A Trip Down Memory Lane – Day 13

We did not get up until nearly 09:00 that morning and it felt great. We grabbed a coffee and a pastry from the crown lounge and then we headed down to the Schooner Bar to snag a table. Ken joined us shortly afterwards and Laurie came just before morning trivia started. Ultimately Carol and Sandy joined us, too, but they were running behind a little. We did OK with trivia that morning. We scored 16 out of 20. Most days, this would have been a winning score, but this was not quite enough that day. The winning score was 18.

After trivia, we quickly went back to our cabin to pick up Graham’s telescope and my iPad. Then we headed up to the Viking Crown Lounge. This was surprisingly busy that morning. We initially only managed to find a seat slightly set back from the windows. It did not matter to me as I was planning on reading anyway and Graham was happy enough. In the end, a sofa directly by the window became available and we moved. There was not a great deal to see anyway, and I definitely got the better deal with my book.

We decided to have lunch in the main dining room that day. As soon as the dining room was open, we went for lunch. We were seated straightaway. It did not take long until we got our food either. Graham had some shrimp risotto for his starter, and I had some rosemary lentil soup. For his main course, Graham had the Steak Frites with crispy truffle fries and Bearnaise sauce and I had the grilled beef quesadilla with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa. We both enjoyed our starters and main courses. For dessert, Graham made the better choice. He had the apple blossom a la mode with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. This looked delicious and he seemed to enjoy this. I had the white chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis. Throughout the cruise, the desserts have been better than usual, but this one was the exception that proves the rule. It kind of reminded me of Angel’s Delight. It had the same texture. It was too sweet and had a somewhat artificial aftertaste.

After lunch, we headed to the theatre. They had scheduled Love and Marriage for that afternoon. Normally this takes place at around 22:00. We have watched this before and have always enjoyed this. However, nowadays, we tend to be in bed before 22:00. From this point of view, I was delighted that it was offered in the afternoon. However, this definitely falls under the heading adult entertainment, and I did wonder about the wisdom of doing this when there was a good chance that there would be children about. I wondered if they would offer a PG version of this. It became obvious very quickly that this was not going to be the case. At the beginning, our cruise director Marc issued a warning that this is not family entertainment. Still, there were quite a few families with kids present and nobody left.

As much as I love Royal Caribbean, with the exception of one previous cruise, I have found the cruise directors to range from mediocre to downright irritating. We had a number of cruises over the years, where the captain was more entertaining than the cruise director. The cruise director on this cruise had a great reputation. This was really the first time I saw him in action other than coming out at the end of the ice shows. Well, he is hilarious. Like the other cruise director that we had in the past that was great, Marc is British. I wondered if I am just responding to their specific sense of humour, but both cruise directors seem to be universally popular and there was a lot of laughter during this show.

Apart from the cruise director being very funny, the couples were great as well. The couple that had been married the longest had a very dry sense of humour. The newlywedswere unintentionally hilarious. I don’t think they knew each other particularly well and especially the husband got the answers to the questions he was asked badly wrong. She was obviously not happy with him. She took the whole thing very personally. I would not have wanted to be in his shoes. From a spectator point of view, her reaction was very funny though.

After Love and Marriage, we stopped by the Café Promenade for some Royal Caribbean blend. Once we had this delightful concoction, we decided to get some fresh air. We initially headed out on the helipad, but it was a little blustery. We headed up to the pool deck instead where it was more sheltered. I figured it would be a shame to be up there and not have a soft serve ice cream. We both got one.

We went down to the Schooner Bar about 45 minutes before evening trivia started. I managed to snag a large table again and all six members of the dream team where present that evening. While we were waiting for the others to arrive, Graham had a glass of Chardonnay, and I had a dessert pear margarita. We had another fairly good run. We scored 14 out of 20, but the winning score was 16.

The visual trivia that evening did not appeal. However, we spotted something intriguing on the Daily Compass. They offered archery at the Viking Crown Lounge. We decided to go and check it out. They had quite a good take up. Two people were able to have a go at the same time and each person had three arrows. There was a bit of a line, but we had time. Right in front of us was a family of three. Graham was teamed up with the third member of this party. I have to admit that this was an activity that was somewhat out of my comfort zone. I would have been fine to do it with Graham, but I could not face doing it with a stranger. I watched Graham to have his turn and then we left.

We then headed to cabin to get showered and changed. That night was the second formal night. Once we were ready, we headed to the dining room. We were with Rohan and Winston again. Our table was not available, but there was another table for two in their section. We did not mind.

The menu that night was A Taste of Royal Night, which is the menu that includes lobster. I had every intention before the cruise to have the lobster than evening. However, the lobster that I had in the lobster macaroni cheese earlier in the cruise was nowhere near as nice as the lobster I had on Odyssey of the Seas and in Sydney. In the end, I went with a different main course. Graham started with the baked French onion soup, and I had the Vidalia onion tart served with sauteed bell peppers and creamed leeks. For his main course, Graham went with the Maine lobster tail with melted butter, saffron rice and sauteed vegetables. I tried a little bit of his lobster, and I was glad that I had chosen something else. I had the Chicken Marsala with garlicky mashed potatoes, sauteed asparagus and tomatoes. This was delicious. For dessert, Graham had the strawberry shortcake, and I had the baked Alaska. Dinner was very pleasant again.

After dinner, we got some photos. I was surprised that yet again, they only had one backdrop up. On every other cruise I had ever been on, they went all out with photo opportunities on formal night. They are definitely doing things differently on Navigator. On top of the backdrop, they offered photos by the hanging sculpture on two decks as well as on the stairs. We passed on the stairs, but made the rounds of the other photo opportunities. Once we were done, we headed back to the cabin. I read for a short while, but soon we were both asleep.