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Review - My Carnival Cruise from... Paradise


Curt Jerome Wild
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Review – Carnival Cruise from Paradise

Well I had an overall great time recently on the 4 day (Monday to Friday) Carnival Paradise cruise.

I’m going to go day by day on what I did, and do some quick recaps at the end if you just want to skip to those.

If you are in Post Cruise Depression, or looking towards an upcoming cruise, then this is for you…

It’s written in a way that you can kind of "vicariously" live through the cruise with me…

Later on, I’ll add quick summaries and recaps for those of you who just want that…

Things to take into consideration while reading this:

#1 I am not a new cruiser, in fact I have been cruising since I was a toddler. I take cruises now for the ship, the experience, and time and convenience factor.

If it is a ship that I like, then it is pretty much like going to a favorite hotel, or resort town/destination for me.

# 2 This was booked at the last minute, and was a "working" cruise for me, in order to complete a work project without phone calls and distractions.

#3 I’ve been to almost every port, and seen almost every show, so I don’t feel obligated to run around and see and do everything anymore. If I happen to be in the mood or in the location at the time, I watch or go; if not and I miss it, no big deal.

So here we go:

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Booking experience:

I booked very last minute for work. All of my favorite cabins were booked up (those of you who know me that I am a Fantasy Class Category11 and Category 12 whore:p ); so I figured since nothing was available at that point except for inside cabins, I’d book a 1A and figure that they’d have to upgrade me to an inside anyway.

I tried up until the last minute to do every trick in the book to see if I could scope out my cabin assignment from the Carnival website, but nothing. I don’t think they literally assigned all of the cabins until that morning…

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Day One:

So, my office is in quick driving distance from the port, and it was a work week…

I ended up working (and wrapping up final meetings, phone calls, etc.) until about 2 PM.

Threw various last minute clothing items into my carryon, and hopped in the car.

Because it was mid-day, I got to the port at about 2:30 PM, parked, and lugged my backpack (laptop, work papers, etc.), carryon (clothing etc.) and my small rolling suitcase (uhmm, "breakable items") down the elevator.

Checked in right there are the parking garage elevators, and got my cabin assignment.

Yes, I did get upgraded from a 1A to a 4A!

Gave my rolling suitcase to the porter with a $5 tip, and said "Please make sure this gets on quickly and with no problems – wink, wink" (okay I didn’t actually say the words wink, wink, but you know what I mean)…

Proceeded to The Dome.

The line was very short, and got to the sail and sign check in person.

The ship was completely sold out, and she told me that I was the only person she had seen all day with an upgrade!

Got my card, moving onto getting on the ship.

Down the hall a bit, I knew that the Embarkation photo was coming up, so helpful hint to anyone (because I knew I was non-stop running all morning and looking like a "hot mess" at that point) – there are kind of two way or very reflective (whatever you want to call them) mirrors on the left side wall right before you get to the photo area.

Good place to check your hair, make sure you don’t have any spinach in your teeth, your tie is on straight, whatever…

Cool picture backdrop, snap snap (ended up being the only actual picture I bought, because it was THAT good!).

Up the escalator, over the gangway, snap another picture for the security to match with your sign and sail card…

Into the Atrium…

Since I know the ship so well, and knew where my cabin was, and I just wanted to get my bags dropped off…

Got there (only time I took the elevator, except for debarkation) and between parking and dropping the bags in the cabin it was about 20 minutes.

10 minutes later…

knock, knock, there’s my suitcase all intact and nothing broken.

Fantastic! So then, I’m the type of person that I can’t "start" my vacation until I’m all unpacked and "settled". Bing, bing, bing, 10 minutes later and I’m all unpacked, and dun dun dun (drumroll here)…

Got my quickie door decorations from my suitcase…

Easy peasy, a couple of wraps around the door, and packing tape (comes off easy and doesn’t leave sticky on the door for the cabin steward to have to clean up later)…

Door is decorated…

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Cabin Steward – introduced himself (Nelson), quick $10 tip for a welcome.

