MITSUGIRLYS DAWN TO BERMUDA NOVEL (or review as some may call it)

[mitsugirly]

So where was I before work interrupted me for some charting....Oh yea, the review. LOL

 

I had been eyeballing a shirt in the store since they "are out of the regular NCL Dawn shirts" and I figured now was the best time to head there and attempt to buy one...IF they weren't sold out of course because that's the story of my life with the Dawn at this point.

 

I was in luck...they still had it:

 

 

 

I felt kinda bad that they didn't have the normal "stuffed animals" that the other ships do on them and Sakari always gets to pick out 1 each cruise. She had not ask for anything this cruise and I went looking to see if I could find her a surprise.

 

I ended up with a cute little dolphin necklace that I just knew she would love and cherish.

 

 

 

We wanted to see the magician act today and I definitely wanted Sakari to come with us. THIS TIME she was excited...after refusing to go last time because she wanted to spend time with her friends in the kids club, she got a little taste of what she missed out on when daddy impressed her with the "magic coloring book" that she decided she would not miss this show this time around.

 

 

 

Can you tell she was super excited to be there? She was sporting her new dolphin necklace too.

 

 

 

A few selfies with the fam

 

 

Of course before the show began, it was time for NCL to try to make some extra money off their passengers on this last day of the cruise. The great offer of trying to win some money on scratch offs (which are really pull tabs). I never play these but Chrissy decided she would try. It was $20 for the stack of them and she handed them out to the kids to win her some big money..."momma needs another cruise!"

 

For that $20 investment, she walked away with a whopping $4 in winning tickets. Go her!

 

[mitsugirly]

The show began and Sakari sat there in awww as she watched his wife be put into boxes, pulled in half, disappearing, changing places with David the magician and so on. Then....they brought out the birds. Ahhh the birds...real animals in this show. Sakari loved it! Kendra has a talking Umbrella Cockatoo and he is the sweetest thing ever with the funniest personality and Sakari just loves him.

 

Once the show was over the kids headed outside the theater and got their pictures taken with David and his wife Jamielynn

 

 

 

 

Here is a copy of the dailies for today. I forgot to add them at the beginning of todays review.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After the show, we decided it had been awhile since we had a bite to eat and since we were a little dressed up, we decided we wanted to head to one of the MDR's.

 

The first one we located was the Aqua MDR. Yep, that's where we will go then. Chrissy and Shayla went with us and I had no idea where Kendra had been most of the day after leaving the casino earlier when the kids were at the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the cream of broccoli for my starter. I remember last time the hubby got it and I tried it and it was SO GOOD. This time it did not disappoint.

 

 

 

The hubby got this...

 

 

I can only assume this is the beef carpaccio...which is RAW MEAT!!! Gag and the hubby did just that after 1 bite. He had NO IDEA what he had just ordered and he is one to try different things...but this was just a face to die for after I looked at him. LOL Yea, we don't do raw meat, we don't do undercooked meat, we don't do pink meat. We don't want things to be leather, but it better not have anything that looks like it's pink in it. So having something on the plate that looked like it could get up and walk on us at any time would simply not do. Maybe that's why I don't like steak or pork chops or meat in general other than hamburger...which better be cooked good too! LOL

 

He quickly flagged the waiter down and said, "Um, on second thought, I think I'll have a bowl of the broccoli soup as well".

 

[mitsugirly]

The multiple games of tic-tac-toe would continue until our main dishes came out.

 

 

 

I ordered the Roasted Chicken Breast I believe, but for some reason I can't find the picture of it. I do know that it was good though.

 

 

The hubby got the Whole Roasted Prime Rib meal:

 

 

He said his meal was good AEB (nursing term for as evidenced by) his clean plate at the end.

 

I honestly have no idea what Sakari had but she ate it all and finished with some ice cream.

 

 

 

We were all too stuffed to eat desert, but here's the menu for the night.

 

 

 

I really need to learn to take the time to put the correct settings on the camera when I take pictures of the menus to make them turn out better and clearer. There is a "document" setting on the camera and I normally forget to use it.

 

 

[Canadian Tyler]

We did a cruise out of Galveston in Feb 2014 and your fog pics remind me of our departure. It was so foggy, we couldn't even see from one side of the pool to the other. It was creepy. Plus that fog horn was going all night. Definitely a memorable experience.

Ordered a spring float today from your last review, for our August cruise on Carnival Pride.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mitsugirly]

One last picture and we were ready to head out.

