 |
| Lizard Point, Cornwall England |
So, the Seaside Café "Early Risers" whatever is located starboard and consists of sweet rolls, croissants (which by the way are nothing more than biscuits with attitudes) and coffee, tea, hot (or cold) chocolate and the always available punch, lemonade, and ice tea. While this is nice, a little butter to go with that biscuit and some jam or jelly would really be super.
And, speaking of coffee, after this cruise my home brew tasted so much better. I’ve heard the dining room, Cova, and/or room service coffee is pretty good or at least good, not by me. A little hint: get a Splenda, two creamers, and a package of hot chocolate (or cold) powder. Put all of this in a large cup and now fill with coffee, stir well. OK, you have a mocha mocachito deluxe. P.S. why do I forget to bring the mugs that I now have five of? Please, Celebrity, we drink coffee and need mugs, not 4oz little cups.
*note: since the original writing they have changed to real coffee mugs. I doubt I had anything to do with it, but, one never knows.
Falmouth/Cornwall is a tender port (it was also pretty nice) and we were anchored around 9:30am. UK Phil arranged a bus that we were supposed to meet dockside at 10. I just hate being late, was concerned as most of the group had priority tender tickets. Don’t get mad, I know we kind of cheated but I figured we had them and didn’t use them on our last cruise. I was so concerned I called four or five people and asked if they could get a couple extra tickets, we now had around twenty. We went downstairs before the first tender left and were shunted aside for a tour. No one had a problem or an issue with this but it was truly the very first time I’ve experienced a truly rude staff member. I wish I could remember this guys name, he was tall, around 6 foot with short sandy hair, oh, and rude. Maybe Sam? He told us to "wait over there, these people have a higher priority than you!" Hey, he was also rude when we had to line up in Halifax. Maybe he just had a superiority complex? We finally were allowed to board the tender and off we went.
The tender ride wasn’t bad but it did start raining on the way. The town owned the vessel and had a large enclosed area so some folks stayed dry, others (me) got wet. We arrived in port; very, very friendly people, shown the portable "washrooms" and also the bus meet us. About half the group got on the bus and we sat, and sat, and sat. I’m not sure why but there was almost an hour before the next tender arrived and we went on our way.
The roads are just about wide enough for a car and a half. While driving and meeting a vehicle coming the other way, someone has to yield. We were in a bus so usually had the right of way. We had a beautiful ride out to Lizard, which is just about the southwestern most point of England. This was a charming area with some eatery’s, gift shops and other quaint places of interest. We walked a short distance and saw Lands End, which reminded us of the Big Sur area of California. There were lots of dairy cows around which may account for the methane gas and the various fudge shops. I still hadn’t had my fish and chips but time was a problem. One of the highlights was a quick stop into a family owned and operated (and the best for miles) Cornish Pasty Shop. I’m sure every ethnic group has some foodstuff they think is delicious. I am Jewish, kinish’s come to mind, Polish, maybe perogies? Filipino, empanadas. Some of these things are actually GOOD. I have to admit I confused Pasty with paste-ty (think burlesque) and bet the latter may have been better (with nice hot mustard).
Cornish Pasty if the link works read about some pasty or two.
Quickly running out of time we drove a nice route back and saw our first thatched roof home. This countryside was beautiful full of magnificent stone homes. It was easy to imagine sitting by the fireplace, smoking a pipe and reading a good book on a misty winters evening. A dog at your feet, the wife in the kitchen, tending a large pot of stew. Ya, like that would ever happen, so, back to reality, we passed a couple of nice sandy beaches and a few hotels before getting back to the dock. This was a really nice day, an experience we will never forget.
The last tender to the ship was scheduled for three with ships departure for Dublin at three-thirty. I should mention here what some of you have already read, a color OR any copy of your passport is worth squat. There were many reminders to be sure and carry your passport off the ship with you. This is something we all better get used to. There were a couple of times when we were asked for them going to or from the ship.
Upon our return to the ship several of the group went to Phil’s cabin for a "sail a way excuse to drink more wine and eat again." He had one of those very cool aft end cabins with the extra long "you can see the stars at night" balcony’s. It was supposed to be a sail a way party but we didn’t sail a way.
We didn’t need to hurry back to the ship. There were a couple of accidents and tour busses got stuck behind them. We didn’t push out until around five or so. At the time we weren’t sure why we were so late and really didn’t care as Phil had all that food and wine. That night at the Captain’s Gala Toast & Introductions in the theater the Captain told and thanked us for "our patience."
Most afternoons Wanda and I hit the grill and split a cheeseburger and fries. We love this place and never found it crowded, ever. I honestly don’t think we were ever in line with more than three people. In addition to burgers the grill does hot dogs, turkey burgers, sausage, tacos and more. It’s open from noon until seven. We were going there or waiting until five and getting sushi. A California couple on their fifth X cruise and we finally ate sushi. Shrimp salmon and such. If you throw away the rice and never ever, ever, ever eat the green stuff it’s pretty good.
This was night three of the dinner merry go round. Our tablemates called and told us they ran into a great waiter from a past cruise that happened to have an empty table upstairs at the railing. We looked down on friends; it was perfect for dropping rolls and butter pats so we took it. We called two other couples who moved with us so we were now a table of eight. This is a very good size for conversations, one that we always request.
Our waiter Aleksander (but you can call me Alex) and his assistant were pretty darn good, Alex always had suggestions and was usually right on. As always, the staff seems to take it personally if you don’t care for something or just order a small amount. I mentioned I like escargot (anything swimming in butter and garlic is good) so of course got it every night. I should have learned my lesson on the first cruise when Wanda said she really "liked crème brulle" and we had that stuff hidden all over our cabin. Anyhow, this was going to be great, we were finally settled.
That evening we wandered out of the dining room around 10:45 and went to the Celebrity Theater. In addition to the Captain’s toast we saw The Maverick Magician Jamie Allen. I hate magicians because I can never figure out how they do that stuff. I’ve even seen The Illusionist and The Prestige several times recently. This guy was good and I left bewildered as usual.
Man, it was a long day; we turned in ready for the morning in Dublin, two hundred sixty seven nautical miles away.
No comments:
Post a Comment