Stardate 2109.14 – Chief Accounting Officer’s Live Blog, Norwegian Star

[numberguy]

I have been assigned to the Norwegian Star, a cruise ship on Earth, for their once-a-year cruise in the North and Norwegian Seas. I am looking forward to this R&R from my regular duties.

 

OK, enough Star Trek references; I’m not talented enough to write like that for two weeks plus. I’m an accountant by trade, hence the Chief Accounting Officer’s log…

 

This is a live (well, semi-live, since I’m already three days behind) blog from the Norwegian Star cruise leaving Copenhagen to Bergen and Aalesund, Norway; Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland; Thorshavn, Faroe Islands; Rejkyavik, Iceland; Glasgow, Scotland; and Dublin, Ireland; returning to Copenhagen before it begins its 13-day transatlantic to Miami.

 

As I’ve said before in my previous blog three years ago, these are just opinions (and secondarily, those of my partner Chad). Also note, I’m really bad at photography, so there won’t be pictures on this blog—sorry!

 

Day 0 – Arrival in Copenhagen

 

We flew on SAS direct from Chicago to Copenhagen. Flight left at 10:05 pm Saturday and was scheduled to arrive at 1:20 pm Sunday—we arrived about half an hour early. We had a good dinner at O’Hare airport before boarding. Upon boarding, we discovered that they were going to serve us dinner again! I hadn’t flown international in two years, so had forgotten that international service is better than domestic. The meal was a very good beef stew (more like stewed beef with gravy), mashed potatoes, and cooked carrots, bread, salad, and lemon curd cake. I thought it tasted just fine.

 

Unfortunately, sleep eluded me on this flight, plus four hours after dinner it was time for breakfast! Yogurt, meat, bread, cheese, orange juice; again, very nice. We had a bit of turbulence during the last hour of flight, which is why the captain had the crew serve breakfast about a half hour early.

 

As I said, we landed about a half hour early, and then we proceeded to grab our bags and grab a taxi. There is a sign at the taxi stand that reads that the general price for a cab from the airport to downtown Copenhagen is DKK300 and from the airport to the cruise terminal is DKK400. Our cab ride to the Savoy Hotel on Vesterbrogade turned out to be DKK273.

 

We’d stayed at the Savoy when we took our Baltic cruise in June 2011, and it was still just as serviceable as before. Very nice room, although small (but probably not by European hotel standards). Only complaint was I couldn’t turn in the shower without the shower curtain attacking me (but I’m a little rounder than the average person). We decided not to nap, but to try to stay up all day. I was working on 27 hours at this point, but was doing OK.

 

We relaxed a tiny bit, I did some last minute checking of Cruise Critic (I planned the onboard Meet & Greet; more on that later), and then we decided to walk around the city some. We had been to Copenhagen in 2011 before the Baltic cruise, so we didn’t plan any extra time there for this trip, but we did have one day/night before the cruise, so we just enjoyed the city (it was a little chilly, but I was fine in a short-sleeved shirt). We then planned to attend a little pre-cruise meet & greet that two other CC cruisers (Kitsteps and Stagetek23) had planned at the Copenhagen Plaza hotel. About 30-40 CC’ers showed to chat and meet each other from 5-7 pm that day. We arrived at 5:45 and left around 6:15, because our jet lag was finally kicking in.

 

When we left the pre-cruise M&G it had just started to rain, and we have five blocks to walk. We realized we were hungry, so we stopped on the way at an Indian “fast-food” restaurant called Kebabish. The food was rather good. I had chicken korma and Chad has chicken tikka masala. We both liked it, although Chad’s could have been a touch spicier for his taste.

 

The rain had stopped by this point, and we walked back to our hotel. I started preparing the invitations to the onboard M&G while we watched the first episode of “To The Manor Born” from the BBC (subtitled in Danish). At around 9 pm, we crashed.

