Hometown Buffet of the Seas

One of the reasons I had never gone on a big cruise before is the very fact that people rave about all the food. Some boast that they will order two entrees at a time, or if all the desserts look good, they'll order all of them.

Here on land, buffets are bad news for me. I'm so cheap, I feel like I have to get my money's worth. And if there's something really tasty looking, I have the urge to try it. My best strategy is to stay away completely. Once last year, a gourmand friend invited us to celebrate his birthday at the Super Buffet. I showed up to greet the celebrant, but immediately left without eating.

But once we decided to take the Atlantis cruise, I resolved that I would enjoy myself, try to get some exercise, and make healthier choices.

We did okay. It could have been worse. We did make it to the gym, but when we realized there was no buffet line in there, it lost it's luster.

We discovered the "Aquaspa Cafe" that served healthy, light entrees and desserts. One late afternoon, we enjoyed a couple of these entree plates and a healthy dessert or two. We found that these plates served as a delightful appetizer to preface our five course meal at the main restaurant.

By about Wednesday, I started to ask myself whose idea it was to pack all these tight jeans that barely fit me before the cruise. I feared that by the end of the week, I'd be wearing my gym sweatpants to the buffet line. My stomach seemed to be expanding to the size of a Mylar balloon. Five course dinners no longer left me feeling bloated. By midnight, we had enough room to stop by the late night buffet. I had completely reverted to old eating habits.

It was with great trepidation that I stepped on the scale when we got back at home (on an empty stomach and bladder, stark naked, of course) to assess the damages. To my delight, I hadn't gained any weight.

Which left me thinking, if I can eat like that and not gain weight, why have I been denying myself five course dinners and chocolaty desserts?

But alas, I have to factor in the fact that on the ship, we were on the go all day long and went to at least six dance parties. We canoed and went on a couple of nature walks. That's quite a bit more active than my typical routine of sitting on my rear for nine hours a day in front of a computer screen.

As soon as we boarded, we even signed up for a yoga class scheduled for Saturday morning at 9 a.m. It sounded like a good idea at the time. After dancing 'til dawn on Friday night (We're not as wild as that sounds--sunrise was at 2:30 a.m.), we ended up waking up at 11:30. Even if we hadn't lost an hour from moving back to Pacific Daylight Time, we never had a chance.