What To Do With Those Extra Sea Days

Since this cruise has now officially gone down in Crystal history as having the largest number of cancelled port stops for a single itinerary - and given some of the itineraries that's quite a surprise - we thought we'd devote one blog post (be it originally Galway or Londonderry) to sharing some of the things we did on board during the cruise. We did actually have a scheduled sea day between Londonderry and Portland; at least that stayed the same!

One of the specialty restaurant choices on Serenity is Tastes, up on the Lido Deck. The menu is tapas-style, with a number of choices of appetizer and entree type foods, served on platters for sharing for two people. We actually went twice; the second time to have all the things we didn't have previously!

Why not get a glimpse at the menu?

The Steak and Fries

Shrimp, and Tacos at the back

The Sunset Bar is at the front of Palm Court, and, except for the dancers, private functions and the Captain's parties, is usually very quiet. A nice alternative when The Avenue Saloon becomes a bit noisy.

The Palm Court during dance time

Outside the Sunset Bar awaiting sailout

Sunset from Palm Court

Usually we are seated at an officer's table in the Dining Room, and this cruise was no exception. There must be a note on our file somewhere, because we always seem to sit with the Chief Accountant! Yvonne must have been on vacation (we've sat with her at least twice) as our table hostess was Brigitte Klar from Dortmund in northern Germany. We ended up with a good group at our table, although two ladies travelling together only came in twice. When we finally met them, it turned out that Monica had been helping them out at the knitting group.

With Captain Vorland at the Welcome Party

Our table. The man and woman standing at the outsides
were not regulars at our table, but we had a good time
with Judy and Joe (standing, centre) and Ginger and
Charlie (seated beside Brigitte)

We don't do this very often, but we had asked Giuseppe, our section headwaiter, to special order what we call 'Joanne's Gnocchi', since she had special-ordered it on the ship when we were all there a few years ago. Of course, that night also happened to be schnitzel night, which we didn't know beforehand, so, breaking with our usual rule, we had a bit of each. That night was also one of the evenings that Brigitte would be at the table. The problem was that our other two regular couples were going to Prego. Larry had happened to run into Brigitte during the day and let her know, so she ended up bringing a dining companion - the Future Cruise Consultant, Paula Jean. We had known Paula Jean for a few years too,  so we had a really nice meal.

Our gnocchi with a side of schnitzel

Brigitte and Paula Jean

One thing that Crystal always has is some kind of arts progam. Odyssey Art at Sea has usually been more geared toward painting and that sort of thing, but for the last year or so it has also included knitting instruction. Monica knew this from Keith and Anne Marie's blog, and as she normally takes some project along anyway, she decided to go to the get-togethers. There is an experienced knitter/instructor running the program; this cruise it was Betty who had her sister Sally to help out. Monica was among the most experienced knitters in the group and ended up helping 10 year-old Hannah with her projects.

Hannah already working on her second project!

We usually had a pretty good turnout

The final display - Monica's 3 hats are in the back along with Hannah and her Mom's;
the gorgeous scarf was knitted by Crystal Cove pianist Scott Mitchel

Hannah and Betty, the knitting instructor

Knitting was always held up in Palm Court in the afternoon, ending right around the beginning of Afternoon Tea time. We don't usually go to that, after all there's only so much one can eat in a day, but Monica did have tea with Hannah and her dad one day.

Ginger Twist Tea, Scones with Strawberries
and Cream, and a Rhubarb Streusel slice -
YUM!

We've spoken about our friends Keith and Anne Marie who are frequent cruisers with Crystal. We managed to get together for drinks at the Cove on the last formal night. We made Keith's blog post and now they've made ours too.

We had met Lorinc when he was a bartender, on our first Antarctica cruise. He was also onboard Serenity when we had the family cruise. Believe it or not, he's still there, and has been a sommelier for the last few years. He was also one of the first people we saw when we arrived. He always remembers the whole family and was astonished to see the photos of Matthew, Kady and Emmett. We had to get a photo with him as well.

And we did even manage to get to the gym a couple of times - something we're sure everybody would be expecting after all those food photos!

The Crystal Weather Bubble Has (Well and Truly) Burst

A note to start this post - don't look at the dates; we're already home. There was so little time at the end of the cruise, when we finally got in a couple of ports, that we had no time to write. Better late than never, though!

