New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 27) - At Sea

We slept in, finished unpacking, and had breakfast in the Oceanview Café, the main restaurant on the ship that has a varied breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet menu and cook- to-order grills that are open 24 hours a day. We also took a one-mile walk around the jogging track (8 laps) and explored the ship from top-to-bottom. By the time we were done, it was time for lunch.

Dinner was at 6:00 PM as noted above. The dress for tonight was formal attire, with tuxedos or suits for the men and fancy dresses for the women. This was one of the two dress-up dinners on the cruise; the other nights were less dressy (Smart Casual). We sat with our group from the 82nd SRS each night and the seating arrangement didn’t change unless someone went to one of the four specialty restaurants for dinner instead. The menu was extensive and you could order anything you wanted from the menu. You normally would order an appetizer, soup and salad, entree, and a dessert. Actually, you could order more than one of everything if you wanted to do so. One half of the menu was fixed each day and the other changed daily. The waiters were excellent and the service and food were great. We were also impressed by the presentation of the food - no small task when preparing dinner for a lot of people.

After dinner, there was always a show in the main theater. The ship had a house orchestra and a production company of about a dozen young singers and dancers. They put on several different Broadway-style shows during the cruise, which were very well done. If you didn’t want to go to the main show, there were also different musical groups in the lounges throughout the ship, and the disco cranked-up later in the evening and went into the wee hours. Or, you could go back to your room and watch TV and/or go to bed.

The ship conveniently had a map by each elevator. Despite this, it was still very easy to get lost and/or remember which direction you should be going to get where you wanted to go.

Interior and deck shots on the ship.












Yes, that's real grass.






One of the highlights of the evening when you came back to the room after dinner was the daily "Towel Oragami" - a clever arrangement of towels done by the housekeeping staff.