 

--Michael

Edited September 23, 2014 by numberguy

[numberguy]

Day 1 – Boarding the Star

 

Spent the morning eating breakfast at the Savoy (really good spread!) and then I completed the 50 or so invitations I’d written for the onboard M&G to be passed out to people’s staterooms when I was able. Took a taxi from the Savoy to the Cruise Terminal. We asked the hotel to call us a taxi and they stated it was a flat rate of DKK230. Seemed reasonable to us, or as reasonable as the expensive city of Copenhagen can be. Someone had mentioned on CC that we would be the only cruise ship in every port we were scheduled to go to. Based on what I saw at the Copenhagen terminal, it looked like they were right. However, I did see one other ship; it looked like a ferry with rooms called Crown Seaways, and it had “Oslo/Copenhagen” on the top of it, so I’m guessing that’s its route. It left before we did.

 

We entered the terminal at 11:23 am, and I heard them calling for group 1 to begin boarding. I was worried that we’d be forever getting on the ship. But after getting our picture taken, and filling out the no coughing form, we registered at the check-in desk and were handed a laminated sign that read “Group 8.” I was worried that it would take a while before we would be called, but as we were finishing our registration, they called Group 5, so we figured it would be faster than I originally thought. Fifteen minutes later, we were on the ship; it think it was right around noon.

 

We entered on deck 4 mid, and they put all of us on elevators and sent us to Deck 7, where everyone had been dumped—the Atrium. Rooms weren’t ready, and the Atrium was filling up. We decided to explore as much as we could. We walked through the Red Lion Pub and went on to the Stardust Theatre. For some reason this theatre feels like a real theatre to us, much nicer than all the other ships we’ve been on. It just felt classy and well maintained.

 

We kept walking around, and checked our carry-ons in the Ginza restaurant. For some reason we keep getting turned around on this ship, at least for the first couple of days. I’m writing this on midday of Day 2, and I’m finally realizing which way is the fore and which is the aft. We then decided to get lunch at MDR Versailles, even though they were trying to funnel people up to the Market Café. We did have a bit of a wait at Versailles and it seemed much more crowded than embarkation day lunch has been on other cruises.

 

One thing you’ll notice about my blogs is that I always describe the food in probably better detail than everything else; as I said, I’m a little rounder than the average person. However, I’ll rarely find anything that I really dislike for food. If you’re a foodie who can tell whether it’s Italian oregano or Mexican oregano in your dish, I’m not the food critic for you.

 

As for lunch at Versailles, it was good but slow. Chad ordered scallops gratin, seafood chowder, and poached salmon with a vegetable broth and sweet peas, snap peas, and green beans. NOTE: the menu said it was also supposed to have lima beans, but none showed on the plate. He loved the scallops and the chowder (although I think he added pepper to the chowder), and he liked the nice-sized piece of salmon, too.

 

I ordered the appetizer of hummus and peperonata (sp?) with bagel chips. The peperonata was wonderful: nice and tangy roasted peppers, with a little sweetness included. The bagel chips were the thinnest I have EVER seen (not complaining, just remarking), but they held up well to the hummus and peperonata. Definitely a tasty dish. My entrée was a chicken salad sandwich, which turned out to be open faced. The chicken salad was delicious and the cucumbers and tomato wedge served with it seemed very fresh. Because we ate so well at the breakfast provided by the Savoy, we skipped dessert.

 

One thing to point out: our waiter seemed a bit overwhelmed; for example it took a long time for the appetizer/soup to come, and our iced teas didn’t arrive until after the appetizers did. And then it took a while for the main dishes to come. But I really cannot complain. The rooms weren’t ready and I had nowhere to go, and I certainly wasn’t going to starve, so no big deal; just something we noticed.

