Carnival Miracle 1/24/2009 Part 3featured
I woke up around 7:00 on our first sea day and I was flipping hot! Stephanie was still sleeping, so I went back to sleep, too, and we woke up around 9:00. It was still really hot in the room, and this would continue for the rest of the cruise. The room would be fine during the day, but late at night, it seems the AC was turned off and the room would get hot. Perhaps this is a cost-cutting measure by Carnival, but it was bothersome to us.
We went up to the Lido deck for breakfast with Mom and grandma and went over what we wanted to do for the day. It was our first formal night, too, and it takes us a long time to get ready, so we knew between showers and hair and makeup and such that we’d need to get back to the room around 3:30 to be ready for the 5:00 Captain’s Cocktail Party for our main-sitting dinner.
We headed back towards the adults-only pool and deck area on the aft of the Lido deck and it was a little crowded, but we easily found some good seats and settled down. It was windy and a bit cold, so most people left quickly and the area quickly cleared. At some point, Stephanie noticed that we were passing another Carnival ship (the zoom on my camera revealed we were passing the Destiny). We sat out for a good hour or two before it got too cold for Stephanie.
We headed back to the room to change and then we all went up to the Lido deck for lunch. I really wanted to eat in the dining room, but Stephanie didn’t, so we compromised and ate on the Lido deck today. The day before, I noticed that quite a few passengers had a dry cough (some of them weren’t so dry…and we heard a lot of hocking on this cruise…yech!) and today, it seemed more people had it. Many of them were ignoring the hand sanitizer before the buffet lines and many were coughing into their hands (tsk tsk, always cough into the crook of your arm) and then touching the serving handles. This cough spread like wildfire and I was put off by the lack of sanitary manners by my fellow cruisers. Then again, it could have been worse…they could have been spreading Noro (which both Stephanie and I had in early January…not fun!).
After lunch, we headed up to the cooking demonstration with Chef Ashlie at Nick and Nora’s. It was PACKED! I don’t know if the cooking demonstrations are always this busy or if it was because it was cool outside. Chef Ashlie showed us how they prepare the Lobster Bisque, Dover Sole and Apple Tarte Tartin in the supper club, and how they prepared the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake downstairs. It was a nice demonstration, but I don’t think we would have attended if it hadn’t been so windy and cool.
After the demonstration, we strolled through the shops and main areas of the boat and then headed back to the room to get ready. I wish we were one of those families that could get ready for formal night in 20 minutes, but we definitely aren’t. It’s mostly my fault. It takes me at least an hour to get ready…sometimes more. So I showered and when I stepped out, I realized I had a sunburn! We weren’t out for that long that morning and it was cold and overcast…and I was a nice shade of red for the next few days! So much for the month of pre-cruise tanning preventing a sunburn. While I was getting ready, Stephanie ran up to the Lido deck and grabbed a bowl of fruit, and I made us some sangria while she was finishing getting ready.
Mom and grandma didn’t take that long to get ready (not nearly as long as us) and we headed down to the Phantom Lounge for the Captain’s Cocktail Party. On our prior two cruises, on the Liberty and the Glory, the party had been held in public areas or small clubs where it was crowded and nearly impossible to get a drink, so we were glad to realize the Spirit class ships still had the parties in the theaters. Drinks were plentiful, and were of the usual fare (wine, champagne, fruit punch, blue margaritas, whiskey sours, etc) and we never wanted for a refill. Hors d’oeuvres were passed around (meatballs, caprese salad on pumpernickel bread, salmon balls, some sort of pate) and it was a nice party, but we left around 5:30.
We walked around the lobby for a bit. I wanted to take some family formal shots, but Stephanie didn’t want to. She hates formal nights and as soon as dinner’s over, she changes out of her dresses (I, on the other hand, love all of my formal dresses and love getting dressed up, so I wear my dresses as long as I can). It’s really important to Mom that we take some pictures, so Stephanie promised we’d take formal shots on the second formal night.
Grandma was really tired, so we got her settled back in the room for her nap and we headed to dinner. The couple at the table to our left showed up and they were really nice, and we had such a nice time talking every evening to both tables on either side of ours. On the nights they weren’t at dinner, we’d always see them up on the Lido deck and catch up with them. I really love meeting new people on cruises, especially when they’re as nice as the ones we met this week.
Tonight’s dinner was very good. I started with the Strawberry Bisque, which is one of my favorite dinner items, and then had the Baked Stuffed White Mushrooms, which were sinfully delicious. I gave mom a piece and she liked it so much that she ordered one, too! Stephanie started with the Minestrone soup and thought it was pretty good, and a fruit plate (which she ordered nearly every night), and mom had a shrimp cocktail and a caesar salad (like she did every night) and an order of the mushrooms. For dinner, I had the prime rib with LOTS of horseradish. It was a bit fatty, but otherwise good. Mom had the lobster and thought it was alright…certainly not the best she’s ever had. I don’t remember what Stephanie ordered. For dessert, I pre-ordered her a Congratulations cake for her graduation and our servers sang her a nice little congratulations song.
Minestrone Soup
Strawberry Bisque
Baked Stuffed White Mushrooms
Prime Rib
Stephanie and her cake
After dinner, we went upstairs to go with grandma to the Lido deck for her dinner. Stephanie changed out of her dress and went down to the Phantom Lounge to save seats for us. Because grandma is in a wheelchair and handicap seating is limited, and there were so many ECV’s on the boat, Stephanie went down to save us some seats while Mom and I went with Grandma to Horatio’s. I had a coffee and some Cherries Jubilee because we didn’t get dessert menus with Stephanie’s cake being our dessert. After dinner, we headed down to the show.
“Generations” was a show that had the hits going through the years. I remembered it vaguely from our prior cruise on the Miracle, but it wasn’t nearly as good as our two favorite shows: “Rock Down Broadway” and “Ticket to Ride,” which we’d see later in the week. Grandma really enjoyed it, and the show was really well produced and was visually captivating.
After the show, we walked around the boat a bit and sat in the lobby “people watching.” I think I played a few dollars in the slots and lost. We eventually headed back to our rooms to get changed and relax. We found a towel dude waiting for us on Stephanie’s bed, with some chocolates and our Capers for the next day.
Around midnight, we’d usually head up to the Lido deck for the late night grill or some pizza, but we were comfy in our room, so we ordered room service. Our food arrived quickly and it was really good. Carnival had changed the room service menus since our last cruise and we liked the changes. I ordered a crudite plate with blue cheese dressing, a roast beef sandwich, and a slice of cheesecake. Stephanie had a BLT (I think) and a flan. The roast beef sandwich with brie was excellent (but they switched up my chips with Stephanie’s pretzels…but it was okay because we shared). The cheesecake was surprisingly good, as was the flan.
BLT
Roast beef with brie
Crudites
Cheesecake
Flan
I went over to check on Mom and grandma and they were fast asleep. Stephanie and I stayed up for awhile longer, going through the Capers and watching Nancy Grace and Showbiz Tonight before falling asleep.
