After we sailed out of Glacier Bay, Ross and I played another game we brought on board with us called Carcassonne
We refer to our version as "The Special Collector's Edition of Carcassonne" because about 10 years ago when we first learned to play it, the original game was out of print. I bought blank wooden tiles and hand painted them to make our own copy.
Since we don't actually own the real game and didn't have internet access, we had to remember the scoring rules. We had a little trouble, but we eventually agreed that it was a tie game.
In the afternoon we attended a wine tasting and lecture by Master of Wine James Cluer.
We were provided with 4 different wines to try during the lecture. I am not much of a wine drinker, but my favorite was the white, second from the left which was Grüner Veltliner, Schloss Gobelsburg from Kamptal Austria, 2009.
Since we missed our usual afternoon tea to attend the wine tasting, we started getting hungry around 5:30pm. We thought we would order a little something from room service to hold us until our late dinner seating.
Well, ordering room service turned out to be more complicated than we thought. There is a room service menu, but it specifically says that you should order from the main dining room menu during lunch and dinner hours. So Ross went downstairs to view the dinner menu which is always posted outside of the dining room. It was French night so we thought we'd split the escargot appetizer and each get a cup of soup.
At about 5:45pm, we called the room service number to place our order. Room service is handled by the room stewards (i.e. housekeeping) and the woman who answered the phone couldn't understand Ross. She said she wanted us to write our order down and she would come to our room to take it from us. She showed up about 15 minutes later, but when she read the order she said, "The main dinning room doesn't open until 6:15pm, so I can't get this for you right away." We knew that and said we were fine waiting until she could get the food.
So we had waited about 30 minutes more when the phone rang. I answered and a woman said, "I have the order for room 804-," but then the phone immediately disconnected. I jokingly said to Ross, " Are we supposed to go pick the food up ourselves?"
We waited another 30 min after the mystery phone call without our food. I was growing antsy because it had been almost an hour since we made the original order. Ross called the room service number again and our own room steward answered. Ross told her that we'd ordered room service earlier and it hadn't showed up. She said that she was sorry as she had just gotten the order and was taking it to the dining room right away.
So another 15 minutes later, at 7:15pm, we finally got our room service. It came an hour and a half after we ordered it and did not arrive piping hot.
We refer to our version as "The Special Collector's Edition of Carcassonne" because about 10 years ago when we first learned to play it, the original game was out of print. I bought blank wooden tiles and hand painted them to make our own copy.
Since we don't actually own the real game and didn't have internet access, we had to remember the scoring rules. We had a little trouble, but we eventually agreed that it was a tie game.
In the afternoon we attended a wine tasting and lecture by Master of Wine James Cluer.
We were provided with 4 different wines to try during the lecture. I am not much of a wine drinker, but my favorite was the white, second from the left which was Grüner Veltliner, Schloss Gobelsburg from Kamptal Austria, 2009.
Since we missed our usual afternoon tea to attend the wine tasting, we started getting hungry around 5:30pm. We thought we would order a little something from room service to hold us until our late dinner seating.
Well, ordering room service turned out to be more complicated than we thought. There is a room service menu, but it specifically says that you should order from the main dining room menu during lunch and dinner hours. So Ross went downstairs to view the dinner menu which is always posted outside of the dining room. It was French night so we thought we'd split the escargot appetizer and each get a cup of soup.
At about 5:45pm, we called the room service number to place our order. Room service is handled by the room stewards (i.e. housekeeping) and the woman who answered the phone couldn't understand Ross. She said she wanted us to write our order down and she would come to our room to take it from us. She showed up about 15 minutes later, but when she read the order she said, "The main dinning room doesn't open until 6:15pm, so I can't get this for you right away." We knew that and said we were fine waiting until she could get the food.
So we had waited about 30 minutes more when the phone rang. I answered and a woman said, "I have the order for room 804-," but then the phone immediately disconnected. I jokingly said to Ross, " Are we supposed to go pick the food up ourselves?"
We waited another 30 min after the mystery phone call without our food. I was growing antsy because it had been almost an hour since we made the original order. Ross called the room service number again and our own room steward answered. Ross told her that we'd ordered room service earlier and it hadn't showed up. She said that she was sorry as she had just gotten the order and was taking it to the dining room right away.
So another 15 minutes later, at 7:15pm, we finally got our room service. It came an hour and a half after we ordered it and did not arrive piping hot.
The escargots were not very good. They were not as delicate as they should have been, almost chewy. I wonder if that was because they had been sitting too long before we ate them.
I really like French onion soup, bit this just wasn't hot enough. The cheese had cooled and hardened on the crouton.
I really like French onion soup, bit this just wasn't hot enough. The cheese had cooled and hardened on the crouton.
Ross ordered the vichyssoise which held up better. It had a silky texture and a nice rich flavor.
By the time we had finished eating, it was time to get ready to go to dinner. lol. :) While we were getting ready, I spotted a whale out our balcony window. I ran and grabbed my real camera and we watched spotted blowholes and some tails for several minutes. We even saw one really big splash, but unfortunately missed the jump that caused it. I don't have any photos for you from my phone, but I will try to post them from my other camera later.
Soon it was time to get ready for dinner. It was an informal night, which is dressier than a casual night. Jackets are required for men and most wore a suit.
Since it was French night we tried a bottle that was recommended at the wine lecture earlier in the day. I didn't like it all that much because it seemed thin and short, but as I said, I am somewhat of a wine novice.
I decided to try the French onion soup again, which was very hot this time and much better than our room service version.
Ross ordered the Soupe de Poisson (Creamy Fish Soup with Saffron and Rouille Croutons) which was okay.
We both had the salad with smoked duck breast and caramelized walnuts. Both of us thought the duck meat was exceptionally tender and delicious.
We also both ordered the Rack of Lamb which was I thought was a little tougher than the one we had at Prego, but I loved the herb crust on this one.
When I saw Sauternes (Chateau Rieussec, 2002) on the dessert menu, I thought this would be a perfect occasion to have a glass. The Sauternes was excellent, with a sweet, but complex flavor.
For dessert we ordered the Grand Marnier Souffle. After our waiter, Peter, put the souffle on the table, our head waiter ran over and poured a shot of Grand Marnier into the center of it. While I love Grand Marnier, I unfortunately, thought that pouring it straight into the souffle gave it a harsh alcoholic flavor, although this might partly be because I was drinking the Sauternes while I was eating it. Also, I thought the souffle had a firmer, spongier texture instead of the lighter and fluffier one that I expected.
This evening the head waiter was making a special dessert, Crepes Suzette, and of course, he had to bring us one of those too. I especially liked the flavor of these.
The ship was rocking so badly tonight that they cancelled the late showing of the production number, "I Write the Songs", which was a disappointment to many of the passengers. It was the newest of the production numbers and so many people had never seen it.
We ended up going to straight to bed after dinner. Tomorrow we will be in Ketchikan, AK.
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Location:Glacier Bay, AK
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