Pacific Rim in the screening room, but I went down the aft stairs to deck 2, and alas discovered the screening room is forward, and decks 2 and 3 do not go through… and by the time I went back up to 5 (not wanting to walk through the smoky casino) and back down, the movie had started and the screening room was packed. So I returned to the Schooner Bar, where the scavenger hunt was going on. I sat in the corner, chatting with a couple who was having their afternoon drink, then reading my book until Barbara and Peter (and later Carol, Tom and Ariel) showed up for “Who Am I?” trivia.

 

Ariel and Tom in a cozy corner of the Schooner Bar at Trivia

 

Sadly, this group of CD staff was NOT trained in how to play some of these trivia games. Usually, “Who Am I” has a series of clues, from hard to easy, which the staffer reads one at a time. If you guess on the 1st clue, you get three points, on the 2nd clue, two points, on the 3rd clue or after, just one point… you have to walk up to the staffer and whisper the answer, and if you get it wrong, you are OUT – you cannot guess again on one of the later clues. For some unknown reason, this staffer just READ OUT ALL OF THE CLUES!! (Trust me, nearly anyone can guess them by the time you get to the later “clues”). Sigh. That was boring. Worse still, the staffers once again engaged in WAY too much chit-chat and personal stories, dragging out a brief Trivia game into an hour of meaningless blather. Oh well.

 

After Trivia, I stopped by Guest Services, and explained the Chocolate Tour problem: I had read about a historic hotel in Nassau called Grayclifff, which I thought it would be fun to visit – I had done nearly every touristy thing in Nassau over the years on land trips or cruise stops (Blue Lagoon Island, Atlantis beach + waterpark + casino + aquarium + dig, Semi-Submarine, Nassau Aquarium, Ardastra Gardens & Zoo, Pirate Museum, Slave Museum, Fish Fry, Junkanoo Beach, Straw Market, Snorkeling, Kayaking, etc., etc.) – and then I read that Graycliff also offered an interactive chocolate tour! I had emailed Carol, who replied that this had a great review on Trip Advisor, and was in fact offered directly through Royal Caribbean. We planned to book it onboard to use up some of our OBC.

 

However, Shore Excursions had never heard of this tour – even after we went up to Royal Caribbean Online and printed out a description of the RCI tour from their own website!! So I asked Guest Services to call the Chocolate Factory to find out when the tour was, or look them up online for me. They wouldn’t do that, but they did give me some extra free internet time to do the research myself. Thanks, RCI, very considerate! (Although wouldn't you know... I spent all that time, and could find NO information about the timing of the tour on their website or facebook page, just requests to "email them" or "call them" -- unlikely on a Sunday evening the night before the tour... if I'd known RCI wasn't offering the tour, listed on their own website, on this particular cruise, I would've sent Graycliff and email and booked the tour from home before I left. Ah well, we'll see what happens tomorrow.)

[EmpressofPurple]

Then I went to my room, watched the sunset from my balcony, and got dressed for dinner and the theatre. I watched the last of the sunset with Ariel and Tom from their balcony (Tom taking tons of pictures – he’s really wowed by his first experience of being at sea).

 

Sunset at Sea

 

 

 

We went to see the Headliner showtime from the balcony, Wildfire. It was only okay in my view, three singers who were more interested in hearing themselves sing – quite well, true enough – than connecting with or telling a story to the audience.

 

 

We stopped by the casino on the way to dinner, where I walked away up $16 at Roulette (my favorite game) and Ariel won TWO keychains in the free “spin to win” C&A slot machine (which I’ll add to our Trivia intimidation necklaces).

[EmpressofPurple]

From the casino, we headed to the dining room: Italian night. (I miss when the waiters would dress in different suits to reflect the theme nights, kinda cheesy but fun. Do I remember an Italian flag vest? Gold vests for formal nights? Or was that on Princess… or even – gasp! – Carnival? Anyway…)

 

POMODORO Menu: Aracina (strange fried rice balls with spinach), my favorite Caprese salad, and I ordered Lasagne, which was delicious, with both tomato and cream sauces. (So glad I didn’t only order my standard Tiger Shrimp… they are now slimy and shell-less!! I used to love having the headwaiter run around and take them out of the shells…) Had bread pudding for dessert (only okay)… and ran out to see the 10pm Pacific Rim!! I had to leave by 11pm (so tired), changed for bed, washed up, took my vitamins and went to bed.

