Day Eight ~ At Sea

We woke up about 6:30 after sleeping 9 1/2 hours.  We both felt so much better.  We lazed in bed for a while.  It was going to be that kind of day, relaxing and being lazy.

Doug went for my pre-breakfast raspberry pastries.  It was early, so he had to walk to the Windjammer, which is one deck up and all the way forward.  His knees still hurt from yesterday's long walk back to the ship, so it is true love that he went for me :)

I was enjoying coffee on the balcony while waiting for Doug, but perfume lady came out.  It was strong and obnoxious, but I moved to the other side of the balcony to a lounger and it was tolerable.

The sky is sunny and blue with puffy clouds.  So very pretty!  We are having pre-breakfast and talking about our day.  Mostly we want to hang at the pool in case it is the last nice pool day (and it was).  We have 8pm reservations at Giovanni's this night, and I'm looking forward to that!

So we had pre-breakfast and then headed to the Windjammer for breakfast.  It was 8:30 am and the pool deck was already filling up! We came prepared with our suits on and a bag packed and planned to eat and then get a lounger.  But we decided to grab loungers now and take turns going to the WJ for breakfast.  Good call.  We got chairs that would be in the shade after a bit.  I was a little over-sunned.  Of course, on my way out of breakfast, I got a mimosa.  I did this most days.  Yum!

We spent all morning and a good part of the early afternoon at the pool.  We had several drinks, took turns having lunch, used the pool...I like to sit in the shallow part and Doug gets in the water and had a few pictures taken.

Doug was talking with Dave and Sue and realized we all have 8pm reservations at Giovanni's.  So Doug asked if we would like to join them, so we made plans to do that.

About 2 or so we headed to the cabin to relax on the balcony with another drink.  We took naps.  I am loving this relaxing, gorgeous, lazy day.  After my nap I took a bubble bath with a glass of wine and showered.

It was only 4, so we ventured out to collect our pictures and browse around in the shops some more.  Doug sat in the centrum while I grabbed an Americano and a chocolate mud cake, which is a mini cupcake size of chocolate amazingness!  We sat in the centrum for a while people watching and reading, then went outside on the promenade deck to take pictures and video of the sea and went back to the room to dress for dinner.

By then it was time for pictures.

After pictures we had about 45 minutes before dinner.  So we sat in the Schooner Bar and listened to the 70s music trivia and had a drink.  Then we headed to Giovanni's.  None of us had been there before, and it was fun to go together.

We already knew that Petya (the hostess) was the wife of our server, Delroy, from Chops.  So we talked with her, a lot.  She is darling!

The way they serve food in Giovanni's is the appetizers and pastas are served family style, and then you order a main course and dessert is brought out in a cart and they serve you as much all of it that you want.

There was SO MUCH food and it was amazing!  We started with a ciabata olive bread.  We had olive oil with balsamic vinegar and grated cheese for dipping.

The appetizers were caprese salad, which was so very good.  Tomatoes, small fresh mozzarella balls, capers, olives & arugula with olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled on top.

We had a warm mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto and placed on top of crusty ciabata bread.  SO SO good.

A shaved beef with arugula, which wasn't my favorite.

And scallops, which were so amazing.  I'd never had scallops before.

Then they brought out the pasta and our main course.

We had mushroom risotto, which was so very good and creamy.

Potato gnocchi in a light blue cheese sauce.  Oh my heck....it was my favorite! I could have eaten just this (and dessert).

We had penne in a vodka sauce, which was also really good.  And Marilyn crab ravioli,  Nobody cared for that.

For my main course I had some kind of stuffed chicken breast with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies.  It was very good.  But I couldn't eat all of that.

Doug had veal stuffed with cheese and mashed potatoes.  He really enjoyed that.

And then they rolled out the dessert cart and described all of them.  They all sounded SO good!  I had tiramisu which was made with baileys and kahula.  So incredibly yummy.

We sat and talked for quite a while, but it was so warm in the restaurant.  So we moved to the centrum for the 70s party.  It was 20 minutes into the party, so it was very crowded, and it was hot!  So we headed into the Schooner bar.  Again the piano guy was boring.  But it was nice and cool and we enjoyed drinks.  Mudslide for Doug and a passionate kiss on the lips for me. We certainly are getting our money's worth out of this drink package!!

About midnight we had had enough of the piano guy, so we went to the VCL.  But it was SO incredibly loud we couldn't even talk.  SO we left and parted ways.  Dave and Sue headed to the casino and we headed to bed.  When we got back to the room we found our last towel animal.

It was another great, relaxing and beautiful day!!