December 30, 2022
Picking up where we left off, the newly formed Templeshif Entourage Sextet,– hereafter TE6 when referred to en masse or L&D, S&E, and C&I individually are about to get on with it.
It’s 6PM on the first
night of this sojourn and TE6 are now assembled in the Schooner Bar, about to
break in another unsuspecting Bartender/Waitress – Claudia, who as it will soon
turn out, is more than capable to deal with these multi-cruised pranksters, once
she masters the intricate cocktail orders that is.
– Donna’s Vodka Martini –
no Vermouth – the ice used to shake and chill it in a glass on the side – NO
FRUIT!
- Chucky’s Bone Dry Dewar’s
Rob Roy - dry, not sweet vermouth - swished in the chilled cocktail glass then
tossed, stirred, NOT Shaken, straight up with a lemon twist – club soda no ice
on the side.
Lenny and Dragon Chick are
easy - Gin, Tonic, Lime for him, Vodka, Tonic, Lime for her.
Steve and Ellen don’t
drink, so that’s even easier.
Marching past the “un-reserved” line they meet up with Eloy, the Head Waiter who has no idea what they are talking about when they ask if he got the message about having the same table and same Wait staff for the entire cruise, which they THOUGHT they had arranged with the nice, cute but apparently clueless young lady at the reception desk earlier that afternoon.
Followers of past NOWAT may
begin to sense a pattern here.
First night missing
instructions, [after a healthy tip to Cute Little Miss clueless] and Lenny is ready to have Eloy for dinner instead of the Prime Rib.
Calmer heads prevail and
Eloy agrees to “Try His Best” to see the miscue corrected.
For the most part dinner
goes well with most appy’s and Entrees hot and tasty, when… up steps Mustafa
Sen, Restaurant Operations Manager who announces he was there to check in on “the
friends of Mr. Lincoln” and see if everything was all right. No one seems to understand the Mr. Lincoln reference
but everyone proceeds to acknowledge
that all was indeed fine up to now.
All of a sudden Chucky
realizes that “Mr. Lincoln” is in fact, Linken D’Souza, Global VP of Food and
Beverage for RCCL.
We
interrupt with some background
After the last two RCCL
Debacle Cruises, Chucky had several exchanges with Mark Tamis, Senior VP of Operations and other
Corporate Officers regarding some serious quality and other service issues and
at the same time established a rapport with Linken, who implored Chucky to let
him know IF and when he plans to cruise with RCCL again.
Sooooo… the week before
the planned trip on the Jewel, Chucky dropped Mark and Linken a note. Apparently Linken must have flagged the
reservation, hence Mustafa’s appearance.
Meanwhile, back at the
table…
Mustafa, a 24 year RL Veteran, and Chucky are now
engaged in conversation about the impact Linken has had on the operations overall
and certain unique touches in particular.
The “Lincoln” mystery
solved, Mustafa offers his card should they “need anything at all”. Little did he know what he has set himself up
for.
You'll have to wait and
see where that will lead, as you know it will.
TE6 then repair to the Casino for a night of chance, as it were - L&D are hitting the slots for some coinage, with Illy looking on, [although no coins are involved anymore what with the games having gone digital, but you get the picture]
Steve and Chucky hit the
Crap Table for a few shekels and the night closes with a Remy Martin night cap and all is well in
their world.
Back in the cabin Chucky
knocked out the first two Episodes and crashed late. Tomorrow is NYE and will prove to be an
“interesting Day”.
Oh, you thought the Drama
was over… Silly you.
Ciao 4 Now
Hey you’re in the biz they better make sure you have a flawless cruise
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