Enter your search terms Submit search form

My Portrait Photography
My Nature Photography

Tuesday – At Sea

Freestyle Daily

Good Morning

After a good nights sleep we got up and head to Versailles for some breakfast. (Menu)  A much more pleasant dining experience than the crowds at the Market Cafe.  Takes a bit longer, but we were in no hurry.  This became our favorite breakfast venue.  The food and service were great.  Jose C. from Venezuela, who wasn't even our waiter, made our daughters fill like princesses this visit and every future visit.  He would compliment them on their outfits, sing "Pretty Woman" to them as he passed.  Very good natured. (More extra service, is this a trend?)

After that big meal the girls decided they needed to do some Hula.  This was very popular with the passengers who participated and those who were spectators.  The plan was for several days of lessons with a graduation near the end of the cruise.  Unfortunately our schedule did not allow the girls to take all the lessons.

Afternoon

For lunch we decided to give the Blue Lagoon a try.  My wife enjoyed one of the wok meals, I did not care for the fish-n-chips (expected more of a beer batter type fish).  Had a burger later and it was quite good. The kids enjoyed their food also.

My wife attended the art auction and had a good time (as she returned on subsequent days).  She was surprised to see how few bids there were are most items, as they sold close to opening bid.  They also did the mystery painting bid, where you bid on an hidden piece of art.  The say that if after you win and you don't like it, you don't have to keep it.  Well she won, and did not like it.  No problem, the kept it without a fuss. 

Pool time - those slides were just too inviting.  The slides were not as much fun as I had hoped.  If you did not lay completely flat, you would stop part way down.  Saw lots of "stuck" kids and adults.  Once you stop, your instinct is to sit up, which only makes it worse.  Lay flat and push off and you will slowly make your way down.  There was a red light / green light at the top to regulate the side, but it seemed to be on a timer, and not detecting the prior slider reaching the end.  This became obvious when "stuck" people were caught be the next slider.  Since the slide was slow, it wasn't a big danger.  There was also an NCL staff member at the top keeping the kids from getting to wild.

The main pool was a great time though, once you got the hang of it.  As the ship would rock, waves would form in the pool, ranging form a small ripple to almost 18 inches tall.  If you tried to stay put, it was not much fun, but once you went with the flow - it was a blast.  The whole group of 20 or so were "riding" the waves back and forth across the pool.  It was too rough for my kids, but they used the smaller pool on the other side of the slides which due to its size did not get as big a wave.

Time for some ice cream, after all its been at least an hour since we last ate.  The Ice Cream Bar is not poolside as the original Sprinkles location.  To find it go towards the stern on the starboard side.  When you reach the door to exit to the Kids Pool area, turn around and there it is.  The scoops and cones are small, but double scoops and/or two cones never were a problem.  Flavors changed each day, with one being a low fat choice.

Dinner Time

As it was formal night, the four of us dressed up and headed down towards Versailles early.  Seems like a lot of people had the same idea as we were about 45 couples back in line at 5:20.  They began seating pretty close to 5:30, and by 5:40 we were seated.  We had a nice table near the stern window which we enjoyed.  Once the initial rush was over there were plenty of empty tables.  I suspect if we had shown up at 5:50 there would have been no line at all.  Our meal was enjoyable (Menu).  In fact I had two meals as I had to try both the Lobster and the Beef Wellington.

Lines for formal pictures were about 25 couples long when we finished at about 6:45.  Oddly enough, there was no line for photos with the captain, so that is what we did.  Since there was no line we chatted briefly with him.  He was very personable and friendly.

We then went and saw the second half of this evening's show "Music on the Night" featuring the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Even though we were 20 minutes late, there were still plenty of seats remaining.  We watched from the rear until a chance to sit down between acts occurred.  Both us and the girls enjoyed this show.

We returned to our room to find these wonderful snacks accompanied by these cards.  Unfortunately the two cards were stacked together, so we don't know who provide which snack.  The cards were presented this way each night.

The dessert was made from marzipan - one of my favorites.  Things were looking up.

Tried to stay up and watch a DVD.  We both made it five minutes.  Its amazing how tired you can get relaxing.

Enter your search terms Submit search form

My Portrait Photography
My Nature Photography