Best Lobster Rolls Found in Bah-Hah-Bah

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The wakeup call Sharon requested rang shortly after the alarm I’d set on my phone alarm for 5:30 AM. We went up to the Lido to eat before meeting in the Showroom for taking a tender ashore for our whale watching tour. I had some Swiss Muesli, grapefruit juice, cantaloupe, watermelon and some rolls; while, Sharon had a chocolate croissant with her French Toast.

After breakfast we gathered ourselves together, and went to wait for our tour in the Showroom. Unfortunately, they announced that our tour had been cancelled due to rough seas in our whale watching area. So, we are going to have another leisurely day, walking around town a bit, and we’ll need to take it from there. We decided to go ashore later, and stopped by the library to pick up today’s Sudoku to do back in the room (where Sharon had left the pen she needs to win). Nobody made any mistakes today, and I finished a bit ahead on the Easy Puzzle, and Sharon chose not to finish the Hard Puzzle (it was one of the tougher ones, definitely needing some annotation, but really didn’t need any advance techniques to solve). Today is Sunday, and the puzzles are generally tougher on Sundays. Our room hadn’t been made up yet. I guess we better start using the “Request Service” flag to make sure we don’t get missed again. The clothes that we turned into the laundry on the first day of our return cruise were already back, cleaned and folded. We decided to take this opportunity to go ashore. We were the first to board our tender, and didn’t need to use Sharon’s 4-star status to move to the front of the tender line. She sat on the starboard doorway of the tender, unfortunately, her jeans caught a bit of spray and water dripping onto her seat. After getting on the pier off the tender, we noticed stacks of boxes being placed on the tender returning to the Maasdam full of fresh lobsters. Mmmm!

We walked around Bar Harbor, which is a beautiful community. We took quite a few pictures, and then came across a candy, fudge and ice cream store, featuring a large red lobster in front. If you haven’t figured it out, this is “Lobster Town” and I hope to find the best lobster roll later for lunch. I couldn’t resist ordering a scoop of the coconut and macadamia nut ice cream with some hot fudge. Sharon ordered the moon-pie ice cream. They had dozens of exotic flavors, and even had lobster ice cream; but, neither of us wanted to try that one! We both loved the ice cream, and mine had large whole macadamia nuts throughout, and the fudge was pretty good too! Walking around we found some promising Christmas presents for people who may be reading this blog. And our eyes fell on a T-Shirt that we both knew instantly that I needed to buy. It proclaims “I Don’t Need Google, My Wife Knows Everything!” I plan to where this when trying to attract team members in the Crow’s Nest this afternoon. Sharon, then spotted the shirt next to this one, and thought it might be appropriate for me as well. It showed the silhouette of a camel with the words “What Daaay Is It?”

It was approaching 11:00 AM, and we decided to head towards the West Street Café that had been recommended to us by our Penguin Spotters Trivia Challenge Teammates last week. I ordered the Lobster Roll for $14 and Sharon did finally get the Fried Clams for the same price. I also ordered a shrimp cocktail, which was five jumbo shrimp for $8. The lobster roll came on a small half-sliced cut of fresh toasted bread. The lobster salad filling consisted of chunks of lobster and just a bit of mayonnaise to bind it together. A single leaf of lettuce protected the bread from becoming soggy due to the mayonnaise. There was no celery filling, as lobster rolls in Canada seem to have. This lobster roll allowed the lobster to shine, and it was delicious, and I’d definite have to give Bar Harbor the nod as the place to come if you too are looking for the perfect lobster roll. We had found other places in town that offered lobster roll, and one of these showed “Market Price” as the cost of their lobster roll. And another offered theirs as either hot or cold. The shrimp cocktail was also excellent. Sharon thought that the fried clams were a bit chewy, so I don’t think she’d give these the nod as the best she’s ever had.

We returned to the ship aboard the next tender, which needed to wait for the one ahead of us to pull alongside the Maasdam. I popped up to the Rotterdam Dining Room to see that the tenderloin was indeed on the menu for this evening; but, was surprised to see that the lobsters they’d been loading aboard the tender that brought us ashore were not (e.g. no surf and turf tonight)! Meanwhile, Sharon had taken the camera to walk around the Sports Deck to take some pictures. Weather was absolutely gorgeous today in Bar Harbor, and there was some choppiness in the surf, and we could only marvel at the “Whale Watching” catamaran vessel tethered at the next pier and wonder what would have been so bad that the tour needed to be scrubbed. We had seen the “Puffin Watching” vessel leave full of passengers.

