The World’s Longest Miracle Review, Part 6featured
When we woke up today, the seas were a little rough but there was a bit of sun and a lot of clouds. So we did as usual and got dressed in our pool gear and headed up to Horatio’s for breakfast. A half-hour and lots of broken plates later (OPA!), we headed outside to the adults-only area. It was nearly empty. We should have taken that as a hint.
Not long after we sat out and got in the pool, the sky opened up and the rain started coming down. So we went back to the room to get changed and watch a little TV. We found our past guest invitations- and pins- in our mailbox. The past guest party would be the next day (Grand Turk) so pretty short notice. The party is usually held later in the week and the invites are usually on the bed with the Capers.
We relaxed in our cabin for a few hours before heading down for lunch. The rain was intermittent. It would be sunny one moment and raining the next. This kind of weather followed us for the rest of the cruise (except for the respite we got the day we were in Half Moon Cay). Horatio’s wasn’t that busy when we went down, likely because people were either swimming in the rain or around the ship participating in the many activities they had (trivia, bingo, scavenger hunts, etc). Today was also the Water Wars competition and the Hairy Chest competition. No clue if those got off because we never attend those.
Lunch was FANTASTIC today. I was increasingly surprised by the quality of the food on the Lido deck. It was really the best Lido food we’d had on any cruise. Highlights? They had chicken wontons at the Chinese station which were absolutely delicious and had a line of their own. The Chinese station offers maybe 7 different dipping sauces, too. They were almost as good as the wontons I get at my local Chinese place. They had tiramisu cheesecake for dessert and it was one of the best things I ate all week. It almost tasted like the tiramisu cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. Fantastic.
A few pics from lunch…
Mom had purchased the Fountain Fun Card because she’s addicted to diet Coke and not many people know this, but you can also use it to get juice from the bar. They used to have our dearly departed fruit punch, even when it was taken out of the juice machines. So when Mom went to go get a fruit punch, she was a bit surprised to be given this:
That yummy fruit punch is gone. If you want fruit punch now, they will give you orange juice mixed with grenadine. Yech!
We headed back to the room after lunch. Even if the sun came out, we were already dressed and didn’t really want to get back into our swim suits. We hung out on the balcony a bit and then went around the ship. Even when you think there’s nothing to do on a rainy day, the ship really is a destination in itself and a walk in the atrium and along the promenade can be pretty entertaining in itself.
Can you see Stephanie? I took this pic by Mom’s door while she was standing by our door.
Our hallway
Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab
The Metropolis Atrium
Shopping on the Yellow Brick Road
Watching the waves from Deck 2
The fountain outside of Frankie & Johnnie’s
Frankie & Johnnie’s
The Patisserie
The Casino Bar
We wanted a primo table for tea, so we headed down a little early. Tea today was a bit more crowded because of the weather (and word of mouth from people watching the free pastries being handed out) but a little more quiet because no kids were there. Because it was so crowded, people couldn’t find seats and were getting testy with the servers. “Can I have a doughnut?” “I cant serve you if you aren’t at a table.” “Just give me a doughnut.” “I’m sorry, sir, I can’t.” “Well, then I’ll be reporting you to the Purser.” “I’m sorry, sir, there’s nothing I can do unless you find a seat.” It’s not their fault you didn’t come down to snag a table early. I hate when the staff get the brunt of the passengers frustrations when it’s of no fault of their own. We get our seats at the shows or at afternoon tea a minimum of a half-hour early. We give up some of our time to make sure we have good seats or a place to sip tea. I don’t feel bad for you because you were galavanting around the ship and thought you could show up last minute and expect the staff and passengers to accommodate you. I think after today is when they opened up the Aradiane Room (a small annex of the Bacchus dining room) for tea. Even though they constantly reset the tables and keep serving after some people leave, the lack of patience shown by some of the passengers really left them no choice.
Stephanie was amazed by her super shiny spoon.
The tea snacks cart
Homemade Sugar Doughnut
Hazelnut Meringue
Lemon Meringue Tart
Enjoying the peace, music and of course, the tea
We split up after tea. Mom and grandma went upstairs and Stephanie and I went to the Phantom for “The Takeaway Show,” which was a trivia contest mixed in with a little dancing. It was fun to watch, but we left after about 20 minutes.
We headed back to the room and Mom called us from the Lido deck, where she and grandma were having a snack. I guess it’s true what they say…when there’s nothing else to do on a cruise ship, you can always eat! I took a look at tonight’s dinner menu and didn’t care for it so I decided to grab a bite before dinner so if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t really care because I wouldn’t be hungry. We headed for the grill, and we found the mid-ship pool area to be flooded! I guess it was raining harder than we thought!
Some grill food pics…
We headed back to the room after grazing on some hotdogs and makeshift nachos (they have homemade chips, cheese, chili and pico de gallo on an everyday basis, so if you want nachos, they’re yours to assemble) to relax a bit and get changed for dinner.
We headed down to the Bacchus around 6:10pm. I never understood why people with confirmed dining lined up ten minutes before the dining room opened, or waiting in line to enter the dining room for that matter, when you have a confirmed table. Karuna came over to chat with us for a bit before our servers came over.
