Dave's Live From Maasdam 6-17 Feb 2012

[sail7seas]

Wonderful thread, Dave.

 

Happy you seem to be enjoying the beautiful Maasdam. :)

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

We'll be boarding her soon and I can never read enough about Maasdam. :o

 

Continue to enjoy.

[swimdolly]

Hi, Dave, Thanks for the lovely photos and your daily "diary". We have never sailed HAL before, so we are glad for the info. It is difficult to tell from HAL's website how big (or small) the Lido pool might be. Could you give us some idea?

[monina01]

yay! Ballroom dancing in the crows nest :)....maybe we will be bringing our dance shoes after all!...:)

[RMLincoln]

Great to have you posting the daily events. Too bad that menu is making my meatloaf look mighty unappealing:( Can't wait to board Maasdam again! Have a fabulous cruise. Many thanks to you. m--

[RetiredMustang]

Thursday, Feb. 9, Frederiksted, St. Croix

Thursday dawned bright, although an occasional cloud dropped a bit a rain around. We passed the end of Puerto Rico and on to the Virgin Islands, passing between Tortola and St. Thomas at breakfast. We continued on past St. Thomas and St. John, and crossed southerly to St. Croix. We arrived at the pilot station off Fredericksted at the western end of the island a bit before 10, and were berthed and cleared before 11:00.

We had never been to this island, but read about Buck Island, the U.S. National Reef, and the great snorkeling to be had there. Being snorkelers, we had booked this tour online weeks ago. Good thing, since there were only a few spots left on embarkation day, and the tour closed out that evening.

There was a little bit of confusion ashore as we went to join the tour about 11:30. There was a member of the shore excursions staff at the end of the gangplank, who directed us to go to the end of the pier and a bit to the right. We got a bit confused going through the small park and out to the square, but eventually met up with the shore excursions staff who walked us to a side street to await the buses. A small downpour started, but we were able to duck under a building overhang until the buses came.

We drove out of Fredericksted and across much of the island to Christiansted. St. Croix is not as mountainous as St. Thomas and St. John, with some hills along the coast and a fairly flat interior that we crossed. We arrived in Christiansted and boarded boats – our tour group filled two boats. It took about 35 minutes to get to Buck Island, which was 6 miles away, further east along the coast.

We had a fine sunny day, which made the colors of the fish more bright as well. We donned gear and entered the water, and the boat crew took us a dozen at a time along a short underwater trail along the reef. We then came back around the boat and were able to have about another half hour or so of free snorkeling. The reef was impressive and the fish plentiful, but I was a bit saddened to see so much dead coral as well, including some large staghorns. The boat captain said that much of the coral had died, some due to natural causes and some due to human activity, which is why the U.S. National Park Service is very strict about what can be done and how many people can visit.

The captain said that the weather was unusually good that day, and the seas relatively calm. The key word is “relatively.” There were no whitecaps on the water, but there were two to three foot waves. And, since it was off and on the boat with no beach landings allowed, I would not recommend this tour to a beginning snorkeler. But, it was not too difficult and enjoyable if you feel confident in snorkeling from a boat in low waves.

There was something new that happened, which we had noted on Half Moon Cay as well but I had forgotten to mention. When we went to the gangplank to go ashore, we took two towels from the usual stack that the ship has near the exit. But, for the first time that we have encountered, a member of the crew took our cabin number and wrote down the number of towels we took. When we returned, another crew member marked off our cabin number from the list. We returned all our towels, so I don’t know if we would have been charged if we had lost one. Also, I don’t know if this is a new HAL fleet-wide procedure, or is something that Hotel Manager Cees Tesselaar has instituted just on Maasdam.

We returned to the pier and Maasdam with enough time to shower and dress for dinner, and enjoy a drink in the MIX listening to Guitarist Chris before going into for dinner, which we enjoyed as usual. After dinner, we went to the Explorer’s Lounge to listen to the string quartet for the first time this cruise. It is a talented young group of two men and two women.

I've attached some photos of our day.

MDR dinner menu Feb. 9

Appetizers: Citrus Delight with Amaretto; Salmon Ceviche with Orange Zest and Capers; Chilled Green Asparagus with Over-Roasted Tomatoes; Dim Sum.

Soups and Salad: Pistou Soup; Corn and Yellow Squash Soup with Crabmeat; Chilled Mixed Berry Soup; Smoked Salmon, Pear and Fennel Salad.

