The Sea from the Balcony
The morning began with the sea outside the balcony. Overcast, deep blue, with a white wake trailing behind the ship and slowly dissolving. There was nowhere to rush to; watching the water was enough to start the day.
Art Café: Something Hot First
After a proper sleep, the first stop was the Art Café. Beloved ginger tea, a beautiful three-layer latte, and a corner where there was no hurry. That is how mornings on board work: the drinks arrive, and the day has officially begun.
Kaiseki: Japanese Restaurant Lunch
Lunch was at Kaiseki, the Japanese restaurant on Deck 4. Lunch needs no reservation and carries no extra charge; dinner requires a reservation at US$40 per person. The tableware quietly set, the menu taken in hand to read slowly — sushi, sashimi, ramen bowls, and gua bao, each worth choosing slowly.
First came the beef gua bao — shredded beef brisket, teriyaki sauce, and lime juice, tucked into a folded flatbread. The flatbread itself, to my own taste, felt a little dry and firm. Then a bowl of the ramen from the menu — although what arrived looked just like soba — half an egg, enoki mushrooms, greens, and corn. Lifted with chopsticks, the warmth and the broth came up with it.
The sushi platter was the center of the meal. Here you can choose from various sushi, including favorite sea urchin; tuna, scallop, and salmon sashimi, barbecued eel, and rolls on a black plate, with a small sake pot at the side of the table. A little of everything, eaten slowly, turned out more satisfying than ordering in a hurry.
La Terraza: Just Going to Look
After lunch, a detour to La Terraza to see what the buffet had. The seafood stopped us in our tracks, so we sat down and kept eating. The buffet's seafood was so delicious, every single one was too good to pass up.
The white plate was half finished. The braised beef on the plate melted in the mouth. The rhythm was completely different from the meal before — no menu, just taking a little more of whatever looked good.
The buffet's desserts were just as hard to pass up. After the peach puff and blueberry cheese, the ice cream in the metal bowl came scoop after scoop — cherry tartness, vanilla softness, coffee depth, each one worth eating slowly. The ice creams of that day captured the appetite, and became the memorable note of lunch's perfect ending. Only at the last spoonful did the morning truly end, though the taste stayed long after leaving the table.
The morning's route: Art Café → Kaiseki → La Terraza. A morning with no itinerary turned out to be the one remembered most clearly.
