Kmom NEEDS LOTS OF HELP PLEASE - Pre-Planning Pre-Review Preview Mardi Gras August 7, 2021 - Join me if you dare

[KmomChicago]

We were up uncharacteristically late last night and I didn’t get up until after 9 this morning which I have not done in years. Finally got ourselves to Sea Day Brunch about 10:30. Teen got signature tower, which is a toasted bagel with your choice of 2 toppings, ahi tuna salad and smoked salmon in our case.  
 

DH got steak (filet which he noted was fine but didn’t compare to steakhouse last night) and eggs as usual and I got the salmon superfood salad which looked like a smallish portion but actually was perfect and very tasty. Restaurant portions have been too large forever so it’s a change in strategy and one I appreciate. 
 

Later today we basically grazed with no additional proper meals, rather bits here and there. Pad Thai at Street Eats, Potato salad at Big Chicken, Caprese sandwich at Piazza Panini (wowza-definitely a new favorite) and apple crock pot dessert from the marketplace (basically apple crisp) for me and similar snacks for the rest of the bunch. Sorry no pics of those.

 

Also the Lifo Marketplace is not small on this ship. It is beautiful and huge.

Edited August 9, 2021 by KmomChicago

[Cruise Related]

How was your steak compared to the filet? I’m assuming you tried some of theirs. If not, was yours good? I was just on horizon and went to the steak house and I got the same as you but it was comparable to a Waffle House steak, except the one from Waffle House was better. First time experiencing that. Normally it’s amazing, so no biggie either way. 

[KmomChicago]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Related said:

How was your steak compared to the filet? I’m assuming you tried some of theirs. If not, was yours good? I was just on horizon and went to the steak house and I got the same as you but it was comparable to a Waffle House steak, except the one from Waffle House was better. First time experiencing that. Normally it’s amazing, so no biggie either way. 

I wasn’t going to say so but it wasn’t the best ribeye and I can’t recommend it. It was slightly tough and I needed to slice it myself across the grain to help with the chewiness.

 

The flavor and seasoning was good and I have way too much guilt about eating meat (both the environmental impact and the ethics of slaughter) to ever send one back to be wasted and another one cooked for me. I took my leftovers to the room and actually still have a few bites in the fridge. I didn’t taste their filets but it sounded like that would have been a better choice. My beef tartare appetizer was absolutely divine - that would have been the ultimate entree for me. When I carnivore apparently I want to do it like a totally wild beast. The bone marrow was overly rich and weird and not something I’d probably seek out again. 

[Cruise Related]

3 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

I wasn’t going to say so but it wasn’t the best ribeye and I can’t recommend it. It was slightly tough and I needed to slice it myself across the grain to help with the chewiness.

 

The flavor and seasoning was good and I have way too much guilt about eating meat (both the environmental impact and the ethics of slaughter) to ever send one back to be wasted and another one cooked for me. I took my leftovers to the room and actually still have a few bites in the fridge. I didn’t taste their filets but it sounded like that would have been a better choice. My beef tartare appetizer was absolutely divine - that would have been the ultimate entree for me. When I carnivore apparently I want to do it like a totally wild beast. The bone marrow was overly rich and weird and not something I’d probably seek out again. 

Thank you. I totally respect and appreciate your unfiltered honesty. Pretty refreshing and detailed. Sadly I’m glad it wasn’t just me though. Not to tarnish your experience. However I book the steakhouse first night every cruise to signify I’m on vacation and to get the good times rolling. However I couldn’t quite accomplish that on the Horizon on that first night because of my experience. I didn’t let it bring me down or ruin my cruise, but it definitely brought a small small small tear to my eye. My right eye to be exact. Still, was one of the most bestest cruises I’ve ever had and I expect some things to not be the same. So it didn’t make or break anything. Sorry for the long winded comment! Loving the stuff you’re providing, thank you! 

[KmomChicago]

42 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I tried the spice rubbed ribeye once and was, sadly, not impressed at all.  It was good.  It SHOULD HAVE BEEN great.  Every other Carnival steakhouse dinner I've had was GREAT.  My favorites have been turf and surf with the filet medium-rare, and rack of lamb.

Yeah, you’re 💯 right. Please see my follow up comments.

