Day 137: At sea

It was another rough night last night, not so much from the sheets (I am making my peace with them step by tiny step), but because it was horribly bouncy in our cabin. It was so bad, in fact, that I took a fall in the hallway/dressing area on my way to the bathroom during the night; I was turning the corner with one foot in the air when the ship suddenly bucked and lurched. Luckily, nothing was bruised but my ego, but, after nearly 600 nights in this same location on this or sister ships, it is making us rethink it for future cruises. The International Cafe and Art Gallery on Deck 5 seem downright placid in comparison. 

We moved clocks ahead an hour overnight, which added insult to injury. It wasn't until Captain Forteeze came on the PA in passenger cabins at 8:30am looking for a crew member (that's never a good sign, and the potential ramifications from that woke us up in a hurry) that we finally called it a night. We never heard any more about that, which I chose to take as a sign that everything is fine. 

I wasn't going to eat anything for breakfast, then at the last minute dressed and went down to the International Cafe for a cup of coffee and the DaVinci Dining Room for a bowl of cereal. An MTP luncheon was scheduled for 12:15pm in the Botticelli Dining Room, and I'm always safest with a little something in my stomach before I start drinking wine. G never did join me, so I ate quickly and then returned to the International Cafe for a second cup of coffee and some people watching/ reading. And to enjoy the most stable location on the ship. :-|

G finally stopped by to get a cup of hot chocolate before he headed off to the Wheelhouse Bar for this cruise's Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. Please forgive me, but by this point in our winter I am feeling considerably less social than I did nearly 5 months ago. I stayed where I was and continued to read. At 9:50am, Captain Foreteeze came on the PA to read the now familiar Princess statement about the Zika virus. I have received just one mosquito bite during our entire time in the Caribbean, and I can't say exactly where I got it, but it was a couple of weeks ago and I'm showing no signs of Guillian-Barre syndrome, so I think I'm safe. But this must be a horrible thing for women of child bearing age to grapple with. 

I eventually returned to the cabin to get cleaned up for our luncheon before G beat me to the shower. I also took advantage of his being out of the cabin to change polish (strengthener, really) on my fingernails ('cause you know how he enjoys the smell of nail polish remover). However, I will admit that we have reached the point, in this small cabin, where we no longer mention irritants like that. We simply say "Ditto" and move on. 

There's been a lot of ditto-Ing going on in here lately. ;-)

While I was showering (with one hand on the grab bar to stay upright), I was thinking about an experience we had in Costa Maya that I have not yet mentioned. I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, but was so struck by the kindness of people that I feel I must. Too often people go home from a wonderful cruise and remember only the rudeness and complaining of fellow passengers. In fact, some people seem to attract both behaviors and experience more of it in seven days than we have all winter. ;-)

Anyway, we were walking down the pier last week in Costa Maya, and it's a fairly long one. A tram is operated to transport people to the cruise terminal, and there was one waiting there that was quickly filling. At about that moment, I came up to a slow moving man using a walker and his wife using a cane. He was wearing a WW2 cap, and that always attracts attention. G moved ahead to save two spots on the tram for them but at the same time the local guy loading people onto the tram noticed this man too. And it was like the crowd just parted for him. Everyone slowed their pace and told the couple there was no need to hurry. Several people stepped up to help them onto the tram. And it was really wonderful to see. 

Those are the sorts of things I choose to remember from our cruises. 

It was a welcome thing to go down to the Botticelli Dining Room for the MTP luncheon at 12:15pm. Though it, too, is on the back of the ship, it is seven decks lower and that makes quite a bit of difference in the ship's movement. These luncheons always start at 12:15pm when Captain Forteeze is the ship's master; he likes to give the noon update on our navigational progress himself, and always adds a little nautical knowledge at the end.

We are the #3 MTP this cruise, and had coincidentally sat next to #2 Arlene and Joel at the Welcome Aboard show two nights ago. I think the conversation went like this, after the shopping host announce his shopping talk before the show started:

Me: I would never know what tanzanite was if I didn't cruise. 

Arlene:  Me neither. Nor Effy jewelry. And I cruise quite a bit! (They really do. They are 5 star in HAL's loyalty program. I didn't even know there was a 5 star level!). 

At that moment I knew I had met a kindred spirit. 

Along with Ann and Lee and Captain Forteeze, we had a lively and fun lunch. And the food..OMG, it was my favorite MTP luncheon menu. Accompanied by wines, it pretty much ruined me for the rest of the afternoon (which is my one issue with the luncheons). 

