dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
- Messages
- 31,283
Day 6
We were awake pretty early again. We got up and ready and headed to the Windjammer for some breakfast. This time we walked out to a beautiful sunny day. The Windjammer was relatively empty, which was a nice bonus. Graham had a plate with cold cuts, cheese, smoked salmon, bacon and fruit. He then went back for a bowl of porridge. I had apple juice, Eggs Benedict, poached eggs, sausage and hash browns. I had another reminder that Eggs Benedict really don't belong on a buffet. I also had a donut, a chocolate chip muffin and what I thought was a brownie, but actually turned out to be some kind of ginger cake. It was very nice though.
Once we had finished our breakfast we went to Cafe Promenade for a cup of coffee and fortunately this morning they had the nice coffee. We then went for some fresh air on deck 4 before our first commitment of the day. We had received an invitation to the Crown and Anchor Welcome Back Reception the day before. I was quite surprised about this. This was discontinued fleet-wide on 1st May 2016. We did have it on the Ovation last year, but this set sail only a few days later and with this being a new ship, I figured they just wanted to show themselves from their best side. I had no reasonable explanation why this was happening on this cruise other than that Explorer of the Seas had not got the memo. It was a nice occasion. It took place in the theatre and the band was playing when we got there. Quite a few senior officers were in attendance again including the captain. Drinks were flowing very liberally. I had a couple of glasses of sparkling wine and a couple of cocktails. Graham stuck to the sparkling wine. I was glad that I had a decent breakfast.
After the reception, Graham headed out to the helipad and I went to the Pamper Party event that was organised by the spa. I normally enjoy those events, but I was not too convinced on this occasion. There is always an element of them trying to sell various treatments and this is absolutely fine. In fact, I have got some really good deals on multi-treatment packages out of the pamper parties in the past. However, the emphasis on that day was more on the hard sell than on the pampering aspect. With hindsight, I should have just left. They did give out various products, but despite the fact that I was right in the middle of the second row, they kept bypassing me. I was not too worried when this happened with the serum, but I did stop one of them when it happened with the toner as I had a lot of cleanser on my face. One good thing came out of this. I met a lovely lady from the Seattle area. She was excited when she realised that I was from the northwest of England. She had done some genealogy research and her ancestors are from a small market town called Frodsham, which is near Chester. I actually had heard of this before as a friend of mine who I used to work with is originally from there. It was really nice chatting to her.
I then went in search of Graham who was still on the helipad. We went to get some lunch. Graham was being healthy and just had a salad. I had meatloaf, cheesy pasta, meatballs, pork chop, chips and Indonesian roast chicken. On the way past, I got some vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream from the machine on the pool deck. On Explorer of the Seas, they don’t have a soft serve ice cream machine inside the Windjammer. Unfortunately the ice cream was nothing to write home about either. It was not set enough. I then went to progressive trivia and Graham headed back to the helipad. We did not do quite so well getting only 9 out of 15 questions right, but we still had fun. After progressive trivia, I went to check on Graham. He was still on the helipad. It was too windy there for my taste so I went up to the solarium to read. Graham joined me there at some stage as well. We had a lovely lazy afternoon.
About an hour before dinner, we went back to the cabin and got ready. We then did the rounds of the photo opportunities before going to dinner. We were seated with two couples, one from Australia and one from Florida. We had some interesting conversation again and it was an enjoyable dinner. The food was nice, too. Graham started with cream of mushroom soup and I had a Coke and chilled honeydew melon soup. We both had the Chicken Cordon Bleu with rice pilaf, carrots and broccoli. Graham passed on dessert, but I had the Cherries Jubilee. Even Royal Caribbean cannot get those wrong.
After dinner, we said goodbye to our table companions and then had another early night. We spent a while reading. I set the alarm, as we wanted to be out on the open deck when we were sailing into our first port. About an hour later, we switched the light out and fell asleep.
