Day 64 Continued ~ An Evening at Sabatini’s

The food at the Main Dining Room on the Pacific Princess is excellent. But last night Table 60 decided to move to an onboard specialty restaurant en masse to celebrate a few things.

First cause for celebration: Vicki and Craig’s cabin seems to no longer be possessed by a malevolent spirit. They were naturally disappointed when they had to move from the spacious Owner’s Suite they’d had during the last segment into a mini-suite, but Cabin 8057 had more than its share of problems. One day, they had no water for a while. One night, they had no lights. (Try showering in the dark on a pitching ship!) On another night, they couldn’t turn the lights off! However, everything seems to be ship-shape and Bristol-fashion now and to make it up to them for the inconvenience, Princess gave them a complimentary meal at Sabatini’s.

Left to right: Shirley, David, Craig, Vicki, Kadek, Me, the DH, Raj, Emily, David

So they asked if we’d all like to make reservations to join them and we agreed. (Just FYI, Sabatini’s and Sterling Steak House, the other specialty restaurant, have an extra charge of $29 per person as of this writing. It’s well worth the extra, especially if you’re celebrating!)

Next cause for celebration: Emily’s birthday! Her husband David had already arranged with Oscar (our amazing Maitre ‘D) to bake a green cake with a four leaf clover on it in his Irish wife’s honor. Then this generous couple invited Raj, our regular waiter, and Kadek, his assistant, to join us as their guests. It was such fun to have these hard-working young men seated at the table with us for a change.

Third cause for celebration: Kadek’s promotion! He’s been promoted from being Raj’s assistant to a waiter in his own right, with five 2-person tables in Club Class. (Club Class is a sectioned off area in the Main Dining Room where guests in Owner’s Suites, or those who want to pay handily to join this exclusive spot always have a table reserved. They can come for a meal at any time instead of having to come at 5:15 PM for first seating, or, as in our case, 7:30 PM for 2^nd seating.) We’re so happy for him, but sad for us, because it means we won’t be seeing him for supper each evening after Venice.

So what did you have at Sabatini’s? I hear you asking.

We all started with a mini-appetizer of prosciutto, and green and black olives. Then I ordered the artichoke and goat cheese soufflé. Yum!

Sabatini’s is an Italian restaurant, which means there’s a pasta course. I went a little wild and ordered Spaghetti frutti del mar.  (I asked my waiter to remove the langostino for me. I can’t bear to eat something that’s looking back at me!)

For the main course, I had lobster tail and by then conversation (and uzo) was flowing around the table in such plenty, I forgot to take a picture. Just imagine the langostino much bigger and without its head and pinchers!  

For desert, everyone had a piece of Emily’s cake. But I asked for the teensiest slice because I really wanted to try the tiramisu I’d seen on the menu. It was chocolate heaven on a plate.

That's espresso  ice cream to go with it!

    

And speaking of heaven… I thought I’d share one of Craig’s jokes.

A priest and a tour bus driver arrived at the Pearly Gates at the same time. The priest was surprised to hear St. Peter tell him that the bus driver would enter heaven before him.

“Why?” The man of God wanted to know.

“Well, it’s based on how many people you led to God. When you did your job of preaching, you put people to sleep.” St. Peter gestured toward the tour bus driver. “When he did his job, everybody was praying!”

To wrap up, I’d like to add a fourth reason to celebrate: Friendship! We’ve been so blessed to meet all these wonderful people. Going around the world is an incredible adventure. Having the Table 60 gang to share it with is priceless!