First off, I wanted to mention how different this South Pacific cruise is compared to our Alaskan cruises. For us, it's more like a vacation and we feel like guests. The reason is that our shows are so spread out since we only have six shows and it's a 26 day cruise. We'll perform and then have four to five days off. I've been filling the time reading, catching up on good movies, both rented from the crew office and at the onboard movie theater (since now the movies are different every day rather than repeating every week) and attending the cooking demos and guest speaker lectures.
The food is also better from our perspective because it's different every day, rather than the same menu repeating each week, and there's more of an international selection. One night they had a German buffet with homemade spatzle, brotwurst, knockwurst, seafood chowder in puff pastry and German desserts. If I'm not careful, I'll be the cover model for Weight Watchers soon - the before picture. The cruise passengers are also more diverse with a lot of Dutch, Germans, Asians, Aussies, Kiwis (New Zealanders), English, Indians and Arabs. However, the majority of passengers are still Americans. Another difference is that the pools are constantly filled with swimmers, rather than being a mere decoration in Alaska, and the outdoor decks are over-populated with sun worshippers on lounge chairs. Also, the general disposition of everyone on board is a little more laid back, cruising on "Island Time."
And now for Fiji. Jeremy and I recently met another young married couple, Chris the "tech-spert" (On-board computer geek for the guests), and his wife Candice. They're from Seattle and we immediately hit it off. They invited us to join them at a waterfall park so we hopped in a taxi together and started our adventure. The Forest Reserve Waterfall park was called Colo-I-Suva and it was, for lack of a better word, AMAZING. We were out in the middle of this rainforest with rock carved steps, rural but walkable trails and about 8 different waterfalls and natural pools. I felt like I was in Adventureland in Disneyland because it was so pristine and perfectly manicured - but this was the real deal! It was a surreal experience. Honestly, I'm fumbling for the words to describe this place but we took a lot of pictures and as soon as I can upload them you'll see what I mean. After hiking downhill, passing the "Upper Pool" and myriad waterfalls, we reached the main attraction where we spent most of the day: the lower waterfall run-off naturally enclosed pool. A large tree branch extended out over the middle of the deep pond and attached to it was a rope swing! We played "Tarzan" swinging from the rope into the water! Chris has a sophisticated camera so we took a lot of fast shutter motion shots that I can't wait to upload. The best and most surprising part of our day was that we were the only four people in the entire park! We had this secret hideaway paradise to ourselves. I still can't believe it. On the hike back, Jeremy of the jungle was joking about starting conversations with, "When I was rope-swinging across waterfalls in the Fijian rainforest..." Haha!
We hiked to the main road and caught a local bus back to town. Right next to the ship was an enormous, two-story warehouse farmer's market. We walked around a bit, bought fresh pineapple spears that literally tasted like candy, and then walked upstairs to the spice market. To all our foodie family members-you would've been elated at this vast array of spices! Chris and Candice bought a huge bag of curry but we opted out because Jeremy reminded me that we can get pretty much anything at ethnic markets in Los Angeles. With our last minutes before having to board the ship, we tried some Fijian food from stands outside the market. I couldn't tell you the names of what we ate because we just pointed at different dumpling-like foods through the glass cases. We got what tasted like fried potatoes, tarot root, spinach balls and doughnut type balls. We surmised that meat must be a delicacy for the impoverished people because everything we tried was basically fried dough and vegetables.
I know I've said this a lot and am losing all credibility with this statement, but in terms of a truly once in a lifetime day in a place as remote and romanticized as Fiji, this port experience takes the cake. That is until we get to New Zealand. I need to stop quantifying our experiences don't I? They've all been special and memorable in their own right and it's of no importance which is the best. But, even with my bad long term memory, I can say with confidence that I will never forget our day in Fiji.
Much love,
J & J
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Two Samoa's in Two Days
I had no idea what to expect in the Samoan countries. Prior to this cruise, the only thing I knew about Samoa was that it typically produced, shall we say, rotund people. The only Samoans I had ever met were the fire blowers in Hong Kong Disneyland's stage production of "The Lion King." Other than that, I was completely ignorant of all things Samoan. So, I attended one of the ship's lectures on the history of the Samoan islands and found it extremely fascinating. In case you were wanting a brief history lesson, let me save you the trouble of Wikipedia-ing and give you a summary: Samoa wasn't discovered until 1722 and then again in the late 1700's. Like a lot of South Pacific cultures, the Samoans believed in "trade" as the unspoken rule of giving what one had and taking what one needed. So, when a french explorer (I can't remember his name) arrived at the Islands in the late 1700's, the Samoans gave him and his men food and shelter and in turn took tools and nails from the ship. Well, the captain thought the natives were stealing his goods and hung the son of a Samoan chief from the mast of the ship. This of course caused an outrage and the Samoans killed the captain and most of the sailors. When word got back to France, Samoa was deemed inhospitable and not visited again until the mid 1800's. At that time England, Germany, the US and France all wanted a part of Samoa. The four countries tried to share control for about 10 years but it was a disaster. England and France pulled their interest and, after splitting the country in two, Germany took over Western Samoa and the United States adopted Eastern Samoa, now American Samoa. After World War I, Western Samoa was given to New Zealand and remained under their jurisdiction until it became the first South Pacific nation to gain independence in the late 1960's, dropping the "Western" from the name. One disturbing story I remember from the speaker took place during the great flu epidemic of 1919. A flu-infested ship sailing from England wanted to dock in American Samoa but was turned away. It never should've been cleared in Western Samoa either, but because the wife of the New Zealand governor had china and other fineries on board, they allowed the ship in port. The flu killed over 30% of the Samoan population because doctors were only allowed to treat the non-natives.
American Samoa was turned into a naval base for the US and 90% of the population left behind their rural plantation lifestyle and moved near the harbor in Pago Pago to take advantage of jobs in this rapidly growing city. The naval base provided almost the entire economy of the Island and Samoans were, and still are, very proud to serve in our military. However, with the wars over and no need for another South Pacific naval base, we closed the base in the 1950's and left American Samoa with a dramatic population increase but no jobs to sustain the economy. Even now, 35% of the population is dependent on US welfare. The speaker pointed out that with financial help from the US and better public education and health standards, American Samoa is much more affluent than Samoa. However, Samoa has maintained more of their traditional way of life and takes pride in their Samoan culture. Having briefly experienced both American Samoa and Samoa, I didn't notice a big difference and the deeply religious people in both countries astounded me with their generosity and sincere Christian kindness.
Ok, enough of the history lesson. Now onto our days in the Samoa's:
Friday, September 23: Pago-Pago, American Samoa
I volunteered to help out the Shore Excursions office and as a thank you, they offered to put Jeremy and me on tours together, at no charge. In ship life, it's important to get in with the right people! So, we signed up for the "Taste of Samoan Village Life." We took a tour of the Island's best sightseeing attractions on a small open air bus with the final destination being a re-creation of a traditional Samoan village. This beautiful village constructed within towering coconut trees and the unsurpassed landscaping of tropical rainforest had five different huts/stations showcasing Samoan life. First, we watched in astonishment as a large Samoan man shimmeed up a palm tree in six seconds to grab a coconut. Then, they demonstrated how they harvest coconut milk by shucking the outer layer on a sharply carved log, extracting the coconut meat, mashing it with the coconut milk and then draining it through a cheesecloth-like substance fom the banana tree. The second station offered a taste of a roasted Cocoa bean drink that Jeremy I both agreed we would switch to every day instead of coffee or tea. Next we witnessed women weaving banana leaves amd palms into baskets, trays, plates, etc. The fourth hut gave samples of fresh mango, papaya, pineapple, sugar cane and bread fruit. At the fifth station we witnessed what I was most looking forward to - Samoan men cooking their delicacies for us in a traditional outdoor underground oven called an Umu. On individual banana leaf plates were placed samples of chicken, lamb, roasted spinach in coconut milk, tuna in coconut milk, fried bread fruit and fried banana. Lastly, they entertained us with traditional Samoan dancing. It was such an educational tour! We were grateful for the chance to experience so many different facets of Samoa in such a short amount of time. We returned from the excursion around 1:30pm but still had until 10:30pm in Pago Pago. We spent the afternoon at a grassy cove/beach, laying out and swimming in the crystal clear warm ocean. The weather was gorgeous but like all tropical islands it rained lightly on and off. For dinner we walked to a nearby resort hotel, Sadies By The Sea and unexpectedly ran into a bunch of other cast and crew members. We joined them for dinner, drinks, food, dancing, pool partying, crazy underwater camera picture-taking and nighttime ocean swimming.
Saturday, September 24: Apia, Samoa
Unlike our long port day in Pago Pago, we only had about five hours in Apia due to a raft drill and an early all aboard time. Jeremy ventured on a tour of the Robert Louis Stevenson museum, the great author's homestead where he spent the last five years of his life. He saw letters, original drafts of "Treasure Island" and even Stevenson's grave site! I walked around the town of Apia and went into a few of the local markets. I bought a whole coconut and drank it's milk with a straw - a highlight of my day. We didn't get to see as much of Apia as we did of Pago Pago, but we still enjoyed it. Seeing the Robert Louis Stevenson museum was a major highlight of Jeremy's cruise contract.
During the five sea days from Hawaii to Samoa we crossed the Equator and the day after Apia we crossed the International Dateline. We went from Saturday, September 24th to Monday, September 26th. It's really interesting seeing the Southern Hemisphere sky. A few nights ago, Jeremy, Kurt, Kassie and I were on the bow studying the foreign constellations with an astronomy app on Kurt's iPhone. It uses GPS to identify stars and planets in the sky. What did we ever do before the iPhone? Ah, that reminds me of a funny story: Kassie's 15 year old niece was talking about her astronomy lessons at school and said, "Why do I even need to learn about astronomy? I totally have an app for that." :) Our future leaders...
Next up - a day in Fiji! We love you,
J & J Bernard
American Samoa was turned into a naval base for the US and 90% of the population left behind their rural plantation lifestyle and moved near the harbor in Pago Pago to take advantage of jobs in this rapidly growing city. The naval base provided almost the entire economy of the Island and Samoans were, and still are, very proud to serve in our military. However, with the wars over and no need for another South Pacific naval base, we closed the base in the 1950's and left American Samoa with a dramatic population increase but no jobs to sustain the economy. Even now, 35% of the population is dependent on US welfare. The speaker pointed out that with financial help from the US and better public education and health standards, American Samoa is much more affluent than Samoa. However, Samoa has maintained more of their traditional way of life and takes pride in their Samoan culture. Having briefly experienced both American Samoa and Samoa, I didn't notice a big difference and the deeply religious people in both countries astounded me with their generosity and sincere Christian kindness.
Ok, enough of the history lesson. Now onto our days in the Samoa's:
Friday, September 23: Pago-Pago, American Samoa
I volunteered to help out the Shore Excursions office and as a thank you, they offered to put Jeremy and me on tours together, at no charge. In ship life, it's important to get in with the right people! So, we signed up for the "Taste of Samoan Village Life." We took a tour of the Island's best sightseeing attractions on a small open air bus with the final destination being a re-creation of a traditional Samoan village. This beautiful village constructed within towering coconut trees and the unsurpassed landscaping of tropical rainforest had five different huts/stations showcasing Samoan life. First, we watched in astonishment as a large Samoan man shimmeed up a palm tree in six seconds to grab a coconut. Then, they demonstrated how they harvest coconut milk by shucking the outer layer on a sharply carved log, extracting the coconut meat, mashing it with the coconut milk and then draining it through a cheesecloth-like substance fom the banana tree. The second station offered a taste of a roasted Cocoa bean drink that Jeremy I both agreed we would switch to every day instead of coffee or tea. Next we witnessed women weaving banana leaves amd palms into baskets, trays, plates, etc. The fourth hut gave samples of fresh mango, papaya, pineapple, sugar cane and bread fruit. At the fifth station we witnessed what I was most looking forward to - Samoan men cooking their delicacies for us in a traditional outdoor underground oven called an Umu. On individual banana leaf plates were placed samples of chicken, lamb, roasted spinach in coconut milk, tuna in coconut milk, fried bread fruit and fried banana. Lastly, they entertained us with traditional Samoan dancing. It was such an educational tour! We were grateful for the chance to experience so many different facets of Samoa in such a short amount of time. We returned from the excursion around 1:30pm but still had until 10:30pm in Pago Pago. We spent the afternoon at a grassy cove/beach, laying out and swimming in the crystal clear warm ocean. The weather was gorgeous but like all tropical islands it rained lightly on and off. For dinner we walked to a nearby resort hotel, Sadies By The Sea and unexpectedly ran into a bunch of other cast and crew members. We joined them for dinner, drinks, food, dancing, pool partying, crazy underwater camera picture-taking and nighttime ocean swimming.
