Upon leaving Meridian, Jason and I did a little shopping on Deck 3 where we ran into Wendy and her mum. We apologized for missing them at dinner the previous night and they apologized for drinking an entire bottle of Rosa Regale without our help!
I knew I liked these ladies for a reason!
While we were paying for our purchases we received the first of many crew member apologies for the change in itinerary. Since neither of us had mentioned Castaway Cay, Jay and I were a little puzzled and told the CM there was no need for an apology. Turns out there were apparently a lot of people who
were upset about the extra day at sea and this poor guy had decided to offer a sorry to every customer who crossed his path. I felt so bad for him, as well as other crew members who felt like they had to apologize for something that was completely out of their control.
My sense (and my hope) is that people who were complaining on Thursday were a vocal minority. We were lucky enough to hear some of them a little later at Guest Services ... oh, what a symphony of discontent that was! I am still in awe of the entitlement chip that some people apparently carry around with them. After listening to some of these people, we went out of our way to thank crew members for the rest of the cruise for their cheerful attitudes and general helpfulness. It can't have been an easy situation for a lot of them - I know our stateroom hostess was suffering from seasickness on Thursday night and the better part of Friday. I guess we could have complained that our towel animal didn't resemble an identifiable life form or that we didn't have as many fresh towels as usual, but to what purpose? Try to be kind and have another drink - that was our motto!
And speaking of drinks ... we had a mixology seminar scheduled in Skyline at 3:30 that afternoon! After yet another nap, we decided that a second lunch was in order before indulging in a drink-fest. Jay and I really like the paninis at Flo's - the mozzarella and tomato is my favorite while Jay is partial to the brie and bacon. We always take a plate of them back to the Cove Bar and order drinks to wash them down; this afternoon we both chose a Caipirinha, a Brazilian drink made with limes and sugar cane rum.
While our beverages were being prepared, I became aware that two gentlemen at the other side of the bar were looking at me ... a lot. Now don't get the impression that my vanity was running away with me; I know that I am not the kind of woman that men spend time looking at ... unless I'm doing something really stupid or they're fascinated by the fishbowl properties of my eyeglasses. And I'm OK with that; Jay didn't marry me for my trophy wife qualities - of which there are none - he married me because I added a bunch of zeros to my personal financial statement and he thought I was his ticket to early retirement!
Ahem.
Anyway, I finally asked one of these gentlemen if there was something I could help them with ... perhaps not the best way to phrase the question but we were sitting at a bar so perhaps I can be forgiven for sounding a little suggestive. Turns out they were from the Rhode Island / Delaware area and there is a lady up there (whose name I forget) who looks an awful lot like yours truly - to the point that they thought we might be twins. All I can say is I feel kind of bad for her if she gets up in the morning and has me staring back at her cross-eyed in the mirror!
I remember this group vividly because we kept running into them over the next couple of days. The younger couple they were spending time with was in Skyline the night before and we convinced them to try Blanton's in one of their drinks when they discovered their usual bourbon of choice wasn't available. Later this same day ... or maybe it was Friday ... they were all in Skyline again and we suggested a cucumber martini with Hendricks gin to my new twin-spotter Tommy. I really wished we'd stumbled across them sooner because they were all a lot of fun and seemed like good peoples.
Before we headed down to Skyline, Jay and I paid another visit to Deck 13, which was in the process of being completely closed down for the rest of the day by the safety officers. At least, that's what they told us. In retrospect maybe they were just concerned that two tipsy guests shouldn't be playing in the wind during tropical storm conditions and they lied to get us out of their hair.
Deck 13; October 25 - 3:15PM
Deck 13: October 25 - looking a little churny out there
The wind stops being fun when I can't catch up with my straw!
The waves look a lot bigger when you descend nine decks.
We've got the golden drink tickets!
Seminar set up
Novak ... our hero!
Last year when we sailed on the Dream we attended the mixology seminar and it was limited to 10 guests - we were all seated around the bar and then each had a chance to go behind the bar and make drinks for the group after the bartender demonstrated / explained the process for a specific drink. It was very informative, a lot of fun, and a lot of booze! Friends who sailed on the Fantasy prior to us informed us that the class was different this year but still worth attending.