 

 

 

Sakari was going through kid time withdrawal and wanted to head to the kids club to play with her friends and dance on the light up floor one last night. She also knew that it was pj night, so we headed off to the room to change her into her pj's. She's a kid that absolutely hates clothes. Like seriously. She will come in the door and strip down to her underwear every day. She doesn't wear pj's and she has drawers full of new ones that she refuses to wear. However, she insisted on bringing a pair this time so that she could participate in the pj night at the kids club. I teased her saying..."Nope, you sleep in your underwear, so you'll have to go like that if you want to go" :eek: Yes, I've been working VERY HARD to break her of the habit of stripping and over the last 2 months, she's starting to come around, starting to get embarrassed if someone comes over (even her brothers and sisters) and runs for cover to put clothes on. She will conquer this!

 

We once again headed back to the casino. I have never had any luck playing that "one last time" so I decided to forgo playing tonight and just ended up cashing in all of my winnings. I believe I ended up winning around $996 when I walked out. Not a "big" win, but definitely more than the $200 I came there with to donate and didn't spend it all due to my winnings. I was definitely ahead I would say and I was happy about that.

 

We picked up Sakari at the kids club and headed back to the room to finish our last minute packing. BUT not until we "browsed" the buffet and I found me this...

 

 

 

I couldn't really make up my mind when we wanted to say goodbye to the Dawn the next morning, so I went with the logical answer...just pick Sakari's favorite color and hope for the best.

 

I grabbed several of the purple tags...because that's her favorite color. LOL

 

It looks like the Dawn will still be in our possession until at least 9:30am.

 

 

 

We had our luggage out by midnight and from the looks of everything, none of the bags had been picked up in the hallways yet.

 

Of course we ran into Chrissy, who said Kendra had not even started to pack yet. Chrissy opened up the room door and I just see clothes flying and Kendra's arms swinging and stuff being overstuffed into bags that looked like they were ready to bust at the seems. She looked up for only a minute and laughed and went back to "her way of packing". LOL My oh my...I really do not where she gets her skills from.

 

I have a HUGE glad bag that is bigger than the size of a large suitcase that I put all of our dirty clothes in during the week...I kinda use it as a clothes hamper. All the dirty clothes goes in 1 suit case at the end of the week...basically already packed for me, just seal and put it in the luggage, and the other 2 suitcases will have a division of our left over clean clothes, souvenirs and purchases, make up bag and toiletries.

 

When I get home the glad lock bag goes to the laundry room and the laundry will be finished that night. Everything up stairs to be put away and I'm relaxing by that evening. Kendra on the other hand, went to pack her suitcase for this cruise and still had clothes in it from her last cruise 2 months ago. :eek:

 

I swear we are not related. She was found on the roadside somewhere...honestly.

 

Off to bed we went around 1am dreading the next day.

 

 

[SuiteTraveler]

Unfortunately, the budget accommodations rarely bother to warm up the beans. That's a shock the first time or two.

 

 

I've always had them out of a heated chafing dish when in the UK or Australia. Funny the budget accommodations don't warm them up!

 

But I must admit, I've eaten the American version - Pork and Beans - cold many times in the summer. It's actually pretty good if it has been refrigerated first so it is nice and cold.

[mitsugirly]

Kim,

Full English Breakfast includes fried, poached or scrambled eggs, baked beans, roasted or fried tomato, sautéed mushrooms, toast with butter, sausage (sometimes including blood sausage) and often back bacon.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/08/g...gredients.html

 

Not only do you get this as the complimentary breakfast at most B&B's in the UK and as a hotel buffet breakfast, it is also common in Australia. The beans are usually a can of Heinz beans warmed through with a pat of butter and you are supposed to put them on toast. This is called "Beans on Toast" which is a common "comfort food" in the UK.

 

In Australia, traditionally, you would have Vegemite on toast at breakfast or beans on toast. Until the 1980's what Americans call Peanut Butter was not really available there. All they had was peanut paste - which contains no sugar. In fact, as a child my husband read a Dennis the Menace cartoon and read that Dennis had a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. So he got peanuts, butter, and some Jelly - which to an Australian is what we call Jello - and put it on bread to make a sandwich. Of course, he thought it was absolutely awful. When we first got married (late 1980's), I got him some peanut butter and he went wild for it! I could barely keep a jar of peanut butter in the house for a week! The interesting thing is that in the last decade or so Peanut butter as we know it has become popular in Australia. But the Aussies I know don't use it as a snack or lunch food like we do. They spread it on toast in the morning! It is so popular over there that when you go to the hotel breakfast, you will see little packets of peanut butter along with little packets of jelly on the table!