Saturday, September 24: Apia, Samoa
Unlike our long port day in Pago Pago, we only had about five hours in Apia due to a raft drill and an early all aboard time. Jeremy ventured on a tour of the Robert Louis Stevenson museum, the great author's homestead where he spent the last five years of his life. He saw letters, original drafts of "Treasure Island" and even Stevenson's grave site! I walked around the town of Apia and went into a few of the local markets. I bought a whole coconut and drank it's milk with a straw - a highlight of my day. We didn't get to see as much of Apia as we did of Pago Pago, but we still enjoyed it. Seeing the Robert Louis Stevenson museum was a major highlight of Jeremy's cruise contract.
During the five sea days from Hawaii to Samoa we crossed the Equator and the day after Apia we crossed the International Dateline. We went from Saturday, September 24th to Monday, September 26th. It's really interesting seeing the Southern Hemisphere sky. A few nights ago, Jeremy, Kurt, Kassie and I were on the bow studying the foreign constellations with an astronomy app on Kurt's iPhone. It uses GPS to identify stars and planets in the sky. What did we ever do before the iPhone? Ah, that reminds me of a funny story: Kassie's 15 year old niece was talking about her astronomy lessons at school and said, "Why do I even need to learn about astronomy? I totally have an app for that." :) Our future leaders...
Next up - a day in Fiji! We love you,
J & J Bernard
Hello Hawaii
Hawaii = American Paradise
After almost four months in Alaska, the eagerly awaited final cruise came the first week in September. On September 7th, we set sail from Vancouver for the last time. Both Jeremy and I certainly appreciated Alaska but after four months of living the monotonous weekly schedule, especially when we sacrificed a sunny summer, we were ecstatic to head for the tropics. On September 10th, we spent a much anticipated six hours in Long Beach. Thanks to mom and dad Bernard, Eric and Miriam Bernard and our dearest family friend Sonja, Jeremy and I escaped our life on the cruise and briefly lived a semblance of normalcy again - just the refresher we needed for the last leg of our contract. We ate a delicious breakfast, walked around the shoreside village, played in a hat shop and culminated the ideal day with some good ole Mexican food on the bay. Oh how I've missed Mexican food! Funny the things I've missed living on a ship - authentic mexican food and real southern BBQ. Anyway, it was wonderful to spend a day close to home!
The four sea days leading up to Hawaii were utterly painless: calm waters, sunny skies, and rapidly passing minutes. I think we were all so happy to experience warmth and sunshine again that being at sea was not a bother but instead a very welcome change. A few of our bosses from Stiletto Entertainment, the casting agency for Holland America, came onboard September 7th. Since we are the original cast of "Back to Broadway," and therefore the model for all future casts, Stiletto wanted to perfect our blocking and the technical aspects of the show. Although we had all been dreading rehearsals, I'm actually thankful because the daily schedule helped pass the time.
On Thursday, September 15th, we arrived in sunny and warm Hilo, HI...or so we thought. Prepared for the tropical heat, Jeremy and I ran outside in our Island best only to discover, to our great chagrin, that Alaska had followed us here. It was overcast and rainy the entire day in Hilo! However, we didn't let it put a damper on our first day in paradise. Jeremy and I joined our cast friends Kurt, Kassie and Justin and the five of us took a taxi out to the beautiful Akaka Falls state park. It's a lush rainforest park with a trail leading to the 400 foot cascading waterfall. After the park we had the taxi take us into downtown Hilo for some traditional Hawaiian food at a local dive food stand. We walked around downtown Hilo for awhile, embracing and enjoying the cooling light mist when suddenly the sprinkling rainfall became torrential downpour. We had been planning to walk to a nearby black sand beach so thinking the rain would subside, we headed for the beach. The rain just kept coming but honestly it added to the experience of swimming in the volcanic heated ocean. Already soaked, we then walked the 30 minutes back to the ship and it seemed like with every minute the rain came down harder and harder. By the time we got to the ship, we were laughably dripping but with huge smiles and a wonderful memory.
The next day we woke up in Honolulu where the sun was shining without a single rain cloud in the sky. Justin invited us to spend the day with him and his friend who lives in Honolulu. Her name is Dayna and we are now indebted to her for the unbelievable tour of Honolulu she gave us. The plan was to drive to the north shore of Oahu and spend the day at Dayna's friend's beach house. So, Dayna picked us up and first drove us to a mini-mart to stock up on some goodies for our beach day. We got the necessaries- a 6 pack of Blue Moon, Kona coffee glazed macadamia nuts, Pringles and Doritos. Dayna bought pineapple vodka to make us her famous tropical cocktail and she also bought all of us a favorite Hawaiian snack: Spam Musubi. It's a piece of teriyaki glazed spam on rice and wrapped in seaweed, basically like spam sushi. It was delicious! That's right mom, I ate the spam and I loved it! Next, we drove to a local fruit stand for some fresh pineapple, coconut, mango, dragon fruit and fried bananas. Then it was on to the beach house and on the way we passed coffee farms, the Dole Pineapple Plantation and even Pearl Harbor off in the distance. I wish I had a picture of our priceless faces when we drove up to Dayna's friend, Daniella's, beach house. It actually belongs to Daniella's future father in law who used to be the president of Mattel. This was not your average beach house. I can't wait to post pictures of this multi-million dollar home on it's own private North Shore white sandy beach. We set up a picnic on their picturesque outdoor porch, drank our pineapple cocktails and walked the mere 20 feet to the sand. I didn't think the day could possibly get any better and then Daniella walked out of the house with snorkeling gear, fins and body boards. We had this pristine beach to ourselves and lived it up all afternoon. Unfortunately, we had to be back on the ship by 5:00 but on the way to the ship Dayna surprised us with another treat. I had read that Oahu's North Shore boasts some of the best shrimp in the world and all along the road we saw shrimp shacks, stands and trucks. Dayna took us to her favorite shrimp truck, which was a total ghetto dive truck, and generously ordered their famous garlic shrimp for all of us. We ate it in the car on the way back to the Volendam and I'm sure that car still reaks of garlic! I know I did for a few days but man was it worth it! So far, Honolulu rivals Pattaya, Thailand as my favorite day in port.
On Saturday, September 17th, we had about six hours in Kona and of course the number one thing on our minds was Kona coffee. After scouring the nearby streets for the best coffee, I went back to the pier for a snorkeling excursion. Unfortunately Jeremy couldn't go and I know I would've enjoyed it all the more had we been able to go together, but at least we snorkeled in Honolulu and planned on snorkeling in the other upcoming ports. The tour was billed as Captain Zodiac's raft and snorkel expedition, so part of the fun was the high powered maneuverable raft we went out in. Had the excursion just been snorkeling, I would've liked it but it wouldn't have been that memorable. However, the raft guides gave me and the seven guests the gift of a lifetime. Let me preface this gift by reminding you of my ridiculous excitement in seeing all those dolphins from the ship in Alaska. I have always had an affinity for dolphins and seeing so many, albeit from far away, was exhilarating. Well, as our raft driver was speeding us to the snorkeling cove, we passed a large school of dolphins. We were out in the open ocean and our guide said, "Who wants to jump in and swim with these dolphins?" Can you believe it?!!! People pay hundreds of dollars to swim with dolphins in a pool and we put on snorkels, slid out of the raft, and swam with about 20 dolphins in the middle of the Pacific! And we swam not once but twice when we came upon another large dolphin pod. What a dream come true.
We now have five more sea days until Samoa. I finished reading "Gone With the Wind" and watched the movie...twice...but the second time with commentary. Now I'm reading "The Thorn Birds." I absolutely love having the time to read. I must say I feel a little guilty writing these blogs because I'm writing all the best parts of our cruise lives. But believe me, there are plenty of sacrifices and although we don't take for granted our good fortune in this opportunity, we are definitely ready to be home and live our normal lives again. After a break I'm sure we'll be ready to go out again. To Europe :)
We love and miss you,
J & J Bernard
After almost four months in Alaska, the eagerly awaited final cruise came the first week in September. On September 7th, we set sail from Vancouver for the last time. Both Jeremy and I certainly appreciated Alaska but after four months of living the monotonous weekly schedule, especially when we sacrificed a sunny summer, we were ecstatic to head for the tropics. On September 10th, we spent a much anticipated six hours in Long Beach. Thanks to mom and dad Bernard, Eric and Miriam Bernard and our dearest family friend Sonja, Jeremy and I escaped our life on the cruise and briefly lived a semblance of normalcy again - just the refresher we needed for the last leg of our contract. We ate a delicious breakfast, walked around the shoreside village, played in a hat shop and culminated the ideal day with some good ole Mexican food on the bay. Oh how I've missed Mexican food! Funny the things I've missed living on a ship - authentic mexican food and real southern BBQ. Anyway, it was wonderful to spend a day close to home!
The four sea days leading up to Hawaii were utterly painless: calm waters, sunny skies, and rapidly passing minutes. I think we were all so happy to experience warmth and sunshine again that being at sea was not a bother but instead a very welcome change. A few of our bosses from Stiletto Entertainment, the casting agency for Holland America, came onboard September 7th. Since we are the original cast of "Back to Broadway," and therefore the model for all future casts, Stiletto wanted to perfect our blocking and the technical aspects of the show. Although we had all been dreading rehearsals, I'm actually thankful because the daily schedule helped pass the time.
On Thursday, September 15th, we arrived in sunny and warm Hilo, HI...or so we thought. Prepared for the tropical heat, Jeremy and I ran outside in our Island best only to discover, to our great chagrin, that Alaska had followed us here. It was overcast and rainy the entire day in Hilo! However, we didn't let it put a damper on our first day in paradise. Jeremy and I joined our cast friends Kurt, Kassie and Justin and the five of us took a taxi out to the beautiful Akaka Falls state park. It's a lush rainforest park with a trail leading to the 400 foot cascading waterfall. After the park we had the taxi take us into downtown Hilo for some traditional Hawaiian food at a local dive food stand. We walked around downtown Hilo for awhile, embracing and enjoying the cooling light mist when suddenly the sprinkling rainfall became torrential downpour. We had been planning to walk to a nearby black sand beach so thinking the rain would subside, we headed for the beach. The rain just kept coming but honestly it added to the experience of swimming in the volcanic heated ocean. Already soaked, we then walked the 30 minutes back to the ship and it seemed like with every minute the rain came down harder and harder. By the time we got to the ship, we were laughably dripping but with huge smiles and a wonderful memory.
