Caribbean Cruise 2014:
Day 5 - At Sea
Day 5 - At Sea
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Tuesday, March 4, 2014: On our first day at sea, we slept in and didn't bother to take any photos until lunch time, when we were thrilled to find Asian lunch options. Lunch was washed down with four Diet Cokes. We had purchased soda cards to use on the cruise, and a single cup of soda ran out quickly, so we always ordered two for each of us. |
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After we ate, we enjoyed steel drum music performed and sung by Debra. Her repertoire included all of the classics, including Tom's most hated song, "Red Red Wine" (which he probably secretly likes), and it was great fun to listen to her. More than one passenger barked along with "Who Let the Dogs Out?" |
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These ladies got down with their bad selves, forming an instant friendship over their love of mid-day dancing. By Day 8, their numbers had increased to a half dozen. |
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It was an absolutely perfect day on the Lido deck. |
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Sunshine = awesome. |
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At 1:00, we headed to the Crow's Nest lounge on Deck 10 for an international beer tasting event with bartender Nick. |
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We started out with Bohemia, a German-style pilsner from Mexico, ... |
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... then followed it with Red Stripe from Jamaica. As we discussed different types of beers and different styles of serving them, Nick told us that the primary reason for serving Corona with a lime in the bottle is to keep the bugs away. Not sure if its true or not, but it sure sounds reasonable. |
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While were sampling the canned Guinness, one of the participants asked about the bottled version that was also available on the ship, ... |
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... so we got to sample that one as well. |
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It had a very different taste, with a much less creamy texture, but we both liked it better. |
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Our last sample was Boddingtons Pub Ale, a cream ale from the UK. Both Guiness and Boddingtons use a nitro widget, and Nick passed them around for us to see. Guinness is on the right; Boddingtons on the left. |
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We all had a small plate of pizza to eat while we sampled. Here are all of the beers: (top, l-r): Red Stripe, Guiness (bottle), Bohemia, (bottom, l-r): Guiness (can), Boddingtons. |
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We took our time finishing our beers and hanging out with the rest of the beer tasters in our group, so we were a little late for the steel drum class. Instead, we just spent a few minutes watching the students learn the craft from Debra. |
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At 3:00, we went to the Vista Dining Room for afternoon tea. Today's tea was one of three special teas served during the cruise and the only one that we attended (we passed on the Royal Dutch Tea and had already tried a cupcake tea on our Alaskan cruise). |
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This was the Indonesian tea, served by staff in traditional Indonesian dress. We didn't take any photos because we were seated at a table with eight strangers, but we enjoyed tea, sandwiches, and Indonesian pastries such as banana fritters. |
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These photos aren't from the tea -- these are our desserts from dinner. Pretty! |
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The view from our balcony at dusk was beautiful. |
Copyright © Deborah Schilling/Thomas Bundy