Me: "Nelson, glad to meet you. Here’s all I require just so you know upfront…

Here’s my cooler, I drink a lot of soda, so please keep it filled whenever you can…

I sleep in late, so no wake ups or early morning for me"

Nelson: "Ha, ha! So you’ll be dancing in the disco all night sir?"

Me: "Or something like that, and I’m going to prepare you now, and remind you, last day let me sleep in. I will be all packed, but let me sleep. Okay?"

Nelson: "Got it! What kind of towel animals do you like? I think no fluffy bunnies, so I give you cool ones"…

Me: "Nelson it’s a deal!"

One of the best cabin stewards I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of good ones)…

Now, first day, checked the capers, Maitre’D is available for dining assignments/changes until 4 PM, I’ve got a little time still…

Run to the dining room, check with the Maitre’D, and I have a great table assignment at my requested time. Table near the window, with a lot of "singles" (because technically on this cruise I am one).

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Side note – in all of my lifetime of cruises and especially on Carnival, I have always ended up at a table with compatible dinner mates. In only ONE cruise, I had the worst mismatch ever, so from then on I always check with the Maitre’D at this time, before the first dinner, just to be sure.

Now, get my soda card. I’m a big soda drinker, so the soda card is unquestionably worth it for me. Get my first Diet Coke of the cruise! (After the first night all I have to do is show up at the bars, and not even show my fountain card and the bartenders already have my diet coke poured and ready to go!)…

Back to the cabin, because now it’s time for the Muster Drill! Done this enough times, so take the Capers and things to read, get to the station and read while I’m waiting.

20 minutes from beginning to end and it’s over!

Fast, quick, efficient.

I’ve got 8 PM dinner time, so I’ve got about 3 hours to spend…

There are the temporary tattoos going on the Lido Deck, so why not I can answer questions about them now on the boards…

So, just to test, I had him do a non standard (that he didn’t have a "stencil" for).

He happily complied with my request (Seemed like a fun see if he could do it type thing), and he just used masking tape and did it…

Looked cool. He also said that I could come back on the last day, and he’d retouch it to make it last longer (which I didn’t do, because I wanted to see how long the entire thing would last normally).

That being said it is now 8 days after, and it is still on. I could wash or scrub it off in two seconds if I wanted, but I’m trying to see how long it lasts.

Now, it’s not fully intact, but kind of an airbrush look with the outlines still there.

So, temporary, but if you want it to last, and do the care instructions, then at least a week (for me), and if I had the touch up done on the last day, then I’m sure it’d go almost a week longer.

Now it’s sailaway, so I check to see if the main showroom is open to get to the secret door…

And it is, and no one is there…

So, I get through there, and have this deck to myself for sailaway!

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In the future, if I don’t have one of my balcony cabins, then I’ll be here!

Sailing out now, and dinner is still 2 hours away, need a snack…

Go to the sushi bar, and very few people have discovered it yet…

So, 3 freshly hand made vegetable sushi rolls later, I’m good to go until dinner!

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Cabin, relax, getting dressed for dinner, and I find out that…

I have NOT packed any long pants at all! (Last minute guy packing for ya!)

I’ve got a couple of suit/sport coat jackets, long sleeve shirts, polos, t-shirts, shorts, bathing suits, etc.

No long pants…

So, luckily there happened to be a pair of matching suit pants already on the hanger beneath my my one suit jacket.

So, I wore those to dinner.

Dinner:

Had a great table with 8 other male and female "singles" from ages 24 to 60 something.

Some people there for vacation single time, others for work, others just for a last minute break.

Besides one other person, I was the only one who had sailed Carnival previously.

So, I did do a lot of talking and asking questions throughout the cruise regarding their experience and comparisons (in their opinion to other cruises).

Long story short, (too late) One person who had sailed on Celebrity and such, almost immediately decided that this was the best bang for the buck, and enjoyed Carnival and the food quality the best. Another who had sailed Princess and such (for only long cruises) thought it was okay on the first night, but by the end loved it and said she would book it again absolutely for a short term getaway.

