Parrot Cay entertainment

Our entrees arrive. Benjamin has ordered pizza (what else?) and fries. He goes slowly on them, but insists that they taste good and that he is feeling better. I’ve got the mixed grill. I’d never ordered it here before, because on previous trips it seemed too close to the low-carb diet I’d been on in the past, but it always looked good when someone else got it. It really is delicious.

I ask Assistant Server Nino if his name is pronounced “NEE-no” (as I’ve heard Sutas calling him) or “NEEN-yo.” He tells me it’s actually “NEEN-yo,” but on board the ship a lot of the other CMs call him “NEE-no,” and he’s gotten used to it.

Nino and Sutas are very enjoyable servers, not only efficient and attentive, but also able to spend time conversing and entertaining us. Nino entertains the recovering Benjamin with a bit of kids’ menu origami, folding the page into a giraffe. At least, he says it’s a giraffe. It does have a long neck, but it still takes quite a lot of imagination to call it a giraffe. Maybe a llama?

As we are finishing our entrees, the Parrot Cay entertainment starts, with all the servers, led by the head servers, dancing in a line around the restaurant to “Hot, Hot, Hot.” Brandon immediately hops up to join the line. Does Benjamin feel like dancing? No, he doesn’t, but he seems to enjoy the music. He’s looking much, much better.

How much better we come to understand just about ten seconds later, when another server invites Benjamin to dance. This time, he shrugs and stands up with a smile to join the dance line! We watch the boys as they parade around Parrot Cay, Brandon bopping around with as much energy as anybody, and Benjamin not dancing much, but smiling from ear to ear. It’s a fun time.

After that musical interlude, Brandon and Benjamin return to the table, and Sutas comes to take our dessert order. Mmm, cruise ship dessert! I order the Chocolate-Espresso Walnut Cake, Becky and Linda each order the Ice Cream Sundae, and Benjamin asks for the “Rich Chocolate Pudding” from the kids’ menu. Bob reminds Sutas of his Mickey Bar request, and Brandon joins him.

While we wait for the desserts, Sutas entertains the kids – and the rest of us – with some brain teaser-type puzzles, using the crayons on the table. He first lays down four crayons in the shape of a simple stemware glass, with a salt shaker “in” the glass, and then tells us to recreate the shape with the salt shaker on the outside of the glass by moving only two crayons. Sutas then leaves to go about his work while we try to figure it out.

Our whole table gets involved in the puzzle, and I’m really admiring both Sutas and Nino already. They are different from Nick, but these type of puzzles are perfect from Brandon and Benjamin – and a great way to make the wait time fly by.

When we demonstrate that we’ve solved the first puzzle, Sutas leaves another, and then another, and before we know it, desserts are here, and we almost don’t want to quit the puzzles to eat them. Almost.

We have a laugh at Bob’s requested Mickey Bar – he is given two Mickey Bars on a plate. Brandon just has one Mickey Bar, but it is dressed up with chocolate syrup, marshmallows, and sprinkles! Brandon marvels, “And it’s all free!” We remind him that, more accurately, it is all "paid for."

My chocolate cake is just the right size, and pretty soon we’ve wolfed down all that we can. I glance at my watch – we’ve been here almost two hours. We normally don’t linger over a meal like this, but the time just flew. Sutas and Nino are great, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them again over the next couple of days.

Apart from Benjamin’s incident, which seems to be fully past us now, this was a great first dinner onboard.