Entrees: Gnocchi with Garlic Cream Sauce; Grilled Lamb Brochette and Marinated Vegetable Salad; Southwestern Grilled Salmon with Three Salsas; Fillet of Beef Wellington; Veal Cordon Bleu; Roasted Duck Breast with Fig Balsamic Reduction; Eggplant and Zucchini Piccata.

Dessert: Chocolate Platter; Caramelized Pear Crepe; Strawberry Amaretto Torte; Forest Berry Dream Cake no sugar added; Vanilla Ice Cream; Burgundy Cherry Ice Cream; Passion Fruit Sorbet; Heath Bar Crunch Frozen Yogurt; No sugar added Fudge Tracks Ice Cream; No sugar added Vanilla Ice Cream; Cherries Jubilee Sundae.

From the daily Explorer

Margarita Sail Away: with Lynn and the HAL Cats, Navigation Pool Deck, 5:30 p.m.

Showroom at Sea: Get ready to laugh and be amazed by the Action Comedy of Scotty Cavanaugh, World Champion Juggler

Ocean Bar: The Neptunes, 6:30-11:30 p.m.; Dance Set 8:30 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30-5:30 p.m.

MIX: Guitarist Chris, 5:00-9:00 p.m.; Piano Man David Anthony, The Music of Frank Sinatra 9:00 p.m. – close. Champagne Happy Hour 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Explorerer’s Lounge: Adagio Strings, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 – 11:00 p.m.

Crow’s Nest: DJ Armen, Name That Tune ‘80s 7:00 p.m.; Karaoke 9:00 p.m., Dance Request Night 10:00 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 – 11:30 p.m.

More later,

Dave

[jtl513]

But, for the first time that we have encountered, a member of the crew took our cabin number and wrote down the number of towels we took. When we returned, another crew member marked off our cabin number from the list.

We've had a couple of times where we asked cabin numbers when taking towels, but have never had them checked off when returning, so I've always assumed it was a "scare tactic" to make people think they would be charged if they weren't returned.

 

Krazy Kruizers always says she has never been asked, so if you happen to run into her, see if she was asked this time. But she/Joe probably stayed on the ship at HMC.

[kazu]

Dave, thank you so much for taking us along with you. your blogs are always interesting and you have whetted our appetite for our cruise on the Maasdam in March:):)

[GRACECRUISE]

Dave -

 

We are on this same cruise in April. Is there a town there at Frederiksted to explore if we don't choose to take a tour?

[hal lover]

Am SOOO enjoying your blog! Thanks! Oh, how I want to call my travel agent! HELP!:eek:

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Feb. 10, Basseterre, St. Kitts

We approached St. Kitts before dawn, and we could see the lights of the town as we approached. The sun rose while we were docking. There was a strong easterly wind as the Captain was trying to make up to the pier from the west, so it was a long and careful process. Soon after we came in, Carnival Victory berthed on the other side of the pier, and blocked a lot of the wind.

St. Kitts is a lush, green volcanic island and the capital, Basseterre, sweeps up and away from the central pier. At the end of the pier is a large shopping district (Photo attached and at http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23250 ). There is also a larger business district in the central town, including a market that was going since it was Friday; we were told it also runs on Saturdays.

But, we spent the morning ona ship’s shore excursion – the St. Kitt’s Scenic Railway. I had researched this on CC and the larger Internet, and it sounded like something we like, since we are also fans of trains as well as cruise ships.

We met at the head of the pier and were led to 20-passenger buses (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23255 ) and drive a short distance to the railway station, near the island’s airport. There, we boarded one of five special railway cars (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23256 ). These have an open upper deck (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23261 ) and an enclosed air-conditioned lower deck (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23254 ). The lower deck also has a small restroom.

We were in bus #1, and were assigned to railway car #1. Our 20 people were later joined by 20 from bus #6. That means they do 10 buses of 20 each to fill up the five-car railway. Most of us went to the upper deck, and there was enough seats, although a few stayed downstairs. The upper deck was reached by a narrow winding stairway, and to board at the lower deck requires being able to step up from the sidewalk to the train. A tip: the engine is a deisel that puts out some smoke, which sometimes swirled into our car; if you want to avoid that, try to get into bus #2-5 or 7-10.

Since CC only allows five attachments per post, I will continue this on the next post.

