![]() April 3 - 8, 2017 Six days of sailing and you see a lot of blue - sky and water. Although the water is clear it looks blue. James really appreciates it when I (always) point out that water is clear not blue and it is just the depth and reflection that makes it look blue. I could go on but I won't. We have been at sea for six days. The time has gone by quickly! It's good to have goals and one of our goals this time on the Koningsdam was to try all the specialty restaurants. Mission accomplished. Now our goal is to get in shape. That might be a bit harder! This new 4 star mariner status has been outstanding. We sent laundry in about 5 times, we were invited to a free wine tasting event, we got 50% off at all the specialty restaurants including The Dutch Cafe, Explorations Cafe and Gelato. It's great! Back to the restaurants. All are really good and each is different. We've been to Canaletto (Italian), Tamarind (Asian Fusion) and Pinnacle Grill (Steakhouse) many times on previous voyages. New to the Koningsdam are Sel de Mer and Culinary Arts Center. Sel de Mer is a French brasserie. The food was really good with superb service. Culinary Arts was my favourite new restaurant (Tamarind is still my all time fav). It is a farm to table concept where you interact with the chefs and they prepare your meal in front of you incorporating various micro greens. The food was so flavourful. A welcome cocktail and unlimited wine are included with dinner at Culinary Arts. There are two alternating menus. We went to the Lavender dinner. We booked to go to the Basil dinner near the end of the cruise but ended up cancelling the reservation because of our expanding waist lines. Have you ever tried a szechuan button? It is the most fascinating, hard to describe sensation when you bite in to it (and you only need a tiny bite). The closest description is that it almost freezes your mouth like you are at the dentist but there is also a pop rock sensation. Try it if you ever get the chance. There were some interesting talks by guest presenters. I especially enjoy the maritime talks by Thomas Anderson, MD, Phd, a retired Navy Captain. The weather was perfect and the ocean pretty calm. We learned that we actually sailed through the Sargossa Sea - a sea in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It's an area in the Atlantic where four currents swirl together to form a gyre. This area has a unique type of brownish seaweed (sargassum) that can only be found in the Sargossa Sea. And flying fish. Columbus wrote about it in his logs. Ships would often get stuck in the area because there was no wind to move them along. We spent our days walking the deck, going to happy hour, relaxing at the spa, reading in the sunshine, watching the evening shows, listening to amazing music by the Lincoln Center Stage performers. The only thing we complained about was the evening time change. It messed us up. When we did the Atlantic crossing in 2015, the time change happened during the day. We liked that better. If that's all we have to complain about...life is good!
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AuthorI enjoy recording my thoughts on places we travel. For another perspective visit James' site. Archives
May 2017
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