Seafood Cinderella

Tonight was the first formal night of the cruise (our 397th of the winter) and I decided somewhere between my third and fourth glasses of wine at the luncheon that, if forced to go to dinner tonight, I would, but I was wearing exactly what I had on that minute (which was my nicest non-formal attire). G, naturally, didn't mind dressing in his tux and I am well past the point of trying to match him in formality. I had on something black and chiffon-y, and, frankly, that was formal enough for me. 

G went to the 4:15pm veterans get together in the Adagio Bar, and then returned to dress for dinner and meet up with me. Dining tonight had nothing to do with hunger; I had soup and shrimp and G had more beef (of course) and bananas foster for dessert and we were stuffed. Still, he managed to drink a glass of the champagne that was offered during the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall. Captain Forteeze stopped to talk with us in the Piazza and I remembered to ask him about tomorrow's weather (good, but I can't imagine that with this wind) and where the Emerald Princess would be docked in St. Thomas on Wednesday (Havensight; the Regal Princess will be docked at Crown Bay). 

We have a full day planned for tomorrow in St. Martin, and will be asleep early tonight (hopefully), after attending comedian Tom Briscoe's 8pm performance in the Princess Theater. We may need to keep the multiple layers of sheets tucked in tonight, if for no other reason than to keep from falling out of bed. 

Day 136: Princess Cays (aka the Eleuthera Death March)

Today was one of the 11 days on the list of the five best days of the winter. ;-) And I really, really needed it to be. What a difference a day makes. Actually, what a difference a night makes, specifically a good night's sleep. Sure, we were helped along by Ambien last night (we were that desperate), coupled with the fact that it wasn't as rocky back here in our cabin (that has sadly changed tonight), and I awoke feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to take on another island.

Before I go into our day, though, I must give a shout-out to friend Suzan who talked me down off the ledge yesterday when I was ready to pack up and go home...if only I could have found airfare cheaper than $1100. Of all days for us to not have a pre-booked flight home! I was all "I miss my bed. I miss my bathroom. I miss my shower. I miss the twins" (who had already texted me about today's playoff games for their basketball league and asking when I was coming home...neither of which especially helped my homesickness). And Suzan acknowledged that I had been away for home a lot since September and it was normal to be homesick but what a great itinerary this cruise had and she and Greg were wishing they were here and... Well, it was exactly what I needed to hear. And sleep was exactly what I needed to do. It was a different world today. 

So enthused was I this morning about this cruise that lies ahead of us that I suggested to G over breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room that we really should do the hike down to the lighthouse on the southern end of Eleuthera, the Bahamian island where Princess Cays is located. Really. I guess I kind of expected him to decline my offer, telling me was more important for us to just relax and enjoy the beach today. Which he didn't. Instead, he was back in the cabin packing for a hike before I even finished eating. There was no turning back. 

We were on an early tender to shore and I was talking with an older couple on the way to the island. They asked why I was carrying my walking sticks and I told them of our plans for the day. "Oh, you're doing the Eleuthera Death March", the lady said. They had stayed on Eleuthera 30 years ago and drove as far as they could take a car to the southern end of the island, and then walked the rest of the way to the lighthouse. Apparently that hike hasn't improved over the years. And also apparently, it's not just me who thinks it's a rough way to get some exercise. 

We left a note with the senior security officer on the tender pier about who we were and where we were going and what time we expected to return (in case they had to go and pick up the pieces), and started off at 9:45am. In one way, it hadn't changed since we last did this; the road is not in any better shape. However, in another way, it was a totally different sport. Unlike the days when we would not see another person for the five hours we'd be away from Princess Cays, today we were passed by nearly 20 dune buggies and a few 4-WD vehicles along the way. 

Eleuthera near Princess Cays looks like this. It closes in with brush and jungle going south. 

Everyone offered us a ride, with the lady driving the support vehicle for the dune buggies asking us if we knew what we were getting into. Oh yes, too well. We declined all offers of aid, and offered it instead. G assisted a guy in putting the chain back on one of the dune buggies when it broke down. 

My walking sticks saved me from any stumbles or turned ankles on the very rough sections of the road. We didn't encounter a single mosquito, though we were well covered with DEET, and, though it was mostly sunny, the high was probably in the mid-70s, so we were never uncomfortably warm. 

Sometimes the road is nicely sandy like this...

