SeaDreaming: Days 2 and 3 - St. Barths

As Monday dawned we were sailing toward St. Barths. The ride was still a bit rocky, as it had been all night, but it was not too bad. FT and James Cabello, the commodore, who cruised with us this week along with some SD execs, completed an early morning mile around deck five, which I understand is done daily on the crossing. The weather was beautiful as we cruised by St. Marteen. After there walk, we enjoyed breakfast in the port side office. The lamb chops were wonderful, and became a daily requirement. FT introduced our son to the warm dark chocolate croissants. In addition to those he scarfed down an omelet and banana pancakes. I don't think that he stopped smiling the whole time we were on board.

A few words about the Admiral Suite. It is beautiful. But you can only imagine walking in and seeing the bathtub edge lined with red rose petals and rose petals scattered on the soap dish. FT was a bit concerned about potential noise from the piano bar. No need to be it was not disturbance at all. In fact, it is strange, you can hear the noise in the bathroom and living area, but not in the sleeping area. It is perfect. Huge closets. Three large windows. Comfy couch and two chairs as well as small table and 4 chairs. 48 inch flat panel TV in seating area and small 27 inch TV in the bedroom. According to FT the bathroom is just gorgeous. Two people can fit comfortably. Very well designed with closet and lots of cabinet space. The only complaint is that the shower is tiny, but the 7, yes 7 , shower nozzles are incredible!

FT adds to my shower report by saying that the AS shower is a spa treatment in itself. The height (about 6 ft 4) and the size of the large shower head (bigger than a human head) coupled with the 6 standard SD shower fully adjustable jets - 3 vertical pairs at about knee level, lower back and shoulder level, puts out enough water to be a vertical Jacuzzi. SD should use this shower as a marketing feature. Unbelievable!

If there is one disconcerting thing about the suite it is the doorbell. It sounds just like the "bong" that comes over the PA system before an announcement is made.

We arrived at St. Barths shortly after noon. Unfortunately I had to work for a couple of hours so I did not get off the ship. We are here until tomorrow night so it is not a big deal, as we have visited four times before. Lunch was wonderful. I had some items off the buffet line. A tomato stuffed with small shrimp and a slice of duck breast, followed by the traditional mussels in garlic sauce. Chef Josselin was very visible and worked very hard to insure perfection.

This afternoon we had the pool deck almost to ourselves. The drink of the day was Blue Shark - Patron Tequila with Blue Curacao. The afternoon pass around with chilling cold fruit on skewers. Water toys were out from 2:00 until 4:00 followed by swimming off the Marina platform from 4:00 to 4:30. Since there was no line at the platform, our DS got an extended time on the "fast" jet ski. We thought of DisneyJen's DH on that one. Something tells me that even on the "slow" one he would run circles around DJsDH and myself. He has no fear.

The next best site of the day had to be a fleet of 8 tiny sail boats, each manned by two children wearing life jackets. They were guided by a larger boat with instructors and with a "pick up boat" at the end. They were taking sailing lesson behind us. The boats were about the size of large garbage cans cut in half and the children ranged from 7 to about 11 or 12 in age. They were waving at us and chatting merrily in French of course. Great young sailors. They had no accidents as they tacked back and forth, a couple of close calls, but it was so enjoyable.

FT reports that the sunglass cleaning reached a new high today. As Brian was working his way around the pool, when he got to a couple of women in the hot tub, they rejected his offer to clean their glasses. He looked a little surprised, they grinned and said Zoltan beat you to it. They had just had them cleaned upstairs! Then Brian came around with the cold water mister. She doesn't remember that from last March or prior trips, but it was very refreshing.

Before dinner DS and I enjoyed wonderful massages at the SPA. You would have thought that the boy had died and gone to heaven. DD is loving the trip. She is wearing the patch, and is not having a problem with seasickness and swears that she's not getting off the yacht. (She has been hesitant to cruise with DS and myself because of fears of seasickness, somehow I think our boys week away each summer has a stowaway from now on!) She did not suffer any side effects. She is reading her kindle by the pool and her only concern is needing to download books before we give up the internet connection. She had kiwi sorbet for dessert at lunch and loved it.

Cocktails were served poolside from 6:30 to 7:30 followed by dinner at the Topside restaurant. Tonight was the Captain's reception. Lots of caviar and all the fixings, and stone crab claws. All the officers were introduced tonight at the reception. It is always nice to hear their background, they are an eclectic group. The Chief Officer is leaving tomorrow to head home for the holidays and snow. We got a chance to chat for a few minutes with Sea Dream's President, Mr. Bob Lepisto. This turned out to be the first of many conversations. What a very nice guy. I commented that the internet seems faster now than it has been on previous trips. He mentioned that it would be getting faster in March - but that it would not be Wifi.

