bluenoser2

February 27,Monday; Atsea

On this, the last full day of our cruise – because you simply cannot count debarkation day as anything like a cruise day – it was time for reflection. Time for analysis. Time for last chances.

Oh who am I kidding. It was time to eat every last thing I could, so we started at 7:00 in the buffet. The very quiet, pretty empty buffet. There must have been a lot of people who lasted until the END of the Oscars last night – we were not among them. We chose to find out everything we needed to know in the morning. Like the Daytona results. No, they do not show NASCAR races on Princess tv.

We were among those getting a last custom made omelette….a last waffle…..and remarkably, NOT a last chocolate pastry. Apparently I had reached my saturation point.

A relaxing day ensued, finishing that incredibly interesting library book and remembering to return it. Wandering through the shops and avoiding all the gold by the foot, $10 items, and others.

We could have jus tcalled this buffet day. We spent enough time and calories there. Lunch was enjoyed there – the garlic shrimp were enticing us again with their scent wafting through the line. With this last shrimp offering I was sure I had enough seafood to last me for some time.

In the afternoon we went to the theatre to catch the soprano soloist Jennifer Fair who was doing a little concert there. She has a lovely voice. I don’t do well in dark places with a full stomach. You can imagine. But it was most enjoyable despite BIG lunch DARK theatre combination.

Well, there was just no denying it. Time to …… I’m going to utter the four letter word now….cover your eyes…..P-A-C-K. Mesmerized by The Age of Adeline playing on our stateroom tv as we were, the chore passed quite nicely. In the middle of it all, I trekked off to Horizon to get myself a tea…and absolutely NO scone…well, those oatmeal cookies do look lovely……perhaps The Mr. would like one…..I have now determined that to walk to the buffet and back to my room was the same as if I had walked to Tim Horton’s in our town and back home for my tea. Pretty much the same. But my tea stayed warmer on this trip.

And now….another first for us. What you say? The last day of the cruise, and you wild and crazy couple find yet another amazing first to accomplish? Why yes, we did. Knowing that the MDR’s offerings on last night include meatloaf and other such amazing delicacies, we decided for the first time ever ….we would not go to the MDR for dinner. OK, to be honest the real reason? “Gourmet Hamburger Corner” was advertised as the “action station” in Horizon.

It was a turtle-like crawl through the line in the buffet. I was used to the quick and easy lunchtime finds, but this seemed…different. There was the soul in front of me who ducked out to get some salad fixings and proceeded to eat them as he got back in line in front of me. Ahhhh, now I remember why I liked the dining room. I got over it, and was happily dishing some BBQ ribs, some seafood stuffed salmon and Cajun chicken onto my plate (whoops-wasn’t there going to be no more seafood? My bad….) and then remembered the hamburger corner was still coming. OK,just to be clear – it’s not Guy Fieri’s burgers like on Carnival, but they were very good burgers.

The Red Velvet Cheesecake? Not so much. Not red. Not velvet. Definitely not cheesecake. I got over this disappointment as well,hoping upon hope that the dining room hadn’t had Sacher torte on the menu tonight, because that’s my very favourite dessert and I never saw it once on this cruise….maybe it’s on 12 day cruises. Maybe it has to be when I’m having my birthday. Maybe I have to be in Athens. Maybe it’s a lot of things.

Off we waddled to the theatre. By the way, this was th eonly day of all 10 days that I felt any movement at all on the ship. Nothing to make one sick, but just barely noticeable. Tonight was Voice of the Ocean, and it was fun, the singers sang well, the judges were fun, and the chairs turned…..well, about the same speed as walking down the stairs going to a tender. We enjoyed it and I voted for the winner, so it was all good.

We decided to give up our good seats and go for a walk before attempting The Crew Show at 9:30. By the time we got back to the theatre there were no seats, so we went to Explorers to watch it on the screen. If you’re ever tempted to do this, don’t bother. The filming is done from so far away, you can’t actually see the person on the stage with any clarity. We lasted through 2 acts and then gave each other the nod, and left. One last sleep in our comfy Princess bed.

So, why DID the chicken cross the road? And the other chicken? Anyone? Anyone? I have never seen so many chickens roaming around everywhere. Just there. Just....I don't know...doing whatever it is chickens do.

And while, we're on the topic of things I don't know.....can anyone tell me what these are? I know I knew, but I didn't write it down, and then it went out of my head. Interactive time....who will be first with the right answer? I think I'll know it when I hear it......

After the Grand Cayman tour was over, we walked a bit by the port, but again, nothing was open, so we took a few photos before hopping on the tender (much easier and roomier going back) to return to our home away from home.

Lunch was had, and chairs were found on Lido deck – it was cloudy so I suppose not as tempting for some today. I was not tempted to swim today, so it must have been cooler! All aboard was 3:00, and time to use up some of those Platinum internet minutes.

Tonight was Chef’s Dinner and we were back at Table 44 – third time with Rodrigo and Adornado. (It took us 3 or 4 times to remember their names - surreptitiously squinting to see their nametags.

Well, what can I say – there it was on the menu – twice baked goat’s cheese soufflé – a no brainer for an app. It never gets old. We had also ordered a salad, but it never came. Sigh. I got the look from The Mr. when I suggested mentioning it, so we didn’t. OCanada.

Speaking of….Canada….you know how at the Chef’s dinner they bring that sorbet to “cleanse the palate”?

A few years ago when our children were with us on their one and only Princess cruise, they took one taste of it, and declared “it tastes like Canadian Tire.” This, only my Canadian friends will probably understand.However, ever since they said that, well,that’s what my senses……sense!

Guess what. The Mr. had seared scallops tonight and I had the orange roughy. It was all good. Dessert – the chocolate lover’s trio…..which I remember by a different name a few cruises ago! Milk? Warm. Tea – hot. See? I rest my case. I used some of his milk in my tea since they forgot to bring that too.

Off to the theatre to get our seats – what’s this? OUR seats are taken? After the initial shock, I was able to calm The Mr. down and reassure him that we COULD sit a fewr ows further down, and see…it’s an aisle seat too…everything will be ok…..

The saxophonist was back and the good thing was he played and didn’t talk. See? That’s what I was talking about – totally liked him if he just played. The comedian was back and he was very funny – we liked it when he talked. But the best? When he said “How many of you are into fitness?” and there was DEAD silence in the theatre. Absolutely. Not a sound. Nothing. Nada.

