SUGGESTIONS

O.K.  It is now time for my suggestions; my “Improvements Needed” list.  Please note that this is not a “List of Complaints”.  They are simply suggestions that I think might have made our time on the Jewel just a bit nicer.

Iced Tea!!!  I want more convenient access to Iced Tea and Lemonade.  This is the same suggestion that I would make to Carnival Cruise Lines.  I do not understand why keeping guests hydrated isn’t more of a concern.  

Offer “Dance Lessons” every day.  The only dance lessons were Argentine Tango lessons; 30 minutes – one time only.  Cruise Ships pay some very well trained and experienced dancers to entertain guests on board.  That is a lot of “talent” going to waste.  Why not have those individuals provide “lessons” each afternoon?  And then have a “Party” each night for couple to put into practice what they learned earlier in the day.

There is a quiet renaissance taking place in America.  Ballroom dancing is happening.  And not just among us Boomers.  There is a great interest coming from those young kids – those in their late 20’s and early 30’s.  Dance studios all across America are open for business.  Party nights are packed with couples enjoying dancing.  Cruise Lines take note: The first Cruise Line to this party will win.

It would be nice to “jazz” up the morning breakfast buffet in the Windjammer.  At least one side of just one the several buffet bars should feature an International theme.  Perhaps one morning: French crepes.  The next: Mexican chorizo and eggs.  The list is long indeed of traditional breakfast recipes that could be enjoyed.

I know this is going to sound silly… (Carnival Cruise Lines does this)…  Hey, RC: Where is the chocolate when I return to my stateroom at 1 AM?

THE RUSSELLS

One Friday night, just as we had ordered our dessert – Key Lime Pie – we had a pleasant surprise.  One of the treats of cruising is the opportunity to meet new people.  The couple that normally sat at the table-for-two next to ours did not come to dinner, so the table was vacant.  Joni and I were simply enjoying a quiet romantic together, when Joni looked up and saw a “senior” couple, Jim and Pat Russell from Cleveland, walking in our direction.

Seeing the empty table next to ours, Pat says to Jim, “It’s K.C. and Joni. It looks like we could sit here.”

We had met the Russells on the dance floor.  Jim was 82 yrs. old, and Pat was quick to tell us that in less than two weeks, she would be an, “Octogenarian”.  They were a happy and effervescent “young” couple who loved to dance.  They told us that they take “about” 3 cruises each year!

Their unexpected arrival threw the Tides staff into a bit of disarray.  I quickly gave Eder a nod of my head indicating that all was O.K. with us.  Within just a minute, the red-jacketed Head Waiter showed up.  I finally got to see what the Head Waiter gets paid to do.  For the next few minutes he took over.  He quickly determined how to “rebalance” the loss of the invisible equilibrium that kept everything working smoothly.  He gladly listened…

The Russells explained that they had left their normal “early dining” table to go dancing!  Did you note that I said the Russells were 82 and 80 yrs. old???  Can’t you just hear that conversation?  

“Come on, Jim.  Let’s skip dessert.  The band is playing and I wanna dance...” 

“O.K., sweetheart.  Whatever you want.  What about dessert?”

“It’s no big deal.  We will just go crash the “late dining” and find us an empty table…”

When the Head Waiter determined that all that was needed was a couple of desserts he simply raised his hand.  Eder seemed to appear out of nowhere... somehow intuitively knowing to bring two Dessert Menus.   The Head Waiter confirmed the order: Two pieces of Key Lime pie.  Balance had been restored to the Tides Dining Room. 

So... Joni and I sat and visited, and laughed, and swapped dance stories, and ate Key Lime Pie with the Russells.  Truly, this is on of the joys of cruising.  Perhaps we will meet Jim and Pat again, on some cruise ship dance floor, sailing across the vastness of the Sea.

MORE GREAT FOOD

Thursday night was "Lobster Night".  The food is fantastic everyday, but it seems as though the night they serve Lobster is always a very popular night.

I started the evening meal with Roasted Peach Soup.  If you have never roasted fresh peaches on an outdoor grill in the summertime, you have no point of reference for the decadent flavor that comes from an ordinary peach when it is slow roasted over a flame.  It is like nothing else I've ever tasted.  Delicious beyond description.  Especially when served warm with cold Breyers vanilla ice cream.  Well, this soup, served chilled, captured that amazing flavor.

BROILED LOBSTER TAIL

And then the lobster arrived.  I will say that in comparison to the other ships on which I've cruised, RC has the very best lobster.  It was a very generous size and it was broiled perfectly; not over cooked and tough.  No, this was really very delicious.

Dessert was a Grand Marnier Souffle with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Friday was our one and only Sea Day.  Truly the days spent entirely at Sea are my favorite of all.  There is nothing quite like it.