Now, off to karaoke!

Just so you know, I’m not a karaoke glutton. It can be fun or amusing, or downright terrible. So I can take it or leave it. It was going on between dinner got out and the disco got going.

So, there I go. Surprisingly to me, the karaoke host Misty was incredible!

It was fun, it was supportive, it was enjoyable. No hecklers allowed, just love and support in Misty’s lounge, which made it even more fun. Some great singers, some terrible singers, but how can I tell you, except it was really fun!

I ended up going here every night after dinner, because it was such a great fun atmosphere in there!

Late night! Rex disco time!

First night here, the DJ was very good, but for the first time in a long time on a cruise, it wasn’t packed this first night.

Very active, but not packed.

Got a De Chevre pizza took it to my cabin and went to sleep!

2368815320079337728dkHXuM_th.jpg

 

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Day Two:

Catalina.

Now one of the reasons that I like this itinerary for me, is that the ports are fine, but I don’t feel obligated (as if I was at a port with the Aztec ruins, or in Venice perhaps) to have to spend all day running around seeing everything.

So, this will make sense now for the rest of the cruise…

I was in an inside cabin, in a kingsized bed, with the fabulous comfortable Carnival bedding…

I have not been in an inside cabin since I was a teenager in a cabin with my brother across the hall from my parent’s cabin…

I slept, and I slept, and I slept!

(Now another side note – there is only one outlet in the cabin, I know this so I always pack a surge protector with several plug ins. Got my laptop charger, phone charger, camera battery, etc.

…and then most importantly for me my digital clock! If I half awaken during the night or morning, I like to just be able to see the clock through the half sleep in the dark and think "Oohh, I’m good I can sleep for two more hours, or whatever)…

So, did a quick half asleep look in the darkness of the inside cabin at about 9:30 AM or so and thought "Cool, I can sleep in about another hour"…

Next look – it’s NOON!

Dang you comfortable Carnival Beds and the Darkness of the Inside Cabins – CURSES!

Hee!

So, woke up, and the bed was comfortable, and Nelson had arranged the bed so that I could watch the TV comfortably from the bed; and there was my laptop and I was supposed to be working…

Grabbed the laptop, put on the TV to the channel that shows the "talks" that you may have missed…

Now another side note – they didn’t used to do this on cruises, and I can’t remember when they started, but if you miss for example the Embarkation Talk, or the Shopping Talk, or the Captain’s Party or whatever they WILL show it over and over on this one channel on the TV.

Perfect for those of us who have been on several cruises, and don’t need to show up for each one.

Great background TV noise, and you get the info when you want…

So, watched that, from the bed, worked on the laptop…

(Oi! If only I could have this kind of arrangement at home all the time!)

Finally an hour or so later, I was hungry…

Got dressed, buffet for breakfast (or for those of you on 9 to 5 schedules – you’d call it lunch)…

This day, salad with amazing fresh mozzarella cheese from the deli station…

Down to the cabin, grab my backpack, and to the tender station.

At this point in the day, no lines.

Got on immediately with about 4 young ladies (hee)…

Catalina, I have really come to love this as a port.

Nice, clean, quaint, beautiful.

You can do as much as you want (spend the entire day, kayak, snorkel, eco-tour, etc.) or as little casual as you want.

For me on this day…

My back pack ripped, so got some safety pins to fix it from the store.

As I said before I did not have long pants (except for the overly dressy suit pants) for the remaining days of the cruise…

So, went to the (not kidding) "Buoys and Girls" shop on the main street.

They have several expensive to inexpensive clothing items for men and ladies.

Several ladies were in there very excitedly buying dresses and such for formal night.

Me and one other guy (airport lost his and his wife’s luggage, lesson for those of you flying in the day of your cruise) were getting clothes.

Lot’s of really nice $100 slacks, but I settled for a cool $40 pair that would satisfy for the remainder of the cruise and I’d wear later on…

Got it, perfect, didn’t spend a lot of money.

