Dinner and A Show

Posted on April 8, 2016April 8, 2016 by Dusty Roads

OK , I messed up. I’ve already told you about the Brazilian Steak house. We actually went to a terrific seafood restaurant before the Jersey Boys and to Pampas before Vegas The Show. But no worries I can tell you that the seafood was good too.

We were in the Miracle Mile Shops. There were 2 seafood restaurants and Pampas Brazilian Steakhouse all in the same corner of the mall. It’s kind of funny when you think about it. Here we are in the middle of a desert and we’re going to eat seafood.

We debated between Ocean One Bar and Grill and The Oyster Bay Seafood and Wine Bar. I’ll probably get it backward but I think we settled The Oyster Bay Seafood and Wine Bar. The service was excellent, the wine was delicate and smooth and my scallops were exquisite. It was an excellent choice. I think Sandy was pleased with her meal as well.

The show, Vegas the Show, was at the Saxe Theatre which wasn’t far away. The Miracle Mile Shops is laid out in a big circle.

Miracle Mile

When we finished dinner we headed to our right and the theater just past the Hilton Grand Vacations, still on our end of the circle.

Las vegas

Vegas the show is the story of Las Vegas from it’s early years, through the Rat Pack, Elvis and Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton. There are traditional showgirls and comedy skits. It ends with newsreels of the changes that have taken place over the years, the destruction of the old casinos to make way for the new.

I’d seen the show with Joe and thought it was worth seeing it again.

JR fremont

Las vegas the show

With our canes Sandy and I were allowed to go to our seats in the elevator instead of up the long flight of stairs. As expected I enjoyed the show, especially the magician/ comedian skit. I don’t remember that from last year.

Like the Jersey Boys, no photography was allowed so I just had to sit back and enjoy the show. Sandy said it was good but not as good as Jersey Boys.

Aboard Ship~Day 2 (Tuesday)

Posted on February 3, 2013February 3, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Back on the ship after our Key West experience we headed to the Horizon Bar and Grill on the Lido deck for a quick lunch while the Imagination cast off for Cozumel, Mexico.

One thing about being in the ocean on a large cruise ship is that the staff and especially the cruise director work very hard to keep everyone entertained. Special events like karaoke, break dance exhibitions, bingo, dance classes and Towel Folding Fun supplement the casino, book reading and swimming pool for activities.

There is an internet café but with a charge of $.75/minute that seemed a bit rich to me. Especially when someone who had used it said the connection is very slow so you are paying for “dead” time.

There’s also something to be said for just sitting on the deck and watching the waves. It’s kind of mesmerizing. The ship doesn’t roll much although you do get a bit of motion now and then. It’s been particularly stormy between patches of sun and clouds.

Tuesday Night is elegant dining on this particular cruise. My dolphin sarong was just the added touch needed to dress up my navy pant suit.

This was also the Prime Rib or Lobster night. I went with the lobster. I’d been looking forward to that since I found out there was lobster served on every cruise. Today’s menu was lobster tail and grilled shrimp, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Served with drawn butter it was melt in your mouth goodness. Since it is elegant fine dining I splurged and had a glass of chardonnay with my meal. It was excellent too.

Joe is not a shellfish eater and he doesn’t eat meat but there were other options available. He had grilled chicken. Dessert was a Grand Marnier Soufflé for Joe but I was content with a small dish of chocolate ice cream.

A very satisfactory dinner under our belts we went to listen to the karaoke singers for a bit before making our way to the Dynasty Lounge for the Living in America show.

The Dynasty lounge has wonderful semi circle seats. We got there a bit late so had to sit in the back. I joked that it was the cruise ship version of “Obstructed View” as there were a couple of poles but it really didn’t interfere with the show which was excellent.

The ship was rocking a bit more as the weather had turned windy and rainy but the dancers never missed beat…literally! The LasVegas style show was a medley of songs that featured a state or town. For Example Neil Diamond’s “America” was stolen for the title song with a slight variation in the words. Instead of “we’re coming to America” they sang “we’re living in America”. Of course there were songs like Chicago, New York New York, Give my regards to Broadway, and Sweet Georgia Brown including basketballs. Elvis’s Viva Las Vegas introduced showgirls with elaborate head gear.

No pictures. Photography and video is prohibited.

The lead singers Patrick and Aretha were terrific. I thing Aretha is well named. As former dance instructors Joe and I couldn’t help critiquing the choreography. Simple. Most of the patterns were pretty basic but execution always makes the difference and the dancers executed their patterns well especially when you think they were dancing with a rolling stage under their feet.

There were a lot of costume and set changes which had to be challenging too. All in all it was a great show. Without a doubt this was the best day of the cruise so far.

We’ll be sailing all night and well into the morning before we dock in Cozumel. We have an excursion planned for Mexico so we’ll see what the day brings.

On the Good Ship “Imagination”

Posted on January 27, 2013January 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Welcome to Cabin Riviera 207. The cabin was set up as a double with one bed.

That was easily remedied. Joe and I unmade the bed and pushed the 2 sides apart. Unfortunately there was no bedding for a “twin” set up so we made our way to guest services on deck 7 where they filled out a request form for housekeeping.

From there it was time to explore the ship. The Lido deck, deck 10, (Sounds like the Love Boat?) seems to be where most of the action is.

Bars, swimming pools and hot tubs.

A stage for shows and contests. A buffet lunch was underway so we hopped in the line. The offerings ranged from Pizza to rotisserie to “off the grill”.

