Sea Day

 Yesterday was a sea day.  Started with some Chai tea at Cafe Al Baccio followed by some outside time on Deck 14 Aft since the weather was beautiful!!   We headed to our Elite wine tasting at 11 which was held in the main dining room.  Very well attended with about 80 people.  The head Sommelier was there and had a very good presentation on the four wines we tried, providing the best explanation I had heard about how bacteria converts malic acid into lactic acid during the fermentation process.  This is the "butteriness" you taste in some Chardonnays.   There was a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, a California Chardonnay, a Chilean Pinot Noir and finally a Cabernet Sauvignon. She didn't mention where it was from.   She only said that you couldn't buy it onboard which I thought was odd. Most wine tastings I've attended on a cruise ship are partly marketing to get you to experience, and hopefully order, different wines. The whites were okay. The Cabernet Sauvignon had a bit too much tart cherry for my taste.  I liked the Pinot the best of the four.   The sommelier didn't have out any of the bottles so I was not able to take pictures of them or find out the winery or vintage.  

After our wine tasting we had a complimentary slot tournament!!  Everyone who was staying in a Concierge cabin received a free entry. There was about 30 of us, split into three rounds.  The machines they used had reels that sometimes would produce a balloon or star that came on the interactive screen. You had to "pop" them within three seconds to earn up to an additional 5000 points.  Only the two top point scorers would earn a $20 casino credit. The casino host must have gotten complaints from past slot tournament entrants because he really made sure everyone knew about popping them. He would repeat these rules a few times before each round and then everyone would respond to his question: What do you do with the stars and balloons?    In unison "You pop the balloons and stars!!".  When it was our turn, the top scores were 60K and 56K.  We tried our best but didn't get the tip scores. Angie ended up with 48K and I had 42K.  Maybe we should have brought a slot glove?   :-)

After the tournament we headed to the buffet for lunch. They had some delicious roasted turkey with cranberry sauce, one of my favorites!  After lunch we spent some more time outside until we were getting a little chilly so we headed inside.  We then both got a scoop of gelato!!   I went with coffee and Angie had salted caramel.  

We headed back to the cabin and had a mandatory rest period. It was another evening chic night onboard and we'd be going to the dining room.  We went to the Martini Bar to say hello to Putra, Edi and Yogi. Then we  visited the World Class Bar where Max the solo guitarist was playing. We chatted with a couple who were on their first cruise in eighteen years and talked about how things were different.  They were fascinated by our adventurous choice of selling our house.  They were now starting to think about the places they wanted to visit so we talked about some of our favorites, including Alaska.   We've met quite a few people who were on their first cruise in many years.  

For dinner we had delicious buttery escargot, kale salads, herb crusted haddock, NY strip steak and lobster tails. All pretty tasty, even the lobster which was moist and flavorful.  After dinner we headed back to the World Class Bar where Yuliana and Shetty made us some of the cocktails from another mixology class they had earlier that day.  The Key Like Martini was my favorite. It was slightly sweet with that nice lime flavor still present. And the rim of the glass had gingery graham crackers!!  Really tasty!!  And as I had said before, Shetty is quite the artist. He is able to make some elaborate garnishes!!

Today we'll be docked in San Diego shortly.   We'll have to be processed through immigration about 9:30 and then go off for some adventures in San Diego. Well return to the ship later for our last evening onboard this ship.