On Board the Seabourn Legend
Anyway the siren was sounded. Everyone walked up to the deck to their appointed place. Everyone except Virginia and me because we went up an hour early, took the elevator (which you are not supposed to taked during the actual drill), wore our vests while having champagne at the Midnight Lounge Bar. At 4:55 P.M. we strolled down to station # 3, snugged up our vests and watched everyone else huffing and puffing up the stairs. There is an advantage to having done a cruise before. We knew the routine.
It is impossible to go hungry on Seabourn and since everythign is included in the price, except the tours, one has a number of dining selections. If you eat in the main dining room, a waiter takes your lady by the arm and escorts her to a table. The husband, of course, follows along like an idiot because no one is walking him by the arm. Being straight, that is perfectly acceptable to me.
Now, let me go over the dining accommodations before I forget. Breakfast between 7 A.M. and 10 A.M.; lunch at 11:30 A.M. to 2 P.M. Tea between four and five (finger sandwiches, two hot trays of goods, cookies, pastries, seven or eight different kinds of teas or stronger). The main dining room opens at 7:30 P.M. The veranda with both indoor and outdoor dining opens at 7 and is not formal. Room service until 11 P.M.
We are ninety per cent of our meals at the Veranda for several reasons: (1) We did not have to dress formally; (2) We knew and liked just about all the waiters and waitresses up there; (3) They served spectacular meals, having a regular menu one night and a tasting another where you go three of everything imaginable; (4) We had the place practically to ourselves; (5) We had a truly great bunch of guys -- Gael, and Anthony from France, Carmen from Rumania, Gunnar from Germany, Kevin from South Africa and they went out of their way to get you anything you wanted.
The humor alone of hearing Gael tell us in his French accent that they promoted Keven to Assistant Manager of the Veranda because he was mentally deficient and couldn't keep orders straight was worth the price of admission alone. I mean this man was a man you took home with you for a constant stream of laughter.
Now, if you want to celebrate an anniversary in a manner which is unforgettable, let me tell you how it's done once you get familiar with Keving, the Veranda manager.
You do not eat at the Veranda that night. No, because you have already answered Kevin's question as to what your favorite food is. Lobster, we said in unison, not knowing what to expect. The next night we received a call from Kevin and were told to go to the main dining room at 7:30. So we dressed in our finest and went.
Virginia was greeted: "And how are you tonight, Mrs. Vassallo? And you, Mr. Vassallo?" The maitre d' reached out and took her arm in his and escorted us to a quiet, side table for two, with candlelight. And we were then served our appetizers, a lobster dinner, our choice of red or white wine, and a fully chocolate cake with Happy Anniversary on it. I can but recall only a few of our anniversaries but our nineteenth will stand our forever. We had first class attention all the way through and a fellow passenger actually came over to photograph the two of us so we'd have a memory of the event. Not only did he kindly do that and email us the photo, but he also bought four volumes of Tears and Tales. Texans are not only tall, they are friendly too.
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