The next day we woke up in Honolulu where the sun was shining without a single rain cloud in the sky. Justin invited us to spend the day with him and his friend who lives in Honolulu. Her name is Dayna and we are now indebted to her for the unbelievable tour of Honolulu she gave us. The plan was to drive to the north shore of Oahu and spend the day at Dayna's friend's beach house. So, Dayna picked us up and first drove us to a mini-mart to stock up on some goodies for our beach day. We got the necessaries- a 6 pack of Blue Moon, Kona coffee glazed macadamia nuts, Pringles and Doritos. Dayna bought pineapple vodka to make us her famous tropical cocktail and she also bought all of us a favorite Hawaiian snack: Spam Musubi. It's a piece of teriyaki glazed spam on rice and wrapped in seaweed, basically like spam sushi. It was delicious! That's right mom, I ate the spam and I loved it! Next, we drove to a local fruit stand for some fresh pineapple, coconut, mango, dragon fruit and fried bananas. Then it was on to the beach house and on the way we passed coffee farms, the Dole Pineapple Plantation and even Pearl Harbor off in the distance. I wish I had a picture of our priceless faces when we drove up to Dayna's friend, Daniella's, beach house. It actually belongs to Daniella's future father in law who used to be the president of Mattel. This was not your average beach house. I can't wait to post pictures of this multi-million dollar home on it's own private North Shore white sandy beach. We set up a picnic on their picturesque outdoor porch, drank our pineapple cocktails and walked the mere 20 feet to the sand. I didn't think the day could possibly get any better and then Daniella walked out of the house with snorkeling gear, fins and body boards. We had this pristine beach to ourselves and lived it up all afternoon. Unfortunately, we had to be back on the ship by 5:00 but on the way to the ship Dayna surprised us with another treat. I had read that Oahu's North Shore boasts some of the best shrimp in the world and all along the road we saw shrimp shacks, stands and trucks. Dayna took us to her favorite shrimp truck, which was a total ghetto dive truck, and generously ordered their famous garlic shrimp for all of us. We ate it in the car on the way back to the Volendam and I'm sure that car still reaks of garlic! I know I did for a few days but man was it worth it! So far, Honolulu rivals Pattaya, Thailand as my favorite day in port.
On Saturday, September 17th, we had about six hours in Kona and of course the number one thing on our minds was Kona coffee. After scouring the nearby streets for the best coffee, I went back to the pier for a snorkeling excursion. Unfortunately Jeremy couldn't go and I know I would've enjoyed it all the more had we been able to go together, but at least we snorkeled in Honolulu and planned on snorkeling in the other upcoming ports. The tour was billed as Captain Zodiac's raft and snorkel expedition, so part of the fun was the high powered maneuverable raft we went out in. Had the excursion just been snorkeling, I would've liked it but it wouldn't have been that memorable. However, the raft guides gave me and the seven guests the gift of a lifetime. Let me preface this gift by reminding you of my ridiculous excitement in seeing all those dolphins from the ship in Alaska. I have always had an affinity for dolphins and seeing so many, albeit from far away, was exhilarating. Well, as our raft driver was speeding us to the snorkeling cove, we passed a large school of dolphins. We were out in the open ocean and our guide said, "Who wants to jump in and swim with these dolphins?" Can you believe it?!!! People pay hundreds of dollars to swim with dolphins in a pool and we put on snorkels, slid out of the raft, and swam with about 20 dolphins in the middle of the Pacific! And we swam not once but twice when we came upon another large dolphin pod. What a dream come true.
We now have five more sea days until Samoa. I finished reading "Gone With the Wind" and watched the movie...twice...but the second time with commentary. Now I'm reading "The Thorn Birds." I absolutely love having the time to read. I must say I feel a little guilty writing these blogs because I'm writing all the best parts of our cruise lives. But believe me, there are plenty of sacrifices and although we don't take for granted our good fortune in this opportunity, we are definitely ready to be home and live our normal lives again. After a break I'm sure we'll be ready to go out again. To Europe :)
We love and miss you,
J & J Bernard
Friday, August 12, 2011
A Week to Remember
Well, I should've finished and posted this blog the week after my family came, because two weeks later, mom and dad Bernard came! We are so spoiled by our wonderful families. I've written in detail about the week my mom, Dan and Laura were here and I would write another detailed blog about our Bernard family cruise, but I'm afraid it would be very repetitive. So here you have a written oration of my family's cruise that I've been working on since they came. As soon as I can get on my husband's computer to upload pictures to my blog, you'll have a narrated pictorial Bernard family cruise! Enjoy:
Wednesday, July 13th:
At 11:00am, I sat in the Vancouver Port building reading "The Help" and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my family! After three months on board the Volendam and this alternate reality Jeremy and I have settled into, nothing made me happier than hugging my mom, sister and Dan as they walked into the port lobby from their airport shuttle. Now, we've taken a lot of vacations together, usually to visit my family spread out across the country, but I've never shared the luxurious extravagance of a cruise with my mom and I couldn't wait! Let me just preface this blog by saying two things. First, anyone of faith reading this blog, I'm asking for your prayers for my mom. She is having a knee replacement surgery on August 18th and because of her bad knee, and arthritis, her hip is also causing her trouble. I tried to plan our cruise activities so she wouldn't have to walk much, but getting around in port and just walking down the LONG Deck 3 hallway to their room at the very aft of the ship (!) was exhausting. If you think of it, please pray for a complication-free surgery and a speedy recovery. Preface number two: this blog is going to be very detailed and, by nature of cruising, especially with my family, it's going to be almost entirely centered around food! They say the average cruise passenger gains 7 pounds in one week. I never believed it until my family came on board and I lived like a passenger for a week. My skinny jeans are now my "I'm not that skinny" jeans and are a witness to the truth of the latter statement.
Our vacation began by checking mom, Laura and Dan onto the ship, and then heading right back into Vancouver for a few hours. As I've shared, I've been on a mission to find the best Vancouver cafes within close proximity to the waterfront. We caught a taxi to a place I found on Yelp, and went to a few weeks ago, called "Finch's coffee and tea house." Their pear, blue brie, prosciutto, roasted walnut and balsamic baguette is on a local's list of "100 things to try in Vancouver before you die" so of course I had to take my foodie family and we all ordered one, along with one of their famous chocolate chip cookies. After Finch's, we caught another cab to Vancouver's famous Chinatown. We stopped by a Chinese garden and then walked around a bit. Then, we cabbed it to yet another foodie delight, the Mink Chocolate Cafe. Mom ordered the best drinking chocolate any of us had ever tasted - basically pure creamy melted dark chocolate - Dan had a dark chocolate mocha, and Laura, Jeremy and I had their outstanding coffee and chocolates. Once we were properly caffeinated and sugared, as if we weren't about to embark on an eating frenzy, we got back on the Volendam and the cruise began! I saw mom and Dan into their beautiful room and then checked Laura into her special room...since this is a public online blog, let's just say I'm happy I'm close with our cruise director so Laura didn't have to sleep on a couch bed... After a quick safety briefing, we had our typical and beloved "mom's share time" where she gives us all the things she brought from home that she's been collecting for months. Usually it involves newspaper and magazine clippings, but this time I was the one bringing stacks of paper to read :) I saved different reading materials from our Asian adventure, like the Singapore Airlines menu, maps, brochures from museums, etc. I also brought over the ridiculously detailed schedule I made for the week so we could all be sure we knew where we were eating and what we were doing! After chatting and laughing, the way we always do when we've been apart for so long, we got ready for our first dinner and the embarkation show. After a delicious 5 course meal, Jeremy and I performed in our opening night show called "Listen to the Music." It's a short introduction show to acquaint the new passengers with all of the different entertainment on the ship. I then gave Laura a tour of the ship and, as you can imagine, our heads hit the pillow to prepare for a busy sea day on Thursday.
Thursday, July 14th:
This day cracks me up because it is so indicative of what it's like on a Holland America cruise for a "foodie" family like ours. This was our itinerary:
9am - Breakfast buffet in the Lido (Every breakfast food you could want including six different kinds of "Eggs Benedict")
11:00am-Cooking Demo in the Culinary Arts Center (Halibut Caddy Ganty and Chocolate bread pudding - we got samples)
1:00pm - Lunch buffet in the Lido
2:00pm - Wine Tasting (Four different wines: Danzante Italian Pinot Grigio, Caliterra Chilean Chardonnay, Three Blind Moose California Cabernet, and Disegno Malbec)
3:00pm - Afternoon Tea
4:00pm - A brisk walk around the outside deck 3 and then changed for the first formal night
5:15pm - King Crab Legs in the Dining Room, along with four other courses
8:00 & 10:00pm - Our Broadway shows with a Champagne Toast beforehand
11:00pm - Dancing in the Ocean Bar - Laura taught Jeremy how to Fox Trot and we trotted and waltzed to the live jazz band
What a day. I feel slightly guilty saying this, but it's exhausting consuming that much in one day. In fact, we kept laughing about how we'd say we were tired throughout the cruise only to realize that all we had done was eat, sit and enjoy scenery, eat, sit and whale watch, eat, sit and watch (or perform) a show, eat some more, etc.
Friday, July 15th:
Now I understand why the ship is a ghost town after about 10:00pm on these Alaskan cruises. People come to Alaska to see the wildlife and experience the scenery, and unfortunately for us late night theater people, everything good happens early in the morning. Usually Jeremy and I are sleeping in Friday mornings, after our Broadway shows, but the ship sails through the beautiful Tracy Arm Fjord and is out of there by 9:30am. So, we all got up at 7:00am, bundled up, ate breakfast and watched the untouched rugged beauty of the fjord all morning. We signed up for the hands on cooking class but unfortunately Jeremy couldn't join because it was full. So mom, Dan, Laura and I donned our souvenir Holland America aprons and were assigned to the Honey mint glazed grilled salmon. There were 12 people taking the class and we split into teams to prepare the menu items: Salmon, Yukon squash Risotto, and Mixed Berry Bread Pudding. It was so much fun to debone salmon and cook together in the large test kitchen where someone else cleans up for you! I think the pictures from the class are some of my favorite of the whole week. After the meal was done, we ate the delicious lunch we made, along with complimentary wine, in the Pinnacle Grill. Around 2:00pm, the Volendam arrived in Juneau and, considering mom, Laura and Dan had never been to Juneau and it was our first and best port, we practically ran down the gangway! The first order of business? Trying the Rookery cafe latte I've raved about for months. Justin, Chris and Kassie (from our cast) stopped by to hang out for awhile. Then, Jeremy and I took the family up the Juneau tram, which we had been waiting to experience with them. The tram goes straight up Mt. Roberts and is the steepest cable car tram in the country. At the top of the mountain is a gift shop, a restaurant (that Jeremy and I visited the following week for all you can eat crab!), a bald eagle on display and amazing hiking trails. Because of mom's knee, she and Dan didn't join us for the hike but Laura, Jeremy and I hiked into what honestly felt like the opening scene of "The Sound of Music." Because we were already so high up, the hike offered wide-open views of snow-capped mountains, the ocean and town below, and glacial meadows all around us. We even saw a Marmot peek it's head out about 15 feet in front of us. To top it all off, Juneau parted its typical cloud cover for us and the weather was sunny, clear and perfect. This was the most beautiful hike any of us had ever been on and we don't expect to surpass it soon.
After a wonderful afternoon in the quaint capital of Alaska, Jeremy and I treated everyone to dinner at the Pinnacle Grill as a celebration for Laura officially becoming a CPA! I'm so proud of my sister and wanted to spoil her for all the long hours of hard work she's put in. Plus, we wanted to thank mom, Dan and Laura for coming to visit us on the cruise when it certainly was a financial sacrifice. The Pinnacle is the specialty upscale restaurant on board and is the only food not included in the price of the cruise. I had told my family a lot about the Pinnacle, but nothing can prepare you for the decadence and luxury of this dining experience. First, they brought us a beautiful bread basket with three different types of sea salt and three different types of butter. Then, we all received the amus-bouche (wow, I have no clue how to spell that) of a seared Scallop on pumpkin purée. The amazing thing about the Pinnacle is that for just $20 a person, each guest has the option to order as many appetizers, soups, salads, sides, entrees and desserts as they want, and we're talking as gourmet as it gets. We all had the lobster bisque which they garnish table side with cream and cognac. Then the courses just kept coming. Laura had the Lobster tail for her CPA dinner, along with Jeremy and mom, and then we all shared four different desserts, including a flambéed Baked Alaska, three different kinds of Creme Brulee and a Chocolate Souffle with the words "Congratulations" written in chocolate. Thank you Pinnacle for a magical evening!
