ArcticKitty Tackles Alaska - Carnival Splendor 02-10 May 2022- Trip Planning, Trip Report, & Mehhhhbe Some LIVE

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Day 2
 

Sea Day Brunch

 

 

I’d wanted to play the piano game when I was out walking around before Special Someone woke up, but I couldn’t get the machine to work.  Then I tried to win a duck.  That didn’t work, either.  When I tried to check my onboard account to see if I’d been charged for three million piano games and half a tub of ducks and that didn’t work, either, I started to suspect the system was down.  We couldn’t get Hub to work for check in so we just went to the Golden Pearl.  They just sat us and gave us the elusive paper menus!  We noticed right away the items on that menu that are no longer on the app and Special Someone ordered them all (and got none of them).  Folks, the Mediterranean Salad and the Cantina burger were toast.

 

 

Huevos rancheros

 

 

Signature Tower with salmon and tuna. The bagel never came so Special Someone asked for one later and got it.

 

 

Steak and eggs.  Another terrible and mostly inedible cut of beef but I loved the tomato and spinach.

 

 

 

The salmon super food salad was strange.  And if y’all can’t tell by now, I’m an adventurous eater.  I love me some brunch salads but I did not love this.  I ate most of it except for the iceberg, though.  It was just strange.  Whoever wrote this menu needs to send the chefs on a field trip to some hyper hip fast casual place in a big city to eat a grain bowl so that they can see how it’s done.

 

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise Day 2

 

Gym & Spa

 

The pictures for this section aren’t too exciting but I’ll clump some other gym/spa comments into here.

 

Spa Tour

 

At the recommendation from folks on here, we went on a spa tour the first day.  I misunderstood and thought it was an event at a specific time, not a continuous sales pitch and I got really confused trying to ask what time the spa tour would be.  I enjoyed seeing the fancy heated rooms and would recommend getting a spa cabin or a cruise long pass if you like that sort of thing and have a bunch of sea days.  She let us sit in the tile lounger things and they were surprisingly comfortable.  There are rooms with different temperatures and features and it all looked really relaxing.  She said this is the only Carnival ship with that many different rooms.  It was $149 for the whole cruise, which doesn’t seem bad for an 8 day like mine, but I had so much other stuff I want to do.  
 

Fitness Classes (or not)

 

We met the fitness instructor and I liked his attitude but pegged him as more of a spin guy than yoga, so I figured spin would be his best class.  The fitness class schedule was quite thin so it didn’t seem worth it to pay for their classes or get a pass when there’s so much else to do and I absolutely wouldn’t go to a class when the ship was in port.  There were free stretching and abs classes most mornings.  I tried to go the first morning and it was super crowded, so I didn’t try again.  It seemed like most of the instructor’s time was taken up by giving speeches and “classes” about selling you things.
 

Gym Equipment

 

I was surprised there were only a few types of machines: treadmills, ellipticals, and a few each of two types of bikes.  They kept the spin bikes (which were just ordinary bikes) locked up so you couldn’t use them.  Of the 3 regular bikes, one was broken.  There was no hand cycle. for someone wanting to do arm cardio or someone with a lower limb disability.  There were no other types of machines for variety.  There was a weights circuit area and a set of free weights, but the pounds all started higher than I would use if I was going to ride a bike and hold weights at the same time.  They had some bosu balls and foam rollers and whatnot.
 

The View Outside (Or Lack Of)

 

The windows stopped too low and you couldn’t actually see outside directly in front of you while on a machine.  I thought the whole point of a gym at sea was to enjoy the ocean views!  I heard others complain about the lack of a view.

 

Locker Rooms

 

These are indeed very nice as CC members have said.  I was tempted to try the idea to shower there but I could not find any towels larger than small sweat towels.  I even asked at the front counter and the answer was “We have plenty of towels everywhere.”  I searched two different days and never saw any.  I dispatched Special Someone into the mens’ bathroom and he didn’t find any, either, so how to shower at the gym remained a mystery unsolved by us.  
 

Salon

 

We had two very different salon experiences.  
 

Special Someone decided he wanted a hair cut before the first formal night and booked it on board.  He said the price was higher than at home but not crazy.  He let his guy talk him into some sort of face massage or wash something that he enjoyed.  He was happy with his experience.