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Feb. 10, Basseterre, St. Kitts (part 2)

After everyone was aboard and seated, the engineer sounded the horn and we sped off … well, we sort of lurched out of the station and chugged along the narrow-gauge rails at about an averge speed of 15-20 m.p.h. But, this is a scenic view excursion train, not an Acela from Boston to New York.

The tour had a narrator along to describe what we were seeing (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23260 ). Also, there was a trio of a capella singers that several times sang songs for us (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23251 ).

The train went out to the eastern/Atlantic side of the island, and we spent a nice time crossing bridges (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23253 ) and viewing rugged coasts with black sand beaches (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23252 ). Every now and then, we would pass a village (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23257 ).

Along the way, may people would wave at us as we passed, including children in schoolyards. We crossed the main island road a few times, and a raiway employee would drive ahead to operate the barriers to stop car traffic for us.

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Feb. 10, Basseterre, St. Kitts (part 3)

Every now and then we would pass the ruins/remains of old sugar plantations (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23259 ). Sugar cane used to be the main crop of St. Kitts and sugar making its main industry. In fact, the rails and the train locomotives were from the rail system that would transport the cane to the mills.

At one point on the car attendants came around with a St. Kitts delicacy – sugar cakes (http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23258 ). These are made with melted brown sugar, coconut and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. We tried one, and it was a quick way to spike your blood sugar! All through the train ride, the car attendants were handing out free soft and alcoholic drinks, including rum punch and pina coladas.

The train trip went for 18 miles and lasted about an hour or so. At the end, we were met by waiting buses who had brought another load of passengers to the line’s terminal. We got off, they board the train, we boarded the buses and were driven back along the coast to the pier – about 8 miles. The drive narrated the trip back.

We found this to be a very interesting and enjoyable trip.

To answer a couple of questions:

Tai Chi? – Yes, there have been at least two sessions each day, one in the morning and one in the evening. Today’s were at 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Frereiksted? – Yes, there is a downtown area of Fredericksted that you can walk around. We did not do so, but others did. And, the ship had a tour on offer named “West End Highlights” that goes to places around Frederiksted.

MDR dinner menu Feb. 10

Appetizers: Orange and Avocado Carousel; Bay Scallops Cocktail; Spanish Serrano Ham; Double Baked Cheese Souffle’.

Soups and Salad: Cock-a-Leekie Soup; Pumpkin and Squash Soup; Chilled Watermelon Gazpacho; Romaine Lettuce Spears.

Entrees: Spaghetti Puttanesca; Grilled Chinese Five Spice Salmon and Crispy Tortilla Salad; Olive Oil Poached Cod with Roasted Tomatoes; Master Chef’s Favorite Braised Short Ribs; Grilled Venison with Dates; Turkey Roast with Giblet Gravy and Cranberry; Mille-Feuille of Forest Mushrooms.

Dessert: Sacher Torter; Frozen Watermelon Pie; Warm Espresso-Date Pudding; Chocolate Mousse Torte no sugar added; Vanilla Ice Cream; Cookies and Cream Ice Cream; Pineapple Sorbet; Vanilla Frozen Yogurt; Chocolate Fudge No sugar added Ice Cream; Vanilla No sugar added Ice Cream; Blueberry Sundae.

From the daily Explorer

Showroom at Sea: Goode Company, a musical sitcom featuring music from ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Ocean Bar: The Neptunes, 6:30-11:30 p.m.; Dance Set 8:30 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30-5:30 p.m.

MIX: Guitarist Chris, 5:00-9:00 p.m.; Piano Man David Anthony, The Music of Billy Joel 9:00 p.m. – close. Champagne Happy Hour 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Explorerer’s Lounge: Adagio Strings, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 – 11:00 p.m.

Crow’s Nest: DJ Armen, ‘50s and ‘60s Night 9:00 p.m.; Party Time 10:00 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 – 11:30 p.m.

More later,

Dave

[kazu]

Dave, sounds like a very nice tour. Thanks so much for sharing with us:)

[nanlaur]

We took the St. Kitt's Railway excursion several years ago, too. In fact I have pictures from St. Kitt's as my wallpaper right now. We enjoyed the tour very much, despite the rain at the end of the train ride.

 

In June we will be on our first HAL cruise and your "Live from" is letting us live vicariously until then ;) Thanks!