 

Now as to the bread. I'm sure you have heard the expression "breaking bread" and what that means is that to break bread with someone is to give them your hospitality and share your food with them. This custom dates back to ancient Rome when everyone would have a daily meal that included bread and this meal was called cena. The poor would have a little meat and vegetable to go with the bread and sometimes dip the bread in wine, the wealthy would have an extravagant 3 course meal - appetizer (gustation or promulsis), prima mensa and seconda mensa but it all comes with bread and the bread was eaten with the meal, not before hand. In those days people ate most everything with their hands and the bread was an efficient way to enable that. The food would be cut with knives, but eaten with hands. If it was something runny, then it might be eaten with either bread to sop it up or a spoon. Today, the bread is offered to guests in restaurants as a sign of hospitality. In Italy, dry bread is often served with the meal and it is to be eaten with the meal, not separately or before the meal. So they don't serve it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar or butter and it is considered rude to ask for these things because the food will come with the best sauce to dip your bread into.

 

Some other traditions left over from Ancient Rome:

1. the doggy bag. In those days it was considered a compliment to ask your host if you could take some of the food home and bring a napkin from your home in which to transport the food.

2. Host chair - in ancient Rome, during the kingdom and early republic period the wealthy man of the household and male guests would recline on special couches around a round table. The ladies sat in chairs. In the late republic wealthy women were allowed to recline as well. In time, these special chairs for the host and hostess became what Americans describe as the host and hostess chairs in our home dining rooms.

3. Meals that consist of at least 3 courses.

4. Drinking wine with meals.

 

Some traditions from Ancient Rome I'm glad are NOT a part of modern dining:

1. Throwing inedible parts of food (bones, cartilage, fat) on the floor for the slaves to sweep away after the meal.

2. Eating almost everything with our fingers.

 

If you go to a very upscale restaurant in the US, they typically bring out high quality bread, butter and an amuse bouche. The amuse bouche (amuse the mouth - literally) is a single bite or sip designed to prepare the diner for the meal ahead. It should be an indication of the chef's style of cooking and hint at the delights to be experienced in the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

Good grief, my post looks like a history lecture. Sorry about that!:o:o:o

 

OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AWESOME!! Like seriously, I enjoyed reading about that. I was even reading it out loud with my DIL and we were discussing it. Those are some interesting facts. Thanks for sharing them with me. I really appreciate it. I will have to tell the hubby when he gets home. :)

[mitsugirly]

[

 

 

You want to hear my crazy tale? We were on a "special" bus waiting to return to Dockyard w/our day passes. A man, wife, kids get on the man said they do not have passes, how much? The bus driver tells him. He ask the wife of she has $. She says no. The driver ask how much they have....the guy said $7. The bus driver waves them on, the man shoves $7 BILLS in the jar for coins/tickets/tokens. Wow, I was speechless. I wonder what he would have done if the driver told them "Sorry!" So....all that to say, they may take $$$ [emoji12][emoji23]

 

I honestly bet it's like that a lot of the times. I bet if they really wanted to they would take your money, even if it didn't fit in the coin jar things. I mean after all, it does take the paper tickets, which I guess could fill up rather quickly if a lot of people had them on any given day.

 

Unfortunately, the budget accommodations rarely bother to warm up the beans. That's a shock the first time or two.

 

 

 

Oh my. I'm not a big bean eater, so I can't even imagine having to eat them cold. Ewwwww

[mitsugirly]

I love a proper English breakfast as it's called. Had several when staying at the Hallmark in Derby. Loved the rashers and the blood sausage and plenty of beans and sunny side up eggs!

 

I'm almost afraid to ask what a rasher and blood sausage is. :o I only like scrambled eggs...once again, gotta have everything cooked all the way or I get totally grossed out. I know, I'm just weird.

 

I've loved all your reviews and pictures historically and your St. Maarten review was so helpful when I visited some time ago. Having said that...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pictures of the boat in the fog! Truly interesting, different and beautiful!

 

Thank you for all the work you put into your reviews for the rest of us to enjoy and learn from! :)

 

Oh well thank you so much. I really appreciate your kind words. I'm so glad when I'm actually able to help someone (and it turns out good) and we love St Maarten. Thanks for commenting and glad you enjoyed it. :)

[mitsugirly]

We did a cruise out of Galveston in Feb 2014 and your fog pics remind me of our departure. It was so foggy, we couldn't even see from one side of the pool to the other. It was creepy. Plus that fog horn was going all night. Definitely a memorable experience.