 

I’m not a product girl or a girly girl but in the interest of trying new things, I let him buy me an appointment called The Red Carpet.  He paid for it in advance.  This was supposed to include “an image consultation,” a wash/head massage/blow out, an Elemis eye thing and a face/skin thing called California glow.  I had a horrible time.  The salon chair had me right under this bright light that shone right into my eyeball and gave me a headache.  Special Someone asked why I didn’t ask them to turn the light off and I said it’s her workspace, I assumed she needed the light!  I feel like she spent most of the time digging around in her drawers, presumably looking for things.  She seemed very shy and not comfortable talking.  I was expecting a friendly person who would chat and set me at ease.  I’ve only had one other salon experience as an adult and that’s what the stylist did.  That other experience was positive and relaxing and more

effective than therapy.  As far as washing my hair, she did do that, but as far as the massage part I never felt anything different from washing my hair.  I suspect she lacked technique because I thought it was supposed to be relaxing but it wasn’t.  I did try to relax.  I tried really hard, but that dang light and all the noise from her digging through her drawers every two minutes.  At some point she handed me a card and ordered me to fill it out.  It was a list of things I don’t like about my hair, none of which are problems I have.  In retrospect, I suppose that was the “image consultation.”  Then she blow dried my hair.  I suppose that’s the blow out part.  I didn’t really know what to expect from a blow out but I thought it was supposed to make your hair fluffy or something but I didn’t see any difference.  The only thing I’ve ever owned a blow dryer for was for thawing frozen locks and pipes so I have no way to judge the blowing part.  Then she got out a curling iron.  This may be my total ignorance but nowhere did what I purchased say anything about a curling iron.  If I wanted to curl my hair, I would have put it in twists while it was wet and let it dry that way.  Anyway, she curled my hair.  Then she sprayed hair spray all over me.  Again, maybe this is my ignorance but I did not realize a blow out involved hair spray.  After the hair spray she stood me up and sent me our front where I stood for awhile and then the manager looked in the computer and then said I was good to go.  Special Someone looked really excited to see me but I couldn’t wait to escape even though I was pretty sure I hadn’t gotten what he’d paid for.  The end result?  I had wavy hair, kind of gentle twists.  Special Someone really liked it but it kind of drove me crazy because every time I touched my hair, which I normally do, I touched the hair spray and then tried to remind myself to not touch my hair.  It also felt strange and just not me.  We talked about it a lot and I was not interested in going back and talking to the manager.  I do feel like the stylist had not been properly trained but I did not want her to get in trouble.  I also did not want them to offer me a do over.  I was not interested in spending any more time on it than I felt like I’d already lost.  Special Someone planned to go up and talk to the manager but he got busy the last sea day and never went.  For me, I would consider going to a salon on land for a special occasion in the future but I’d probably need to see positive Yelp reviews or word of mouth, but I can’t see that I would try it on a cruise ship again because it costs so much more and like the MDR food, you never know what you’re going to get.

 

 

Since I was missing a sprint distance triathlon at home, I told myself I needed to complete the same distances onboard the ship.  The first sea day I completed my cycling miles.  I needed 13.1 and did about 15 although it took me about 3 hours to get it down because most exercise bikes make my funny leg go numb (I generally don’t have this problem in spin class or on a real bike) so I had to get off about every 10 minutes and walk it off and I just couldn’t ride as hard as I would have on a real bike or a spin bike.  
 

 

This was my first gym outfit complete with the dress code compliant over-shirt, that I boldly removed once I got warmed up.  If people can wear bikinis at a swimming pool, why can’t I wear workout clothes in a gym?  Also in this picture is my hydration pack which I wore EVERYWHERE on the ship.  I didn’t care how weird I looked.  I didn’t care if people assumed I was such an alcoholic I needed to have a tube near my mouth at all times, but for me, the hydration pack was a key to keeping me healthy and happy.  Related to my leg, I get dehydrated if you look at me funny, so it helped me so much to have water near me at all times and I didn’t have to look for it or ask for it or use my hands to hold it and try to keep from spilling it.  It also had just enough space for a few essentials without bogging me down with a day pack. 
 

Oh, one last comment on the hairdo.  It didn’t hold.  The waves came out before the night was over and I didn’t even do anything crazy.  I’d thought it would last longer.  #ripoff

 

But what do you all think?  Am I way off base in my reaction to my red carpet experience?

Edited May 13, 2022 by arctickitty

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise Day 2 - At Sea

 

Indoor Walkabout…it was storming.  We’d brought full body rain gear but decided not to suit up to walk on deck because, well, we can walk in storms at home if we want to.

 

 

Second towel animal (we chose morning cabin service) and really appreciated our stateroom attendant, I Made.

 

 

The same internet problem that knocked out the Hub and everything else on the ship knocked out all the TVs.  We lacked a ship cam “window” for a few days.

 

 

Lack of bacon on the buffet menu.

 

 

Drum roll please!  We won!  Can you guess what we did to earn a ship on a stick?  It was Special Someone’s idea…

 

…Alaska Trivia!!!

