Formal Night On The Oosterdam

Well, if you've ever been on a cruise before....you know that they force you to dress up for at least one (or two) dining room meals during the week.  Some guys rent tuxedos.  Some women break out their fancy gowns.  Jenesa and I wound up digging our "formal attire" out of the bottom of our suitcases (wrinkles and all!).  And, somehow....we still seemed to clean up quite well for our dinner portraits.  

Tonight we had the pleasure of being invited to eat in the cruise ship's specialty steak and seafood restaurant for formal night.  It seems this was part of a free promotion they were running when we purchased our cruise ship package last fall.  Normally, the rich cruise passengers would pay an additional $30 per person each night they wanted to eat in this restaurant.  So, of course, we took advantage of this free invitational meal....but it would be the last time we stepped foot in that restaurant again. 

Today was a cruising day at sea, so I attended some technology classes on the ship while Jenesa took the liberty to hibernate all morning!  I learned how to use some of the more advanced features on my digital camera.  I also was impressed with a photo editing program that was demonstrated in the tech course.  One of our homework assignments was to take close-up pictures of our food while on the ship.  So I took advantage of our fancy meal at the Pinnacle Grill to snap some pictures of our food.  Some of the food looked almost too nice to eat it!

 dungeness crab appetizer

 seafood entree

dessert

I managed to save the best picture for last.  Another free promotion that we received on the ship was a beverage package....and this was the biggest surprise of all!  We both got a beverage card when we first checked-in on the ship.....but, of course, I didn't pay for the extra drink package that was offered by the cruiseship.  Upon asking at the front desk, we found out that we were each allotted up to FIFTEEN DRINKS A DAY free of charge!  Woohoo! 

Fast forward three hours.....and take a look at this beautiful Alaskan landscape!