by Holle Abee

Created on: December 21, 2008

My first cruise was a four-day jaunt to the Bahamas. The name of the ship was the Fantasy, but it should have been named the SS Moveable Feast! Food was everywhere, attacking us from all angles. Despite the fact that we climbed the stairs between decks instead of waiting for the elevator, did lots of walking around Nassau, and swam every day, I gained a whopping 13 pounds during our short cruise. How was that possible? Allow me to explain.

Although it was my first cruise, we were traveling with my best pal, Ken, an experienced cruiser. He was our informal guide, and he's also a food junkie. You'd never know it to look at him. His six-three lanky frame belies the fact that he has a sweet tooth the size of a fossilized brontosaurus molar. He told us at the beginning of the trip that if we ever got separated, we could find him at the pastry buffet. He wasn't kidding.

We boarded the ship about 1:00 p.m. We hadn't had lunch yet, but we soon discovered that this was not going to be a problem. Even though the ship wouldn't depart from port until four, food was waiting for us early arrivals. By the pool was a grill that served burgers, hot dogs, fries, and sandwiches, so we partook. Rut-roh! Big mistake. Little did we know that this was just ONE of the choices we had!

As we explored the ship, we found an Italian buffet, a huge salad bar, a pizzeria, a self-serve ice cream station, and that legendary pastry buffet. Of course, we felt obligated to "sample" a little of everything, on top of our burgers and fries. Good thing we brought along some pepto.

Ken had selected the early dining time for us. He did this so that we'd be hungry again by the time the midnight buffet was spread. On our first night in the formal dining room, we found items on the menu that we had never tried before, exotic dishes that were uncommon in typical South Georgia restaurants. I ordered the West Indian pumpkin soup, a fancy salad, and lobster. Hubby ordered the Beef Wellington, which he really liked until he asked what the dark stuff was on the outside of the meat.

"That's froi gras," I answered.

"What's that?"

"Pate," I explained.

"What's that?"

"Goose liver."

He meticulously scraped all the pate off and continued eating the beef.

My lobster tail was a little small, and I made the mistake of saying so. Ken told me to order another one.

"You can do that?" I was shocked. He explained that we could order as many entrees as we wanted. This was too good to be true! After another lobster tail, the dessert cart

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