We watched a little of the Academy Awards up on Lido with everyone else before casually sauntering over to the buffet to “just have a peek”. I got my COLD milk, and there was Rodrigo already, serving us again! He gets around! I self-served my milk…..didn’t trust him. A little pavlova, a little popcorn, and we decided the Oscars would be better in jammies in our room. And that’s a wrap! (For today….you’re not getting off that easy – there’s still Atsea tomorrow!)

The Grand Cayman Tour continues

Off to the Tortuga Rum Cake store (which WAS open....but not the one close to the ship – that was closed.) I sampled two kinds of cake,and a medicinal amount of rum, before heading outside to appreciate the views of the ocean from here. Better than the views of store shelves in my book.

And now….we headed to hell. Yep. On a Sunday. My daughter quipped later, “wow…..when you get back to church next week you can tell people how good it is to be back, because last week you were in Hell.” (We didn’t. Some things just don’t come out right when The Mr. says them from the pulpit….oh yeah, didn’t tell you that about him did I?)

(Well, it WAS Sunday after all......)

Florence peers cautiously at Hell.

While it WAS hot there, it was safe to say that we had been other places on our trip that were, well, you know….hotter than hell. This was the coolest day of the cruise.

I'm still following along, still enjoying your review. We have a long wait until our PC cruise, but hearing about yours is making the time go faster.

 

I'm glad to see that Florence enjoyed her visit to the Turtle Farm on Grand Cayman. :D

And just for the record, I too held a turtle. I just wasn't photogenic enough to be included in the post! Awkward doesn't begin to describe it.

As a fellow Canadian, I too have enjoyed your reviews. And like you, we too, now take ship excursions with the slow masses, though I'm now one of them with cane in hand. And not once on our 21 day HAL Caribbean did a fellow Canadian keep the bus waiting.

 

Ruth

But of course no Canadian would ever do that! (Well, no TRUE Canadian....well, I'll just stop before I get in trouble.) I have to mention, that on one of our tours, a group of 4 got lost and couldn't find the meeting place, but were able to find the bus. It was the first time I've ever seen someone get up at the front of the bus and apologize to the whole group for making us wait for them, and for any inconvenience. It was well received - I didn't even notice that we had been delayed at all. I declared them honourary Canadians!

February 26, Sunday: Grand Cayman Island

Last port.

Last tour.

Sigh.

Tear dropping slowly down cheek.

OK, OK, I’ve pulled it together more or less. This was the beginning of a tour that required enormous amounts of patience on my part. First there’s the waiting while still on the ship as the tour people gather. Then there’s that painfully slow walk down the stairs to the tender. Oh yes, it was a tender stop today. And it wasn’t a Princess tender. It was a Cayman Island tender. That could hold 250 people. 250 slow people. You’d think they had ALL eaten at Sabatini’s the night before. A tender that large takes a long time to load. And a longtime to unload. As I said, there were buckets of patience involved.

However, once on land again, we were directed to the buses, which are smaller versions than in the other ports where they were the full coach size. The Mr.scored the seat beside the driver/guide, and I took the one right behind him.Best views, and no one else wanted them because they weren’t the easiest seats to get into it. But we got into them. Sabatini’s excess and all.

Our guide today had a great accent. I’m a sucker for accents, and his was fine. AND, his name was Graydon. Which is my brother’s name. He was sweet. The guide that is. Well, my brother’s sweet too, but that’s not part of the story.

Yup....I guess you could say he was "my brothuh from anothuh mothuh"....say it out loud...I insist. (In a totally polite Canadian way.)

Impressive was his ability to multi-task – to drive AND talk? That’s notable in my books. AND he could drive ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! Oh. Not the wrong side for him. Yeah. I get it.

So, I had been to Grand Cayman when I was a youngster….in the 70’s. I think it’s safe to say that between the passage of time, and the hurricane of 2004,there was nothing left to remember or recognize. Because I didn’t. Recognize. Remember. Anything.

Our first stop was the turtle farm. I was at the turtle farm lo those many years ago, but it paled in comparison to the fine and elaborate place it had grown up into. As it was Sunday, and pretty much everything was closed that day, we took advantage of the shop at the farm, to find a little turtle souvenir, before returning to the wee bus.

langoustines! That was the term neither The Mr. or I could remember....thank you for reminding us both what it was!

Oh no! I can see the looks on your faces as you discovered I left you hanging in that last post with no dessert! Shame on me! I apologize to each and every one of you...if there's anyone left after all my ramblings. On with the show.....

Dessert time, and lo and behold, The Mr.’s milk was cold! My teapot was so pretty! Again,you see how little it takes to make us happy. I had tiramisu and The Mr. had Sinfonia de something.

The waiter also brought us HIS favourite dessert – the espresso crème Brule. Like we needed THREE desserts. I had to give him credit – it WAS the best dessert of the three!

(gee...I couldn't even wait until the picture was taken before I started into it!)

It was official. This was the most stuffed we felt on the entire trip. We waddled around for a bit, and then up to the room to get out of confining clothes and then off for some more walking before attempting to stay awake for The Marriage Match game in Explorers. While it was fun, I was yawning. A lot! We missed out on the showtime, AND the platinum/elite cocktail party. (You can do the sign of the L with your thumb and forefinger by your forehead if you like….I won’t be offended).

(that rascal Florence....the things she gets into when we're not supervising her)

Dragging our girth back to the room, we fell into bed and tried to watch some strange movie we never discovered the name of, and that was it – another day in Atsea.

As far as onboard activities go, we must say, not being trivia buffs, there hasn’t been anything that tempts our jaded cruising souls. We’re ok with that – happy to just do our own thing, but as I diligently looked over my Patter each morning, highlighter in hand, there wasn’t anything I was finding to highlight. Except dinner times. Alfredo times. Pub Lunch times. Hmm…seems to be a theme here.

(It's a little "Find Florence" game.....)

We settled into a lovely little loveseat outside the Wheelhouse Bar and were totally content there. “Reading”. Yes. “Reading”. Even while the Tanzanite seminar was going on and on and on in the Wheelhouse bar, the whole thing just lulled me into…..”reading”.

Second Formal night approached – and for the first time in our cruising history (which I realize is much less extensive than most of yours) we (said in a hushed whisper) didn’t go! Our travel agent had gifted us with a specialty restaurant reservation and it happened to be Sabatini’s, for tonight. Yes, I know we could have changed it – there certainly never seemed to be a shortage of tables in the restaurant at any time during the cruise – a very under-used venue! However, after our experiences in the MDR not being stellar, we were happy to do something different, and we still dressed up. So there.

