High tea on the high seas

High tea on the high seas? Don't mind if we do! I couldn't resist booking a fancy afternoon tea towards the end of our cruise. $A20 for eleven high tea items, coffee and bubbles was excellent value and a special ladies' treat.

I love the way high tea was presented on an oval art deco style stand.

High seas high tea

We were advised to start in the middle row with five different sandwiches including shrimp, chicken, salmon, pork and beef. Then, hot scones with jam and cream were served before we let loose on the sweet layers: raspberry macaron, marscapone tart, florentine, chocolate lamington and more.

The restaurant wasn't able to cater for special dietary requirements for high tea so our friend with a nut allergy sat this one out. The sandwiches were also all non-vegetarian and contained quite a bit of seafood, so I was fine but the other two in my group were less happy. We were allowed to take the leftover sweets back to our room and enjoyed them as a late afternoon snack.

I think the Pacific Ocean is my most exotic high tea venue to date. How will I top this experience?