[hal lover]

DH & I also did this tour a few year's back and loved it. I always recommend it to those who have not been to St Kitts. Such a beautiful way to see the island.

[hokiecruisers]

Hi Dave,

 

I was just wondering what your impressions of the food in the MDR has been and your impressions of the shows in the Showroom at sea.

 

Thanks!

[JJPacer]

We're taking this cruise in April. Thanks for posting. We're so excited to read about the islands we'll visit. Expecially the ones we haven't been to before. Which include St. Vincent and St. Croix. I have a question about St. Croix, but please, post when you get home. I can wait!

 

"We donned gear and entered the water, and the boat crew took us a dozen at a time along a short underwater trail along the reef. We then came back around the boat and were able to have about another half hour or so of free snorkeling. The reef was impressive and the fish plentiful, but I was a bit saddened to see so much dead coral as well, including some large staghorns. The boat captain said that much of the coral had died"

 

We've been considering the ship excursion. How many people were on the boat? How much time did you spend in the water? You said a dozen at a time were taken on a short underwater trail. Were you able to snorkel while waiting for your turn with the snorkeling dozen? :rolleyes: You said you were snorkelers. How would you rate this snorkel compared to others?

 

We're anxiously awaiting news from St. Vincent. Thanks for sharing. :p

[RetiredMustang]

Saturday, Feb. 11, Kingstown, St. Vincent

We were delayed into St. Vincent; instead of the scheduled 10:00 a.m. arrival, we moored in Kingstown cruise port at 11:30.

On Friday, the Captain had announced that he had cut the day short in St. Kitts by an hour, and delayed the arrival in St. Vincent because there needed to be maintenance done on the diesel generators – apparently the “check engine soon” light had come on. Then, we encountered heavier than expected winds overnight.

St. Vincent is another green volcanic island rising from the sea, with lots of rugged hills and a central mountain chain. The capital of St. Vincent nestles in hills surrounding a small bay (photo attached and at: http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23270 )

we moored at the eastern end of the bay at the cruise pier and terminal. (photo of Maasdam taken from a hill, with Bequia in the background attached and at: http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23271 )

A ferry terminal and pier were adjacent. St. Vincent’s central district has only three main streets paralleling the shore, and is about 12 blocks long. It being Saturday, the town was busy and the market was in full operation.

We got there in time to still be able to go on our scheduled shore excursion before all aboard. We chose to do the Vermont Trail Hike, which is a 1.75-mile trek through the tropical rain forest on a mountain side and the habitat of the St. Vincent parrot.

They broke into two groups, one per bus; our group had 14 people. We drove through narrow winding roads over the rugged hills to the national park. We then took about 2-1/2 hours doing the hike. Part of this was due to our guide stopping and pointing out vegetation (photo of a buttressed tree attached and at: http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23272 ) and giving us a bit of history of the area. But, mostly it took so long because it was a difficult uphill trek. We stopped at the parrot lookout just as it started to rain, so DW and I at least never saw one. One of our group caught a glimpse of one disappearing into the treetops. But, boy howdy did we ever hear them squawking and carrying on!

Practical considerations: Do not take this hike if you are not reasonably fit and/or used to hiking in forested hills/mountains (not just walks in a flat park). For the first time, I discovered a HAL excursion marked with the three figures for “strenuous” that really was. There are long flights of rough-hewn rock steps and log ladders, the kind where they lay logs across the path and prop them up to create steps. Many of the steps were quite high and it took a good deal of effort to climb.

Also, this is a rain forest; your shoes will get muddy. Tennis shoes are fine, but I would not wear open-toed shoes. The tour group provided walking sticks and a half-liter bottle of water each. Take more water, as you likely will need it, because it is humid and you will sweat. It was not too hot, however, as we were up a couple of thousand feet and had a nice breeze now and then to cool us. It was probably in the 70s.

The path is a loop, climbing about 500 feet elevation gain to the parrot viewing area. Our group took the counter-clockwise way and our climb was more gradual but took longer; we passed the second group long before we got to the viewing platform. I would guess the platform is about 2/3 of the way around in the direction we went. The other way was much steeper but shorter. It was pretty tricky getting down those log steps while taking care not to slip and take a real fast trip to the bottom of the flight of stairs.

