Cruise Day 5: Dining onboard

Dining onboard ship is as wonderful an experience as I'd been told. The meals and service were extraordinary every day. Breakfast and lunch are available at several locations and you go at your convenience, but all guests are assigned to a table at dinner. We shared our dinner table with two delightful couples, Roger and Nancy from Arkansas...



...and Omar and Maria from Texas...


Conversations were lively, informative, entertaining, and stimulating, and the mealtime always lasted at least 90 minutes as none of us were anxious to depart.

Our waiter, Valeriy (on the right) from Romania, and assistant waiter Altan from Turkey, both treated us like royalty. Their English was excellent and their service was spectacular.




Valeriy entertained us each evening after dessert, challenging us with puzzles to solve, such as placing 2 coffee cups on the table, one of which had an empty can in it. The challenge was to move the can to the other cup without touching the cups or can in any way. The solution was to blow into the cup containing the can, which caused the can to rise, and then to puff hard and get the can to jump out of the cup. With many attempts, I actually got it to land in the other cup.

Several evenings, the entire wait staff of 150 or more people assembled to sing for us...


The chefs not only excel at cooking but also carving, be it ice sculptures or watermelons...