day 4 - roatan, honduras - ncl joy

We awoke to a rather dreary, rainy morning approaching Roatan.  It was still very early.  Chris made me a coffee in the cabin to enjoy before our morning walk about the ship.  The ship was a lot less busy this early morning compared to yesterday when we gained one hour.  After our exercise, we went to the Horizon lounge for an almond croissant.  The fruit selection was very good so I had some mango, kiwi and dragon fruit.  It was enough for us to skip a sit down breakfast.  

We decided to visit the casino before trivia in the atrium.  The trivia wasn’t too challenging today and we tied with another team with a score of 15.  Will the streak continue?  Stay tuned.  

After trivia, we killed some more time in the casino since we arrived in Roatan later in the day.  Eventually, we found our way back to the Haven Restaurant for a romantic Valentine’s Day lunch.  We chose to sit outside and for a while we were the only passengers there.  We opted for a lighter lunch, both starting with the crudités.  Chris did have a French Dip while I went back to the Israeli couscous salad.  We skipped dessert since we figured Valentine’s would have some special treats in store.  

As we passed the Haven bar, we saw a fellow pub crawl attendee.  We popped over to say hello and couldn’t help but notice the special Valentine’s drinks.  One was the Love Potion which was pisco, peach, raspberry,and champagne while the other was Cupid’s arrow, a mixture of yuzu and whiskey.  We each ordered a different cocktail to try.  The bar manager appeared and asked how we enjoyed the creations she thought of.  Both were very nice cocktails with good balance.  We told her how much we enjoyed seeing the creative holiday specials.  It reminded us of Crystal.  Typically, NCL does not have special drinks for the day.  For example, no matter where you are or what ship as long as it is Tuesday, the drink of the day is a mai tai.  Crystal would use a drink of the day to match where you were sailing or holidays.  I think it was smart of the bar manager to create these and they seemed popular.  As we were sitting there, Chris spotted a duck on top of a bottle.  It was our first time finding a “cruising duck.”  After taking a selfie, we decided to hide it.  We took a stroll around the Haven and the sun deck to decide if we should but on our bathing attire.  We stopped off in the Haven library where Chris found another duck hidden.  Now we had two to hide...game on!

Our cabin was made up for the day but our steward was outside so I gave her a heart filled with Twix, Snickers and Milky Way.  She was so excited and told me she would make a surprise for us later.  I left another heart for our butler so he would have a valentine as well.  We changed in our suits and found a wonderful spot to lounge on the sun deck.  The weather was looking up.  I worked on the blog posts while Chris read his book.  I ordered a Pimm’s cup and took it into the hot tub to savor while enjoying the views of Roatan.  I chatted with a couple but noticed maybe some clouds in the nearby distance.  Distracted by the fun, I didn’t notice it growing ever closer and the skies opened.  Yikes!  I had to get out of the hot tub because I was getting wet.  All jokes aside, my book, phone, ipad, and cover up were getting soaked.  We grabbed our stuff and found shelter on the top level of the courtyard.  We ordered two Aperol Spritz to recover and dry a bit.  

I decided I would head back to our room to get ready for our Valentine’s dinner.  We both packed some red items to wear for today which drew some attention.  I was surprised to see not that many people wearing red to be honest.  We found some new acquaintances to chat with while we enjoyed a Side Car and a Negroni.  As we went upstairs to dinner, another couple told us they enjoyed watching us dance the night before.  It’s always nice to hear our dance lessons are working!

Dinner was a special event.  Chris asked the maitre’d for a special request yesterday.  Our favorite dish we ever had on NCL was many years ago and used to be served in the main dining room.  It is Beef Wellington.  NCL did a great job and we were so sad when they took it off the rotation.  Chris ordered a bottle of Caymus as a Valentine’s gift for me as it is one of my favorites.  I started with the Shrimp Louis and Chris had the Beef Tartare.  I loved my starter and was adventurous and tried the tartare which I thought was very good.  Next, Chris had the roasted beets while I tried the onion consommé.  Then, the superstar arrived.  The Beef Wellington was phenomenal, absolutely delicious and cooked to perfection.  We feel it surpassed the one at Gordon Ramsay’s pub and might have even passed the one at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas.  The chef outdid himself.  He came to our table and we thanked him and told him of our fond memories of having this on NCL many years ago.  Although he looked young, he remembered when it was in the dining room as well since he started with NCL at 19.  He took that recipe and elevated it with his own flourish.  I couldn’t thank him enough.  I had had some Valentine’s treats I was giving to various crew who we met, so I gave him one and he said it was the nicest thing he received that day.  We really couldn’t thank him enough for such a great Valentines.  If you do ever make a request, please thank the chef.  He went above and beyond for us so I wanted him to feel like the rockstar chef that he is!  We ended our fabulous meal with  a coconut custard and a chocolate cake.  We finished up our wine in time to go to our comedy show reservations.  

Tonight you could also attend Footloose in the theater but we are not the biggest fans of musical theater.  We opted to see the comedian.  He was very funny and we are planning to see his adult show later in the week.  

Leaving the comedy show, we ran into some pub crawl pals.  We walked to the Sugarcane bar together.  Chris and I had a few dances while enjoying a cocktail and conversation.  We didn’t stay too long because right across the deck, the Beatles tribute in the Cavern Club was starting.  I had heard this is a very popular event but we got seats right in the front.  It was a very fun show.  We kept the entertainment going down in the Atrium where it was a Billy Joel/Elton John tribute on piano.  It wasn’t the best tribute as he put his own spin to the songs and some might say it could be self indulgent.  But he did say it was his first contract with NCL but he also named dropped his appearance on America’s Got Talent.   He wasn’t bad but we are huge fans of both artists so we are tough critics but it was still a nice ending to the evening to wind down before retiring to our cabin.