 

Our score was 19/20 and the one we missed was about some TV show I’ve never heard of.  Special Someone knew they answers about Alaskan reality TV and I knew all of the other answers except for the day and month Alaska was purchased, (I initially only remembered the year) but Special Someone used his logic and pointed out that my answer to another question gave a good hint as to the day and month, so then we got that whole question right, too.  We’re a good team.  

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise Day 2 - At Sea

 

Lunch

 

If you haven’t gotten the memo yet, Sea Day Brunch closes at noon, so buffet and lido options it is.

 

 

We were planning on going to Afternoon Tea so we kept ourselves out of Masala Tiger.

 

 

I got broccoli salad, eggplant Parmesan, and grilled vegetables.  The broccoli tasted funny but the others were very good.

 

 

I wanted a little bit more so I went upstairs to the BBQ.  The beef and Mac n cheese were gross but the pork was delicious.  I could have eaten a whole bowl of it.  
 

 

I love to sample sauces and you can see that I did, but none of these were remarkable.

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise Day 2 - At Sea

 

Afternoon Tea

 

This was my first Carnival Cruise and I haven’t discussed the line differences very much but overall I felt that Carnival met my expectations and was a better fit for the current me, but one thing Princess is by far better at is Afternoon Tea.  I knew not to expect the white-glove-live-cellist treatment, but even such we were a bit underwhelmed.   We’d planned to try sitting with others and said so we went in, but no one was ever seated with us.  We joked about moving to one of the empty military tables, as we qualify, but no one sat at them, either.  
 

 

We were offered these two sandwiches.  The cucumber one tasted funny and the salmon was the same cheap farmed stuff served everywhere else onboard, but it was a fun bite.

 

 

Special Someone took a slice of chocolate cake that was offered and we determined it had the same problem as the lido cakes: dried out cake, excellent frosting.  I don’t usually like frosting or icing but this fudge was good.

 

 

Special Someone also took a tiny peach crumble that was offered.  It was tasty but the peach walked through it.  We left at 4pm a little baffled and determined not to schedule life around Carnival Afternoon Tea in the future.

[chefestelle]

1 hour ago, arctickitty said:

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise Day 2

 

Gym & Spa

 

The pictures for this section aren’t too exciting but I’ll clump some other gym/spa comments into here.

 

Spa Tour

 

At the recommendation from folks on here, we went on a spa tour the first day.  I misunderstood and thought it was an event at a specific time, not a continuous sales pitch and I got really confused trying to ask what time the spa tour would be.  I enjoyed seeing the fancy heated rooms and would recommend getting a spa cabin or a cruise long pass if you like that sort of thing and have a bunch of sea days.  She let us sit in the tile lounger things and they were surprisingly comfortable.  There are rooms with different temperatures and features and it all looked really relaxing.  She said this is the only Carnival ship with that many different rooms.  It was $149 for the whole cruise, which doesn’t seem bad for an 8 day like mine, but I had so much other stuff I want to do.  
 

Fitness Classes (or not)

 

We met the fitness instructor and I liked his attitude but pegged him as more of a spin guy than yoga, so I figured spin would be his best class.  The fitness class schedule was quite thin so it didn’t seem worth it to pay for their classes or get a pass when there’s so much else to do and I absolutely wouldn’t go to a class when the ship was in port.  There were free stretching and abs classes most mornings.  I tried to go the first morning and it was super crowded, so I didn’t try again.  It seemed like most of the instructor’s time was taken up by giving speeches and “classes” about selling you things.
 

Gym Equipment

 

I was surprised there were only a few types of machines: treadmills, ellipticals, and a few each of two types of bikes.  They kept the spin bikes (which were just ordinary bikes) locked up so you couldn’t use them.  Of the 3 regular bikes, one was broken.  There was no hand cycle. for someone wanting to do arm cardio or someone with a lower limb disability.  There were no other types of machines for variety.  There was a weights circuit area and a set of free weights, but the pounds all started higher than I would use if I was going to ride a bike and hold weights at the same time.  They had some bosu balls and foam rollers and whatnot.
 

The View Outside (Or Lack Of)

 

The windows stopped too low and you couldn’t actually see outside directly in front of you while on a machine.  I thought the whole point of a gym at sea was to enjoy the ocean views!  I heard others complain about the lack of a view.

 

Locker Rooms

 

These are indeed very nice as CC members have said.  I was tempted to try the idea to shower there but I could not find any towels larger than small sweat towels.  I even asked at the front counter and the answer was “We have plenty of towels everywhere.”  I searched two different days and never saw any.  I dispatched Special Someone into the mens’ bathroom and he didn’t find any, either, so how to shower at the gym remained a mystery unsolved by us.  
 