...but most of the time it is rough like this. 

Our first glimpse of palm trees after well over an hour of walking told us we were almost there, and even though this adventure was not new to us, there is nothing as beautiful as the first view of the beach on the Caribbean side of the southern point. When we crossed the dune overlooking it and walked the whole length of the beach, ours were the only footprints on the entire beach. That is a spectacular feeling. 

Finally...a beach!

The Caribbean-side beach

I may get this one printed and framed for the bathroom at home to propel me through my days of work!

At the end of the beach, by the tidal pools etched out of the rough coral, we finally encountered the people we had seen going down to the lighthouse. The dune buggies were parked there (they used to go over the dunes to Lighthouse Beach on the Atlantic side, but it was simply too rough for the dune buggies), and the participants on that excursion were just returning from climbing up to the lighthouse. And a group of six people from the Eleuthera Tours excursion had also just finished exploring the lighthouse and were settling down to have lunch on the beach. Their guide, Kristel, was very impressed we had walked down from Princess Cays, and offered us a ride back in a couple of hours when they left. We declined...then. 

We used to see nothing and no one...now it's a parking lot. 

The coral tidal pools at the end of the Caribbean side beach

G and I carefully picked our way across the sharp coral tidal pools on the southern end of the Caribbean beach and climbed up the path that leads to the now-defunct lighthouse on the cliff overlooking the southern tip of Eleuthera. We commented that, when we first did this hike five or so years ago, the path was almost indiscernible amongst the brush. Now it is clearly visible, but it is still rough in spots and partially covered with decaying vegetation. 

I'm always afraid we're going to go to the lighthouse one year and see it closed off or repaired, a safety measure with all the people now visiting it on excursions. But, thankfully, nothing had been changed. The wooden floor is still rotted, the wooden ladder to the loft is still there. We explored a bit and then picked our way now to the narrow pocket beach that disappears entirely at high tide. As we scaled the rock wall going down to that beach, I couldn't help but wonder how many more years we'd be able to do that. 

G, of course, had to stop my heart by going out on the very end of the cliff at the end of the island; and then we climbed down the rocks leading to Lighthouse Beach on the Atlantic side. A rope railing here, and a rope at the top of the cliff overlooking the pocket beach, were the only safety improvements we saw. I'm glad it hasn't changed too much. 

Lighthouse Beach on the Atlantic side

We sat on the sand for awhile, and then climbed across the coral caves to a small cave that is impossible to access during high tide, but we were lucky to be there at low tide today. We could see a ship anchored at a Half Moon Cay on Little San Salvador Island about 15-20 miles away. And there were a couple of people on the far end of that beach. But mostly it was just us, and the sound of the waves. Absolute heaven. 

G stopping my heart again

The roof of the lighthouse is barely visible here

We explored a lot, and climbed some more, and walked on the beach even more, until it was finally time for us to start back in order to safely return to Princess Cays in time for the last tender at 3pm. We climbed back up the rocks to the lighthouse and then down the hill on the other side and across the tidal pools. G kept asking me if I thought we should hitch a ride back with Eleuthera Tours, but I didn't want to (just what was in that Ambien?). We hadn't had any issues so far, and, though the walk back is always harder (it's a slight but constant uphill), I knew we could do it. Then (and this part will be debated forever), G, who is as surefooted as a mountain goat and who had just been scaling all sorts of coral cliffs where a fall would have been fatal, had one foot slip into tidal pool. He slipped on a relatively flat surface. Slipped!  He was fine, of course, but his left shoe and sock were soaked. 

I was, and am, highly suspicious. At that point, we had no other option than to hitch a ride back to Princess Cays. He would have had blisters on blisters if we walked.  This also gave us another hour to explore the Caribbean beach where Eleuthera Tours was just finishing their beach barbecue. We had a blast, talking with the tour participants and Kristel and further exploring the beach, secure in the knowledge that we could expend as much energy as we wanted...we were riding back in style. 

We were on the second last tender back to the Emerald Princess just before 3pm. It had been a wonderful day with beautiful scenery, and we weren't even tired. We showered and went up to Skywalkers to watch sailaway and look at our many photos from the day. It was even herbed goat cheese night at the PES Lounge. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and were starved. Still, we ate just enough to take the edge off the hunger pains and went to dinner at 5:30pm, where it was Italian night.  Italian night with penne arribiata and chicken strips accompanied by a glass of Merlot after a day with lots of exercise is like a dream come true for me. I also had the seafood antipasto and a delicious salad with pine nuts and pecorino cheese...and limoncello sorbet for dessert, of course. What a feast!!

