Horizon / (*Not) Live / Solo - May - 25 - June - 2024...

[sid_9169]

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

And after a leisurely afternoon of walking around taking pictures, I was back at the Alchemy Bar waiting for it to open. It'd be another evening of boring Grey Goose extra dirty martinis with blue cheese olives before going back to my cabin to get "elegant" for my upcoming dinner at the Steakhouse...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

Looks like my dinner at the Steakhouse pictures are on my other phone, so I'll get to that soon...

[sid_9169]

Okay, so now we're post Alchemy Bar and headed to the Steakhouse in style. Well, I was wearing pants anyway... First, looks like I stopped by Alchemy Bar for a drink to bring to dinner.

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

Now dinner... Bread, French onion soup, shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, filet mignon medium rare, broccoli, macaroni and cheese, and a very small sad looking baked potato... Everything was pretty good except for the filet. It had a weird texture to it, so I just chewed it until I got the flavor out of it, then found places to hide the chewed up remnants. (Like on the plate under stuff, not behind the curtains or under the table) Everything else was pretty good, but I don't know about $49 plus tip good... I guess it was better than going to the buffet again for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

After the Steakhouse I went back to my cabin to change out of my long pants and back into shorts. I still had my $25 free play chip in my room, so I grabbed it and headed down to the casino. I figured roulette would give me my best bang for the buck with my money, so I went over there and watched for a minute before playing. Each player has a different color chips here so they can tell who's betting what, but they said I could only use the $25 free play for five $5 chips, and I'd have to play at least two chips per roll or whatever they call it when they throw the marble in the thing.

 

I end up winning on the first couple of rounds, but a few minutes later all my chips were gone, and I said to myself "that was a heckuva fun eight minutes" and walked away broke... 

 

So, I headed back to Alchemy Bar for a few more drinks from Sara... I stayed out all the way until 10:00 this evening before heading back to my cabin and calling it a night... 

 

Only one more fun day at sea left before arriving back in Miami...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mkcurran]

2 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Oh, I forgot the burger... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's actually not a terrible price for a good burger. 

I just realized, I've seen you eat all sorts of food, but never sushi.

[sid_9169]

1 hour ago, mkcurran said:

That's actually not a terrible price for a good burger. 

I just realized, I've seen you eat all sorts of food, but never sushi.

I like sushi but all the stuff around here is pretty expensive. Like $200 - $300 for one person expensive for the high end places.

[kittyraptors]

On 6/4/2024 at 12:22 PM, sid_9169 said:

At about 3:59 I made my way to the third barstool from the left side, which is the same seat I occupied on my 50th birthday cruise back in 2019... Also, it's the seat with the best overhead lighting for pictures. By the end of the cruise it was well known to everyone that this was "my seat"... 

 

Fortunately this day they at least had a bottle of Patron Silver, but on a couple of occasions I'd get someone to watch my seat while I went and retrieved the good tequila from the Pig and Anchor Bar. One time someone just came and sat down there anyway, even though the patrons as well as the bartenders let him know that it was taken. I didn't want to get in a fist fight or anything over a barstool, so I just stood about two inches behind him until he got uncomfortable and left... This was the only time all week that I had any trouble holding "my seat" at the bar... 

 

Here's a few creations by Karen and Diana... It wasn't until the next day or the day after, I believe, that Sara got her turn at bat mixing my drinks. Of course that meant another $25 opening tip, but by this point we all had become pretty"chummy " if that's even a word... 

 

(*** These pictures represent five different drinks, two angles each...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What mixers are in these? 

[wrcjr98]

So...no good tequila at the steakhouse for you either?

And...did you not complain about the steak?  Are you not a "complainer"?

I love your reviews!  I'm addicted to them actually I think!!  

 

 

[Saint Greg]

4 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

 

 

 

 

I don't think I could live where everyone's free parking was in front of my house. That would drive me up the wall. 

 

 

Edited June 9 by Saint Greg

[sid_9169]

23 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I don't think I could live where everyone's free parking was in front of my house. That would drive me up the wall. 

