DAY 8-At Sea--SHIP ACTIVITIES/FOOD

SHIP ACTIVITIES--

On our 12-day cruise, we had three "At Sea" days, which were relaxing, but Laura and I also took advantage of the activities on the ship.  We would walk most mornings outside in the fresh sea air on Deck 14 on the walking/jogging path or use the exercise machines in the Fitness Center.  We also went to some scrapbooking classes where they provided all of the material, participated in a Trivia Game and listened to a professor lecture on the magnificent architecture, museums, churches and festivals of Venice.   Here are some other fun and interesting activities we took advantage of:

Formal Nights--

Evening entertainment in the Solstice Theatre--

One evening Doug and I went a little early to save seats and were the first ones there.

Ceiling of theatre

Laura and George with young couple from Russia--entertainers in a European-style theatrical circus.  All of the entertainment was top-quality!

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One day we went to the dining room to "The Heartbeat of the Operation" tour of the food gallery to find out how food was prepared on the ship (13,000 meals a day).

We were led down to the kitchens to see how food was was prepared and/or used as decoration--fruit...

...bread...

...and meat.

Pictures of the main courses

Colors of chef's scarves designating their superiority.

Warming and cooling ovens

Spotless stainless steel kitchens

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Bocce--George, Laura and I played this lawn game that has been around since the Roman Empire.  The object of the game is to get your ball closest to a smaller ball that is thrown out in the beginning of the game.  

George showing us that his blue balls were the closest!

We played the game the morning we toured Montenegro, so you can see the beautiful scenery that was all around us.

In addition, we played on REAL GRASS!

 After the game, we just sat and relaxed in the beautiful atmosphere!

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This was very educational and interesting--Corning Glass Company presented this Hot Glass Show on the ship (probably since this was a Venice/Mediterranean Cruise)

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We were actually on the ship on October 31, Halloween.  Martha, a fun lady who sat at our table had on this costume mask when we came to dinner.  She wrapped a shawl around her head to hold on the plastic mask, which included only the eyes, hair and green/white headdress, which for some reason made her look so eerie!!

Doug, of course, just had to put it on and went from table to table to have fun with the other members of our tour group!

Laura with some Halloween decorations on the ship

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The next couple of pictures are of us four couples who shared a dinner table each evening (one other couple wasn't in the picture).  Our head waiter, Dragon, from Serbia told us about his girlfriend on the ship that worked in the shops on the ship.  So, we searched her out one evening.

One of the shop's window displays--probably decorated this way because we began our cruise in Spain.

We had to include the picture of this large potted live tree suspended in the atrium, that we would look at whenever going up or down the elevators.

 And, of course, one picture of the towel creations made by our cabin stewards!

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FOOD--

The food was incredibly delicious.  With the Celebrity Solstice Class being awarded "Best Cruise Ships of 2011 (and Best Premium Cruise Line), the food had to be excellent.

Ceiling of the Grand Epernay Restaurant

Our evening dinner table group (along with our Cruise Director--Peggy--standing in the back)

George and Laura...

...Joyce and Doug...

...Cherlyn and Tom (from Idaho Falls)...

...Bill and Martha (from Idaho Falls)...

...and Anita and Darrell (also from Idaho Falls).

Dragon, the funnest head waiter we have ever had on a cruise!

The head chef from Brazil came around to the tables one evening.

On the second Sunday on the ship, we attended a small Sacrament Meeting arranged by our cruise director, which consisted of many in our tour group.  We then went to an amazing brunch in the formal dining room consisting of elegant tables decorated with all kinds of beautifully prepared food with ice sculptures scattered throughout the room.

Ice sculptures of:  The Leaning Tower of Pisa and flower vases containing real flowers...

...Swans...

..."X", which stands for the Greek letter "chi," for Chandris, the family that founded the Celebrity Cruise Line.  They merged with Royal Caribbean in 1997...

...and a horse.

Creation made by the bakery staff of a bakery shop.

Bread oven

AND, some of the wonderful desserts...

...and cheeses.  That's about all the pictures we took of the food.  We wanted to start eating!!!

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Evening meals--


These last pictures are just a few examples of the wonderful dishes we ate.  Appetizer...

..."Mama's pork chops" (all-time favorite meal)...

...chicken parmesan...

...apple turnover a'la mode...

...and phyllo fruit cup.

When the head chef came around and asked for any comments, we told him the only change we would make is to cut down on the proportions of meat!  We loved every bite, but especially towards the end we only needed to eat two meals a day, if that!!!


And then, of course, there was the ice cream.  However, I'm saving that for one post alone!
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Tomorrow, we visit NAPLES, ITALY.  The four of us have already been to Naples before.  However, since Doug and I have already visited the ruins of Pompeii (and Laura and George haven't), we will be visiting the ruins of Herculaneum (the other ancient city covered by Mt. Vesuvius erupting).  I will blog the one and Laura the other.