CruiseTeacher7

Sea Days

We had three full sea days and two of what I would call half sea days. We had 1 sea day on the front end and two on the back end. We left Grand Turk at 2 and we didn't get to Curacao until 1 so we had a 1/2 sea day for each.

DW and I are pretty easy to please. Just give us a lounge chair in the shade, a book to read, a cold drink and some music then we are set. I've perfected our sea day routine. I usually am up and out on deck by 6:30 am. I get coffee and grab two of the padded wicker chairs on deck 11 overlooking the pool. DW usually joins me around 8 or so and we get breakfast. We typically stay at our spot to early or mid afternoon. I really enjoy sitting there in the shade, reading a book and listening to the Soca music that they play.

Other sea day activities for us include working out in the gym, using the spa facilities, and sitting on our balcony in the late afternoon.

Since we were on a spa deck we had access to the thelasso therapy pool (a hot tub you recline in), the steam rooms, saunas, and those warm relaxation recliners.

The pool contests included a lip sync battle, the hairy chest competition, and miss carnival vista. Those were always fun to watch. In particular there was one lady who well lets just say she was for sure the life of the party every day on deck ;)

Overall the pool area was very crowded along with the serenity and any other space on decks 10-12. I can confirm that the staff was policing the chair hogs (maybe not on the first day though). They also had "life guards" monitoring the slides and pool area blowing their whistles to stop kids from doing stupid things.

If you haven't been on the Vista (and this goes for the Dream-Magic-Breeze as well) the deck 5 has a lot of lounge chairs and shade. Its a great spot to escape the masses on decks 10-12.

I wanted to add something about the food to from my previous post. On deck 5 they have a breakfast buffet by the coffee bar. It never seemed to be too crowded, I don't think most people knew about it.

Dining on the Vista:

We ate in the MDR the first three nights. We did anytime dining. For anytime dining you initially check in on deck 5 by the coffee bar. They give you a receipt and you go to your dining room. Kind of different but they don't really have much space for people to wait outside of the dining rooms.

For dinners I had the braised short rib, three lobster plates, and the grilled chicken. They were all good to eat. You know what it is like in the MDR--the food is good but nothing spectacular since it is mass produced. We only did desert one night--DW likes the bitter and blanc desert. Overall nothing too memorable from the MDR.

We ate at JiJi's asian restaurant twice. This is one of the specialty restaurants ($15 pp) and it is well worth it. It is family style sharing so with two people you get two appetizers, two entrees, two sides, and two deserts. For appetizers we had the pork belly, duck, pot stickers and spring rolls. For entrees we had the short rib, chili shrimp, kung pao chicken, and the stock pig. For sides we had the blistered beans, brocoli, and both types of noodles. We had all three deserts. I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Here is the menu https://www.carnival.com/~/media/Images/explore/dining/menus/ji-ji-asian-kitchen-dinner-menu.pdf

We did the sushi place one night. The sushi is decent but we are kind of used to a wider selection. We ate at the Italian place on the last night. The food there is good too and it is also family style dining. We did the lido only one night (Curacao) because we came back so late.

Speaking of restaurants we were not able to get a reservation in the steakhouse. Wow usually they are begging people to come and always advertising for it!

For lunches I had the tacos from Blue Iguana twice and Guy's Burgers twice. Both of these were usually very crowded so I really only ate there on port days when we didn't get off the ship. Pro-tip don't get lettuce on the burgers, it takes some of the great taste away.

We ate in the MDR one time for breakfast. DW had the avacado toast and I had the fried egg sandwich which was good. We were too lazy to go to the sea day brunch.

We had lunch at Guy's BBQ on deck 5. Get their early because there is always a line. My favorite was the chicken with the dry rub on it. They also have pulled pork, brisket, and sausage along with coleslaw, potato salad, beans, and a roll. I enjoyed this lunch.

The Deli is located in the middle of the rear buffet line (most ships its sort of on the side). We had late night snacks there a few times. Its always kind of busy. I think I had grilled cheese twice.

We did the late night buffet line snack--they had grilled ham and cheese, meatball subs, pasta, etc.

The pizza place was always busy so be prepared to wait in line.

For breakfasts I had a breakfast burrito twice (I'm not liking them so much any more) and the huervos ranchero from Blue Iguana. That was good. Most other breakfasts were in the Lido. I typically had lots of fruit and a few bread type items.