 

Aracina

 

Caprese Salad

 

Shrimp & Lasagne

 

Waiter parade -- the glasses-on-tray man from the Windjammer balances two wine bottles on his head as he walks around!

 

Pomodoro Menu

 

Desserts

[windjamming]

We went to see the Headliner showtime from the balcony, Wildfire. It was only okay in my view, three singers who were more interested in hearing themselves sing – quite well, true enough – than connecting with or telling a story to the audience.

 

We had Wildfire on our Jewel cruise last year. They were very visible around the ship and had no lack of attention from the ladies on the ship!

 

Still loving the review. Great to hear about the full 30 minute stretch session. Once (I think it was the Jewel), it was only 15 minutes! I could have done that - and probably did - on my bed.

 

Ariel and Tom are beyond adorable!

[EmpressofPurple]

We had Wildfire on our Jewel cruise last year. They were very visible around the ship and had no lack of attention from the ladies on the ship!

 

Still loving the review. Great to hear about the full 30 minute stretch session. Once (I think it was the Jewel), it was only 15 minutes! I could have done that - and probably did - on my bed.

 

Ariel and Tom are beyond adorable!

 

Aren't they lovely? And delightful travel companions...

 

Yeah, Wildfire was cute (especially the Aussie, in my opinion)... but they suffered from that "pretty person/pretty voice" problem, which is when they sing it feels like they're enjoying listening to themselves sound SOOO good (or thinking about how they look SOOOO good), rather than actually reaching out to the audience. It was amazing to compare their performances to the equally technically excellent singing of the four RC singers -- who told a story with every song, and really connected with the audience on a personal level.

 

Yup, I've had those brief free classes, too -- and complained about them on the post-cruise review bitterly every time. I was thrilled to have a truly full-length stretch class.

 

-----------------

 

I missed posting the photo below, and it's too late to edit the afternoon post, so... here are some friends who kept me company while I was changing for tea:

 

[EmpressofPurple]

The Day 3 Compass promoted the Walk for Wishes event, a Watch Raffle, and a Slot Tournament… the Ice Show, Headliner Showtime (Wildfire, the 3 young singers) and late night adult comedy (which I missed, too late for me)… the history and culture lecture (space: the final frontier), world’s sexiest man competition, save the waves environmental lecture, Pacific Rim in the Screening Room and a ‘50s Rock n roll party. Drink/shooter of the day: Mango Montenegro, Italian Stallion, same prices as before with souvenir glasses.

 

Today’s half-page daily offers included spa, casino and photo promotions, another ben and jerry’s coupon (this one for a free topping with purchase of any ice cream), plus jewelry and shore excursions ads, as well as another mention of the drink of the day.

 

Compass Page 1

 

Page 2

 

Page 3

 

Page 4

 

Daily Insert

 

Side 2

[hazz24]

As is our custom, we walked down and sat in the front row to give energy back to the performers who work so hard to entertain us by clapping and cheering to thank them for their work. Cruise ship entertainers have a hard life, singing and dancing and playing for a challenging audience: people who fall asleep, walk out in the middle of shows, have been over-served, etc. We sat next to a lovely father and daughter, Steve and Megan, who introduced themselves and started chatting away. We would encounter them in the front row on other occasions in the course of the cruise.

 

Beautiful curtain in the theatre

 

The show was fine, cruise director Keith, activities manager Dre from Jamaica, a 9-piece orchestra that was kicking! and a comedian and musical satirist, Dennis Blair, who was pretty darn funny. We enjoyed the show, applauded and cheered as appropriate, and left right at 8:30 to head for dinner.

 

We had to try every ladies room between the theatre and the dining room before we found one without a line, and the pace both exiting the theatre, heading up to four to cross over to the aft of the ship to the dining room, was glacial at best.

 

Random beautiful decor... in one of the public restrooms!

 

We made our way to our table (since when aren't we seated by a host??) and found a lovely couple, Peter and Barbara, waiting for us. They turned out to be HIGHLY traveled people, and regaled us with stories of cruises all around the world: Alaska, Panama Canal, Europe, Baltics, Transpacific, wow!!! We shared shore excursion stories, talked about different cruise lines, told them about our running,* and generally had a terrific meal.