Saturday, July 16th:
Skagway! Laura, Jeremy and I decided to sleep in a little this morning and we met mom and Dan at 10:30, ready to leave the ship for the tiny Gold Rush town of Skagway. First, I took them to my favorite little local bakery called the Lemon Rose. It's a tiny hole in the wall place and we enjoyed its delicious cinnamon rolls, fresh out of the oven breakfast calzones, pumpkin cookies and great coffee. We then took a free historical walking tour. Skagway exists solely because of the Alaskan Gold Rush and many of the original 1898 buildings still stand today. Lead by a national park ranger, the historical walking tour was a highlight of our cruise. After learning all about little Skagway, we enjoyed Alaskan spruce tip beer at the Skagway brewery. On our hike in Juneau, I had mom, Dan and Laura eat Spruce tips from the Sitka Spruce tree. These spruce tips were the primary source of Vitamin C for Alaskan gold-rushers and natives. The local brewery mixes spruce tips with hops to make the spruce tip beer, and one glass has as much Vitamin C as the same size glass of orange juice. We enjoyed local beer and talked "I Love Lucy" trivia with the resident expert, Mr. Jeremy Bernard :). Laura and I left Jeremy, mom and Dan to hike the Lower Dewey Lake trail in Skagway. We only had a little while before my Dinner Belles rehearsal but we enjoyed our beautiful hike. Saturday night we had dinner at the Italian restaurant on board, "Canaletto." I'm amazed with the dining options on the Volendam. Canaletto is completely different than the Lido, which is totally different than the dining room and the Pinnacle. We had a wonderful Italian dinner, more wine, dessert and espresso and then everyone came to watch me in my 1960's girl group show, "Dinner Belles."
Sunday, July 17th:
Glacier Bay! This day is always the highlight of Alaskan cruisers as it offers spectacular views of glaciers, mountains and wildlife. Laura woke up at 5:00am to see some whales and thank goodness she did or else I'd have a cranky sister :). After my show Saturday night, I wanted to sleep a little bit so I joined everyone on deck around 8:00am. We had breakfast while in awe of the 360 degree view of snow-capped mountains and crystal blue glaciers. After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning on deck. The weather was absolutely perfect. I think we all experienced the dichotomy of being on a cruise ship in the ocean, only 50 feet from a massive glacier surrounded by mountains, and wearing sunglasses to protect from the glaring sun. I wonder who first thought to take cruise ships through Glacier Bay. I'm very thankful to whomever that was. (Correct usage of "whomever?" I have no idea, I've been singing on a cruise ship too long!) After hours of taking pictures and reflecting on the worshipful cathedral that is Glacier Bay, we enjoyed a Wild Alaskan salmon and clam bake on the Lido. And of course, more bread pudding and berry cobbler. After stuffing ourselves silly, what better than to dawn swimsuits and let the food babies all hang out? Jeremy and I took mom and Laura to the Thermal Suite - a private room in the spa with floor to ceiling windows, heated blue ceramic chairs, a mineral bath, running water fountains, and two aromatherapy steam rooms. Needless to say, it's my favorite gem on the Volendam. We were there all afternoon and it was perfect timing because the humpbacks and orcas were out in full force. The thermal suite was relaxing and exhilarating at the same time because as soon as we'd start to drift off on the heated mosaic chairs, someone would shout "whale" and we'd all jump up to see. Not exaggerating, that happened every 10-15 minutes for about two hours. We saw more humpbacks and orcas that afternoon than I've seen all summer. Granted, when I say "seeing whales," I mean distant spouts, fins and tales but hey, that totally counts! Sunday night was another formal evening so after we were sufficiently spoiled in the thermal suite, we dressed up and went to the dining room for wine, escargot, surf and turf - filet mignon and lobster - more decadent dessert and espresso. After a most glutinous dinner, we saw the fabulous ship comedian, Lee Bayless. What a truly remarkable day in Glacier Bay!
Monday, July 18th:
Ketchikan! From the moment Laura booked her Alaska cruise, she was determined to go sea kayaking. Ketchikan is the king of Alaska kayaking and Laura found an amazing company, Southeast Sea Kayaks, that offered four hour private kayaking tours. So, while mom, Dan and Jeremy enjoyed their day walking around the little salmon-fishing town of Ketchikan, Laura and I took off on the kayaking adventure of our lives. A shuttle picked us up right off the ship and took us to the company building where they outfitted us with dry skirts, industrial strength rain jackets and life jackets. There was only one other Austrailan couple with us on the tour, so the four of us then hopped in a small boat and sailed out to a larger boat where we boarded our tandem sea kayaks. The incredible thing about kayaking in Alaska is that after our 30 minute boat ride out to a remote cove called Orca beach, our guide said that besides tiny Ketchikan on our right, we were 100 miles from civilization. There is something so serene and peaceful about kayaking around little Islands with no signs of human life. I had never been sea kayaking before and I think this experience ruined me for all other kayaking. Southeast Alaska is so unique because it is made up of little Islands, little pockets of land that appear to float independently in the open ocean. For instance, Juneau and Ketchikan are both Islands, albeit larger than the inlets we kayaked around :). You can't drive in or out of both Juneau and Ketchikan - the only way to reach the outside world is by plane or boat. Kayaking in these beautiful waters is like being in the center of your own fantasy wilderness with nothing but the soundtrack of waves and birds. Our guide took us close to the shoreside of a small island so we could see myriad purple starfish attached to the rocks. He even grabbed one for us to touch. Then we kayaked directly underneath a bald eagle's nest, and on our way back to the main boat, we saw the Mother Eagle perched atop a branch next to her nest!! What a cool experience! We learned that eagles pad their nests with lichen for the comfort of their eaglets. Then, when trying to get their eaglets to leave the nest, they gradually take out the lichen to make it uncomfortable. Note to self as a parent - pull the down out of my child's pillow to get them out and on their own :). The eagles also stop feeding the eaglets and instead lay salmon at the bottom of the nests so the eaglets have to jump out to feed. God had such a sense of humor when He was creating the animal world. Anyway, after about 2 1/2 hours of kayaking, we went back to the boat and the owner of the company had set up a picnic for the four of us! Lunch consisted of their very own smoked wild Alaskan salmon, cream cheese, capers, red onions, crackers, pita, hummus, hot chocolate and tea. The other couple we were with combined their kayaking excursion with a Misty Fjord float plane trip so while we were eating on the boat, their float plane flew right up to the boat! Laura and I had so much fun watching them board and take off from the water. Once we finished every scrap of salmon (!) we sailed back to shore and back to the Volendam for rehearsal. At dinner that night, we told everyone all about our adventure and heard their stories of the day. Jeremy went to our favorite free wi-fi spot, Good Coffee. Mom and Dan took advantage of the many hocker shops in Ketchikan. Since these port towns (even Juneau, the state capital) rely on cruise ships for most of their economy, every Volendam passenger receives a coupon book upon embarkation. Laced throughout the book are offers for freebies at many of the souvenir shops. Although there are many unique local stores with wonderful keepsakes, there are even more cheap souvenir stores that prey on tourists, and these are the stores that advertise freebies in the coupon books. Mom and Dan spent the day going to store to store, collecting the ridiculous give-aways :). After another amazing dinner in the dining room, Jeremy and I performed in our biggest, and I think our best show, "Amore." Then, my favorite part of the week, the Lido chocolate extravaganza. Every Monday night, from 10:30-11:30pm, the Lido is transformed with ice sculptures, decadent cakes of all shapes and sizes, and every dessert you could possibly imagine. My favorites are the Chocolate breads, chocolate ice cream with bananas foster, and melon smothered in the chocolate fountain. We had a great time because a lot of the cast joined us and we sat around telling stories until way too late.
Tuesday, July 19th:
Last sea day! Wow did the week fly by. We had breakfast for the first time in the dining room and kicked ourselves for not having breakfast every morning in the dining room - a change we made with Jeremy's parents! I didn't even know the dining room served breakfast and lunch since we always eat in the lido. At 10:00am, mom, Laura and Dan went to the debarkation talk in the theater and then witnessed our crew farewell, "Love in Any Language." Representatives from every crew department, a testament to the many nationalities and religions on board, parade onto the stage and we all sing "Love in Any Language." Afterward, our cast leads an open-forum chat with guests and give a backstage tour. Normally, I only pull out one dress to showcase, but I knew mom and Laura wanted to see the costumes up close so I grabbed all of my dresses, jewelry and wigs! Then came lunch, an Alaskan beer tasting for Dan, and a brief demonstration on how to fold towel animals. That afternoon, we were all pretty run down so mom and Dan went back to start packing, and Laura and I went up to her room to take a nap. Well, a nap turned into Jeremy and Chris coming over for "I Love Lucy" and room service cake and tea. In our usual fashion, we had eaten so much during the day that we weren't hungry for dinner. But, being the final night, we couldn't miss the Master Chef special dinner so we waddled to the dining room for more delicious courses and wine. The menu was a little different, more like a pre-fixed meal with a few entree choices, and the servers performed a sort-of dinner theater. For example, the amus-bouche was called "the ballet service" and the servers performed a napkin dance before bringing the mushroom-duck mousse. My favorite part of the dinner was a little trick i played on my mom. Now my mother rarely drinks. We had ordered a bottle of wine and she made a point of saying, "Now girls, don't let me drink too much. I'm a cheap drunk.". Well, her glass of red wine was nearly empty and mine was full. And she's here to relax and have fun right? So, I shouted "whale," the whole table turned to look out the window, and I switched our glasses. She turned around, sad she missed the "whale" mand proceeded to take a sip of her wine...not noticing her glass was now magically full. Ah, the joy of good pranks. Don't worry, I told her what I did - after she finished off the glass of course! :) After a memorable and fun dinner, we had yet another baked Alaska. I had never tried baked Alaska before this cruise...I've now had enough to last a lifetime! Tuesdays are my night off so I got to sit and enjoy Jeremy's big show, "It Takes Two," with mi familia. As if my mother needed any more surprises, she was pulled onto the stage by our male comedian, Jason, for the audience participation part of the show! I knew she'd love it so we conveniently sat where I knew Jason would pick her. The show is centered around duets, so Jason comes out to sing a duet with a female from the audience. The song is "De Lovely" and it's a cute comedic bit because the only thing the audience member sings is "It's." The idea was I'm sure stolen from the "I Love Lucy" episode where Desi let's Lucy sing one word, "Auf" in "Auf Wedersehn." It was soooo much fun seeing my mom on stage and she sounded great! After a drink in the Ocean Bar in-between shows, it was time to sort through cruise pictures, finish packing and say goodnight.
Wednesday, July 20th:
The dreaded debarkation day. We had an early 6:30am breakfast in the dining room before saying goodbye. I had planned on spending half the day in Vancouver with everyone after they left the ship, but to my surprise, they were immediately loaded onto a bus and taken to the airport. Maybe it was for the best because we avoided our traditional long and teary goodbyes. I will forever be grateful for the visit and the sacrifices my family made to share in this week long paradise together! I love you so much and will always treasure the memories of this week.
