POA1

Poohby Joe, decked out in his Easter t-shirt, is bringing candy to all his HAL pals.

Good morning and Happy Easter! We're heading to breakfast at 8:00 and then to the Easter service at 9:00 AM.

Last night's dinner, from the 150th Anniversary menu: Bread Basket Ours wines, as seen from my seat. Over the years, I've found that, almost without exception, the timing of the food and wine delivery doesn't match up. So, I've taken to ordering our wines *straight through," and asking to have them delivered all at once. Michelle's wines: Le Grande Cortage Rosé Champagne (not on the regular wine list, but covered by the EBP,) Conundrum White Blend, Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir. Brian's pours: Chateau Ste. Michelle Brut, Conundrum, and Château de Berne Romance Rosé. Cocktail de Crevettes Louis (Shrimp Louis) for Michelle. Yum! Potage a la Solferino - Creamy tomato soup with potato dumpling for me. Delicious, but always dangerous when you are dressed up. (No drips, drops, or spills.) Tarte Au Chevre, Oignon Caramelise - Caramelized goat cheese tart. We shared this as a second course. Elena, the CO manager, suggested it. We put the Conundrum to work here. A very nice second course. It would have been a good choice for vegetarians. Rack of Lamb a la Ambassadeur - Michelle forgot to specify the temperature on this, but the Bubble of Awesome ensured that it was a proper medium rare. Very good, but could have been warmer. Fresh Black Cod Yuzu - This is a $25 Morimoto supplement. It was a delicious, meaty, center-cut cod filet. We both felt this was worth the up charge. Gateau de Lave au Chocolat - Warm, flourless chocolate cake with a molten center. Served with banana, caramel sauce, and coffee ice cream. (That's DW's second flourless cake with coffee ice cream for the day. We don't have to worry about a chocolate deficiency.) Hollandse Appeltaart ala Mode - Dutch apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Very good, but minor league compared to the Rudi's Sel De Mer version. My pie came with this collectible 150th Anniversary white chocolate coin. I'm storing it in my belly for safekeeping.

Yes. It's missing all the ingredients that make up a cosmo. It's like, "No pink drink you! You will have this manly drink imstead."

Rumors of the MDR Easter Brunch appear to have been unfounded. There is an MDR. Easter Tea in the afternoon, but the only brunch is in the Pinnacle Grill. Having just dined there for lunch today, we're giving it a pass. Easter Mass is at 8:00 AM, and the interdenominational service is at 9:00 AM. The two worship services were originally listed as being held in BB King's, but they are now scheduled the World Stage (main showroom.)

Will do.

Tonight's menu. It's the 150th Anniversary formal menu, but I am posting the simplified format for easier reading. (Because we care!) co_150thmdr_dinner_day_2(1).pdf

It's dressy night, and even though he does not leave the room, Poohby Joe respects his fellow passengers and adheres to the evening's dress code. Seen here in his oh-so-tiny tuxedo from Hundred Acre Wood Tailors, Poohby Joe is tuxin' it up. (Cue: ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man.") Michelle is attired in a long, flowing top from the Helen Roper Collection. (C'mon Knock on Our Door....)

If it gets into the top 5, I'll be delighted. If it hits #1, I might be rooting to miss Half Moon Cay. 😉

We popped in to the library before lunch. It's on Deck 2, foreward, between Rolling Stone / Billboard and the Main Stage. The selection is a little bit picked over, so I suppose the library's getting good use. The Nieuw Statendam's library had just opened when we cruised in December. It had more of that new library smell. We're avid readers, but we read ebooks from the Broward County Library. We're currently working on "Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice" by Elle Cosimano. It's book 4 in the Finlay Donavan series. If you like mysteries, we heartily endorse these. Very twisty.

Thank you, sir! Tell the lovely Maria we said hello as well.

Good eye! I didn't even notice that. Our last cruise long enough for us to consider two PG lunches was 2018. I've been meaning to have the Pinnacle burger for a long time. Michelle is hoping the lobster roll and another lobster dish will hold here over until summertime. We're going back to Maine for her birthday and I'm sure she'll catch up on her crustacean cravings then. By the way, she's planning to try to get the key lime pie as her dessert at PG lunch #2, an Idea that I believe she got from you.

I have Tha on our server. I'll need to FTP in to grab the file URL for you.

