For the first years cruising, we ate a lot at the buffets. We had no clue what we were missing, as the sit-down evening dining is quite the event. We had 815 late dining, which turned out to work out very nicely. It’s a happening in and of itself and lasts for a couple of hours. The advantage to assigned dining is that you have the same table and staff every night, and by the end of the week everybody is almost friends. It’s also a great way to connect with the whole family every day. We don’t make the youngster hang out with us all day, but evening dining is a command performance.

Still an even on every cruise is at least one Formal night, where jacket and tie are still almost mandatory. I say almost because the dress codes have become a lot more relaxed over the years.

Our staff this year were Wesley, from Nigeria and Tri, from Indonesia. Nice fellow, and always very attentive, friendly and fast; in fact, they were almost the perfect wait staff. Part of the evening events is usually some form of entertainment, usually performed by the staff and participated in by the passengers. Not me. I don’t dance, period. I have to major theological problem with it but am just goofy so I don’t bother. 20180319_201959

And of course more food!