Wednesday, July 13th:
At 11:00am, I sat in the Vancouver Port building reading "The Help" and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my family! After three months on board the Volendam and this alternate reality Jeremy and I have settled into, nothing made me happier than hugging my mom, sister and Dan as they walked into the port lobby from their airport shuttle. Now, we've taken a lot of vacations together, usually to visit my family spread out across the country, but I've never shared the luxurious extravagance of a cruise with my mom and I couldn't wait! Let me just preface this blog by saying two things. First, anyone of faith reading this blog, I'm asking for your prayers for my mom. She is having a knee replacement surgery on August 18th and because of her bad knee, and arthritis, her hip is also causing her trouble. I tried to plan our cruise activities so she wouldn't have to walk much, but getting around in port and just walking down the LONG Deck 3 hallway to their room at the very aft of the ship (!) was exhausting. If you think of it, please pray for a complication-free surgery and a speedy recovery. Preface number two: this blog is going to be very detailed and, by nature of cruising, especially with my family, it's going to be almost entirely centered around food! They say the average cruise passenger gains 7 pounds in one week. I never believed it until my family came on board and I lived like a passenger for a week. My skinny jeans are now my "I'm not that skinny" jeans and are a witness to the truth of the latter statement.
Our vacation began by checking mom, Laura and Dan onto the ship, and then heading right back into Vancouver for a few hours. As I've shared, I've been on a mission to find the best Vancouver cafes within close proximity to the waterfront. We caught a taxi to a place I found on Yelp, and went to a few weeks ago, called "Finch's coffee and tea house." Their pear, blue brie, prosciutto, roasted walnut and balsamic baguette is on a local's list of "100 things to try in Vancouver before you die" so of course I had to take my foodie family and we all ordered one, along with one of their famous chocolate chip cookies. After Finch's, we caught another cab to Vancouver's famous Chinatown. We stopped by a Chinese garden and then walked around a bit. Then, we cabbed it to yet another foodie delight, the Mink Chocolate Cafe. Mom ordered the best drinking chocolate any of us had ever tasted - basically pure creamy melted dark chocolate - Dan had a dark chocolate mocha, and Laura, Jeremy and I had their outstanding coffee and chocolates. Once we were properly caffeinated and sugared, as if we weren't about to embark on an eating frenzy, we got back on the Volendam and the cruise began! I saw mom and Dan into their beautiful room and then checked Laura into her special room...since this is a public online blog, let's just say I'm happy I'm close with our cruise director so Laura didn't have to sleep on a couch bed... After a quick safety briefing, we had our typical and beloved "mom's share time" where she gives us all the things she brought from home that she's been collecting for months. Usually it involves newspaper and magazine clippings, but this time I was the one bringing stacks of paper to read :) I saved different reading materials from our Asian adventure, like the Singapore Airlines menu, maps, brochures from museums, etc. I also brought over the ridiculously detailed schedule I made for the week so we could all be sure we knew where we were eating and what we were doing! After chatting and laughing, the way we always do when we've been apart for so long, we got ready for our first dinner and the embarkation show. After a delicious 5 course meal, Jeremy and I performed in our opening night show called "Listen to the Music." It's a short introduction show to acquaint the new passengers with all of the different entertainment on the ship. I then gave Laura a tour of the ship and, as you can imagine, our heads hit the pillow to prepare for a busy sea day on Thursday.
Thursday, July 14th:
This day cracks me up because it is so indicative of what it's like on a Holland America cruise for a "foodie" family like ours. This was our itinerary:
9am - Breakfast buffet in the Lido (Every breakfast food you could want including six different kinds of "Eggs Benedict")
11:00am-Cooking Demo in the Culinary Arts Center (Halibut Caddy Ganty and Chocolate bread pudding - we got samples)
1:00pm - Lunch buffet in the Lido
2:00pm - Wine Tasting (Four different wines: Danzante Italian Pinot Grigio, Caliterra Chilean Chardonnay, Three Blind Moose California Cabernet, and Disegno Malbec)
3:00pm - Afternoon Tea
4:00pm - A brisk walk around the outside deck 3 and then changed for the first formal night
5:15pm - King Crab Legs in the Dining Room, along with four other courses
8:00 & 10:00pm - Our Broadway shows with a Champagne Toast beforehand
11:00pm - Dancing in the Ocean Bar - Laura taught Jeremy how to Fox Trot and we trotted and waltzed to the live jazz band
What a day. I feel slightly guilty saying this, but it's exhausting consuming that much in one day. In fact, we kept laughing about how we'd say we were tired throughout the cruise only to realize that all we had done was eat, sit and enjoy scenery, eat, sit and whale watch, eat, sit and watch (or perform) a show, eat some more, etc.
Friday, July 15th:
Now I understand why the ship is a ghost town after about 10:00pm on these Alaskan cruises. People come to Alaska to see the wildlife and experience the scenery, and unfortunately for us late night theater people, everything good happens early in the morning. Usually Jeremy and I are sleeping in Friday mornings, after our Broadway shows, but the ship sails through the beautiful Tracy Arm Fjord and is out of there by 9:30am. So, we all got up at 7:00am, bundled up, ate breakfast and watched the untouched rugged beauty of the fjord all morning. We signed up for the hands on cooking class but unfortunately Jeremy couldn't join because it was full. So mom, Dan, Laura and I donned our souvenir Holland America aprons and were assigned to the Honey mint glazed grilled salmon. There were 12 people taking the class and we split into teams to prepare the menu items: Salmon, Yukon squash Risotto, and Mixed Berry Bread Pudding. It was so much fun to debone salmon and cook together in the large test kitchen where someone else cleans up for you! I think the pictures from the class are some of my favorite of the whole week. After the meal was done, we ate the delicious lunch we made, along with complimentary wine, in the Pinnacle Grill. Around 2:00pm, the Volendam arrived in Juneau and, considering mom, Laura and Dan had never been to Juneau and it was our first and best port, we practically ran down the gangway! The first order of business? Trying the Rookery cafe latte I've raved about for months. Justin, Chris and Kassie (from our cast) stopped by to hang out for awhile. Then, Jeremy and I took the family up the Juneau tram, which we had been waiting to experience with them. The tram goes straight up Mt. Roberts and is the steepest cable car tram in the country. At the top of the mountain is a gift shop, a restaurant (that Jeremy and I visited the following week for all you can eat crab!), a bald eagle on display and amazing hiking trails. Because of mom's knee, she and Dan didn't join us for the hike but Laura, Jeremy and I hiked into what honestly felt like the opening scene of "The Sound of Music." Because we were already so high up, the hike offered wide-open views of snow-capped mountains, the ocean and town below, and glacial meadows all around us. We even saw a Marmot peek it's head out about 15 feet in front of us. To top it all off, Juneau parted its typical cloud cover for us and the weather was sunny, clear and perfect. This was the most beautiful hike any of us had ever been on and we don't expect to surpass it soon.
After a wonderful afternoon in the quaint capital of Alaska, Jeremy and I treated everyone to dinner at the Pinnacle Grill as a celebration for Laura officially becoming a CPA! I'm so proud of my sister and wanted to spoil her for all the long hours of hard work she's put in. Plus, we wanted to thank mom, Dan and Laura for coming to visit us on the cruise when it certainly was a financial sacrifice. The Pinnacle is the specialty upscale restaurant on board and is the only food not included in the price of the cruise. I had told my family a lot about the Pinnacle, but nothing can prepare you for the decadence and luxury of this dining experience. First, they brought us a beautiful bread basket with three different types of sea salt and three different types of butter. Then, we all received the amus-bouche (wow, I have no clue how to spell that) of a seared Scallop on pumpkin purée. The amazing thing about the Pinnacle is that for just $20 a person, each guest has the option to order as many appetizers, soups, salads, sides, entrees and desserts as they want, and we're talking as gourmet as it gets. We all had the lobster bisque which they garnish table side with cream and cognac. Then the courses just kept coming. Laura had the Lobster tail for her CPA dinner, along with Jeremy and mom, and then we all shared four different desserts, including a flambéed Baked Alaska, three different kinds of Creme Brulee and a Chocolate Souffle with the words "Congratulations" written in chocolate. Thank you Pinnacle for a magical evening!
Saturday, July 16th:
Skagway! Laura, Jeremy and I decided to sleep in a little this morning and we met mom and Dan at 10:30, ready to leave the ship for the tiny Gold Rush town of Skagway. First, I took them to my favorite little local bakery called the Lemon Rose. It's a tiny hole in the wall place and we enjoyed its delicious cinnamon rolls, fresh out of the oven breakfast calzones, pumpkin cookies and great coffee. We then took a free historical walking tour. Skagway exists solely because of the Alaskan Gold Rush and many of the original 1898 buildings still stand today. Lead by a national park ranger, the historical walking tour was a highlight of our cruise. After learning all about little Skagway, we enjoyed Alaskan spruce tip beer at the Skagway brewery. On our hike in Juneau, I had mom, Dan and Laura eat Spruce tips from the Sitka Spruce tree. These spruce tips were the primary source of Vitamin C for Alaskan gold-rushers and natives. The local brewery mixes spruce tips with hops to make the spruce tip beer, and one glass has as much Vitamin C as the same size glass of orange juice. We enjoyed local beer and talked "I Love Lucy" trivia with the resident expert, Mr. Jeremy Bernard :). Laura and I left Jeremy, mom and Dan to hike the Lower Dewey Lake trail in Skagway. We only had a little while before my Dinner Belles rehearsal but we enjoyed our beautiful hike. Saturday night we had dinner at the Italian restaurant on board, "Canaletto." I'm amazed with the dining options on the Volendam. Canaletto is completely different than the Lido, which is totally different than the dining room and the Pinnacle. We had a wonderful Italian dinner, more wine, dessert and espresso and then everyone came to watch me in my 1960's girl group show, "Dinner Belles."
Sunday, July 17th:
Glacier Bay! This day is always the highlight of Alaskan cruisers as it offers spectacular views of glaciers, mountains and wildlife. Laura woke up at 5:00am to see some whales and thank goodness she did or else I'd have a cranky sister :). After my show Saturday night, I wanted to sleep a little bit so I joined everyone on deck around 8:00am. We had breakfast while in awe of the 360 degree view of snow-capped mountains and crystal blue glaciers. After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning on deck. The weather was absolutely perfect. I think we all experienced the dichotomy of being on a cruise ship in the ocean, only 50 feet from a massive glacier surrounded by mountains, and wearing sunglasses to protect from the glaring sun. I wonder who first thought to take cruise ships through Glacier Bay. I'm very thankful to whomever that was. (Correct usage of "whomever?" I have no idea, I've been singing on a cruise ship too long!) After hours of taking pictures and reflecting on the worshipful cathedral that is Glacier Bay, we enjoyed a Wild Alaskan salmon and clam bake on the Lido. And of course, more bread pudding and berry cobbler. After stuffing ourselves silly, what better than to dawn swimsuits and let the food babies all hang out? Jeremy and I took mom and Laura to the Thermal Suite - a private room in the spa with floor to ceiling windows, heated blue ceramic chairs, a mineral bath, running water fountains, and two aromatherapy steam rooms. Needless to say, it's my favorite gem on the Volendam. We were there all afternoon and it was perfect timing because the humpbacks and orcas were out in full force. The thermal suite was relaxing and exhilarating at the same time because as soon as we'd start to drift off on the heated mosaic chairs, someone would shout "whale" and we'd all jump up to see. Not exaggerating, that happened every 10-15 minutes for about two hours. We saw more humpbacks and orcas that afternoon than I've seen all summer. Granted, when I say "seeing whales," I mean distant spouts, fins and tales but hey, that totally counts! Sunday night was another formal evening so after we were sufficiently spoiled in the thermal suite, we dressed up and went to the dining room for wine, escargot, surf and turf - filet mignon and lobster - more decadent dessert and espresso. After a most glutinous dinner, we saw the fabulous ship comedian, Lee Bayless. What a truly remarkable day in Glacier Bay!
