You do not have to be retired to go on a cruise, but it is just as fun if you are retired or not. I just got back from a week-long cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. My good friend Nancy came along with me, and I was able to enjoy her company while dining. There are 24 different dining options on the Oasis of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world.
Larger cruise ships have added "specialty" dining options, where you pay an extra charge to have the opportunity to eat in a fancy restaurant with waiters and intimate tables. They still have the main dining rooms which are like the traditional cruise ships, with waiters and assistant waiters and head waiters and head assistant waiters and... This ship has three main dining rooms on Decks 3, 4 and 5.
There are also buffet style restaurants where the food is placed out and you get what you want and then sit at a table. There are waiters to bring drinks and busboys cleaning up the dirty dishes. We basically did breakfast this way every day.
Nancy and I tried all of the above options. It was a week-long cruise so we had plenty of time to try different things. There is a choice of the main dining rooms at set times (5:30 PM and 8 PM) for dinner or what they call "My Time" dining, where you make a reservation each day for the time you want. That is what we had chosen before cruising because I had done it on previous cruises. Being just the two of us, it seemed that they never had anything earlier than 7:30 PM. I guess we were calling too late so my time really was their time...
On our first day on the ship, after we settled in our room, we went down to the Park Cafe' in Central Park. I took a picture of the place from our room.
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| Park Cafe on Deck 8 as seen from our room balcony on Deck 11 |
It was a small buffet with very few choices. I had them make me two meat sandwiches with gravy, and Nancy opted for the soup and a salad.
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| My two beef sandwiches with gravy at the Park Cafe' |
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| Nancy's soup and salad with Caesar dressing at Park Cafe' |
On our first morning, I got up to look for some coffee. I normally do not eat a big breakfast but I do want coffee. I found some in the Solarium Bistro. It has a complimentary breakfast and lunch, but you have to pay a cover charge for dinner. We did no eat dinner here. There is also a rule that says only 16 years and above are allowed in the Solarium. I think it might have been 60, not 16.
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| Solarium Bistro |
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| My breakfast and coffee at the Solarium Bistro |
Our favorite place to dine for breakfast and lunch was called the Windjammer Marketplace. We even eat a few dinners here because we never made a "my time" reservation. This was
our plan, though. We would check the menu for the evening dinner to see if they had anything good. If they did, we made our reservation, else we went to one of the complimentary buffets.
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| Lunch at Windjammer Marketplace |
Nancy likes her Coco-cola and one of the soda dispenser machines was located on the Royal Promenade on Deck 5. It was right next to Sorrento's Pizzeria where they always had hot pizza slices being served. Good when you wanted something quick and easy.
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| Sign outside Sorrento's Pizzeria |
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| My pepperoni slice and Nancy's (forgot the flavor) slice at Sorrento's Pizzeria |
We did not eat at the first two port of calls, but we did get lunch when we were in St. Maarten, the town of Phillipsburg. We had visited a few art galleries and one of the dealers told us to stop at the Greenhouse for lunch. We took him up on the idea and stopped. This is a fairly large open-air restaurant located near the docks.
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| Sign at the Green House |
Nancy and I had been walking all morning so we were kind of hungry. We ordered two appetizers. The first picture is the Bang Bang Shrimp...
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| Bang Bang Shrimp at the Greenhouse in Philipsburg St Maarten |
I wanted to try the Crab Rolls:
Delicious jumbo lump crab meat with herbs and seasonings, wrapped in a spring roll and fried until golden brown. Served with a sweet chilli sauce.
Here is a photo of this appetizer:
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| Crab Rolls at the Greenhouse in Philipsburg St Maarten |
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| Nancy with her coca-cola, our appetizers, and my beer. |
They did not have Presidente beer on the cruise ship so I ordered them when I was not on the ship. Nancy's soda can was very festive...
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| Nancy's soda and my beer at the Greenhouse in Philipsburg St Maarten |
We did hit the American Icon Grill, our "My Time" restaurant for dinner when they had lobster tails. It was an interesting experience. The place was packed but we had a reservation. They escorted us to our table but they were still people at it. They escorted us back out of the dining room and then they took us in again to a different spot. We ordered our meal and Nancy ordered her coca-cola. The soda never came while we received our soups and salads. I told the head waiter about it and he immediately departed.
A few minutes later he returns with a bottle of champagne and pours each of us a glass. Our waiter returns and said that the lobster tails were small so he would bring us two each. Our plates were served but with only one lobster tail each. Our waiter sees this and goes away and returns with full meal plates with two lobster tails each. He let us finish our first lobster tail and then removed the plates, saying there had been a mistake and handed us the new plates with two tails. We ended up with three lobster tails each.
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| My plate with the extra lobster tails with more rice and vegetables |
Staying in a balcony room overlooking Central Park, we received a complimentary lunch at Giovanni's Table. This is a specialty restaurant and would cost $10 each for lunch, but we got to eat for free on the last day of the cruise. I had taken a picture of the outside of the restaurant.
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| Entrance to Giovanni's Table in Central Park (right below our room) |
We had a choice of an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. I choose item 1 and Nancy choose item 2.
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| Appetizer choice at complimentary lunch at Giovanni's Table |
We both choose the shrimp for our entree.
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| Entree choice at complimentary lunch at Giovanni's Table |
Nancy did not get dessert, but I tried the chocolate cannoli.
So we ate a lot on the cruise. because some of the places were served by waiters, I am including them in my bucket List:
- American Icon Grill - I give a 3.5
- Greenhouse in St Maarten - I give a 3.5
- Giovanni's Table - I give a 4.0
Next blog will have more on the cruise...
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