But, if you are fit, like hiking and understand that you will get wet (either from the rain or justfrom hiking in a humid rain forest), I would recommend this hike, because we did see a lot of the island and its plants. In fact, at one point I felt I was in the house plant section of Lowes or something, because a lot of the vegetation were things we have in our homes, such as anthriums, dieffenbachia, helliconia, etc. A very pretty place, but you will have to do some work to see it. And maybe you’ll see a St. Vincent parrot; you will hear one.

MDR dinner menu Feb. 11

Appetizers: Sun-Ripened Pineapple Delight; Chilled Shrimp with Almond Dressing; Smoked Duck Carpaccio; Grilled Scallops and Shrimp.

Soups and Salad: Ginger Chicken and Vegetable Soup; Country-Style Lentil Soup; Gazpacho Andalusia; Boston Bibb Lettuce.

Entrees: Tagliatelle alla Conti; Seared Beef Tataki Salad; Seared Halibut with Serrano Ham; “Land and Sea”; Grilled Five Spice Lamb Chops; Oven-Roasted Quail; Savory Grilled Tofu.

Dessert: German Chocolate Cake; Tarte Tatin; Rote Gruetze (red berry compote with Bavarian cream); Raspberry Mousse Torte no sugar added; Vanilla Ice Cream; Pistacchio Ice Cream; Raspberry Sorbet; Peach Frozen Yogurt; No sugar added Cookie Dough Ice Cream; Vanilla No sugar added Vanilla Ice Cream; Hot Fudge Sundae.

From the daily Explorer

Showroom at Sea: Steel Pan Jams with Percussionist Junior and the HAL Cats, 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.; Filipino Crew Show, 11:00 p.m.

Ocean Bar: The Neptunes, 6:30-11:30 p.m.; Dance Set 8:30 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30-5:30 p.m.

MIX: Guitarist Chris, 5:00-9:00 p.m.; Piano Man David Anthony, The Music of Elton John 9:00 p.m. – close. Champagne Happy Hour 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Explorerer’s Lounge: Adagio Strings, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 – 11:00 p.m.

Crow’s Nest: DJ Armen, Abba Night 9:00 p.m.; Dance Request Night 10:00 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 – 11:30 p.m.

More later,

Dave

[aliaschief]

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise.

[RetiredMustang]

Sunday, Feb. 12, Bridgetown, Barbados

We were the second of three ships to pull into port this morning. Barbados cruise pier is a “U” shaped one. When we pulled in, the Thomson Dream was up against the shoreside leg of the “U”. We pulled into the base, and were followed by the Costa Mediterranea which berthed on the seaside leg.

The Thomson Dream looked a bit familiar, so I hit Wikipedia and learned why – she was the MS Westerdam before the current Vista-class ship of that name. DW and I sailed in her in the mid-90s, and I know from a thread from a couple of years ago that many CC’ers remember the old Westerdam. I took a photo (attached and at: http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23290 ). I will post this bit with the photo and add more about today later.

Dave

[catl331]

OLD westerdam--She sure looks pretty with the beautiful blue Barbados water, doesn't she!

[innlady1]

I believe she was in port with us in Barbados last year...having started her cruise in Cuba and ending in Jamaica (if I recall correctly). We chatted with some people at the beach who were sailing on her. Pretty ship.

[dot73]

My first cruise ever was on the old Westerdam to Alaska. It started my love affair with cruising which continues on.

[erewhon]

Dave,

 

Thank you for detailed reports and beautiful photos.

[RetiredMustang]

Sunday, Feb. 12, Bridgetown, Barbados (part 2)

We had been in Bridgetown many times before, and had done pretty much all of the excursions we had wanted to do, so we decided just to walk into Bridgetown.

There is a path to the main gate of the port, and then a walkway along or through a beachside park until the Pelican Crafts Center. It is not far; attached and at: http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=23296 is a photo looking back from the edge of the Crafts Center to the port – Maasdam’s forward section is visible.

About the same distance or a bit more further along the main street is the shopping area of Bridgetown. We went there, although none of the shops were open early on a Sunday, and crossed the Chamberlain Bridge to the restaurants and shops on that side – all told, about a mile from the cruise pier. We did not walk that way, but further on were beaches and hotels, and other restaurants.

It was quite hot in Barbados even at that mid-morning hour, so we ambled back to the ship, and went aboard for ice water. I had earlier asked at the tourist info place in the port terminal about wifi, and learned it was free in the terminal. So, I gathered my netbook and went back ashore. I found what seemed like nearly half the crew from Maasdam, and others no doubt from the Thomson and Costa ships at every bench and leaning up against the walls, all on netbooks, laptops and I-phones.