 

We explored the ship a tiny bit more, then retrieved our carry-ons from Ginza. During lunch, they announced that the rooms were ready at around 1:15. So, we went to our room. We had an inside for this cruise, 8th deck aft. Earlier I had placed a bet with Chad that, even though we each have on our cruise profile that we want the beds put together instead of separate, the beds would be separate when we arrived. I won. That’s one thing I don’t understand: I complete my cruise preferences online, and they’re not acted upon. Again, no big deal, because our Steward Melchor was wonderful to deal with and did everything we asked (which only consisted of putting the beds together and clearing out the minibar). Shortly after we got into the room, I walked around the ship and delivered the M&G invitations to each stateroom for which I had a valid cabin number.

 

Then, it was time for our muster drill. This was a new experience for us: having an indoor muster drill. Our gathering point was N, which is in Versailles. So we sat in a restaurant and listened to the drill. Not very exciting if you ask me. While we were at muster, Melchor made up our room, and left a few things for us, including OBC certificates from my brother for my 50th birthday (one of the reasons for this celebration cruise); our Latitudes silver letter which included invitations to a wine and cheese gathering with the Cruise Consultant and the Senior Officers for Day 7 and a cocktail party set for Day 9; and this little card that said “Happy Aniversary” (note the spelling). We are to present the card to the maitre d’ when we come to the restaurant of our celebration.

 

This cruise was one we decided to take to celebrate my turning 50, my partner turning 40, and us celebrating 15 years together. However, I didn’t buy an anniversary package or anything, so I asked Chad about it. He said he had no idea what I was talking about, in a manner that let me know that he knew everything about it. If you’re reading this, please don’t respond with what the surprise is; as Dr. River Song says on Doctor Who: Spoilers, sweetie. Our actual anniversary is August 1, so we’re not sure yet which night we’re going to use it.

 

There was also a letter confirming our onboard M&G. After reading everything and unpacking, we explored a bit more, and also bought internet minutes (GASP!!). 100 minutes for $50, plus a ten-minute bonus for purchase on the first day. I’m trying not to break the bank on this cruise, so I’ll likely be signing on, posting this and then signing off. Maybe on sea days, I’ll read and answer any questions people might post on here.

 

We stopped at the GLBT gathering in the Star Bar at 6:15 (it began at 6:00). Met some nice people, and I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in possibly ten years, since I moved to Illinois from DC. It was great to catch up again. I also met the gents who started the Roll Call here on CC. Afterwards, we decided to go to MDR Aqua for dinner.

 

We only had to wait about five minutes to be seated. Time for another food description! Chad ordered French Onion soup, the crab cakes appetizer, the main dish of pappardelle with duck confit, and pistachio crème brulée. I also had French Onion soup, and the crab cakes appetizer, but with Caribbean roast pork with rice and beans and plantains, and dark cherry cheesecake. We both agreed the French Onion soup had onions that hadn’t caramelized enough and actually needed salt and pepper; we also agreed the crab cakes had the consistency of some sort of mousse. It tasted good, but had a slightly different texture than we’re used to. Of course, I’m from Virginia and grew up only two hours away from the Atlantic shore, so I know my crab cakes and usually they’re kink of chunky and rustic; these were not. But we still ate them, with the accompanying green apple slaw.

 

Chad loves duck, and liked his dish, although he said the duck was a little tough. I thought my roast port was cooked excellently. The beans and rice were great, but again could use a little salt, and the plantains were great. As for dessert, Chad loved his pistachio crème brulée. It had great pistachio flavor (I wasn’t too sure about the green color). I was hoping my cheesecake would be covered in dark cherries (one of my favorite fruits), but it was plain cheesecake with three cherries on top. It tasted good, but I had my mouth set for a stronger dark cherry flavor.

 

After dinner it was time for the Welcome Aboard Show at 9:15. Chad was really tired and nodded off a couple times during it. It began with showing two commercials: one about the commitment the staff makes to ensuring we enjoy our stay, and the second one was the music video for “Come On, Let’s Go,” the NCL theme song. Wrong time, wrong audience, Mr. Sheehan. This is a much older crowd going to ports with high temperatures between 49 and 65 degrees F; not the Caribbean. And doubtful many of the attendees were enjoying the rap (I did, but I’m only 50). I just think it’s misplaced advertising.

