Five Sea Days on Oceania’s Riviera

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Here’s a final picture from Tenerife as we now sail westward toward Bermuda.  The tag art in Spain is very good.  Here’s an example:

Thursday – Sea Day 1

There was a lot of ocean rock and roll as we slept, and it continued into the morning as we headed westward across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands (Tenerife) to Bermuda.  Weather was a mixture of sun, clouds, rain, and especially wind.  The swells were quite high and walking was a bit difficult at times.  We gained an hour between mainland Spain and the Canaries, and we gained another hour last night.  It’s 6:15 AM right now, and Elaine is off to the gym.  It’s a very well equipped gym with all the machines that we are used to at 24-Hour Fitness.  I’ll be heading up there at about 7:30 for my 40 minute treadmill experience.  Then it will be breakfast in the Terrace Café.

There is table tennis, bridge, shuffleboard, and croquet all day with tournaments schedules at various times.  I generally stay away from the Casino, but I thought about entering the blackjack tournament this afternoon.  Unfortunately that conflicted with a lecture on “The Depths of the Atlantic, the First Adventures of the Europeans with the Atlantic Ocean”.  I solved the dilemma by skipping both and taking a nap.  Elaine attended the lecture and a cooking discussion by Oceania’s senior executive chef from France.  We both opted out of the Scarf Tying demonstration.  Oceania also has a test kitchen where they have presentations and cooking classes.   We missed the 5:30 lecture, “Royal Banquets, State Occasions, and Other Near Disasters” – conflicts with cocktail hour.  We skipped the Friends of Bill W. meeting as well as we were busy drinking.

Lunch was in the Terrace Café:  I had an eclectic mixture of pizza, calamari rings, and spring rolls.  The choices are endless.  And everything is good.  First time Oceania cruisers all comment on how good the food is compared to other cruise lines.  (Thanks, Jacques Pepin, Oceania’s culinary advisor and planner.)

Dinner tonight was in the specialty restaurant, Red Ginger, which serves Asian style food:

Appetizers

Elaine: Crispy Giner Calamari (cilantro, garlic chips, shallots, & sweet chili sauce)

Joe:  Tuna Tataki (seared tuna filet, shiso, sesame crust, & wasabi cream

Soup/Salad

Elaine: Spicy Duck & Watermelon Salad (crispy duck, watermelon, cashews, mint, basil, & sweet fish sauce)

Joe: Tom Kha Gai soup (lemongrass, coconut milk & chicken)

Mains

Elaine: Claypot Caramelized Chicken (with caramel sauce, chilies & fresh ginger)

Joe: Crispy Duck Asian Style (with raspberry sauce, snow peas, and coconut)

Dessert:

Elaine: Steamed Ginger Cake with Apple Cardamom Ice Cream

Joe: Bounty Cake with Coconut, Chocolate Chips, & Vanilla Bean

Friday – Sea Day 2

The weather was similar to yesterday but as we progressed westward, the swells began to decrease and it got noticeably warmer.

The highlight of the day was being invited by Peter Langley, the pilot I mentioned previously, and his travel mate, Jack, to cocktails in their stateroom at 7:00 PM.  There was another couple from California invited as well.  We had a grand time discussing the adventures of Peter and Jack over their colorful careers.  The other couple had reservations in a specialty restaurant, so we accompanied Peter and Jack to dinner in the Main Dining Room.  We four were the last to leave the place.  (As an aside, my rack of lamb was delicious and cooked perfectly rare.)  I also drank too much.

Saturday – Sea Day 3

As we arose, me with a hangover, the swells had decreased to a minimal level and we pushed on westward in calm seas.  The mighty Atlantic was almost like a lake.  And it turned out to be a beautiful sunny and warm day.

We did our gym thing and had breakfast.  Then we did ship stuff, had cocktails, enjoyed lunch on the open deck, took naps, read, and generally enjoyed life.  We have seen one ship in three days, a freighter.  No sign of land, of course.

Dinner tonight was in the specialty restaurant, Polo Grill, the ship steak house.  Elaine had a great foie gras en croute appetizer while I enjoyed an excellent shrimp cocktail.  We both had salads, Caesar for me with extra anchovies.  Then Elaine had a nice filet mignon and I had a beautiful rib-eye.  Desserts: key lime pie and crème brulee.

Sunday – Sea Day 4

It was cloudy when we got up and the swells were up again.  Some people won’t be happy.  We, however, don’t mind and even enjoy rough seas.  We are both lucky in that we never get seasick.  It was a gym free day today.

Today was Country Fair day on Riviera.  All of the departments (housekeeping, bar staff, galley, casino, waiters, etc) have booths on the main deck with various games that passengers play to win raffle tickets.  After the 45-minute fair, numbers are called out to award prizes like bottles of wine, casino chips, massages, and so on.  We won lots of raffle tickets but, of course, no prizes.  At 4:00 we were invited to Scottie and Mickey’s stateroom for champagne.  They brought a case of their favorite bubbly on board in Barcelona.  Oceania allows you to bring your own alcohol so long as it is consumed in your cabin.  We have done that in the past, but on this trip we bought the unlimited booze package – all the liquor and wine you can consume.  We’ve been getting our money’s worth!  Dinner was in the Main Dining Room.

Monday – Sea Day 6

Swells down, temperatures up.  A beautiful sunny day.  We lolled about, attending the Q&A with the Captain and Chief Engineer in the morning.  Pina coladas (as usual) at noon.  We each did a load of wash in the self service guest laundry.

In the afternoon I decided to enter the blackjack tournament in the casino.  There were ten entrants, $35 buy-in.  Five players at each of two tables playing ten hands with $100 worth of house chips.  Top three moved on to the final table.  I was out of it until the final hand when I bet my remaining $50, hit, and ended up in a tie for third.  We played three hands to break the tie, and I won and moved on to the final table.  Six people, twelve hands, $100 in house chips each to start.  I went up and down but had a shot going into the last hand.  I bet $40, got a six and a five, doubled down and got a ten for 21.  I won the hand but only managed second place.  The payout was $180 to first and $120 to second, so I ended up winning $85, the $120 less my buy-in fee.  Not bad.  I can’t remember the last time I played Blackjack.

After the usual cocktails and canapés at 5:30, we had dinner in our third specialty restaurant, Toscana.  It was lovely.  I’m sparing you the details.

As I post this we are docked at the Royal Naval Shipyard (King’s Dock) in Bermuda.  The whole shipyard is wired for very reasonably priced high speed internet.  We are here all day today (Tuesday) and tonight before embarking late on Wednesday afternoon for Nassau.  Hopefully I will get a post in tomorrow (Wednesday) before we leave port.  Then we have our last sea day before reaching Nassau.  We are winding down.

OH, and go Pats.  Crushed a good Indy team in their house much to the chagrin of most of our Louisville friends (although Dee is actually a Patriot fan).  And crushed Detroit who ain’t half bad.  The Pack is next. We will be watching from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.