Salon

 

We had two very different salon experiences.  
 

Special Someone decided he wanted a hair cut before the first formal night and booked it on board.  He said the price was higher than at home but not crazy.  He let his guy talk him into some sort of face massage or wash something that he enjoyed.  He was happy with his experience.

 

I’m not a product girl or a girly girl but in the interest of trying new things, I let him buy me an appointment called The Red Carpet.  He paid for it in advance.  This was supposed to include “an image consultation,” a wash/head massage/blow out, an Elemis eye thing and a face/skin thing called California glow.  I had a horrible time.  The salon chair had me right under this bright light that shone right into my eyeball and gave me a headache.  Special Someone asked why I didn’t ask them to turn the light off and I said it’s her workspace, I assumed she needed the light!  I feel like she spent most of the time digging around in her drawers, presumably looking for things.  She seemed very shy and not comfortable talking.  I was expecting a friendly person who would chat and set me at ease.  I’ve only had one other salon experience as an adult and that’s what the stylist did.  That other experience was positive and relaxing and more

effective than therapy.  As far as washing my hair, she did do that, but as far as the massage part I never felt anything different from washing my hair.  I suspect she lacked technique because I thought it was supposed to be relaxing but it wasn’t.  I did try to relax.  I tried really hard, but that dang light and all the noise from her digging through her drawers every two minutes.  At some point she handed me a card and ordered me to fill it out.  It was a list of things I don’t like about my hair, none of which are problems I have.  In retrospect, I suppose that was the “image consultation.”  Then she blow dried my hair.  I suppose that’s the blow out part.  I didn’t really know what to expect from a blow out but I thought it was supposed to make your hair fluffy or something but I didn’t see any difference.  The only thing I’ve ever owned a blow dryer for was for thawing frozen locks and pipes so I have no way to judge the blowing part.  Then she got out a curling iron.  This may be my total ignorance but nowhere did what I purchased say anything about a curling iron.  If I wanted to curl my hair, I would have put it in twists while it was wet and let it dry that way.  Anyway, she curled my hair.  Then she sprayed hair spray all over me.  Again, maybe this is my ignorance but I did not realize a blow out involved hair spray.  After the hair spray she stood me up and sent me our front where I stood for awhile and then the manager looked in the computer and then said I was good to go.  Special Someone looked really excited to see me but I couldn’t wait to escape even though I was pretty sure I hadn’t gotten what he’d paid for.  The end result?  I had wavy hair, kind of gentle twists.  Special Someone really liked it but it kind of drove me crazy because every time I touched my hair, which I normally do, I touched the hair spray and then tried to remind myself to not touch my hair.  It also felt strange and just not me.  We talked about it a lot and I was not interested in going back and talking to the manager.  I do feel like the stylist had not been properly trained but I did not want her to get in trouble.  I also did not want them to offer me a do over.  I was not interested in spending any more time on it than I felt like I’d already lost.  Special Someone planned to go up and talk to the manager but he got busy the last sea day and never went.  For me, I would consider going to a salon on land for a special occasion in the future but I’d probably need to see positive Yelp reviews or word of mouth, but I can’t see that I would try it on a cruise ship again because it costs so much more and like the MDR food, you never know what you’re going to get.

 

 

Since I was missing a sprint distance triathlon at home, I told myself I needed to complete the same distances onboard the ship.  The first sea day I completed my cycling miles.  I needed 13.1 and did about 15 although it took me about 3 hours to get it down because most exercise bikes make my funny leg go numb (I generally don’t have this problem in spin class or on a real bike) so I had to get off about every 10 minutes and walk it off and I just couldn’t ride as hard as I would have on a real bike or a spin bike.  
 

 

This was my first gym outfit complete with the dress code compliant over-shirt, that I boldly removed once I got warmed up.  If people can wear bikinis at a swimming pool, why can’t I wear workout clothes in a gym?  Also in this picture is my hydration pack which I wore EVERYWHERE on the ship.  I didn’t care how weird I looked.  I didn’t care if people assumed I was such an alcoholic I needed to have a tube near my mouth at all times, but for me, the hydration pack was a key to keeping me healthy and happy.  Related to my leg, I get dehydrated if you look at me funny, so it helped me so much to have water near me at all times and I didn’t have to look for it or ask for it or use my hands to hold it and try to keep from spilling it.  It also had just enough space for a few essentials without bogging me down with a day pack. 
 

Oh, one last comment on the hairdo.  It didn’t hold.  The waves came out before the night was over and I didn’t even do anything crazy.  I’d thought it would last longer.  #ripoff

 

But what do you all think?  Am I way off base in my reaction to my red carpet experience?

