EASTER

Unfortunately, I think these Easter eggs are for display, not for eating.

 We have been in the Caribbean for the past few days; a far less interesting part of the world than the Amazon.  We spent part of a day in St. Lucia, a pretty island that seems a little less poor than some of the other islands.  We did a short bus tour with some nice vistas.  We stopped at a small fishing village.

Our usual morning has me having a light breakfast and then returning to our room with a plate of fruit for Betty.  She was not impressed with a particular fruit I chose the other morning.  Can you name the fruit that didn't appeal?

I burned the last of our shipboard credits for two seats at the Cellar Masters luncheon in Jacques.  We started with a glass of Kir Royale and then had a  Krug Brut (Champagne) paired with Cavier.  A Louis Jadot Meursault Cote de Beaune accompanied Fresh Burrata with Black Truffle.  Twice-baked lobster souffle was washed down with Silver Trident Pinot from Napa, and then the best wine of the day (Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore, Super Tuscan) matched the Roasted Chateaubriand.  We then went back to French wine (Chateau Mont-Redon Chateauneuf-Du-Pape) with the French cheese.  We finished with a Niente Dolce from Napa, which was paired the Raspberry caramelized Mille-feuille.  If you don't find any of these wines at the table at 9 Wedgewood it is because the wines in my cellar are less expensive.

You might not be surprised if I told you that for dinner that evening I had a bowl of chicken consommé nicely paired with a glass of sparkling water. 

Yesterday I stumbled upon what I think is a pickleball court.  I don't know if it ever gets used.  I have never played pickleball, but it might require 4 sober players, and I'm not sure you could find four of those on this ship.

Our last stop on this cruise was at St. Kitts.  I messed up by looking down at the dock and seeing a very long walk to the port entrance.  For that reason Betty stayed on ship and I started the walk into town.  It was only then that I noticed there were shuttle carts along the pier, but it was then too late to catch our pre-booked tour.  Small consolation, but the walk through town suggested we may not have missed a whole lot.

While Betty can handle her drinks, she could not handle four hours sleeping in the sun yesterday.  She is recovering, but slowly.  Last evening I dined alone in Toscana.

For Easter Sunday the Grand Dining Room was changed to a Easter Brunch Buffet.  This seemed to be very popular.

We have been invited for our Easter Sunday night dinner to join two women; one of whom we know reasonably well.  She is a very, very nice French woman who is the Ship's General Manager.  We do not know the other woman, who is the Chief Purser.

LEAVING THE AMAZON

 Betty wanted very much to see the Boi Bumba Folk Show at Parintins, Brazil.  However she was advised by Destinations Services not to go because of the distance of the walk from the pier to the theatre.  She sent me to report.  This hour long show was traditional native dancing with very, very elaborate costumes.

I don't know much about dancing but it seemed as if all the dances were the same.  The dancers were accompanied by a 9 piece band.  Six of the nine could have taken an extended smoke break as they could not be heard.  On the other hand the 3 amplified drummers pounded steadily for the full hour.  By half way I had my first headache in 20 years.  The highlight was locating Betty's bottle of Tylenol when I got back to the ship.

Our boat ride at Santarem was much more pleasant.  The boat came aside the ship which saved us from using the tender.  Our guide explained that the tour boat was normally used as a ferry to take people to various towns along the Amazon and that some rides took up to five days.  When used as a ferry all the chairs were taken off so that passengers could bring their own hammocks and hang them from hooks in the ceiling.

After sailing to another meeting of the waters we headed up what our guide called a stream (not big enough in Brazil to be called a river).  Here we passed wildlife as well as some farms owned by indigenous people.  What may look like a herd of cattle is actually water buffalo.

We stopped for piranha fishing.  Although I was unsuccessful many of the other passengers caught at least one of these small but vicious fish.  I did see some dolphins but my finger was not quick enough to capture them on a photo.

Perhaps the most interesting tour was called "Behind the scenes".  Eight of us were taken on a 3-hour tour of the bowels of the ship.  In addition to our various guides we were accompanied by a security officer.  In the evening the social hostess told Betty that I had behaved myself.

We first visited the bridge where I learned that the ship can carry up to 2000 tons of fuel.  In the engine room I learned that the ship has its own sewage treatment plant.  Backstage in the theatre I learned that a few stateroom attendants (housemaids) earn extra pay by helping the singers and dancers with their rapid costume changes.

We visited the laundry.  In addition to towels and bedsheets there are tablecloths and lounge chair covers.  Guests can send stuff to the laundry for an extra charge.  As platinum members this service is free for us but I don't bother, finding it simpler to use the laundromat down the hallway.  In addition, each staff member wears 3 uniforms per day (morning, afternoon and evening) and each uniform is washed daily.  Each washer can handle 240 pounds of clothes and the laundry operates 24 hours per day.  The pictures show a washer, dry cleaning apparatus, and a machine that irons bedsheets.

We visited the galleys of three of the restaurants.  The ship makes all of its own food, including ice creams and pastas.  The flour for all the breads (including the wonderful poulichette baguettes) come from France.  However, flour for the pizzas comes from Italy.  An exception to the "ship makes everything" is bagels, which come from New York.  The fuzzy picture is of a baguette oven which runs 24 hours per day.

Each galley has a cold and a hot side.  Salads, etc. are prepared on the very cool side and on the hot side the air temperature is at 43.  At that temperature when the food is plated on scalding hot plates and is sent on the perhaps long trip to one's table it arrives at the correct temperature.

The next picture is of the tasting table.  Each night before the meal the head chef or the 2nd chef tastes all the sauces for all the dishes as a quality control.  The 2nd chef has 1/2 hour before dinner to explain each dish to all the waiters so they are knowledgeable for the guests.

 Washing dishes is a big deal.  In the galley of the main dining room there are only 3 dishwashers, specialized for plates, cutlery and glasses.  Each machine cost $ 350,000 US.

All dishes are washed twice and then tested for bacteria.  In all the restaurants combined there are 49 staff involved with dishwashing.

Finally we visited the storage area.  The ship has a maximum of 21 days of food on board.  This make things difficult in Brazil because the ship was not allowed to restock any American beef while in Brazilian waters (tariff issues).  Perhaps that explains why they had trouble supplying prime rib in Polo (see previous blog).

We walked into many, many freezers.  Each freezer is for a specific kind of food and the freezers are at different temperatures.  I didn't take any pictures of the freezers but the potato bags seemed to be enough to keep us in truffle mashed.

The final picture is from the wine storage area and shows cases of Prosecco.  I took this picture to alleviate Betty's fears that they might run out and that she would be forced to drink Champagne.