Day 6

  Atlantic Ocean, United States
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

My last day onboard. 
 
Even though I didn't want to stay awake after my breakfast came I had to today because my first appointment of the day was to be at 10:00 am with Cruise Director Ray Rouse. I didn't feel awake but I put on a smile anyway as I headed down to the Grand Lobby and Ray's office just off the hall to the left. Ray is one of the busiest people on the ship so we kept our meeting short. He has had three different careers in his life that we covered in the interview and they are not what I would have expected!
 
I was very tightly scheduled today and as soon as my meeting with Ray was over had just enough time to return to my room, drink some tea while downloading the video to my computer and then rushing off to the Britannia Restaurant where I was to meet Executive Chef Klaus Kremer for a galley tour. There is so much to the tour that I will have to edit the tapes down to a reasonable time frame so apologies in advance if it ends up a bit choppy! It was fascinating to see all of the different areas, the extreme organization, the large vats of soups and sauces all of which are made in the main galley to ensure consistency in taste throughout the ship, tonight's menu included turkey so large ovens were already at work roasting the whole birds. All of the steaks and cuts of meat are cut daily by hand by the several butchers onboard and cooked to order as they are received. I was amazed at just how little work was going on at 5 minutes to noon due to the "prepared fresh" concept. No wonder it all tasted so good! Like a carefully choreographed dance the waiters must move in particular directions for orders and pick ups so as not to end up bumping into each other.
 
Towards the end of the tour the smells of food were starting to get to me and remind me that I had only had time for a plate of fruit that morning. Not a problem, I was in the best place in the world for a hungry pregnant woman to be and with the perfect host! Within seconds of my asking, a beautifully presented plate of cheese and crackers appeared. I nibbled away like a mouse while listening to a very proud chef tell all about the spotlessly clean stainless steel empire he was in charge of. He often praised the talents of the cooks and experience of the waiters for the successful efficiency of the multiple galleys onboard. I didn't want to eat too much, just enough to keep me from fainting from hunger, as at noon I was to enjoy a last meal in the Todd English which I ended up being quite late for as the time with Chef Kremer went by so quickly! In fact, I filled two 256GB SD cards in my camera which I've edited down to a reasonable length. I do wish I could have posted the whole thing but the file would have been simply huge!
 
Rudi Lainer, Berndt, Mindy and I had become quite good friends over the course of the week and we were to enjoy a last lunch together. What better place then T.E.?  I love the food here and indulged in Crab cake, a salad and salmon washed down with a mix of cranberry juice and sparkling water. Conversation flowed for well over an hour and a half but we didn't leave before dessert! Now, the perk to dining with the Food and Beverage Manager, who's only desire is to please, often means that just about any culinary wish can be granted and my greatest desire was met. What is normally only served at dinner was brought out for lunch...my love...my obsession...my moments escape to heaven...the Fallen Chocolate Cake in all of it's beautiful molten goodness was placed before me with a dainty cup of espresso to accompany it. As I took that first bite the room melted away from consciousness as the flavor filled my senses. Was someone talking to me? Was there a call to abandon ship? I would not have known or cared during that minute of sheer bliss. (I'm not over dramatizing, pregnant woman can get this way about food!) Eventually, somewhere between bite number three and five I popped a raspberry into my mouth and the contrast of chocolate sweet and tangy fruit helped wake me up from my cocoa stupor. I came back to join my lunch companions on earth who were looking at me with rather amused faces. The last taste was gone and it was time to say good bye. We exchanged email addresses and will be keeping in touch. For them it was off to pack, for me it was off to my room where I was met by a team from the Room Service department onboard who were going to help me in filming a special clip about the process of room service. Video's take quite a while to edit and upload and I will be working like mad once I get home to get caught up with them all and get them up!
 
At 3:00pm I was done for the day. I was also physically exhausted as the time change and busy schedule started to catch up with me. I packed most of my things and then while writing the first part of today's blog entry started to fall asleep. So, I set my alarm and enjoyed a 2 hour much needed nap.
 
I awoke much refreshed and just in time to get ready for dinner. I prepared for dinner early because I had some important work to do beforehand. I had to catch up on some important emails, meet with the purser about a few things and check my flight schedule for the next day. I was late for dinner at table 17 but I was glad that I had been able to dine with everyone one more time. The moon was shining and I had a lovely view of it over the water during diner. I was pleased to hear that they had indeed received the bottle of champagne that I had sent and enjoyed it and being the kind group they were wanted to hear all about my latest "exploits" since my last dinner with them. During the meal we received a special visit from Chef Kremer who stopped by the table to personally deliver a special envelope to me. Inside was something I will highly prize....the recipe to the Fallen Chocolate Cake! Word must have gotten around that I was obsessed with it! While I doubt that I will be able to perfectly replicate this intricate dessert I certainly am going to have fun trying!
 
After dinner and goodbyes I went to the Queen's Room to find Julie to say good bye. I then walked around the ship in hopes of meeting up with all the different people I had met over the week and was happy that I did find most of them. It had been a lovely week! It was quite late now and I had just one last task to take care of before going to bed. I grabbed my credit cards and went to the ATM in the casino to withdraw some cash for my cab rid to the coach station the next day. I ran into my first problem. For some reason the machine was not accepting my pin number. I tried every pin number I had ever used on all the cards and was beginning to panic, what on earth could be wrong?! I went up to the Winter Garden to calm my nerves while quickly sending an email to my husband who got no where with the credit card company. I went to the pursers desk to see if I could charge money onto my onboard account and receive it back in cash. No go, the casino could not do it either. Possibly in the morning. I'm not getting to bed until quite late er..early as I'v stayed up to communicate with my husband via email.