One new thing that they have on the Serenity deck is a salad bar with chopped chicken and ham. I had this twice and I wish I had it more often for lunch. Its a nice, light alternative to what they normally had.

Another new thing is the fresh spun ice cream in the lido marketplace. They scoop it out for you and they have toppings to go with it. This was tasty.

Also they were cutting three layer cakes in the lido marketplace. These cakes were delicious--they had a birthday sprinkle cheese cake, red velvet, and pineapple. Normally those sheet cakes they have taste really weird. Carnival finally got their cakes right!

I didn't have any complaints about the food. For the most part it was standard Carnival food so you know what you are getting. Since this was a larger ship the lines seemed to be longer, especially for Guy's Burgers and the Blue Iguana. The sushi place always seemed to be busy too. My son's girlfriend's parents went on the Vista the cruise before us and they said the same thing about the lines.

Up next I will talk about the sea days and I'll do a separate post on each of the ports that we did something at (we stayed on the ship for La Romana).

Embarkation Day:

DW and I woke reasonably early Saturday morning in our hotel in downtown Miami. We had some time to kill before we left around 10 to drive to the port which was about 10 minutes away. We parked our car and hauled our luggage down. We tipped a porter $10.

Check was very fast. DW just earned platinum so we had priority boarding. They had already started boarding so we didn't even have to wait, we pretty much just got in line and walked onto the ship. We were on the ship by 11 am.

We headed to our room which was ready for us. One thing that they did differently is give us our sign and sail card in our rooms, not at the terminal. I'm not sure how that works for purchasing drinks but our room steward was able to get the sign and sail cards for us right away. It was nice that our room was ready but we had to wait a while for our luggage despite it having priority tags on it (one of the perks of platinum).

By the way I want to give a shout out to our room steward Patrick, he was excellent. Very friendly, always had our room made up, and ice for us.

We had a small lunch in the Lido Marketplace, in fact all I had was a piece of cake since I ate a late breakfast (thinking we wouldn't be on the ship so fast).

Next we headed to our favorite spot on Deck 11--the padded wicker chairs under the shade by the pool. We spent sometime there and we also enjoyed the hot tubs on the Serenity (located at the top of the ship on Deck 15 forward).

There was a "bomb" scare at the terminal--someone left a bag unattended and they had to close at least the drop off part of the terminal down. They had to reroute traffic around it and it looked like a hot mess. I'm glad we got on early. The bomb squad even came out. Here is what it looked like

The muster drills are now done inside the ship--guests will go to a restaurant or lounge. That is a great thing to do.

After the drill we did the sail away party and enjoyed sailing out of the port.

We had an early dinner in the MDR. We did anytime dining for the cruise but only ate in the MDR the first three nights.

For the rest of the evening we checked out the show band "The Sauce Factor", the entertainment "Guitar sounds with Larry" and "Liz and Lucas" a signing duo. We also went to the welcome aboard show. Matt Mitcham (CD) is always great to watch.

Okay for my next post I am going to talk about the food on the ship.

Looking forward to your review! Did you try any of the extras? IMAX, thrill theatre? Thanks

 

 

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My wife and I are not very hard to please. Just give us a chair in the shade by the pool so that we can read that’s all we really ask for LOL. We did not do any of the extras like the theaters. I did do the bicycle sky ride that was fun but it’s like a 30 minute wait.

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Do you mean the little dilapidated souvenir shops that the locals sell from? I've noticed how nice (and un-crowded) the beach is there. I didn't know you could rent chairs and umbrellas there though. Cool. We're visiting GT again in a few months. I might have to check this out. I ha...um, dislike the area where the ship docks, Margaretville and all that.

No there are these 5 pink cottages next to Jack’s Shack. They look like a hotel or timeshare. We got our chairs from a lady standing on the beach.

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How far of a walk is Jacks Shack? Do you walk on the beach or a paved sidewalk? Thanks

 

 

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Maybe 1/4 mile or about 10 minutes. Beach is best way to get there.

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The fresh made ice cream was great along with the 3 layer cakes. The normal cakes on a plate always seem to taste weird . I also thought the atrium was underwhelming but they made it that way to accommodate the movie theaters.

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Looking forward to your review. We will be on the vista on July 14. Curious as to your thoughts of how the Vista compares with the Breeze. We love the Breeze!