We had barely left Dublin when Captain Vorland announced that the weather for Galway was not looking good. Another big low pressure system was heading in from the North Atlantic and it would be bringing heavy winds and very rough seas, with expected swells in the 25 foot range.  If the ship would have trouble in that weather, imagine trying to send out a tender!! So head office and Shorex got busy again and managed to get us a second day in Belfast to replace this cancelled port.

Once we arrived in Belfast, the weather wasn't much different than usual - cool, overcast with intermittent showers. We hadn't planned any tours here as we'd been up to Giants Causeway farther up the coast on our last trip, and had seen the Shankill Road and murals in the city, but we hadn't yet been to the Titanic Museum. That would be our goal for the day.

We took advantage of the Late Riser's Breakfast in Tastes, having a slight variation on our usual Sunday brunch, and then, umbrella in hand, headed off to the shuttle. We had stopped by the local tourist office desk onboard and got some information, which included discovering that, although we could see the Titanic Museum from the aft end of the ship, we would have to go into town to get to it! 

The shuttle buses were operated by the local Tourist Authority and took us to the Tourist Info Centre in Belfast. As soon as we got off the bus, all the guys from the various Hop On, Hop Off bus companies were right there. We have found that the Original Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tours company is the best one in all the cities where we have used them, so we started off with their rep. At the same time, one of the other guys was giving Larry a hard sell for his tour and not getting very far. If there's anything we don't like, it's a pushy salesperson.

The good thing about the Hop On, Hop Off pass was that it was good for two days, in case we needed the extra time to see anything in Belfast. We climbed aboard and took the bus to the Titanic Museum. Of course, it started to shower quite heavily just after we got off the bus and our umbrella was just big enough to ward off the worst of it as we ran to the building.

We had no idea just how busy it would be on a Sunday and they have some crowd control measures in place to keep the exhibits from getting too crowded, so we had some time to kill once we had bought our tickets and went outside to look at the slipway where Titanic and her sister Olympic were built. Fortunately the rain had stopped and we had a good look around.

Looking down the Titanic slipway at Serenity. A subtle reminder
of how the past has shaped the present.

Some of the original Harlan & Wolff buildings
beside the new museum.

The Titanic wasn't the only engineering and architectural masterpiece in Belfast in 1910. In order to build her, a huge gantry had to be built first. The Arrol Gantry was 220 feet high, the largest in the world at the time, designed and built by Sir William Arrol, whose company also worked on the Tower Bridge in London and the Forth Bridge outside Edinburgh in Scotland. The light standard poles along the slipway representing the gantry are only 1/3 the actual height. The 'crew member' stationed at the gantry display inside later told us that the first thing any new Titanic worker at Harlan & Wolff had to do was climb to the top of the gantry; if he couldn't do it, he wasn't hired.

The slipway has been turned into multiple exhibitions: A life sized outline of the main deck of Titanic is embedded in the actual spot where it was built; along one side of the slipway there is a grass and timber representation of the proportion of people in all 3 classes, as well as the oft-forgotten crew members, who survived and those who died. And something we didn't even realize until doing a little research afterward - the wooden benches around the slipway actually spell out Titanic's last SOS message in Morse code.

The white outlines depict the main deck; the light standards are
gantry frames. You can just see the grass and timber
along the right side. The raised area in the middle is a
memorial to those who died, and to those who built Titanic

The Titanic Experience is the main exhibition and includes artefacts, photos and interactive presentations, even a couple of rides - one in an elevator to give you an idea of the height of the gantry, and another Disney-like trip to bring riders closer to the sights and sounds of the building process. It covers the design, build, launch, fit out, and all the stops she made on her maiden, and only, voyage. Here are a few photos of the exhibits; it was quite busy and difficult to get good pictures.

White Star Line posters. The Titanic Museum
is star-shaped to represent the line.

A First-Class cabin aboard Titanic. Relatively
large even by today's standards.

Of course, Titanic's striking the iceberg and sinking were also well covered, as well as the inquiry into the event that resulted in many of the safety at sea requirements that are still followed today. But one of the best presentations is a film showing some close ups of the wreck and parts of the debris field around it. You can also get a topside view of the wreck, looking down as the wreck passes slowly by underneath.

