aring75

Aruba! - Day 12

I do too. The Wheelhouse Bar looks nicely refreshed. The chairs, cushions, and carpet all look good!

Stopped in the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the house band play some soft jazz. Bailey’s Raspberry (Mark just discovered these this cruise and really likes them as an after-dinner drink) and a Gin Daisy.

Dessert! Mark could not ignore the lemon cheesecake. He enjoyed this. I tentatively ordered the Tiramisu. They tried to get fancy with my Tiramisu on Celebrity and it was some kind of “deconstructed” weirdness. This one was much more traditional and was better.

I had the Tuscan-style Striploin. And Mark had the Veal Scaloppini. Edgar brought the shrimp and scallop dish. The scallops in Crown Grill were great, but the ones in the dining room seem undercooked and a little rubbery.

Started off with the Prosciutto and Melon. It was good. Mark had the Caesar again. And I had the Insalata Mista. It was very good.

MDR Dinner - Day 11

After a short walk around the Renaissance (RIF Fort) area, we headed back to the ship to relax. We headed up to Skywalkers Lounge to read, relax, and cool down quickly with a great view of the port area.

Yummy drinks with a view of the ship. This is one of my favorite parts of cruising. Mark tried the fish sandwich. And I had the club wrap. Both were quite good, but the club wrap was slightly better.

We headed back in the direction of the ship. It wasn’t exactly hot today, but the humidity was terrible. We stopped on our way back since those frozen drinks and ocean breezes were calling to us.

If you turn right and head toward the waterfront, you will find several restaurants that are part of the Waterfront Arches. We’ve eaten here twice and love the view. But today we didn’t really time it right. It was too early when we arrived. If you’d like to have lunch here, aim for around 12:00-12:30 pm. I enjoy the street art in Curaçao. There are several murals along the route back to the bridge.

The Dutch influence is strong in Curaçao. The streets are very pedestrian friendly with lots of benches to sit and relax while you shop and sightsee.

Keep walking through the RIF fort area. There are shops and restaurants in this area also. As you exit this area you will follow the sidewalk to the Queen Emma floating pontoon bridge. Cross here to get to the main downtown area.

The walk is probably about 1/3 mile to the downtown area (maybe just a little more). The taxi stand is also located right at the end of the pier. And you can always just have a stop at the 5 o’clock Somewhere Bar (which is right on the way) for nice views of the ship and casual eats and drinks for a relatively short walk.

Today was Curaçao! We love this port. We’ve done a couple of tours here in the past, but this is one of our favorite spots to just get off the ship and head to town on our own. If you decide to walk into town on your own, you will follow a well-marked pathway with lots of benches to take a break if needed. As you reach the end of the pier, turn right to follow the path to the RIF fort, and then continue to the pontoon bridge.

We are dining in Michaelangelo MDR on deck 5. But I know that others have been able to secure a table in the other dining rooms. I think most important is to talk to the dining room manager (do they still say Maitre D?) after you board and explain that having the same table every night is important to you. It may take a night or two before they can accommodate you, but it does seem like they make an honest effort to make people happy.

And I found a description of the layer cakes this morning. These are served at International Cafe. They bring them out after breakfast and then they are available the rest of the day.

Mark said the cobbler was great. Served warm with vanilla ice cream (sugar-free ice cream is available!). Curaçao is today and I love this stop. It’s a great place to get out and walk around. Find a good spot for lunch! It’s easily walkable and feels very safe. Then we have Aruba (which is also great on your own) and two more days at sea. This two weeks is going by faster than I would like, but I have really enjoyed the overall leisurely feel of this cruise!

We did a little bit of walking around after dinner. I needed to move a little after eating so much. We stopped in the casino for a bit. So far we are down this cruise, but not by much considering it’s been ten days and we’ve played a little almost every night. A woman sat down next to me who had 17k casino points. Yes seventeen thousand. Is that a lot? That seemed like a lot! I don’t know how many points you need before you start receiving offers, but we are NO where near 17k. After about an hour in the casino we decided to see the production show. We sat in the reserved “Premier” seats since Mark like the location, but there were lots of other places to sit. (They reserve the last two rows of the bottom section of the theater.) The show was Colors of the World. And we both enjoyed it. The singers and dancers are quite talented, but it felt very dated. Like a show you would have seen 15-20 years ago. Not bad! But it was hard to not compare it to the newer, more spectacular shows on Royal, Celebrity, etc.

But Edgar had other plans. Mark wanted to try the peach and blueberry cobbler. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (even though it doesn’t specifically say so in the description). Edgar brought the turtle cheesecake (to try). I did. I tried two bites. It was rich and delicious, but that was all I could do! We have really enjoyed our dinners since we requested this table for the remainder of the cruise. I’m so glad we were able to find this team. Edgar and Tanesha have been top-notch!

Mark got the Chili-spiced Barramundi. He finished it so I’m guessing it was good. I ordered the garlic shrimp and Mark said it looked really good…so Edgar brought another one for Mark to try! We are only at a table for two you guys!! After a lovely dinner I declined dessert and coffee. I wanted to be able to walk out under my own power after all.

Our waiter, Edgar, is convinced we have not been ordering enough food. He’s has been suggesting multiple appetizers, multiple entrees, multiple desserts! Tonight he wouldn’t take no for an answer! First, he brought the fried Camembert. We didn’t order it, but he thought we would like it. He was right! I ordered the Thai Beef Salad (delicious) And Mark ordered the Caesar. And then Edgar brought the beer cheese soup. “Try it with the bread!” He says. Yep. Very tasty!

MDR Dinner - Day 10 - 2nd Formal Night

As you may have guessed, I decided to finally break down and do a load of laundry today. 😂 The machines hold a surprisingly full load (although the instructions advise against overfilling the machine). They don’t hold as much as my front loader at home, but they are full-size machines like you would find at any laundromat.

There is a small laundry area in each deck with staterooms. Here you will find washers, dryers, ironing boards, and large sinks (for soaking, hand washing, etc.). The machines require a token ($3 each) to run which you can purchase with your medallion. One token to wash (30-35 min cycle) and one to dry (40-45 min cycle). Also, detergent and dryer sheets are available for purchase.