May Social Calendar

Thursday May 3, 9:24 p.m.

Met up with The Egg and The Wild Guy for our occasional lunch up near where The Wild Guy works...around the North York Centre. We ended up going to a Korean restaurant where I was able to have some bibimpap. Nice and filling but could've used a bit more kick in the spice department. I gave them my souvenirs from the cruise....a simple pen and notebook set with a picture of The Oasis of the Seas on the cover.

Looks like The Egg and his missus will be heading to Vancouver later in the summer while The Wild Guy and his family may be heading to Japan for a bit of a vacation. The Egg, being one of the bigwigs for Cineplex will be having a big weekend since "The Avengers"will finally be hitting the screens from tonight. This is actually a superhero flick that has very good buzz. Even with "The Dark Knight Rises"coming out in July, The Egg says that "The Avengers"may be the one to beat in the blockbuster sweepstakes. That's even considering that "Iron Man 2", "Thor" and "The Hulk" movies didn't exactly inspire too many people.

I figure I will be meeting Shard sometime in the next couple of weeks. But the big thing will be near the end of the month when my former students of The Beehive will be visiting Toronto for a few days. They wanna try out The St. Lawrence Market. I could tell them that it has just been named as The Best Market in the World, but I would be overheightening their expectations. I mean, I don't know why St. Lawrence was given that label when other markets in places like New York, London, Chicago and even Toronto's Kensington Market could probably beat it in terms of variety and excitement.

I spoke with The Anime King a couple of nights ago. He's rarin' to go see "The Avengers" although we're going to try and avoid the masses when it first comes out. Most likely, it'll be more in the middle of the month. Of course, there will be a foodie outing involved as well.

Oasis of the Seas Part 4 -- Facilities

Ship's Library on Deck 11

Thursday May 3, 9:10 p.m.

Something as big as The Oasis of the Seas needs to have plenty of things to do to keep the passengers occupied for a week. One can't live on bread (roast duck, weiner schnitzel, mashed potatoes, tiramisu, etc.) alone. Of course, there was the gym (which I avoided like the plague), the spa (which I couldn't afford) and Internet (which was selling for a hefty 65 cents per minute!).

Instead, I enjoyed a few hours over the week at the Ship's Library on Deck 11. It's just one small room in the aft lobby but as you can see here, it looks very amenable and it's air-conditioned, since we can't have those pages warping in the humidity, can we? It wasn't very busy in the days that we were in port, but once we out in the open sea, most the chairs were occupied.

 The one place that I had wanted to try out but couldn't since none of my family were particularly into the drink was The Rising Tide. It happens to be the jewel in the crown of drinking establishments onboard since it can rise and lower from Decks 5 to 8. However, a lot of the passengers took advantage of the opportunity. Well, perhaps next time. No reports on whether anyone got motion sickness.

Mayor Ford's Meltdown

courtesy of hc916
of Flickr

Wednesday May 2, 10:44 p.m.

When I was living in Chiba-ken all those years, I was witness to two Tokyo governors who had their own quirks. Governor Aoshima was basically an entertainer-in-drag-turned-ineffectual metropolitan manager whose only known achievement was naming the bayside Odaiba district Rainbow Town and then crooning "Over the Rainbow" in front of the amassed media.

Then there is the current governor, Shintaro Ishihara, who has gleefully ruffled feathers all across Asia with his extreme right-wing views...including giving out the statement in Washington D.C. a couple of weeks ago that the national government should just buy the disputed Senkaku Islands.

But I have to say that I don't think I've seen anyone like Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto. Since I got back, I've discovered that there is no middle ground with this guy....either Torontonians love him or they hate him. Whether it be that very public on-and-off diet thing with him and his councilor brother or the entire subway-vs.-LRT kerfuffle, he's managed to be very NOT boring.

And then comes 10 p.m. on CP24 where the two newscasters give out some Breaking News. Apparently, a Toronto Star reporter may have gotten a little too overzealous in his pursuit of the truth and allegedly trespassed onto Ford's property and shooting photos like a paparazzi, before a neighbour alerted Hizzoner. I just saw conservative Mayor Ford going majorly nuts in front of the assembled throng of media, threatening criminal charges and all that stuff. You can bet that the ultra-conservative Toronto Sun will have a field day tomorrow while the liberal Star will be doing their own spin on the gross misunderstanding. Once again, he's managed to be NOT boring.