We were awake pretty early again. We got up and ready and headed to the Windjammer for some breakfast. This time we walked out to a beautiful sunny day. The Windjammer was relatively empty, which was a nice bonus. Graham had a plate with cold cuts, cheese, smoked salmon, bacon and fruit. He then went back for a bowl of porridge. I had apple juice, Eggs Benedict, poached eggs, sausage and hash browns. I had another reminder that Eggs Benedict really don't belong on a buffet. I also had a donut, a chocolate chip muffin and what I thought was a brownie, but actually turned out to be some kind of ginger cake. It was very nice though.
Once we had finished our breakfast we went to Cafe Promenade for a cup of coffee and fortunately this morning they had the nice coffee. We then went for some fresh air on deck 4 before our first commitment of the day. We had received an invitation to the Crown and Anchor Welcome Back Reception the day before. I was quite surprised about this. This was discontinued fleet-wide on 1st May 2016. We did have it on the Ovation last year, but this set sail only a few days later and with this being a new ship, I figured they just wanted to show themselves from their best side. I had no reasonable explanation why this was happening on this cruise other than that Explorer of the Seas had not got the memo. It was a nice occasion. It took place in the theatre and the band was playing when we got there. Quite a few senior officers were in attendance again including the captain. Drinks were flowing very liberally. I had a couple of glasses of sparkling wine and a couple of cocktails. Graham stuck to the sparkling wine. I was glad that I had a decent breakfast.
After the reception, Graham headed out to the helipad and I went to the Pamper Party event that was organised by the spa. I normally enjoy those events, but I was not too convinced on this occasion. There is always an element of them trying to sell various treatments and this is absolutely fine. In fact, I have got some really good deals on multi-treatment packages out of the pamper parties in the past. However, the emphasis on that day was more on the hard sell than on the pampering aspect. With hindsight, I should have just left. They did give out various products, but despite the fact that I was right in the middle of the second row, they kept bypassing me. I was not too worried when this happened with the serum, but I did stop one of them when it happened with the toner as I had a lot of cleanser on my face. One good thing came out of this. I met a lovely lady from the Seattle area. She was excited when she realised that I was from the northwest of England. She had done some genealogy research and her ancestors are from a small market town called Frodsham, which is near Chester. I actually had heard of this before as a friend of mine who I used to work with is originally from there. It was really nice chatting to her.
I then went in search of Graham who was still on the helipad. We went to get some lunch. Graham was being healthy and just had a salad. I had meatloaf, cheesy pasta, meatballs, pork chop, chips and Indonesian roast chicken. On the way past, I got some vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream from the machine on the pool deck. On Explorer of the Seas, they don’t have a soft serve ice cream machine inside the Windjammer. Unfortunately the ice cream was nothing to write home about either. It was not set enough. I then went to progressive trivia and Graham headed back to the helipad. We did not do quite so well getting only 9 out of 15 questions right, but we still had fun. After progressive trivia, I went to check on Graham. He was still on the helipad. It was too windy there for my taste so I went up to the solarium to read. Graham joined me there at some stage as well. We had a lovely lazy afternoon.
About an hour before dinner, we went back to the cabin and got ready. We then did the rounds of the photo opportunities before going to dinner. We were seated with two couples, one from Australia and one from Florida. We had some interesting conversation again and it was an enjoyable dinner. The food was nice, too. Graham started with cream of mushroom soup and I had a Coke and chilled honeydew melon soup. We both had the Chicken Cordon Bleu with rice pilaf, carrots and broccoli. Graham passed on dessert, but I had the Cherries Jubilee. Even Royal Caribbean cannot get those wrong.
After dinner, we said goodbye to our table companions and then had another early night. We spent a while reading. I set the alarm, as we wanted to be out on the open deck when we were sailing into our first port. About an hour later, we switched the light out and fell asleep.
lots of yummy food, fun, and relaxing. 