We went from dinner to the Princess Theater for the 8pm performance of production show I Got the Music. Then, while G stopped in Club Fusion to listen to a music trivia being run by Deputy Cruise Director Frenchie, I took the elevator up to the jogging track on Deck 19 for a look at tonight's beautiful moon (it is full?) shining on the ocean. And I was instantly reminded of that night five months ago, watching the super moon in September glisten on the water as the Pacific Princess cruised around the islands of Moorea and Tahiti. This has been an amazing winter. We really are living the dream this year. And I'm so glad that, although we are nearing the end, it's not over yet.

My night of sleep had changed everything. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 135: Fort Lauderdale (turnaround day)

I talked with two blog readers tonight after dinner who told me that they read my prior night's post over coffee every morning. I've heard that from others, too, and I love it. It's so kind of people to say so. But I'll warn you...pour just half a cup today. This post is going to be short.

We had a largely sleepless night last night. It became dire about 3:30am. Both of us were fitful. If I hadn't soaked my contacts in Clear Care overnight (it needs 7 hours to neutralize, and that's a whole other story), I would have simply put them in and dressed and gone to the International Cafe to pass the night. 

Simply stated, this sheet situation is doing us both in. It's not as simple as untucking; we wake up with sheets everywhere, pooled on the floor creating a trip hazard in the night. We have not yet woke up with the duvet still tucked in the bed cover pocket as it's supposed to be. Never. I'm not saying that everyone will have an issue with this, but, over the years, Princess trained us well to sleep under just a covered duvet. We liked it so much that we adopted the same practice at home.  Now the rules have changed. We're like 2-year olds giving up their binks. It's rough going. Last night it was rough going for both of us. 

I was so out of it that I skipped breakfast and lunch and didn't eat until dinner. We had to go through immigration, of course, but that was easy today. The agent came right on the ship. By 11am I was back in the cabin, still trying to sleep. By 3pm I gave up. Muster drill was starting, so I just showered and dressed for dinner and went up to the Horizon Court Buffet for a cup of tea. We had Barefoot Bubbly on the Terrace Deck for our 15th sailaway of the season, but we were fairly subdued. 

The only fun spot of the day occurred over dinner. We looked out our window at an HAL ship that had left Port Everglades just ahead of us. It was in front of us when we sat down at our table but by the time we started our entree, it was behind us, going the same direction we were. We supposed it was going to be at the HAL private beach resort at Half Moon Cay, just 20-ish miles away from Princess Cays, where the Emerald Princess will be tomorrow. "Why do you suppose it's going so much slower than us?", I asked G. "It's Holland America. Everything moves slower there."  Then he added, "Has their left turn signal been on this whole time?", and, finally, for the first time in a few days, we laughed and laughed. Delirium?  Perhaps. 

We were too tired to eat dessert (!!!!!!!!!) and went to the 7pm Welcome Aboard show simply to see a new comedian for us, Tom Briscoe. He was actually pretty good. He didn't pick on audience members (I never like that) and even his travel humor was original. We'll look forward to his longer show later in the cruise. 

I swung into the perfume /makeup store (give me a minute to look up that name...it's called Essence. That makes sense), Essence, to buy my Smashbox items at 10% plus 10% off. This was the biggest thrill of my day, and I felt so cruise-y, walking back to the cabin carrying my little blue Princess gift bag. I couldn't wait to show my purchases to G, but he was already asleep when I got to the cabin, on top of all the sheets, with the heat turned up to BAKE. 

Okay, we'll try it that way tonight. 

Two more things before I end...

First, there was more contact drama last night after I returned from S h a r e. G was still out listening to Ryszard Sulek play piano. Ryszard left today, and we will miss him. I pulled the lever to close the plug in the bathroom sink, as I always do, before I took out my first contact, and didn't realize it didn't close completely. The contact dropped into the sink and right down the fraction of an inch opening in the drain. Damn. Thankfully, I was not running the water; I knew the lens was there, just out of reach. 

I phoned the Passenger Services Desk, not an easy thing to do on the last night of the cruise. After being on hold for awhile, I was able to report the issue. In less than 5 minutes, a plumber was knocking on the door. I showed him the other lens so he knew what he was looking for, and in 2 minutes it was all over and he was gone. I have decided that plumbers are the most important people on this ship. The doctor is second most important. No, wait. The tailor is second most important. The doctor third and I'll give the captain fourth place. But plumbers...these guys are gold. 