We went down to the atrium to do our gawking but alas! There was not a soul anywhere – had we missed the abandon ship call? Where was everyone? It was a little eery. Until we reasoned that the first showtime had just started, as well as the first seating in Traditional. That made us feel a little less distressed,and we decided to drown our fears in food. Sabatini’s food. Only two other tables were occupied when we arrived, and we were given a beautiful spot where we could both gaze at the sunset.

Alberto was our wonderful server. I love the long breadsticks they have there, dipping them in balsamic and olive oil…..I didn’t even uncover the basket of rolls – I had stopped looking at rolls days before when the roof of my mouth complained because of the hard shell. Why does the buffet have soft rolls and the MDR/specialty restaurants have crusty rolls? Is it a class thing? Oops…got offtrack again….what a surprise.

There were olives and prosciutto, and there was the menu. Ahhh… the menu. I started with a twice-baked artichoke soufflé that was divine. The Mr. had fresh cheese with tomato – it was big enough to fill him up before he even got to his main course!

The Spinach and cheese manicotti I had for the pasta course was perfect and even though that little voice inside me whispered “save room for the meat….” I finished it all anyway. The Mr. had the seafood spaghetti (must have been mention of scallops since we know he can’t pass them up – ever) which shocked him a little when he saw the whole crayfish just lying there on top, looking at us ever so sadly. We shielded Florence’s eyes from that horrific scene. It was another big course for him to manage,with a finger bowl to clean up with after!

Not surprisingly,The Mr. had Lobster Three Ways for his main. I chose the veal shank and it came with asparagus! Yay me! So, sorry Mom, I didn’t finish my meat and The Mr. didn’t finish his risotto.

(I think even my mother would have agreed that was enough meat to feed our whole family....)

SPB and Alla are two different tour companies. We used SPB, but I've heard only good things about Alla as well. SPB was very clear what was needed from us and they made sure we did it right - I don't remember it being difficult at all. They looked after us very well.

And as to the weather? Tell me about it. We had a blizzard yesterday and today it's sunny and warm again. I'll be glad when Winter is done. I am SO over it.

February 25,Saturday: Atsea

Back again to Atsea! We love this place. Atsea. Yup. Enough already.

Breakfast at 7:00 was like a sleep-in day for us. The Mr.waited until 5:00 a.m. this morning for his solitary walk on the upper decks. I had some me-time, followed by my second frigid shower of the cruise. And it was NOT because they had run out, because no one else was up yet. I’m sure of it. Really. No, I did not check everyone’s room.

Anyway, it was a time for celebration. I could once again have tea with my breakfast. (Streamers streaming, pretty much NYC New years eve kind of celebratory scene.) I finally tried one of the Belgian waffles at breakfast and really liked it. Something disturbing was happening to me by this point. I no longer craved or reached for the chocolate Danish? What’s happening? The universe is all out of kilter? Moi? (Me…that was me trying to be bilingual…I’m not.) Mental note to book appointment for therapy session when I get home.

Since Rodolpho was working away in our room when we were finished breakfast, we headed down to the library and did some puzzles and I took out a book, having finally finished the one I brought with me. When I only have a couple days left on a cruise, I’m not looking for a long book. I’m not even looking for a good book. I’m looking for light. Perhaps amusing. Mostly just time absorbing. Not stellar. Not New York Times Bestseller. Not Book Club worthy. There. Now you can look at the next pictures.

I have to say,it’s the first time I’ve ever taken a book out of any type of library that has editorial comments by another reader! I did finish it, perhaps just out of spite, and The Mr. asked if I had added anything to the comments. I had not.

I went for a 25 minute indoor walk. Really. It’s my hair. I just got tired of doing and re-doing it every time I went out in the humidity for 2 seconds. I felt it very unfair that my perfectly coiffed locks could undergo such a radical change from just one quick saunter to the buffet. My coif was pretty cute this morning, and I thought it would be nice to leave it that way for at least an hour.

It was good and blustery today, not seasick blustery, but just windy.

We suited up, and went in search of loungers. On a sea day! Silly us. There were none to be found at the outdoor or indoor pool. After another good walk looking for them, we found a good spot. Florence’s splash pool! On the top deck. PRO; We could find two loungers together. CON: It was incredibly windy. PRO: It was incredibly windy so it wasn’t hot. CON: It was incredibly windy so one had to be diligent about sunscreen and time spent. When it was time for a dip, we tripped over all the chairs and people watching Grease on the big screen, and had a quick lap or two in the Lido Pool before returning to our special spot to dry off. One more dip, this time in Lotus Pool, and then we were good to go.

To the buffet of course. Burgers today for both of us,before seeking shade for the afternoon. The Mr. had to once more return his key card for a new one – we never did figure out why HIS card had all the troubles.

And the winner in the FUNNIEST THING I HEARD ON MY VACATION contest is……. (drumroll please) …. the person on our trek today who said “I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING! The window is in my way.” It went into my collection of sayings, as I typed it into my phone subtly and quickly so as not to lose this treasure.

Let's finish off this Costa Rica puppy, shall we?

Despite the uncomfortably hard seats we were sitting on in the boat I was having a terrible time staying awake. Look, I had done admirably well for many days of this vacation NOT falling asleep in buses (thanks to guides who stood right by me while they talked, and looked for people to answer questions – I was right back to high school “don’t look them in the eye….”). But the warmth of the day, the sleepiness of the lazy river, the voices talking about birds…it was pretty much too much for me and I was a goner.

However, we soon arrived back at our starting point, where we were treated to bananas, watermelon and pineapple, fresh from wherever fruit like that was fresh from. It was very good,and I don’t usually get very excited about bananas.

We returned to our bus for a drive-by of a banana plantation along with the explanation of the process. At least, that’s what I’m told happened. I was pretty much in another zone by that point, dozing happily AND managing not to drool, or fall into the aisle. When I returned to the land of the living, I looked around and while Porfi gave his interesting information, most of the women were looking attentive and interested, while most of the men were obviously slumbering.

(banana flower....note how awake and alert I look....)

Upon our arrival back at the port, we took our leave of Porfi and visited the craft market onsite. After Cartagena, this was so peaceful – crowded somewhat, but no one was pushing their wares on us, and it was an enjoyable time there where we purchased several small items for the kids back home.