Monday, July 18th:
Ketchikan! From the moment Laura booked her Alaska cruise, she was determined to go sea kayaking. Ketchikan is the king of Alaska kayaking and Laura found an amazing company, Southeast Sea Kayaks, that offered four hour private kayaking tours. So, while mom, Dan and Jeremy enjoyed their day walking around the little salmon-fishing town of Ketchikan, Laura and I took off on the kayaking adventure of our lives. A shuttle picked us up right off the ship and took us to the company building where they outfitted us with dry skirts, industrial strength rain jackets and life jackets. There was only one other Austrailan couple with us on the tour, so the four of us then hopped in a small boat and sailed out to a larger boat where we boarded our tandem sea kayaks. The incredible thing about kayaking in Alaska is that after our 30 minute boat ride out to a remote cove called Orca beach, our guide said that besides tiny Ketchikan on our right, we were 100 miles from civilization. There is something so serene and peaceful about kayaking around little Islands with no signs of human life. I had never been sea kayaking before and I think this experience ruined me for all other kayaking. Southeast Alaska is so unique because it is made up of little Islands, little pockets of land that appear to float independently in the open ocean. For instance, Juneau and Ketchikan are both Islands, albeit larger than the inlets we kayaked around :). You can't drive in or out of both Juneau and Ketchikan - the only way to reach the outside world is by plane or boat. Kayaking in these beautiful waters is like being in the center of your own fantasy wilderness with nothing but the soundtrack of waves and birds. Our guide took us close to the shoreside of a small island so we could see myriad purple starfish attached to the rocks. He even grabbed one for us to touch. Then we kayaked directly underneath a bald eagle's nest, and on our way back to the main boat, we saw the Mother Eagle perched atop a branch next to her nest!! What a cool experience! We learned that eagles pad their nests with lichen for the comfort of their eaglets. Then, when trying to get their eaglets to leave the nest, they gradually take out the lichen to make it uncomfortable. Note to self as a parent - pull the down out of my child's pillow to get them out and on their own :). The eagles also stop feeding the eaglets and instead lay salmon at the bottom of the nests so the eaglets have to jump out to feed. God had such a sense of humor when He was creating the animal world. Anyway, after about 2 1/2 hours of kayaking, we went back to the boat and the owner of the company had set up a picnic for the four of us! Lunch consisted of their very own smoked wild Alaskan salmon, cream cheese, capers, red onions, crackers, pita, hummus, hot chocolate and tea. The other couple we were with combined their kayaking excursion with a Misty Fjord float plane trip so while we were eating on the boat, their float plane flew right up to the boat! Laura and I had so much fun watching them board and take off from the water. Once we finished every scrap of salmon (!) we sailed back to shore and back to the Volendam for rehearsal. At dinner that night, we told everyone all about our adventure and heard their stories of the day. Jeremy went to our favorite free wi-fi spot, Good Coffee. Mom and Dan took advantage of the many hocker shops in Ketchikan. Since these port towns (even Juneau, the state capital) rely on cruise ships for most of their economy, every Volendam passenger receives a coupon book upon embarkation. Laced throughout the book are offers for freebies at many of the souvenir shops. Although there are many unique local stores with wonderful keepsakes, there are even more cheap souvenir stores that prey on tourists, and these are the stores that advertise freebies in the coupon books. Mom and Dan spent the day going to store to store, collecting the ridiculous give-aways :). After another amazing dinner in the dining room, Jeremy and I performed in our biggest, and I think our best show, "Amore." Then, my favorite part of the week, the Lido chocolate extravaganza. Every Monday night, from 10:30-11:30pm, the Lido is transformed with ice sculptures, decadent cakes of all shapes and sizes, and every dessert you could possibly imagine. My favorites are the Chocolate breads, chocolate ice cream with bananas foster, and melon smothered in the chocolate fountain. We had a great time because a lot of the cast joined us and we sat around telling stories until way too late.
Tuesday, July 19th:
Last sea day! Wow did the week fly by. We had breakfast for the first time in the dining room and kicked ourselves for not having breakfast every morning in the dining room - a change we made with Jeremy's parents! I didn't even know the dining room served breakfast and lunch since we always eat in the lido. At 10:00am, mom, Laura and Dan went to the debarkation talk in the theater and then witnessed our crew farewell, "Love in Any Language." Representatives from every crew department, a testament to the many nationalities and religions on board, parade onto the stage and we all sing "Love in Any Language." Afterward, our cast leads an open-forum chat with guests and give a backstage tour. Normally, I only pull out one dress to showcase, but I knew mom and Laura wanted to see the costumes up close so I grabbed all of my dresses, jewelry and wigs! Then came lunch, an Alaskan beer tasting for Dan, and a brief demonstration on how to fold towel animals. That afternoon, we were all pretty run down so mom and Dan went back to start packing, and Laura and I went up to her room to take a nap. Well, a nap turned into Jeremy and Chris coming over for "I Love Lucy" and room service cake and tea. In our usual fashion, we had eaten so much during the day that we weren't hungry for dinner. But, being the final night, we couldn't miss the Master Chef special dinner so we waddled to the dining room for more delicious courses and wine. The menu was a little different, more like a pre-fixed meal with a few entree choices, and the servers performed a sort-of dinner theater. For example, the amus-bouche was called "the ballet service" and the servers performed a napkin dance before bringing the mushroom-duck mousse. My favorite part of the dinner was a little trick i played on my mom. Now my mother rarely drinks. We had ordered a bottle of wine and she made a point of saying, "Now girls, don't let me drink too much. I'm a cheap drunk.". Well, her glass of red wine was nearly empty and mine was full. And she's here to relax and have fun right? So, I shouted "whale," the whole table turned to look out the window, and I switched our glasses. She turned around, sad she missed the "whale" mand proceeded to take a sip of her wine...not noticing her glass was now magically full. Ah, the joy of good pranks. Don't worry, I told her what I did - after she finished off the glass of course! :) After a memorable and fun dinner, we had yet another baked Alaska. I had never tried baked Alaska before this cruise...I've now had enough to last a lifetime! Tuesdays are my night off so I got to sit and enjoy Jeremy's big show, "It Takes Two," with mi familia. As if my mother needed any more surprises, she was pulled onto the stage by our male comedian, Jason, for the audience participation part of the show! I knew she'd love it so we conveniently sat where I knew Jason would pick her. The show is centered around duets, so Jason comes out to sing a duet with a female from the audience. The song is "De Lovely" and it's a cute comedic bit because the only thing the audience member sings is "It's." The idea was I'm sure stolen from the "I Love Lucy" episode where Desi let's Lucy sing one word, "Auf" in "Auf Wedersehn." It was soooo much fun seeing my mom on stage and she sounded great! After a drink in the Ocean Bar in-between shows, it was time to sort through cruise pictures, finish packing and say goodnight.
Wednesday, July 20th:
The dreaded debarkation day. We had an early 6:30am breakfast in the dining room before saying goodbye. I had planned on spending half the day in Vancouver with everyone after they left the ship, but to my surprise, they were immediately loaded onto a bus and taken to the airport. Maybe it was for the best because we avoided our traditional long and teary goodbyes. I will forever be grateful for the visit and the sacrifices my family made to share in this week long paradise together! I love you so much and will always treasure the memories of this week.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Life on the Volendam: Eating, reading, cooking, hiking...
Blog #12 Random Thoughts
It's another beautiful day in Juneau and I'm currently enjoying my weekly indulgence - the BEST latte of any port and a freshly baked marionberry danish at the Rookery Cafe. This adorable coffee shop serves Stumptown Coffee, a Portland roastery that has an almost cult-like following among coffee lovers. I know it's been almost a month since my last blog post (!) so it's about time I wrote an update! However, now that we're in this weekly routine with the exact same schedule every week, living a semblance of the movie "Groundhog Day," I haven't been as inspired to write. So, I thought it would be fun to write a little more about our life here on the ship and a few highlights of the past week's adventures.
First of all, with each day that passes, I become more aware of the blessing that is the food here. For instance, at every meal in the Lido Buffet, there is a wide assortment of fresh fruit and a beautiful salad bar. Even though the majority of the prepared dishes are insanely high in fat and sodium, there is the possibility to have far more fruits and vegetables than I would ever eat at home. For instance, this afternoon I had a ridiculous amount of fresh pineapple and mango along with a Salad piled high with fresh raw vegetables. Granted, I rarely resist the bread pudding with vanilla custard topping, so I suppose it cancels out the benefits of the vegetables, but still...I feel like I'm actually eating more vitamins and nutrients than I would at home. And then there's the fresh fish!! I just might have mercury poisoning after this summer because fresh Alaskan Salmon abounds on this ship. There is always a fish option at lunch and dinner, and it's not always salmon, so we're also eating far more fish than we can afford to eat at home. It'll be hard to adjust to normal life after having this wide array of ready-made food available 24 hours a day!
I do miss cooking and just today discovered another gem on the ship - hands-on cooking classes. These are available to guests at a cost of around $30 per person. I've seen the cooking classes on the schedule but didn't think we were allowed to participate. However, after making it known to the right people on board that I'd love to be involved in any of the Culinary Arts Events, I got a call this morning that someone dropped out of the class and a complimentary spot was open for me. So, I ventured to the demo kitchen, met my classmates that consisted of a wonderful family from Houston, donned a super cute Holland America apron (that I'm happy to report I get to keep) and proceeded to make a delicious gourmet lunch! We have a guest chef this week, Nicole Aioli, and she made sure our menu had the best of fresh, in-season Alaskan ingredients. So this was the lunch we prepared in a chaotic, sometimes stressful but incredibly fun class: Cream of Morel Soup, Cedar Plank Salmon, with a maple ginger glaze, served over roasted fennel, fiddlehead fern and pancetta sauté, and mixed berry bread pudding. First of all, who's ever heard of a fiddlehead fern? Apparently they are native to the Pacific Northwest and are only in season about 6 weeks out of the year. These exotic vegetables look like a coiled green bean and are extremely flavorful. However, since I'm quite positive I'll never be able to find fiddlehead ferns unless I'm willing to pay $20 a pound at Whole Foods, I think I'll substitute asparagus in this recipe :). The salmon was delicious but the Cream of Morel soup was the highlight for me. Again, morels aren't exactly cheap but they are soooo decadent and rich. Puree them with sauteed leeks in a broth and cream soup base and you have a little bit of heaven in a bowl. I definitely plan on making this soup at home. And of course, as latter mentioned, I LOVE bread pudding and this pudding with blueberries and raspberries was excellent! After we cooked all the food, we ate it, with complimentary wine, in the fancy restaurant on board, the Pinnacle Grill. What an amazing afternoon. I'm hoping they call me every time there's an opening in the cooking class!
