Sea Day Three - Afternoon

After lunch, the other little girls all wanted to go swimming so Ross took Sweet Pea to the pool while I went back to the room to start packing up. 

Sweet Pea and Ross returned from the pool, got cleaned up and we all headed to the kid’s club talent show.  Sweet Pea went first played a cute version  of “Hall of the Mountain King” on the synthesizer, which added a nice spookiness to the music.  

Then we played our last round of trivia for

the cruise.  We were one of the top scoring teams, so we got prize cards.   

I stupidly made us miss the question: What does the Beaufort scale, going up to 12, measure?

It is hurricanes, but I chose cyclones.   I think I’ve even heard this question before.  Maybe it will stick this time!

At the end of the game, the regular trivia players had an impromptu party.  One of the couples was celebrating their 46th anniversary and had received a bottle of “champagne” that they shared with all of us.   I had such a good time with this group of trivia lovers.  I hope to run into some of them again on a future cruise!

Sea Day Three - Buffet Extravaganza

At breakfast Paquito, our assistant waiter, told us there was a special buffet extravaganza today for lunch.  He was in charge of running the chocolate fountain and told us to stop by and see him.  Sweet Pea thought it would be a good idea to start lunch with chocolate dipped marshmallows.  

On the first day of our cruise, we found these delicious minute steaks on the buffet.  

The first day they were served with a yummy chimichurri sauce, but despite there being a label, the spot for it was empty today.  It was so good, I asked a server about it and he went to find it for me. 

The buffet extravaganza also included a whole suckling pig that they were slicing for people and an extra dessert display.  Below you can see some of the cute pastry swans that they had made.  

Sweet Pea ran into several other friends that she had made at the kid’s club and they all ate at our table together, which was really fun.  

Of course they went back to the dessert station a couple more times. :)

Sea Day Three -Morning

I am going to miss waking up to the view!

Grandma Trudy slept in and the rest of us started our day in Blu. We were impressed that the delicious fruit plates still had raspberries on them thus far into our cruise.  



Sweet Pea orders a grapefruit half which always amuses the waiter.  One of our only, very piddly,  complaints for this cruise is that they do not prepare or segment the grapefruits as well as they did in Luminae.  They cut off the bottom and make an attempt to run a blade around the inside peel, but it never releases the fruit completely.  Sweet Pea has struggled with them every morning and I usually have to help her.  

Of course Sweet Pea went to the kids club while Ross and I played our morning trivia.  Grandma Trudy found us there and was delighted to join us for a trivia game that involved a lot of Irish / St. Patrick’s Day questions.  Many people were dressed up for St. Patrick’s day and he got right in with her festive shirt.  

Q. What 1959 Disney movie, staring Sean Connery, is about a shopkeeper who matches wits with a leprechaun?


A. Darby O’Gill and the Little People.   

I had no idea, but my awesome team mates knew the answer.   We actually won this round!

Next we headed downstairs to the Ensemble Lounge for a sudoku competition.   The winner solved the page in under 3 minute, which we thought was amazing.  Jas, a member of the activities crew, came up to us after we had solved the puzzle and said that he just couldn’t figure out how to play.  Ross spent a few minutes explaining it to him.   Later, on our way out is the room, we saw another woman explaining it to him again.  We figured it was his shtick to ask his smarty-pants passengers to explain it to him.  

Grandma Trudy wanted to go get some sun I the pool deck so Ross and I grabbed some iced tea from the cafe.  We chatted for about half an hour until it was time to pick up Sweet Pea and head to lunch.  

Sea Day Two - Qsine

Tonight we ate dinner at Qsine, a whimsical specialty restaurant.  It was evening chic night so we got a little more dressed up than usual.  

Grandma Trudy was feeling much better this evening after her day of rest.  

We started with a great mixed greens salad with a fried goat cheese patty. 

Sweet Pea’s favorite dish is always the sushi lollypops. 

There were surprisingly good veggie spring rolls.  Theses were also served with bbq pork spring rolls which weren’t as good. 

Sweet Pea made us guacamole to go with some excellent steak tacos.  

For dessert Sweet Pea was able to zdecorate her own cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles which she loved.   Trudy had gelato. Ross ordered the “mystery dessert” which was rice pudding and I got tiny donuts.  

After dinner, we caught the end of the kid’s club family dance party.  Then we played a round of trivia which had us guess (from multiple choice) what year certain things go had happened, such as Princess Diana’s death. (1997)

When we got back to the room, our room strewerd, Gusti, had made Sweet Pea a Towel animal that we think may have been an elephant. 

Sea Day Two - Trivia Team Drama

After lunch, Ross and Sweet Pea went back to the cabin to nap while I played trivia.  The first round was Rock and Roll musical trivia. The winning team knew them all.  My team got 20/30, but I didn’t help much.   

We did better at general trivia but did not get the high score.  