You aren't off base. Your base involves a blow dryer that thaws locks. People who usually use the red carpet treatment use hair dryers to dry their hair. For you, it's an uncomfortable time in a chair. For them, it's a divine pampering that they don't have to do themselves. I used to have to blow dry my hair every day to look professional. My covid cut involves greying out and growing out. No more hair dryer. But last winter was cold so I keep the hair dryer in case the locks freeze... I venture to say the red carpet treatment is probably pretty common across ships but the stylist/consultant makes the same service seem different. 

[arctickitty]

Last post for today… door decorations seen during another indoor walk during the storm.

 

 

 

 

 

[Momma1980]

Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into this review. It’s interesting to get your perspective as an Alaskan! 

[arctickitty]

4 hours ago, Momma1980 said:

Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into this review. It’s interesting to get your perspective as an Alaskan! 

@Momma1980 welcome aboard!

[arctickitty]

Good morning!  Well, it’s morning in real life but in cruise time it’s evening.  It’s going to be the first elegant night aboard the Carnival Splendor, which was held on the first full sea day.  This was the best time to schedule it, in my opinion, since we had all day to get ready and theoretically had the next morning to recover.  We started with one of our two bottles of wine and went through the whole bottle of bubbly before we even made it to dinner.  This was my first time seeing Special Someone dressed up and I’m fairly certain I enjoyed him as much as he enjoyed me.  Time for disembodied torsos!

 

 

We had gone around and used our QR codes to check out the various bar menus earlier in the day and I found them to be pretty plain and ordinary (except for Alchemy, of course).  We wanted something more with dinner and didn’t want to blow through both of our bottles and strangely the white sangria spoke to me so we ordered the pitcher.  It was surprisingly less sweet than we expected and was very enjoyable.  We ate all the cherries and yummies out of it two.  Since I was raised by wolves I have no manners and just kept sticking my fork in to fish things out.  We filled out glasses full with the remainder at the end of dinner and walked off with them.  I kept expecting someone to come running after us because on Princess you can’t take the wind glasses out of the dining room.  If you do, they’ll come running after you and pour your wine into a cheaper glass.  Carnival did come after us, but it was just to sign the receipt.

 

 

Special Someone wanted to preserve the image of me with a ridiculous and uncharacteristic amount of alcohol.

 

And for those of you familiar with Red CarpetGate, that’s the results of the $105 blowout.  I’m still not impressed.

[maryann2]

I am really enjoying your review. Thank you.

I am booked for July 5th 2022. Visits Sitka.

Looking forward to trying Masala Tiger.

I agree the cakes are not very good. Recently on the Pride TA and there too were dry and tasteless.

[arctickitty]

1 hour ago, maryann2 said:

I am really enjoying your review. Thank you.

I am booked for July 5th 2022. Visits Sitka.

Looking forward to trying Masala Tiger.

I agree the cakes are not very good. Recently on the Pride TA and there too were dry and tasteless.

@maryann2 welcome aboard!  July is a nice middle of summer time in Alaska!  It’s not 24 hour daylight in the southeast but it’s close!  An itinerary with Sitka is pretty exciting!  I’ve visited a lot of parts of Alaska but haven’t made it there yet.

[arctickitty]

Carnival friends, I’ve been holding my breath for five weeks with this situation at work and I just found out that I’m not getting fired, so I can finally exhale.  Wow, what a relief.  That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’ll have to go back to actual work soon.  I don’t know when yet, but I promise to keep up my posts; it just might slow down soon.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 4 - Cruise Day 2 - At Sea

 

First Elegant Night Dinner Menu

 

 

 

 

After the internet outage of the morning, I got smart and screenshotted the menus in advance.  We also strategized and picked out our team selections in advance, so that when the servers were ready to take our orders, we were also ready.  Game on.  
 

We learned that in order to get the special dips or spreads for the bread, you have to ask for them.  The garlic and herb cheese offered in this menu was delicious even though it tasted more like a compound butter than a cheese spread.

[TrqoisWtrs]

Congrats on keeping your job.  😊

 

omg - did not know about the duck game.  I admit if I find a duck I will keep it.  And Cherry on Top on Mardi Gras was selling a box of 5 different cuties.😀

[chefestelle]

Yay for the job! Blasted covid has hit us everywhere... and I think the ends of the hair look very nice

[arctickitty]

16 minutes ago, cruisin*tigger said:

Congrats on keeping your job.  😊

 

omg - did not know about the duck game.  I admit if I find a duck I will keep it.  And Cherry on Top on Mardi Gras was selling a box of 5 different cuties.😀

Cruisin*tigger: Thank you!  I almost cannot believe that I had so much on this entire vacation knowing the entire time that I could get a call any day that I was toast.  Definitely flexed my mental compartmentalization skills.