So that's why I used peroxide based Clear Care to soak my lenses in overnight, and why I couldn't take myself down to the International Cafe at 4am. It was a rough night all around. 

But, there was a final bright spot tonight. I took out my Fuji XP80 camera that crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago to see if it was still not working...and it is!  It's taking multiple pictures and zooming out and in and all the things it refused to do the day we climbed Dunns River Falls. I was hoping to be able to use it a couple of times this week. I think water got in it somehow.  I hope it keeps working. 

I hope the weather allows us to get into Princess Cays tomorrow. 

I hope we get some quality sleep tonight. 

I hope I can get this posted before I fall asleep and get hit in the nose by my falling iPad. 

Cruise #9: 7-nights to the Eastern Caribbean

Day 134: At sea

Captain Forteeze had stopped by after last night's Captains Circle party and we were talking about our (finally) sunny day yesterday. I asked him if that meant our weather would be better now en route back to Fort Lauderdale, and he shook his head no. He said that we would be experiencing high winds and a persistent swell.

Captain Fortezze, I've decided, is a master of understatement. :-( But at least it's sunny, and that allows people to be dispersed outside on the open decks. We have been shaking and shimmying all day. 

It was also a very bouncy night, but it didn't keep us from sleeping well. I awoke first this morning and tried to do my morning thing and slip out without waking G but it didn't work. He said he'd join me in the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast in about 15 minutes. For once, I was saying good morning to Awesome Ambrish before G did, and when G finally did appear, Awesome teased him about being too tangled in his sheets to be able to get out of bed. That's been an ongoing joke...G told Ambrish two days ago that if he heard G's name being announced by the Passenger Services Department as being missing, Ambrish should first look for him buried alive in bed. ;-)

Filip from Serbia in the International Cafe saw me standing in line to get my coffee, and told me there were donuts with sprinkles today. He knew I would want to take one to G at breakfast. There I was, with a plate with a donut on it in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, and my iPad squeezed against my body under my arm, starting to walk up the curved stone Piazza staircase to Deck 6 and the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast when I overheard two people sitting at a table at the International Cafe say, "Heatherdowns, Byrne and Schneider Road," and I turned right around and went back down the stairs to meet these people who were talking about the neighborhood in Toledo where I'd grown up. 

Sure enough, they knew the street where Mom had lived until just last May, but had gone to competitive Catholic schools of the ones which I had attended (Central Catholic, Mom). And they knew exactly where Mom was living now and commented on it's excellent reputation and we spent a few very enjoyable minutes talking about growing up in that area (they live in Sylvania now). Really, what were the odds of that encounter? 

G joined me shortly in the DaVinci Dining Room, and I was an instant hero for bringing him a donut.  We had orange segments, and I had a veggie egg white omelet and G had three boxes of Frosted Flakes (just another example of craving food he eats at home, I guess) and he bounced around the ship like Tigger for the rest of the morning. 

I stopped into one of the shops on my way out of breakfast. I have not yet mentioned (but must remedy that now) that the perfume/makeup shop on board (I forget its name) sells Smashbox products. Smashbox!  I went in there to ask if they have any waterproof eye liner (they do...Smashbox) and nearly hyperventilated when I saw the Smashbox display. I now have a shopping list for the first day of the cruise tomorrow...if I spend $100 I get 10% off plus the 10% off for being Elite. Smashbox is one brand that I can't find discounted at home (and our local Ulta doesn't allow their 20% off coupons to be applied to Smashbox products). So, listen to this deal...the Smashbox Photofinish primer is $36 each at home. I can get a 2-pack for $58 on the ship. They also have the contour kit ($44, I think) and the eye liner ($18). Less the two discounts. Woohoo! As you know, I am not a shopper for 'things' but love my consumables!!

G had picked up a copy of our onboard statement at the Passenger Services Desk, and I took a deep breath and sat down before I looked at it. We had just received a letter documenting the 'computer glitch' that removed $150 in credits from earlier cruises. We've also had the myriad of other issues we've had corrected. It's been a challenge, for sure, and I do advise any other people cruising a series of B2B cruises to keep an eye out back to their embarkation date for postdated discrepancies. But today's statement yielded no nasty surprises. Yay! I have to admit that the new system of maintaining running totals instead of cleanly cutting off each cruise at its end is not an improvement. 