I opted for the rotisserie, sliced roast beef and chicken,. Joe got a salad from the salad bar but couldn’t find any salad dressing. The paparazzi were out in force. Everyone was fair game. Everyone on the fun ship is a celebrity. And every 2nd guest had a camera. At one point I started turning the tables. If someone wanted to point a camera at me I’ll point mine at them!

The rain showers continued to drift through but didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. Kids still slid down the giant water slide and adults sat in the hot tubs.

The revelry was briefly interrupted by the mandatory safety meeting. All guests had to report to designated locations to hear the evacuation plans incase of sinking. This included a demonstration of the life vests. We got to listen in English and then again in Spanish. Luckily we were spared French, German, Polish, Dutch etc. The last part of the safety meeting was to be led to the life boats and then we were dismissed. It’s kind of like listening to the airline attendants when they go through the safety speech on a plane. You listen but kind of not….of course history is filled with examples where the safety instructions were needed from the Titanic to the Concordia.

Around 4pm the ship cast off and we stood at the stern on deck 11 watching Miami shrink into the distance. We spotted some “ultra lights” as we left the harbor.

Heading back down to our room we bumped into “D” our room steward. We explained to him that we were friends not a “couple” and asked for the bedding to make up the room for twin beds. He was insistent that any requests like that go to him and he would make sure it was done. Thanking him we returned to the Lido deck for more pictures before dinner.

We enrolled in “anytime” dining so we didn’t have to be locked into a time frame. It was about 6:30 when we made out way to the assigned dining room…The “Pride” was on deck 8 also known as the Atlantic Deck.

Dinner was ok, nothing special. My shrimp cocktail was small but tasty. Joe’s Lettuce wedge was huge, crisp and fresh. I was disappointed in my “Southern Fried Chicken”. It was dry and all dark meat. Joe had a pumpkin, squash, yam casserole pie that was quite good. For dessert we both had the hot chocolate melting cake with vanilla ice cream. Rich, luscious, decadent, it made up for any shortfalls on the dinner.

The wait staff puts on a little performance midway though the dinner. It’s quite amusing. From there we tried several of the club activities wandering from the piano bar to the karaoke and finally to the Welcome Aboard Show.

This show is a variety style show designed to introduce you to the cruise director (Marcello) , the show dancers and singers and the comedians. Marcello pulled audience members up to the stage for silly skits between performances by the staff. Not a bad time but for me it was the end of a long day and time to call it a night.

Arriving back to R207 we were please to see our beds separated and crisply made up. Ready for a tired head to hit the pillows.

Tomorrow our port of call is Key West. It will be fun to be back after so many years away. Last time I was there was when Joe was driving the trolley in 2000.

Day is Done…

Posted on July 13, 2012July 13, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Back on dry land I had to get my land legs back to trudge up the hill to the car. From freezing to sweating . It was close to 90 degrees and humid! Maybe being cold out on the sea wasn’t so bad. 🙂

The first point of business was to track down my fellow traveler, JR. He hadn’t wanted to go on the boat so I’d left him exploring the town. Now as I pulled out my cell phone to call him I realized it was 5 pm. No wonder I was hungry. I hadn’t had lunch and the “snack bar” on the rocking and rolling Islander consisted of peanuts , chips, candy bars, coffee and soft drinks. With the cabin filled with the suffering, I couldn’t even think of food but back on land my stomach was making its empty presence known.

JR was back at the motel so I headed over there to meet up with him. He had done a terrific job of checking out the town. One of the most interesting things to me was an island called Bar Island. It’s an island in the harbor just off Bar Harbor. You get to it by crossing a sand bar. The tricky part is that the sand bar is under water at high tide. Up in that part of Maine the tides can vary 10 – 12 feet between High and Low tide. So if you go out and the tide comes in..you could be stuck there for 6 hours or until the next low tide.

On the boat the tour guide said there was a joke that if a local tells you there’s parking on the island that means they don’t like you very much. 🙂

But back to my hungry stomach…During his explorations JR had run across a pub style restaurant called The Thirsty Whale. I would have liked to go back to The Route 66 if only to bring the camera but JR had a point. His argument was that we should experience as much as possible in the short time we would be there and we’d already tried Rt 66. The Thirsty Whale wasn’t far from the motel so we walked down.

It was typical pub food. JR had a pizza of some kind..maybe bar-b- q chicken or something like that. I stuck with the nautical theme enjoying a fish and chips plate that tasted as if he fish had just swum in..sooo fresh. That’s the beauty of ordering seafood right on the coast. The problem is that it spoils me for the rest of the year.

After dinner we wandered up to the main tourist part of town, did some window shopping and got an ice cream at one of the many ice cream shops.

I spotted the man with the cat on the leash again. I couldn’t believe how calm the cats was with strangers walking all around him. Rocky will walk on a leash too so that wasn’t the amazing part. The part that amazed me is that the cat was calm as could be in all the confusion and the crowds of people. While I talked with his owner he plopped down and started giving himself a thorough kitty bath …the cat not the owner.(yoga poses to reach his private parts and all).

Leaving the hustle and bustle behind we walked back to the motel. JR wanted to photograph a church with beautiful stained glass windows. I did too but my adventures of the day had taken their toll. I could hardly keep my eyes open on the walk back so I sent him on his way and I crashed. I think my eyes were closed before my head hit the pillow. We had another busy day planned for the ‘morrow and I wanted to be alert enough to enjoy it.