Cruising toward 399

I had just one more place to try before getting to milestone 400 on my Triple D adventure.  The reason for the trip was to get to Miami to take a cruise on the Celebrity Reflection and since I do like to write about more than just the Triple D places I try, I thought I would tell you a bit about the cruise, as well. 

Cruise day arrived and Barry and I headed from our hotel near the Fort Lauderdale Airport to the Port of Miami with a quick breakfast stop at Grampa's Restaurant and Bakery in Dania Beach.  Grampa's is a place that I have been to on many occasions and was featured on Triple D in one of the early seasons.  It is a very popular and busy place and although it is always crowded there never seem so t be much of a wait.  Barry and I took a couple of seats at the counter, which was pretty cool because we could watch the staff (both front and back of the house) do their thing.  It was fun to watch, the kitchen was cranking out the food and the servers were sorting them out, there was a sort of humorous  banter going on between the staff.  I know other DDD followers have mixed feelings about Grampa's but I think it is a must when in the Ft. Lauderdale area.  One cool thing is that every table gets a plate of sweet rolls during breakfast hours and all are made in their full service bakery.

We arrived at the port and within about 10 minutes we were on board!  One of the fastest check-ins ever for a cruise.  The ship, Celebrity Reflection is gorgeous and the service onboard was outstanding!  The staff exceeded my expectations and seemed to anticipate my needs and the needs of the other passengers on board!  We were off for 7 nights to the Eastern Caribbean ports of San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  Our itinerary would give us one full day at sea before an afternoon call in San Juan then two full days in St. Thomas and St. Maarten before two more full sea days.  Celebrity Cruises was born on having outstanding gourmet style food.  They not only have the two main dining rooms for dinner, but have several specialty restaurants that have an added cost.  Although they looked great, the main dining areas were great and in my opinion did not justify the extra cost.  I seem to enjoy the appetizers on cruise, as much, if not more than the main entrée and one of the appetizers I tried was the frog legs.  Now Barry didn't really like them, saying they tasted "gamey" to him, but to me if you gave them to me and didn't tell me what they were I would tell you almost certainly that they were chicken wings!  So yes (to me) they "taste like chicken"!

Frog Legs Appetizer on Celebrity Reflection

I have cruised to these ports on many occasions, this was my 63rd cruise!  At St. Thomas I always try to get to a very nice little café that is on the Hibiscus Alley just off the waterfront in downtown Charlotte Amalie.  A few years back I just happened upon a place called Gladys's Café.  The cuisine is both American and West Indian.  Gladys makes here own hot sauces that are featured on each table and they are HOT!  The main ingredient is Scotch Bonnet peppers, which are the second hottest peppers in the world behind just he Ghost peppers.  I always get the same thing on my visits; Conch Fritters.  They are huge filled with cornmeal and conch meat.  the conch is the little critter that lives inside those huge shells that you see many people blowing into.  They are served with a side ofcocktail sauce that is slightly spicy and very thin, not a thick sauce. 

Conch Fritters at Gladys's Café in St. Thomas

Scotch Bonnet based Hot sauces at Gladys's Café

My favorite stop is St. Maarten, mainly due to my love of aviation!  Maho Bay is an area just at the end of the runway at the Princess Julianna International Airport.   If you have seen pictures of people on a beach where it looks like the planes are landing on the same beach, that is Maho Bay beach!  It is a must visit for me every time I am in St.Maarten!

Maho Bay beach in St. Maarten

One of the coolest places on the ship was a bar called the Molecular Bar.  It is a laboratory disguised as a bar.  The bar staff wear white and black lab coats and mix different types of liquors and mixers to create very unusual and delicious concoctions.  I knew that I had to try it.  It is a very intimidating place at first, not know what to try or get, but the bar staff will walk you though your order.  hye ended up making something called a Lucky Cat for me.  It was vodka based and had strawberries and several types of  fruit liquids and ended being served with a pouring of liquid nitrogen for a very cool and cold effect!  The drink was not very strong but fun to watch made and drink!

My drink being prepared

My Lucky Cat just about ready to enjoy

Celebrity Reflection Molecular Bar

Element Bar Mixologists at work

Straight up Liquid Nitrogen

The cruise ended and we gradually headed home with a two day stop in the Orlando area.  We ended up taking in the Florida High School football championship at the Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando and then spending at day with the Mouse at Epcot. 

After a full day of attractions and fireworks at Epcot, it was time to head back north.

Illuminations - Reflections of Earth; the nightly fireworks at Epcot

I still needed to make one more Triple D stop on the trip to get to the goal of 399 during this trip.  I looked on the DDD maps and saw one that looked really good along the way in St. Simons Island, Georgia.  It took about 3 hours to get to but was only a few minutes off the route along I-95. 

Barry and I headed through a lot of swamps and islands along the Atlantic coast of Georgia.  Our stop would be "Southern Soul Barbecue"  From the outside it looked like a shack, but it was a really busy restaurant.  As soon as we got out of the car you could smell the barbecue cooking with local oak wood.

Both of us decided to try the Burnt Ends sandwich.  The huge sandwich came with a small portion of Cole slaw, which both of us decided to get on the side and choice of a side, I chose the Mac and Cheese. 

A cool sign inside Southern Soul

My Burnt Ends Sandwich Platter

Each table had 4 different types of Barbecue sauces to taste

The sandwich was huge and overloaded with the beef tip burnt ends.  I always enjoy barbecue places, since we don't seem to have many in Northern Virginia!  The Mac and Cheese was also excellent, not too cheesy, just right!  Wash it all down with some Georgia Sweet Tea and that's a meal!

We headed back home after a great vacation and needing just one more to get to my 400th Triple D location!