Ordered a spring float today from your last review, for our August cruise on Carnival Pride.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I agree. The fog pics are definitely different and a little creepy, but yet in a neat way. I don't think I have ever cruised in the fog before. The hubby was talking to one of the bar guys and he said "It's a weekly thing in this area". I just didn't like how cold it got so quickly! It was weird.

 

I hope you enjoy the spring float. It's pretty awesome and is great if you are just heading to a beach to use there...probably not so great if you are doing a lot of walking and going from beach to beach. I knew on this cruise that I would not take it because of our itinerary we had planned this time around. But hopefully next time it will get more use. :D

[akba15]

I just finished reading this entire thread and THANK YOU! You are a wonderful writer with an amazing attention to detail. The Dawn took me to Bermuda 2 summers ago and was amazing - going back later this year on the BA. I get more excited with each page of your review! Your pictures are stunning! Thank you for taking the time to write and post your review.

[SuiteTraveler]

Kim,

Take a look at the photo here. See the thing that looks like ham? That's a rasher. It's the type of bacon served in the UK and Australia:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/08/guide-to-a-fry-up-full-british-breakfast-what-is-in-ingredients.html

 

The black disk shaped thing near the center of the plate is blood sausage. I kind of hate to describe what this is but I doubt you would try it even you didn't know what it was anyway. Understand, that this is a folk recipe that is common across almost all cultures in the world and the purpose of it was to make complete use of the animal. A big part of the way humankind has existed for thousands of years is by not wasting anything that could be used as food at all and this recipe comes from that mindset. So when you slaughter an animal, part of the animal was blood. The blood is cooked with a filler until it is congealed and then mixed with spices and meat and fat and put into a sausage casing using a funnel as it is a softer liquidy type mass prior to cooking. In the UK, it is typically pork head meat, pork tongue and pork back fat mixed with the congealed blood and filler mixture. In the UK the blood is typically congealed with either rusk, barley, rice, potatoes, flour, oatmeal. Other countries use other fillers including corn, eggs, cheese, semolina, etc. The typical spices are pepper, thyme, marjoram, caraway, pimento, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and coriander. apples, pine nuts, chestnuts, raisins and cream are added. Fresh onions are commonly added to blood sausages.

 

For many, blood sausage is considered a delicacy. It is certainly very popular in the UK and in Australia as well as Spain, Ireland, Poland, Germany, France and many Asian cultures. There is also a type of sausage known as "White Blood Sausage" but in fact, it contains no blood at all. The most common White Blood Sausage in the US is known as Boudin. (Cajun)

[Chuck2810]

Kim,

Take a look at the photo here. See the thing that looks like ham? That's a rasher. It's the type of bacon served in the UK and Australia:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/08/guide-to-a-fry-up-full-british-breakfast-what-is-in-ingredients.html

 

The black disk shaped thing near the center of the plate is blood sausage. I kind of hate to describe what this is but I doubt you would try it even you didn't know what it was anyway. Understand, that this is a folk recipe that is common across almost all cultures in the world and the purpose of it was to make complete use of the animal. A big part of the way humankind has existed for thousands of years is by not wasting anything that could be used as food at all and this recipe comes from that mindset. So when you slaughter an animal, part of the animal was blood. The blood is cooked with a filler until it is congealed and then mixed with spices and meat and fat and put into a sausage casing using a funnel as it is a softer liquidy type mass prior to cooking. In the UK, it is typically pork head meat, pork tongue and pork back fat mixed with the congealed blood and filler mixture. In the UK the blood is typically congealed with either rusk, barley, rice, potatoes, flour, oatmeal. Other countries use other fillers including corn, eggs, cheese, semolina, etc. The typical spices are pepper, thyme, marjoram, caraway, pimento, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and coriander. apples, pine nuts, chestnuts, raisins and cream are added. Fresh onions are commonly added to blood sausages.

 

For many, blood sausage is considered a delicacy. It is certainly very popular in the UK and in Australia as well as Spain, Ireland, Poland, Germany, France and many Asian cultures. There is also a type of sausage known as "White Blood Sausage" but in fact, it contains no blood at all. The most common White Blood Sausage in the US is known as Boudin. (Cajun)

 

can't imagine a better meal in Bermuda.