There had been some drama in the fast-paced world of cruise trivia.  The activities directors have started awarding prize tickets to the top 2-3 scoring teams, instead of only the top team, because they feel that one particular team may be cheating.  That particular team has been recording more than one “official answer” for each question.  The same thing happened with another other team on a previous cruise, too.  I think the activitiy director should make us switch answer sheets for grading, but for some reason he is reluctant to do that.  

Sea Day Two - Lunch at Sushi on Five

Grandma Trudy was still snoozing so we decided to take the opportunity to have sushi for lunch again. 

We decided to try a bowl of lobster Raman soup. The broth was very good and there was a giant hunk of lobster meat in the top.  

We also ordered three rolls: a rainbow roll, an eel dragon roll and Amelia’s favorite, a sunset roll which had mango in it.  

Sea Day Two - Morning

Grandma Trudy slept in so the rest of us had Breakfast at Blu.  

Sweet Pea ordered buttermilk pancakes that were amazing.  

I had a strange, but delicious salami and vegetable plate.  

We dropped Sweet Pea off at the kid’s club while we hung out in the Sky Lounge and played 

St. Maarten Day - Afternoon

We enjoyed our French macaroons on our balcony. 

Can you see the island, named Saba, on the horizon in the photo below?   It’s silhouette was used as Skull Island in the original King Kong.   You can see it from St. Maarten.  

After a little rest and getting cleaned up, we were back in Blue for dinner.  Amelia was delighted to see frog legs on the menu.   



Ross had surprisingly good veggie spring rolls with a sweet chili dipping sauce.  They had a great mushrooms flavor.  Our waiter, John, recommended them so Ross ordered them.  John’s suggestions have almost always been spot on so we usually go with them even if the dish doesn’t sound like something we would normally order.  


My mixed greens salad with fennel and mango was and good fresh start to the meal. 




For our mains, Ross had veal loin which was a little dry.  Sweet Pea ordered the excellent duck confit ravioli.  Trudy and I had pastry-wrapped halibut, by far our favorite dish of the night  (shown below).

We skipped dessert because the kid’s club had a family camp out on the lawn at te top of the ship  tonight.  As soon as we finished our entrees, we hustled up there to participate.   Grandma Trudy watched from a lawn chair while the rest us played a couple of variations on tag.  When they starts playing a game of “cat and mouse” that required crawling under a parachute, most of the adults bowed out.  We also were supposed to get s’mores, but it turns out that the marshmallows don’t actually get melted  in a heated chafing dish.  Sweet Pea ate hers anyway.  

Sweet Pea went to the kids club.  Grandma Trust was feeling very tired so Ross took her back to her cabin before meeting me for visual trivia. 

Visual trivia was very interesting tonight.  They showed stills from movies with the faces of people removed and you had to guess which movie it was from.  This was really hard, but fun.  For example one of the scenes was from Pulp Fiction and another was Back To The Future.    Our team only got about half of them correct.  

The Ross and I went to the World Class Bar for a cocktail.  Ross tried a shot of Don Julio 1492 tequila and the bartender made me a special Spicy Something.  

After that it was time to pick up Sweet Pea from the kid’s club.  We listened to the silent disco for a few songs before calling it a day. 

Sea Day Two - Morning

Grandma Trudy slept in so the rest of us had Breakfast at Blu.  

Sweet Pea ordered buttermilk pancakes that were amazing.  

I had a strange, but delicious salami and vegetable plate.  

We dropped Sweet of at the kid’s club and hung out in the sky lounge until time for morning trivia.  

We had a great team today. We only missed one question, “What country uses domain ending .hr for web addresses?”

It was Croatia and not Honderez as we guessed.  

St. Martin - Morning

We had a room service breakfast in St Martin today.  It wasn’t as good as our usual food in Blu, but getting to eat on our balcony made up for it.  






We were on time to our meeting spot in the theater today.  Once we exited the ship with our group, Grandma Trudy and Ross rode in a little cart off the pier and to the bus line, while Sweet Pea and I waiting with the rest of our group and the walked on foot.  Grandma Trudy and Rossnwere already waiting in the front of the bus by the time we arrived.  

Sweet Pea and I tried to take a selfie but it was  really bright. 

The bus ride was a long one because of all te destruction from hurricane Irma on the island. There were construction crews repairing the main road away from the port today. 

This island seemed to have been hit much harder than St. Thomas.  There were cargo container tossed all along the waterside like toy blocks.  

Many of them were on thier sides and had been ripped open. 

Several hotels we’re without roofs, with entire top floors blow away.  We were on the Dutch side.   Guests who visited the French part of the island reported that the damage was even worse there.   It is hard to see from the photos I tried to take from the bus, but the significant amount of damage was very obvious in person.  

Vilma, our excursion guide, was excellent.  She told us the history of the island and a bit of her experience on the hurricane.  She said her family weathered the storm in her tiny house for hours while she sang songs to God for protection.   The after effects of Irma have been long lasting.  For example, the electric company is requiring weekly payments from families or they will turn off their electricity immediately.   This is a huge problem because many islander’s places of employment (such as those giant hotels) are now literally gone and they have no way to make a living.