Headed to Descano Beach to hang out for a bit.

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On the way back, went to one of the Vons markets (there are two there) and got 4 bottles of Diet coke (two regular and two caffeine free) for 80 cents a piece.

Put in my backpack, and onto the ship tender.

(Yes, I have the soda card, but this way, it’s so inexpensive, I’ve got them in the cabin 24 hours a day, and Nelson is providing me with a cooler-full of ice)…

No problem getting back on, and back to the cabin and on the ship.

A little bit of time before dinner…

Sushi bar, mmmmm…

Longer line (more people are discovering it at this time)…

But, Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sushi!

Can I tell you how good! Okay, I won’t…

3 pieces later, check pictures, and back to the cabin…

Dinner, great and fun again, and I’m back to karaoke.

Misty again does a great job. I’m showing up every night now.

Rex disco time!

Now, it was full on going and packed and FUN this night!

If anyone tells you that I partied with the lady officers, and yeah some of the cool guy officers were there as well – it is lies all lies!

Especially the female crew on this ship are absolutely NO FUN at all, and I hate them all, and the disco did NOT stay open until almost 5 AM on that night!

Back in my cabin (thank the lawd hesus that I have the cool cabin door decorations)…

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Day 3:

Ensenada!

Did I tell you about the comfortable beds?

And it’s really dark in those inside cabins?

And that my super cool room steward Nelson, was now of the understanding not to wake me up or knock on the cabin door?

Okay?

1 PM. I wake up. (One of the best night’s sleeps I’ve ever had)

Wake up, work on the laptop, while watching any of the things, talks, info that I’ve missed on the TV in the meantime…

3 ish, I get breakfast (okay LUNCH for all of you 9 to 5ers!)

Buffet, perfect, meet one of my new friends from my dinner table (she slept in as well, she said she never does it, but the beds were SO comfortable!)

Eat lunch with my new friend on deck…

Back to cabin, (Oh PS F-Deck was alive and running well at this point)

A little more work, get ready, saunter out to Ensenada…

Been here done that several times, so no biggie.

All I wanted to do was get into town, and get a certain "Mexican" shirt that I got here before that I get several compliments on, so got another one…

Mango Mango, and Papas and Beer’s were fully cooking at this point.

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(picture is from far away to protect "the innocents")

 

I saw some of the people at the next table from mine in the dining room in "full swing" shall we say, and thought to myself "I bet they won’t make it to dinner this evening"…

Cool, got my shirts - mission accomplished, back on the ship, in time to email reports back to work and get to dinner.

(and yes, the people were not seen again until late the next day)…

Another great dinner, and then back to karaoke (bear in mind on this, I’m not sangin’, I’m just watching and cheering, and truly it’s my best low-key fun on the ship)…

Rex disco!

More fun!

Dancing with a few ladies I met in those few hours on the bus back and forth from Ensenada!

Then, I thought we were a super cool crowd, so I requested from the DJ "Chicken Noodle Soup"…

Surprisingly he had it…

AND, I guess we were just too cool for the room, or there weren’t enough New York or New Jersey people, but except for me and 3 people from Harlem? (and the non-english speaking Indian girls that just went with it) we cleared the dance floor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xjYll3n0so

Oh, good times good times.

So, then late night, back to the cabin to get room service!

Now on this night, for the first time I’ve ever experienced, room service apologized and said that it could be up to 45 minutes to get anything (I’m guessing there were a lot of Mango Mango/Papas and Beer people who didn’t get back to the ship in time for dinner).

I was hungry, but wanted to "test" again for the boards here, and lo and behold I got my several room service items in 15 minutes!

With a smile and an apology for taking too long.

Toasted PB & J (best thing late night after too much diet coke, ahem),

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Foccacia sandwich – love it,

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and veggies with blue cheese dip!

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Ate it all! And went to sleep!

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Day Four:

Day at Sea:

Lawd hesus! It’s 2 PM and I just woke up! This cruise is making a mess out of my timing and I’m still in my same time zone!

