SUPERCHARGED!

There is some necessary background before you check out the rest of this post. If you skip this part and go straight to pictures/videos you will think most people on a cruise ship need psychotic medication. REALLY!!

Well, that's not true (I'm sure some do). Here's what happens on a cruise dinner. The Matre 'D is in charge of all the dinner preparations. That's not just how the dining room is set up, or the silverware and dishes, but which waitstaff cover which table, the order of tables in the service line, and - really quite importantly - the dinner entertainment. Usually, right after our meal, we would get coffee and dessert. At that time, entertainment would begin. We learned after the first few days, that we really needed to bring our camera and get some of this on video - it was great!

Our Matre' D's name was Joseph. His self proclaimed title was "Joseph, your supercharged Matre' d". And let me tell you - he was SUPERCHARGED. He was hysterical. He was everywhere, all the time. He talked to you like he knew you, made you feel right at home, and was so funny and nice. He was the best part of dinner.


This is me with Joseph (can you tell I'm a bit sunburned?). Another catch phrase he used right before the performance was to begin was "iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's aaaaaaa Showtime!" He had an accent that was somewhere between his native Croatia, and his adopted Canada. It was great.

This is the "Amore" video. Here, Joseph has the entire wait-staff sing the Amore' song. Please understand the there is almost no staff on the ship that is actually American. There are more accents on that boat than there are sticks of deodorant - no, really! Some of them don't speak English very well at all, but others are quite fluent. The ones that don't speak it as well are usually the ones that help the head waiters in the dining room. They ALL participate in the performances though. Even if they have to read it off pieces of paper so they can try to say all the words. (No, seriously, they did that - it was so great.) This was great...

Here is the SUPERCHARGED video. You will understand how we needed to film these. Nobody would believe me if I just told them the stories - or they would think I was exaggerating. Well I'm NOT! This is Joseph, at his finest. We missed several earlier opportunities for great film because we didn't have our camera, or didn't remember to bring it. It was so fun! We told Joseph that he would probably end up on U-Tube. He laughed and said "too late". As I suspected, he's already there! The last night at dinner, you have the option to tip the Matre' d. As you might suspect, Joseph was well tipped by us, and I'm guessing several others. The dining room sat about 700. There were 2 dinners, early and late. If 1/2 the people tipped $10...He made about $7000 for the week. Not a bad haul, but he earned it! Our ship actually scored a 100 on the inspection by the US FDA...for the 3rd time in a row! Makes you feel warm and fuzzy to know your food is in good hands...