We regrouped in our room back on board, got a coke, and found lunch in pizza and burgers on lido, before hitting the pools.

I know you’ll be fascinated to know this was our laundry day. We loved the location of the launderette – right next to us – in the hallway close to our room. We never heard a thing from there in the whole trip. There were 4 or 5 sets of machines, all utilizing the token I could buy with my ship card from the dispenser. The washer and dryer are large enough to get a big load in, and the dryer did dry in one cycle. I think the washer was 40 minutes and the dryer 60. $3each. There. Was that not the most informative and interesting paragraph in this review?

And so it was that I alternated between my lounger at the Lotus Pool, the launderette, and Horizon for tea (and those little scones with cream and jam…..mmmmm. Hey! Gotta have some perks for doing laundry on vacation!).

I needn’t have felt guilty since as we prepared for dinner, The Mr. proclaimed that he wasn’t feeling terribly hungry – I looked concerned and asked if he was feeling alright, did he need some ginger pills, could I get him anything…...and he looked a little confused, and just mumbled something about “just….ice cream….cone”. Ahh. Got it.

The Runner-up in the FUNNIEST THING I HEARD ON MY VACATION contest is… (smaller drumroll please…maybe just some of those maracas that kept getting thrust in my face in Cartagena)……upon finding out I was from Nova Scotia, and what the weather was like when we left, a lovely lady I met in the laundry room innocently asked “Do you miss the cold?” BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Enlighten me please. When we eat in the dining room, I get that plates are cleared as soon as we are done. But does it not make sense to serve both people at the table for two, their courses at the same time? I am a slow-ish eater – faster since I moved to the Maritimes all those years ago, but still slower than The Mr., even when he’s “not very hungry”. He understands that and doesn’t mind. But when we were in the MDR every night, they would proceed to give him his next course while I was still relishing my last course. He, ever the gentleman, always waited anyway for me, but it sometimes made me feel rushed. And I don’t like to feel rushed. On vacation. At home. Anywhere.

I may have been the only one in our section that ordered duck l’orange. Everyone else including The Mr. had the surf and turf entrée. Well, just for the record, I enjoyed every bite of my dish, as did The Mr. his. Tonight it was my turn to sample The Love Boat Dream, which was plated slightly better than The Mr.’s was the other night, but still missed the mark. Literally.

Their sauce was too runny. Because we were both ordering chocolate desserts – he had the Chocolate Mousse cake - we had a hankering for a nice cold glass of milk. Skim milk. Kinda like ordering diet soda with a super-sized order of French fries,I know. We just like skim milk. However, we took one sip and found it warm. Actually, warmer than warm. First time I’ve left milk at my place. Mental note – stick to tea in the dining room and serve myself skim milk in the buffet where it’s easy to add ice, and doesn’t take as long to get!

Tonight’s performance in the theatre was the Saxophonist Tommy Proulx. He really was a very very good performer. If he could have just played the instruments laid out before him, I would have been happy. It was just when he opened his mouth and attempted to speak that he lost me. He tried too hard. Youth? Inexperience? I tried to give him all the excuses I could, but to no avail. When he showed a video asking for crowdfunding – he lost many members of the audience. When he tried to be humorous later, he lost us. Given how tired The Mr. was (that 4:00 a.m. awake time was biting him now) we probably wouldn’t have made it through the whole show anyway. So we went straight to our room at 8:00, finding that clocks go AHEAD one hour this night! Just another reason for us to be hungry several times a day – our bodies never know which hour is mealtime so all times are fair game!

Gooch47 I did not see the statue you mentioned! My loss!

On with it then.....

February 24, Friday: Limon, Costa Rica

With the clock having gone back last night – never had so many back and forth changes – The Mr. was up at 4:00 a.m. local time for his walk in the dark, dodging cleaning staff and deck sprayers. Everyone was up early today (well, not THAT early) and 6:00 a.m. did not seem like an early breakfast as it was very busy in the buffet. Why, The Mr.’s omelette wasn’t delivered punctually this time! It was eventually delivered however, and tasty it was. I opted for the burrito – and shed a little tiny Carnival tear remembering fondly the breakfast burritos of the past on the Vista. They do know how to construct a whopper of a burrito.

Our tour today would take us by bus, train, and boat to visit various areas of the local habitat. We obediently filed down to the Wheelhouse to get our group sticker, but alas! We were told we had to wait! For a sticker. You could just see people trying to jockey for the best position to be in first place for the prized first group stickers. Once they had cleared the theatre somewhat from the earlier groups, we were told NOW! And we did manage to make it into the first of the Group #2-ers. After waiting in the dark and sleepy theatre for some time, we started making that agonizingly slow plod down the stairs –have you sensed that this may be my least favourite part of a ship’s tour?

As this was a “no walking required” tour,there were a lot of bad knees going down those stairs. We managed to be charitably patient and were exemplary as we stayed perfectly in line and didn’t once sigh loudly. Or softly. We were just very very good. Once off the ship, that was another story. We gained considerable track position by walking our normal pace and not having to knock even one #2 over. Oh, the complaints we heard about how far it was to the bus. Why could the bus not have been closer?

Regardless, we made our way onto our bus, and met our guide for the day, Porfi. He was very talkative (that isn’t really surprising I suppose, given his career choice) and we enjoyed him for the duration of our tour. He had been up since 1:30 a.m., travelling on public transportation (bus) for 5 hours to get to the port to do his day’s work. That’s quite a commute. After a drive through neighbourhoods with relatively poor but brightly painted housing, we came to our old-fashioned train which we boarded to go through the rain forest.

This is not the rain forest of Australia, or other places, it’s pretty tame, and not far from civilization, so don’t get too excited about the amazing pictures you think you might see coming up. We did see spider monkeys frolicking in the trees, but they just move so fast, it’s hard to get a decent shot of them! Porfi showed us the cooca fruit and cracked it open to show the slimy interior. Many tasted, we chose not to.

We saved ourselves for the sugar coated cocoa beans he brought around shortly after. Those were good. There were some sloth sightings, but I always seem to look in the wrong area for such things. Sloths and shooting stars. Never see ‘em.

After the 45 minute ride we were met by our buses again – there were 3 train cars, and 3 buses. We became bus #1 at this point. Score. We drove to the location of the boats we would board for our canal visit. Washrooms?! You bet! Lemonade and coffee were available here as we waited for everyone to accomplish their duties, and then it was on the boat.