Not-So-Golden Week

Wednesday May 2, 8:51 p.m.

Japan is going through its first major holiday period right now. They're in the midst of Golden Week which usually starts from April 29 (Showa Day) and goes on to May 5 (Children's Day). In the middle of that are Constitution Day (the 3rd) and Green Day (the 4th...and nothing to do with the band). Corporate Japan has been pretty kind to its ants over the decades by letting them take the official non-holidays off to create this long week of time off to visit the hometown and relatives.

But the traffic is horrifying during this time. Airports, train stations and highways are all clogged at the beginning and the end of GW. A lot of folks, including me when I was living there, just chilled in the Kanto and enjoyed the relative emptiness. Subways and intercity JR trains had quite a few seats open during the weekdays.

However, this year, it seems that the Rainy Season has come a bit early. I've been seeing weather reports over the past few days on NHK showing some major downpours afflicting most of the country. Pretty unusual for this time of year which is usually very pleasant for those travelers.

Regrettably, though, there has been a tragedy which has been making the rounds during GW. It happened around the same time that that minivan toppled over into the Bronx Zoo in Manhattan killing everyone on board. A bus heading to Tokyo Disneyland sliced itself in half through a highway sound baffle some days ago injuring several and killing seven. The cause was the driver falling asleep at the wheel which has gotten the media investigating reports of bus companies trying to cut corners by not having that extra driver on board to relieve a tired driver. I'm hoping that there is some sort of accountability to this sort of vehicular manslaughter.

Oasis of the Seas, Part 3 -- Entertainment

Tuesday May 1, 9:55 a.m.

Despite what I wrote about food on a cruise ship, one can't merely enjoy a weeklong cruise on noshing alone....and I say this as a foodie. Nope, there was plenty of opportunity to partake in entertainment. My brother and I participated in a couple of loosey-goosey trivia contests in the Schooner Bar on Deck 6 while my niece doodled bunnies on a scoresheet.

There was also the more professional kind. On the second night, the aft Aqua Theater presented "Oasis of Dreams", a mix of diving, synchro swimming, flying, and interpretative dance. A bit on the rococo side for me but it did its job and got a deserving standing ovation from the assembled audience.

I can finally say that I got to see "Hairspray". On the third day, there was a matinee performance, one of two I believe during the cruise, at the 1,350-seat Opal Theater. The most famous actor there was Jim J. Bullock, acting as the big mama, Edna Turnblad. I remember him as the hapless thorn in Ted Knight's side on "Too Close for Comfort" decades ago.

I've had a casual like for American music of the 50s and 60s (re: Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man"), but I can't say that any of the songs I heard were toe-tappingly memorable. And the audience which were leaning toward the elderly demographic applauded politely throughout the performance although there was a generous standing ovation during curtain call. The only screamout moment was when Jim J. and the actor playing hubby Wilbur made some sort of blooper during their duet which prompted a couple of minutes of laughing fits from the two of them.

A couple of days later, there was ABBAcadabra, the tribute band for the legendary Swedish group, ABBA. This was a disappointment. But I wasn't disappointed in the foursome so much as I was disappointed FOR them. The group had pulled out all the stops in pleasing the audience, including throwing out glowsticks and doing some intersong schtick. But the audience wasn't biting. ABBAcadabra may be big on Broadway but when an onboard performance comes as part of the overall cruise cost, it doesn't necessarily translate into huge numbers of rabid ABBA fans flooding the theater. The audience was either just too old or too casual. I could see the four whispering to each other during the performance....probably desperately thinking about how to liven up the folks. A lot of glowsticks were thrown out during that less-than-1-hour gig....I kinda wondered if that was really the intended length or if the band decided to cut their losses. But that is show business.

To be honest, the most bang out of my buck that I got from shipboard entertainment was watching a video concert of Michael Buble one afternoon on the Aqua Theater screens.

Whirling Darvish

Tuesday May 1, 9:36 p.m.

Last night, there was a pop cultural nexus of sorts formed within my city of Toronto. Both "The Avengers"and Yu Darvish were in town. One is overrated.

And it isn't Yu's fault. That ridiculous posting system made him overrated as soon as the Texas Rangers threw over $100 million across the Pacific. No matter how talented anyone is, he/she simply isn't worth $52 million just to flirt with. Having said that, Darvish earned a small piece of his deserved income last night by throwing 9 strikeouts and handcuffing the Jays to just four hits and one home run.

