Wednesday, August 5, 2015
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Well, dinner last night was good. Clay said the NY strip
steak at Cliff Rock was better than the always available one in the dining
room. I know we have not seen a filet mignon onboard except upstairs, so we had
good beef even if we did have to cook it ourselves. They brought a plate
holding a thick, very hot stone insert on the right with a raw piece of meat
stuck on it. There was a baked potato and an assortment of raw vegetables on
the left. You had to cook everything but the potato. I had to ask the waiter to
butterfly my filet as it would never have gotten well done before my rock
cooled off. Everyone but Clay wound up asking for a butterfly. The downside was
that Clay did not want his steak well done, but he had the thinnest cut of meat
and nowhere to move it off the rock so he had to eat his overcooked. They
served soup or salad up front and apple or peach crumble for dessert. They also
had lamb chops, fish or vegetarian entrees. It was better than I expected but I
still hate dining entertainment experiences. The saving grace was the scenery
being docked across from Detroit’s downtown skyline at sunset. If the ship had
been sailing, I think it would have been much windier and noisier out there. So
I enjoyed it and I’m glad I did it but I can’t really recommend it unless
you’re a person who likes that kind of thing.
I don’t know what time we wound up sailing but it wasn’t
10pm. I turned out the lights and went to sleep after 10:30pm and my last look
out the window was the same as we were still tied up at dock in Windsor then.
When I looked out again after midnight and after 2am we were in a narrow
channel near land. It was lit up with strings of light and once I saw an old
boat with Huron spelled out in lightbulbs with the bow of the ship pointing in
that direction. What I could see in the dark with no glasses seemed very campy
and retro.
We woke up between 6 and 7am and the sun was already up on
the starboard side of the ship. From our port side window we could still see
the land in the distance of Michigan. When we came out for breakfast, there was
no land visible from the starboard side. Edgar told me this morning that his
contract ends shortly after we leave and then he plans to leave for good. He
said after he had rested at home in the Philippines for a while that he would
start applying for other jobs but that he would not return to Saint Laurent.
Their loss. He has been with them for a while from what he told us and the day
he had planned to go to Niagara Falls he was disappointed but didn’t seem that
upset since he told us next time. I think something must have recently happened
to make him want to leave the ship for good. That is too bad and I hope for his
sake and Haimark’s that it gets worked out and he can come back and work
happily because he is a keeper and so is Saint Laurent. Obviously there have
been so missteps and they could do a lot better job with enrichment lectures
and keeping passengers informed and communication in general. But, the Great
Lakes is a fantastic and unique area and so few travel companies or cruiselines
have been able to make a go of it here. It is unfortunate because people from
all over the world would find this a unique and interesting destination, but
most of the time it is inaccessible to us outsiders. I hope this experience
just improves and stays around. I think they are doing a good enough job at the
price point.
We attended the morning lecture from 9:30am to 10:30am. It
was about the Life Saving Service specifically in the Great Lakes. When we got
back to the cabin after 10:30am our cabin had not been serviced, there was no
evidence in our corridor that it was still being serviced and the lady next
door was just leaving and hanging her service sign on her door. None of this
was good news because I was starting to feel terrible. When we woke up there
were 1 to 2 foot waves. During breakfast they increased to what the lecturer
called 3 to 5 foot seas. My noon they were at least 6 feet and more. Of course
we were also getting further from land. We could see it early but by lunch we
had not seen land for hours nor any other vessel and only 2 sea gulls. We both
killed time around different places on the boat trying to get comfortable
before finding the cabin vacated about 10 of noon.
We went to lunch about 12:10pm and missed our usual table.
So, we sat next to it because we had seen Edgar serving there, but we got Servy
again. He did a better job this time, but also physically abused Edgar. It just
made me mad and I already felt terrible. Clay had a burger and apple strudel. I
had pork cutlets Milanese and vanilla ice cream with honey. It was all good.
We are back in the cabin after lunch and it is definitely
nap time. The question remains for me; how much rougher will it get? I am about
at my tolerance limit and I don’t think I can take much more. Do I wait it how
and tough it out or do I dose up now with knock-out drugs and call it a day? I
don’t know yet. I’ll brush my teeth and try to decide. We had a letter on our
bed when we got back in the cabin. It informed us that the disembarkation
location in Chicago had changed. Originally we were to dock at Navy Pier. Then
they were told there was construction and that we would have to anchor and
tender ashore. Since this is a turnaround port they really didn’t want to have
to do that and neither would I. So, they are docking 12 miles out at something
like the International Port. There was a notice that there were no taxis or
private cars allowed there and no public transit so they were offering a $45 pp
transfer to O’Hare. Since our flight leaves right before noon, we are accepting
that offer. Otherwise they were offering complimentary transfers to Navy Pier
or Palmer House (their post-cruise hotel) at 9am. We expect to leave at 8am as
soon as we are docked by making the choice we have made. I don’t know how they
are notifying the arriving passengers on the next cruise. Maybe they aren’t
hence the complimentary transfer to and from Navy Pier.
I had to take a Dramamine and knock myself out for about 3
hours. The good news was that the waves had returned to morning size when I
woke up around 5pm. Clay had gone to the port talk. He learned that our CD Ken
is from Decatur, IL. Our blue bus will leave at 8:30am with part of Orange bus
mixed in. We will dock at Little Current on Manitoulin Island. We will get back
around 12:30pm and the other half of the ship will go to the “Pow Wow”. The
Orange bus is divided between morning and afternoon because there aren’t enough
buses here. It seems we’ll come ashore right in town and town is only about 1
block in any direction with 3 restaurants if we want to eat ashore. You’d have
thought if they thought we wanted to eat ashore that they’d have mentioned in
advance that we’d be docked in downtown Windsor until after 10pm! Anyway.
t
Don’t be fooled by the term Lake. These waters are as rough
as anything on the seas. I knew that already but until you get here and see
nothing but waves for hours and you have to keep reminding yourself that this
is all fresh water!
We went to dinner and got our favorite table and waiter.
Clay got colcannon soup and osso bucco and ice cream for dessert. I had
colcannon soup and pesto ziti and baked apple for dessert. Clay has been
drinking a red wine from South Australia, a Shiraz he likes. I hope he knows
what the label is so he can have it at home.
We are sitting after dinner in the now empty lounge waiting
to get back in our cabin again. I don’t know what is going on with cabin
servicing, but I hope it gets worked out soon.
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