 

Then the Senior Officers were introduced (no Captain) and then we went to the entertainment. Oh goodness. It was an Il Divo tribute group called the 4 Stations. Il Divo is, I believe, an Italian singing group who are mostly tenors singing about love. The 4 Stations are all from Spain with limited English and unfortunately bad English pronunciation, and one of them sounded like he was sliding into his notes. Not the best entertainers that NCL has signed on.

 

Afterwards, it was time for bed. Tomorrow, a Sea Day, and the onboard M&G.

 

Dear Lord, I’m long-winded. I’ll edit better going forward.

 

--Michael

[CruiseMGM]

Day 1 – Boarding the Star

 

Spent the morning eating breakfast at the Savoy (really good spread!)

<snip>

Dear Lord, I’m long-winded. I’ll edit better going forward.

--Michael

 

Loving the review! We'll be onboard the Star in February for a Panama Canal cruise (with <gulp> the mother in law), and it's our first NCL cruise, so I'm looking forward to hearing about the ship and restaurants most, LOL!

 

Thanks for posting, Michael and Chad!

 

Best wishes!

[travelhound]

Can't wait to hear all about your adventures. We're getting on the Star when you arrive in Miami for a Panama Canal cruise. Looking for lots of "insider" info. :) I'm sure you're having a great time.

[herdingdogmom]

Thanks for posting. We were on this itinerary last year. I hope your weather is better than ours was in the Shetlands, Faroes and Iceland. And I really hope the entertainment improves. We had several guest performers who were just outstanding. Hopefully NCL has repaired all the broken seats in the theater - it was in bad shape last year.

 

How did the Meet & Greet turn out? It sounded like space was going to be tight with only a small venue available.

 

Have a fantastic cruise!

[medicalma'am]

Following your review! I hope to do this itinerary one day. Loving all the meal descriptions also.

[Pluto_fan]

Very excited to be following along with your adventure! We'll be on the Star to Norway next June, so I'm eager to hear about the ship. Congratulations on all of your celebrations!

[NCruiser2012]

I have not seen much about the Star lately. I am excited to read your detailed review!

[numberguy]

Day 2 – Sea Day

 

We slept very well last night. Went to sleep around 9:30 or 10, and didn’t wake up until the alarm went off at 8:00! We went to breakfast at the Market Café. One thing we REALLY miss on this ship is the Great Outdoors that we greatly enjoyed in the past on the back of the Pearl, the Gem, and the Sun. Chad actually wants to take breakfast out to the front of the ship and eat there each morning. But, the temperatures here in the Norwegian Sea is not making eating outdoors conducive to enjoyment. Today got up to 58F, with only half-hour long periods of sunshine.

 

After breakfast, it was time for me to go check in on the preparations for the Meet & Greet. Our coordinator, Ronaldo Roca was very attentive, and I could tell he was busy, because there were several TA groups on this ship, and they were all having meetings and get-togethers throughout the day, so Ronaldo was one busy man! We had 116 scheduled to show up for the M&G, and I didn’t count, but most of them showed up in the Star Bar. It was a bit tight for that many people, but people adjusted. We met the officers (no captain), and then mingled and those who had coordinated non-ship tours met up with all their attendees. It turned out pretty successfully—NCL provided pastries, juice, and coffee, as well as shore excursion information, menu copies for the specialty restaurants, and spa price lists.

 

After that I went back to our room to find two letters there: one providing information on priority debarkation and tendering, the other letting us know that we could have breakfast and lunch at Cagney’s. It turns out that because I arranged the CC M&G I got some suite level benefits while cruising in an inside cabin. Oh happy days! Chad and I promptly went to Cagney’s for lunch.

 

Cagney’s is very nice; I think we’d only been there once, on the Gem. We had the same meal: pumpkin soup, then scallop and shrimp risotto. The pumpkin soup was good, but a little thin, and needed a little salt and pepper. That’s one thing we noticed: most of the dishes need a little salt. The scallop and shrimp risotto was very good. The scallops were tiny, but good. For dessert Chad had the banana cream pie, which he loved. I was kind of full, so I just had a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

 

After lunch we decided to chill out for a while. I went to the room and wrote up Days 0 and 1, and Chad listened to podcasts on his iPad in the lobby. He was the subject of several people doing the digital scavenger hunt, because he was wearing shorts, and he has a tattoo on the back of his left calf. One of the things people had to photograph on the scavenger hunt was a tattoo. He was getting annoyed about being an object of a game he didn’t agree to.

 

Another suite benefit we were able to take advantage of was the Captain’s cocktail reception in the Spinnaker Lounge from 5:30 to 6:00. I was expecting maybe for the Captain to speak a tiny bit, but no, he just nodded at everyone upon entering the Spinnaker. They had some smooth jazz playing, and free drinks. It was interesting, but not what I was expecting. After that, we decided to go to dinner at Aqua again.

 

Once again, Chad and I had the same appetizers: creamy mushroom soup and fried brie pieces. We both liked both of them. For entrée, Chad had pork loin (bone in, very thick) and broccoli, eggplant, fingerling potatoes. He said that everything was very good. For dessert, he ordered chocolate truffle cake, which he also liked. For my entrée I ordered one of the “Classic Dishes,” which are the dishes that are offered every night. I had the meat lasagna al forno, which I really liked. For dessert, I had pecan pie, which is difficult to mess up, and I enjoyed it.

 

After dinner, we went to the GLTB get together and had a good time.

 

Drink of the day on Day 1: Rebellious Fish. Day 2: The Painkiller.

 

No towel animal on Day 1, day 2 appeared to be a peacock or a turkey, but we assume a peacock.

 

--Michael

[www3traveler]

Who are the current Officers on The Star?

[funcky]

Dear Numberguy,

 

Does Star have free shower to use in gym after workout?

[surran12]

Excellent review so far. Looking forward to more.

[sykimball1498]

Can't wait to read more. We are on the STar this January on a PC cruise and have been wondering about the ship.

 

It doesn't get a lot of attention due to all the newer ships in the fleet.

[lynnquenby]

We're also on the star in January on PC cruise so following this with interest!

 

Thanks for taking the time :)

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Forums mobile app

[numberguy]

Woke up this morning, and neither of us were feeling well (nor had we slept well), so we didn’t take advantage of the early debarkation (but we will sometime). As we were preparing for breakfast in Cagney’s again (yay), the captain made an announcement that was piped into the cabins (I knew this was not going to be good news).

 

I turns out that there is a major storm brewing in the Norwegian Sea, sort of north of us. That means an itinerary change to stop the entire crew and customers from becoming ill all over the place. They’re canceling our stops in Aalesund, Norway and Thorshavn, Faroe Islands because they’re too far north and will be directly in the path of the storm. We’ll go directly from Bergen tonight to Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland, then on to Reykjavik, Iceland. But they are adding a stop in Belfast to help make up for it. It will still be bumpy between Lerwick and Reykjavik. More on that later, I’m sure. Posts those days could be short.

 

As for today, we went to Cagney’s for breakfast. We both had the crab cakes Benedict, which came with a few potatoes and three slices of bacon. Mine were great, but Chad’s eggs were rather overdone, and he only ate one of them. We then went into Bergen.

 

We had decided not to use a ship’s tour, and just walked around Bergen. Chad still wasn’t feeling well, so we just ambled around the downtown tourist area. A bottle of water helped settle his stomach, and then we took the funicular to the top of Mt. Fløien. The sights were spectacular, although it was sunny but a little hazy. The price is NOK85 per person for round trip. It’s NOK43 for a one-way ticket; some people like to walk down.

 

After getting caught in rain, we ducked into a Starbucks (please forgive me) and waited out the rain with my first pumpkin spice latte of the season. We then leisurely made our way back to the ship at around 2:30. At that point, we went to our room and I wrote up Day 2 for posting on here. Found that we’d had chocolate-covered strawberries and a small cheese and olive tapenade plate delivered. I guess the suite perks were continuing.

 

After that, I decided to take my Kindle out on deck and read for a while. Since we had skipped lunch, we decided on an early-ish dinner. Not stand-in-line-before-the-doors-open early, like some of our fellow guests, but earlier than we had been eating. But before that, we realized that if we were going to get a ship’s tour in Lerwick, we’d better to arrange one. We decided on our tours for Lerwick and Reykjavik and went to stand in the 25-person-long line. The Shore Excursion staff, including Ana Maria, the Guest Relations Officers (I think that’s her title), were out there chatting with the guests and taking their forms before they even needed to get to the desk.

 

This worked out very well, except for one couple who wanted to know what compensation was coming their way for missing out on two ports and only being replaced by one. As the staff clearly explained to them, because it was due to weather, there would be no compensation. Now, I could see a refund of the difference of port fees and taxes between losing Aalesund and Thorshavn but gaining Belfast, but I’m not sure how much each of those fees are, but we’ll see if it happens. This guest I’m talking about was pulling the “but another cruise line [unnamed] that I’ve cruised on gave us compensation” bit. I truly wanted to smack the crap out of her. Read your contract; these things can change with or without notice, and NCL don’t owe you nothin’. But I guess that’s how rich, entitled people stay rich and entitled. [Rant over]

 

Well, Lerwick’s tours were completely sold out, so we went ahead and reserved our Reykjavik tour, as well as our Belfast tour, since they had paperwork for the Belfast tour available. After that, it was dinner in Aqua again. For this dinner Chad had the bouillabaisse and the mojito shrimp ceviche for appetizer, tilapia for his entrée, and peach melba for dessert. He really liked all of it. I had creamy tomato soup (which could have been creamier) and the ceviche, and I had arugula salad with pepper swordfish. I really liked it. For dessert, I had the warm bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Wonderful, but wow, the whiskey…

 

After dinner, we went to the room and watched two movies: “Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier” and “Divergent.” Then off to bed to get up early tomorrow for early immigration.

 

Oh, there was one other cruise ship in Bergen with us: the Albatros from, I think, Phoenix Cruise Lines, which is a German company.

 

The towel animal was a dog.

 

--Michael

[numberguy]

Dear Numberguy,

 

Does Star have free shower to use in gym after workout?

 

I don't use the gym, so I unfortunately don't know. If I find out, I'll put it on here.

 

--Michael

[bluesea777]

It's a pity you have to miss Aalesund and Thorshavn, thanks to Mother Nature. Aalesund is a beautiful town to walk around in, and the Faroe Islands is on my bucket list (Heinblod's photos of FI were so magnificent).

 

I don't care about getting the port fees back at all either.

 

Enjoying your review - carry on enjoying the cruise. When in Iceland, make sure you go to BLUE LAGOON!!! take your swim trunks. It's an experience NOT to be MISSED!!

 

ENJOY!!!

[watchdiva]

Really enjoying your blog! Keep the posts coming and enjoy your suite life perks!

[travelhound]

Bummer about missing two ports. If you haven't been to Belfast though, that's a nice addition. I'm enjoying your posts - thanks for the updates!

[herdingdogmom]

Too bad about missing the Faroe Islands, but in bad weather it would have been miserable trying to seeing the sights. Too bad there isn't any extra time in Reykjavik, but Belfast should be a good addition. Happy cruising.

[Freespir8]

Really enjoying your post! Thanks for taking the time to do it while you're on your cruise. I love hearing about the food options and that you are enjoying it so much. We are on the Star out of Miami heading to the Panama Canal when you arrive. Take good care of her until we get there!