[soaringfalcon]

I have not...googling it now.

 

Looks like a gigantic fireball. :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I'm totally lost. I must have completely missed this conversation about the captain on the glass bottom boat. Where is this at? Point me in the direction...I'm lost. LOL :o

 

LOL - it's when we were talking about the eco resort that you had pictures of. I then related what he said about it now going bankrupt because of steel roofs and no a/c. Then you found the details with the inside pictures. I'm hoping he's full of it.

Edited June 26, 2015 by soaringfalcon

[mitsugirly]

I just finished reading this entire thread and THANK YOU! You are a wonderful writer with an amazing attention to detail. The Dawn took me to Bermuda 2 summers ago and was amazing - going back later this year on the BA. I get more excited with each page of your review! Your pictures are stunning! Thank you for taking the time to write and post your review.

 

Thank you so much for the awesome comments. I really appreciate it. I hope you have a wonderful time in the BA. I hope to some day try her out too. :)

 

Kim,

Take a look at the photo here. See the thing that looks like ham? That's a rasher. It's the type of bacon served in the UK and Australia:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/08/guide-to-a-fry-up-full-british-breakfast-what-is-in-ingredients.html

 

The black disk shaped thing near the center of the plate is blood sausage. I kind of hate to describe what this is but I doubt you would try it even you didn't know what it was anyway. Understand, that this is a folk recipe that is common across almost all cultures in the world and the purpose of it was to make complete use of the animal. A big part of the way humankind has existed for thousands of years is by not wasting anything that could be used as food at all and this recipe comes from that mindset. So when you slaughter an animal, part of the animal was blood. The blood is cooked with a filler until it is congealed and then mixed with spices and meat and fat and put into a sausage casing using a funnel as it is a softer liquidy type mass prior to cooking. In the UK, it is typically pork head meat, pork tongue and pork back fat mixed with the congealed blood and filler mixture. In the UK the blood is typically congealed with either rusk, barley, rice, potatoes, flour, oatmeal. Other countries use other fillers including corn, eggs, cheese, semolina, etc. The typical spices are pepper, thyme, marjoram, caraway, pimento, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and coriander. apples, pine nuts, chestnuts, raisins and cream are added. Fresh onions are commonly added to blood sausages.

 

For many, blood sausage is considered a delicacy. It is certainly very popular in the UK and in Australia as well as Spain, Ireland, Poland, Germany, France and many Asian cultures. There is also a type of sausage known as "White Blood Sausage" but in fact, it contains no blood at all. The most common White Blood Sausage in the US is known as Boudin. (Cajun)

 

 

Oh ok. I think we have another name for that kind of "ham-bacon", isn't it the same thing we call Canadian Bacon? You see I love bacon...regular pig bacon that is. But, I don't like ham. So, I'm guessing I wouldn't like that either. LOL

 

I think I would have starved back then if I had to live with the "don't waste anything" from the animal. Ewww. Just reading the description made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

It's funny I'm like this because my dad ate a lot of weird stuff growing up. He use to eat the pig feet and pickled this and that of parts of animals that just grossed me out thinking about them let alone seeing them staring at me every time I opened the fridge. Maybe that's why I am the way I am now. LOL He scared me for life. :D

[mitsugirly]

LOL - it's when we were talking about the eco resort that you had pictures of. I then related what he said about it now going bankrupt because of steel roofs and no a/c. Then you found the details with the inside pictures. I'm hoping he's full of it.

 

 

Oh ok. I remember that conversation, just nothing about a "Captain". LOL Sorry, I'm chalking this up to a head full of snot and lungs full of mucus this week. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :D

[mitsugirly]

Ok, 1 last segment to go and I'm DONE! hehe

 

Then I'll do some final thoughts, then I'm really done.

 

Our final day on the Dawn.

 

I set our alarm for 7:30am and headed outside to check out the weather. To my surprise it was actually nice and warm outside. I figured since it was cold when we left and cold coming back, that's exactly what our day getting off the ship would be like too.

 

I had everyone pants, socks, tennis shoes and our coats. Ugh...I was so wrong and would be lugging this unneeded stuff around with us.

 

I checked the weather for back home and it was going to be 90 degrees today when we arrived. They had scalding hot weather the entire time we were gone. Figures.

 

I woke the fam up and we headed to the buffet for our last meal. Believe it or not, Kendra and the rest of the family came out of their room at the same time. I was shocked. She's on time for once.