Lunch was on what is called on some ships the Lido Deck.  Surrounded by blue sea, we enjoyed BBQ chicken and beef ribs.  I tried a dessert called Clafouti, which is a french custard topped with fresh blueberries.  How do you say, "Yum", in French?

CLAFOUTI

A PERFECT PLACE FOR LUNCH

Dinner was again, one of my very favorite meals; Roasted Lamb Shank.  It was served with a roasted pumpkin and Cabernet sauce.  Simply amazing; rich and satisfying. Appetizer: another chilled soup; Pineapple and Lychee Soup.  Dessert: Key Lime Pie.

MY FAVORITE LUNCH

I don't remember what day it was served, I think perhaps Monday, in the Windjammer Buffet they featured Oxtail Stew.  My, oh my.  It was so delicious I had it for DESSERT!  Fall off the bone tender.  Full of that rich beef flavor that can only be found in a cut such as oxtails.  At home I usually fix oxtails with more allspice than what I detected in this stew, but I must admit that I'm a huge fan of allspice, and probably tend to over use it.  Trust me... I'm not complaining.  It was very, very good.  A wonderful lunch....

OXTAIL STEW

IMPORTANT BARBADOS INFO: SI ROBERTSON WON'T BE HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY

IMPORTANT BARBADOS NOTE #1: 

Barbados Clothing Note:  Do NOT wear any camo clothing on Barbados.  Not shirts.  Not pants.  No camo belts, bandandas.  NO CAMO.  It is illegal, and there is much online to indicate they take this matter seriously and do enforce this law.

IMPORTANT BARBADOS NOTE #2:

Prices in Barbados are normally shown in BARBADOS DOLLARS!   The exchange rate is 2 B$ for 1 US$.

BABADOS: I’LL BE BACK

I will come back to this place. 

For many years, 7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island has been the standard by which I measured all other beaches.  Its beautiful sand and gentle surf were ever in my mind as the perfect conditions for a day beneath a tropical sun.  The color of the water seemed even to my color blind eyes a pleasure.  And yet, today I learned that a greater perfection existed.  

Today I experienced a beach that defies my ability as a wordsmith to explain.  I will try, but fail.   I will in vain search through the vocabulary of man to describe a place that seems made by the Divine.  You think I exaggerate, but I do not.  This place… this beach… is found on a 166 square mile island paradise called Barbados.  The beach: Brownes Beach which overlooks pristine Carlisle Bay.

BROWNES BEACH - BARBADOS

The sand was like walking in sugar… soft white sugar.  Never before have I walked on a sun soaked beach on an 87 degree day where the sand was “cool” beneath my feet.  I know it sounds impossible, right?  But it was cool… it really was.  I don’t know how.  It just was.  I did hear someone say that it is because the sand is so perfectly white.  It absorbs very little heat, but rather, it reflects it back to the sky.  Whatever the reason, I do not care.  I just want to come back to this amazing place.  Again.  And again… and again.

And the colors… Please note: I’m am medically certifiable color blind… but the colors were like nothing I have ever seen before.  The white sand clearly visible beneath the crystal surf, then somehow turning a light bluish silver, and then as if painted by God himself, I saw strand after strand of ever darkening shades of blue like I have never seen before.  All of this ending in a stripe of brilliant dark blue drawn directly beneath a beautiful light blue sky dotted with perfectly white puffs of clouds.  I will come back to this place.

As I lounged under a dark green canvas umbrella, I could smell lobster being grilled at Lobster Alive, a small beachfront café that had provided us with a couple of lounges and the umbrella for the price of… are you ready for this?...  $15 dollars US!!!  This included discounts on drinks, access to the necessary rooms.  Fifteen Bucks!!!  I will come back to this place.

THE VIEW FROM UNDER MY HAT - I THINK I'LL TAKE A NAP

Now here is the scoop if you are considering going to Browns Beach.  Your taxi ride will cost you $5 per person each way.  And… they will drop you off at a place called the Boatyard. The Boatyard is a beachfront restaurant that will offer you a bunch of “stuff” for a whole lot more money.  But… if you are willing to walk just a 1 minute stroll down the street from the Boatyard you will find Lobster Alive.  There you will find someone who is eager to get you “set-up” for your day at the beach.  Simple as that. 

For your return to the ship, no worries.  As a matter of fact, as Joni and I were gathering up our stuff getting ready to return to the ship, I put my arms around Joni and gave her a kiss.  It was then that I heard someone saying, in clearly a Barbadian accent, “Hey!  Romeo and Juliet.  Do you need a taxi back to the ship?”   It took us a moment, and then we realized that he was talking to us.

“Yes.  Sure”, was our embarrassed response. 

Simple as that, and we were on our way back. 

