Carol and JB have Dinner with the Captain
We were delighted to be invited to have dinner (along with another couple) with our Captain on our last night of sailing. Our Captain spoke no English, but we had our Cruise Manager, Lena, and our Ship Hotel Manager, Alexander, also at the table to translate.
We had received a sealed envelope with an invitation from the captain to share dinner. Here we were on this cruise — there were 200 passengers — and there was no way that the captain could have dinner with all the passengers in the few number of nights there were on the ship.
We cornered Lena and showed her the letter to confirm that it was real, and she said, “I guess so.” She did not know our exalted status as suite occupants, I guess! Alexander (also known as agent “Sasha”, in the Room Safe Adventure (see the menu to the right), was there in his manager disguise. I hope you are all with me here and that I am not yanking your leg too hard.
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It turned out that anyone who had a suite was treated to this special dinner with the captain.
We had our choice of roast beef or a fish dish – Carol had the roast beef and JB had the fish. Both were absolutely fantastic. We were served lovely wines from Chile and were also treated to a beautiful dessert, a multi-layer cake with fruit sauces.
It turned out that the wine we had at that dinner with the captain, far better than the average ones we could have at dinner for free, was actually one that we get commonly at Albertson’s in San Diego — one of our favorites.
They served this international wine, which was probably somewhat rare in Russion, an an honor which we greatly appreciated. So much so, that when my glass was empty, I indicated to the waiter that I would like some more. Oops! That request required the opening of another bottle, which the captain politely approved. Yah – go captain!
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Along the way, we passed a large statue of Lenin on the right of the ship. The Captain told us that there had been a statue of Stalin on the left, but that it had been pulled down during the Khrushchev times. He felt that was a mistake – that Stalin was a part of Russian history and the statue should have been left there. Note: There are practically NO pictures/statues of Stalin around, although lots of Lenin.
There was another discussion that revolved around World War II. As you may know, the Russian lost hundred of thousand lives at the end of the war. They feel great pride in having given so much to contribute to the overthrown of the Nazis, and it was quite a privelege to be at dinner with a person who had served in the Russian military, and could convey the national pride.
Well, so much for our wonderful dinner with the captain on our curise to St Petersburg and Moscow (among others). Now we will have to return to the plain old wonderful buffet, aboard the Uniworld River Victoria.
We are not promising that if you upgrade to a suite, you will have dinner with the captain, but it looks like that is the case — just one more perk to think about!
See you soon, JB and Carol
Russia River Cruise on the Uniworld River Victoria, Dinner with the Captain