Day 8

As we did not have any excursions planned for Ajaccio, the home town of Napoleon Bonaparte, we slept in, had breakfast, and then explored the ship some more.

While outside, exploring the ship, we saw how cool Ajaccio looked, so thought we should check it out.  We strolled around Ajaccio for about an hour and a half before heading back to the ship, because it was too hot.

With 'The Wake' restaurant still fully booked out we decided to check out 'The Test Kitchen', where Food meets Science.  Before being taken to our seat we were given a shot of some weird concoction.  We had a set menu of 3 starters, a main and a dessert.  If we didn't like part of the set menu we could swap with the alternative vegan menu.   Mum swapped out the shrimp with the vegan option of Beet and cashew.  The waiters and chefs wore lab coats as part of their uniform.  At least they didn't try to experiment with the coke.  They gave us 3 forks 2 knives and 1 spoon

MENU

Corn / Truffle with bread

(The corn was actually corn tasting butter made to look like corn)

Smoked Salmon / Cucumber served with buttermilk and parsley oil

(This dish was covered and when lifting the lid, emitted smoke)

Shrimp / Garlic and tomato (Logan)

Beet / Cashews (v)  (Mum)

NZ Lamb Rack (really nice) with gravy and zucchini

Strawberry / Pistachio with wasabi

Mango / Chia (v)

(we were given both regular and vegan options for dessert)

Tonight was the night.  All through the day the staff were putting up sea themed decorations.  In the afternoon we went to 'The Roundabout' (Atrium) to listen to 'The Myth of Scarlet Night'.  Most people dressed in red for the party, which started at 9pm at 'The Roundabout' with the staff dancing and choosing the best dressed 'Sailor' which is what they call the passengers.  All the lights on the ship changed to red, including the corridors to our cabins.  The party then moved to the pool area, on decks 15 and 16.  They told us the 'climax' would be at 10:45pm, so we went up thinking they may have fireworks or something, but it was really just an outdoor nightclub vibe with loud music and the staff dancing by the pool and people everywhere.   The main event ended at 11pm when (according to, and including Logan) all of the boomers started heading back down to bed.