Day 5--Cabo San Lucas

Day 5—Cabo San Lucas

I am soooooo stuffed!  Had dinner in Sabatinis and it was incredible.  But before I describe the dinner, first let me tell you what I did all day.

Had a leisurely morning and ate breakfast in the dining room with two other couples.  The dining room breakfast is so much better than the buffet.  Ever since the first morning’s breakfast in the buffet, I haven’t eaten there at all.  Unfortunately, I was not impressed with the buffet at all.  Not sure how lunch and dinner in the buffet are since I haven’t tried it, but for breakfast, I definitely prefer the dining room, which is much more like a restaurant with a menu so you can order your eggs or whatever, just the way you want it. 

(After the cruise, I’ll need to make some comments comparing Princess with Holland America—there are things I liked about both lines and things I wish were done differently on both lines.  I’m writing all this as much to help me remember the cruise as well as to share with my friends and family, so it makes sense to also compare how things were done on the two different cruise lines.)

After breakfast, I sat around the Lido deck and read.  Talked to several folks I had met over the past few days as they wandered by.  Had pizza for lunch since I knew I wasn’t going to have dinner until 8:00 pm when I had reservations at Sabatinis.

I went down to the Princess Theater at 1:45 to meet my tour group.  Cabo is a tender port, that is we had to take a boat to shore.  After everyone had checked in, our group was led down to Deck 4 where we caught the tenders to shore.  From there, we boarded our bus for the sightseeing tour. We went to a glass blowing factory, a resort restaurant with incredible views of the Sea of Cortez, the city of San Juan where we had some free time shopping, and a cactus garden.  The tour was OK, but again, not the best excursion I’ve taken. 

We were late getting back, but that wasn’t a problem since the ship was staying overnight in Cabo San Lucas.  By the time I took the tender back to the ship, I had to go straight to my room to dress for dinner.  Just made it to Sabatinis on time.

The maître de was wonderful as well as my waiter.  They were definitely more attentive to me than they were to the table next to me.  It might be because I was dining alone and some people think that is a little strange (and maybe feel a little sorry for me since they always seem surprised when they ask if I’m alone and I say yes).  The menu was not the typical “Americanized” Italian menu, but more like a menu in Italy.  I knew I wanted the calamari friti and decided to order the veal chop as a main course, but couldn’t decide if I wanted pasta, soup, or salad for the second course.  Turns out I didn’t get a choice, since my waiter informed me that I was only to order the main course and that I would be served everything on the menu!

The first course was cold appetizers which was prosciutto with melon, roasted red peppers, portoccini mushrooms, spinach with parmesan, and eggplant.  The second course was hot appetizers which included breaded zucchini, calamari friti, ricotta flan, and crab cake.  I decided to skip the third course which was the soup and salad course and went right to the pasta course which was a potato and ricotta ravioli in an oil and herb sauce along with another pasta which was egg noodles with asparagus and tomato in a beef gravy-type sauce.  Finally, came the veal chop which was in a marsala sauce with mushrooms, and garlic and herb mashed potatoes, and baby carrots.  I didn’t eat the carrots, only had a small amount of the potatoes, but the veal chop had such a wonderful flavor that I ate almost all of it.  Both whenever a course was served and as soon as I had finished a course, both the waiter and maître de would ask how I enjoyed it.  After eating the main course, I was handed a menu for dessert—there was no way I could eat another bite and I told the waiter that all I wanted was a cappuccino.  The maître de then came over and said I had to try at least one small dessert and he hurried off to get it for me.  The waiter brought my cappuccino, then the maître de served me a small dessert.  It was in a small espresso cup with whipped cream and a chocolate stick.  I wasn’t sure what it was, but decided to make the maître de happy by tasting it as he stood by.  It turned out to be coffee crème brulee and it was excellent.  Unfortunately, I was only able to take a couple of bites since I was so full.  The dinner at Sabatinis was one of the best Italian dinners I had ever had and the service was superb.  (And you might notice there wasn’t a single red sauce, or cream sauce, or spaghetti noodle served.) 

After dinner, I pretty much waddled to my room since it was well after 10:30 pm by the time I had finished all those courses (if I had been travelling with someone, I would have asked that they roll me to my room!).  Tomorrow’s excursion starts at 8:15, but knowing me, I’ll be up by 5:30.