Mercury 6/11 Cruise Review - Part Two

[bwarren]

Day two was at sea, and seas were rough! My big tough hubby thought he could forego any medication and immediately turned green at the sight of fish on the Manhattan’s breakfast menu. He went on to his room and the rest of us enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, french toast, etc. Everyone else’s eggs looked great, but I ordered mine over easy and they were almost raw when I got them. The whites were not cooked at all. The french toast was to die for! This was the one and only time we ate breakfast in the dining room, just because we really enjoyed the breakfast buffet. The fresh fruit on the buffet was terrific, and scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, and sausage were always on the buffet. My husband loves a good bowl of Fruit Loops (which are not on his cholesterol diet!!), so he figured that was what vacation was for and indulged each and every morning.

 

After breakfast that first day we checked on my husband and headed for our cruise connections party. There we met Linda, the activities director from Sweden. She is a very attractive young lady, and both men in our group immediately noticed and commented on that! We talked with everyone briefly, but Rod was still sick, so he and Brian went to go get an ear patch for him. I asked Linda why I was sent this note asking me to take my citizenship proof to the front desk. She said she didn’t know, that it was probably just a mistake made by whoever checked us in. We chatted for just a few minutes and headed to the front desk to take care of it.

 

We wandered around the ship a bit after that, and Rod went back to bed. We decided to try the buffet for lunch. Rod came up to meet us, but immediately got sick again when he smelled the buffet. The food was not bad…his patch had just not kicked in yet. Back to bed he went!

 

After lunch I went to check on him and found a fabulous surprise slipped under our door: an invitation to dine with the Chief Engineer at the Captain’s table that evening!!! I immediately went to check Lori and Brian’s room and saw a little corner of an invitation sticking out of there door, too! I don’t know how we were chosen for this, Linda (from Sweden!) arranged it all, so I gathered it had something to do with the cruise connections party that she also arranged.

 

We were told to meet at 5:50 at the rendezvous lounge. We were most definitely on time and met the two other couples that had been invited: a doctor and his wife, and the Ludewigs. Linda produced a cocktail waitress and told us to order anything we wished…I had a Martini Delight…Scrumptious!!! We visited with the other couples and Linda and found out Linda was engaged to another crew member, and the bag she was carrying was given to her by Bosco, the ship librarian. (I mention that because I have heard his name so many times on these boards!) At about 6:30, the Chief Engineer and another Engineer appeared, introductions were made, and we were paraded in front of everyone down to the Captain’s table. I felt like absolute royalty! Placecards had been set, so there was no awkward moment trying to figure out where everyone should sit. A photographer took the entire table’s picture from the second floor of the dining room, and a complimentary copy of this picture was delivered to our room the next day. Our unfinished cocktails were then delivered to us at our table. Linda then dismissed herself and we chatted with the two men. We learned both were from Greece, and the conversation was easy. The service at this table was impeccable. Instead of one bus boy, we had three. The tended to our every whim. A different wine was served for appetizers and for the main course…both were tasty. Lori and I noticed a tray with monkeys and treasure chests on it over to the side of our table. I asked the engineer what they were , and he replied, “Ah, the monkeys!†We laughed, and the Chief Engineer looked curiously at us, so we told him we were wondering what the monkey were for, and he replied, “Ah, the monkeys!†We all got quite tickled at this point, and the whole table was having a great time. (I’m sure the freely poured wine had something to do with that!) After our filet mignon, we were asked to order our after dinner drink, and I had a Crème Brulee. I don’t really know what was in it, I think Vodka was the alchohol, but it was a cold coffee flavored creamy drink…yum, yum, yum!!! Then we finally found out the mystery of the monkeys. It was a tray of fabulous chocolate covered fruits that was presented before the dessert. Again, yum! Finally, each lady at the table was presented with a long stemmed red rose, compliments of the Chief Engineer. Linda again appeared and took the Engineer from us, and we lingered a few moments savoring the experience. I can’t tell you what a special highlight of our trip this dinner was; it was just perfect!

 

“And the Winner Is†was the name of that night’s show. The talent was typical cruise line. I don’t mean that in a negative way. They were very entertaining, but I am a big Broadway fan, and I’ve seen quite a few shows on Broadway, and it is not difficult to tell the difference between a Broadway performer and a cruise line performer. I wouldn’t even make the comparison except for the fact that they did a variety of Broadway numbers in their shows, so the comparison was inevitable. Especially when they tried to do “Lion King.†If you have ever seen “Lion King†on Broadway you’ll know why I was so surprised they even tried to pull this off with the costuming and all. Anyway, one of the numbers they did on this first show was “YMCA†and we all got a kick out of doing the motions with the dancers…great fun!

 

Julian, our cruise director, came on stage and announced that they were having 70’s night at the Navigator club, so we headed on up to deck 12 after the show to dance the night away…and dance we did! The ship was still rocking something fierce (my husband’s patch was finally working!), so when we danced, we were all shifted to one side of the dance floor by the waves. Everyone in the club was having great fun trying to dance as the shipped rocked back and forth. We hated for the evening to end. About 1:30 A.M., (3:30 our time!) we headed back to our cabin, rocked to sleep by the current, we slept like we had never slept before!

 

More later…

 

Beth

[mnwildfan2]

Great review Beth! It sounds like you had a *wonderful* time.

 

Jen

 

1st Cruise on Celebrity Mercury - Alaska 6/4/2004