pirate4me2

HAHAHA small world! That version of the Deal Closer was SO GOOD! It was from the Alchemy, and it was just the rainbow drink...not sure if it has another name or not. You could probably show a pic to an Alchemist and they could whip it up!

Was it the Deal Closer with the strawberry in it? If so I tried that one as well, it was delicious. But then again, nearly every drink I had from there was!

Oh man you missed out! I’m now trying to recreate the drink here at home. So far, no luck 🫤

I will have to try the Kung Pao chicken on Celebration in February. I have a feeling we may skip the MDR most nights if they have the same setup as MG allowing us to go to the other venues. I do not remember all the ingredients in the rainbow drink, sorry. I wish I had made note, I want to try making it at home!

Thanks for reading! I hope Zoltan will be onboard to make you those Almond Joys....they are addictive!

It was great meeting you too! That almond joy martini is the best, I am going to try and replicate it at home but I have a feeling I will never quite master it. Dang, youre back onboard in 7 weeks, I am jealous!!!

Thank you for reading it! 😂 It does look like the cat has a hat on! Hahaha!

Mardi Gras has sliding balcony doors, and we were in Costa Maya and Cozumel this past week.

Thanks for reading! Thanks! Just a few more hours until I get to see my KatieKat ❤️

Thanks for coming along! Thank you for reading!

Thank you. I’ll be following yours to see what I missed out on, and to help with my post cruise depression! 😂

Thanks for following along! I’m not sure to be honest. Both have pluses and minuses. Live reviews I didn’t have to take notes as much, and my phone isn’t bogged down with a ton of pics….BUT I feel like sometimes I was on my phone too much. In the future if DH needs an internet package and I do one I think ill stick to writing the posts at night. Post cruise reviews give me a chance to re live the trip, compile my thoughts better, but I also feel like I might not be as accurate/forget a detail here and there. So who knows…I’ll probably end up doing a few of each until DH finishes his college, depending on how flexible the teachers are.

Have a great cruise! We debarked this morning, she’s a big ship with a lot to offer!

The debarkation letter said for Platinums to meet in the Mardi Gras theater, 6 forward, at 7:30. At 7:15 we headed down, and when we hit deck 6 we were ushered into a line and never once stepped foot in the theater, just continued walking until we were off the ship! Easy peasy, lemon squeezey! Another successful cruise on the books. See you in February, Celebration!

Looks like from the deck plans on the CCL site there are 2 hot tubs, that’s it.

Breakfast: I love sea day brunch. That was the only breakfast we did, other than Big Chicken on one port day, which I didn’t care for. Lunch: Big chicken, Guy’s Burgers, and Fresh Creations were all we tried. Big Chicken was delish but so unhealthy, Guy’s was Guy’s but I had a burger craving and it was perfect in that moment, and I loved the HEALTHY, fresh ingredients at Fresh Creations. Dinner: Steakhouse of course was #1. BUT, if you’re wanting my top 3 free venues, it would be (in no particular order) Smokehouse, ChiBang, and the MDR on the night with the salmon dish I ordered. The MDR to me is hit or miss, I honestly wouldn’t have gone tonight if it were not for DH. Nothing was tickling my fancy, I probably would have went back to ChiBang. I bet if you showed an alchemist the rainbow drink they could do it. That was how Jacob did it, by pic!

Jakub doesn’t know, but this drink made me tear up. Rainbows always show up when I’m in a bad place mentally, going thru a hard time. On the drive down I saw a rainbow at the same time Savannah passed away the day prior, and years ago when another one of my horses was soooo sick I saw multiple rainbows, every day, until they were better. This drink today was just…perfect. A perfect last drink of this much needed cruise.

Noooooooooooo, never! 🤪

Ok, a few random thoughts I’ve come up with so far: *Overall, I like MG, but after we sail Celebration in February I think we will be sticking to Vista class and smaller. MG is just SO big. *I really see what people mean when they say you can’t see/do it all in 7 days! *The size has allowed them to put so many dining/bars/music/entertainment spaces onboard, that after day 1 the crowds were not really an issue except for bingo/shows/peak time dining. Getting off in port was never an issue, we just walked off. Getting back on was a small line, but nothing like I feared. *I HATE having to use my phone for menus at the dining venues. HATE IT. Please bring back the old menus. *On the flip side of this…I love the app for reserving our dining! No more standing around twiddling our thumbs outside a venue, check in and they’ll tell ya when your table is ready! *I know it’s trivial, but I don’t like the doorbell sound for announcements lol. I miss the old sound they had before the CD made announcements. Trivial, I know. *The shower is SO MUCH better than the old ships! No clingy curtain, and just feel bigger altogether. Love it!

This afternoon consisted of packing, then sitting on the balcony reading and reflecting on life and the cruise. I feel like I didn’t use my balcony enough this time around to really justify it. I go thru phases, where I use the heck outta my balcony, then don’t. I think this cruise, with MG being so big, and with hanging at Alchemy, it was underutilized. We went to the MDR for our last dinner onboard. The Caesar salad was delish, the Indian Vegetarian spicy and good, just not as good as some of the past vegetarian dishes, and WCMC was over cooked (no melting) but good. Im now sitting, you guessed it, at Alchemy to enjoy a few last drinks and reflect on this week and type out my last thoughts for y’all. Stay tuned for my overall thoughts of the ship.

It was one of Jakub’s creations, and it was SO GOOD! He used it as an example of how drinks have “layers”….you have to have your base (in this case it was vodka), then the things that balance out…if you have something sweet (in this case butterfly something) you have to have something sour (I can’t remember what it was in this case). Then you have to have garnishes….in this case, the mint leaf added an extra layer to the flavor.

It really is, it used to be a great place. Thanks for following along! We were asked by Jakub if we wanted to attend, it was never advertised/put in FunTimes, so if you’re interested, ask an alchemist about it. It was a great way to pass a few hours on a sea day!

I will say, while not quite as good as Zoltan’s, Jakub made a pretty dang good chocolate coconut martini one night, so I think any alchemist can probably get a close replica made. 🙂

Y’all…if you get a chance, do the mixologist class! This has been a 2 hour blast, and with the Cheers package it was only $15. We got to sample 3 drinks Jakub made, then make our own. A blast! I learned how garnishes matter, the CORRECT way to drink absinthe, and that I love mixing cocktails. 😂

yes, one of them! And I’ll try to behave and leave some fun onboard for y’all, although it is a girls’ cruise, so there ain’t no telling what could happen!