 

 

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Main theater is smaller, so was club for comedy. Atrium is only 3 decks (weird). Does have cool sky bikes. Don’t like the exclusive Havana suites area. JiJi Asian restaurant awesome! Otherwise not much different

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We were on Vista too

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We were just there. There were two ships at the same time (7-2). The cruise terminal beach/margaritaville was packed and the beach right there isn’t that great. The beach gets better the further down you go. Even Jack’s Shack was crowded. We rented chairs and umbrella from a lady at the beach in front of those pink dilapidated cottages. Beach/water there is great.

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We were on the same cruise

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Hello everyone,

We just got off the Vista today from an 8 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean. I am going to be doing this review in several parts.

Background: DW and I have been on 11 cruises together, mainly with Carnival. DW went with DD on a quick 3 day cruise for spring break so that she would be platinum for this cruise. This was our first cruise on the Vista but our second time on this route. We've done the Breeze (the class below Vista) twice so we had a good idea of what to expect for the ship and what areas we enjoyed best (deck 11 wicker chairs under the shade by the pool). We have done this route previously with our family but we went by ourselves to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We were very fortunate since my MIL stayed with our two teenagers while we were away.

Pre-cruise: DW got a call from the upgrade fairy just a few days before we left. We originally had an interior deck 11 (spa deck) cabin but decided to spend the extra $500 for a deck 14 balcony cabin. We were in 14210 which was almost at the front of the ship. It was very quiet up there. On our previous cruise we were on the lido deck close to the elevators and it was quiet noisy. We like the spa decks since they tend to be quiet and you get free access to the spa as well.

We left for Miami the day before on Friday so that we wouldn't have to get up early to drive (its about a 5 hour drive). The drive was smooth until we got to Dade county on I-95. You really have to have your head on a swivel driving there. We arrived mid-afternoon.

We stayed at the Kimpton Epic in Miami. It was a great hotel. We mainly hung out on the balcony that Friday afternoon and had dinner at Bayside which was just a short walk from the hotel. The hotel is in the heart of downtown Miami and probably about a 10 minute drive to the port. Other people in our Facebook group were staying there as well but never got to meet them. This wasn't the type of hotel with a free breakfast but they did a have a free wine hour which was nice.

I will continue posting to this thread but right now I'm in the middle of uploading my photos to photobucket so that I can share them on cruise critic.

For my future threads I am not going to do a day by day, rather I'll focus on:

*Sea days

*Each port of call and what we did

*Thoughts on the ship

*Dining & food

*Entertainment on board

I am on the vista right now. In my Facebook group so and posted the picture of the flooding on the eighth floor. A few people commented on the picture and said there was flooding on the fifth floor and another floor. Someone also mentioned a few people got displaced as well.

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The national hurricane center just upgraded the system in the Caribbean to sub tropical storm Alberto. In their forecast discussion they mentioned to ship that sailed through this morning and measured 45 not wins. It turns out that ship was the carnival dream.

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Hello,

My wife and I will be visiting Curaçao this summer. We’ve already been there and have taken the Irie tours which I would highly recommend. We’re planning on just walking around the downtown area. Any recommendations on places to see or go any cool restaurants or bars to visit. Thank you in advance

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Hello,

My wife and I are going to be on the vista the summer and we will be visiting La Romana. We are interested in going to an all-inclusive resort or beach type of place through Carnival Cruise Lines. I’m hesitant to book a private excursion in La Romana in the event that we would get left behind. If you’ve done any of carnivals private beach or resort excursions please let me know your thoughts and recommendations. Thank you in advance.

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We are excited to be going on our 4th Carnival Cruise in June for my birthday, on the Conquest. We are lucky to be able to go on lots of cruises living in Florida, but I am most excited to be at a port I have never been to for my birthday- Half Moon Cay! Looks nice....

 

 

 

We will be traveling with both our sons, ages 10 and 2. Does anyone have a link to the menus for the 4 night Conquest MDR? We are doing early sitting and hoping to catch at least one show before bedtime during the cruise! :p

 

Thanks in advance!

Just wanted to let you know that the lines to get onto the tenders to go back to the ship can get quite long. We left our area around 230 and it took at least an hour to get on the tender. With a little kid like you have it probably wouldn't be a lot of fun to be standing in that long line so I would suggest maybe getting an earlier start to get back on the ship.

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Thanks for your thorough and thoughtful review.

