The cruise was awesome. It was everything I wanted it to be -- a relaxing break, some fun times with my husband and some new experiences. The cruise gave me quite a few subjects to talk about, but I have to start with what is pretty much the pinnacle of a cruise - eating. Or as one of our new ship friends liked to call it "feeding." Feeding really did fit better than "meal" on the ship. It lets you get rid of those pesky limits of three meals a day. Feedings? Well, they can happen at any time, mulitple times a day.
Getting aboard our ship ended up being somewhat of a hassle. Some system broke and we ended up standing in line for a few hours. Not fun, but not a huge deal either. We got on the ship and headed up to grab some lunch. There was a line as a lot of people had the same idea as us. We laughed as a man behind us started loudly protesting the wait and even went so far as to say the ship was treating him "like a slave" - kind of laughable considering the over-the-top treatment and constant barrage of food that was to follow.
In any case, our first meal aboard the ship was a hamburger and fries. Pretty tasty. Jay challenged me to record everything he ate on the ship and I did start a list. But after filling up the entire page in less than a day I gave up. Trust me, it would have made you vomit and also want to give him a handshake. A few hours after our late lunch, we went to our first dinner in the dining room. Wanting a social experience, we had signed up for the late dinner seating and were seated with 3 other couples. We were nervous about this, as it was as random as a dorm room assignment. But someone had worked some magic because we ended up with some really awesome and funny people that we truly enjoyed spending time with.
That first night, we were all somewhat restrained in our ordering. One appetizer, entree and dessert each. By the second night, a couple of guys ordered mulitple appetizers and by the third night, it was completely normal to order two meals without a blink. Our waiter was wonderful. He told us he was so relieved to not be waiting on old people for once and enjoyed a fun, young crowd. We did aim to please. And so did Hans. If you so much as looked over at your neighbor's plate, he would bring you one of your own before the thought even entered your mind. He brought one couple three lobster dinners each without a blink. Each night there was a huge selection of warm, fresh-baked bread spread with real butter. I did so much carb-loading, I could probably run a marathon right now.
Some of my favorite meals were the lobster (I "only" had one!), mahi mahi, shrimp cocktail, filet mignon and key lime pie. Mmmmm. Its back to reality now.
Tonight for dinner, I scraped together a somewhat less gourmet meal of frozen chicken nuggets, microwave veggies and fruit. I cut up the food for the kids, squeezed ketchup onto plates, argued with Big A about how many bites she could eat, and got up to get my own drink (non-alcoholic this time). Ahh...I already miss you, Hans.
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