 

I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the kids buffet opened on this last day but we did grab our food and still ate in the kids section...just to be able to find a table for all of us.

 

We headed back to the room to grab our last little bit of belongings and went out to the pool deck to wait for our turn to be called. Purple tags=9:30.

 

Everyone had phone service again and you would see mad texting and posting going on.

 

 

They called our color at 9:24 and down we headed to the atrium. The line was LONG and wrapped around the atrium and back and then out the doors. We were going to have a long wait to just ding ourselves off the ship. Then a lady came to the side door where we were at and started telling everyone to "Come this way", which led right to the exit. Boy I bet there were a lot of upset people still inside in the long line.

 

Another picture of the port before leaving...

 

 

 

Everything was decorated as we left.

 

 

NOW HERE IS THE WEIRDEST CHECK OUT I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!!!!

 

There was a customs guy (I assumed) just standing on the ship before you "ding out" and you just handed him your customs form. DONE! That was it. He didn't look at the form. He didn't go over the form. He didn't ask any questions. AT ALL!! This was the weirdest thing ever. IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS?

 

We dinged ourselves out and they said goodbye to us.

 

 

We walked across, down the escalator and picked up our luggage and walked out. By far the simplest thing I have ever encountered. Like Seriously!!!!

 

We got outside and a taxi pulled up that said "Gobostonshuttle.com" on it and he offered to take us to the airport for $10pp and all 8 of us could fit with the luggage in there so we figured why not.

 

We were there in about 10 minutes and plenty of time to spare until our 12:45pm flight.

 

So we sat outside and watched these rather unusually long buses they have in Boston go by. Like super long. It was fun to watch them turn...the first half of the bus would turn and then the second half.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Kendra and the fam decided they were already hungry again. I was not. So, they decided to go inside and find a bite to eat and we said our "goodbyes". You see we booked our return flight home way before Kendra and them did. Kendra had hoped that the prices would go down some and when they didn't, she decided that she would take a different flight (leaving around 2 I believe) and they would fly to a different airport 2 hours away back home. Then a family member would drive there and pick them up. I guess that's all fine and dandy and they saved about $350 off their fare compared to us, but I'm sorry, when I'm ready to go home, I'm ready. I don't want to fly home and then drive for another 2 hours. I'll pay the difference.

 

Although she had a direct flight and would arrive at her airport about 1 hour before us, when you factor in the driving time, we would still beat her home by, I think we calculated, about 1/2 hour. LOL But we did have a connecting flight. Oh well.

 

We stayed outside for a little longer still watching these go by...

 

 

Then we decided to go ahead and check in around 11:30am since our actual boarding started at 12:15pm. I knew that everyone had talked about just how long this airport is and that the SW terminal was down, under the ground, back up and over and it takes awhile. I honestly did not pay attention or even watch when we originally got off the plane, so I decided I would pay a little more attention this time.

 

We went through security and started our journey to the "other side".

 

Down the escalators.

 

 

 

Getting ready to head underground in the tunnel:

 

 

 

Hey at least they have the fast people mover escalators that you can get on to speed things up and make you feel like you're a speed walker in them.

 

 

 

You get off one and onto another.

 

 

 

What's that ahead? Yet another one?

 

[mitsugirly]

Now it was time to go back up...

 

 

 

Sakari posing with her NCL shirt she got when she was around 3 years old and it drug the ground on her. "This is the face of a kids having fun!"

 

 

 

Anything and everything you could want in the megaport.

 

 

 

Now this airport had a little play area for the kids. We had a little time to spare before they started boarding and it was right beside where we were to board. So Sakari wanted to play a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Sakari met up with some of the Kids Club friends and they played for awhile. It's funny how they spotted her because she was still wearing the arm band from the club. LOL

 

 

 

It was finally time for us to board and we took our "early bird check in" flight position in the A section to wait our turn. I swore I heard my grandson's voice screaming toward the play area. I was right...along came Kendra to give me 1 last hug before we left. Her flight would be next at 1 gate over where the rest of the family was waiting and waving frantically at me.

 

We said our goodbyes again and a little "I'll see you at home in a few hours" and boarded the plane.

 

 

 

Sakari always remembers the time she rode the "Whale Plane" (Seaworld orca plane and they allowed her in the cockpit and even gave her a SW whale pin). Any chance she can get, she'll stop to take a look and see if she's allowed in. Now I know the last time she did this and we took pictures of her in the control seat people on here were saying it's against the rules to allow anyone in there now, but they always do it. So...