 

 

 

I know what you mean about hit or miss at brunch. It took me until the third try, with a smile, to get a rare steak, a poached egg with a runny yolk, and warm Hollandaise on the side.

 

 

 

I appreciate your taking the time to post your experiences.

Yeah brunch is normally a great experience. Maybe since it was on the last day they sort of phoned it in. I didn't get any hollandaise sauce either.

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Thanks for the review. We are going on the same 5 day cruise July 15th, first time cruisers!

We met several groups are first-time cruisers. You will have a great time cruises are always a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any questions or want any tips for your cruise.

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I would absolutely recommend getting faster to the fun. We were on the conquest last week. We got to the terminal around 11 AM checked in and immediately got on the ship. We did not even sit in the waiting area. The faster tothat's fine get your priority boarding on the tenders from the ship. You also have a special line at guest services.

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Would you happen to know if Jack's Shack offer any seafood?

Here is their menu https://www.jacksshack.tc/menu/

There is also the local village bar and restaurant which is just outside the main port/beach area. This is their menu https://cdn.cruiseradio.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/21155916/023.jpg

I'm not 100% sure they are still there, the signs didn't jump out at me.

The good news is that Conquest is going into dry dock in September so it will be all nice and shiny for future cruises.

I want to add that Jack's Shack had some very tasty jerk chicken too.

Hello all,

My DW and I just returned from the Carnival Conquest. We went on a five night cruise (June 3-8) to Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk from Fort Lauderdale.

Day 1:

Our vacation begin early Saturday morning (6/3). We live in the Tampa area and it was an easy four hour drive to Port Everglades. We got to Port Everglades around a little after 11 and we were on the ship by 11:30. We had faster to the fun and we happened to get checked in just as they were calling VIP guests to board. We didn't have to sit in the waiting area.

We dropped our carry on bag in our room and headed across the lido deck for lunch. DW got Guy's burgers and I got a pastrami sandwich. My son was raving about them from the cruise he just got off of for his graduation so I humored him. Prior to eating we did check out all of the different offerings on the lido deck. What was new (at least to me) was the BBQ place on deck 10. Most of the conquest class ships (Valor, Liberty, Freedom, etc) have the fish-n-chips place on deck 10 but I think it was a smart move to offer BBQ. I didn't eat there since I had BBQ the previous night.

After lunch we headed to the Blue Iguana Cantina for some drinks. Unfortunately there was a lot of liquid sunshine so it dampened the vibe in the pool area on deck 9. That was okay as we were still able to enjoy ourselves. We were on a cruise after all.

After the muster drill we explored the ship a bit, went on deck for the sail away (the party had to be moved to the atrium since it was wet and the rain was ending). We got some late afternoon snacks from the Blue Iguana Cantina. We had all three of the tacos (fish, pork, chicken) and I would highly recommend the chicken tacos. Lots of flavor to them.

We had anytime seating for dinner. I can't quite remember what I had but DW got the Indian Vegetarian dish. I finished what she didn't eat and wow that dish has some flavor to it. I've gotten it before and I don't know why I didn't get it this time.

After dinner we hung out on the deck 5 promenade listening to a guitar duo and did some people watching. DW donated some money to the black jack table. We also listened to Midnight Groove in the atrium lobby. They were pretty good. I think they were playing more of a 60's/70's set. We caught the late night comedy show and the comedian was really good.

We had an inside cabin on the lido deck which is a nice location. Unfortunately we had some noisy neighbors, really a group that had several rooms around us and they would talk in the hallway to figure out what was going on and that would wake me up at night. Also for some reason the A/C wasn't as cold as normal.

Day 2: Nassau

With the inside cabins I'm not awoken by the rising sun. My normal rountine on previous cruises was to get up around 6 am and sip coffee on the lido deck (and sit in some prime pool side chairs to reserve them) until everyone else got up, usually around 9. I got up much later than normal on this cruise, typically around 7:30.

The lido buffet was a rugby scrum for breakfast. DW and I worked out and by the time we were ready for breakfast we just missed out on having breakfast in the MDR. I always recommend eating breakfast in the MDR. Same food as the lido buffet but you are served by a waiter and it is not crowded. The lines for the buffet were very long so we just had some pastries and fruit. No big deal.