 

*(As those of you who have read previous threads of mine, I completed my first full marathon last November in Philadelphia… Tom, Ariel and MerionMom were all there to cheer me on, along with Ariel’s brother Jason. Also running that day were Tom’s mother and sister, who completed their first half-marathon. Ariel, Jason and I have been running together since January of 2011, when we completed a Disney 5K, and we were hooked. We all ran the Cherry Tree race in Washington DC the weekend after this cruise – Tom, his mother and sister ran the 10-miler, while Ariel, Jason and I ran the 5K. That was a great trip, too… although it did contribute to the delay in preparing this trip report.)

 

Peter and Barbara (photo taken on our last night onboard)

 

Oh yeah, and the food wasn't bad either! MOJO was the first-night menu. I had the thai coconut seafood soup, which was delicious with a nice little spicy kick, plus the eggplant and artichoke tart (didn't eat the crust, but it had a delicious port wine reduction couli). Dinner was the prime rib (excellent) with gravy, baked potato w/sour cream. Also shared the cod and celeriac mash with Tom (this is the only night the Cod is offered as the “anyday” fish, every other day it will be salmon… which was on the main menu tonight).

 

Dessert was the low-fat mango pudding (now with pieces of real mango!) plus I shared the blueberry-peach crumble with Ariel. Okay, I ate that by myself. Coffee with cream (plus my sugarfree salted caramel syrup that I brought on board!) Kumar and Juan were our servers. Plus I had a pumpkin seed roll and a savory bite, and asked for a cheeseplate for the next night. They brought two tonight at the end of the meal, and I put them together and brought them to the room for a midnight snack.

 

I forgot to take pictures of dinner, but here's dessert: Mango pudding

 

Blueberry-peach crumble (with melted vanilla ice cream on top... that's why I had to eat the whole thing, since DD is lactose-sensitive) (yeah, sure that's why I had to eat the whole thing)

 

Everyday BBB - Banana Bailey's (Creme) Brulee

 

 

Love Peter and Babara. Wonderful couple.

[EmpressofPurple]

Love Peter and Babara. Wonderful couple.

 

Agree! Nice photo, too.

 

Cool story about that photo: all my pix were taken with my android phone, which is set to automatically upload to Google+ (one reason I never posted photos before was because of the two-stage process needed to post photos to cc, first uploading to a photo storage site, then losing into posts; this way one step is removed from the procedure). Anyway, Google has something called "auto awesome," where they modify your photos... they've added glittering lights to Christmas trees, falling snow to a winter scene, movement to a series of photos such as divers or dancers... and in the case of two photos of Barbara and Peter, one where George was looking away but Barbara had a great smile, and one where George is looking at the camera but Barbara looks distracted... they combined the best photo of each of them!! Technology is just amazing.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[Miamia65]

Hi Denise

Loving your review, you mention a few posts back the ability to order flowers. There was a flower cart on Oasis in December, we cruised B2B on 7 and 14 December and purchased a bunch each week. It was located on the promenade between Boleros and the first shop/opposite Starbucks. I didn't notice it but my daughter did - she loves flowers LOL. Definitely easy to miss....

[EmpressofPurple]

Hi Denise

Loving your review, you mention a few posts back the ability to order flowers. There was a flower cart on Oasis in December, we cruised B2B on 7 and 14 December and purchased a bunch each week. It was located on the promenade between Boleros and the first shop/opposite Starbucks. I didn't notice it but my daughter did - she loves flowers LOL. Definitely easy to miss....

 

Good to hear... I haven't noticed the flower cars recently, and had read many posts on CC that they were phasing them out... I only noticed that the Daily Offers page for formal night said "buy her a gift or flowers" so I wondered if that was a possibility...

[Daniel8576]

Oh my god - I love that you put a picture of that Windjammer waiter! Every time I saw him up there with coffee cups spinning around his head I just died of uncontrollable laughter. It was hysterical - love that dude !!

[EmpressofPurple]

My daughter's BF Tom got seriously freaked out by this guy. He kept saying, "He's got to put that tray down. It's making me really nervous." You can see him turning around to look at him in the photo, he couldn't take his eyes off of him!

 

This server has a VERY round head, you see him pick up trays full of drinks and put them on top of his head (as he does with the wine bottles on the waiter parade night in the dining room) -- no glue, no pad, nothing holding the tray to his head or the glasses to the tray. He'll even SERVE you from the tray!!