The driver and Porfi were amazing in how they could spot well camouflaged creatures on the river banks. The laser pointer and mirror reflection were great tools to help the less visually acute viewers like myself. We saw little Caymans, white and blue herons, iguanas, Jesus Christ lizards (because they create bubbles so they can walk on water), and finally, a few sloths – that I could finally see thanks to the pointers!

The end of a Panama/Colon day....Promise.

We drove through the not-so-picturesque streets of Colon to return to the ship, now docked there after returning through the locks without us. We arrived by 4:30 and after a quick change went to our usual early dinner.

This was the first evening that the dining room didn’t feel immediately full since All Aboard wasn’t until 7:30p.m. We returned to Table 35 with our now-relaxed waiters Cesar and Jorge, and had an equally relaxing dinner. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for both of us, and the first time I didn’t jump up and down with excitement over the usually delicious vegetables. These were peas. Overcooked peas. Oh well. I had freshly caught tilapia for lunch, so I was not about to complain. Or finish the peas.

For dessert, I treated myself to the“decadent Drambuie soufflé” – which while tasty, didn’t seem THAT decadent, but it did make a nice alliterative sound in the menu. The Mr. had something chocolate - of course. To go with the milk.

After dinner we relished a walk on the Promenade deck. Colon is not a pretty city to look at, though I will allow that it looked marginally better the darker it got. More interesting was gazing at the LONG line up of ships waiting to proceed through the canal, and realize that we were situated right by the Eighth Wonder of the World. Little ol’ us!

With all that ship-gazing, we still made it in time for the Showtime at 7:30 which tonight was MUSIC CITY. We BOTH had difficulty staying awake through that one – just not our style I guess. We can’t like everything! We still HAD to check out the buffet before retiring for the night (and that’s where I liked to get my glass of skim milk with ice in it so it would be certain to be cold, each night) but the Norman Love chocolate hazelnut something was not to our liking. We had a great chat with one of the waiters though, before heading back to the room, since it was Country Night all over the ship, and we are not even “a little bit Country”.

While we were on the same cruise in July, we found the weather to be great most times. But be prepared for rain. We went with our teenage kids, and one of their favourite memories is Oslo. Every time it pours here at home now, one of them will look out, and say "eh, it's not OSLO." We were drenched. I'm not sure a jacket would have even helped. But it was a definite memory maker. The pool area did not get used a whole lot, but our girls did bundle up and watch MUTS a couple of times - they were in it for the warm popcorn I think! We found the colored lights fountain to be a joke, since it stays light so late, and usually was so windy, that they couldn't do any of their "shows" as scheduled! I'll put in my plug as well for SPB - we used them for St. Petersburg, Berlin and Stockholm and were very impressed, and would book them again with no apprehension at all!

The Embera Indian Village Excursion

Upon arrival at the Embera village, we were immediately greeted with a quick sandwich station –yay! I don’t know when white sliced bread, process cheese slices and ham slices have looked so good. Since I wasn’t expecting that, or the soft drinks that went with it, it was a little treat that my stomach was happy to accommodate. And the pineapple. The fresh pineapple. The fresh sweet pineapple. I went back for seconds of that sweetness. We had a little time to check out all the tables of wares, each belonging to a different family. Then we sat, while Alex translated for one of the men of the village who told us about their community and answered questions. While they talked, others were doing their craft specialties – men carved, and women weaved. Wove? Whatever. It was excellent workmanship.

It was a great learning time for us and the people were all so gracious and warm. Well, we were all warm weren’t we? Obviously.

The “fist-pump” however, appears to be universal, as The Mr. automatically held out his fist to the young boys as we approached, and they responded in kind. This was my favourite excursion of the cruise, and I highly recommend it, for those who are able bodied and open minded.

Thinking the sandwich and coke had been our “snack” advertised in the excursion details, we knew we would survive the day. However, during the talk, women came with a big basket filled with “fast-food” pouches – the pouches made of banana leaves, and each having a very fresh piece of fried tilapia and a few slices of deep fried plantain. The Mr. and I shared a pack as I love fish, but not plantain, and he …tolerates plantain but has no use for fish. With bones. Or the possibilities of bones. As a result, we never hungered during this day.

The Mr. did try out the facilities in the village, and while rustic, they served the purpose….and as I have said before…it wasn’t Russia. I however, proved to have a tank of steel, and preferred to wait until we boarded the ship later.

We made our donation by buying 2 lovely tightly woven small dishes. Some men got “tattoos” – temporary markings from the sap of local trees that is henna-like. There were many wood carvings that were beautiful as well. The women did dances of blessing for us, the instrumentalists came back and everyone joined in the dances. Pictures were taken, the village was explored and the whole time was a delight.

The time came to return to the canoes, where tiny boys waited to dress us all in our vests.

We were in a different canoe on the return –just one person to a bench, but the same number of people. I found it a little more difficult to balance so easily without The Mr. beside me. No worries, but it’s not the kind of trip where one falls asleep. And I can fall asleep on most any kind of trip. We learned on the way back to not put anything on the floor of the canoe, as it did get quite wet – not “oh no we’re sinking” wet, but my shoes were quite damp by the time the trip was over.

We left in first place, not a canoe in sight behind us. I kept checking and was proud of our stellar progress. Until the first canoe passed us. Easily. And then a second canoe passed, equally easily. And almost disappeared ahead of us. Sigh. Never did I feel more Canadian. We are so used to getting Bronze, especially after a commanding lead. Undaunted, we continued to our destination, the final canoe staying behind us out of politeness.

The trip back was lovely – the clouds had gathered, and we experienced the only raindrops of our whole vacation, and they were welcome drops indeed.

Once on the bus again, Alex answered the many questions people had about the village and the Embera people. All our guides were great, but we really liked Alex the best – it didn’t hurt that he always called out “FAMILY!” for our group whenever we needed to pay attention to him.

The Embera Indian Village Tour

It wasn’t until 10:00 a.m. that the Island Princess was in place for tender debarkation for tour goers. I of course, was beginning to feel hungry by now, and by the time we had loaded into the tender, I was also fantasizing about indoor plumbing and toilets. Fortunately, and much to my surprise and delight, there were fine washrooms awaiting us when we left the tender and proceeded to meet, on land, our most excellent guide for the day, Alex.

