Essiesmom

I asked my waitress tonight if it was $5 each extra, and she said yes. She said she would treat me if I wanted, but I said I was only asking for info, I have trouble finishing one entree. EM

I couldn’t get a reservation to tonight’s show , Road to Nowhere. Both seatings sold out early. But I stood by the door and five minutes before they let in the rest of us. There were people sitting on the steps. It was a lot of confusion to me. Someone who is bored and wants to go somewhere, is transported to a place with a lot of nursery rhyme and kids story characters. I recognized the Three Blind Mice, Pinocchio, the tin man, scarecrow. May have been some from Alice in Wonderland. But a lot I couldn’t place. Plus the acrobats and aerialist s. Glad I went, don’t need to go again. EM

Scooters can’t be stolen if the key isn’t left in it. That said, it’s possible all scooters use the same key so a kid would only need one key…and why a person might come out of the mdr and take the wrong scooter. Tonight I had the red snapper. I solved the mystery of all the lighthouse pics on my deck. The deck is Rotes Kliff, and Rotes Kliff is a park on an island off the north German coast

Seen prowling the halls. They could employ one person full time to pick up dishes. Sargassum

Milk selection available in the buffet at breakfast

I finally found and got in line for soft serve

One time at Grand Cayman the swells at Georgetown were to great to tender, so our ship (I think it was Carnival Pride) and Coral Princess went around to the south side and tendered to Spotts Beach. The local tenders came around, too. When we were all back onboard we could see the tenders heading back to Georgetown. EM

Self served

Yes, that was a smoking area in December and still is…but there are double heavy doors to get out so I don’t smell any smoke from there. In fact, I am in Brooklyn Cafe now. I forgot about the diamond reception until I walked by so I came in. Just finished breakfast in Marketplace. Families continue to amaze me. I had seated myself at a table by the fence. A few tables down by the window was a large family group with multiple young children. Grandma had her back to the group and was watching two little girls sitting on the low ledge by the window, and a littler boy was in front of them. I heard a clink/crash…the little boy had dropped and spilled a fruit cup in metal cup, available at the kids buffet. Grandma picked up the fruit and got a napkin to wipe at the juice. Going to be sticky there. I pointed the area out to a waiter who was clearing tables. The kids moved within the group, but the boy eventually came back to the table, dumped out all of the sweetener packets, grouped them together, then laid them all out in columns. I don’t think any of the adults knew where he was, or just saw the back of his head so saw he was quiet and occupied. When they all finally got up to leave one of the men assessed the activity, and they replaced all the packets in the container. I didn’t know who in the group was mom until she held his hand as they left. The waiter came by and picked up the dirty napkin from under the table, but the sticky patch is untouched. Breakfast was two fried eggs and bacon, and a wheat roll. I think they buy the smallest eggs available. Daily activity sheets. There is brunch in the Central Park mdr but I saw the menu and thought not for me. Now I can’t find the menu.

I had the eggplant Parmesan appetizer and the chicken scallopini and they were excellent, although the piece of chicken was too big. I also had the baked Alaska which, for a change was not half melted I went to the show, Encore, which I have seen before. Then I went to the captain’s welcome. They were circulating with drinks but I passed. Now it’s back to the cabin.

Tonight is elegant night and in steerage they were turning away adults in shorts. Kids were okay. Also charging for the second entree I don’t understand fancy dress with ankle high sneakers.

They were charging the $5 tonight on Seashore

The surcharge is only for entree. You can have as many appetizers and desserts as you want. However I don’t know if they are actually charging it. This currently is only on sailings from the US. EM

I did 1-1/2 times around deck 13 for steps and time on my Fitbit and collected some random pictures. The lighthouse must be something famous in Italy as there are many views of it. There is a stroller/wheelchair left in the hallway beyond me. Too wide for the cabin doorway. I will get a picture of it but when I intended to the cabin door was open, and next time passing the occupant was in it. A boy who looks healthy and school age but non-verbal. Curious. Carnival isn’t the only line where the covers fall off the door sensors…EM

Well, printed on the menu is $5 charge for second main. But I don’t know if the first is not edible. Like the prime rib the first night. There is a filet on the menu tonight, but I am trying to avoid beef as it is not healthy, even though I love a good steak. The thing is, you don’t see the waiters very often…our water glasses stay empty a lot. EM

I just asked in the casino about smoking areas and the only new place is the slots corner. Nothing on the tables side. We have just had a shower so maybe all will be back early. A few more pics around the ship

Sat up working on this last night and heard more crying from next door. Could hear the woman out on their balcony. I opened my balcony door to make sure which side…it is 13209. I am in 13211. She was talking to a friend on the phone…just venting. Said she had never seen this side of him before, had texted his mother asking questions. Nothing like drama you can’t escape. Don’t even know if they are married. Up to breakfast in the Central Park restaurant. Seated on the aisle at a table for one. Next to a young couple. They were giving everyone paper menus. A man with a tray of juice walked by but didn’t stop. I really like a glass of grapefruit and one of orange to mix. Order taken, got a croissant from the pastries lady. No butter on the table. Ordered eggs Benedict, hash browns, grilled tomato. Food came fast, but the Benedict was a total failure egg yolk solid. Like free form hard boiled eggs. I ate one the tomato, and the one hash brown puck. When food arrived, I still had nothing to drink. I asked and they came and filled my water glass. Shortly a juice lady came by so I got orange… no grapefruit, she only had pineapple. When I was finishing my drinks, one of the men in white came by and asked how the meal was, and I unloaded on him. Eggs Benedict total failure, no drinks, etc. He said right away he would replace the eggs, but it was 15 minutes too late. Service wasn’t any better for the people around me. At least the chair was comfortable. Tomorrow I think I’ll be back to the buffet. Now sitting in Brooklyn Cafe to type this. Have been up to 18 for the view. Doesn’t look like the whole ship went back to the beaches. We leave here at noon. Gala night tonight, sea day tomorrow then Costa Maya.