 

Truly, he was a sight to behold. Our dining table was on the fourth floor, in the corner by the promenade, and the curtains were kept open on our sailing (a nice change from other sailings where the curtains were always closed at night for dinner). One night I saw him walking by OUTSIDE, in the wind on the deck, with a fully laden tray on his head!! Unbelievable. (Sorry I didn't get a picture of that!!)

 

If you've traveled off the beaten path in the islands, you will see some people carrying large baskets filled with fruits, vegetables, clothing, etc. on their heads... but trays with multiple glasses of iced tea and water, or cups of coffee, or glass wine bottles -- not so much :)

[Daniel8576]

I wasn't fortunate enough to see him in the dining room - wish I had ! Only saw him up in the Windjammer and got to talk to a few times as well. Was just amazed how he could do that, spin the tray on his head, serve from his head, etc. I too was nervous, especially on a rough sea day - I was thinking he is going to drop those any second !!

 

He got a pretty loud ovation too, on the final night of our cruise - when they brought him out on stage with a couple of the other Windjammer staff (The Washy Washy crew, of course!)

[ladylikes2cruise]

Okay, let's move this review along...

 

DAY 2 - Saturday, March 22 – At Sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

I]Ladylikes2Cruise (Donna) with the gift exchange contributions[/i]

OMG! What a horrible picture,:p

Sorry the gift exchange seem hurried and disorganized :(

Not how I wanted it done...

People were leaving and I wanted to have all that participated show off their gifts.

This was the first M&M where it didn't seem we had a chance to talk to/mingle with each other.

On all other M&M's I have been to, there was coffee, juice and snacks available.

My gift was a Tervis Tumbler with a Jersey license plate and a box of Genuine Salt Water Taffy from the Jersey shore, didn't even get to see who picked it:(

Smooth Sailings to wherever you chose to cruise,

Donna

 

 

 

 

 

My contribution to the gift exchange: a door magnet/note clip in the shape of a NY taxi (with glitter inside), a sticky note pad, a taxi pencil, 4 ginger candies, and 2 pens from my business! My selection from the gift exchange: a red Hello Kitty gift bag with 4 Pez dispensers inside!! Buzz & Woody (who were the mascots for our first Disney race back in 2011, the Buzz & Woody Best Friends 5K), Ariel the little mermaid (you know who got that one!) and Strawberry Shortcake.

[EmpressofPurple]

Ladylikes2Cruise (Donna) with the gift exchange contributions

OMG! What a horrible picture,:p

Sorry the gift exchange seem hurried and disorganized :(

Not how I wanted it done...

People were leaving and I wanted to have all that participated show off their gifts.

This was the first M&M where it didn't seem we had a chance to talk to/mingle with each other.

On all other M&M's I have been to, there was coffee, juice and snacks available.

My gift was a Tervis Tumbler with a Jersey license plate and a box of Genuine Salt Water Taffy from the Jersey shore, didn't even get to see who picked it:(

Smooth Sailings to wherever you chose to cruise,

Donna

 

Awww, Donna, I thought it was a good picture -- I just missed your ubiquitous straw cowboy hat and your lovely smile!:)

 

Yeah, I hear ya, it did feel a little rushed, but definitely not your fault -- it's true, on other sailings they have provided more amenities -- at least the raffle prizes were pretty decent! (But still, it's the socialization that should be the point, not the swag... I wish they'd host some "icebreaker" activities for us... or maybe we should host our own...)

 

I would've liked to see who got my little NYC gift, too... I hope it didn't go to another New Yorker, we have so many from our neck of the woods on the Explorer...

 

Anyway, I loved meeting you and running into you all over the cruise, from the casino to the Windjammer... you were a friendly familiar face, and did a great job organizing things. Thanks for your contribution to a great cruise!!:D

[EmpressofPurple]

And on with the review...

 

Day 4 - Monday, March 23 – Nassau

 

Woke up at 6:35, 10 minutes before alarm… took Bob to the bathroom so when it went off I wouldn’t have to run out and turn it off. (Oh yeah… I travel with Bob, a small silver egg from Brookstone which acts as a clock, timer, calendar and thermometer. If you tap the top of the egg, the display window changes color – purple, red, blue, green – I love Bob.)

 

Pulling into port before sunrise...