I cleverly and deftly made my way (using the serpentining diversionary tactics learned in the ship hallways) to the washroom BEFORE the line-up of women began, and was oh so happy once again. I, like Florence, am easily placated. Once on the bus, I managed to stay awake and well, if not noisy with stomach growls, and it was The Mr. who began to feel somewhat bus-sick. Alex told us the stories of the history of the Panama Canal and was amusing, interactive, and full of facts, without being exhausting about them. I was duly entertained, and appreciative.

After almost an hour’s drive, we arrived at the San Juan de Something River, where severa young men in bright red loincloths awaited us, with 4 dugout canoes. 12 intrepid passengers to a canoe, we donned life jackets, and carefully seated ourselves. Operative word: carefully. The canoe we used at the beginning of our trek seated everyone 2 to a bench, with one young lad at the front with a pole for detecting shallow areas, or pushing around rocks, and the other at the rear with the outboard motor operation. They spoke no English, but were obviously adept at their responsibilities.

I loved the trip to their village – and I do not have an adventure gene in my body. Anywhere. At one point where there was a small patch of rough-ish water and rocks, I did wonder how many tourists have capsized because they failed to lean the right way, because these canoes are not super stable if one were to suddenly lean to the side! (Don’t get any ideas you who plan this excursion – I will deny all knowledge of this thought.)

We arrived at the village unscathed. Visions of crazy-amazing wildlife dancing in our heads pre-trip were vanquished when the only thing swimming in the river along our way was a very docile looking dog. There were however, birds a plenty in the vicinity. The hot and humid vicinity. Not that I was complaining. Just stating a fact. Even Florence was glowing.

As we docked (our canoe came in first place – just sayin….) and were relieved of our oh-so-stylish life vests, we were greeted by a group of young men playing musical instruments, all fashioned from local reeds, or other vegetation. We proceeded up a little hill under a welcoming arch with flowers woven into it, to a large covered open“building”, that was lined all around the edges with the crafts the village folk make to sell.

Loving your review and your really funny explanations of your experiences! Could you please share what kind of currency you used in Columbia and other ports? For items purchased on the street and in stores and tips?

Thanks!

Thanks for your encouraging words! We only used U.S. currency in all our exchanges in any port etc. In Cartagena sometimes the price would be quoted in their local currency which we had been told at the time was 2900 pesos to the American dollar, so we would do the mental math and give them the appropriate amount and they seemed alright with it, but didn't offer change, hence the value of having small bills!

February 23, Thursday PANAMA CANAL LOCKS

Up and at’em early today. We attempted a hearty breakfast at 6:30 a.m. hoping it would last us the day as we had a long and potentially foodless day ahead on our tour. I also made sure there was no tea in my system because we were not assured of any reputable facilities along the way. What a day of adventure this would be! This would be a day to test various bodily staminas for me. I do not believe staminas is a word, but you can figure it out. Intestinal fortitude. Literally. That’s what it would be. Intestinal. Fortitude.

We, people of the inside cabin, took great delight in scampering (really, everything’s relative –and in relation to many of the passengers, we WERE scampering) up to the front deck to watch the approach to the Panama Canal. A fantastic view of not only the canal, but the sunrise. A marvelous place to photograph everything,as The Mr. certainly did.

Once we were into the second step of the set of locks we would be experiencing, we dashed back to the rear deck viewing area with the dexterity of Olympic hurdle racers, dodging room stewards’ carts and room service trays along the way, while at the same time being ever so polite and cheerful as we did so. Now we watched the ship behind us preparing to enter the locks, and got a totally different experience here, seeing much of what we couldn’t see under the bow of the ship.

There’s something poignant about that little tiny rowboat with the 2 men in it that fearlessly approach the great ships to get the line from them to secure to the ‘mules’ on land.

They just looked so tiny and vulnerable out there. All in a day’s work though I suppose. Glad it’s not my day. (Can you see them there? Looking tiny and vulnerable?)

(See them again? Looking even tinier and....er...vulnerabler?)

(Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work they go....)

When we had reached our saturation point of canal observing, we retreated to our cabin for one last comfort stop, repellent and sunscreen application before heading down to Explorer’s Lounge for, you guessed it, a Princess tour. Though to be fair, one could ONLY do Princess tours at this stop, so we were fully justified, and guilt-free as we collected our spots and stickers. We had chosen the Embera Indian Village tour.

They also had a Panama Canal Poster contest that a few people were working on. It was somewhere in the atrium, and they provided poster board and various medias - paints, crayons, stencils I think, etc. for people to make posters that they could hold up on their balconies or on viewing decks as we proceeded through the locks. The photographers are on land taking pictures of everyone, so if you do that, you would probably find a photo of yourselves in the photo gallery later.

Yes, we're still on Cartagena day...my apologies.....CC is having ongoing troubles apparently with the "I'm not a Robot" page which, while most entertaining - finding all the pictures with trees, or street signs - is highly annoying. And a little stressful. Did I get them all? Does that count as a sign? Every time I labor over my little post, it eats it up and sends it to some black hole in cyber space never to be seen again. In fact, as I forgot to save this paragraph, I've had to re-type it again, since it gobbled this post up. So far, just the once. That and the spacing are driving me to distraction. This then, is my LABOR of love. On with it then......

Back to the bus,the air conditioned bus we went, and Eddie guided us all the way back to theship with tales of every statue and building we passed.

When we reached our destination we were greeted as we were every day, with those lovely cold damp washcloths and water to refresh us as we lined up to get back on the ship. We got back on board at 2:15 and all aboard was 2:30.

Apparently everyone on the ship got back at the same time, and all went for lunch as soon as getting back because this was the only time I remember the horizon court being crowded. The Mr. stood patiently in line at the grill to get us both hamburgers while I found a table and salad for us.

The Lotus pool was our hangout for the remainder of the afternoon, just to relax and swim, read,write, puzzle…..I’m pretty certain there was some napping in there as well.

Tonight we decidedto throw caution to the wind and try something different. Not dining at 5:00! I know! We’re such radical cruisers! You’re waiting with bated breath aren’t you? You just wonder “what will those crazy Canucks do next?” Well, having eaten lunch at 3:00 we didn’t feel the need to eat that early and we, using a carefully thought out bio-geometric calculation, determined that 7:30 would be the safer time to show up at the dining room if we weren’t going at the very beginning.