[KmomChicago]

Afternoon games in the Limelight lounge. This is being used at night as a secondary Punchliner location. I really appreciate trivia and other games being in here. On Carnival Triumph it was in the atrium with people traipsing through constantly and insufficient seating. On Sensation it was on Sensation Blvd, which is a long skinny walkway. Both really stupid locations and there were lounges sitting vacant during the day that could have been used. 
 

On the other hand, while there are no poles in the big aft theatre they are all over this rather tiny little lounge type theatre. Why?

[KmomChicago]

Speaking of the Limelight Lounge, I did hint there were things that would take some getting used to. At the back of this room there’s a step up and it’s an overhanging step along a striped carpet that makes it hard to see. I whacked my foot hard on this and then lightly a second time. My husband also hit it but was wearing closed shoes where I had very open sandals.  Likewise at the grand central atrium there’s a similar step and they’re having to station people there to caution you to watch your step. They are going to have people hurting themselves on these.

[KmomChicago]

The ocean view from our Premium Interior room. We did a cabin crawl yesterday and saw a standard balcony room with an extended balcony. The outdoor space was plentiful. The interior space and layout were the same in both cabins as claimed in the room descriptions.

 

 If you haven’t picked up on my dry and wry humor, this is the room TV with various live camera views. We’ve always wondered about the virtual balconies on some RCI ships. This is a virtual window of course.

[KmomChicago]

Cozumel is in sight on the outdoor cams. Masks needed in port. I plan to go ashore briefly at some point but just to walk around the sequestered and sanitized little shopping village at the end of the pier and drop a few pesos at Cinco Soles or whatever it’s called. 

[KmomChicago]

Took a lovely shower this morning. As noted in many other reviews, blogs, vlogs, video tours and other sources, the showers have glass doors. My parents are in an accessible balcony which has a flat roll in shower with a curtain. 
 

We don’t know whether orange or blue is shampoo or body wash and I don’t really think it matters much as they both dissolve and rinse away our sweat and other bodily residues. Orange is coconutty and blue is neutral/sport fresh so use whatever you like, wherever you like. We also got a standard little round bar of hard soap for the sink which you are welcome to enjoy in the shower if you prefer.
 

I knew there was no conditioner in the room so I bought that new full bottle you see in Florida on Friday. We dropped our bags with the porters at Canaveral with a 20 spot. I believe the bag was subsequently squished causing the conditioner to pop open-it was in the outer zip pocket. Got all over other toiletries but not much seeped through onto the clothes. It sure made our room smell great while unpacking.

[kwokpot]

4 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

I believe the bag was subsequently squished causing the conditioner to pop open-it was in the outer zip pocket. Got all over other toiletries but not much seeped through onto the clothes. It sure made our room smell great while unpacking.

Now you know in the future you have to pack those kinds of things in a ziplock bag or in you case secure new purchases in a plastic bag tied and knotted.

[KmomChicago]

Land Ho! My seasickness-prone aunt is aboard and doing okay, not perfect. Taking every possible remedy to manage. There is more movement than I expected on such a huge ship but it doesn’t bother my immediate bunch, though teen and I get 🤢 in back seats of cars after a while. I think my aunt is looking forward to the motionlessness of a port day. 

[KmomChicago]

I packed about 3x more clothes than I think we’ll need. I was just a tiny bit outraged that this is the first Carnival ship without a guest laundry. It’s hot and sticky so I figured we would need to change for evening every day, even casual days, and we certainly are doing this. To deal with space I packed a ton of very thin T-shirts for myself and the teen. They fold down to about the size of a Kleenex and can serve as shells or just tops. Yesterday I was wearing a plain bright red one in the Fun Shops and a fellow passenger asked if I worked there. 😂
 

 

[KmomChicago]

10 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Now you know in the future you have to pack those kinds of things in a ziplock bag or in you case secure new purchases in a plastic bag tied and knotted.

You know, Kwok, I actually do know this. You know they say people leave their brains home on vacation and once I got off the flight at Orlando apparently I forgot everything I used to know. Harsh reminder but could have been much worse.

 

Typically we roll on luggage just so we don’t have to wait for it but since we were picking up a Scootaround for my dad plus dealing with unusual checkin protocols I decided to hand it over and didn’t consider the potential risks. 

