2007 Cruise - Fri

All good things must come to an end. Today is the beginning of the end for this cruise. But that’s ok, because I’m starting to miss home.

We woke up today to hear that Anna Nichole Smith died. Olga asked me if I felt sad for her. I don’t. I’m not saying that she deserved to die or that I’m happy she died. I just don’t feel sad for her. Maybe I’m evil. Maybe I’m just apathetic. Maybe the two are one in the same.

Today’s dance lesson was another three beat dance. It was the waltz. Olga was happy, because she was pretty good at waltzing. It’s also a formal dance, so she could legitimately complain about my slouching and lack of good body posture. I couldn’t really complain about anything, because I was too busy trying to do the waltz. When the instruction was over the dance leaders did a recap of all the dances we studied that week. They put different music on and let us dance. It was almost a dance dance revolution, sans revolution. The dancing was fun, so I hope Olga and I continue to work on it. Maybe someday I can be a background dancer on VH1, or whoever it is that’s playing videos now.

After dance class broke up Olga and I parted ways for a little while. She went to a towel folding class. I bought some booze from the ship’s store. Then Olga and Meredith gossiped. I slacked off and chilled with my bro. Then Olga went to the spa. I rested (aka putzed around).

Then it was time.

Time to begin the Trifecta.

Olga and I met up with Greg and Meredith at one of the main dinning rooms. We had reservations for 8:00 at another dinning room. The time was tight. We had to fit two restaurants in before the 8:00 reservation. The doors opened at 5:30. We were hungry and ready, but was the wait staff up to it?

We started at the Four Seasons. Things were good. There wasn’t a wait to be seated. We were doing good on time. We quickly figured out what we would dine upon and our waiter quickly came over to take our orders. Then we hit our first snag. The waiter wouldn’t take our dessert orders until after we finished our entrees. We were a little worried, but everything was ok so far. We were still on schedule to make our reservation.

The appetizers came out after a little wait. Then we got a break. As soon as the appetizer plates were taken back, we were served our soups and salads. There was practically no turn around time. That gave us a solid lead for our goal. The rest of the dinner there worked out fine. At 6:00 we left the Four Seasons and made our way to the Seven Seas, another one of the main dinning rooms.

The Seven Seas is the biggest dinning room of the ship. We took this into account when we were making our plans. We assumed its size would allow for a quick seating. We were wrong. We put our name on the list and were told that there was a twenty five minute wait. Darg! There was nothing else to do, so we stood outside and waited. While we were there a Canadian couple from the dance class struck up a conversation with us. They told us about the snow and how they were dreading going back home. We told them that we were eating three dinners tonight. They thought we were joking. Silly Canadians. After a little bit more talk they realized that we were serious in our gluttony. The woman asked if we were planning to attack the midnight buffet. When our name was called they wished us luck, then the man made pig noises as we walked of into our second restaurant of the evening.

The dinner at the Seven Seas went off without a hitch. In the beginning we were kicking around the idea of telling our waiter that we had dinner reservations for 8:00, so he needed to make sure we were promptly served. Better judgment prevailed and we just kept our mouths shut. We figured it might be cutting things a little close, but an hour should be plenty of time for the meal.

The menu for both of these restaurants was identical. We knew this going into the first one, so I planned according. At the first restaurant I ordered food that I knew I would eat. I wasn’t very hungry at the second restaurant, so I branched out a little and ordered things that I was curious about. Our rules were that we had to eat something from every part of the menu (appetizer, soup/salad, entree, dessert). We decided that we didn’t have to finish the entire portion, just eat part of it. I branched out on the appetizer and soup. I didn’t end up liking either, so I had as much as I could stomach, then moved on. Greg was the only one who was able to clean his entire plate in each section of the first two meals.

We finished the second meal with seconds to spare. The third restaurant was up four decks, so we waddled up the stairs to meet my parents for our third and final dinner of the night. We had made it to the bridge!

Let me explain.

A few months ago Olga and I completed the Marine Corps Marathon. They have only one time limit. At mile twenty there is a bridge. You have to make it there before a cut-off time limit or you aren’t allowed to finish the marathon. Once you make it to the bridge you are allowed to finish, no matter how much longer it takes you.

Greg was in training for running a marathon and Olga and I were trying to talk Meredith into joining him. It didn’t take long for the four of us to compare what we were doing to an eating marathon. The only cut-off we had was our 8:00 reservation, so that became the bridge. And we had just made it.

The waiter seated us and handed out the menus. We were not amused when we opened them up to see five sections instead of the usual four. Oh well, what’s one more course on a thirteen course night.

The dinner was nice. My parents were there and we got a chance to catch up with what everyone did at the Key West port. My parents stayed on the ship. I thought that was funny.

In the end, Meredith, Greg and I all finished the Trifecta. Olga knew from the beginning that she had no desire to beat up her body. Stupid Americans. She wisely suggested that we go walk some before going to bed. Even in our food induced stupor the three of us saw the wisdom in her idea. So we waddled down to the walking deck and did a mile.

Then there was nothing left to do except go back to our staterooms and pack before going off to visit the Sandman.