To confuse our systems even more, we really mixed things up by going to the 5:45 showtime. Just as crowded as the other times (though we never did make it to the 9:30 shows….just too late for usearly risers!), we showed up in plenty of time to get our treasured aisle seats. Scott Wyler was the comedian tonight and we really enjoyed his “dry humour”.

Upon our arrivalin the dining room at 7:20 we were told solemnly that there were 8 parties of 2 (Florence took room service again) waiting for tables. For those of you who request tables for 2, do you ever feel like you've just made EVERYONE's life more difficult? While those willing to share a table are smiled upon and fawned over with effusive thank-yous, we, the TableForTwo-ers (lack of spacing intentional) are waved off with barely a glance, as if our very existence has the potential for spreading disease to the head waiter. But I digress.

We said waiting was fine, and took our pager, happily enjoying the string quartet in the atrium. We might have waited 20 minutes, and then were escorted to a table by the window (my excitement over a window table was quickly subdued by the fact that after I was seated – and yes, only AFTER – I realized it was already dark out) in a totally different part of the restaurant.

Our sweet waiter that night spent most of his time apologizing to us - except for the accent, he might have been Canadian. And have you ever noticed that there are very few servers who pull off the Italian Gondolier shirt with any style? It’s a look that becomes no one I think. Our server did not pull off the look. But he was sweet, even with all the unnecessary apologizing. Oh! Maybe he sensed we were Canadians and just wanted us to feel at home.

Have I mentioned how much The Mr. likes fettucine? Yes? OK, tonight I got to have honey mustard dressing, which I only like when on Princess. Gotta get me a recipe like that one. After the heat of the day, I immensely enjoyed a peach bellini as well. When I had ordered, our server seemed to be really excited by my choice of veal scaloppini. The Mr., who cannot say no when a menu item lists scallops, had scallops and shrimp.

When my scaloppini arrived, it came with murmurs of awe and wonder by our waiter, as he exclaimed quietly “Mmmmmmmmm……wonderful scaloppini”. As he did 6 more times at a nearby table for6 where they had all ordered it. And as he did at the table for four behind us. It was MY favourite dish of the dining room. I believe my mother would have been happy – there was NO meat left on my plate.

The Mr. finished off his meal with The Love Boat Dream…..(notice anything? My pastry-chef in training daughter was horrified when I sent her this picture)

And I had tiramisu…it WAS after all, Italian Night.

That was it. That was the Day in Columbia. There was no more for us to accomplish in this day except to go watch part of a movie in our room and get ready for tomorrow’s excitement, whatever that would be. Panama Canal here we come!

Cartagena, Continued......

(Apparently even in my unfocussed vision, I was just a blur...going so quickly...yes, that's it.)

We drove a little more until we got out for a walk in the Old City. Here I did get suckered in for some cheap artwork because I just had so much fun watching him create a painting on mirrored glass in less than 3 minutes. And it was 2 for $10 so I didn’t feel like I had parted with my life savings. Florence complained a little about having to share her cramped space with my “stuff” (I liked to call it Local Artisan creation) but got over it. She’s like that.

Everywhere we went people would call out “Eddie!” and at one spot we got to be entertained by a group of street kids that he knew, who were fantastic dancers. It was a treat, especially since it was in a shady area. (I am NOT complaining aboutthe heat….just to be clear.)

OK, if you’relooking for place names and such, I kind of took a vacation from remembering the names of most of the places we visited this day, so if you see something you recognize please feel free to share its name with me. Which is to say we went inside a church courtyard, and then on in to the church. In the courtyard, we were entertained by two brightly coloured parakeets that were kissing each other, and as a couple each held one on their arm and kissed each other, the birds would kiss too. Cute. We abstained from participating in this one.

Inside the church, we sat for a few minutes, while Eddie explained about the relic encased there. We are not people of the relic, so there will be no picture of that here. Though The Mr. did take one.

Well that was quite a work out, so we were just plain sweaty by now. We were treated to the part of the tour called a “folkloric show” – the best part of this was the ice-cold water bottle we were each presented with. And a chair to sit down in for a few minutes. We didn’t actually stay for the whole “show”, just a couple of songs and then filed out – that was more than enough for everyone.

As we walked downa street, towards our “free time” meeting spot, Eddie, ever the guide, was pointing out everything. At one point he was silent for a few seconds, then burst out with “Italian Restaurant over here!” Ok. Thanks. Since we don’t drink coffee, we weren’t tempted by the “best” places to buy beans, and we weren’t planning on any jewel purchases, so we just went for a walk at our own speed, dodging vendors. As we returned up the street Eddie had previously toured us through (when we laughed because of his pointing out the restaurant) I said “HEY. GELATO!” and we delightedly purchased our favourite souvenir, a strawberry gelato to take to the meeting place, where we were greeted with jealous, but slightly admiring stares from our fellow tour-ites.

February 22, Wednesday: Cartagena, Columbia

It’s a new day, a new dawn, a new….CONTINENT for us! Omelettes all around this morning before sneaking out to the front secret deck (stop shaking your heads at me – I know you all know where the secret decks are) to view the approach to Cartagena.

With the ship not getting into port until 9:00 we had a leisurely time to get ready. Final comfort stops were made, sunscreen and repellant applied, and we were off to meet our (yeah, Princess) group at 9:00.

This was a very popular tour as we knew it would be and since it didn’t require a huge amount of athletic ability, we could not label ourselves adventurous today. After the torturously slow passage down the stairs to get off the ship, we found our way to the coach, received our silver badges, AND we all got “Eddie” stickers today. Eddie, a 74 year old bundle of energy and information would be our guide, known and loved everywhere we went.

Our first stop was the fortress where we made our way up to the top (“Take your time, take yourtime….”) ever so slowly, which was alright since the heat wasn’t inviting any unnecessary movement. We venturedthrough tunnels that were very dark (especially when one forgets to exchange one’s prescription sunglasses for regulars) with the instructions “Single file – PASSIT ON”. Single file was a pretty obvious choice.

Near the top therewas a bugle/trumpet player dressed in period costume. Able to play the first line of “God BlessAmerica”, he would quickly switch to an incorrect version of the first line of “O Canada” before going to “Yellow Submarine” in case there were any British in the throngs.

If you were to ask what the most memorable thing about Cartagena was for me, it would be that it wins for the most persistent and somewhat aggressive vendors. Not in a way that would make me fear for my life, just for my sanity and good-naturedness. As much as Florence whined to get her picture taken with a lady with a fruit basket on her head, I told her sternly that there was no way I was spendinga dollar for that, thus inviting every other fruit bearing woman to expect the same. Tough love.