We had is for us, a pretty standard PG lunch. Dedi was our waiter and was quite good. Michelle started with the beef carpaccio. I had the crab cakes. Both were paired with Willamette Valley Vineyards Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, Oregon ($14.50) We had the same main course, the blue cheese crusted filet mignon with scalloped potatoes and asparagus. Michelle had the Oberon Cabernet Sauvignon ($16.00.) I had the Rocky Pond 11 Dams Bordeaux Blend, Washington ($15.00.) Michelle had the flourless chocolate cake with caramel popcorn and coffee ice cream. I had the cheese course. Nice selection and presentation.

We met our room stewards. They seem very nice and they're doing a great job.

During the noon update, the captain told us that we're the only ship in Aruba Monday. That's a rare, and expected treat.

We're hanging out in the Ocean Bar, waiting for our lunch reservation. Michelle fired up her Google news feed and we're trending. 😎

We're having lunch at the Pinnacle Grill at 12:30 PM. The menu is below. If you watched us last season, you'll have a pretty good idea what we're going to order today. We are doing a second PG lunch later in the week, so we'll finally try something new. pinnacle_grill_lunch_menu_winter_2024_en_navigator_2_.pdf

Here's a weird one. We have no idea who are room stewards are. Normally, we meet them on the first day and see them in the hall pretty regularly. We don't even have the little card with their names on it. As a thank you card writing guy, this throws a monkey wrench into things. Someone is cleaning our room and taking away the trash and laundry. We just don't know who it is. Michelle left some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for them when we went to breakfast. The room was clean and the candy was gone when we got back. Maybe they're shy.

What size do you need? I have all of them in vector format. They're on a drive back at HQ. I may have them on my laptop here on the ship though.

We were up early and opened the Club Orange dining room. Service was fast, friendly and efficient. I think we've found our guy. We'll be sending out our offer letter later today. I won't give names yet. I do not want someone to snatch him up before we sign him to Team Cheer. We skipped breakfast pix today. It was an omelet, a frittata, and Bloody Marys. We passed on toast and pastries because we're having lunch at the Pinnacle Grill. So, naturally, the cabana guys brought us a basket of them. The eagle-eyed among you might notice that Poohby Joe is sporting his Guide to Cabana Living t-shirt. It's been 10 years since the first edition. (Nieuw Amsterdam, 2014. Out of print, available at rare booksellers only.)

I only ever ordered one because people were so interested in them. I drink bourbon, either on the rocks or neat. The Weng Weng reminds me a lot of a Long Island Iced Tea without the cola. I don't trust sneaky drinks that creep up on you. I want to know the alcohol is there. Up front. Proud.

I was happy to see the after dinner cordials make their return. Alas the collectible souvenir glasses are still the frosted glass with pewter badges. I'll have to see if it's a new series or if it's still the same. Michelle had a cappuccino after dinner. I had the Mocha Mint cordial. The taste was fine, but the look was "Haunted Mansion." I think I'm back to cognac after this. These sugar shots are a young man's game.

Less than a day in, and my chronological order is already shot to heck. I also did something weird with my caption spacing on the previous bread pudding picture. I hang my head in shame. Night one dinner: Michelle started with the shrimp cocktail. Nicely prepared, slight kick to the sauce. Wine pairing was a white Côtes du Rhône. I had the croquette. It was good, but would have benefitted from another 15 seconds on the fry. Brian's pairing was a Sauvignon Blanc. For main courses, the lady had the Peruvian Chicken, one of her favorites. Apologies for the the photo quality. I'm doing this in the dark, in bed. I'd normally correct the color balance, but that's hard when the phone is in dark mode. The gentleman had the cobia. Both entrées were paired with the French "Romance" Rosé, not because it was a spectacular pairing, but mostly so I could test drive it to see how it was. Dessert was the brownie cheesecake for DW. A good, solid choice., and a former winner from our last outing. I had the dark horse candidate, the chocolate hazelnut bread pudding. We declared it the winner. If I intend to push through with Project Puddin', I'm going to have to add a double espresso to my after dinner routine. These carb bombs really sap my late night, out to party energy.

Wi-Fi calling uses SIP. It's a protocol that runs on very specific ports (TCP/IP ports, not Aruba and Bonaire ports.) The SIP port is blocked. WhatsApp runs over the standard web ports. That's why it'll run, while Wi-Fi calling won't. The upgrade your Internet page tells you that premium will allow Wi-Fi calling. I'll probably skip the upgrade. I'll have cell service in every port, and I'm already traveling with the one person I call and text most.