The Titanic Experience is a great way to spend about 3 hours (don't plan on any less) in Belfast and we were very glad that we finally got there.

Once we left the museum we thought we would be able to catch the next Hop On Hop Off bus. We saw it driving up, but were about 3 steps too slow and it took off just as we crossed through the gate to get to the pickup spot. Not wanting to wander around for another half hour, we went looking for a taxi, and eventually got back to the ship.

That evening we were also treated to a local music and dancing group, all Belfast natives. They write many of their own songs, some with a historical twist and a Titanic or shipbuilding theme. They brought with them three dancers who were also quite good. The one in the vest looked a lot like Colleen...

One tip that the tourist office person had given us was to check PRONI, Public Records of Northern Ireland, to look for ancestry information for Larry's father's family. Fortunately it can be accessed online so it wasn't necessary to make another trip, although the office is near the Titanic Museum.

The original plan was to be in Londonderry on the 4th, but this reschedule had moved it out to the 5th.  We weren't planning to go anywhere there, so we had booked massages (yes, even Larry) for that day, which we couldn't change. Monica couldn't get hers moved up to the morning from the afternoon, so we weren't able to get off the ship on our second day. Oh, well, that just meant more time to get the blog up to date.

Irish Food is More Than Just Potatoes

Back in Dublin for an overnight visit, we hadn't made any daytime plans for Friday, our first day. As it turned out, it wasn't the nicest day and we used our time to catch up on the blog and relax a bit after a busy first week. 

In the evening, we took an excursion out to a local restaurant for dinner. The Ely Bar is nearer the port in a now rebuilt warehouse building. The idea is much like the Distillery District at home. On a Friday night the main floor bar, and even the patio, was quite packed, despite the fact that it was cool and rainy. Dubliners obviously don't let the weather get in the way of a good time. Our dinner was set in the basement restaurant area, which used to be the goods customs warehouse, where cotton and other items were held on their way into Ireland, and whiskey was stored on the way out. Dinner was very good, and for those of us taking part, accompanied by a tasting of 4 wines from various parts of the world, but not Ireland. In the words of our host, 'Ireland makes four kinds of wine, none of which are fit for human consumption!'

After our return in the evening we had a local band come on board to entertain in the Crystal Cove. At one point, they decided they needed some audience participation. A few people got up to dance, and then they started looking for singers. Monica happened to be sitting in just the wrong place and suddenly found herself belting out 'New York, New York' (they assumed everybody was a) American, and b) would know the lyric) along with the guys. Gary Hunter, the cruise director, was standing nearby, and jokingly signaled 'the contract is in the mail'. Our response:  'Will work for cruise fare!'

Saturday was a different story. After looking around for something different to do for a private tour, we found Fab Food Tours, a company that runs foodie tours in and around Dublin. We met at 10:00 in the morning, not far from the Crystal shuttle stop. While we waited for Eveleen, our guide, we wandered around the area a bit:

Not sure what organization the building belongs to,
but the ironwork is beautiful

St. Anne's Church, our meeting point

Once Eveleen got there we found our group to be about 12 people, a nice size to fit into the places we were to visit. Eveleen Coyle, who runs the company, has been involved with food for a long time, including in cookbook publishing. As it turns out, she worked  on the Darina Allen Christmas cookbook that Marie Brown sent to Larry's Mom, that we have now, as well as others that Darina wrote. She told us the story about the wrong measurement in the Plum Pudding recipe in that book, apparently it read a pound and a half of bread crumbs instead of a cup and a half of breadcrumbs (!!) - so if we ever want to make that, we know the fix that has to be made first. As an idea of how popular Darina and her mother in law Myrtle Allen are in Ireland, when that book came out and women complained that the pudding didn't turn out, they ended up cooking a huge number and giving them to people whose puddings had failed!

After Eveleen gave us a pretty good history of why Ireland doesn't have a real cuisine of its own, which is related to the exodus that went on for over 100 years and now the influx of people from other parts of the world, we started our tour.

Our first stop was a tiny Italian bakery, Dolce Sicily. It is run by a couple from northern Italy, who started only a few years ago with a tiny bakery and now have a tiny storefront with two rooms in the back for seating. We were offered cannolis and espresso that were both delicious.

