The table was excellent - right next to the window - and the restaurant is on Deck 3 (promenade deck) so doesn't feel the movement unlike our deck 8 (australia deck) cabin. We felt reassured provided we didn't start to feel as much movement in the restaurant. Which of course we did after about 15 mins of sitting there. The lovely window table also meant we could see the waves getting bigger and bigger (and closer & closer).
The restaurant was nice - not many people in there since there's an extra cover charge - but it's art deco in style and warmer than the rest of the ship. Food was very nicely cooked but we are not surprised that on refit it is being taken over by Marco Pierre White. For starters, Andrew ordered smoked haddock with a welsh rarebit topping on a bed of tomatoes. Basically very small cheesy smoked haddock. Victoria ordered seabass with blackberry shallots and a hollandaise sauce. I.e. seabass fillet with fried onions and 3 blackberries. Surprisingly the blackberries went very well with the seabass, but the inclusion of hollandaise sauce was a mystery. Sadly, before the staters arrived we were given a little cup of green liquid, which was pea and mint soup and after 1 sip to be polite, Victoria gave hers to Andrew.
Main course, Andrew had ordered leg of lamb with orange glazed carrots, spinach and piped potato. I.e. mash potato, 1 carrot chopped up and coated in syrup and positioned in a bizarre upright fashion (volcano style) on the plate and a lamb shank. Victoria ordered fillet of beef with an oxtail cottage pie which was a fillet steak on top of a perfectly round roast potato with a very odd pastry cup contains 2 small pieces of meat and topped with mashed potato. To accompany it we got yet more potatoes - new potatoes - a single portion of green beans to share and a tiddly jug of gravy each. The potato-fest was too much.
Becoming somewhat anxious at the rising waves, Victoria opted to skip dessert, but Andrew had a tiramisu. Before it arrived, another unscheduled dessert appeared - a square of treacle tart. Again, Andrew enjoyed both since Victoria doesn't like treacle tart. Why provide these pointless interludes between courses? Yuck. Anyway the bread rolls were nice.
We left there without coffee and headed to the Spinnaker bar again for a cocktail. We had planned to go to Electra, the DISCO, but the ship was moving all over the place so we headed up to the cabin to see what it said on the passenger information channel. Quel surprise! Force 10, very rough seas, high swell. El capitano had underestimated the weather. However, for the first night all holiday, Victoria fell into a deep sleep within 10 minutes!!!!
Sadly, that only lasted for an hour and after that we both tossed and turned all night. The best sleep was had from 7am this morning and we didn't get up until 11!! We're now at Force 7 still but we managed lunch in the Neptune grill, which we've not been to before and had hot dog each. Now we're in the Intermezzo bar but we'll be heading out for our walkathon by 3 so that we can be done and changed in time for afternoon tea in the Meridian at 4, which we've also never done before.
Although shes a lovely ship, We don't think we will come back on Arcadia again for a while but we definitely want to do another cruise - next time to the Norweigan fjords and/or Iceland (originally Victorias preference last year but Andrew won the toss). It'll have to wait until 2013 though since 2012 is the Olympics!!
We have 1 more dinner to go tonight, and then we disembark at 9.30 tomorrow morning - it's usually earlier than the official time though. Should be home by lunchtime. And then some sleep in a bed that stays still!!!