I went first to Coconuts bar, just outside the terminal, but the signal was not too good, so I finished my Banks beer and went back inside and claimed a bench seat that someone was just leaving. The signal was stronger, and I was able to upload many photos to the CC photo gallery – what with the number of people on the free wifi net, the speed was not much more than the satellite on board, but it was free.

I went back aboard Maasdam and DW and I went to lunch, and then got lazy for the afternoon, and well into the evening. We listened again to Guitarist Chris in the MIX – he is very good and we enjoy listenin to his mellow music as we have a pre-dinner drink.

At dinner, the Captain came on the announcing system and said that the parts to do the final repairs on the diesel generators had not arrived, and were being shipped to meet us in St. Maarten. He said it would not affect our port visit to St. Lucia on Monday, but would delay us a bit arriving in St. Maarten on Tuesday.

After dinner, we listened again to the Adagio Strings in the Explorer’s Lounge . They are talented and we had an enjoyable hour or so enjoying their music.

To answer a couple of questions:

Food and evening shows. Both of these are subjective things, but we are enjoying the food very much … perhaps too much! We are not real fans of Broadway production shows, so generally give the Show Lounge a miss. We attended the show by the comedian (very funny), and the show by Junior, the percussionist from the HAL Cats, demonstrating the steel drums (which we learned are actually called steel pans), but have not seen any others.

Snorkeling at St. John. There were I would estimate 24 people on the boat, making for two groups to guide through the reef trail, and we were able to snorkel around the boat while a group was formed. There is a barrier reef at the end of Buck Island, and we sailed though a gap and tied up to a morring line inside the reef. I was one of the first off the boat, and was able to float and view the fish until the guide led us through the reef trail. Once back, we had free time to snorkel up to, but not into the reef. All told, we had about an hour in the water. There were lots of parrotfish, angelfish and wrasses. I may have inadvertently given the impression there was only dead coral – there was lots of live coral as well, reclaiming the reef. I have not been to all snorkel sights in the Caribbean, but I would rate it among the top – not quite as excellent as off Klein Bonaire, but equally as good as Tortola or St. John, and better than Aruba. Again, just a personal subjective impression.

MDR dinner menu Feb. 12

Appetizers: Citrus Compote with Honey and Raisins; Calypso Shrimp Cocktaill; Crostini with Fresh Tomato, Basil and Prosciutto; Warm Greek Sampler.

Soups and Salad: Famous Italian Wedding Soup; Red Bell Pepper and Tomato Bisque; Chilled Apple Vichysoisse; Sunset Salad.

Entrees: Whole Wheat Spaghetti Caponata; California Turkey Salad; Peppercorn Crusted Swai Fillet (Mystery Fish!); Red Wine Braised Brisket; Calves Liver with Apples and Pancetta (it was really just bacon … yum); Penang Red Curry Coconut Chicken; Baked Stuffed Eggplant.

Dessert: Cappuccino Bomb; Raspberry Terrine; Honey Butter Tart; Linzer Torte no sugar added; Vanilla Ice Cream; Rocky Road Ice Cream; Lemon Sorbet; Chocolate Frozen Yogurt; No sugar added Coffee Ice Cream; No sugar added Vanilla Ice Cream; Blackberry Sundae.

From the daily Explorer

Deck BBQ: 5:30-8:00, Lido Pool Deck

Barbados Mai Tai Sail Away: 6:00 p.m., Navigation Pool.

Showroom at Sea: Unforgettable “Your Hit Parade” Returns Tonight, 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Ocean Bar: The Neptunes, 6:30-11:30 p.m.; Rumba Dance Set 6:30 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30-5:30 p.m.

MIX: Guitarist Chris, 5:00-9:00 p.m.; Piano Man David Anthony, The Music of The Beatles 9:00 p.m. – close. Champagne Happy Hour 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Explorerer’s Lounge: Adagio Strings, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 – 11:00 p.m.

Crow’s Nest: DJ Armen, Name That Tune: Showtunes 7:00 p.m.;Disco Dance Hour 9:00 p.m.; Party Time10:00 p.m. Happy Hour: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 – 11:30 p.m.

More later,

Dave