Sea Day

Yesterday was our last sea day. After breakfast at our neighborhood cafe across the street, we headed up to watch guests challenge the Flowrider. Pezz, who appears to be the crowd favorite, was there again. He probably needs an agent. At 11:15 we headed down to 150 Central Park which is the seafood restaurant on board. We had prebooked a lunch called "Taste of Royal". They feature signature dishes from the different Royal Caribbean specialty restaurants.  

We started with an amuse bouche which was grilled scallop on a butternut squash puree. Really fresh scallop, cooked medium rare with the slightly sweet and smooth squash. A great start! Next was spicy tuna tartare. This was a delicious dish!! Usually they tone down the spice on cruise ships. But not here. It had a nice hint of siracha but not enough to overpower the fresh tuna. 

Up next was a marscapone risotto with crab. This wasn't a successful dish. Firstly, the rice was still too al dente. And there needed to be a bit more broth to give the risotto a bit more soupy. A great risotto should be able to move a little when you tilt the plate. And unfortunately there wasn't any crab flavor. Now initially I thought that was because of the mere dusting of claw meat. But the real problem was that whatever broth they used to make the risotto didn't have any flavor. I would have expected some sort of crab or lobster stick. Instead it was more like a muted chicken broth. A very disappointing dish. Especially knowing that only a little more attention to detail could have made it better.  

The next dish definitely changes the trajectory. It was surf and turf with filet mignon and spicy shrimp. The shrimp were perfectly cooked with a slightly spicy seasoning. And they let you pick your temperature for the filet. I picked rare half expecting it would be medium. But it came out perfectly rare. The steak did need more seasoning. It just seemed to have only kosher salt. A bit of pepper or the spice they used in the shrimp would have helped. But it was tender and delicious. 

Dessert was a fried cheesecake served with "whipped cream". The cheesecake was very good. Fried in a tempura-like batter. The "whipped cream" was really just Cool Whip (or similar). Overly sweet and dense. Real whipped cream could have made this dessert a home run. But it was a stand up triple. 

After lunch we headed back to our cabin balcony and did some people watching. Then it was time for a mandatory rest period. A great two hour nap!!  

We got ready for dinner and headed to Wonderland. This is a specialty restaurant onboard that is themed, as you might expect, to Alice in Wonderland. Very whimsical dishes and presentations. We ate here on the Odyssey of the Seas a couple of years ago. Tonight we weren't here for the food. They are the only restaurant on board that has a bar. And interesting cocktails. 

So we had pre-dinner drinks before heading to the Solarium Bistro for dinner. 

Today we are in Nassau in The Bahamas!! We're staying on board for the morning. About mid-day we will get off the ship so Angie can do some filming. We haven't been here since they expanded the piers. Then if we have time, we'll walk over to Pirate Republic Brewing which is only a few minutes from the pier. We've been here a few times and they have some interesting IPAs.  

Tonight is our last night on board. We'll dock in Port Everglades tomorrow. We have a midday flight to Panama City, Panama where we'll spend five nights at some all-inclusive resorts. Then we'll be flying to Santiago to catch another cruise. Stay tuned!!