When I consider our life right now, I can't help but think we are, in a way, living an early retirement. With so much down time, I want to take advantage of doing all the things I wish I could do in the busiest times of life. For instance - the gym. Jeremy is in the best shape of his life as he has embraced the easy access to the gym. I am so proud of his discipline. I wish I could say the same for myself... I have actually lost weight rather than gained pounds, but I could stand to stick to my workout schedule a little more regularly :) Another goal is reading books I've always wanted to, and re-reading classics I've forgotten over time. I just finished re-reading "Little Women" and officially declare it in my top 3 favorite books. It is music to my soul. The day I finished being engrossed in the lives of the March family, I moved on to a Dan Brown book from my other mom, Shelley (thank you again - I literally don't want to put this book down! I love it.) I also finished the Stieg Larsson books "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire." I plan to read "Gone With The Wind," since I have the time, and possibly "Les Miserables." Jeremy downloaded the audiobook of David McCollough's "John Adams" so I'll be listening to that after he's finished. The library is our favorite location on the ship and we make it our daily afternoon routine to spend a significant amount of time taking advantage of it! A few other goals I have for this contract are learning Spanish with the Rosetta Stone, taking tap twice a week with our fabulous dancer and my good friend Kassie, and learning to knit. You all just might receive knitted scarves and hats for Christmas :)
On a random note - I've had my hair roughly the same length and color since I was a senior in high school. Back home, I have to be concerned about matching my headshots for auditions. Plus, I use that as an excuse because I've always been terrified to make a drastic change. Well, something came over me and I realized that I am stuck here for 4 more months without the worry of auditioning. And if I'm going to make a change, when would be a better time than now? So I had the ship's hairdresser cut about 7 inches off my hair and died it dark! Every time I look in the mirror, I don't even recognize myself. I've always been slightly envious of people with cute and sassy short hair, but I never thought I could pull it off. Well, sometimes you have to face your fears by jumping in and embracing them! I had a bit of a breakdown upon leaving the salon, but then my good friend and cast-mate Kassie decided to have a photo shoot around the ship with my new look :) She gave me a complete Vogue-style make-over and dressed me in different outfits for our Cosmopolitan photo shoot. I have to admit that I miss my long hair, but it is a refreshing change.
We've been taking advantage of signing up for shore excursions as crew escorts and I think my two favorite to date were the Photo Safari and the Chilkoot trail hiking and rafting in Skagway. On the Photo Safari in Juneau, I went whale watching and saw at least 10 humpback whales, including a cow and her calf - mamma and baby whale :) - plus I saw sea lions and about 15 bald eagles. After the catamaran marine adventure, we went by bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and hiked right up to the base of the glacier! Being a photo safari, our human encyclopedia of a guide, Stacy, gave photography tips and lessons on how to capture the best pictures. Having only my Iphone 3G, yet wishing I had a Canon, I couldn't take advantage of this aspect of the tour, but the sightseeing was incredible. On the trail excursion in Skagway, We hiked 2 miles along the actual historic Chilkoot trail that led so many brave and or/foolish men to their gold rush dreams in the late 1800's. Hearing the stories of what these men went through was amazing. For instance, by law, they had to travel the 30 miles of narrow, rigorous and steep-elevation climbing trail with 2,000 pounds of food - to ensure they wouldn't starve. Only 10% of men conquered the trail, the others turning back or tragically "not making it," and of those 10%, maybe 1-2% discovered gold. Along the trail, I learned all about Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, and Cottonwood trees. We ate Spruce tips, that gave natives and travelers their daily dose of Vitamin C, and I also ate the melon-flavored berries of a twisted stock plant. After the hike, we floated down the river and were met with freshly baked cookies, cider and tea. Jeremy has been on both of these tours, along with a lot of others like snorkeling and the salmon hatchery, but I don't know what his favorite would be. He signed up for the Wilderness Crab Exploration in Ketchikan this Monday, and if he gets that, I'm venturing to guess it will become his favorite since he'll get to learn how to crab and then indulge in an all you can eat crab feast!
I love you all so much and even though I know how fortunate I am to have this experience, I miss home and the family that represents home more than I can express. I'll try to write blogs more readily so they aren't this painstakingly long :). Much love!!
J & J Bernard
It's another beautiful day in Juneau and I'm currently enjoying my weekly indulgence - the BEST latte of any port and a freshly baked marionberry danish at the Rookery Cafe. This adorable coffee shop serves Stumptown Coffee, a Portland roastery that has an almost cult-like following among coffee lovers. I know it's been almost a month since my last blog post (!) so it's about time I wrote an update! However, now that we're in this weekly routine with the exact same schedule every week, living a semblance of the movie "Groundhog Day," I haven't been as inspired to write. So, I thought it would be fun to write a little more about our life here on the ship and a few highlights of the past week's adventures.
First of all, with each day that passes, I become more aware of the blessing that is the food here. For instance, at every meal in the Lido Buffet, there is a wide assortment of fresh fruit and a beautiful salad bar. Even though the majority of the prepared dishes are insanely high in fat and sodium, there is the possibility to have far more fruits and vegetables than I would ever eat at home. For instance, this afternoon I had a ridiculous amount of fresh pineapple and mango along with a Salad piled high with fresh raw vegetables. Granted, I rarely resist the bread pudding with vanilla custard topping, so I suppose it cancels out the benefits of the vegetables, but still...I feel like I'm actually eating more vitamins and nutrients than I would at home. And then there's the fresh fish!! I just might have mercury poisoning after this summer because fresh Alaskan Salmon abounds on this ship. There is always a fish option at lunch and dinner, and it's not always salmon, so we're also eating far more fish than we can afford to eat at home. It'll be hard to adjust to normal life after having this wide array of ready-made food available 24 hours a day!
I do miss cooking and just today discovered another gem on the ship - hands-on cooking classes. These are available to guests at a cost of around $30 per person. I've seen the cooking classes on the schedule but didn't think we were allowed to participate. However, after making it known to the right people on board that I'd love to be involved in any of the Culinary Arts Events, I got a call this morning that someone dropped out of the class and a complimentary spot was open for me. So, I ventured to the demo kitchen, met my classmates that consisted of a wonderful family from Houston, donned a super cute Holland America apron (that I'm happy to report I get to keep) and proceeded to make a delicious gourmet lunch! We have a guest chef this week, Nicole Aioli, and she made sure our menu had the best of fresh, in-season Alaskan ingredients. So this was the lunch we prepared in a chaotic, sometimes stressful but incredibly fun class: Cream of Morel Soup, Cedar Plank Salmon, with a maple ginger glaze, served over roasted fennel, fiddlehead fern and pancetta sauté, and mixed berry bread pudding. First of all, who's ever heard of a fiddlehead fern? Apparently they are native to the Pacific Northwest and are only in season about 6 weeks out of the year. These exotic vegetables look like a coiled green bean and are extremely flavorful. However, since I'm quite positive I'll never be able to find fiddlehead ferns unless I'm willing to pay $20 a pound at Whole Foods, I think I'll substitute asparagus in this recipe :). The salmon was delicious but the Cream of Morel soup was the highlight for me. Again, morels aren't exactly cheap but they are soooo decadent and rich. Puree them with sauteed leeks in a broth and cream soup base and you have a little bit of heaven in a bowl. I definitely plan on making this soup at home. And of course, as latter mentioned, I LOVE bread pudding and this pudding with blueberries and raspberries was excellent! After we cooked all the food, we ate it, with complimentary wine, in the fancy restaurant on board, the Pinnacle Grill. What an amazing afternoon. I'm hoping they call me every time there's an opening in the cooking class!
When I consider our life right now, I can't help but think we are, in a way, living an early retirement. With so much down time, I want to take advantage of doing all the things I wish I could do in the busiest times of life. For instance - the gym. Jeremy is in the best shape of his life as he has embraced the easy access to the gym. I am so proud of his discipline. I wish I could say the same for myself... I have actually lost weight rather than gained pounds, but I could stand to stick to my workout schedule a little more regularly :) Another goal is reading books I've always wanted to, and re-reading classics I've forgotten over time. I just finished re-reading "Little Women" and officially declare it in my top 3 favorite books. It is music to my soul. The day I finished being engrossed in the lives of the March family, I moved on to a Dan Brown book from my other mom, Shelley (thank you again - I literally don't want to put this book down! I love it.) I also finished the Stieg Larsson books "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire." I plan to read "Gone With The Wind," since I have the time, and possibly "Les Miserables." Jeremy downloaded the audiobook of David McCollough's "John Adams" so I'll be listening to that after he's finished. The library is our favorite location on the ship and we make it our daily afternoon routine to spend a significant amount of time taking advantage of it! A few other goals I have for this contract are learning Spanish with the Rosetta Stone, taking tap twice a week with our fabulous dancer and my good friend Kassie, and learning to knit. You all just might receive knitted scarves and hats for Christmas :)
On a random note - I've had my hair roughly the same length and color since I was a senior in high school. Back home, I have to be concerned about matching my headshots for auditions. Plus, I use that as an excuse because I've always been terrified to make a drastic change. Well, something came over me and I realized that I am stuck here for 4 more months without the worry of auditioning. And if I'm going to make a change, when would be a better time than now? So I had the ship's hairdresser cut about 7 inches off my hair and died it dark! Every time I look in the mirror, I don't even recognize myself. I've always been slightly envious of people with cute and sassy short hair, but I never thought I could pull it off. Well, sometimes you have to face your fears by jumping in and embracing them! I had a bit of a breakdown upon leaving the salon, but then my good friend and cast-mate Kassie decided to have a photo shoot around the ship with my new look :) She gave me a complete Vogue-style make-over and dressed me in different outfits for our Cosmopolitan photo shoot. I have to admit that I miss my long hair, but it is a refreshing change.
We've been taking advantage of signing up for shore excursions as crew escorts and I think my two favorite to date were the Photo Safari and the Chilkoot trail hiking and rafting in Skagway. On the Photo Safari in Juneau, I went whale watching and saw at least 10 humpback whales, including a cow and her calf - mamma and baby whale :) - plus I saw sea lions and about 15 bald eagles. After the catamaran marine adventure, we went by bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and hiked right up to the base of the glacier! Being a photo safari, our human encyclopedia of a guide, Stacy, gave photography tips and lessons on how to capture the best pictures. Having only my Iphone 3G, yet wishing I had a Canon, I couldn't take advantage of this aspect of the tour, but the sightseeing was incredible. On the trail excursion in Skagway, We hiked 2 miles along the actual historic Chilkoot trail that led so many brave and or/foolish men to their gold rush dreams in the late 1800's. Hearing the stories of what these men went through was amazing. For instance, by law, they had to travel the 30 miles of narrow, rigorous and steep-elevation climbing trail with 2,000 pounds of food - to ensure they wouldn't starve. Only 10% of men conquered the trail, the others turning back or tragically "not making it," and of those 10%, maybe 1-2% discovered gold. Along the trail, I learned all about Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, and Cottonwood trees. We ate Spruce tips, that gave natives and travelers their daily dose of Vitamin C, and I also ate the melon-flavored berries of a twisted stock plant. After the hike, we floated down the river and were met with freshly baked cookies, cider and tea. Jeremy has been on both of these tours, along with a lot of others like snorkeling and the salmon hatchery, but I don't know what his favorite would be. He signed up for the Wilderness Crab Exploration in Ketchikan this Monday, and if he gets that, I'm venturing to guess it will become his favorite since he'll get to learn how to crab and then indulge in an all you can eat crab feast!
I love you all so much and even though I know how fortunate I am to have this experience, I miss home and the family that represents home more than I can express. I'll try to write blogs more readily so they aren't this painstakingly long :). Much love!!
J & J Bernard
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
First weeks of Alaska
It's Memorial Day, Monday May 30th, and I'm at a loss of how to begin describing the wonder that is Alaska. I posted a small album of pictures on facebook and I'll of course keep adding to it! We're on 7-day cruise itineraries now so we'll see the same ports every week all summer long - and I couldn't be more excited about this. I love it here because it reminds me of my hometown Bend, Oregon. You've probably heard me say this but Alaska is Oregon on steroids :) I can't wait to truly enjoy all the outdoor activities that Alaska has to offer.
Our home port is Vancouver. I totally love the city, especially after being in such tiny Alaskan towns, and I would seriously consider moving there if I were all alone in the world. Its great because the port is right downtown so we're in the heart of the city upon stepping off the ship. In addition to being able to enjoy Vancouver every embarkation day, I am also taking advantage of being a "spa model." The ship spa offers guest tours every embarkation day to showcase their services and they need people to "model the treatments." So, I volunteered for a slimming treatment called ionthermie and a hydrating anti-aging facial. Besides a few passengers peeking in the rooms, we get the full spa treatment absolutely free! It's a tough job but someone's got to do it :) I think I'll sign up for a free facial every week... man it's gonna be hard adjusting to real life after this!