In this version of Mixology, we were still all able to make our own drinks, but the bottles were passed around the room to keep the pace of the class moving at a reasonable clip. We thought that was pretty cool of Novak, considering that most classes like this have the drinks made in advance to save time. It looked like there were supposed to be a lot of people in attendance at this seminar but I suspect the weather kept them from joining us because there were a number of empty seats. Jay and I had our sofa / ottoman area to ourselves for the entire class ... that was probably better anyway since we showed up two sheets to the wind and spent much of the class giggling about things that would have annoyed sane and sober attendees.
Novak was the perfect person to lead this class - he has competed in World bartending competitions and is an expert cocktail maker and if I remember correctly, had his own restaurant / bar in his native country. He really knows his stuff and gave us a great history lesson about boozes in general. He actually asked questions of us and if someone answered correctly she received a free bonus drink!!
Bonus!!
I also answered the second question correctly but told Novak to give the bonus drink to someone else in the group in an effort to share the luv. Jay and I then decided not to answer any more questions because it was quite obvious that we should have been in the advanced class.
However, we were so buzzed and having so much fun that neither of us bothered to write down the names of our drinks. Yeah ... all I really remember is that they were sweeter than I typically prefer my drinks to be and quite strong. This is a booze reporting failure of epic proportions and there is only one viable solution: book your own mixology seminar and then come back and tell us what the heck we were drinking!
Drink #1
Drink #2
Someone's been in the booze again!
Drink #3
Oh wait! I know what this is supposed to be ... a Kir Royale, except that after we agreed the best way to make one was with Chambord and Champagne, Novak passed around a bottle of Prosecco instead.
BLEH; NO!
He noticed our outrage and bless his handsome heart if he didn't show up at our corner with two "real" Kirs when no one was looking. I gave him a tipsy kiss on the cheek for that later in the evening!
Jay makes drink #4
This drink is a Berryoska, which is actually on the Skyline menu - a St. Petersburg drink that includes Russian Standard Original Vodka, muddled limes and blueberries, and white sugar. It was very pretty, but too sweet for my taste.
Jay crafts drink #5
I don't do shots ... especially with Midori
This was a layered shot with Kahlua and Midori ...
... I didn't even bother to try it; 30-foot waves and tropical storms aren't enough to make me puke but this shot surely would have done the trick. Jay killed them both and said it was actually surprisingly good; I will take his word on that one and suggest you do the same.
The seminar ended by 4:30PM; Skyline officially opened at 5PM. We didn't leave until 7:30PM, and that was only because we had dinner reservations at Palo and food seemed like a really good idea after four hours of drinking.
I asked Novak to dazzle me with one of my favorite drinks: The Manhattan. He asked me to choose my bourbon and I selected Blanton's and let's just say he killed the bottle in my glass! After all the sweetness of those seminar drinks this was just what Dr. Booze ordered.
The best Manhattan on the high seas!
It's a riddle; wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ...
This drink is completely unknowable to us both. I suspect that Novak made a surprise drink for Jay but neither one of us has any idea what it actually was. Jay told me it was the best drink he never remembered drinking.
We had so much bleary fun in Skyline that afternoon and evening; I know that one couple who arrived to the seminar late included a young lady who posts here on the DIS who mentioned that she studied Russian and actually lived in Russia for a while. There were other Skyline regulars who wandered in and out while we held down our barstools. And we were feeling so fine by this time that we didn't even notice the increased wave action until we were trying to climb the stairs to get back to our cabin to change for dinner.
Yes ... when you find yourselves combining alcohol with leftover chocolate lollipops from Remy it may be time to stop drinking.
My next post will be devoted to dinner at Palo, which was delicious in its own right and included a lot of food, a full bottle of wine, and half a bottle of port. Our livers were well seasoned indeed by the end of the evening!
Say what? And all these years I thought you did. Now you just know the eight year old in me is giggling up a storm, right?
I had to read it to my DH and show him the pics...I think we probably would have handled the day in the exact same way as you...if you're going to be staggering around anyway?? 
duck
and you explained Sandy perfectly. The shear size of this storm was enormous. It wasn't something that you could just "drive around." I am surprised at the lack of information that they gave you though. Those passengers that don't understand the weather and had no information of what was going on, I could see how they'd be frightened and/or upset. 
) would love. I've never been on a cruise, but I have had vacations dramatically affected by the weather. IF (and I know it can be a big if) you can roll with it and adjust your plans and expectations then sometimes you end up with the best memories of all. 
and decided to get serious about your quest. 