[kdr69]

25 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Land Ho! My seasickness-prone aunt is aboard and doing okay, not perfect. Taking every possible remedy to manage. There is more movement than I expected on such a huge ship but it doesn’t bother my immediate bunch, though teen and I get 🤢 in back seats of cars after a while. I think my aunt is looking forward to the motionlessness of a port day. 

if she sits in the pool or hot tub and watches the horizon it should help with her equilibrium

[KmomChicago]

8 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

if she sits in the pool or hot tub and watches the horizon it should help with her equilibrium

They are in an aft corner Excel suite with their own whirlpool outside but they haven’t tried it yet. I’m not sure she’s a public pool kinda gal, though Loft 19 is up there just waiting should she feel so inclined. I’ll mention that to her, thanks KDR.

[kdr69]

5 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

They are in an aft corner Excel suite with their own whirlpool outside but they haven’t tried it yet. I’m not sure she’s a public pool kinda gal, though Loft 19 is up there just waiting should she feel so inclined. I’ll mention that to her, thanks KDR.

Your welcome.

[KmomChicago]

Cozumel. 10:27 ship time.

[KmomChicago]

Every cruise some piece o junk person does stuff like this. Walk off and leave these. 

[mondello]

5 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Every cruise some piece o junk person does stuff like this. Walk off and leave these. 

I bet they didn't drop any morsels off the four plates of food they were carrying.

[KmomChicago]

Tried to do a pano here in port quick. Literally break a sweat here on deck in the shade in 3 or 4 minutes max. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

7 minutes ago, mondello said:

I bet they didn't drop any morsels off the four plates of food they were carrying.

Did not notice evidence on the floor. This was next to pizza which was the only food nearby. We shortly headed up to Big Chicken, see next post.

[KmomChicago]

Room service Kmom style. Get your lazy self up to 16 and get some Big Chicken sammies, then remember to get a pic before your first bite. Fries are some of the best I’ve had in years, fresh flat cut with lots of surface area for crisp. They are heavily seasoned so sodium averse be warned. 

[KmomChicago]

Hello there. Once I got onboard the ship (and had about 36 hours to adjust to my new surroundings) I started a live onboard review thread. I have never done a live review , and I took questions from the peanut gallery about the new ship and found the interaction with the virtual peeps was actually a ton of fun. I enjoyed going out on little recon missions and reporting back the results. We also won a trivia ship on a stick, thanks in part to our new friend and teammate Paul, a Carnival veteran who has so many his wife has forbidden him to bring anymore home. 🙂

 

I did not follow through on all of my pre-cruise plans as discussed here. For example, I don't tolerate alcohol very well anymore so I did not have two cocktails a day or any at all most days. 

 

It was nearly impossible to fit in all the dining I had discussed because there were so many options onboard and lunch often conflicted with trivia - and we have our priorities!  We never made it to Guy's Burger for any meal so I didn't try their new breakfast burgers. We never made it to Emeril's but we must have walked past it 50 times or more. We did end up at Cucina twice for dinner and the 2nd time I did deploy my plan to have only appetizers/sides with no entrée and it worked out great!

 

I would like to thank everyone here for their help with the pre-planning.  In particular we greatly enjoyed the Daniel Johnson Monkey and Sloth Hangout which was our only port excursion.  We walked around briefly in port in Cozumel and we did the Aviarius bird encounter in Costa Maya, something we didn't plan but sort of stumbled on right there in the sanitized little shopping village in the port area.

 

Our flights, especially the return, were such a drag that we have booked our next cruise out of Baltimore on Carnival Legend, December 19 and we will drive the approximately 11 hours to the port. We'll be Living LORGE because my mom will be coming and she wants a big room, so the two of us are splitting a Grand Suite while my husband and teen will be in the "2nd BR," a standard inside just down the hall where they can come enjoy the "living room" with us whenever they want.

 

Now that we've been home a few days I am disappointedly looking for someone else on the 3rd Mardi Gras to live blog or review and so far not finding anyone.  The ship was stunning overall and we didn't find the mask mandates to negatively impact our experience. The vibe was as usual for Carnival and the crew were great as always.

 

 

[mondello]

You set the bar so high everyone is scared to follow you and do any live posting this week. I was on Legend Aug. 2016 for Alaska. Just wanted to be the first to wish you, "Merry Christmas." We often visit NYC and Boston for Christmas and a few years ago it was 75* in NYC on Christmas Eve. The weather is always unpredictable. However, I hope all goes well on your drive to/from Baltimore in Dec. You had a bad flight home from Mardi Gras. I just hope you don't hit any early winter snowstorm in Dec.