Sunday dawned bright and sunny. After a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel, FT and I spent a few hours at Morning Star beach, and left for the yacht around noon. As check in time is never before 2:00 p.m. we dropped our bags with security ( the dock workers are wonderful at Crown Bay) and went into town. DD had left her sun glasses at home so we added another birthday present to her collection. While a lot of things, especially cameras and electronics are good deals in St. Thomas, other than no tax, prices for sun glasses are no better than at home.
Only one ship was in town so just about every thing shut down at one. While FT and DD shopped DS and I found a lovely sidewalk beverage establishment and enjoyed a few adult beverages. We were soon joined by the ladies an promptly at 1:40 we grabbed a cab and ventured to Crown Bay to board our home for the next five days. After a quick walk over we were on SD II in no time at all. As we approached the ship, Captain T was at the top of the gangway, and warmly greeted us.
I was then introduced to Christophe Cornu, our hotel manager for this voyage, and Amy Boothman, our Club and Activities Director and we were given a cool towel and a perfectly chilled glass of champagne. (For FT as she says it was the first of her never empty glasses of champagne.) (The house champagne is Nicolas Feuillatte.) After a few brief minutes, we were shown to the Main Salon where we waited, to be shown to the lobby where our photos were taken for our boarding cards. We were then shown to our cabin, well really the Admiral's Suite which FT had upgraded us to by our stewardess, Arla, who did a great job taking good care of us. When we boarded she told FT that her nightly cheese tray was already ordered. When we got to the cabin someone else's back packs ended were there leading us to think we have some small children on board. The kids were escorted down to deck 2 to their cabin 211.
The rest of our luggage (my book bag with my laptop was taken on immediately by the dock workers) was on board within 10 minutes and we were unpacked by 3:00 at the latest. I meet the kids at the TOY and gave them a tour of the ship. The galley was worked very hard as a lot of guest ordered lunch at TOY. The owner, and his wife and daughter are on board, as are a number of SD sales execs.
Muster drill was at 5:30 pm. It went without a hitch. Welcome cocktails wer served in the main salon with Edgardo at the piano. Amy gave us a brief overview of tomorrow and then the captain warned us, we are going to be heading into rough waters after dinner so we delayed sailing until around 11:00 p.m.
We dined al fresco on deck 4 as is our preference. The menu Sunday night included:
Starters
- Meli Mele of Melon with Parma Ham, Grissini and Crushed Black Pepper
- Grilled Escalope of Norwegian Salmon on Asparagus Salad and Egg Tartar
- Sea Scallops Skewer on Thai Risotto and Chicken Galangal Soup
Soups
- Cream of Celery Flavored with Nutmeg
- Chilled Cucumber and Dill
Salads
- Greek Style Salad with Feta Cheese
- Hot and Tangy Prawn and Fruit Salad
Chef's Main Dishes
- Fresh Yellow Fin Tuna Steak on Roasted Zucchini Tomato Compote and Veal Steak Reduction with Aceto Balsamico
- Mignon of Beef Tenderloin on truffle infused Veal Demi-glace Duck Liver-Herb Crust, Anna Potato, and Steamed Spinach
- Supreme of Free-Range Chicken on Grilled Cherry Tomatoes, Mushroom lasagna and Crème do Volaille with Whole grain Mustard.
There were of course the Vegetarian alternatives and the selections from the Oriental Wellness Cuisine.
Desserts
- Grand Marnier Soufflé with Sauce Anglaise
- Sautéed Strawberries with Candied Black Olives and Olive Oil Ice Cream
- Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango Sorbet
We were waited on by June and Maître’d Jamie. Both of these fine gentlemen, along with the tag team of George, the sommelier and Chief Bartender Zoltan, Chad, Memed, Merza, and others took excellent care of us at dinner every night (especially when we dined aft on deck four). Dinner, in the usual SD fashion was wonderful. The Filet was perfect and service was exquisite. The standard wines were very nice and fit in perfectly. I did not pay a bit of attention to the labels, but trusted George and Chad, to make good selections, which they did. On SD for the most part there is never a reason to need any wine other than the standard pour.
Due to the weather conditions we stayed late in San Juan and sailed at 11:00 p.m. Chad did a great job of keeping FT's after dinner drink -lemoncello - never empty. (According to her he's a sly bartender.) Before retiring for the night we found our SD pajamas with our names. The captain was right it was a rocking night.
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