[numberguy]

Day 4 – Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland

 

Sorry about the lateness of these postings; my stomach and the Norwegian Sea have not been coordinating (more later).

 

We got up sort of early today in order to take advantage of early immigration (yes, everyone had to go through immigration in Lerwick) that was afforded us with the suite level benefits. We decided not to take advantage of the early tendering because we were exploring Lerwick on our own. And this was because every tour in Lerwick sold out. Yep, every one.

 

We had breakfast in Cagney’s. Chad had the fruits de mer en brioche, which was two pieces of brioche toast with holes in the center into which cooked shrimp and scallops were placed and then poached eggs were placed on top, along with potatoes on the side. Once again, Chad’s eggs were overpoached. I had the three egg omelet with chorizo, onion and cheese. It looked small for a three-egg omelet, but that was good, because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to finish a larger one. That’s because we both took advantage of the breakfast buffet (as we do every morning). One thing I’ve gotten there every morning is bread (since they don’t have bagels) with cream cheese, salmon, onion, and capers. Yum! My omelet was good, but my definition of chorizo is different than the ship’s.

 

We took the tender to Lerwick around 11. We walked around and saw Fort Charlotte, then just walked through the town, looking at all the stone homes and businesses. With a population of only 7,500, we temporarily increased the population by a quarter simply by being in port! We stopped and had a cup of tea and enjoyed Scotland’s daily allotment of 15 minutes of sunshine (and hooked to free wifi), then decided to explore some more.

 

We had heard the Lerwick History Museum was well-recommended and had a good place to eat attached to it, so we went. Now, fair warning: When I go to a museum, I read everything and I mean EVERYTHING that is written on displays, which bores the crap out of Chad. Well, this time I was more judicious with my reading, and we spent a lovely time there.

 

We did decide to go to the Hay’s Dock Restaurant for lunch, which is the restaurant attached to the museum. I had fish and chips and Chad had a bleu cheese and steak wrap. He was tickled because there was a lot of bleu cheese on the wrap. My fish and chips was excellent. I could tell the haddock was a fresh as they had stated it would be. There’s a reason it has 4.5/5 circles on TripAdvisor.

 

At this time we meandered along the waterfront some more and needed to buy our standard souvenir spoons (one for Chad, one for my mother) and souvenir magnet (for our fridge), so we went to the tourist information center, and they had what we needed. Then we got back on the ship (we caught a tender at 3:45, and the last tender was at 4:30). I then went to the stern to watch sailaway, which began early (around 4:40 instead of the stated 5:00), to get us a few extra minutes for the long, rough trip to Reykjavik.

 

We decided to attend the 7:15 entertainment, and boy was it worth it. Beverly Davison, the Diva. She plays a wonderful ~350-year-old Guarini violin with the house band, sings some, and is a very good comedian. Now THIS is what cruise ship entertainment should be! We had a lovely time, and we actually gave a standing ovation, which we rarely do for on-ship entertainment. Then it was off to dinner.

 

The seas had begun to get a tiny bit rough, but dinner was very good. Chad and I both had the corn bisque, which we both liked (after a little seasoning). For appetizer, Chad had (two) seared scallops in leek cream, and I had the Asian rice noodles. We both thought these were fine, and Chad said the leek cream was the same sauce he had with his tilapia the night before. I liked the noodles, but again, a little more spice, please. Chad ordered the duck breast with potato croquettes and green beans for entrée, while I had the chicken piccatta with green beans and potatoes. Chad said that again the duck was a tiny bit tough; my piccatta lacked sauce, but it tasted good. However, the motion of the ship was getting to me so I gave him about one-half of one of the two breasts they served me. For dessert, Chad ordered the nutella crème brulée, and I had the Charlotte pear cake. We liked both.

