Tasmania to Tokyo – At Sea – Day 31 can be found be here.
Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
It’s – another sea day! Up at 8:45 am so that we can get to La Terrazza before the crush. After yesterday’s breakfast challenges two perfect eggs Benedict arrive in record time (and beneath Restaurant Manager Macdon’s steely gaze).
With that issue addressed, we are free to seek out fresh, new annoyances to conquer – and so we turn our attention to the chai latte.
It goes without saying that Australia makes excellent coffee, and their chai lattes have proven to be (almost) as efficacious. Cue our arrival to the Silver Moon, where the chai lattes could be described as hit-or-miss – or more accurately as abysmal.
(To be fair, almost all other drinks at the Arts Cafe – and indeed at Dolce Vita, SALT Bar and Panorama – are excellent. But to every rule, an exception.)
So, this morning we set out to figure out the magic words that would enable the Arts Cafe to replicate a proper Australian chai latte. I start with asking for a Chai Latte that is ‘extra, extra strong’ – which produces the right amount of chai-ness, but a complete absence of sweetness.
Refusing to be foiled, we turn to our butler for assistance. He takes detailed notes, disappears and returns shortly thereafter with two mugs filled with equally non-chai latte type drinks. They are also green. Ah, well. The gesture is appreciated.
My wife intends to have the barista sit down and go through the chai latte step-by-step to see where exactly they are going wrong, but in the meantime – reading / writing / homework.
This we follow with walkies, where we learn that the heat has grown from pleasant to oppressive. We manage less than 30 of our usual 45 minutes before we are forced to retreat to Spaccanapoli for lunch. We are pleasantly surprised to discover that not only does Spaccanapoli have its own ice cream:
They also offer cones:
Another benefit of an extended cruise – the chance to find out all the little hidden Easter eggs.
Off to bean bag toss, which is organized slightly differently today – we are paired up, rather than organized in two different teams – and there are only two rounds before a winner is declared. Still an enjoyable experience, and everyone is awarded participation points.
Back to the room to submit our arrival declaration to the Indonesian authorities. We are duly rewarded with a QR code. Unfortunately, my attempts to download an offline copy of the Indonesian to English dictionary for Google Translate are thwarted. Hopefully I can rectify that once I’m no longer on the Moon’s wifi.
Our daughter then heads off to art class, where she makes some beautiful bracelets:
My son and I depart for the Observation Library for a game of chess. I manage to convert one of my pawns to a queen and just about have him when I make a fatal mistake. Clearly his previous games against Guest Lecturer Coen have paid off.
Down to bingo – no winners amongst us – and then on to trivia. The questions run from A to Z today – there are 26 questions, and each answer begins with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. We correctly identify the site of the first Grand Prix (Le Mans) and the figure in Greek mythology whose name means “all-gifted” (Pandora), but learn that the Zagros mountain range is in Iran, not Italy. Our near perfect score is sufficient for second place.
My wife and I enjoy a drink on the verandah:
And then it’s time for dinner at La Dame:
Tonight’s menu:
The menu is quite similar to that on the expedition ships, with the occasional addition – the escargot, bouillabaisse, and the lobster tail all seem unfamiliar.
We start with a carrot ginger soup as an amouse bouche:
Then move on to escargot:
And caviar for our appetizers:
Followed by lobster bisque:
And bouillabaisse:
And then, for our mains, I have the rack of lamb with an extra lobster tail and truffled caviar:
While everyone else gets the filet of beef:
And for dessert, the souffle:
And the chocolate croquant:
One small misstep as the kids are given small portions of the beef filets – we had thought they were only doing small portions of the bisque, and not the rest of the meal – but this is quickly rectified. A fabulous meal, though a lot of food as always.
My wife and I drop by SALT Bar for a drink after. It’s full the first time we try, but we nab a few seats on the second attempt – once the show up at the pool bar has started. I ask Carlos for ‘something like a mai tai’, and he brings me a mai tai. Fair enough!
Then time for bed – one last chance to get caught up before we make landfall.