Pictures from Ocean Cay. These are from my phone and aren’t in my iPad mini

I stayed onboard all morning. When I got back from breakfast and whatever else I did, the cabin attendant had his tools outside the door. I turned on the service cabin light and went out on the balcony to work on this. I’m on the port side, so have a splendid view of the resident tugboat. There are a number of other small islets in view and a small boat made trips out to one…I wonder if they snorkel there. We started with partial sunshine but by noon you could see dark clouds heading our way. I think it was around 2pm when I went out, and I sure was swimming against the current. I guess everyone thought it was going to rain and were coming back into the ship. I walked past the residential area and ended up at the new Seakers Cove family area. Then I walked to the buffet and sneaked inside, avoiding the lines. Some people decided not to go back to the ship…. I had no intention of eating, just seeing what they had, and taking pictures. Then I ended up walking all the way down to the spa and wedding pavilion. There are cabanas along that trail, most of which were not being used. One area had kayaks and life jackets. They really need to do,something with this area to make it more attractive and thin crowd from the other areas. I guess one problem is that there are. NO food venues there, although there are periodic bars. It had been windy the entire time, but by the time I started back it had started to sprinkle. I went to world map trivia at 4pm at the Long Island pool on deck 18. By this time it was really raining slightly. I didn’t do as well as I hoped, but the winner got 11 of 12, and he was only 16. From there I went directly to dinner. Only one of my two dinner partners showed, and I think she was only there because she had t been able to schedule her specialty dinners online. I had the spinach salad, Thai chicken curry, and apple strudel. After that I came back to the cabin and watched some HGTV. And took a short nap. I went down to the Uptown Lounge for 10:30 karaoke, which never happened. There was an all women band playing, quite adequate. When I left, I asked the staff member what happened, and she said a technical difficulty. I searched out the machine to register my credit card. I realized today that I hadn’t done it yet. The initial hold is $250. I then went to Venchi and had one scoop of chocolate gelato. They do not have my favorite flavor. Tomorrow I need to visit the Venchi satellite by the pool to see if they have any different flavors. Speaking of satellites…I spent some time in the Sports Bar today and there were a number of disappointed guests who were hoping to see Tennessee in the college World Series. But the tvs were on ESPN Caribbean, and they wouldn’t change it to satellite. One channel was continuous cricket. The other was like sports center. The women seem to be enjoying dressing up a bit. I think there was a bridal shower this evening…the bride was wearing a small veil on the back of her head, and a couple of friends were in hot pink. Don’t think it was a wedding as she was carrying sparkly pink bags. The chairs at our table in the Manhattan MDR are extremely uncomfortable. All other chairs are green fabric, but in our section there are 11 wooden chairs. The only part of the back that touches you is a rounded piece at the top. You can’t lean back. As I left after dinner a person outside the door asked how my meal was, and I told him about the chairs. He promised I would have a green one tomorrow. Time to close for the night, and add a bunch of pictures. There is someone very unhappy in a neighboring cabin. I hear crying, I think she is on balcony now. Looking at my pictures, I realized I forgot that between trivia and dinner, I spent some time in le Cabaret, where a crew member was teaching a group,of 25 officers some dances, including YMCA. I wonder where they are going to perform…

It used to be $55 on Fantasy class, $95 on the larger ships. To sure what it is now. EM

As far as excursions and beaches go, we have a board here called Ports of Call, where you can read and ask about independent tours and recommended beaches. There is really nothing on Bimini except beaches, and you don’t need an excursion for that. EM

May be, but I looked up this cruise and it does board in every port. EM

You can read Live From threads for your ship and hypothesize that they will be the same for your sailing. Sailing from the US they will mostly be the same. I just posted the first five days on my current thread, which is only on day 2! EM

Okay, I’m getting the hang of the app…it has changed a lot since my December cruise. But I am a little concerned…it tells you to scan the code to get to daily planner. But what do you do if you only have one device? The code is on that one screen…how do you scan it? Anyway, this morning they were showing menus through Thursday, including lunch and the kids menus. And todays planner. Went up to Marketplace buffet for breakfast. I thought it would not be too crowded as it was 9am. But I guess a lot of people slept in. The longer I sat, the busier it got. I saw and tried some interesting things I have not seen before. I realized that with the exception of the eggs to order station in the aft, everything is available in maybe six different places. No need to have a long line at the first one you come to. Lots of kids onboard, lots of Spanish. I was in line yesterday behind a family speaking French, but they were from Canada. I have visited the bathroom and lost my train of thought, so will add more pictures.