Our plan for Nassau was to walk over to Junkanoo beach. The skies were mostly cloudy which was fine. Living in Florida we don't need the Sun. It was a nice change from last year when it was sunny and blazing hot in Nassau. We walked to Junkanoo beach from the port. Yes there were people hounding us to take cab rides, tours, horse and buggy rides, but after a block it subsided.

Junkanoo beach was a pleasant surprise. Its not the best beach we have ever been too and keep in mind its a beach in a harbor/port. It does the trick though and the water felt good. The beach itself has nice sand but there are rocks mixed in (somewhat like honeymoon island here in Tampa).

At Junkanoo beach you can rent a chair for $10 and an umbrella for $20. There are a lot of vendors selling drinks, food, and renting water stuff as well as selling tourist goods. We got a good drink deal from the Bikini Tiki Hut. We got the most amazing jerk chicken from one of the vendors. I can't recall the name but if you have your back to the water it is to the right of the Bikini Tiki Hut--a little yellow and green shack with a grill under a canopy on the side. The chef chops up the chicken quarters into pieces. They had a great flavor and they were sticky, kind of as if he mixed jerk marinade and seasoning with BBQ sauce. Anyways, I'm up for the challenge of duplicating it here at home.

We had a great time at Junkanoo beach and I would recommend it as an inexpensive thing to do in Nassau. We didn't make it down to the fish fry at Arawak Cay just down the road. Also we were at the part of the beach closest to the cruise ships. The beach looks nicer further down (and less crowded).

After Junkanoo beach we took a nap for a little while. I got up before my wife and hung out on the lido deck for sail away. I enjoyed my first Guy's burger of the cruise--a ringer with fries. Always very delicious.

Dinner was in the MDR again. I had the salmon it was good. We caught the show in the main theater. It was based on 80's hard rock songs. It was really good, a nice change of pace from Jazz Hot. Before the show the guitarist from Midnight Groove played a medley of rock guitar songs--the main riffs from songs by Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, etc. I think that was one of the highlights from the cruise for me!

Day 3: Half Moon Cay

We learned our lesson from the previous day and made it to the MDR for breakfast on time. Well worth it.

Since we had FTTF we were able to board an early tender to HMC. Again well worth it.

We walked way down the beach at HMC. Well past all of the cabanas down close to where they have weddings. There were actually two weddings that day. We pulled up two chairs under the shade trees and had a nice day. The weather started out as a mix of sun and clouds but got sunnier as the day went on. The beach and water at HMC are the best in the Caribbean, hands down. We had a wonderful time at HMC. Lunch was the standard grilled burgers but the jerk chicken they served was pretty good.

I will say that we waited in line for a tender for almost an hour in the sun. If you have little kids I would recommend trying to head back to the ship earlier rather than later.

After HMC we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon before the steakhouse. For dinner we at the Point Steakhouse. This was our fourth time going to the steakhouse and it is worth every penny. It is $35 per person and it beats out Bern's steakhouse here in Tampa in terms of service, ambience, and quality of food all for a very reasonable price. We were waited on hand and foot. If I took a sip of water it was refilled.

For starters I had the Ceasar salad and DW had the onion soup. I ordered the ribeye steak (18 oz, I think it is the third one down) and DW had the 14 oz NY strip. Oh my goodness this was one of the best steaks that I have ever had. It was so tender and juicy. Each bite was like eating butter. I also had the wasabi mashed potatoes, very good as well. For dessert we got the ice cream of the day (it was honey based with candy in it--very good) and a chocolate sampler to split--also very good. Overall another good experience and a very friendly waitstaff. Our waiter was young man named Maksim from Russia and our asst. watier, I can't recall her name, but both of them were very friendly and welcoming.

After the steakhouse we listened to Midnight Groove in the atrium but I don't think we were up very late that night.

Day 4: Grand Turk

We had a later arrival in Grand Turk, I think around 11. We worked out in the morning and had breakfast on the lido. I think with the later arrival people weren't in a rush for breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito and the huervos rancheros from the Blue Iguana Cantina. Wow the huervos rancheros were awesome. The breakfast burrito was pretty tasty too.

Before arriving in GT we sat outside on deck 3 in the shade and read for a while. Very nice and quiet out there. That is one advantage of the Breeze is that they put a lot attention to the outside areas on deck 5.

In Grand Turk we made our way through the chaos of Margaritaville down the beach to Jack's Shack. I haven't been to GT in two years but it seems like the beach chairs have expanded further down the beach from the main cruise port.

