Sunshine Report: Sep 27th, 5 night Bahamas with pics (HMC, Nassau, Freeport)

[CruzinScotty]

Continuing past the Piano Bar is:

On the port side of the Piano Bar and Bonsai is:

 

Coming soon: a better look at The Comedy Club

Edited October 18, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

So, we’ve walked past some nice venues. Here, you can see the mid-ship elevator landing, and then the hallway continues:

Notice the key lime blip on on the left? That is this:

And this is the rest of the LONG hallway to the Limelight Lounge.

See what I mean about having to back track from the mid-ship elevators?

That is quite a ways.

Anyways, here is some lounge seating as seen from the stage:

And a side shot:

I will give a small amount of credit. For the size of the venue, they did pack a lot of seats in here.

Here is one more shot of the side of the lounge:

Notice there are two TV monitors in this picture. These are for seats that are situated where you can’t see the comedian during the show. These are at the front and back and on both sides of the room. I thought I’d never sit in one of these seats. (Never say never. LOL……)

.

[CruzinScotty]

I went back to the cabin to get DW.

It looks like we have arrived! The thrusters are keeping us in place:

And, the first tender boat is ready to load up supplies and food for the island:

But, I can’t show you HMC just yet. First, we’ve got to eat!

It’s time for me to have an Omelette. And, to show you HOW to get to the Havana Bar area.

If you go to the Lido Deck from the aft elevators – you are right there at the Havana Bar. But, if you don’t – how do you get there?

It is where you get Omelettes, so by the main breakfast buffet, they have a sign:

Look at this picture:

This part of the Continental Breakfast is in the very middle of the BACK of the Marketplace area. Notice to the left of the bowls, you can make out the light blue shirt of a staff member.

Let me change views to see the narrow hallway:

Now, you can see the next sign. This dumps you out to the rear elevators where you easily find your way.

Now, time for the Omelette!

[CruzinScotty]

Here are some of the ingredients you can ask for:

 

A happy cook:

 

Here, my family has: eggs over easy, a cheese omelette (cheese added at the end), and an omelette with ham, onions and mushrooms (me!) all cooking at once.

And, here is the finished product:

Complete with banana bread and raspberry pastry. Did I forget to mention to you that I have a sweet tooth? ;)

Coming soon, onward….to Half Moon Cay!

.

Edited October 18, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

Believe it or not; with nine in our group – not all of us are beach lovers! So, not everyone got off the ship.

We got off in two groups: the early risers, and “the others”. LOL

Being an early riser, I was in the group that left early. Here’s a view of the island from the top of the tender:

Just beautiful.

Unfortunately, we were also the early ones on this tender. We had to go downstairs on this closed in tender. So, pictures coming in don’t come out as good.

 

But, here’s a few leaving the boat:

We’re getting close:

Hey, I didn’t notice this cannon that last time:

And, finally:

.

[CruzinScotty]

Here is the conch fountain:

And the bar near the tender dock:

Some local vendors:

And, the gift shop:

At this gift shop; you use your Sign and Sail card for purchase. We did our shopping first before we were all sticky and wet.

Next: the picture you’ve all been waiting for!

.

[CruzinScotty]

This is it! We’re here!

We’ve seen enough of the Welcome area – come on – show us the picture.

.

.

.

.

OK

.

.

.

.

Here it is:

.

.

.

.

.

.

HA! Gotcha!

Next post – I promise. :D :D

[CruzinScotty]

After the last post, this picture deserves it’s own post as well.

OK, here it really is:

Ah, vacation. Ah, paradise.

Coming soon, more of HMC

[CruzinScotty]

Gosh, I hate to say anything bad about Half Moon Cay, it is so beautiful. There are a couple of things I want to mention.

While I LOVE the Pirate Bar itself, I really don’t care for the loud music coming from it. To me, this tropical paradise does not need any distractions. But, maybe that’s just me.

The other thing that was a slight issue involved Mother Nature. My only comparison is a visit in 2012. The beach itself is not very wide. It was high tide when we arrived. So, you couldn’t really walk on the edge of the beach because the first set of lounge chairs were there, even in the surf for a while.

Here is a picture that shows it a little. The tide was coming in even more.

 

Now, onward to more of our wonderful morning.

.

Edited October 19, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

I just love the different colors of the water:

I tried taking shot of the ship from as many different poses as possible. Under the thatched bar:

Now, mix the bar and the water colors:

 

 

Rinse and repeat. :)

.

Edited October 19, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

.

 

Stay tuned for more of HMC.

.

[CruzinScotty]

We enjoyed the water for a good while. It was very refreshing and felt fantastic after you were in for just a minutes.

 

We talked, and looked at the ship, and looked at the island and looked at the beautiful water.

 

What a joy just taking it all in.

 

Here are some of our new found friends enjoying the view:

 

 

 

The tender boats are still full offloading passengers:

 

 

Here are a couple of the cabanas with the Pirate Bar hidden in there as well:

 

Some local vegetation:

 

.

[CruzinScotty]

Here is the ship taken from near a pine tree:

And one more cabana:

Sorry, as an avid Clemson Tiger fan, it’s my obligation to show you the ORANGE cabana! :)

.

[CruzinScotty]

This makes for some memorable pics. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

.

[CruzinScotty]

Another Great pic of the Sunshine:

Here I am, in front of the ship. I'm not sure you can make out the Half Moon Cay t-shirt I bought in 2012.