 

Got back to the room to find another dog for towel animal, then went to bed to avoid dealing with the rocking ship.

 

 

--Michael

Edited September 27, 2014 by numberguy

[numberguy]

Day 5 – At sea, under the sea, splashed by the sea, and at times feeling like rolling in the deep

 

Short entry today, because I stayed in bed until 5 pm. O, God, why have you forsaken me? The winds were about 50 knots, the waves were 24-40 feet, and I have never loved the craftsmanship of modern shipbuilding so much in my life.

 

Now, mind you, Chad was up at 9 and spending time outside the room, treating this like a big, long roller coaster. Which I can get motion sick on. So, short entry today.

 

For Chad’s breakfast, he tried the crab cakes Benedict again, and this time the eggs were perfectly runny. For lunch he had tomato soup and Panini at the Blue Lagoon. I had nothing.

 

There was the Latitudes wine and cheese reception at 5:30, that I was determined to get out of bed for (well, I was determined to get out of bed, and this was a good excuse for it). Finally got out of bed and worked my way down to the Spinnaker Lounge for a reception. Now, with both this reception and the one I went to before, I expected some short chats by the various officers or something, but other than the Cruise Director talking to us telling us tonight’s entertainment (an aerial acrobatics act) was cancelled (well, duh), that was about it. I don’t see the purpose of having the officers all line up as we walk in and that’s all we really see of them. Although, this night, I was glad the Captain got back to piloting the ship.

 

Then we went to the GLTB gathering in the Star Bar, where I continued my drinking of ginger ale (I’m a wild man), and after that we popped by Versailles for dinner. We were seated near the very back of the dining room, just a table away from the aft windows. We saw three waves splash high enough to wash those windows on Deck 6. Eek.

 

For soup, Chad had creamy spinach soup with egg pockets and I had cheese tortellini soup (needed some broth). Both were very good. Chad and I both had Loaded Corn on the Cob with a side of cole slaw for appetizer (“loaded” meaning bacon bits, chives, and a cilantro-lime butter). Since Chad is Iowa-born and raised (corn country!), he wanted to see how it compared to sweet Iowa corn, and corn is my favorite vegetable. We both enjoyed it, but Chad said the corn was a little tough. Chad remarked that for us ‘Muricans, corn on the cob and cole slaw are side dishes rather than appetizers.

 

For entrée, Chad had the chimichurri steak and I had the Hungarian Goulash on Spaetzle. Chad enjoyed his steak, although he would have liked more chimichurri, and there was a bit of connective tissue running though it—he could only eat about 4/5 of it. I liked the goulash, but they gave me way too much spaetzle. Also, the meclizine I’d taken around 1 pm finally kicked in and I started nodding off during dinner. For dessert, Chad asked for chocolate cheesecake and I asked for a fruit plate, hoping there’d be apples on it. Chad’s dessert was something like a custard on top of a thin layer of chocolate cake. My fruit plate was mostly melon (watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe) and grapes with seeds. I dislike honeydew and cantaloupe. Chad took one bite of his cake and I ate one grape and spat out four seeds, and we left to go to bed. Next time, I’ll be more specific when asking for a fruit plate.

 

We went immediately to bed, even thought it was only about 8:30. I think Chad might have watched a movie, but I was dead to the world.

 

 

--Michael

[numberguy]

Itor Heydahl - Captain

Fabrizio Cerruti - Hotel Director

Omar O'Besso - Concierge

 

If there are other officers you want me to post, let me know. I don't see how the officers affect cruises, so I never pay attention.

 

I have heard that Fabrizio is here only for this cruise; that a well-known HD ended his run just before this cruise and that another one was getting on for the TA. If you want me to get those names, I can do so, too.

 

--Michael

Edited September 27, 2014 by numberguy

[Love my butler]

Dear Numberguy,

 

Does Star have free shower to use in gym after workout?

 

No, to use the spa locker room, which is one floor below the gym, you must pay.