(Dang comfortable beds and dark inside cabin!)

Do a little more work, watch any info shows from the cruise that I missed…

Get to the lido deck for breakfast, I mean LUNCH!

Ohhh, another side note, great garden/veggie burgers at the grill!

They have grilled mushrooms next to the french fries, great on top!

Had that, had late lunch with some new friends from Cruise Critic (Hey paw323!)

Draggin myself back to the cabin…

My cabin steward Nelson: "Hey Mr. Curt what time do you want to sleep in until tomorrow?"

(Missed that part, I’ve reminded him now every day, and tipped him a few bucks – because he really has done a great job so far – so he’s not surprised or forgetful to let me sleep in on the last debarkation day)…

Me: "Nelson, I’m packing now, I’ll be all ready to go, what do you think is the latest?"

Nelson: "I think about 9 AM in general, but I’ll just knock when it’s last call"

Me: "thanks Nelson, I promise I’ll be ready to go, just let it best last call"…

Bing bing bing,

Pack everything with (hopefully obviously) clothes just laid out for last minute "jump into for the morning".

Dinner, fabulous, new favorite asparagus vichyssoise!!!

Karaoke Idol!

SO great and FUN!

I really and truly prefer this to the "Legends" show.

Last minute goodbyes and info exchanges with new friends, then last trip to get pizza!

Back to the cabin, pizza in my cooler (in a zip lock type baggie on ice)…

Sleep, sleep, sleep!

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Debarkation Day...:mad:

9:45 AM!:eek:

Knock, knock!

Nelson: "Mr. Curt! Wake up! Last call!"

Me: "Waking up now Nelson, thanks!" (all this through the closed door)

I jump up, put on the debarking clothes, double check the cabin to see if I forgot anything…

Carry on, rolling suit case and re-fixed back pack in hand.

Elevators for second time…

No line.

Bing bing, final sail and sign card for security so they know I’m debarking…

Tiny line for customs (customs form as well as major comment card for naming all of the crew who did such a great job filled out)…

10 minutes, and I’m in my car, driving back home.

Munched on a slice of De Chevre and a slice of Marguerita pizza for breakfast on the way home…

AND, I have several slices of pizza in freezer bags in my freezer for whenever I get PCD!

(Ahhh, the benefits of sailing from your hometown cruise port)…

Okay, that’s it for now…

I will add more and do specific food reports on the Foodie Board (to attach to and from here), and fashion report on the Fashion Board (to attach to and from here) later with more specifics for those of you who are interested.

I will also update later (gotta find the info I wrote down) Capers scans, and info on CD, Maitre’Ds, etc.

Hope you vicariously enjoyed!:D

CJW

 

 

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:D Thank you for such an entertaining review!

 

 

Now I'm all nervous because I have an inside cabin on the next cruise...I better bring an alarm clock! No sleeping in until 1pm for me! DH would kill me if we missed cave tubing in Belize! LOL :p

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Thanks CJW for a GREAT review! I love reading your posts, and after reading this one I'm even more excited to go next month. I wish I could have gone on your sailing and met you. You sound like you are so much fun.

 

One question for you - where is that secret door you mentioned???

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Hi CJW,

 

Thanks for the great review. Wish I knew how to send the link of the whole thing to friends who are cruising the Paradise with us for their first cruise. Especially enjoyed your enjoyment of Kareoke! We have assingned 4A rooms so hope we get Nelson. What was your room number, if you don't mind. Also was the casino still smoke free or did you notice? Again, thanks.

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Hi CJW,

 

Thanks for the great review. Wish I knew how to send the link of the whole thing to friends who are cruising the Paradise with us for their first cruise. Especially enjoyed your enjoyment of Kareoke! We have assingned 4A rooms so hope we get Nelson. What was your room number, if you don't mind. Also was the casino still smoke free or did you notice? Again, thanks.