 

While we were walking, more family arrived.

 

Then, it was time for more fun in the water. More talking and oohing and aahing.

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

As I mentioned, we are not sun-worhipers. So, after we had been in the water a nice long time; we decided not to have lunch at the beach. Sorry, no photos of the BBQ.

We headed back to a nice open air tender boat.

Here’s a few pics on the way back to the ship.

.

[CruzinScotty]

Here’s more pictures of our return.

 

This last picture reminds me. You can see a few dark clouds above. While we were in the water, you could see a large dark cloud in the distance. It was very nice to us. I didn’t stay long and didn’t rain on our beautiful day. I couldn’t get any pictures because I don’t have a water camera.

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

A few of the family that stayed on the ship were out and about while the rest of us were frolicking on the beach.

Here’s a couple of pictures. As you can tell, they weren’t the only ones that stayed aboard.

 

Coming soon: Lunch

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

My choice today:

Here’s another happy crew member:

Some of the meat choices:

And, extras you add for yourself:

I didn’t realize they made the tortillas right there. I didn’t think to take a picture of the machine that makes them.

So, with such a happy crew member, and no one else in line – I asked for a special request.

They make burritos on the other side of the Cantina. You can get shrimp burritos, so I kindly asked for two shrimp tacos.

Here they are:

.

Gosh, I’m hungry now!

[CruzinScotty]

Here are my dessert choices for the day:

On the left, you see FLAN! This came from the Havana Bar. It was wonderful!

Also you see banana cream pie (like the one served at the Sea Day Brunch), chocolate pops, Raspberry torte (I think that was the name), and “chocolate cake with green icing”. LOL

When I asked the server what kind of icing it was, she was very nice when she said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know. It is either mint or pistachio”. LOL Well, both of those would be green. It turns out it was pistachio. It didn’t have a strong flavor, but it definitely wasn’t mint.

Oh, and here’s my view while having lunch:

A few people caught up with me to enjoy lunch as well.

Later we spent time in the Ocean Plaza before went to get cleaned up.

Edited October 20, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

Leaving Half Moon Cay

 

Our day at Half Moon Cay was over, here are a few pictures of our departure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye, Little San Salvador, AKA Half Moon Cay! I've been a lucky two for two on my trips here and hope to make it back in the future.

Next, something to cure all that ails you!

.

[CruzinScotty]

Soon, it’s time to head to one of my favorite 2.0 upgrades:

We’ve been to The Alchemy Bar several times on two Liberty sailings. We’ve tried several things. Some were favorites, some – not-so much. We only came this one night, so everyone stuck to a favorite instead of tempting fate:

Here’s our mixologist hard at work:

And, the finished product:

Coming soon, more discussion of Any Time Dining

.

[CruzinScotty]

I promised you a few pics of this area and just realized I’ve been calling it the wrong name. According to Carnival – it is – YOUR Time Dining.

On other ships, YTD starts at 5:45. As previously mentioned we get there when they open. When we started in 2012, we got there one minute early and were first or 2nd in line. Each year later, more people wanted to be there at opening. So, lines started forming before 5:45. Last year, we ended up having someone get in line at 5:30 – just to make sure we had the same table and wait staff for our large group.

On the Sunshine, they start YTD 15 minutes earlier at 5:30.

Here is the sign that is put out just before they pull out their dining room lay outs and computers to check you in:

You can see it is just forward of the Alchemy Bar.

Well, as with other ships, word has gotten out for early diners. People start lining up before 5:30.

See the people sitting in the window near the Casino sign? Yep – those people are in line, too.

In fact, the people at check in said they started checking people in at 5:15! Supposedly, they didn’t open the Dining Room until 5:30; but as the nights went on, they checked people in earlier and earlier and the dining room was open.

This ended up being a double edge sword for us. We disliked having to have someone get in line so early for dinner. With all of the seating areas around; your entire group did not need to be together like other ships. Once you checked in, you just gathered your group and head down to the Dining Room. But, starting dinner early; and with a more efficient staff – it got us out earlier. This gave us the ability to attend some timed events that we would miss on other ships.

Tonight, we had our first glitch in four cruises. Someone in front of us had taken our table. LOL

We sat nearby, but with a different wait staff. They were good; but we missed our other crew. We like to give a little extra on the last night and is another reason we try to have the same crew every night.

We got in line even earlier the last two nights so we could get back to our regular wait staff the last two nights. :)

What’s for dinner?

.

[CruzinScotty]

Tonight’s Menu:

[/url]

[/img]

Sorry, I didn’t take pics of the Every Day menu…..every day. :)

Next: What is THAT?

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

So, on the old menu’s, how many of you try the “didja” items? As in “did you ever” – you know – the unusual items. Like, the frog legs? And…..tonight….

Braised Ox Tongue??????

I'm on vacation, there's plenty of food, it's time to try something new:

So, how does it look to you? Nice and yummy? Or – oh heck no?????

I will admit that I had to get past the look. I knew it was tongue and it looked like it. :eek:

But, once I tried it, I liked it.

What’s it taste like? Not chicken! It has a beefier taste; but not overly strong. I can’t really describe it any more. I will say that I ate all of it!

Here are some more traditional appetizers from tonight.

Spring Rolls:

Lasagna as an appetizer:

Beefsteak tomatoes with Mozzarella:

Chicken Tenders marinated in Thai spices:

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by CruzinScotty