 

 

I snapped a picture of her heading in and I went to find us some appropriate seats while the stewardess said "Go ahead and find good seats, I'll bring her to you."

 

Our flight was late taking off. They announced that the flight was completely sold out "so when you see a seat that's empty...consider it yours and sit!" LOL

 

We finally pulled out at 1pm (15 minutes late) and we were officially on our way to Chicago.

 

Sakari was happy about her piece of gum. She does have issues with her ears not wanting to pop usually when we are coming down so I always load up on the gum for her.

 

 

I was now wishing that I had went with Kendra to get a bite to eat because it was getting late and we had already had meal number 2 or 3 by now on the ship. Just saying...

 

I was looking forward to this for sure...

 

[mitsugirly]

When we arrived in Chicago, I noticed that we only had 10 minutes to get to our next flight when they were boarding. YIKES!!

 

By the time we got off the plane, we literally ran to the next terminal only to find out that our plane had been delayed and was actually coming IN a 1/2 hour late. WHEW!!! I was happy. That meant we had time to grab a bite to eat...and some pop because that is priority!

 

 

 

Well that 1/2 hour turned into an hour and turned into "I'm sorry, your terminal has been changed to ____, which happens to be at the other end". WHAT???

 

Everyone gathered their things and headed that way in a hurry.

 

After being at that terminal, "I'm sorry, your flight has now been changed to ___ terminal". Here we go again.

 

It got so confusing that I don't ever remember what time we FINALLY left but it was awhile.

 

Once we got on the plane, the captain/pilot said that he was going to "make some time". I found the free SW app on my phone and watched it as the speed increased. I did notice that he was going faster than the other planes did in the past. I think 581 mph. hehe

 

Sakari and I spent our time watching t.v. I found a few episodes of shark week and also a few episodes of "Tanked" because you can never get enough of fish right and I love that show from watching in on t.v. in the hotel room. Daddy had free drink coupons, so he would decide to booze it up since everyone was really needing a drink at that point with the delays. LOL

 

We finally landed and I believe we ended up being 2 hours late getting into Columbus. I'm pretty sure Kendra beat us home after all. :p ;)

 

So that ends the review.

 

I will take some time tomorrow to put together some final thoughts on the cruise and Bermuda.

 

I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for all the comments everyone has graciously left. I really do appreciate it.

[pdmartyn65]

Another fantastic read! You always do a great job on your reviews. I really enjoyed your Sun review. It made us feel we had already been on board when we boarded her in April for our Panama Canal trip.

[SuiteTraveler]

 

Oh ok. I think we have another name for that kind of "ham-bacon", isn't it the same thing we call Canadian Bacon? You see I love bacon...regular pig bacon that is. But, I don't like ham. So, I'm guessing I wouldn't like that either. LOL

 

I think I would have starved back then if I had to live with the "don't waste anything" from the animal. Ewww. Just reading the description made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

It's funny I'm like this because my dad ate a lot of weird stuff growing up. He use to eat the pig feet and pickled this and that of parts of animals that just grossed me out thinking about them let alone seeing them staring at me every time I opened the fridge. Maybe that's why I am the way I am now. LOL He scared me for life. :D

 

Rashers are from a similar area of the pig but different than Canadian Bacon. Take a look at this comparison of American Bacon, Rashers (English Bacon) and Canadian Bacon:

http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2010/11/09/three-little-pigs/

 

Rashers include some of the fat with the loin. Canadian Bacon includes no fat.

 

Your dad's eating habits sound more natural to me than what most of us eat nowadays. Historically, eaing was all about consuming the entire animal as much as possible. And if you compare the way we eat to how animals eat, well, they go for the nutrient dense organ meat first and consume the muscle meat second. People in the USA tend to avoid liver, kidneys, brains and other organs. Yet these are the parts of the animal that are the most nutritious and healthy.

 

One thing that's really interesting is that most food eating patterns we have in Westernized civilization today (picky eater, voluntary and non-religious based vegetarianism for example) have only developed since the early 1900's. Even between 1900 - 1945 in most Western countries, most people would eat whatever was available and didn't really discriminate among foods or put themselves on specialized diets. Food wasn't sought for pleasure or comfort. You ate whatever you were served in order to survive or got nothing to eat at all. These were your only 2 options. Your disgust at the thought of eating raw meat or meat cooked to rare or medium rare actually originates from a time when historically, you had to cook the meat to well done or it wasn't safe to eat which was most of the early 1900's. However, that theory on eating meat is not borne out by scientific evidence. In fact, with the safe meat supply in the US, the opposite is the case. But that's a whole other story...