 

I liked but never found any ducks outside from the arcade!  Special Someone had joined a FB group for our cruise and he showed me this picture of someone who’d found a whole flock of them.  I don’t know how.

 

The duck game is my kind of arcade game.  I might be a tough cookie but I cannot emotionally handle claw games or the coin push thing in the casino where it gets your hopes up and then dashes your heart on the rocks when you don’t win anything.  So when I saw the promise on the ducks “Winner every time” I knew it was my jam.  It was just a matter of deciding When and then the game in it for me would be…what duck would choose me?

[arctickitty]

6 minutes ago, chefestelle said:

Yay for the job! Blasted covid has hit us everywhere... and I think the ends of the hair look very nice

Chefestelle: thank you.  Special Someone liked it too, and he paid for it, so at least he enjoyed it!  We don’t have to like every new thing we tried but I think the important thing is I went outside my comfort zone.

We both have never stopped working or even worked from home during all of Covid because our jobs don’t stop or occur at home, but through no fault of my own, I got caught up in a weird vortex that could have completely ruined my career and limited my future options.  If anything, my fault in this mess would be having been being extremely patient.
 

The one diy spa thing I wound up liking was I did nail stickers on my fingers and toes.  Medically I’m not supposed to ever get a pedicure and I don’t like nail polish, so I don’t see the point in getting a manicure, but in the interest of going all out, I tried stickers and I wound up really liking them and still have them on.  It works out because we’re not supposed to have acrylic or long nails at work but I’m pretty sure stickers are allowed, and there’s no rules about colors, so once I go back, I think I’ll be able to keep rocking the vacation flavor as long as I can make it last.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise 

 

First Elegant Night Dinner

 

 

Fried oysters.  Thanks to fellow CC members I knew one order would only be two, so we got two orders.  These were good.  I knew what we ate in Seattle would far outshine them, but these were still decent.  The breading was dry and crispy so they’d been fried properly.  They were definitely oysters inside but just not as flavorful as what we’d had on land.  Still worth it!  And I always love me a dipping sauce.

 

 

Blackened Pork Tart.  I got this because of people here on CC mentioning them.  They’re good!  A little strange but good!  I think it was pork belly.  Hard to go wrong with pork belly.

 

 

Shrimp cocktail.  Because 4 shrimp doesn’t add any calories but it does ring up the imaginary bill.

 

 

Spinach salad.  This was one of the better MDR salads I tried and I wished I’d ordered two.

 

 

Sea bass with gnocchi entree with root vegetables in a pie crust entree pushed together on the same plate.  The downside of anytime dining was we never knew how the servers felt they should handle our large orders.  Some wanted to do courses while we preferred if they just dropped off the food when it was ready and we rearranged it to our liking.  These were both pretty good although the pie crust was underdone, which was a consistent feature for just about every crusty dish I ordered, of which there would be many.  No worries, though, I was pretty happy to sit there and eat vegetables and fish and pie crust.  
 

 

Here’s the first lobster.  I’d had lobster once in the Italian speciality restaurant on Princess and hadn’t liked it, so I didn’t order one.  But I loved this one!  It was so buttery and tender.  Special Someone started to ask for a second one when the server whisked one right onto our table.  That made me smile beyond belief.  How did they know???  We didn’t care for the risotto but I ate all the broccoli from both plates.  I am a vacuum cleaner when it comes to vegetables.

 

 

The prime rib was excellent.  It completely renewed our faith in our goal to eat our cruise fare in beef.  If all the beef was this tender and flavorful, it would have been much easier.  We could have eaten two of these, but it’s okay we didn’t.  I did enjoy that pie crust.

 

 

Special Someone got the crème brûlée and we were both surprised to find it to be a higher quality than expected.  Better than Princess!  Also bigger!  A few bites was enough for me.

 

 

For me, one of the biggest delights of cruising is having someone else cut up my fruit for me and make it look nice.  Living by myself, I just never get through most whole fruits before they go bad and I’m too lazy to cut them up nice, so I don’t bother to buy much fruit.  But I will eat pretty fruit plates left and right on a cruise ship.  So I was happy to see Carnival on top of their fruit plate game.

Edited May 13, 2022 by arctickitty

[lazydayz]

Congrats on keeping your job, and just as exciting, finding out that you and SS are good cruise partners! 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 5 / Cruise Day 3

 

Second Sea Day / Tracy Arm Fjord

 

Sea Day Brunch # 2

 

Gotta love when my photo roll ends with food pictures one day…and keeps on with food pictures right away the next.

 

I am reminded, however that I have to tell you an elegant night story before we move on to brunch.

