Atlantic Crossing - Part Four

Seeking coffee, I bounced my way down the hall, like a pin ball through the chutes, to the elevator lobby. This first cup was not to be just any old coffee. Any old coffee would mean an elevator ride to the 14th floor. No sireee. This was first morning coffee and I was hunting the good stuff. That meant one flight of stairs down to the Bacachi Cafe, home of Mr.Bean the barista. I learned on my first encounter with this guy that not only did he look to me exactly like Mr.Bean, he was actually called the same by all his colleagues. What a hoot. He and I hit it off immediately, which worked very much in my favour because he not only worked the espresso machine in the coffee bar, he worked the the gin machine in the Sunset Bar as well. But more on that later.

It was remarkable to me that on a ship of 2,500 guests, how so many of the staff could remember what you were interested in drinking at any given time. By the third day this guy knows that I wanted a double decaff, black Americano, no sugar, and Mel wanted the same except with frothed milk. And he would greet me by name and would have the order underway by the time I sidled up. Remarkable.

I picked up my half of the order, sat by the window and downed my first cup while looking out at the vast sea a churning. I was now on the fifth deck but it didn't look much different than the view from my room on the deck above. I then asked to get the order filled again, adding one cup for Mel, and scurried off upstairs to deliver my gal her first of many coffees in bed. Bit of a trick due to the rock and roll of the ship but I used to be a waiter so I arrive with the cups more than half full.

Mel was awake. I filled her in on the ship's status while she filled herself with coffee. Her first order of business was to call the cabin steward to pick up our laundry because of the formal that night! Much of our stuff was crushed from the packing and needed to be straightened. "No problem sir. You need it for the festivities tonight? No problem sir" And off he went.

We had two gentlemen who were our cabin stewards. They look after 20 cabins on our floor. I have no idea how much these guys were paid, but I know it wasn't enough. These guys worked their asses off the entire two weeks. It seems they were there at our beckon call, 24 hours a day. I say seems because we never did call them at 3 in the morning, but I expect if we did the junior of the two would show up. I can say for certain that they were at it from 7AM. until 11PM.

With the laundry out the door we followed immediately there after for our first of many, breakfast buffets in the Ocean View Restaurant.