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Published: November 18th 2008
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This was a day to sleep in, have breakfast and relax before taking on the Greek isles. Today was one of the two days I went to the breakfast buffet. They had a good selection of breads, cereals, fruit (fresh and canned). Egg selections including scrambled, an omelette station, hard boiled, quiche; they also had bacon, sausage, a carving station, bagel toppings of smoked fish, capers and onions, a waffle station, pancakes, yogart, and of course, sweet breakfast breads and pastries. I had a waffle with strawberry topping, some quiche, fresh fruit and a croissant. The waffles are probably better when they come hot off the griddle, but I took mine from the tray and it wasn't that good. I liked the quiche.
After breakfast we wandered around the ship a bit. At around 11am we headed to the Cruise Critic get together to meet some of the people I had chatted with online before the cruise. It is always fun to finally put a face with a name. I also took the opportunity to meet people that I had organized tours with. JoAnne is very comfortable in these settings and managed to meet a nice guy named Stephen and
Me and CD Stewart
Fine print: this was taken at the end of the cruise, but it fits here! some of his traveling companions. We met up with them every night between dinners. They had the late seating dinner and were always in the martini bar as we were leaving the restaurant. We would give them our dinner recommendations and they would tell us if the show was worth going to. The cruise director, Stewart Turnbull was at the gathering as well and I had a chat with him about trying to have dinner at the captains table for my birthday on Sunday. He was very funny and very nice. I doubted he would remember my request, but I was glad I asked, because you never know!
Then the lunch buffet. I like the set up Celebrity does, although if you don't look you might miss it. They had one section that was an Asian stir fry station and served other assorted Asian inspired foods. Then they had two sides set up with typical fare of salads, soups, hot dishes, etc. They also had a sandwich bar to have a sandwich of your choice, and you could have it pressed into a panini if you wanted. Then in the way back they had a pasta and pizza station.
By the pool they had a grill that served hamburgers, nachos, wings and the like. And of course desserts.
JoAnne and I found some lounge chairs and took the opportunity to read while enjoying some cruise drinks during the afternoon.
Not to keep on about the food (but that is what sea days are for) at about 4pm they set up an informal tea at the buffet, with an assortment of cookies, scones and mini sandwiches. I LOVED the shortbread cookies. JoAnne loved the chocolate coconut macaroons. Rick missed it, he was napping. OK, maybe he went to the gym.
I didn't write it in my journal, but sometime today we went back to the spa to use the thalassotherapy pool (T-pool from here on) and convinced Rick to check it out with us. He decided he liked it enough to buy a pool pass too.
Tonight was the first formal night. At sometime during the day we found out we were assigned to a new table with 7 others. I like to dine at a big table, it gives me a chance to meet new people. So I put on my shiny purple gown and
First formal night
A painting in the grand foyer staircase new murano glass necklace, Rick got into his tux and JoAnne coordinated with us by wearing a nice jewel toned blouse and black pants. We made a great looking trio! Before heading to dinner we took a bunch of photos and then stopped at some of the ship's photographers stations to have our pictures taken.
Our dinner table turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. There were Wendy and John from Surrey England, Eileen and Margaret, two friends traveling together from Scotland, and sisters Magnolia and Ana and their friend Francisca from Miami, but originally from Colombia. We played musical chairs every night so we could chat with everyone. It drove our adorable sommelier Ramona (from Romania) crazy because she never knew where to put the wine and wine glasses for dinner. Our waiter was Mario and his assistant Juan. They were a lot of fun. Tonight we had filet mignon, I had a nice light chilled melon mint soup and for dessert a yummy chocolate mousse cake. It is so nice to have the desserts taste as good as they look!
After dinner we went to the show, Elements. Stephen said we should
007 Party
I'm getting my martini go and tell him what we thought. Well, it was the strangest show we had seen in a long time. It started out kind of like Spinal Tap's Stonehenge song meets Andrew Lloyd Weber. The troupe seemed somewhat talented, the singers had good voices and some of them could dance or do acrobatics well, but the choice of music and the choreography was just bizarre. The aerialists were awesome, considering the ship was moving and the rhythmic dancer added an interesting twist to an already weird scene.
After the show we stayed dressed up and went to the 007 party at the Stratosphere lounge. They had these neat ice sculptures with tubing frozen into them that they would pour your martini and you would catch it in your glass at the end. I thought it would be more fun to do shooters and catch it in your mouth, but no one was game. We each got a different kind, mine, dirty, Rick and JoAnne, fruity ones. They made a pretty picture. Of course there was also food, hot nibblers, which we had to try. Not bad. The DJ did a great job spinning music people wanted to dance to
007 Party
JoAnne has had enough and the floor was packed the whole night.
JoAnne showed signs she had one to many 😊 and it was time to call it a night. Mykonos tomorrow.
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