If you haven't been to GT the main attraction is the beach/Margaritaville at the cruise terminal. Really that's pretty much all the island has to offer. For a newbie Margaritaville is an exciting place. You can use the pool and beach area for free--you don't have to rent chairs although there are cabanas for rent by the pool. But like everything else at a cruise terminal, whether it is GT, Roatan, Cozumel, etc, it has its corporate packaging.

DW discovered Jack's Shack by word of mouth, probably from Cruise Critic. It's a little tiki hut bar and grill about 10 minutes down the beach. It is a great place to go to avoid the crowds and long waits at Margaritaville. They have awesome jerk chicken. Jack's Shack has grown some over the years--more chairs on the beach, more wait staff, etc but it is still a good place to go. In addition the beach at Margaritaville is built on a coral reef so when you go in the water you are walking on sand covered rock and your only view is the cruise ship. The beach down at Jack's Shack is almost on par with HMC. Crystal clear water, sugar sand, and a great view.

Word of caution--don't go on those banana boat sofa seat death traps towed by those boats. I had a very serious accident there a few years ago when I took my daughter for a ride on one. Always use caution when doing anything like that on a cruise. You are a long way from home if you get in a jam.

For dinner we headed up to the lido buffet, we just didn't have the energy to make it to the MDR that night.

Day 5--Fun Day at Sea

This cruise was kind of different in that our sea day was at the end. It started with three ports in a row and with cloudy weather. I really never got my deck groove/vibe going.

I got up a little early to enjoy coffee and sunrise on the deck. We had breakfast on the lido again it was pretty quiet.

We spent the day in the shade, either on deck 3 or on deck 10 reading. We had enough sun from the previous days so we didn't want to hang by the pool.

We had sea day brunch in the MDR. I normally don't complain about cruises but I will have to say that service was slow. DW had the mac and cheese and I had the steak and eggs. I would have to say that was one of the most poorly presented plates I've ever seen on any cruise I have been on. I've been to many sea day brunches and I can't say that this one was up there with the others. I'll talk more about some issues in a bit.

After brunch we went to the chocolate extravaganza on the lido. It wasn't crowded but for some reason I'm never really impressed by what they offer. Its okay.

We spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade on the sofas on deck 10. This was as close to a serenity deck that the ship had and it was a nice relaxing afternoon.

We had dinner again in the MDR. I got the caribbean pepper pot soup and the jerk pork for dinner. Wow that was another tasty dinner!

That night we watched the Flick show. Kind of a weird show. They have this sort of zombie, dumb looking frankenstein dude (Flick) who is in very number but I couldn't figure out his purpose. They did songs from movies like "My heart will go on", "Eye of the tiger", etc.

Here is the deal. For many of the numbers the costumes and seats didn't quite match the song or movie. For example for "My heart will go on" from Titanic the seat and costumes sort of looked like the evil witch from snow white. The singers and dancers were good it was just sort of a weird show with the Flick dude and some of the costumes. After the show we caught the Ant Man comedian. He was okay.

Overall thoughts and impressions. First my apologies to my FIL because he gets upset when people complain about cruises. I don't like to complain about cruises, I've always had a good time and I have to keep things in perspective--I was on a cruise. But I can't let a few of these things go. Overall I had a great time but there were a few things that kind of bugged me.

First--my cabin wasn't that cold and on two occasions I had brownish water coming out of the sink. Uh oh.

Second--the service for the sea day brunch was sub par along with the food and presentation. Sea day brunch should be a hit not a miss. It's been a hit in the past but it was a miss this time.

Third--have they cut back on the bar wait staff? Normally you have to shoo them away but this cruise they didn't seem to have much. For example on the last night we watched Midnight Groove in the atrium but there was no one coming around to take your drink order. Same in the loungue for karoke. In the main theater I had to flag someone down to take my order.

Fourth--they didn't seem to do a great job picking up people's drinks when they were done.

All of my carnival cruises have been an A or an A+. This one maybe I will go with a B in terms of the service and appearance of the ship. My room for sure needed some new carpet it was worn out. Again, overall a great cruise but I've started to notice some of the cutbacks in staff Carnival is making.

You can watch it sail via the deck cams. The next time it leaves Tampa watch it sail away, note the time, and the keep watching the deck came until it gets to the skyway. You can get deck came via Carnival's website or on the ship mate app or

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