 

...and after

 

Dressed for gym, walked up in flip-flops carrying sneakers, since we always do stretch and abs barefoot. Just stretch today, with Alen, a full 30-minute class, but no abs because the trainers are on “safety” for port duty. (Saw DD Ariel’s boyfriend Tom on the treadmills when I arrived at 7am – go Tom! Tom’s got to put in mileage to get ready for the Cherry Tree 10-miler.)

 

After stretch class I did 10 minutes on the treadmill (at 3.5 to 4.5 mph, faster than my usual speeds… yeah, I’m that slow…) plus the few weight machines I missed yesterday: leg curl and leg extend, abs (ugh, guess I’m glad the abs class was canceled), plus lat pulldown. Afterwards I went back to the cabin to shower and dress for the day in Nassau. I’m wearing street clothes to walk to Graycliff and (hopefully) do the elusive chocolate class… and I’m bringing my swimsuit, flipflops and pareo in case I decide to head to Cable Beach instead (!) – plus my book, energy drink with lots of ice, visor and sunglasses. I sprayed plenty of 50 sunscreen on before I dressed (and packed a tube for touchups onshore).

 

I left my cabin steward Cornelius a surprise: putting my goggles on his towel animal bunny, and making a napkin candlestick (learned that on my last Explorer cruise in napkin folding class)

 

On my way back to the cabin from the gym, I ran into Tom and Ariel heading out for their day in Nassau. (I love happenstance! Giant cruise ship, a thousand chances to miss each other, and we’re all in the stairwell at the same time, me coming down from the gym, them heading out to the gangway.) Their plans for the day: taxi to Atlantis, look around and try to get onto the beach if possible – if not they’ll take the jitney to Cable Beach, then a little port-area shopping before all aboard at 6pm.

 

I called Carol in case she wanted to leave early, then headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast: oatmeal with butter, brown sugar, raisins, sliced almonds and hot milk; 2 hardboiled eggs; 2 slices carved ‘pit ham,’ sausage, 1 potato wedge, stir-fried veggies from the Asian station (today mostly onions, carrots, red pepper and cabbage), plus OJ and yogurt for “dessert.” Saw the amazing coffee-head-tray man, got a cup of coffee from his head!!

 

Another (different) Windjammer breakfast

[EmpressofPurple]

Views pulling into port

 

Crowds walking up the pier for early morning tours

 

Atlantis in the distance, through the Windjammer windows

 

Bridge to Paradise Island

 

After breakfast, I took the elevator down to 4, of course I was at the wrong end of the ship so I walked through the Casino to get to the Schooner Bar for morning trivia. The plan to read quietly until trivia was foiled when I discovered I had arrived in time for the 9:30am Sudoku challenge. We were given 20 minutes to complete the puzzle. I finished in 9… but I slowed down a lot after 5 minutes, by which time the first 3 people were done!! (The CD staffer said he’d give me a keychain anyway, and when he came back for Trivia later he did so. Keychain!!)

 

Trivia in the Schooner Bar

 

Carol and I played with Kathy… getting only 6 out of 15!!! (We would have gotten if Carol didn’t know that Oktoberfest actually starts in September… because of course the trivia answer for the beer festival date is October.) I’m looking at the answer sheet, and I have NO idea what the questions were… I just know we got some wrong and some right. Sigh. I really need to keep better notes!! Aha, I see one answer is “green” and I think that was my INCORRECT answer to “what color is octopus blood?” – the correct answer is BLUE… although if you look it up online, you will see a number of listings that say “blueish-green” or “greenish-blue” so maybe I should have argued for that one!! However, despite Carol and another cruiser having traveled to Munich for Oktoberfest in SEPTEMBER – and the fact that you cannot get a hotel room in September because of the commencement of that event at that time – the leader would not accept that answer, only “October,” so I would’ve been pushing it with green…

[EmpressofPurple]

Following Trivia, we walked off (after using the elegant Casino ladies’ room), strolled up the dock taking pictures of the four ships in port, entered the port shopping area and looked at a local map to find Hill Street, which was indeed right before the Colonial Hilton.

 

Ships in Port

 

 

We walked out of the port area and turned right along the waterfront, then headed to main street, past the straw market, and crossed the street at the corner before the Hilton. We trudged up the hill (with Carol continually asking me, “Are we headed the right way? Do you know where we’re going? Are you sure?”) until we saw “Graycliff” on the wall outside and a sign pointing up the street reading “Chocolate factory.”