 

Now back to the stuff I was telling you about bread that includes bread's partner at human history's dining table: wine.

 

Something most modern people don't understand about dining in ancient times is that there was not a lot of potable water available, so most people didn't drink water directly from the source because to do so would result in them having a major case of diarrhea and vomiting and possible death. Modern people, accustomed to safe drinking water, don't realize that this is why Jesus turned water into wine as the first miracle according to the New Testament. I'm going to talk about this from a non-religious point of view since religion has nothing to do with the symbolism of the act in the ancient mind. Jesus didn't turn water into wine for a frivolous reason - so everyone could get drunk and party at the wedding. I've seen all kinds of speculation as to why Jesus did this. The reason Jesus did this was more fundamental: water in that period wasn't immediately drinkable or safe. And symbolically, the act of converting water into wine was to take something foul and unhealthy and turn it into something good and healthy. In those times, most people drank wine morning, noon and night as that was what was available and known to be safe to drink. Lacking a Vitamix blender (and electricity as well) to make juice easily, wine was pretty much the only option most of the time in the way of safe things to drink that didn't require significant preparation (gathering from a well or aquaduct or other source, filtering and boiling and cooling.) Hosts and hostesses served wine to the great relief of their guests. Everyone drank wine, including kids Sakari's age. Wine was served with every meal and bread was served with every meal. These were the two constants at every meal in the ancient world. Bread has long been called the "staff of life" because it has been a part of human dining from the beginning of recorded history. Prior to the advent of silverware, bread was used to scoop food and sop up sauces. Bread was fundamental to the enjoyment of a meal in the ancient mind. Wine was judged the perfect accompaniment to the meal as it was the ONE beverage that could be trusted to not make you deathly ill. So bread and wine have always gone hand in hand at meals throughout the recorded history of mankind. They are the two constants that always were part of eating and entertaining others with a meal throughout ancient history and up until the late 1800's and early 1900's.

 

Interestingly enough, the first Golden Age of Wine happened in France around the time the US was founded in 1776. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, wine had been drunk very young as there was not means of preserving wine. Prior to the fall of the Roman Empire, ancients knew that wine could be preserved by putting it in a jug and sealing the jug with a piece of cork. But with the fall of the Roman Empire around September 476 BC, that knowledge completely disappeared from human knowledge into the ashes of history.

 

In the late part of the 1700's people in Europe had opened new trade routes to the UK and also America. One of the things they were trying to do was determine a way to preserve wine so that it could be exported from Portugal and Spain and France and Italy into Britain. At that point in history it was known that if you added Brandy, you could preserve food. So the Portuguese and the Spaniards added Brandy to their wines for export into Britain. Rocking and rolling in the ships for several weeks and a complete lack of quality control on arrival in the UK created two new beverages: Port (from Portugal) and Sherry (from Spain.) in France, wine (and bread) were still the mainstays of dining and the French discovered that if you put wine in a colored glass bottle and stuck a cork in it, it would be preserved. This simple but profound rediscovery of how to preserve wine lead to the French development of bottle styles for different types of wine and footed glassware (designed to keep the wine at optimal temperature) that we still see today.

 

A certain American, Thomas Jefferson, crossed over to France as the US Ambassador to France from the newly formed USA, ate at court with the French King and recognized that wine was an integral part of luxury dining. He was hooked! Not only was the food in Europe amazing, but the elegance was unsurpassed in the Americas and the wine, in gorgeous and showy footed glasses could be paired with the food! His study of this European style of dining led to 2 interesting developments;

1. Based on his experiences in Europe, Jefferson convinced George Washington that wine MUST be a part of state dinners since that is what everyone from Europe would expect the leader of a major country to serve at his table and it has remained so since Washington's presidency.

2. Jefferson brought French grape vine cuttings back to the USA to grow at Monticello. These cuttings were grafted onto American grapevines and eventually used to save the entire French wine-making regions when they had the Great Wine Blight (Phylloxera) in the 1800's.

https://vanessafrance.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/wine-blight-how-the-french-wine-industry-was-almost-wiped-out/

 

History marches forward from the ancients to today with wine and bread still being the perfect partners for casual AND fine dining.

 

OMG! Another long food dissertation from me! :p:p:p

[SuiteTraveler]

I just want to say how much I enjoyed your review and when can you cruise again? Because I can't wait for the next one!