Day Two
The first two days we were at sea. We got up and went to the dining room for breakfast and were seated right by the big window up front. Four other people were seated with us. I had the special of the day, which was eggs, bacon, potatoes, and an English muffin. I also had a glass of tomato juice. Service seemed to be very slow and unorganized. Our coffee was never filled and our juices never came until our main course had arrived. The cream for the coffee kept running out since it was a small little creamer shared by everyone and there was no butter on the table. I don’t know whether all this was due to a new crew or what but we handled it.
There was plenty to do on the ship. Since it was still cold the pool area was kept covered. I had my mini massage that morning, which was fabulous. Alan and I also checked out the Thermal Spa and found it to be quite relaxing. There weren’t a lot of people in it as the Spa only sold a limited amount of openings. The area with the heated lounges seemed to be the hot spot as they were all taken. It wasn’t long though until some became available. They all faced the floor to ceiling windows so you could enjoy watching the ocean.
I went to my first craft classes and made a pair of Mardi Gras earrings during the morning class and a lovely pair of pearl shell earrings at the afternoon one. The couple that taught the classes was so nice. They have gone on all kinds of nice cruises in exchange for teaching the classes. Making the earrings was easy for me so I ended up helping others. I knew from that day that I was going to be taking part of a lot of those classes. They differed a lot from previous craft classes of past cruises in we actually made nice things! In fact when I returned from the cruise and showed off all the nice jewelry I’d made everyone was impressed and want me to make them some. I have to admit that the things we learned in the classes were fun and something I could do when I returned.
For dinner I ordered the leg of lamb with mixed vegetables, which was a big mistake. The lamb was so tough that I couldn’t eat it. Several others at our table had ordered it too and returned it. There must have been a batch cooked up that was like that as some people said their lamb was okay. The waiter tried to get me to order something else but it would’ve taken too long and I would’ve probably had to have it wrapped in a to-go container and eat it at my room. I just ended up getting something later that evening at the Lido Buffet. I also ordered a Caesar salad and when it arrived I thought it was for a child as it was so small. I asked the waiter to bring me another salad and from then on he made sure I got a decent size salad. For dessert I had the Jamaican Mud pie. Alan had ordered the grilled steak with twice-baked potato and watermelon balls. His dinner looked a lot better than mine. We both ordered cappuccinos for our after dinner drink. Something we noticed was that if you didn’t see something on the table then you had to ask for it, like sweeteners. Our waiter never came by with freshly ground pepper except when I finally asked him towards the end of the cruise. It’s kind of funny in a way as the last cruise we were on we had just the opposite problem. The waiter wanted to grind fresh pepper on about everything we ate. I think since there are two different types of dining experiences (open and assigned seating) the staff wasn’t adequate to give that little extra attention to all the tables. I’m not saying the service was bad, just didn’t flow as good.
The show for the evening was a couple of extremely talented musicians called Katzenjammer. They did a comical act where they both played the same piano at the same time. What made this a unique act is that their hands would be crossing each other’s. While the one sitting on the left would play on the right hand side of the piano and back. It amazed me how they could do that without ever getting confused. They also would stand up walk around the other one. In one particular part of the act one would mix a drink while playing and still doing the hand crossover. Being a musician of sorts myself I could really appreciate their act. They looked like they could be brothers as both of them were quite short in stature and both from England.
Here’s some information about them that I found on their website: With four hands on one piano, Katzenjammer is a piano duo with a difference. Both classically trained pianists and comic songwriters, Keven Farrell and Steven Worbey have developed their own unique, virtuosic and acrobatic style of performing that can only be described as spectacular, very funny and highly entertaining. With a modern twist on a traditional genre, they will dazzle you with their own arrangements of Liszt, inspired by Tom & Jerry, Tchaikovsky, which goes off with a bang, and they will have you laughing as they marry together your favorite classics with your top-10 pub tunes! With the resulting tangle of hands and arms, the keyboard is projected onto a large screen so that the mesmerizing gymnastic display of their playing can be marveled at. “You’ve never seen a piano played like this before”.
Keven Farrell-after graduating from the Royal College of Music in 1992, he went on to work on the Emmy award winning show ‘Concerto’ with Dudley Moore. He toured with the English National Ballet and was then commissioned to write the music for the Jiving Lindy Hoppers jazz ballet, ‘Jungles of the Cities’. As a composer he has written a children’s ballet ‘The Water Babies’ and the music for the notorious play ‘The Dead Monkey’ staring David Soul. He has also written music for over 80 documentaries and 4 feature films including ‘Death of a Son’ starring Lynn Redgrave and ‘Never Play with the Dead’. He has regularly appeared on Liberty radio, LBC radio and BBC London.
Steven Worbey-studied piano performance at the Royal College of Music between 1990 and 1995 with Phyllis Sellick and Yonty Solomon. During this time he won a scholarship to study at Post Graduate level with the renowned pianist, Peter Katin (with whom he performed in a series of piano duet concerts at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon). Since graduating, Steven toured extensively throughout the UK giving piano recitals and chamber music concerts. Having always been interested in theatre, Steven meanwhile expanded his skills in acting and has since appeared in various theatre and television shows, including ‘When Pigs Fly’ (Arts Theatre) and ‘You Couldn’t Make it Up’ (Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2002). He is also the voice of Pod in the popular children’s cartoon ‘Pod’s Mission’ for the BBC. *A special note: The duo has performed in the US but not legally as their paperwork hadn’t been approved yet…they do hope to do so in the future…legally. They have a CD out and are working on a DVD.