Captain T had not been very visible today and he explained by saying he had been working on the weather. Looks like we aren't going to Marigot/St. Maarten on Wednesday but are instead going to Virgin Gordon/The Baths and then on to Norman Island. A big hooray came from the peanut gallery, especially since it is supposed to be pretty rough in Marigot plus the Oasis monstrosity and several other ships are going to be on St. Maarten. Hope springs eternal that we will make Jost van Dyke this trip. He also reported that 45% of the passengers were repeaters.

The menu Monday night included:

Starters

Spicy Thai Beef Salad with Fresh Mango, Mint and Soya Dressing
Green Asparagus Bavaroise with Organic Smoked Salmon Tartar and Caviar Crème
"Vol au Vent" - Creamy Asparagus and Mushroom Ragout in Puff Pastry

Soups

Cream of Potato and Leek
Chilled Gazpacho with Condiments

Salads

Mint Green Salad with Cucumber and Red-wine Vinegar
Heart of Palm Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Chef's Main Dishes

Grilled Fillet of Halibut on Vegetable Julienne with White Asparagus, Mash Potato and Champagne Beurre Blanc and Vongole
Whole Roast Prime Strip Loin Beef with Duchesse Potato, Steamed Vegetables and Burgundy Sauce
Roasted Quail on Curried White Cabbage, Sautéed Red Bliss Potatoes with Onion and Bacon, Jus natural.

There were of course the Vegetarian alternatives and the selections from the Oriental Wellness Cuisine.

Desserts

Chocolate Silk Cake
Apple Tarte Tatin with Cinnamon Crème Fraiche Ice Cream
Warm raspberry Steam Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

Before retiring for the night we found a cute little critter awaiting us in our cabin, a towel elephant wearing FT's sunglasses. He survived the night but took a turn for the worse in the morning when he jumped off the counter as the yacht rocked a bit. Last night's gift was the five post cards with various SD photos. The top one was the shot of the yacht with the Sea Doo cutting in front of it labeled playful.

We took an early tender ashore and picked up a rental car that I had arranged with Soleil Caraibe. They are located at the airport, but the owners also own the Sunset Hotel, which is just across the street from the tender landing. If you check in at the hotel they will come from the airport and pick you up. That way you can go back to the airport and finish the paper work. You return the car to the airport and they take you back to town. It saves about 20 Euros in cab fare. We got, a great rate for the car. 40 Euros for the day. Even with the insurance and the gas it was only 64 Euros for the day. Much better price than I found anywhere else.

St. Barths is a beautiful island, but several roads are under construction and detours abound. Nothing like dead ending in front of exasperated, French speaking, construction workers.

The four of us went to Governor's Beach, which is gorgeous and was almost completely empty. Probably no more than 20 people there today. We were heading to Saline when we ran into the above mentioned workers. FT and DD were tired so DS and I dropped them in town and we went exploring. Gustavia, as usual, was crowded. He and I ended up going to the East end of the island. He loved the little villages and got some nice pictures. Our plan was to eat lunch, but parking, even away from town was so difficult that we gave up and went back to the ship around 2:30. It wasn't so bad the water toys were out again and we enjoyed the jets skis one more time.

To those of you who always ask, there are five under 15 year olds on board., but as opposed to some other voyages, you have to look long and hard to find them. If only the twenty somethings (not ours, but a group of about 6 or 8 others) who are on the ship acted like the children it would be wonderful. There is a time and a place for everything, but I will give kudos to SD, as soon as they learned of the issues, the offending passengers straightened their behavior out.

Buffet at lunch included very nice sized crab legs. Entrees were pizza marguerite and a lasagna. One member of party had the guava-orange sorbet. And the champagne was Perrier-Jouet.

We got a surprise when we walked out to the pool deck for the Caribbean Madness Cocktails. All the waiters were wearing Hawaiian/Caribbean patterned shirts. A separate bar was set up and trays of drinks were being circulated. The beverages included Heat Wave (peach schnaps, triple sec, banana liquer, malibu rum, pineapple juice); Pain Killers, Nutmeg Bushwhackers and a Long Island Tea. Pass Around this afternoon was orange sherbet with blueberries on top in a frozen orange half. Quite an afternoon.

SD I arrived around 6, and we had a few visitors. We are "traded" entertainers. Because of the expect rough waters we remained in St. Barths until about 10:00 p.m., but ended up with a smooth sail to the BVI.

The menu Tuesday night included: