For
a couple of days prior to the dinner, the Maitre d'Hotel and Bar Manager
staked out Mary Ann's suite to create a sit-down seating plan for the 18
Group members. How to
comfortably fit that number into a dining room that normally seats 8 people!
Mary
Ann said they were there measuring, arranging, rearranging.
The actual preparation on March 27th took several hours, and the
rooms were beautifully decorated in magnificent items that had just arrived
from Indonesia and were being opened and used for the first time - a gold
lame' umbrella with a brilliant red underside, three intricate masks from
Bali, gorgeous floral batiks to cover several of the serving tables.
Mary
Ann watched for a while as they unpacked and set about their task, and then
left the room so that the set-up team could work freely.
(Click thumbnails for full-size pictures)
When
she returned several hours later, the transformation in her suite was
incredible. The dining
room now had two spacious tables for 8 people each, plus a table for 2, all
with formal table linens/brocade runners, formal place settings - china,
crystal, silverware, etc. There
were printed menus on each table, and a sufficient number for us to take our
own copies afterwards. We
feasted on 13 Indonesian specialties, not including various condiments.
Cocktails
(open bar) began at 7:00pm, and were supervised by the Bar Manager and
served by one of the Bar Stewards. During
that time, the Captain, Hotel Manager and Food & Beverage Manager all
stopped by to join us for a while.