(We took Florence to see the horsies since we wouldn't let her pose with the fruit)

“The Price is Going Down” and “Almost Free” were refrains that stuck in our heads long after our departure, but I digress. Back tothe tour.

After the fortress, a short drive took us to the market – now we could be hot AND crowded. I believe there were something like 21 shops along this little road, all air conditioned. All guarded by the ever present outdoor vendors selling belts and purses. We figured out the plot…..they are all employed by the same conglomerate – but some have to stay outside and be the annoying “in your face” vendors that drive you to go inside…where you will spend more money than you would have outside. Clever. Very clever. We saw right through their scheme and purchased ONE, yes ONE magnet.

Objects in photograph appear larger than they really are. Really. REALLY!

After having totally enough sun in the morning, we headed down to the Atrium to do some reading, and experience some air conditioning, but then of course I got chilly,so we went in search of loungers on the Promenade deck, which, after a little diligent searching we found. The 2 loungers together, not the promenade deck. I alternated reading with snoozing, and thankfully The Mr. didn’t have his camera ready to take pics of THAT!

Tonight we were seated at table #44, a table we would get to re-visit a few times along the way. This was a nice area, and the waiters were good – all the waiters were good, just to be clear – we just didn’t connect with any of them such that we would request being at their table always and forever.

Tonight there was asparagus (party streamers and applause from inside my head) for an app so I was a happy camper…er…cruiser. Love my asparagus. The Mr. of course had….anyone want to hazard a guess? Yup, you guessed it – fettucine. There was a shrimp and scallop cocktail he also partook of with the teeny tiniest little scallops we had ever seen! There was a pork chop for him for main course and tilapia with orange hollandaise sauce for me. Oh, I said the H word….hollandaise. I would eat anything with hollandaise on top. Or on the bottom. Or just in a bowl by itself. I’m a pretty saucy kinda girl. I have to have crème brulee once in a cruise, so this was the night (and Princess does do this better than Carnival in my humble opinion.)

We had learned by this time that it is indeed imperative to get to the theatre early for seats together so you aren’t one of the Lost, entering 10 minutes before and having to be separated from your dear ones as you all scramble for single seats. And on a night like tonight when there were 2 shows instead of 3, it was even more important to get there early,with puzzles, games or drinks in hand to occupy oneself with for the wait.

“The Piano Man” presentation was a lot of fun and well done. I am never sure whether to be embarrassed by the fact that I know every word to every Barry Manilow song and that they all make me so happy, but so be it. Billy Joel and Elton John were the other piano men paid tribute to.

We decided we really ought to experience Ray Cousins’ piano stylings in Crooners since we always seemed to end up in entirely different places on the ship this time of night, so we sat for awhile to listen to him. He’s good, but just not our style of entertainment. Others certainly enjoy his presentation.

After checking out the desserts in Horizon, we ambled over to the Love boat Disco Deck Party. After many unsuccessful tries at getting their multi-media presentation to work, it did finally and wasn’t really worth the wait, but fun to see the actors from The Love Boat on screen wishing us a happy time. And the Princess dancers came out to help with the passengers dancing – there WERE more participating now than at Sailaway – I guess everyone had loosened up and truly begun to embrace vacation mode.

As fun as the music of the seventies was, we were tuckered out and headed off to our room, without doing TOO many John Travolta poses along the way. Or BeeGee’s impersonations. Just the right amount.

I’m all for appreciating those pretty little fishies. Unless they came too close. Then I didn’t gaze. I paddled strongly in a totally non-plussed way. To get them to go a leeeeeetle further away from my face. It really was very relaxing and a lot of fun. Unless you forgot to look where you were going. And ran into someone’s fin. Ortheir elbow. I normally wear fairly strong prescription lenses, so when under water I could see more than I thoughtI would be able to, but when I joined all the bobbing heads above the water, it was a little difficult to determine who The Mr. was. So I calmly just stayed with the pack and made no possibly embarrassing overtures to anyone.

After enjoying ourselves to the max, we returned to the boat and gave up our incredibly stylish snorkeling gear. Tea or no tea, it was imperative that I use some facilities, whatever their state. IMPORTANT TIP: If you are a woman, and you think there’s any chance you may need to use facilities during your excursion – opt for a two piece suit – seems obvious, but just sayin’. (I did.) So it was down the hatch I went to visit the girls’ room. It’s always good to have a standard to measure with. My standard ofmeasurement is Russian toilets. So really, nothing can bother me. I wouldn’t go back for a repeat visit to the loo on board the Rumba, but once my business there was finished, and I returned to my bag for my hand sanitizer (since the tap in said loo weren’t operational), I was good to go. To the open bar. For a rum punch. To get the salt out of my system. Yep. The Mr. opted for a Coke, and Florence was just transfixed by the sparkly hand sanitizer in the bag where she resided.

Another enjoyable passage back to the ship, with happy music playing, and lots of room to sit or stretch out in the sun – whatever your heart desired. The Mr.’s heart apparently desired to take pictures. Totally unflattering picturesof me, that will not be seen in this review. All that scenery, and he has to take pictures of me…taking pictures of Florence? And drinking? And……anyway.

With our short port stay, everyone was getting back to the ship at the same time, so there was a lineup all the way through the port shop to get back on. I grabbed a bill from The Mr. and quickly found a magnet to purchase, and stepped back into line with him and soon we were back “home”, just minutes before12:00 noon which was the all aboard time. (That’s just my subtle way of saying I was glad to be on a ship tour this time…next time I’d take a taxi and see the land.)

After quick refreshing showers, we decided it was a good day to try out Alfredo’s Pizza which is in Sabatini’s at lunch time on some of the days. Not all. It pays to read your patter. This was a great option as no one seems to know about it or maybe they just don’t like pizza. There were only a few people in the restaurant and we gobbled our pizzas after all that water sport. On the other ships where there is an actual Alfredo’s pizza place in the atrium, the menu is a little more extensive. This was just several types of pizza.

Sooooo….that meant we could go have dessert elsewhere, right? Right. We first went to our secret deck at the back and watched as Aruba faded into the distance, then headed for dessert at the buffet. Uh oh…today there was apricot crumble with that vanilla sauce. Our overworked waiter from last night in the dining room was our server at the buffet and he seemed so happy to see us, and he was far more relaxed today.