I had gotten back in time to watch the very end of the Men’s Final at Wimbledon, with Federer and Djokovic tied at two sets apiece and four games apiece. Sharon had posted the previous day’s blog, and I began to write up this morning’s events. At 3:00 PM we headed up to see the waltz on Dancing With the Stars At Sea (not as contestants; but, safely from the balcony of the Showroom. We had been disappointed that the finale show on our first leg of the cruise had been cancelled because of the feared rougher weather that never materialized. We’re looking forward to the show on the last night of this cruise. We left in time to arrive in the Crow’s Nest early enough to find a team. Sharon was a bit behind me and I sat near where we had won two challenges. The couple sitting adjacent to me spotted my T-Shirt that I’d bought in Bar Harbor, and said that if my wife was with me, they’d love to be on our team! So I’d just met Fred and Edie when Sharon appeared. Jeremy the Cruise Director arrived, again a tad late, and laughed saying “I love your shirt.” I acknowledged, “I get that a lot.” In the elevator and in the hall coming into the Crow’s Nest two other women said the same thing. And I could see others smiling and pointing my way. Before the contest began we spotted a lone couple by the front window and inquired if they would want to join our team as well. And that’s how Elizabeth and Harold rounded out the Penguin Spotters. I’m gathering that Fred and Edie may take this trivia a bit more serious and formal than Elizabeth and Harold, encouraging everyone to write down their answers; and, much to the annoyance of the rest on our team, Elizabeth and Harold were audibly blurting out answers that could be heard across the room. Things started with “What was the most popular musical during World War II?” I wrote down “Oklahoma”, but Edie was convinced that musical came out after the war… and she eventually came up with “Yankee Doodle Dandee” and was pretty sure that was right. We didn’t know what high school Archie (of the Archie comic strip) had attended, and Sharon and I hadn’t a clue, so Middleton was written down. Riverdale might have been a better answer; but, who knew? “What state has the most people over 65?” It wasn’t Maine as one of our teammates suggested. I’m pretty sure this is an ‘old question’ that we’d had before. Still, we went with Florida. How two former Californians got this one wrong, I’ll never know. At least I knew how far the free throw line is in basketball. Our teammates were pushing for 18 feet which is top of the key, so we did get fifteen feet right. All I can say, if we need my sports knowledge to be competitive, we may be in trouble. We did get the final three questions right, and the bonus question as well, but didn’t quite break into double digits on the score. The winning score was just eleven points and I guess that Sharon and I will have to calibrate our new team and understand that they tend to insist that they know the answers when they don’t.

After trivia we had to get ready for the formal dinner tonight. Sharon went to mass after getting dressed, and I took my sweet time getting the tuxedo on. It seemed easier this time, and on the way to dinner after Sharon returned to the room she noticed why… it seems that I’d forgotten the tie. We were just after 5:30 PM getting to the dining room, and had to wait a bit to be seated. We were taken upstairs with two other ladies for seating by the railing overlooking the lower dining section at a table for four, and Sharon remarked that this was the first time we’d been seated with this view. I ordered the escargot, and I also got the jumbo shrimp cocktail courtesy of Sharon. As always, I enjoyed this butter and garlic treat. I next had the pumpkin and squash soup; while, Sharon had the watermelon gazpacho. Sharon had the beef tenderloin, but it’s not fair comparing that to the steak that she’d had the night before in the Pinnacle. I had the grilled salmon in yellow curry sauce with grilled carrots and zucchini and rice. We both had the chocolate soufflé with the chocolate ganache sauce. Not too bad, I might say! I had ordered the Hazelnut Eyes cordial with Kahlua, Frangelico and Irish Cream, but had to charge it on Sharon’s beverage card. Mine had zeroed out previous night when I’d ordered a glass of cabernet with dinner.

The show is one of HAL’s productions that we’d seen previously “Bob Mackie’s Broadway” featuring sequined outfits designed by Bob Mackie, and the entourage of HAL performers singing various show tunes and medleys. One of the performers plays this obnoxious show business wannabe doing a slapstick vaudeville type spiel, and the thing is, he’s supposed to be annoying, and I guess that is supposed to be funny. Five or six people from our balcony section walked out on the performance, which I don’t remember ever seeing happen before. The singing really is quite good, and the soprano is excellent.

