Friday, March 20, 2020

October 29, 2019 – Ocho Rios, Jamaica – mostly cloudy – intermittent rain – 80s.

Distance from Grand Cayman to Ocho Rios, Jamaica 255 Nautical Miles

We are again arriving around lunch time.

Up really early again and staring at the ceiling until around 6:45 AM.  I decided to do two laps around the deck on the Promenade Deck (3.7 circuits per mile).  The sunrise, clouds, and distant storms were fantastic (I had my phone with me for pictures).








From there I went to the Marketplace for breakfast.  I had coffee until the buffet opened at 7:30 AM.  The waffles, cottage cheese, and scrambled eggs were especially tasty thing morning. It is starting to look like this will be my standard breakfast for this cruise.

I decided to listen to Terrence Smith talk about the US and Russia at 10:30 AM but got to the theater early and am now listening to Dr. David Sholiton talk about eye disease.  Very technical and I'm wondering how many passengers are able to stay with him.

“Uncle Sam Meets the Russian Bear – Trump and Putin and Reagan and Gorbachev” was the title of Terrence Smith’s talk and it had to do with the relationship these two leaders had and have.  Mr. Smith, who was a journalist for the New York Times, is no fan of Donald Trump and much of his comments are not overly positive (he does believe that Russia put Trump in the White House).  I liked his talk – he had some interesting anecdotes about Reagan and Gorbachev.  I wonder what the audience thought about this talk.

A special treat for me in the Trident Grill for lunch – an Impossible Burger.  It was absolutely delicious (better than the one I had on another ship recently).  Not sure how often it will show up on the menu but I will be looking for it.  A salad and some flour tortilla chips (wonderful with the delicious salsa) rounded out the meal.  FYI – a fully loaded I-burgers packs about 600 calories but also supplies about 40 grams of protein. 

 




We docked in Ocho Rios at about noon.  We had gone outside to try having lunch but it was so hot we retreated back into the world of A/C.  This helped us with our decision whether or not to venture out to the city.  We opted to stay on the ship because the walk to the city is pretty long and it is in the mid to high 80s out there. 

After giving the pool area a try (also too hot and no breeze), we settled for Palm Court on Deck 11 Forward.  The seats aren’t the most comfortable but the view is great and it is quiet.  I finished “The Midnight Line” and I have to say I was somewhat disappointed in this Reacher book.  Not enough fights and not the most interesting plot – the story involved injured soldiers and the opioid crisis (very topical) but I was hoping for a much different ending.  I returned that book to the library and checked out another digital book from my local library, “The Fallen Angel” by Daniel Silva.

We stayed in Palm Court for afternoon tea – the Apricot Tea was very good.

At 5PM, we went to Prego to try and get reservations for tonight (no way) and for some future dates especially the next formal night.  We were told by the Maitre D that the two specialty restaurants were totally booked for the cruise but he did, after a long time looking, gave us an early seating at Umi Uma and an 8:30 PM reservation at Prego for formal night.  We will still have one reservation left before the cruise runs out.

There was not much on the dinner menu at Waterside so we had to improvise.  Ellen requested grilled salmon and they were able to do that and the fish was perfect.  I ordered Pappardelle Pesto from the menu but without the beans and potatoes and it was marvelous – huge long noodles with excellent sauce.  I wanted to finish it all but I came to my senses and left a third of it. I also had the cold Avocado Soup and it good in an unusual way.  We checked out tomorrow’s menu and opted for kosher meals.

After dinner, we went to the Avenue Saloon to hear pianist/vocalist Joel Spire play soft cocktail music.  His song list is very relaxing – standards and some Barry Manilow.  Baileys on ice certainly helps.

At 8:30 PM, we went to the Starlite Lounge to see the featured dancers, Curtis Collins and Beverly Durand, perform their first of several dance shows.  Curtis is from Iowa and Beverly's bio did not say where she was from. They are not married to each other. Shane said that they had been with Crystal a very long time (been on Crystal for 18 World Cruises) but this is the first time we have seen them.  They are more acrobats than dancers with all of the throws and spins but they are very entertaining.  The finale done to “You Raise Me Up” was fabulous.

We are both tired and decided to go to the room.

The clocks move forward one hour tonight.

Seas are very smooth.

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