The first two days we were at sea. We got up and went to the dining room for breakfast and were seated right by the big window up front. Four other people were seated with us. I had the special of the day, which was eggs, bacon, potatoes, and an English muffin. I also had a glass of tomato juice. Service seemed to be very slow and unorganized. Our coffee was never filled and our juices never came until our main course had arrived. The cream for the coffee kept running out since it was a small little creamer shared by everyone and there was no butter on the table. I don’t know whether all this was due to a new crew or what but we handled it.
There was plenty to do on the ship. Since it was still cold the pool area was kept covered. I had my mini massage that morning, which was fabulous. Alan and I also checked out the Thermal Spa and found it to be quite relaxing. There weren’t a lot of people in it as the Spa only sold a limited amount of openings. The area with the heated lounges seemed to be the hot spot as they were all taken. It wasn’t long though until some became available. They all faced the floor to ceiling windows so you could enjoy watching the ocean.
I went to my first craft classes and made a pair of Mardi Gras earrings during the morning class and a lovely pair of pearl shell earrings at the afternoon one. The couple that taught the classes was so nice. They have gone on all kinds of nice cruises in exchange for teaching the classes. Making the earrings was easy for me so I ended up helping others. I knew from that day that I was going to be taking part of a lot of those classes. They differed a lot from previous craft classes of past cruises in we actually made nice things! In fact when I returned from the cruise and showed off all the nice jewelry I’d made everyone was impressed and want me to make them some. I have to admit that the things we learned in the classes were fun and something I could do when I returned.
For dinner I ordered the leg of lamb with mixed vegetables, which was a big mistake. The lamb was so tough that I couldn’t eat it. Several others at our table had ordered it too and returned it. There must have been a batch cooked up that was like that as some people said their lamb was okay. The waiter tried to get me to order something else but it would’ve taken too long and I would’ve probably had to have it wrapped in a to-go container and eat it at my room. I just ended up getting something later that evening at the Lido Buffet. I also ordered a Caesar salad and when it arrived I thought it was for a child as it was so small. I asked the waiter to bring me another salad and from then on he made sure I got a decent size salad. For dessert I had the Jamaican Mud pie. Alan had ordered the grilled steak with twice-baked potato and watermelon balls. His dinner looked a lot better than mine. We both ordered cappuccinos for our after dinner drink. Something we noticed was that if you didn’t see something on the table then you had to ask for it, like sweeteners. Our waiter never came by with freshly ground pepper except when I finally asked him towards the end of the cruise. It’s kind of funny in a way as the last cruise we were on we had just the opposite problem. The waiter wanted to grind fresh pepper on about everything we ate. I think since there are two different types of dining experiences (open and assigned seating) the staff wasn’t adequate to give that little extra attention to all the tables. I’m not saying the service was bad, just didn’t flow as good.
The show for the evening was a couple of extremely talented musicians called Katzenjammer. They did a comical act where they both played the same piano at the same time. What made this a unique act is that their hands would be crossing each other’s. While the one sitting on the left would play on the right hand side of the piano and back. It amazed me how they could do that without ever getting confused. They also would stand up walk around the other one. In one particular part of the act one would mix a drink while playing and still doing the hand crossover. Being a musician of sorts myself I could really appreciate their act. They looked like they could be brothers as both of them were quite short in stature and both from England.
Here’s some information about them that I found on their website: With four hands on one piano, Katzenjammer is a piano duo with a difference. Both classically trained pianists and comic songwriters, Keven Farrell and Steven Worbey have developed their own unique, virtuosic and acrobatic style of performing that can only be described as spectacular, very funny and highly entertaining. With a modern twist on a traditional genre, they will dazzle you with their own arrangements of Liszt, inspired by Tom & Jerry, Tchaikovsky, which goes off with a bang, and they will have you laughing as they marry together your favorite classics with your top-10 pub tunes! With the resulting tangle of hands and arms, the keyboard is projected onto a large screen so that the mesmerizing gymnastic display of their playing can be marveled at. “You’ve never seen a piano played like this before”.
Keven Farrell-after graduating from the Royal College of Music in 1992, he went on to work on the Emmy award winning show ‘Concerto’ with Dudley Moore. He toured with the English National Ballet and was then commissioned to write the music for the Jiving Lindy Hoppers jazz ballet, ‘Jungles of the Cities’. As a composer he has written a children’s ballet ‘The Water Babies’ and the music for the notorious play ‘The Dead Monkey’ staring David Soul. He has also written music for over 80 documentaries and 4 feature films including ‘Death of a Son’ starring Lynn Redgrave and ‘Never Play with the Dead’. He has regularly appeared on Liberty radio, LBC radio and BBC London.
Steven Worbey-studied piano performance at the Royal College of Music between 1990 and 1995 with Phyllis Sellick and Yonty Solomon. During this time he won a scholarship to study at Post Graduate level with the renowned pianist, Peter Katin (with whom he performed in a series of piano duet concerts at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon). Since graduating, Steven toured extensively throughout the UK giving piano recitals and chamber music concerts. Having always been interested in theatre, Steven meanwhile expanded his skills in acting and has since appeared in various theatre and television shows, including ‘When Pigs Fly’ (Arts Theatre) and ‘You Couldn’t Make it Up’ (Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2002). He is also the voice of Pod in the popular children’s cartoon ‘Pod’s Mission’ for the BBC. *A special note: The duo has performed in the US but not legally as their paperwork hadn’t been approved yet…they do hope to do so in the future…legally. They have a CD out and are working on a DVD.
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