{Canadian Cruise Vacation} Day Two

Our first night on the cruise ship was a success. Lauren slept on the couch bed all by her self. The three sides of the couch created walls and the fourth wall was created by a Shrunks brand blow up mattress rail. We stuffed pillows down the cracks of the couch to give her some padding. The set up was great and she did great. I, on the other hand, did not sleep so well. I was up by 3am and dressed and wandering around the ship by 4:30am. The seas got rough overnight and I was having a very hard time sleeping.


While Lauren and Justin were back in the stateroom asleep, I headed to the Lido where I drank hot chocolate and watched my first sunrise over the ocean. It was beautiful. By 6:30am, breakfast was served, so I had something to eat and then went back to our room.Before I left I asked one of the cooks if we were experiencing normal seas and he said that it is rougher than usual if there are whitecaps. I crawled back in to bed and slept another hour or so before I got woke up by this cute little face who really enjoyed having breakfast in bed. (I brought some Cheerios up from the Lido for her)


Checking out the ocean outside. So sweet.

Then we headed back to the Lido around 9:30am so these two could have breakfast. Lauren ate fresh fruit medley, bananas, turkey sausage and Cheerios. I enjoyed lots and lots of fresh squeezed orange juice and Justin had waffles with berries among other things.

I used the camera timer to take this picture of the three of us at breakfast.

At 10:30, we headed to a kitchen tour. It was AMAZING! 90% of the food for the 1,950 guests and an additional 800 crew members are prepared in this kitchen.


The first area was the dish washing area. The area is divided in to two. The first part is only for glassware and the second part is for all the chinaware. For the evening meal alone, there are two crew members specifically assigned to glass washing and 5 to the main dish washing area. They wash approximately 3,000 dinner plates, 7,000 dessert plates, 2,000 side plates, 5,000 glasses each night, plus ramekins, plate covers, silver cutlery, trays and many other items.

The next area was the cold kitchen where everything is prepared and then placed in to refrigerators so the steward can just reach in and grab the dish that needs to be served.






The baker and his staff prepare over 20 different kinds of bread per day including 120 loaves of bread and 4,000 dinner rolls plus croissants and other pastries.


Those soup kettles each hold 48 gallons of soup. The large ovens are where they roast all of their meats.

The man in the center is the Executive Chef Walter Blakemore.


Next was the pastry shop where all the cookies, pies, chocolates, petite fours, etc. are created.



The last kitchen on the tour was the Pinnacle kitchen (a private restaurant on the ship).

When our tour ended, Lauren found the stairs. This girl loves stairs!


As we were walking around the ship, we found this little cut out area with a window seat. Lauren climbed up there and was watching out the window.


By nap time, the seas were starting to get a little rougher, and we were moving enough that I was no longer sea sick from the slight movement.


Justin videoed a lot. He we out on the deck and was taping the waves.

We decided we wanted to go for a walk outside before lunch, so we headed back to the room to get bundled up and load Lauren in the stroller.


When we arrived at the elevator, we knew the seas were rougher than usual. Sea sick bags had been placed throughout the ship.

We went for a walk outside around the entire ship on deck 3. Three laps equaled a mile.

Waves crashing in to the boat. Normally, the boat just glides along with no crashing. That spray was about 5 stories tall.

Justin leaning over the aft of the ship to check out the propellers. He likes that sort of thing.

Our next stop was lunch. Lauren enjoyed Cheerios in a water goblet as an appetizer.

Trying on the napkin crown.

Bread and butter, calamari for me. A beet, corn and romaine salad for Lauren. Justin had a Caesar Salad.

 

 

Justin and I both had some truffled mac n cheese and Lauren had chicken and veggies.

After lunch, we headed back to our room to take a nap.



After Lauren and I took a nice nap (and Justin went to a Mixology class where he learned how to make a Cucumber Lime Smash, a Tropical Cable Car and a Grapefruit Cosmopolitan) we decided to order some room service. We ordered Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce, a Chef Salad, and a Triple Decker Club Sandwich. We also ordered a cheese plate and a grilled chicken and avocado sandwich (hold the bread) for Lauren.




After our late afternoon snack, or meal really, we headed to the 10th floor Crows Nest to let Lauren wander around a bit. The seas were so rough that we were not letting her walk around in our room for fear of her falling and crashing in to something.

We headed back to our room at 7:45pm to get ready for our 8:30pm dinner reservation and found that our room steward had already prepared our room for the evening and left us with another towel animal. This time an elephant and Lauren just thought it was the greatest thing ever!





We went down to dinner (and Lauren tired on her napkin hat again) and Lauren had the fresh fruit platter, grilled chicken and vegetables followed by more fruit for dessert. They had her food all prepared for her when we arrived this time. They were so nice and accommodating of her allergies.

 

I had the jumbo shrimp cocktail, a smoked salmon, pear and fennel salad and orecchiette with crab tossed in onion garlic, tomato, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, pancetta and arugula. It was good, but had way too much pasta.

 

For dinner Justin had the Filet of Beef Wellington.

One of the dining stewards stopped by with an origami frog he made for Lauren to play with. It was so fun and when you pushed down on the back of the frog, it hopped forward and Lauren just thought that was the coolest thing ever. Then the Assistant Dining Room Manager came over and played with Lauren too. He was so sweet and from Spain.