I then logged on WiFi to download today's mail and news. I receive such really wonderful emails from blog readers that keep me motivated towards the end of a cruising season, and I received one today, also asking for some clarification and suggesting a correction. First, when we were in Grand Turk last cruise with the Celebrity Constellation, and we went down to Governours Beach, I posted a photo of the Mega One Triton wreck with the cruise ship pier in the background. Since my waterproof camera had already stopped working, and we didn't want to leave our iPhones on the beach there while we swam, we didn't take a camera with us that day. That photo was taken during the taxi tour we'd had of Grand Turk nine days earlier. I posted it so you could see the wreck and also the proximity of Governours Beach to the cruise ships. Gregg noted that it didn't look like the Celebrity Constellation in the photo, but a Carnival ship, and he was exactly right.  

And, just to clarify, harious isn't a typo. I know the word is hilarious. It's just that we have used the word harious since McGee first said it when he was two years old. Harious=Hilarious; Frying=Crying (Patch at age 2); Fuzzy water= club soda (G at age 32).  I also know that I often use a semicolon when I should be using a comma. That is merely a function of typing this blog while lying in bed with my iPad sitting on my stomach. Four fingers of my left hand are used to support the iPad and my left thumb does all the typing for my left hand. I aim for the comma, and instead touch the semicolon just above it. When I go home and read over my blog entries from the prior winter, I try to correct those things. No matter how awkward it is to type on my iPad while lying down in bed, it's a huge improvement over using my iPhone as I did for several years. Instead of typing a post every night using two fingers, I use three fingers...my left thumb and the second and their fingers of my right hand. And I have a larger keyboard to do it on. It's been a wonderful change for me. 

Things continued to get bouncier throughout the day. We went down to have just a small lunch (I had calamari and gazpacho), since we were having dinner tonight at S h a r e, and returned to the cabin, astonished at how much rougher it is back here than in the middle of the ship. There was a post on Cruise Critic asking about the noise in these cabins on the back of Riviera Deck from the Horizon Court Buffet just above us. There is no really noticeable noise, but, good grief, we may need seat belts in bed tonight. Still, this movement does not make me seasick the way that I was for a couple of days on the Pacific Princess. It's definitely more of a shaking motion than a rolling motion. 

It didn't keep G out of a hot tub, but I was happier just reading this afternoon. Another of my Overdrive books from the library, this one an autobiography ebook by Leah Remini, is going to disappear from my iPad tomorrow, and I wanted to finish that up. I showered for the evening with one hand on the shower bar to keep from tumbling out of the bathroom. Our reservation for S h a r e was early tonight, at 5:30pm. We had asked for a table by the huge windows overlooking the back of the ship and hoped to catch the sunset while we dined. 

What can I say about S h a r e?  Perhaps most appropriate would be to wear a t-shirt emblazoned "I survived dining at S h a r e with my meat and potatoes husband". And then on the back it would say, "But it wasn't easy!"  I knew we were in trouble when we first sat down and nearly slid out of our seats. Several of the tables have wooden chairs with leather seat cushions on them. They're not large chairs and the seat cushions are very slick. They also lack arms.  G tolerated that for about 30 seconds before asking if they couldn't change our chairs out for some bucket shaped ones. Of course, they gladly accommodated his request.

G next commented on the lack of tablecloths or placemats on the tables. In fact, most of the surfaces in S h a r e are hard (the entire decor is upscale contemporary) and sounds do echo. The lady at the next table had a FaceTime phone call from her kids during her dinner and everyone in the restaurant heard every word. The lack of a tablecloth became more of an issue when the water goblets started to sweat. The ship was really bouncing in the restaurant's location on the back of Deck 16 and G caught a wine glass just before it danced off the table. 

I was hopeful, though, that the food would overcome these petty issues. We had the standard charcuterie platter as a starter, which we, of course, shared. The whole premise of this restaurant is to feel free to share food from common plates set in the middle of the table. 

My southern husband loved the pickled cauliflower. I liked the pearl onions with mustard seeds. I'm not into processed meats but G liked them. And olives are olives. 

This was bread with chicken liver pate and pomegranate jelly. The bread and jelly were delish. G, of course, lamented the absence of butter. 

Our food choices were as follows:

Appetizers

Tagliatelle with crab (me)

Cavatelli (G)

Next to the donut holes for dessert, this was my favorite part of the meal. 

