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Summit Review - 1/12/2013 Sailing

The Flying Pirate

By The Flying Pirate,
in Celebrity Cruises

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The Flying Pirate

The Flying Pirate

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Wednesday

 

This morning we arrived in St Johns, Antigua and the morning was basically a repeat of yesterday. We had another tour scheduled and meet our guide on the pier at 8:15. That was the last time that tour was organized. It started out with a demonstration of the loading of a clown car at the circus, with 16 of us piling into a van/taxi for the hour long drive through the island to the rain forest at the center of the island where we were to go zip lining and take part in a ropes challenge course.

 

When we arrived at the zip line park, the first thing they did was take tell us we couldn't us our cameras "for safety" reasons. Then they said not to worry we have "professional" photographers that will take your pictures for you. (Of course they didn't say that they charged $50 for a copy of your pictures until after the tour. It was a typical 3rd world tour operator being greedy trying to squeeze every nickel out of the tourists. I was not impressed. Then they herded us all into a building to get geared up like so many cattle going to the slaughter. In yet another "Island" plan, they assigned gear not based in size but by whatever was in front of you where you stood. So I got a small harness that required and additional set of straps and safety lines, that added to the weight and cut into the comfort of the whole experience. The "professional" photographer caught the less than pleased look on my face quite well after the first zip line. Needless to say the "professional" pictures were really terrible and we did not purchase any.

 

The zip line course was short, which was ok, as the harness I was wearing was too small for me and was digging into my legs so I was glad when we finished.

 

The ropes course was fun, and challenging. The hardest part was attaching our safety lines, which were about 7 feet above the platform. Both my wife and I had to climb up into a tree to be able to reach the safety line. Somehow I think that defeated the purpose of the safety gear, but then this is the islands, so it makes sense to somebody.

 

When we finished the course we were herded into the "gift shop" where we could buy overpriced t-shirts and our pictures of the tour. Then we went out onto the front porch and waited about: 45 minutes for the taxis to return to pick us up.

 

Our driver was funny. He was an old guy, who had spent every bit of his life working in the sun, which had aged him even more to the point he had a look about him that lead you to believe that he was here to personally greet

Christopher Columbus when he arrived at the Island in 1493. His stories were interesting and he provided a running commentary as we drove around. He pointed out that the tallest peak on the Island had been renamed in 2009 from Buggy Peak to "Mount Obama" because the island natives were so excited that Obama was elected. He said that the night of the election parties broke out in the streets. I am not exactly sure what they have to gain from Obama's victory, but they sure were excited about it.

 

When the clown car made it back to town. My wife and I went shopping and found a little Nativity scene carved out of a large local nut. The finished product is about the size of a softball and it all hand painted and is quite unique. She also bought a Christmas ornament made out of the same type of nut, although smaller in size.

 

We had to get back to the ship early today, because after all the cruises we did we were finally invited on a tour of the bridge and I didn't want to miss that opportunity. We met and went through the security screening and then were taken to the bridge. We weren't allowed to take pictures but the tour was very interesting and I really enjoyed it.

 

Tonight my wife and I joined my parents in the main dining room. It was ok, although I prefer the more relaxed setting of the outdoor deck behind the buffet.

 

After dinner we went and saw the show, which tonight was a Pete Matthews, comedian/juggler who was absolutely hilarious. My mom laughed so hard she had to get her inhaler to fend off an asthma attack.

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The Flying Pirate

The Flying Pirate

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Thursday

 

St Marteen, which at only 37 square miles is the smallest land mass shared by two countries, France and the Netherlands. The treaty dividing the island is the oldest active, undisputed treaty in the world, having been in effect since 1648.

 

We arrived in port around 8 am and since we had no tours planned we had a leisurely breakfast before heading into town. We took a water taxi from the cruise ship docks to the main part of the Dutch city of Phillipsburg. We made a stop at a jewelry store that Sarah had a coupon for a free necklace, she bought the ear rings that matched the necklace for $10, which seemed to me to be a pretty good deal.

 

Our next stop was the Hard Rock Cafe, which just opened earlier this month. Sarah added to her Hard Rock Pin collection, which as a result of all her travels has become quite extensive.

 

While we were shopping my dad took a Segway scooter tour. He has ridden them in several places and has enjoyed it so he signed up as soon as he saw them offered in Phillipsburg. While he was riding, my wife and I walked around the downtown area and visited a couple stores although we didn't buy anything. My mom was camped out at a little restaurant/bar that offered free wifi, so she could check up on my brother’s wife, who had thyroid surgery yesterday. Thankfully she the surgery went well and she is doing well today.

 

After my dad finished his tour he and my wife and I took a taxi to Maho Beach, which is one of the Caribbean's most famous beaches because it is directly across the street from the end of the runway at St Marteen's Princess Juliana international Airport. It has been famous for airplane watching for years and in recent years adding to its reputation for people watching, as thrill seekers or just plain idiots, line up behind the fence to feel the hot blast of the jet engines as airplanes power up for takeoff. I watched from the safety of the patio of the Sunset bar, which is a little beachfront restaurant that was built to cater to the crowds that gather to watch airplanes or get sandblasted by their engines.