This might be a good place to comment about taxi drivers.  Some drivers seem processed of the Devil, because they drive like the notable “bat out of Hell”; like the one we had several years ago on a ride from Miami International Airport (MIA) to the Holiday Inn across the street from the Port.  I distinctly remember looking up at the speedometer and seeing the needle at 70 mph as we entered a tight curving exit ramp that was clearly marked 25 MPH!!!!

However, there are more great ones than bad ones, and the young Barbadian driver who would take us back to the Jewel of the Seas was, as we say back home, “A hoot!”  He cheerfully got us in this van, and easily headed back to the ship, singing as he drove down the clean and beautiful streets of this vibrant tropical city.  When suddenly… he stopped.  Right in the middle of the street.  He just slowed down and stopped.

For what, you ask.  It seemed as though he had spotted a pretty young women walking down the sidewalk.  He leaned out the window and said, “Excuse me, but could you please give me directions?”

She gave him an odd look and replied, “Directions?”

To which he, with a bright smile said, “Yes, directions.  Can you tell me the quickest way to your heart?”

This guy was in a league of his own.  She smiled back at him, shook her head in flirtatious disbelief and walked away…  And we were then back on our way back to the Jewel.

DOMINICA – Pronounced: dom i neek a

Juxtaposition….

It seemed very odd.  In fact, odd is not a “big” enough word for what I was sensing.  In a, “Which one of these things does not belong with the others?” sort of way, with which we are all so familiar on standardized academic testing, something seemed very odd – out of place.  As children, we are taught in school that man is king.  Man is positioned at the top of the animal / “all living things” pyramid.  We make salad with the plants and we roast the animals.  If it is in our way, we cut it down.  As singer /song writer, Joni Mitchell wrote,  “They paved paradise and put in a parking lot.”  As I think about it now, even the idea of me standing there only added to the oddness.

I was standing at the entrance to the 17,000 acre Morne Trois Pitons National Park, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.  I was about to step into a protected Rainforest located high in the mountains of Dominica.  But before I started my 10 minute trek along a wet and rocky path to see Trafalgar Falls, I turned around and saw the buses.  Tour buses and vans!!  I looked up at the road that brought us to this spot.  I looked up and saw the electric power lines that brought convenience to the building where we would buy our $5 ticket.

And I realized…  All of this was a strange juxtaposition.   In reality, I was never going to get very far from what had been created to enable me to enjoy this lush piece of nature’s WILDerness.  A muddy, rocky path was all that would keep me from falling into this vast tropical world, this Sea of Green, that would swallow me up in a minute if it were not for my ability to outsmart it… if only but for just a very few brief minutes.  

I was not standing there because I was the biggest, or fastest, or strongest.  I was standing there, in this wild and wonderful place, because of my ability for this moment to move my pieces of the game into my current position.  I was there because of my ability to adapt.  In the same way that the Jewel of the Seas kept the vastness of the sea from swallowing me, only a small rocky path, worn down by the footsteps of hundreds of people trying to get a peek behind the curtain… only that path would protect me… would keep the lush vastness of the rainforest from swallowing me whole.

"CYRIQUE" (Guinotia dentata) LAND CRAB FOUND IN THE RAINFOREST

And for one brief moment I realized that I better keep my eyes open because the game is not over.  (Have you seen the movie “Jumanji”?) My large and powerful opponent might very well be prepared to make her next move. 

Dominica is NOT beaches.  It is NOT shopping.  It is nature.  It is a jungle.  Bring hiking shoes.

One additional note concerning Dominica:

Your ship will arrive at the capital city, Roseau.  It will appear cluttered and dingy.  The streets will seem narrow.  It will appear poor.  That is because it is.  The annual per capita income in less than $7,000.   In St. Kitts that number is just under $13,000.  I think it is important that we keep these numbers in mind as we visit the Islands.  

GREAT FOOD

Each day we were treated to a great variety of delicious food.  Delicious entrees, scrumptious desserts, delightful breads and pastries... it was all available.

On night #3 we began our dinner with Roasted Garlic Soup.  It was everything I expected it to be.  Intensely garlicky and creamy.  What is not to like about this?  Really?  This was followed with perfectly roasted Roast Pork Tenderloin wrapped in prosciutto.  It was tender and delicious.  Joni enjoyed the Chicken Marsala, one of her favorites.  Dinner was finished with Tiramisu and a cup a black coffee.

ROAST PORK TENDERLOIN

CHICKEN MARSALA

TIRAMISU

On the forth night in the Tides Dining Room I enjoyed perhaps my favorite meal of the cruise.  I was so happy to see Rack of Lamb on the menu posted just outside the Dining Room.

I started with dinner with chilled Mango and Pineapple soup. It was light, and cool, and fruity, and perfectly refreshing. I could have made a meal on just this. This was followed with the lamb served on a bed of mashed parsnips... so tender that I could cut it with my fork.  Much lighter herbs than how the Greeks in the Detroit area typically serve this dish.  It was really very good.