I was growing weary, by this time, with G picking up various pieces of this with his fork and wondering aloud what they were (mostly cause I didn't know either). 

I was very happy with my tagliatelle. This pasta is made fresh daily, and I love fresh pasta. It was light and delicate and very delicious. G chose the cavatelli because he also like pasta, and likes brussel sprouts and doesn't mind beets. The issue was that it was all served mixed together and the brussel sprouts were just a few outer leaves, not the whole sprout. It was not his favorite, but he did eat it. 

Mains

Butter poached lobster (me)

Twice cooked duck (G)

Lobster (yummy) with sweet and foamy endive (not so much)

Immediate issues here:  there were bones and skin on the duck. G does not do bones and skin on anything. Then it was dark meat. Does duck even have white meat? But he liked the smoky flavor. 

G's choice here was a real surprise to me. I thought for sure he'd choose the beef cheek pie. What I had not realized is that he had talked to the chef, Christian, at the S h a r e Open House and was told that the cheeks from which this beef came were not the butt cheeks but the face cheeks. After a few days of thinking about this, G decided that these cheeks were too close to the lips which are used to make hot dogs and he wanted no part of beef cheek pie. God help us. 

So he ordered duck. I can count on no fingers the number of times I've seen G eat duck. But his other options were seafood or vegetarian, so duck it was. And to his credit, he did eat it. But he left little doubt that he would have been happier tucking into a filet mignon instead. 

I was, frankly, disappointed with the lobster. The lobster itself was as tender as any I've ever had. But the carmelized endive did nothing for me.  And I intensely disliked the endive foam (even setting aside that it was unhelpfully described on Cruise Critic as cat sick). It was neither hot nor cold (and I have a thing about that), it didn't look appealing and the flavor was very odd. I like endive; I guess I just don't like it carmelized. Or foamed. I suppose that same thing would hold true for many foods I eat. 

Braised kale

Potato gratin

Cheese course

La Gruta (me)

Shaft blue (G)

Steady on, we next moved to the cheese course. God bless him, our waiter Cristian rightfully explained which of the four cheeses were made from sheep, goat or cows milk, or a combination of two or three of them. But I cringed when I heard that...the only cows milk cheese was the blue cheese. G won't touch anything but cows milk cheese. One would think that G, who loves blue cheese dressing, would adore blue cheese itself, but he doesn't unless it's very mild. This one, naturally, was not. He took one bite and set it in front of me. Luckily, I do love all sorts of blue cheese. In fact, I don't often meet a cheese I don't like, and finished his as well as my own la gruta cheese plate. 

Dessert

Ricotta fritters (me)

Dark chocolate crémeux (G)

I had finally heaved an audible sigh of relief (that echoed and echoed and echoed...) when we reached the dessert course. Surely G would adore something made up of dark chocolate and burnt vanilla ice cream. Well, he did love the dark chocolate but said the ice cream tasted "funny". I have never, in all the years I've known him, heard him diss any kind of ice cream. On the other hand, we both adored my ricotta fritters. They were like fresh, warm donut holes, and were the biggest hit of the night. I was full of cheese so G got most of this dessert. 

We drank a lot of wine and enjoyed attentive service by Cristian from Romania. And, to be fair, the tables on either side of us, made up of two ladies at each, raved about the food (because, of course we heard their comments). One of them said that if they had discovered S h a r e on the first night of the cruise, they would not have eaten anywhere else on the ship. It was also well attended; we had not been able to get a reservation on formal night, and, with our MTP and Captains Circle parties this cruise, tonight was the only night that worked for us. 

We lingered over the meal and ended up spending over three hours there. By that time, I was thankful that G had insisted on getting our chairs changed out. We would never have lasted that long in the chairs we were originally seated in. I am glad we tried S h a r e once, but, unless/ until the menu changes, it is not something we'd do again. As G helpfully (though not totally correctly) pointed out,  we could dine at the Crown Grill twice for the same amount of money (it's actually $25pp vs. S h a r e's $39pp). Frankly, I'd rather eat at the Crab Shack than either of those two specialty restaurants, but G has always refused to eat there. That I even got him to go to S h a r e was a coup.

But tomorrow, his life will return to normal. Our adventures in creative dining will be over. He'll have beef tenderloins for lunch followed by prime rib for dinner, and peace will reign. 

Insert deep sigh of relief here ____________.