 

After elegant night dinner, we attempted to live it up.  We’d planned to go to the production show but it was cancelled due to the ship rocking too much.  They substituted a solo performer and we peeked in and didn’t care for her voice so we decided to try Punchliner.  
 

Nightly comedy was one reason I’d decided to give Carnival a try.  We were supposed to have two comedians at the start, Johnny Cardinale and Crystal somebody.  Crystal somebody never appeared, for which I was disappointed because the comics I’ve enjoyed on TV/streaming versions of TV have been women, so I felt like I’d be more likely to like another woman.  (Tig Notaro is my favorite and her Amazon show One Mississippi has segments I show to people when I want them to understand me…like what it’s like to be an adult child living with your parents because you’re sick and your dad digs through the trash and criticizes you for putting the wrong kinds of trash in the wrong bins…that exactly happened to me…and her scene at the doctors office with the marching band and cancer of the ear/cancer of the year is also exactly how it happens and helped me make sense of myself, thank you Tig, years before I saw this show I was so sick I hallucinated a marching band in my hospital room, Tig speaks the truth).  Anyway, I didn’t expect I’d get Tig on Carnival. One of Johnny Cardinale’s shows the first night was “Dating a Dentist” and I did not feel like getting my teeth pulled so I’d planned to stay clear away from him, but without other comic options, we decided to give him a try.

 

Punchliner was full but they still let people stream in.  We stood watching this guy and I started to feel like I’d seen him before.

 

Now, what are the chances?  I have seen a grand total of one comedy show live and in person before.  
 

I mentioned to Special Someone, I think we saw this guy at home and he said, naw, not possible.

 

Then Johnny started to tell a joke/story that included how he pronounces his name Card-ih-nah-Lee and I was like oh hell no this really is the same guy.

 

I hadn’t made the connection because dear Andy Mercer the cruise director, among just about everything else he mispronounced, was Johnny’s name.  He called him Johnny Cardinal, like the bird or Catholic official.
 

Anyway Johnny CardinaLEE starts telling this joke and Special Someone goes oh no it really is the same guy we already saw.  And the same terrible joke that wasn’t funny the first time.

 

Folks, we saw a triple header comedy show IN ALASKA (brought in by AFE) and the double amputee was leaps and bounds funnier than Johnny.  That guy ran circles around Johnny.
 

We got up and walked out.  
 

Because you can do whatever you want on a Carnival cruise ship and that’s the beauty of it.  We’d seen the same cut-rate comedian twice and never once paid for it, so the laugh was on us and we thought our own joke was hysterical.

 

We did keep our eyes peeled for Johnny the rest of the cruise because we wanted to holler at him about antler chandeliers to see if he remembered where we’d seen him.  Unfortunately we never caught him.  
 

So please fellow CC friends, if you see Johnny, PLEASE ASK HIM WHAT HE THINKS OF ANTLER CHANDELIERS and please report back to me what he says.  Then you can be in on the same inside joke and make my year.  

 

[Side note: all of the movies shown on board were the exact same ones shown in our area at our little homespun movie theater.  Special Someone said, wow, that shows you what budget bracket Carnival prices into for entertainment contracts and licensing…]

 

Anyway, after our failed attempt at comedy, we didn’t make it far and plopped on the red couches near Alchemy.  Special Someone got their basil cocktail and it was very, very good.  We didn’t plan it this way, but we’d landed on an excellent people watching spot as when the comedy show ended, everyone walked past us and we got to check them all out.  We watched people stream that way until people started going the other way to get into the night club and eventually we couldn’t stay awake any longer and went to bed.

 

But main course, please, back to Sea Day Brunch!

 

 

This was the only pastry Special Someone tried on board (I tried zero) and he said it wasn’t anything special.

 

 

I’d woken up starving so I knew today was brunch burger day.  
 

This was when we realized the Hub app menu and QR code brunch menus were different.  The QR code still had three burgers but the app only had two.  This was the Voyage Burger, available on both.

 

(The Cantina burger is absent from the app and our server confirmed with the kitchen that it was not available.  YMMV).

 

 

I requested no fries with the burger because I wanted the mozzarella sticks from the kids’ menu and I felt that I won the fries lottery because it came with curly fries.  So much better than the crap fries that they otherwise serve.  The sticks were really good, too.

 

 

Now, I was smart and started to flex my the customer is always right muscles and you can do anything on a cruise ship muscles and I asked for the cucumber and tomato plate from the Signature Tower, no seafood and no bagel.  
 

I got what I wanted.