I was nervous for seven day itineraries because I thought we would be performing our 6 shows every week. I was relieved to hear that they cancelled two of our shows, "Sing that Song" and "Songbook" for the Alaska run. So, Jeremy and I only have four shows a week. However, on every show day we have a full tech run plus two performances, so basically three shows a day.
Here's our Alaskan schedule:
Wednesday: Vancouver 7:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday: At Sea
Friday: Juneau 2:30pm - 10:30pm
Saturday: Skagway 7:00am - 9:00pm
Sunday: Glacier Bay 7:00am - 4:00pm
Monday: Ketchikan 10:00am - 6:00pm
Tuesday: At Sea
The first week that we were in the ports, I wanted to take advantage of being able to use my phone and free wi-fi! I was sitting at the Imperial Saloon - the best place for free Internet in Juneau - when I turned on my phone for the first time in 40 days. Literally 1 minute after turning on my phone, our good friend David called because he saw on facebook that I had posted we were in Juneau. He was in the Hong Kong Disneyland caroling quartet with me and we carol in Disneyland together. He's currently performing on a Carnival ship that is one day ahead of us so they visit all the same ports but one day before us. We joked that we could leave each other notes at random places in the city :) In fact, there are many cruise ships that make the same Alaskan run all summer long. So far, we are always in port with a Crystal and a Princess ship.
After the first week of seeing the towns and enjoying the use of my phone, I decided to sign up for a shore excursion. As a staff member, we can sign up to be an escort on any excursion and we get to see the sights for free! All of the tours want one staff member to help out in case of an emergency so every week I plan on signing up for one excursion. I plan on whale watching, fishing, hiking, rock climbing, zip lining, dog sledding, biking, and going on all of the cultural tours. The only excursion I would have to pay for would be the Helicopter ride. We get a discounted rate but it would still be in the hundreds. Unfortunately, Jeremy and I can't be a free escort on the tours together, but for the ones we really want to do together, one of us can pay the discounted crew rate.
Last Saturday, I signed up for the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. The railroad was built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush and was constructed in 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. The train ride was three hours round trip, covering 20 miles and climbing from sea level to 3,000 feet. Apparently a train can only safely handle a 4.1% incline grade and this train features steep grades of 3.9%! Some highlights of my trip were passing a massive waterfall that tumbles 5,000 feet, seeing class 6 rapids of the Skagway River that have yet to be "successfully navigated" (!) and traveling through tunnels of solid granite that took literally of tons of dynamite to blast through. The White Pass and Yukon Route was designated an international historic civil engineering landmark in 1994, an honor shared with the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. As you can imagine, it was truly an amazing afternoon.
On Sunday we sailed through Glacier Bay and I would be foolish to even try describing the beauty of the bay. So...check out the pictures on facebook, even though those can't do it justice either! I wrote this in my picture album, but sailing through Glacier Bay made me absolutely overwhelmed with God's creativity as evidenced in the natural wonders all around us. I find Alaska to be a very spiritual place because no matter what you believe, you can't experience these sights without sensing the presence of our loving and powerful God.
Another highlight of Glacier Bay is that the ship offers a lunchtime Salmon and Clam Bake. They BBQ fresh Alaskan Salmon on the Lido deck - it doesn't get much better than that. I've had some good salmon growing up in the Pacific northwest, but this salmon definitely competes for the best I've tasted.
And now for a random tid-bit: Last night, I had an Indian Coconut Oil hair treatment from my Indian security officer friend. When we first boarded the ship in Singapore, Ruby was the one who checked us in and she immediately told all of the girls that she offers this in-cabin silkening treatment. While she was massaging coconut oil into my scalp, she asked if I, or any of my family, ever wanted to visit India. She grew up in Goa and Dubai and offered to hook me up with her friends that have visitor Bungalows. Apparently it's like an Indian bed and breakfast where the family cooks you homemade Indian food every day. Don't worry Miriam...I'm definitely keeping in touch with Ruby! :)
Another random tid-bit: we had an actual fire on the ship today. Small fires are pretty common and this fire was nothing serious but it was the first time we've heard an emergency alarm for real. They have so many emergency drills on the ship, at least one a week, and we always know exactly what time the alarm is going to sound. So when the fire alarm went off at 7:00am this morning, we panicked a little! The fire was in the incinerator room and was extinguished within minutes of being reported so have no fear - the officers on board are well prepared and we were never in any danger.
We're now headed back to Vancouver to start the process all over again. We love you!
J & J
Our home port is Vancouver. I totally love the city, especially after being in such tiny Alaskan towns, and I would seriously consider moving there if I were all alone in the world. Its great because the port is right downtown so we're in the heart of the city upon stepping off the ship. In addition to being able to enjoy Vancouver every embarkation day, I am also taking advantage of being a "spa model." The ship spa offers guest tours every embarkation day to showcase their services and they need people to "model the treatments." So, I volunteered for a slimming treatment called ionthermie and a hydrating anti-aging facial. Besides a few passengers peeking in the rooms, we get the full spa treatment absolutely free! It's a tough job but someone's got to do it :) I think I'll sign up for a free facial every week... man it's gonna be hard adjusting to real life after this!
I was nervous for seven day itineraries because I thought we would be performing our 6 shows every week. I was relieved to hear that they cancelled two of our shows, "Sing that Song" and "Songbook" for the Alaska run. So, Jeremy and I only have four shows a week. However, on every show day we have a full tech run plus two performances, so basically three shows a day.
Here's our Alaskan schedule:
Wednesday: Vancouver 7:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday: At Sea
Friday: Juneau 2:30pm - 10:30pm
Saturday: Skagway 7:00am - 9:00pm
Sunday: Glacier Bay 7:00am - 4:00pm
Monday: Ketchikan 10:00am - 6:00pm
Tuesday: At Sea
The first week that we were in the ports, I wanted to take advantage of being able to use my phone and free wi-fi! I was sitting at the Imperial Saloon - the best place for free Internet in Juneau - when I turned on my phone for the first time in 40 days. Literally 1 minute after turning on my phone, our good friend David called because he saw on facebook that I had posted we were in Juneau. He was in the Hong Kong Disneyland caroling quartet with me and we carol in Disneyland together. He's currently performing on a Carnival ship that is one day ahead of us so they visit all the same ports but one day before us. We joked that we could leave each other notes at random places in the city :) In fact, there are many cruise ships that make the same Alaskan run all summer long. So far, we are always in port with a Crystal and a Princess ship.
After the first week of seeing the towns and enjoying the use of my phone, I decided to sign up for a shore excursion. As a staff member, we can sign up to be an escort on any excursion and we get to see the sights for free! All of the tours want one staff member to help out in case of an emergency so every week I plan on signing up for one excursion. I plan on whale watching, fishing, hiking, rock climbing, zip lining, dog sledding, biking, and going on all of the cultural tours. The only excursion I would have to pay for would be the Helicopter ride. We get a discounted rate but it would still be in the hundreds. Unfortunately, Jeremy and I can't be a free escort on the tours together, but for the ones we really want to do together, one of us can pay the discounted crew rate.
Last Saturday, I signed up for the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. The railroad was built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush and was constructed in 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. The train ride was three hours round trip, covering 20 miles and climbing from sea level to 3,000 feet. Apparently a train can only safely handle a 4.1% incline grade and this train features steep grades of 3.9%! Some highlights of my trip were passing a massive waterfall that tumbles 5,000 feet, seeing class 6 rapids of the Skagway River that have yet to be "successfully navigated" (!) and traveling through tunnels of solid granite that took literally of tons of dynamite to blast through. The White Pass and Yukon Route was designated an international historic civil engineering landmark in 1994, an honor shared with the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. As you can imagine, it was truly an amazing afternoon.
On Sunday we sailed through Glacier Bay and I would be foolish to even try describing the beauty of the bay. So...check out the pictures on facebook, even though those can't do it justice either! I wrote this in my picture album, but sailing through Glacier Bay made me absolutely overwhelmed with God's creativity as evidenced in the natural wonders all around us. I find Alaska to be a very spiritual place because no matter what you believe, you can't experience these sights without sensing the presence of our loving and powerful God.
Another highlight of Glacier Bay is that the ship offers a lunchtime Salmon and Clam Bake. They BBQ fresh Alaskan Salmon on the Lido deck - it doesn't get much better than that. I've had some good salmon growing up in the Pacific northwest, but this salmon definitely competes for the best I've tasted.
And now for a random tid-bit: Last night, I had an Indian Coconut Oil hair treatment from my Indian security officer friend. When we first boarded the ship in Singapore, Ruby was the one who checked us in and she immediately told all of the girls that she offers this in-cabin silkening treatment. While she was massaging coconut oil into my scalp, she asked if I, or any of my family, ever wanted to visit India. She grew up in Goa and Dubai and offered to hook me up with her friends that have visitor Bungalows. Apparently it's like an Indian bed and breakfast where the family cooks you homemade Indian food every day. Don't worry Miriam...I'm definitely keeping in touch with Ruby! :)
Another random tid-bit: we had an actual fire on the ship today. Small fires are pretty common and this fire was nothing serious but it was the first time we've heard an emergency alarm for real. They have so many emergency drills on the ship, at least one a week, and we always know exactly what time the alarm is going to sound. So when the fire alarm went off at 7:00am this morning, we panicked a little! The fire was in the incinerator room and was extinguished within minutes of being reported so have no fear - the officers on board are well prepared and we were never in any danger.
We're now headed back to Vancouver to start the process all over again. We love you!
J & J
Friday, May 20, 2011
Alaska!
We are in Juneau, Alaska!! I'm sitting at the Imperial Saloon with Jeremy as we upload pictures and enjoy the most breathtaking views of snow capped mountains. It's surprisingly sunny and warm here though. Juneau reminds me so much of my hometown Bend, Oregon so I LOVE it. And guess what family? Their most popular beer here is the Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Ale which they have on draft!!! (That's a beer from the local Bend brewery). I don't like beer but if I did I would be pretty excited.
So...check facebook and picassa today because there will be a lot of new pictures! I have to say, I am so happy to be back in the good ole' US of A. I love traveling but I really don't think I could live in another country. Even though I can see that Alaska is like none of the other states, I still had a feeling of relief as I stepped off the boat into America.
Tonight we are eating dinner at the world famous Tracy's Crab Shack. Ironically, after my last blog, "The Deadliest Catch" drops crabs here :) It's the most famous crab shack in Alaska so I'm pretty excited!
So while we're in Alaska, I can call and text with my regular cell plan. However, as soon as we leave port and sail back into the ocean, I'll have to put my phone on Airplane mode so we don't pay any roaming charges. I'll send our weekly schedule with the times we're in port so you know when to call and text :)
Love you all so much!!
J & J
So...check facebook and picassa today because there will be a lot of new pictures! I have to say, I am so happy to be back in the good ole' US of A. I love traveling but I really don't think I could live in another country. Even though I can see that Alaska is like none of the other states, I still had a feeling of relief as I stepped off the boat into America.
Tonight we are eating dinner at the world famous Tracy's Crab Shack. Ironically, after my last blog, "The Deadliest Catch" drops crabs here :) It's the most famous crab shack in Alaska so I'm pretty excited!
So while we're in Alaska, I can call and text with my regular cell plan. However, as soon as we leave port and sail back into the ocean, I'll have to put my phone on Airplane mode so we don't pay any roaming charges. I'll send our weekly schedule with the times we're in port so you know when to call and text :)
Love you all so much!!
J & J
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