Every night after dinner, we receive a 4-page document called the Princess Patter -- it's basically an outline of all the activities available on the ship for the next day.
The usual content often includes some background about the next port, how we'll be sailing there, the entertainment line-up, special activities, etc. But last night, the note from the ship's navigator was a bit interesting. It encouraged us to look from the side of the ship, as we sail, for birds diving into the water for fish. The name of the birds? Brown Boobies...
As we read that one little paragraph, we hoped it was a misspelling... I mean, come on really-important-science-researchers! You couldn't give it another name??
Today has been a lazy day thus far. Reading by the pool, having lunch by the pool, watching a crew member carve a fish out of an ice block, grabbing some blended drinks in the Atrium and now, relaxing..again.. but this time on the Promenade Deck. There's a nice breeze and a great horizon view.
Tonight was the second formal night on the itinerary. But to mark the occasion, we dined at one of the ship's two specialty restaurants -- Sabatini's.
Sabatini's is a separate venue all in itself -- from Italian-inspired decor, extremely attentive waitstaff (you could tell these guys were hand selected for this job), not to mention a huge 6-course feast.
The waiters were great the entire night. Everything from offering "freshly-squeezed water from Alaskan glaciers," -- which as a joke is probably funnier on Alaskan cruises, but it still worked -- to one Romanian waiter saying "holy moly guacamole" for occasions that might not have called for that phrase, to calling each other gigolos, to kissing the hands and and hand-serving bites of ladies' meals at the nearby table. It was just a really fun, relaxed atmosphere.
And the food? It's not your Olive Garden, generic Italian food from back home. With hundreds of Italian crew members onboard with you, this was an authentic, Italian meal made from only the freshest ingredients. And you could tell.
They gave us a menu when we sat down, but told us shortly after that we would only be ordering a main dish and dessert for ourselves. Everything else was already ordered for us... if only we knew..
First, we were served a sample platter of cold appetizers (peppers, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, artichoke hearts, shrimp, anchovies, prosciutto, etc.). The second course, hot appetizers, included crab cakes, ricotta cheese, calamari, zucchini and 3 slices of artisan pizza.
So by this time, already not knowing what was still ahead of us, we were a little stuffed, but diving into this selection. Really.. how often do you get to have all of this food, that you've never really had before...in one sitting?
The third course was pasta. The Barton family loves pasta, but not as much as the carb-loving Godwin side of the family. So this course was a bit of heaven.
Here, we enjoyed ravioli with goat cheese and truffles (which was, dear Lord amazing) and egg noodle pasta with a wine sauce, which was reduced over a two-day process.
Fourth course was soup or salad -- we both chose soup -- and sampled some minestrone and seafood options. Again, amazing.
And finally! We're sitting there waiting for our main courses, looking at each other and not really knowing how we're going to eat a main dish and a dessert to follow. So we tried to just sit and let some time pass, enjoying our window view. And all of 3 minutes later, our dishes arrived. For me, a Chilean sea bass, and for Em, lobster tail.
Finally, we capped off our night with some amazing tiramisu (which our waiter called tira-miss-me) and white chocolate mousse and limoncello.
We said "amazing" a lot during this meal. So yes, completely stuffed.
The specialty restaurants carry a $20 cover charge (per person), and it was well worth it. It's not just a different place to eat, it's a completely different experience... and actually a completely separate galley from the main dining rooms.
After dinner, we stopped by the Universe Lounge to see a production show starring Adrian Zmed (of TJ Hooker and Grease II "fame"). We saw a good 3-minutes of the same show during our trip to Alaska -- but after just 2 minutes of the same show this night, we remembered why we walked out of it eight months earlier. It's just not fun watching a former television "not-really-a-star" on stage, out of breath, tone deaf, drinking from a water bottle and talking about his career. So sad.
Photos from the Day
Tomorrow: Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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