After the show, Sharon who had been sniffling all day, decided to return to the room, and she gave me permission to play as long as I wanted too. I was surprised to see nobody playing the table games. I was told that they’d all just left to watch the next show. I enjoyed playing one-on-one with the dealer, and played two shoes. I noticed five or six people standing around watching me play, and it shouldn’t have been all that interesting, I was basically trading $5 bets with the dealer; although, I was making some headway, and every once in a while I’d win two, or three and once even four hands in a row. I’m guessing it was the pace of the play they were watching, wondering if I was making the same choices that they’d make. Eventually one person sat down, and then whoosh, the table was deluged by people who probably shouldn’t be playing blackjack. And, from my rapid turn of fortunes after these people sat down, I think that I was one of them. I suffered one of the worst turns in fortunes of cards I’d ever seen at blackjack. But that too would pass. What amazed me was how often people would hit a stiff hand, make a “17” and then ponder for many seconds whether they wanted to hit another card. And one fool even split tens (I’m trying to remember if this is the same fool from the night before). Instead of busting, dealer ended up with “21” and cleared the table. Now, just because people are playing in a manner that I feel is bizarre, it doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy playing at the table and watch and interacting with the people. The game simply changes to a social one rather than gambling; whose purpose is simply to have fun than to make money. For example, one player got a blackjack with a $5 and the dealer wanted to know if the player wanted insurance; but, instead asked “Does anyone want even money?” Now even money, is what you call the hand, where player has blackjack and the player insures it for half of his original bet (by making that additional bet on the insurance line). But casinos have adopted the policy that a player may simply ask for “Even Money". No matter whether the dealer has blackjack or not, the player will win his original bet; hence, even money. So when the dealer asked, “Does anyone want even money?” I volunteered with my lowly sixteen, “Yes, I’ll take even money, Thank-you.” The others caught on, and they too all wanted even money. The dealer just rolled her eyes at her gaff. Then there was the lady playing base who was playing fairly consistently; but, not always hitting when she could. She complained that, “I want to have some fun. I can’t do anything with these hands! (after a string of many stiff hands). I didn’t say what I was thinking, like “You might try hitting some of those hands.” Two hands later she had a pair of eights. There’s an old blackjack saying to always split aces and eights, thanks to Thorpe, because before his revelations in “Beat the Dealer” nobody would split eights unconditionally. But she was lucky… the dealer was showing a seven and not a face card or ace that can easily turn costly splitting against them. She had a $20 bet out, one of her largest bets, and she did hesitate but then she stepped up with another $20. The dealer obliged her with a face card, and it was beginning to look hopeful for her. She stood on that hand, hoping the dealer had the “advertised” seventeen with a ten-spot in the hole. That’s when the dealer gave her another eight. I don’t think she wanted to split again, and if she had trusted her gut instinct she would have been alright. I didn’t have to watch the cards come out, to know what was going to happen next. People next to her at the table were cheering her on, urging her to split, urging her to “beat the dealer”. And she obliged. Out came ten of clubs, and she now had two hands at “18”, and against a dealer’s “7”, things really could be a whole lot worse. I nodded in amusement when the dealer revealed her next card, another eight for her third hand. She looked absolutely aghast at this impossibility, which is when I asked her, “Are we having fun yet?” The peanut gallery urged her on, and she coughed up another $20 in red chips. The dealer gave her an ace, even better than the tens on the previous hands. She stood and received a three on her last eight, giving her an eleven and the opportunity to double down. Her cheering section wouldn’t let her do anything else. With her last four red chips she doubled down on eleven, got a six and there she was with 18-18-19-17 praying to god that the dealer did indeed have “17”. But the dealer turned over a nine and followed that with a four and his “20” swept away the table.



I was still playing after midnight, and because we’re heading up to Halifax and Nova Scotia what that really means is that it’s after 1:00 AM! The table did finally clear out, and the cards were turning my way. I played perhaps two shoes all to myself, and on my last hand got a blackjack that put me ahead for the evening. It was also the end of the shoe and I decided to call it a night, which I suspect made the casino staff happy since I was the last person still at the tables. Today, has to be viewed as a success, because I’d found that perfect lobster roll that had been my quest for this cruise.

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