So Sunday, Day 3 - our first sea day of Carib
2019 aboard the Harmony of the Seas rolls around.
Weather cloudy, overcast and 60% chance of
many adult beverages being consumed before… well, to paraphrase a parrot head I
know “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere – especially HERE!”
THE GIRLS are off early for a brisk walk with
Mark in tow. Wellll, not all the girls,
Donna laid back down for “just another minute” and woke up a 9.
Mark lasted all of ¼ mile and headed back to
figure out just “what in the hell” possessed him to try something he hasn’t
done in more years than he can remember.
Remember, Illy does 4 miles before free
weights etc. on an off day. Lydia paddle boards from her house in Miami Shores across Biscayne Bay and back, after teaching several water aerobics classes in
the early AM. Not a pair you want to
“try out” your new health routine with.
And the boy’s slept in.
Since the Solarium Bistro was not so “Hot”
yesterday, and they really wanted omelets, T2 and the Wacky American Tourist
and Ever-Lovely Dragon Lady headed to “mini bites” a modified Bistro and
Windjammer with limited fare near the sports area on the aft deck.
Service was great, omelets, OK. They were
expecting fresh eggs and found out later that it was egg mix in a 5 gallon
bucket. Oh well, another strike for
product quality.
Breakfast sausage, was fine, bacon a lump of overcooked
Whatevah was in a chafing dish.
A variety of fruits, meats, cheeses, yogurt
cups and pastries rounded out the offerings.
In all not bad, actually way much better that
what was reported by the Tempelshifs about breakfast in the main
dining room, 2 days in a row.
The
rest of the day was spent sunning and relaxing watching the basketball and
volley ball games and then a migration to the Solarium area for more relaxation
and sunning.
Soon
it was time to return to the cabins to freshen up for happy hour.
In the
middle of all this, Chucky hooked up with the Hotel Director Irfan Hurriyetoglu
in the Solarium Bistro to discuss the previous two evenings and various other observations.
Without
repeating here all the deficiencies reported, suffice it to say Irfan was painfully
aware of the challenges of re-training a new crew every 6 months, which did not
excuse the issues of the last two dinners.
With
promises to remedy the current lack of service, both front and back of house,
and an offer to treat TE7 to and evening in Wonderland [their trendy new outlet
featuring the latest cuisine, gels, foams etc. – a major bucket list item for
Donna].
Irfan thanked Chucky for a very in-depth
report and requested a couple of additional conversations prior to the end of
the cruise.
OK, so now we'll have senior staff hovering
around the table to insure the evening goes well. Not Chucky’s intention, they
just wanted service and food worthy of Past experiences on Royal, but as we
said, they are slow to turn the boat, but eager to keep in-house issues from
reaching certain corporate desks in Miami.
Sunning in the solarium turned into not
sunning and back to the cabins to refresh before heading to the Schooner for
traditional TE6 happy hour with the delightful Server Alexandria.
You'll note that we said, TE6 as Mark had
taken ill and after heading to Sick Bay, they put him in Quarantine. The poor guy was sooooo looking forward to
Formal night.
Tonight, first night at sea, was Formal Night
[yeah, they still have those but with a much relaxed dress code – Chucky wears
a dressy Guyabera] and a majority of the ship was decked out to the 9’s.
Since it was spring break, there was an
overabundance of families with children, who were Sooooo excited to dress up
like Mom and Dad. Sooooo cute.
Irfan, the Hotel Director arranged to meet
them along with Mustafa Acar, the Restaurant Operations Manager at 7:25 to
escort them to the dining room. A lovely
gesture, but more of a signal to the staff that VIP’s were coming through, not
that we were, but like mentioned above, prepare for the hovering.
We were met at the same table by Jhon and
Henry, two VERY nervous dudes. Chucky
took Jhon aside and assured him again, it wasn’t his service, it was the
kitchens issues.
Rado made his appearance, welcomed us and
assured Mustafa it would be a Brilliant Evening.
Of Course It Was!
Hots-Hot, Colds-Cold, copious amounts of
nervous smiles and a hovering Rado who hustled to one of the premium venues to
purloin a basket of Lavosh having heard Donna loves it. Best Lavosh I've ever had on a cruise
ship. Actually the ONLY Lavosh I've ever
had on a cruise ship.
Chucky’s linguini with scallops and shrimp
was wonderful.
Rather than recount everyone’s order suffice
it to say, everything came out A+ and even the crème Brule had the proper dish.
[Jhon whispered that they have a shortage, hence the ramekin used previously.]
Considering it was formal night we were
surprised that the My Time dining was half empty. Which didn’t hurt the kitchen to pay
attention to detail.
We finished in time to take a break on the
promenade and Since the Headliner Show we were booked for had some unknown
singer, we opted to try the Aqua Show again, and after hurrying to find decent
seats, once again the motion of the ocean nixed it for safety reasons.
Everyone was fairly exhausted and since
Helmut had already passed on the Aqua Show, we all followed his lead and headed
for Nonny-Nonny.
Uncle
Chuck & The
already in Nonny-Nonny Land,
Dragon
Lady
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