POA1

This morning's Natural Wonders of Aruba is a three hour tour (... a three hour tour.) Once we're done seeing all that is naturally wonderful about Aruba, we'll return to the ship for our first Lido lunch of the trip. I'm feeling the fish & chips because it's haddock today. T My child bride will probably have a salad, topped with some sort of protein. Poohby Joe is rocking his throwback HAL logo tee. This is our first time on the port side of the ship in ages. (Checks notes...) We've been on the starboard side since 2014. Those are the odd-numbered staterooms. Don't judge. The high today is only supposed to be 84°F / 29°C. Hoping we have similar temperatures in Bonaire two days from now. That's a beach day.

Club Orange is pretty empty this morning. Most of the retail shops on the island are closed today. Easter Monday is a holiday here.

Good morning from Aruba! We're docked and ready to start our day. We've got two HAL tours on the docket; Natural Wonders of Aruba this morning, and Aruba Sunset Sail this evening. We're getting ourselves all squeaky clean and then heading to breakfast in Club Orange. While we are out and about, the bear will be here, holding down the fort. He rarely gets off the ship, because everywhere he goes, he's mobbed by the poohparzzi, who try to snap pictures of him. (The life of a celebrity is a challenge sometimes.)

274,855. That only counts leisure cruises.

Sunday supper: We rarely order the exact same courses, but, with the exception dessert, we went round for round tonight. I think our orientation seminar with our Club Orange wine steward went pretty well. He seems to be okay with my ordering all wine at once. He's also receptive to serving all the wine at the same time. (This likely runs counter to his training. I'm pleased he's willing to make an exception for us.) We only had two wines tonight, Gérard Bertrand Côte des Roses, and Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling. Wines du jour. In battle formation. The bread basket. We usually split a roll. Pretty sure that's not preventing weight gain, but - hey - at least we're trying. Crab Deviled Eggs. Creamy and delicious, we could have easily polished off a dozen. The Rosé was employed here. We shared the Beecher's Mac and Cheese as our second course. The blush wine is still hard at work. The Crispy Pork Belly was our main course. I paired this with Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling. Admittedly, I messed up here. A dry German Riesling or a Gewürztraminer would have been far betterhere. The Ste. Michelle Riesling, while adequate, was a little too sweet. CSM produces a dry riesling which would have been more up to the task. I don't think HAL stocks it, and certainly not by the glass. I had the "Passion Fruit Easter Cheesecake." I'm reasonably sure that this is the mousse in holiday garb. Michelle had the Chocolate Whiskey Tort. Even without the collectable, white chocolate Easter coin, this was the winning dessert. Michelle finished with a cappuccino. I had cognac.

Island Magic was outstanding. This is the end of their current contract. They'll be back in the Caribbean next season. If you have a chance, definitely see their shows. They're not what you'll expect from steel pan.

Dinner was quite good. We're in the main showroom waiting for our favorite Trini band to start their set.

Heading out for pre-dinner cocktails. Once again, Poohby Joe is trying to elevate the overall dress code on the Rotterdam. Sure, he's wearing a fleece onesy, but he dresses it up. Tiny bears on a tiny bowtie.

The Aperol Spritz is covert antiseptic mouthwash, in this man's humble opinion.

That should have read "Apparently she had been in a band with..." Seriously, I had a glass of champagne at breakfast and one Painkiller at lunch. Granted, it had the bonus rum floater - thank you, Elite Beverage Package upgrade! - but that isn't even enough impact me four hours later. I don't turn 61 for another few days. This does not bode well for my golden years. 😃

You can add the HIA package for the 3rd passenger if you want. It'll often save you some money.

You don't get a boarding number until you arrive and check in at the terminal. You're getting on the Rotterdam, I assume? We are on her now. We left our condo at 10:20 AM, were at the port about 12 minutes later, checked in, and rec'd boarding group 2. Details here:

Hear, hear! We need to band together to resist this relentless peer pressure.

I do indeed mean Rachel. Apprentice she had a band with the current bassist and many of the band members played in Nashville. I'll let you you know what I can find out.

It turns out that my reading skills are impared. The pork belly isn't on the pur menu. Right at the top of page 2 Where only an idiot could miss it.

Tonight's Club Orange dinner menu. Strangely, the MDR has pork belly tonight. We do not. I'm sort of expecting to see pork belly on our menu co_mdr_dinner_day_3(5).pdf

As long as they have it in the bar you're at. We're getting ours from the cabana guys. You may have to ask around. We've been getting both kinds. The can is only 12 ounces. The screw top is 16 ounces.

I completely forgot today's post card.

On the IMPORTANT RESEARCH front, I am pleased to report that scratch made Painkillers can be had, if you ask nicely. Pictured here on the right, with a Cuba Libre Cero on the left.

Have a great trip, Bruce!

Happy to be of service! BTW, if you find a wine that you like in another restaurant, you can always ask for a bottle to be brought to wherever you are dining. We do that - well in advance - and commit to finishing the bottle. That's only 5 glasses, so it's not too hard to do.

We caught 2½ sets of the BB King band last night. A woman sort of collapsed midway through the set. The band called for medical response, which came quickly. The woman was sitting up and waving and I understand that she's OK. We caught some of Derek's set in Billboard. He's very good, just like reported by @Scrapnana Then we went to the Rolling Stone Rock Room for their last set. The keyboard player / vocalist from our Nieuw Statendam trip just joined them this week. The band has a very strong female vocalist, which helps a lot. The NS band had two guitarists who alternated on lead. This band has one lead guitar, which might limit them a tiny bit, but the lead has very much of a Mark Knopfler playing style, which is great. Tonight's show on the Main Stage is Island Magic who we've seen on a number of previous cruises. We'll definitely go to their late show.

We had our first round draft pick, Ris in the Club Orange dining room at breakfast. I'm hoping we can close on the contract terms by dinner tonight. Dungeness Crab Benedict for me. Build your own omelet for Huskerchick.

Just in time for the holiday. Presenting the Bubble of Awesome's festive Spring version, the Easter Egg of Awesome.

They're normal 5 ounce pours. Club Orange has bigger wine glasses than the MDR and the bars. You can order a double if you are so inclined. Here is the wine by the glass list. These are available in all the restaurants. Most of the specialty restaurants have additional selections by the glass I've attached the PDF of the full wine list in case anyone wants to see the bottles and wine packages. 20240330—wine-rtm.pdf