 

Great minds think alike - I sent a link to Curt's review to my friends who are cruising with me next month! All you have to do is click in the "address bar" area of your web browser, where it has the whole address. Press Ctrl + C, then paste the link into your e-mail. To make it easier for you, here's the link to this thread that you can just cut and paste like normal: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=626010.

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Capers...

Okay here is the link:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560661694xJPmDz

 

I'm missing some or they are out of order, but I'll update the link as I have time...

CJW

Okay link here above is correct now...

There are the current Paradise Capers there, and what I had before, which I just hooked onto the end now is ones from a previous 2005 cruise that I uploaded by mistake in the first place (and that's why they didn't look right)...

So you get current now, and 2005 nostalgia for comparison...

I'll keep adding to questions, and info as I find it...

CJW

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Curt:

Thanks for the excellent review.... You should be a travel writer...

 

I really enjoyed the Paradise in April. I am going on Elation in Jan....

the Pride in March...

 

Just got back from "slumming" on Cunard.... I love the ships and decor

but really it is the same food and same service, just more money. In the future I will be taking mainly Carnival.. Like you said more bang for the buck..

 

I can get a suite for what an inside cost on the "luxery" lines...

 

P.S. Even though I am most likely a complete square compared to you, Your photos and advice helped me have a great cruise in April...

 

Tom in Long Beach

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me and my buddies are thinking about taking the paradise for spring break or summer. were all turning 21 around the same time

 

is the club really open till around 5?

i was on the Pride in august and it was usually closed by 2 or 3

and my party were usually the only group dancing along with another group we met onboard.

 

thanks for the info

good review

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me and my buddies are thinking about taking the paradise for spring break or summer. were all turning 21 around the same time

 

is the club really open till around 5?

i was on the Pride in august and it was usually closed by 2 or 3

and my party were usually the only group dancing along with another group we met onboard.

 

thanks for the info

good review

Just a quick answer for you as I see you're still online...

I totally think Paradise (or Elation from San Diego now) would be a great buddy turning 21 cruise...

(I'm an expert, sailing since I was a kid, so been there done that several times)...

Here's the deal...

Pride (which is an "artistic" ship) and the other Spirit Class ships like it, don't have the best nightlife...

Major reason is that the design is bad for that.

The nightclub/danceclub is in the basement/boonies, and all of the clubs are really far away from each other...

So, it washes out any energy of the people for the nightlife...

Fantasy Class ships (like Paradise or Elation) have all the clubs on the same floor in the same area...

So, people go "club hopping" from one lounge, to the live band lounge, to the disco, to the pizza station for quick snacks energy, etc.

And it just kind of snowballs from there...

That being said, YES, absolutely on that one night (which I've experienced several times before) it was going until 5 AM!

But, they stay open according to the crowd, so it happens.

The first night, like I said in my review, it probably closed at 2 PM.

Hope that helps...

More info later.

CJW

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Thanks CJW for a GREAT review! I love reading your posts, and after reading this one I'm even more excited to go next month. I wish I could have gone on your sailing and met you. You sound like you are so much fun.

 

One question for you - where is that secret door you mentioned???

I'm NO fun...:rolleyes:

Maps and pictures on the way...

CJW

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Thanks for great review! I'll be on in 81 days! Did you happen to get the name of the Maitre'd? Also, you had pizza debarkation morning - it didn't used to be open then- is it now or did you eat a piece from the night before?

Sorry, the boards totally SUCK for us on the west coast at this hour...

I wrote a big long thing for you, and it's gone now...

So quickly for now...

Pizza and Room service I get late the night before and stick in ziplock type freezer bags and stick on ice (either in my fridge in Cat 11 or 12) or in my cooler filled with ice like this time.

Then, it's there ready to go and good for me for the morning...

Maitre'D, they're changing before you get there, so I don't know...

Currently there's two because there's 2 dining rooms...

Elvis Brkyacic and Jean-Pierre...

Both great, but I prefer Jean-Pierre, because he sings and croons (very well) old 40s tunes once in a while during dinner

"Whoot whoot" (makes sense if you get him)...

CJW

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