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Saturday, January 19, 2013: We spent our first day
at sea sailing past Cuba, including these barrier islands early
in the day.
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There was rarely much of a wait for the omelette station, so
we started our day with omelettes with our breakfast. Debbie
was happy to have her usual cruise ship breakfast staples of
smoked salmon, pineapple, and muesli (topped with raspberries
this morning). |
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We took advantage of the sun on our deck while having some
refreshing Diet Cokes. We got good at purchasing two cans at a
time (at $2 each), then sharing one and chilling the other for
later. |
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We followed Holland America's Statendam all day. For the most
part, rain clouds stayed away from us, except for a brief late
morning shower. |
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We kept the onboard navigation channel on pretty much all
day, so we could see where we were and where we were headed.
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Afternoon brought clear skies and ... |
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... a shorter distance between us and our little friend. |
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Our butler was scheduled to bring us tea every day around
3:30, but he showed up on the first day around 4:15, and even
later the next day. However, we got to fill a couple of plates
with tiny sandwiches and desserts and cookies and have tea like
civilized people. |
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We're so civilized that we spent entirely too many hours
playing various versions of Angry Birds (Tom: Angry Birds Star
Wars, Debbie: Angry Birds Seasons). |
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Canapes showed up at 5:15, which would be a problem if we
were still at the 5:30 seating, but instead, it helped keep us
from starving until our 8:00 seating time. |
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This still life is titled, "Man Contemplating the
Caribbean." |
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We wondered what phase of the moon we were in, but with only
one data point, this moon seen here, we couldn't tell if it was
waxing or waning. The next night we could tell it was waxing,
so we knew we'd have a full moon to look forward to sometime
during the cruise. |
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Here's the view looking toward the front of the boat. The
last barrier is new, marking the additional Sky Suite and deck
that had been added since our last visit 10 years earlier. |
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We watched a beautiful sunset over Cuba. |
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The Martini Bar advertised a martini sampler for $15, so we
got ourselves prettied up for formal night and hit the bar
before dinner. |
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The sampler consisted of a classic vodka martini, apple
martini, fresca martini, peartini, raspberry lemonade martini,
and sunset martini (citron vodka, coconut rum, pineapple, grenadine). With regular martinis priced at $10 each,
the sampler at $15 was a bargain. |
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With the exception of the classic martini in the back left,
they all tasted like adult kool-aid, with Debbie claiming the
peartini as her favorite, and Tom liking the fresca martini
made with watermelon and lime. The sunset martini (citron vodka, coconut rum, pineapple, grenadine) was also very good. |
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We were just a little hammered when we were done. |
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Fortunately, all we had to do was walk to the beautiful main
dining room from there. |
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We got our table for two, where we were served by a pair of
Serbian gentlemen, Dimitrije and Marko. Bread was served with
whipped cream cheese, hummus, and butter each night, and we
really enjoyed all three options. |
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We foolishly ordered the very foo-foo Celebrity drink of
the day, and we're pretty sure that other diners pointed and
laughed, but it sure went down easy. Plus, when we look this
good, who cares?
Day 3 >
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