I have to admit that being on a cruise ship has changed considerably since the last time, which was about thirty years ago.  Then there was one private restaurant for dinner, and a limited breakfast offering at another location; otherwise it was sitting with strangers.  They still had a big cavernous dining hall with terrible service, and there was also a buffet, which I had no interest in.  Now, one can pay extra to go to theme restaurants and private tables, and I did find that the service was far superior, and it reminded me of the enjoyable dinners that we had the last time.

Palomar, was one of the “private” restaurants that we paid a surcharge and had to make reservations for a table and time.   The theme was Mediterranean and my Bride started with an Heirloom Beet Salad with Feta Cheese, Mint and Roasted Garlic, while I had Grilled Prawns with an Endive-Fennel Salad.   We began the meal with Champagne Jean-Noel Haton Rosé NV.  Champagne Haton began in 1610 with the original parcels of land in Damery.  Octave Haton began a new chapter when he began vinifying his own Champagnes.  They now have sixty hectares of vines (forty-five of their own) spread over six villages, each with its own micro-terroir and varieties.  The wine is a blend of thirty-five percent Pinot Meunier, thirty percent Chardonnay, thirty-five percent Pinot Noir (of which ten percent is vinified as red).  The wine is aged for a minimum of three years.  A pretty soft-copper color that offered notes of currants, strawberry, stone fruit, and orange zest.  On the palate there were delightful tones of fresh fruit, citrus, a complex mixture of toast, a dash of pine resin and good medium to long count of fruit and brioche. 

For our entrée choices, my Bride had the “Lavraki” Mediterranean Sea Bass, with Saffron-Carrot Puree and Chickpeas; while I had the “Festoni” Sea Scallops with Prosciutto, Le Puy Lentils, Clams and Pistachio Pesto.    We then followed with Il Borro Lamelle Chardonnay Toscana IGT 2023.   Il Borro is in the Valdearno hills of Tuscany planted primarily with classic international varieties, as well as Sangiovese. The vineyard is forty-five hectares and was planted in 1997 on a combination of sandstone and sandy-clay soils.  The vineyard is 300-500 meters above sea level.  The fruit is hand-harvested, and two-thirds of the juice is fermented in Stainless Steel vats, while the last third is divided among clay vats, acacia barrels, oak barrels and “Alma” which is a special oak and ceramic barrel. The wine is then aged for ten months on fines lees with an evenly split among clay vats, acacia barrels, oak barrels, and the “Alma” barrels.  The wine is then stored in the bottle for twelve months with a production of three thousand bottles.  A straw-colored wine that offered notes of citrus, yellow fruits, with a touch of rosemary, sage, and vanilla. On the palate the wine offered tones of fruit, with texture and body and finished with a nice medium count of fruit and terroir. 

We then chose a couple of desserts to end the meal.  My Bride had the Valrhona Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake with Dark Chocolate Sorbet and Salted Caramel Popcorn; while I had the French Apple Tart a la Mode with Puff Pastry, Golden Apple and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. I know that I may disappoint you, but we had some coffee as we were going to explore the ship some more, as we had seen a Wine Cellar and an interesting show to visit.  The dinner was so good, that we ended up coming back a second time and treated our son and his wife for dinner here, with excellent results again.