 

We had lunch at the restaurant and I took a bunch of pictures, the patio of the Sunset Bar is an ideal photography spot since it is close enough to get great shots, but far enough away to avoid the sandblast of the departing airliners.

 

After lunch we caught a taxi back to town and took the water taxi back to the ship to get cleaned up before tonight's big dinner.

 

For dinner tonight we had made reservations at a new restaurant on the ship that we had never tried before. It is called Qsine and is billed as a journey around the world through food. It was more than just a meal it was an experience.

 

We arrived at 6:30 and were promptly seated. The first thing we noticed was the dining room looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland. All the lighting was from table lamps mounted upside-down on the ceiling. The plates were rectangles, the glasses more or less cylindrical but with a hand blown shape to them. When the waiter brought the menus he said "you may have noticed the lights, we are going to turn hour perception of food upside down."

 

The waiter was from Honduras and was incredible; he was funny and just a crazy man. He proclaimed himself as "more than a waiter, I will be your tour guide on tonight's journey."

 

The menus were brought over and they were all on iPads. The first page was cocktails, and at each entry you could see how the drink was made and then if you shook the iPad it was "mix" the drink on the screen and show you a picture of the finished product.

 

The main food part of the menu was another section and the names of things, the descriptions etc made it difficult to choose what to have. The waiter, make that "tour guide" suggested since there were six of us, we should choose 7 items off the menu as everything is served family style and made for sharing.

 

After quite a discussion among everyone, we finally selected 7 items.

 

First to be served was the "Disco Shrimp" a shrimp salad, with cucumber and avocado served in a dish that looked like the top of a martini glass set in a square base filled with ice to keep it chilled and flashing LED lights. The presentation was just crazy and the taste was excellent. The dish had a little bit of spice that the closest thing I can compare it to is chipotle.

 

Next up was called lobster and escargot. It was the strangest thing we ate tonight, but a couple people including my Grandma really like lobster and snails so it was added to the list. It came out as a tray of meatballs made from a mixture of lobster and snail meat soaked in a butter sauce and served with a side of dinner rolls that were in the shape of ice cream cones. I thought the dinner rolls were better than the meatballs. But then I have never cared for the taste of lobster or snail.

 

The next course was a tower of tacos. They were more like fajitas in hard shells, although the shells were different they tasted like ice cream cones. They were filled with steak strips, green peppers and onions, diced tomatoes and topped with guacamole made fresh at the table.

 

Next up was the Persian Kebabs, which were delivered on what would best be described as swords. The waiters carefully pulled the swords out and put the chicken and vegetables on a bed of saffron rice. The chicken and vegetables were marinated for 24 hours and were out of this world. The saffron rice was quite good, and had taken on some of the flavor of the marinade.

 

As we were discussing how amazing the kebabs were the waiter brought out what is called the Mmmmm & Mmmms, although the waiter just called it the Barbie house. It was a box about two feet wide by 16" tall that was divided into compartments, not unlike a doll house. In each compartment was a component of a traditional Middle Eastern meal. One of the surprises was the lamb chops, I had tried lamb before and hadn't thought too much of it, but these were absolutely delicious. There was also some really tasty hummus, falafel, olives in a marinade, a couple goat cheese dishes, grilled chicken skewers.

 

The sixth stop on the tour was filet mignon. It was served on a painters pallet, with 5 sauces to try with your steak. My wife’s favorite was a macaroni and cheese, while I liked the red wine sauce the best.

 

The final dish was called the Taj Mahal, and was served as a steel "tree" with 5 cone shaped cups as nests in the tree. Each cup was filled with a different traditional dish from India. They were quite good. The curried chicken was my favorite.

 

Then after eating all that dinner they brought over a giant cone that when opened revealed several rubrics cube Iike toys that were the dessert menu. We selected 3 desserts. The Cupcake Affair, the Chocolate Tombstone and the surprise. The cupcake affair was a project. It was served with a plate of

unfrosted cupcakes with what looked like a fishing tackle box which contained the frosting, sprinkles and other various toppings. Sarah's decorating was quite impressive, and quite tasty, we shared one since we had just finished a 7 course meal and had two other desserts to try.

 

The chocolate tombstone was simply amazing, unless of course you don't like chocolate. The bottom was a thin ride crispy treat, topped with Nutella, then a layer of chocolate mousse topped off with a layer of dark chocolate. This was so good it is as to say Nobel prizes has been awarded for less. This cake may very well be the key to world peace.

 

The Surprise turned out to be bread pudding. My dad thought it was excellent, but I thought it paled in comparison to the chocolate masterpiece.

 

The final stop was called "Strawberry Fields Forever" and an assistant waiter came around with a box roughly two feet by two feet. It had real grass growing out of it. And stuck into the grass were sticks with Strawberries that had been dipped in either white or dark chocolate then covered with sprinkles. Then carefully hidden in the tall grass were plastic eggs filled with chocolate, strawberry or vanilla creme brûlée.

 

The whole dinner took almost three hours and was just incredible. It was unlike any meal I have experienced on land. Even if you could find a restaurant that could match the meal I can only imagine that the cost would be ludicrous.

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