 

 

It's really only free parking on the weekends between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm... The other days and hours you need a resident sticker. I just hate having to give my credit card information to some random app just to be able to eat lunch... 

[sid_9169]

25 minutes ago, wrcjr98 said:

So...no good tequila at the steakhouse for you either?

And...did you not complain about the steak?  Are you not a "complainer"?

I love your reviews!  I'm addicted to them actually I think!!  

 

 

I'm not one of those people that send stuff back in a restaurant... I used to be roommates with a friend who was kitchen manager at a steakhouse, and he told me tales of spitting on people's food who sent it back...

[sid_9169]

32 minutes ago, kittyraptors said:

What mixers are in these? 

If I knew, then I could almost be an Alchemist...

[Saint Greg]

22 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I'm not one of those people that send stuff back in a restaurant... I used to be roommates with a friend who was kitchen manager at a steakhouse, and he told me tales of spitting on people's food who sent it back...

Yeah same here. I’m super nice to anyone dealing with my food and never send it back. 
 

 

 

 

 

[AmyJA]

5 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

 

 

sid's walls inspired carpet. 

[jimbo5544]

7 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

And after a leisurely afternoon of walking around taking pictures, I was back at the Alchemy Bar waiting for it to open. It'd be another evening of boring Grey Goose extra dirty martinis with blue cheese olives before going back to my cabin to get "elegant" for my upcoming dinner at the Steakhouse...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love a good dirty martini

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Yeah same here. I’m super nice to anyone dealing with my food and never send it back. 
 

 

 

 

 

Ditto that

[KmomChicago]

13 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

I'm not one of those people that send stuff back in a restaurant... I used to be roommates with a friend who was kitchen manager at a steakhouse, and he told me tales of spitting on people's food who sent it back...

 

13 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Yeah same here. I’m super nice to anyone dealing with my food and never send it back. 
 

 

 

 

 

Same. Also former employee (server) at several restaurants. It’s not just that they can do bad things to my food, though they certainly can. It’s simply a massive pain in the neck for them. I have never sent back food, demanded a replacement, or refused to pay. In extremely rare cases I just don’t eat it. I still smile and say thank you and then almost certainly never return. 

 

My one Carnival steakhouse experience was good but haven’t felt any interest in returning. I would certainly do so if traveling with someone who wants to. 

[KmomChicago]

Looking at @sid_9169’s beautiful pics of the ships, am I the only one with mixed feelings about post Farcus ships looking like absolutely every other cruise ship and newer hotel / resort on the planet?  I know Joe’s designs were far out and understand why Carnival decided it was time for change but are we losing something important aesthetically and when will the world rebound back to unabashed creativity?

[balcony bound]

18 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Looking at @sid_9169’s beautiful pics of the ships, am I the only one with mixed feelings about post Farcus ships looking like absolutely every other cruise ship and newer hotel / resort on the planet?  I know Joe’s designs were far out and understand why Carnival decided it was time for change but are we losing something important aesthetically and when will the world rebound back to unabashed creativity?

I'm right there with you.  But, I'm also not a fan of the mega ships, sail one occasionally under duress.

[sid_9169]

So, we're down to the final fun day at sea before this thing wraps up. I'll try to get to that at some point during today's work day...

 

Something that I didn't mention earlier that doesn't really have anything to do with the review itself: on the evening prior to Aruba there was a streaker on the pool deck. I didn't actually witness the activity itself but heard about it from several different passengers who did. Apparently there were children around when it happened and they debarked the offender in Aruba the next morning... Anyhoo, back to our regularly scheduled programming at some time today...

[kittyraptors]

19 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

If I knew, then I could almost be an Alchemist...

Haha sorry! Never been on a Carnival cruise (looking to book one next year so I like reading reviews/recaps to get an idea of the experience of each ship). At the Alchemy bar, do you just order the liquor and they make a mystery drink using it? 

 

Who knows, if you go on a cruise next year my group and I might be those dreaded blue cards sitting next to you... 😂🤣

 

Thanks for posting your recap! 

Edited June 10 by kittyraptors