Alis Grave Nil

Saturday 25 October 2014

Still Cruisin'

Don't worry, chers amis, I won't bore you with every day of our cruise but a few funny things did happen on our first sea day.  We went exploring on the ship on the first day, finding out where everything was.  Everyone is allocated a restaurant with waiter service, although you can go to the buffet restaurant any time you want.  We wanted to find ours so that we could go on the first formal night when you put on your posh clobber. Our restaurant was called Cinnamon and when we found it we noticed that there was a Marco Pierre White menu displayed outside.  We heard another passenger saying that it was just an advert for his White Room restaurant which was also on board (one that you had to pay through the nose for).  Anyway, we skipped off and continued exploring.
 
In the afternoon, we were just sitting relaxing in the bar/pool area, enjoying the sunshine and having a cold drink.  I saw someone pointing upwards and followed his gaze.  Standing in the open air restaurant above us, hair blowing in the breeze was......none other than Rob Brydon.


Rob Brydon, P&O Cruise Ship Ventura
9 October 2014
Just one more take, guys, and then it'll be a wrap.

We think he was making an advert for P&O.  They did the same take about ten times.  It got a bit boring in the end. Anyway, that was a bit of excitement on a sunny afternoon on the Adriatic.

Now to the formal evening.  There were a lot of seasoned cruisers in dinner suits and bow ties and ladies in long evening dresses. Ladies could also wear short cocktail dresses or smart trouser suits and the gents could wear a normal dark suit with tie. Roberto and I got dressed up and ready for our first meal in the Cinnamon restaurant.  We were looking forward to our meal but when we arrived and were seated, we discovered that the menu was in fact a Marco Pierre White menu.  I ordered the soup as a starter and Roberto ordered smoked salmon (once we had translated the menu from gobbledegook).  Well, the soup turned out to be consommé and I'm sure it was made from his so-called secret ingredient, i.e. Knorr stock cubes. We did have a laugh about that actually. Roberto's smoked salmon arrived.  He had one small piece of transparent smoked salmon with little bits of decoration around the plate and a small piece of lemon tied up in a muslin bag.  All very decorative but we were hungry!! The next course was also little bits of food decorating the plate so we decided to skip the dessert and raced upstairs to the buffet restaurant for some real food.  'Twas very disappointing.  I can't understand people paying hundreds of pounds for food like that and then raving about how brilliant it is.  Londoners, you can keep your celebrity chefs.  I did notice during the holiday that a really attractive girl was sent round to try and get bookings for the White Room every day.  I didn't see one person making a booking with her. In fact, she looked as if she was past herself most days.



Right, next stop Kotor.  Where the fluff is that?


 

5 comments:

  1. You both looked very elegant. Roberto shouldn't be so shy, he is a handsome hunk of a man and you must post more photos of him. What colour are his Speedos? I looked in The Urban Dictionary for a definition of "cruising":-
    a:to search (as in public places) for a sexual partner. b: to go about the streets at random but on the lookout for possible developments.
    Usage:-
    a: Let's go cruising the streets for a sex partner.
    b :The cabdriver cruised for an hour before being hailed.

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    1. c) Cruising on the Med in a big boat?

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    2. Roberto has just come in and complained that I put the worst photo of him on the post but every time we took a photo when we were dressed up, he looked like he was going to be sick. I can't find a good one.

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  2. I'm not surprised the Marco Pierre food was rubbish. Our local pub which is in a very beautiful Georgian building was 'fronted' by him for a couple of years. Sounds like the same menu. Last time we ventured there the Mister had some Mackerel as a starter, tiny piece of fish, maybe two mouthfuls with a half lemon in a muslin. Very expensive too. Hope things improve for you both from now on.

    Jean
    x

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jean. Fortunately, the MPW menu was only for one night and then the restaurant went back to "normal" food. Bloody cheek isn't it? I don't know how these chefs dare charge the prices they charge.

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