Food

One of my tablemates did not rate his dinner entrée as excellent, so our waiter, a tall, handsome young man from Bali named Iwan, brought him tomorrow's menu by way of apology. None of us understood how this was supposed to placate the dissatisfied guest -- Iwan is gorgeous and a graceful server , but his English has its limitations -- but I got to bring a menu back to the cabin with me so I can reassure anyone who fears I may not be getting adequate meals.

Starters -- papaya with a rainbow of fruit and/or crostini with fresh tomato, basil and prosciutto and/or malassi caviar and butterfly jumbo shrimps and/or grilled scallops and shrimp

Soups & Salad -- lemon turkey spinach barley soup and/or cream of four mushrooms and/or chilled apple vichyssoise and/or baby spinach and button mushrooms

Entrees -- grilled Chinese five spice tuna and crispy tortilla salad and/or gnocchi with roasted squash and/or salmon with basil, tomatoes and capers and/or surf and turf (petit filet mignon and lobster tail) and/or whole roasted beef tenderloin and/or roasted rack of veal and/or parmesan crusted chicken breast and/or spicy vegetarian chow mein.

And those are the specials. Available daily are jumbo shrimp cocktail, French onion soup, Caesar salad, baked potato, salmon fillet, chicken breast, and/or 8-ounce top sirloin center-cut steak.

I don't have the dessert menu, but there are always six or eight choices, different every night, ranging from the reasonable (e.g., pineapple sherbet or fresh fruit ) to the seriously indulgent (e.g., chocolate decadence or butterscotch sundae).

And tomorrow's menu, which I just reproduced for you, won't matter for me personally because tomorrow evening is my turn to dine with the captain and officers, which one of my tablemates, who has done this before, says makes an "ordinary" ms Amsterdam meal seem like an outing to a down-at-heel MacDonald's. Reception to begin at 5pm in the Piano Bar.

I am not sure I can do justice to the occasion.