Mardi Gras - Aug. 21 - 28, 2021, 7 Nights - Western Caribbean Live

[twangster]

Day Two - Sea Day

 

I never made it to Shaq's Chicken for lunch so I figured I might as well try it for breakfast.  Veridt = Yum.

 

 

There is a camera crew on board shooting promotional marketing material and Shaq's was also on their list.

 

 

Since I was here I wanted to see what the bacon situation was since there is a shortage right now.

 

First the Omelet station.

 

 

Pastries.

 

 

Fresh fruit.

 

 

Cereals.

 

 

BACON!  I see BACON!!!

 

 

Plus they had other stuff. But there's bacon!  So...

 

 

Is it too early for my second breakfast?

 

Carrying on...

 

 

The milk choices.  I didn't ask if there were other options based on special requests.

 

 

But I did have Eggs Benedict and BACON!!!

[twangster]

As I was eating my breakfast bacon in the Marketplace buffet it rained.  

 

Oh well... rinsing the salt off the ship.  Meanwhile heading forward I spotted a life jacket stand.

 

 

Some cracks of thunder too.  Look Ma... no chair hogs.

 

 

Towel station by the pool.

 

 

Since I was undercover... here are some "Street Eats" photos. 

 

 

My friends from Maryland will be very happy.  If you know, you know.

 

 

 

 

Note to self, come back by this way later.

 

 

 

 

 

I like the concept of Street Eats.

 

 

Meanwhile on the other side of the pool deck... Blue Iguana.

 

 

 

 

 

Note to self... tomorrow's breakfast awaits.

 

 

BOTD - Beer Of The Day.

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by twangster

[JaniceB]

Great review and I have never seen old bay on a ship!  Awesome!

[twangster]

It's raining but if you are in a hot tub who cares?

 

 

Still raining on my balcony...

 

 

The Hub app has a listing of what's going on.

 

 

Central Stage is getting ready for The Wave.

 

 

 

Internet speedtest.  Looking much better than last night.  However wifi calling on my phones isn't working.  At least the internet is faster although the latency (ping time) is a killer.

 

 

I wanted to see how I missed my muster station signs so with it raining outside off I went.  There are signs for B stations, but no A signs.

 

 

Knowing it's in the theater I went that way.  There is a blank sign so let's keep going...

 

 

Ah ha!  The sign is above the door if you know to come looking for it.

 

 

While I am in the area here are some photos from the gym on Mardi Gras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lockers available.

 

 

Midday progress:

 

[JaniceB]

Gym looks pretty big.

[twangster]

Found some coins in my travels.

 

 

[peteandpris]

Great review, thank you.

 

[soulsistah007]

Amazing photos! I feel like I'm right there with you.

[KmomChicago]

Your professional quality photos are stunning. Thank you for this level of detail. Loving all the eye candy.

[Frank12]

23 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

What a mess. Hopefully they decide to enforce arrival times next week.

They did not on the Magic last week! I sure wish they would too.

[surfjock27]

@twangster

Great review so far and beautiful pictures!

The next time you’re grabbing a drink from Pig & Anchor, tell Salwa that Steven & James say hello and we cannot wait to see her in October! 
 

She is the absolute best that Carnival has! 

[jimbri]

Great   pictures and videos.

[Frank12]

Loving all the pics.  Keep em coming.

[crewsweeper]

Oh Gawd!! The gym has those crappy knock-off water rowers with horrendous monitors!  Wish they'd go back to Concept2s or even the original water-rowers (which are probably too long for the ship gym).

Lots of dumbbells, pity anyone in a cabin below trying to sleep when the gym rats drop those.

[twangster]

Mid afternoon so I went for a stroll.

 

I'll have to come back with my good camera, but for now I found Emeril's Bistro.

 

 

 

Really hard menu to photograph...

 

 

This led me to the Alchemy Bar and a Cucumber Sunrise.

 

 

The nice thing about the Alchemy Bar is the ability to create something based on your tastes using discrete ingredients rather than premade mixers.  I felt like something light and refreshing so he created this version of a gin and tonic for me.

 

 

So good.

 

 

I saw they had Kraken rum so I wanted to see what he could imagine for me based on Kraken.

 

 

A couple of pinches of this and a little bit of that and...

 

 

 

Voila.  

 

 

Hand crafted cocktails always taste better.

[twangster]

It was getting close to dinner but I really wanted to try Shaq's Chicken so I stopped by to get some Philly Cheesesteak Fries at Street Eats and then proceeded to Shaq's for The Big Aristotle.

 

 

Sides available.

 

 

Back to my cabin where I found hardly any wind on my balcony.  

 

That's a crew break area in the bow. 

 

 

[twangster]

I may have taken a nap because I can.

 

Very calm seas as we sail away into the sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Sunset time lapse.

 

 

[twangster]

Our progress:

 

 

[twangster]

Earlier today this popped up on my phone.

 

 

I'm not really into formal nights.  Cruising solo and frequently formal night is not really my thing.  I totally understand some people really get into it but I didn't even bring real long pants on this cruise (I have some hiking pants with zip off legs that turn into shorts).   

 

There are so many food options outside of the MDR that I made the decision to eat my way around the ship without the MDR.

 

Still full from my lunch I had a late dinner in the Pig & Anchor.

 

My three mains were Brisket, Pulled Pork and Ribs.

 

 

 

The Backyard Band is seriously good and it was a fantastic experience eating dinner with a live cover band.

 

 

Seriously good food and included in the cruise fare.  Fries and onion rings on the side.

 

 

Service is very quick since it's basically ready, they just need to plate it.

 

A quick stroll outside to walk some of that off.

 

 

On the way back to my cabin I noticed this outside the Havana Bar.  

 

 

[twangster]

I've had pretty good luck doing some astrophotography from ships before but with a full moon this week the timing isn't right and there has been a lot of cloud cover.  Nonetheless I had to try.

 

 

The full moon is just too bright but there are some stars out there.

 

[twangster]

Earlier tonight just after the sun had set I was out and about with my camera.

 

Did I mention this is a beautiful ship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are twenty one and older you have to check out this Serenity deck.  It's pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[princess76021]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Earlier tonight just after the sun had set I was out and about with my camera.

 

Did I mention this is a beautiful ship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are twenty one and older you have to check out this Serenity deck.  It's pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gorgeous photos!  thanks for taking the time to do this!

hugs

[twangster]

Numbers this sailing are around 3,680 guests according to our CD.  

[jeepchick444]

Loving all the amazing photos!! thanks for sharing!! 😎