 

 

We entered the small garden courtyard to the historic lobby, oohing and aahing at the beautiful architecture, nicely decorated dining room, tables covered with white linen, crystal glasses and silverware, fresh flowers everywhere, dozens of awards on the wall from various impressive wine and food organizations.

 

 

 

[EmpressofPurple]

We asked the staff how to get to the chocolate factory, and we were invited to walk through the gardens behind the hotel, past the two pools to get there. I took many pictures of beautiful greenery, statues, pools, waterfalls and fountains. There were incredible stone statues of lions and tigers, so realistic you felt they might pounce out of the garden.

 

Beautiful garden

 

Plants with signage

 

Animal Statues about to Pounce!

 

Pool with exquisite tiling

 

Footbridge

 

Koi Pond

Edited April 23, 2014 by EmpressofPurple
mislabeled picture

[EmpressofPurple]

Breadfruit and brain coral

 

Open-air room on the property

 

Another beautiful restaurant on the property

 

Meet meat!

 

As we moved along, through a window of one of the buildings I could see a chocolate tour in progress. We entered a jewel-like store with exquisite handmade chocolates on display in glass-fronted cabinets. They also had other local specialties, including local whiskey from the distillery up the road (the other tour that Carol wanted to do).

 

We see the tour!!

 

Beautiful store

[EmpressofPurple]

Chatting with the store staff, I asked when the next tour was going out. They said 2pm, and I said that’s great – but Carol said, “No it’s not – it’s just 11:30 now!” Then they offered for us to join in on the Disney Ship tour which was just arriving as we spoke. We were happy to do so. They explained that there were 24 people booked on the tour, which was the maximum number of seats in the classroom, and would we mind sitting with the instructor? Not at all, we assured them… so they laid out two extra spots at the front table, which actually turned out to be the best seats in the room!!

 

The tour itself was great. We learned that they currently source their cocoa in Jamaica, although they have purchased and planted beans in the Bahamas and are hoping soon to have their product be 100% Bahamian grown and made. We saw pictures of cacao plants at various stages of growth and harvest, and then inside (after we had donned hygienic cover-ups and hats) we saw the raw cocoa beans, plus after they had roasted them. We heard it takes 7 days from bean to bar, roasting, shelling, grinding coca nibs to make chocolate liqueur, then adding sugar, vanilla, milk, etc. The dark chocolate is 64-70% cacao… but you definitely want to add sugar and other flavorings, because the plain chocolate is bitter and nasty. White chocolate has zero cacao (just cocoa butter, milk, vanilla and sugar).

 

Our wonderful guide Kiki hands out protective clothing

 

And talks about cacao production...

 

...while we look at pictures...

 

...and then see the production up close: hulling

 

mixing

 

molding

[EmpressofPurple]

They demonstrated giant mixers that stir the chocolate to make it smooth and creamy – one for dark chocolate and one for white chocolate – they don’t have one for milk chocolate yet, so the big burly men beat that by hand for 20 minutes! They showed us the lovely “painted” molds (spattered and designed with cocoa butter with food coloring in different designs for the different flavors, Baileys, peanut butter, sea salt caramel, fruit flavors, etc.) on top of the long cooling tunnel where the candies moved through on a conveyor belt and hardened enough to be removed from the molds. They also demonstrated how they would beat the molds with a spoon after they were filled to get rid of any air bubbles.

 

Carol checks out the cooling tunnel

 

Banging the molds to get rid of air bubbles

 

White chocolate mixer with faucet -- shades of Willy Wonka!

 

We get to try pouring molds, too...

 

And banging out air bubbles

 

Decorating the molds for the different flavors

[EmpressofPurple]

Then we proceeded to the classroom, with tables and stools in rows for the Disney crew, and Carol and I seated on chairs at the instructors large demonstration table at the front of the room.

 

Classroom tables and stools

 

Carol's and my chairs at the instructor's table

 

We were given plastic candy bar molds with the Graycliff logo, and a piece of cotton, and told to polish them hard – the harder we polished them, the shinier our chocolate bar would be. Each of us received a plate with a giant square handmade marshmallow and a strawberry, each on a stick, plus a pile of mini chocolate chips, sliced almonds, coconut, and handmade granola – plus a plastic cup full of fresh, warm, dark chocolate.

 

I like marshmallows

 

So does Carol! (Wow, look at her camera... I bet her photos from this event weren't so fuzzy...)

 

The Disney crew at their stations

 

Chocolate bar mold (we only made one each)...