I really wanted to go to the supper club tonight. Save for one starter, I really don’t care for tonight’s menu. Mom still didn’t want to go to the supper club and Stephanie’s favorite meal on the boat was, go figure, the SPA chicken dish they serve tonight. So my hands were tied. I grabbed a bite before dinner and picked at my food. Mom started with her usual of shrimp cocktail and caesar salad. She was a bit miffed that they weren’t offering her freshly grated cheese when all of the other servers were offering it to their tables. She didn’t ask because it seemed like they were too busy (one of the other tables kept sending them back to the galley for more food, various sauces and they were frazzled). She had the short ribs for dinner and thought they weren’t as good as they usually were, and had the cheesecake for dessert and thought it was pretty good. Stephanie started with a fruit cocktail, which was very fresh and sweet, and the french onion soup, which was also very good. She had the SPA chicken for her entree but was disappointed that the berry sauce was served in small dollops on the plate instead of in a cup, so she asked Jephson to grab her some more. She had WCMC for dessert and thought it was very rich and chocolatey…like usual. I started with the prosciutto and melon, which they thankfully revamped and took out the eggplant (which was an odd taste and texture and kind of the odd man out with a traditional prosciutto and melon presentation) and it was excellent. I should have ordered another. I also had the chicken quesadilla, which was just okay this time. I picked at it. I ordered the SPA chicken and Jephson laughed at me! He said he had never taken an order from the SPA menu before. I should have taken that more seriously. The berry sauce was okay, but the chicken was bland as could be. It was just plain grilled chicken with no flavor. It’s a good thing I ate before dinner! I had the strawberry cheesecake for dessert and I thought the one from room service was much better and it wasn’t nearly as good as the tiramisu cheesecake from lunch.
French Onion Soup
Prosciutto Ruffles
Fruit Cocktail
Smoked Chicken Quesadilla
Broiled Supreme of Free Range Chicken
Braised Style Short Ribs from Aged Premium American Beef
Warm Chocolate Melting Cake
Strawberry Cheesecake
We took a quick walk on the promenade to watch the sunset after dinner. The decks were still wet, so I guess the rain had only stopped recently, but the skies were clearer and the seas were calmer.
We stopped back at the room before going to check in with Mom and grandma and we found our Capers, some more chocolates and another towel animal!
Grandma wanted pizza for dinner, and I decided to get her some garlic bread, too, because in all of our cruises, we’d never had it and no one ever talks about it or orders it. Oh.My.God it was AMAZING! It’s like the pizza place’s little secret. They make it fresh to order, so you’ll be waiting around 7 minutes for it, but it’s crispy and very garlic-ey. Grandma had two orders of it with her pizza! She also agreed with me that the cheesecake from room service eclipsed the dessert cheesecake tonight.
The show tonight was Marcus Monroe, a juggler, so we skipped it. Stephanie and I wanted to hit the clubs tonight anyways, so we went back to the room to freshen up and relax a bit before heading out to our first stop: Sam’s Piano Bar for “Singalong with Peter.” It was pretty crowded in there. We had some drinks and sang along for a bit before heading out to our next stop.
We checked in at Frankie & Johnnie’s because we wanted to see Music Unlimited as many times as we could because they’re THAT fabulous, but it was packed again so we headed to the Madhatter for karaoke with KaraoKAY and to see the Legends auditions. KaraoKAY was one of the best parts of our trip. She is HILARIOUS. The legends auditions were lackluster. There was a guy who sang some song about sex that had me (and everyone else) almost rolling on the floor. He was at karaoke every night and he had the best performances. Another woman did “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and was SO amazing. Karao-KAY decided that no one would want to take the mike after such an amazing performance and that she should bring the talent level back to where it should be, so she performed “And I Am Telling You” herself. If you watch American Idol, you’ll remember Norman Gentile’s performance of this in the semi finals. Karao-KAY’s performance was much in the vein of that. I haven’t laughed so hard in my LIFE! If you’re on the Miracle and see in the Capers that Karao-KAY is hosting, make karaoke a priority.
It was getting pretty late, so we decided to check back into Frankie & Johnnie’s because we really wanted to see Music Unlimited and there were finally some free seats. At one point, they did “Freebird,” and one of them actually did the guitar solo. If you know the song (and please don’t tell me you don’t), you’ll know how difficult it is. It was unbelievable! They’re SO amazing! I think they’re always on the Miracle because they’re part of the Beatles show (“Ticket to Ride”), so go see them. You won’t regret it.
It was getting really late and we realized we missed most of the 80s Party Extravaganza in the disco. Oh well. Frankie and Johnnie’s is a designated smoking area and the smoke was getting pretty heavy and drying my eyes out, so we left and went walking around the boat and sat in the atrium “people watching” for a bit.
We headed back to the room and decided we should probably eat so we don’t wake up with headaches but we were too tired to go upstairs, so we ordered room service. I don’t remember what Stephanie got because I don’t have any pictures of it, but I got the roast beef sandwich (fantastic!), a veggie plate (with the best blue cheese dip ever!) and some of that really good cheesecake.
Roast Beef & Brie
Vegetable Sticks & Blue Cheese Dip
Cheesecake
We watched movies and went to bed pretty late. It worked out well, though, because tomorrow was Grand Turk and the only thing we had planned was a trip to Margaritaville.
Up next: Rum and Rain in Grand Turk!
Today’s Lido Lunch Menus
Today’s Lido Dinner Menu
The Deli Menu