 

 

The Mediterranean salad that Special Someone ordered no longer exists so the servers brought him this full size Caesar instead.  I’m not sure how it happened, but I asked him to try it and I took it and never gave it back and ate the whole thing.  That was one bomb diggetty Caesar salad and it may have taken me a year and a half to eat it, but I ate every last leaf.  I was on the verge of picking up the plate/bowl/platter/dish, but I restrained myself.  For once.

 

 

Now given that I am the most polite customer from hell on earth, I also ordered the spinach from the steak and eggs, no steak, no eggs, no fries.  It took a long time, but I got it!  I really think that the key to freestyle cruising is to mix and match to one’s heart’s content.  (Oops, sorry for the Norwegian reference.  Norwegian lies.  Nothing is free on Norwegian).

 

 

Since they didn’t have the Cantina burger, the servers brought the Aft burger for Special Someone.  As others here on CC have mentioned, it’s a brisket sandwich, not a burger.  But it’s at least a good piece of brisket.  
 

 

Meanwhile I added the spinach, tomatoes, and cucumber to my burger.

 

 

I uncharacteristically allowed Special Someone to take pictures of me to chronically the whole process of eating the Voyage Burger and what a voyage it was.  I took it slow, marathon, not a sprint and no joke I felt like it was an athletic feat to eat that thing.  It was awesome.  

 

[arctickitty]

49 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

Congrats on keeping your job, and just as exciting, finding out that you and SS are good cruise partners! 

Thank you lazydayz!  He’s such a great human and I feel so lucky to have found him.

 

I’ve been trying to ignore the pins & needles I’ve been on since I got home, but i had this gut feeling that the amount of fun we had on the cruise was a harbinger good things to come…as if somehow our ability to have such a great time was mystically connected to tides changing for the better at home.

 

While I was typing up the Voyage Burger brunch post, I found out that not only am I am I not fired and no longer in hot water, but I now have a time and date and location to report back to work…and it’s a much, much better assignment than what I was in.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise 

 

Trip Day 5 / Cruise Day 3

 

Second Sea Day / Tracy Arm Fjord

 

 

Somehow after all that brunch, I still had the appetite to go up and look at the buffet.  No bacon but they did have John Heald on the menu.

 

 

We walked past El Morocco lounge and Special Someone asked, “What’s going on?  Comedy?”  
 

We are so funny.  He was dead serious until he saw this sign.

 

 

Somehow time passed and the lunch buffet menu appeared.  It was storming so we spent a good deal of time walking indoors.

 

 

We had to try this fish at Masala Tiger after we saw them working on it earlier.  It was outstanding.  It’s rare to find restaurant fish that’s…rare…not over cooked.
 

 

I also got some tandoori mushrooms.  They were delicious as well.  That constituted lunch.

 

In all the brunch excitement, I forgot to mention that I’d woken up not feeling my best.  Now I’m not a Princess cruiser at the moment so I didn’t beeline to the medical center to demand testing, but neither am I a diehard Carnival cruiser who takes such woes to the bar, but I had serious doubts about my ability make any progress towards my onboard triathlon this day.  In the end, it was probably a symptom of five days of traveling after almost two years without and a little bit, or a lot of bit of more alcohol than is usual for me.  I started out telling myself that my goal was to just keep moving a little bit, no matter how little or slow.  That’s where I set the bar.

 

Put a pin in that.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 5 / Cruise  Day 3

 

Second Sea Day / Tracy Arm Fjord

 

 

And then we turned the corner into Tracy Arm and the heavens opened.

 

 

This was my second time in Tracy Arm and even as much as I remember being enthralled with it, my memories didn’t quite compare with how beautiful it is to be in it.

 

 

It’s so calming.

 

 

So peaceful.

 

 

It made me feel acutely how big this world is.  Everything around me felt and looked so big and yet this is just a tiny spot of Alaska.  It made me feel small in the best way possible.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 5 / Cruise Day 3

 

Second Sea Day / Tracy Arm Fjord
 

 

And then we peeled ourselves away for the Military Appreciation event.

 

 

For those who haven’t attended one of these, there is a slideshow that plays the songs for each branch of the military plus the coast guard and the respective members of each branch stand up and sing along when it’s their turn.  Then there was a bunch of slides thanking other groups of people ranging from NOAA to Public Health Service.  Then there was an open mic.  We didn’t stay for much of that because we’d had our full and wanted to get back outside.
 

 

 

Besides the poor scheduling (it was 4pm when we were in Tracy Arm 1-7pm) I asked Special Someone what he thought and his reaction was along the same vein as mine, that it was kind of glib or flip.  Andy is a comedian and he told jokes the entire time, which is not a problem per se but the jokes were about himself and for us detracted from whatever the experience was supposed to be. 

 

Now before we get labeled as Andy haters, we had some other fun experiences with him, we just felt there was probably a better suited host for this event.