I watched both the Sportscentre analysis and the NHK News report on last night's game. The guys at the former did what they were supposed to do with any pitcher and commented on the techniques and tactics that Yu had utilized to get his third straight win. The latter didn't even mention the final score....they went into the mystique of Yu. I guess going Zen would be appropriate for the Japanese media. Still, it does reinforce its interest in merely the Japanese players working overseas rather than any particular interest in Major League Baseball.

Oasis of the Seas, Part 2 -- Food

If you look at it one way, it resembles
that Ceti Eel from "Star Trek II"!
Still delicious, though.

Tuesday April 30, 5:06 p.m.

A few years ago, I saw a report on cruise ships and the reporter concluded that they were all floating buffet restaurants. He wasn't kidding. There must've been tons of foodstuffs on The Oasis of the Seas which gradually became part of our insides during the week at sea. Of course, a percentage of that stuff ended up going back....well, I think you get the picture.

A good portion of the price we paid to live out at sea went for food. Restaurants like The Solarium Bistro, The Opus Dining Room and The Windjammer offered all complementary fare. And all of us took advantage of that fact...my tighter jeans are proof positive. Almost all of our dinners were taken at the Opus Dining Room on Deck 4 where Waiter Markland Williams and Assistant Waiter Danny took care of us for the duration. The first night didn't go all that well due to a distinct lack of pacing which annoyed Mom and my sister-in-law to no end, but the guys got back on track for the other 5 times we were there. Above was my first main dish, a good rare slab of prime beef. By the end of the cruise, Markland and Danny were our best buds.

Up on the Boardwalk on Deck 6 Aft, there were restaurants that reflected that feeling of being near the sea in Jersey. Johnny Rockets was there. Though it was not part of the complementary plan during lunch and dinner, the restaurant served complementary breakfasts.

Sausages, potatoes, English muffins,
scrambled eggs

We had one breakfast at Johnny's. Of course, I opted for the carnivore's special. During my entire trip on the ship, I never opted for pancakes or waffles for some reason. I guess I needed a lot of protein to walk aimlessly all over The Oasis.

If you can identify every item on my dish,
you will have my eternal respect.

Buffets anywhere, whether they be on a massive cruise ship or definitively based in a landlocked restaurant, are always a hit-and-miss affair. The Oasis of the Seas was no different. We found that the Windjammer on the top deck had the overall best all-you-can-eat fare so we often had our lunches there. Even then, individual items hit our fancy more than others. My personal favorites were the mashed potatoes, the weiner schnitzel and the hamburgers. Desserts were OK but not spectacular.

The Windjammer overlooking Nassau

During the times that we were at port at Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maartens, the Windjammer wasn't too crowded but once we were on a purely cruising day, we made sure that we got there between 11:30 and 11:45. Luckily, there was a screen which showed crowd levels at the various restaurants onboard. Still, each time we got to the Windjammer, we could always find a table to seat all 6 of us. It's truly a huge restaurant.

In the middle of our cruise, the family decided to have one dinner at a specialty restaurant, so we chose the Japanese place, IZUMI, which was right next to the Windjammer. One of the stateroom videos showed the sushi chef presenting how to make the house favorite of Salmon Lovers' Roll. IZUMI was a bit more of an Asian fusion type of restaurant than a truly authentic place that I used to find in the wilds of Shinjuku and Asakusa.

Salmon Lovers' Platter

That is indeed the Salmon Lovers' Roll that was so lovingly made on the video. Just had to try it. Raw salmon, avocado and mayo! In back is the sashimi platter that we had also ordered.

I also had the sukiyaki nabe for dinner. Pretty hefty stuff, especially since the sukiyaki beef which is usually pretty thinly sliced was basically mini-steaks in terms of thickness. With dessert, I was one pretty stuffed fellow....not something that one can usually say after a meal at a Japanese restaurant.

IZUMI did have a great view of us launching from St. Thomas during dusk.

Finally, there were the smaller places like The Cupcake Cupboard peppered liberally along the Promenade. Here's my niece taking her sweet time making a decision on her cupcake. This was also a specialty place in that payment is necessary. It was so easy to find something to nosh onboard that gaining weight was an inevitability.