Our next stop, just around the corner, was Sheridan's Cheese shop, which has been around for quite a few years. Its specialty is selling artisanal cheeses, mostly made in Ireland. As there are lots of cows all over Ireland, there is also lots of milk. When farmers found that they had more milk than they needed for their families or to sell to dairies, many turned to making cheese so the milk wouldn't be wasted. As a result, each cheesemaking farmer has his or her own recipes and methods, each one resulting in a different taste and texture. The taste will even vary from batch to batch. The only problem is that often, when a cheesemaker passes away, the nuance of the recipe is lost forever, even if the ingredient list is passed to someone else.

We tried the Durrus and an Irish Gouda. They were so good we wanted to take some back to the ship as a snack, but didn't think we'd be able to get it on board!

Next stop was in the Powerscourt Townhouse, the earlier town residence of the Earl of Powerscourt, a wealthy landowner. The courtyard has been turned into a shopping and restaurant area populated by one-off stores, not locations of international chains (they're on Grafton Street), and the house itself is an event venue. It is beautiful and very popular spot, as we could see on a Saturday at 11:00. Our food stop here was at the Pepper Pot restaurant. Just as with the other stops, the Pepper Pot was started by two women who wanted to offer good home-cooked style food. They had just enough money together to pay the lease on this spot at Powerscourt, and started off with borrowed furniture and dishes and flatware that friends donated out of their attics. After only about 3 or 4 years, the Pepper Pot is one of the most popular brunch locations in Dublin. They bake all their own breads, including the bagels we had with cured salmon, and apparently their scones are to die for.

Shops and restaurants at Powerscourt Townhouse

The Pepper Pot

While at Powerscourt, we passed a knitting shop that we eventually got back to. Monica wanted to get some Irish yarn to make a scarf in an Irish pattern, and the shop called This Is Knit was too nice to resist.

Our next stop was, as required in any Irish food tour, a pub. This one, The Swan Bar, dates back over 100 years, and the interior hasn't been altered much since. We had a little taste of Jameson's here, and our barman host explained the history of the pub and its interior design, which made an allowance for women, who were not allowed to go into pubs in Victorian times, to socialize with the men. A small room just inside the entrance, aptly called the 'Snogging Room' was not technically in the bar and had a little hiding spot for the ladies' illegal drinks.

Eveleen at the bar

Next Eveleen took us through an arcade to a little kiosk called Lolly and Cook. There is apparently a real Lolly who opened this kiosk to sell cupcakes and pastries. Apparently, those cupcakes are some of the best in Dublin. We had a slice of warm sausage pie, probably the closest thing, other than the whiskey, to authentic historically Irish food on the whole tour.

The sausage pies are on the lower right of the photo

Two more stops to go! Next we visited a French chocolate shop called Cocoa Atelier, started by a pastry chef, chocolatier. All of their chocolate comes from either Caillibaut or Valrhona, and they make a huge assortment of chocolate treats, including pralines, truffles and coated nuts, and specialties like eclairs and tarts. The macarons (which are flavoured meringues with cream sandwiched inside, not coconut macaroons) all come from a particular baker in France. The chocolates we had there were decadent!

Our final stop was at a weekend market in the Temple Bar area. We wandered around for a few minutes, checking out some of the stalls, while we waited for our oysters, at the Temple Oyster House, to be shucked and prepared. These are local oysters from the Irish Sea, a little brinier than our East Coast varieties, and somewhat larger than most as well. A little red wine shallot vinaigrette and down they went. Along with a cup of their fish chowder, a delicious end to the tour.

After the tour, we had to make sure we made our traditional (for the 3rd time - that qualifies as traditional, doesn't it?) stop for lunch at The Temple Bar. A beer for Larry, a glass of Jameson's for Monica, and a meat platter shared between us made our lunch.

We found our way back to Powerscourt and the knitting shop, and then did a little other shopping before heading back to the ship.

We had already heard from the captain that our stop in Galway would be cancelled because of bad weather on the west coast of Ireland. Twenty foot seas are not exactly conducive to tendering, and they weren't expected to reduce any time soon. But instead we were going to have a second overnight stay, this time in Belfast. Our lack of sea days seemed to be quickly turning into a surfeit of them. We would see what Sunday and Monday would bring.