20240925 Wednesday, September 25, 2024 At Sea off the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula

20240925 Wednesday, September 25, 2024 At Sea off the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula 

Yesterday the Pacific was as placid as a duck pond. Today, the winds picked up a bit, setting the ship back to rockin’ and a rollin’.  The sky has been partially cloudy, but no rain has been seen for days.  

Our sea day routine has been a leisurely breakfast, a walkabout on the promenade deck, Progressive Trivia, lunch, naps, workout and thermal spa, dinner, show and sleep.  

Progressive Trivia #3 was much harder than yesterday’s so we only managed a score of 8/15.  It was amusing that there was an audible gasp from the entire theatre when Arianna announced the scores today and tied for 3rd place was AUUSA, The New Guys, and Team Whateva.  The theater was shocked that we didn’t win today.  In fact we lost by 2 points, but had crossed out or considered the two correct answers that we ultimately got wrong.  What is the state bird of Indiana and what is the more common name for the ground nut.  

We dined in the Chef’s Table for nouveau cuisine with a spice theme.  The best thing about the Chef’s Table, besides the free flowing paired wine with each course, is the regulated portion size, which leaves us sated but not painfully distended.  They started with an interesting Cardamom carrot mousse that could inspire a carrot cardamom soup.  

Cardamom carrot mousse with Lemon foam

Tuna with Szechuan Pepper and Coriander crust

Ginger and Tarragon Granita

Beef Tenderloin with 4 Warm Spices

Apple Délice Fan Tart Tatin

The first course was a spicy tuna tataki, which featured Szechuan peppercorns, coriander and sesame, but the Szechuan peppercorns were barely noticeable over the coriander.  But it was a tasty variant of seared tuna encrusted with the spices.

The granita of ginger and tarragon was very subtle but because of its shaved ice like texture, was refreshing.

The star of the show was the beef tenderloin with paprika, cumin, coriander and cinnamon.  The beef was so tender and perfectly medium rare that it just melted in your mouth.  They had marinated it for 24hrs in the spices, but the net result was pretty subtle, allowing the beef to shine.  

Dessert was an Apple Délice Fan Tart Tatin which was like a gelatinized warm apple pie served with mascarpone.  This tasted like a deconstructed and then reconstructed warm apple pie Ala mode but with a crispy almond cookie instead of pastry crust.

We ended the evening with a Cabaret performance by our Cruise Director Graham Seymour, who has had over 35 years of experience at sea as a cruise director on ships large and small.  He blended comedy and music with jokes, stories and pop songs backed by the Viking Orion Band and the two lead female vocalists.  It ended up an entertaining and fun show.  

We are now sailing less than 200 miles from the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula.  We’re hoping Putin can’t be bothered by a little cruise ship.  

We couldn't help but notice that our original stateroom has now been put back together and the caulking around the new tile has been cured.  Although guest services hasn't yet kicked us out of our Penthouse Suite, we took the liberty of starting to move clothes and other items back into our closet and drawers.  We anticipate getting the boot tomorrow.

Our clocks go back another hour tonight.  At some point, maybe getting up for breakfast will get easier.