The World’s Longest Miracle Review, Part 9featured
We woke up today, our cabin was very warm and we were docked in Nassau. And it was Mom’s birthday! We cruise every year on her birthday week, and I think it’s awesome that she’s usually in a different country for her birthday every year (except for 2006, when we debarked the ship the day before her birthday and spent her birthday in Disneyland and Beverly Hills, and 2005, when we spent her birthday driving home from our first trip on the Miracle). I distracted Mom a bit the night before by asking her to help me do some really really late night laundry so Stephanie could decorate her room. Mom LOVED it. We were offput, however, when someone stole the cheap foil flowers we put in her mailbox. Seriously? You’re going on a cruise and you’re going to steal foil flowers? For what purpose? I don’t get it.
Anyways. We were docked in Nassau with a Disney ship and another Carnival ship would come in that afternoon (one of -ation ships, I believe). We hate Nassau. It’s not very clean, the downtown area leaves much to be desired and you have to avoid the main street that goes from the dock straight to Senor Frogs if you want to avoid be hassled by panhandlers and locals who want to offer you tours or want donations (I hate to say it, but you have to be careful of the children, too. Stephanie and I were walking to Senor Frogs a few years ago and some kids gave us “welcome” bracelets as a momento of Nassau. Free of charge. Just a gift. Until we said thank you, and they expected a donation for their schools. We tried to give them $5 each, but they told us it wasn’t enough and they knew we could afford more since we were “rich American’s.” We really couldn’t- I don’t carry much cash on me in the Bahamas since it’s not that nice and they accept credit cards at most of the places where we shop there). And then there’s the rain. We’ve gotten stuck in tropical storms (the worst of which was Tropical Storm Barry in 2007) here nearly every visit (save for our last one in 2008). We’ve been here at least four times. Stephanie rarely gets off the ship here. Grandma dislikes it so much that she never got off after the first time we went here on our very first cruise. But today was Mom’s birthday and the sun was out and it was HOT. We were hopeful for a good day in one of our least favorite ports.
At first, we were going to just souvenir shop and then go to Senor Frogs and spend the day on the boat. In all of our visits to Nassau, we’d never done an excursion and I really, really wanted to see what the hype was about over at the Atlantis. I wanted to do the Atlantis Aquaventure, but at $155/person, that was a hard sell on Mom and Stephanie. When we got on the boat, we thought about doing the beach day, and at $89/person, it was relatively inexpensive for us. After the day in Half Moon Cay, even Stephanie was a bit beached out, so we decided to do the Discover Atlantis tour for $49/person and then head to Senor Frogs since we had a long day in dock.
Our tour didn’t leave until 11:30, so we slept in pretty late and had a leisurely breakfast up on the Lido deck. I realized that we still hadn’t, and weren’t likely to, have breakfast in the MDR, but I was okay with that. If the choice came down to being served breakfast and a nicer menu versus sleeping in an extra hour or getting a prime deck chair, I’ll take the extra hour of sleep or deck chair.
We headed back to the rooms after breakfast to watch the news and see what was going on in the rest of the world. The CNN HLN forecast for Nassau promised partly cloudy and hot, and it looked about right. We soon headed down to the gangway to debark. We were docked at the FURTHEST area of the port, near some very impressive yachts. We usually dock right in front of the port terminal. We checked in for our tour and were given our bracelets before making the lengthy walk to the terminal, where the busses were. They had anyone with mobility issues take a rickety looking van that belongs to the pier as a shuttle.
Once we were on the busses, it wasn’t a long drive across the bridge to the Atlantis resort. We saw the Comfort Inn where people rent rooms to get access to the Aquaventure for cheap, but that’s a bit of a trek away, especially in hot weather. We were dropped off and told to remember where we were, because that was the pickup point. All excursions at the Atlantis had an at-leisure return every half-hour until 5:00, I believe (our back onboard time was 5:30). We were separated into groups of 20 or so for a guided tour, however if you don’t want to participate in the tour, you certainly can do it at your leisure. For this excursion, however, the particular bracelet you get will only get you access to the resort and the Dig/aquarium. It will not get you into the Aquaventure OR the beach.
The Atlantis is a very nice hotel, but it seemed more like an upscale Vegas resort than a luxurious tropical getaway. We entered near one of the lobbies, in the area where the upscale shopping is. It was a bit like shopping on Beverly when we were in LA with high-end designers everywhere we looked. Versace. Ferragamo. Gucci. Cartier. Bulgari. Now this? This is my kind of paradise! Our tour guide showed us the first of three expansive glass sculptures that the Atlantis had commissioned. I think she said they cost over a million dollars…that’s a lot of glass!
From there, we entered the casino (which we were allowed to use if we wanted to, either by leaving the tour or after the tour), where the other two sculptures were. No picture-taking is allowed in the casino of the tables or machines, but they will allow you to take pictures of the sculptures. It was early in the afternoon when we entered the casino, but it’s very dark and smoky in there. Lots of tables, lots of slot machines, lots of people. Like I said before, a lot like Vegas.
We went through a corridor with more shops on our way out of the casino. Some people wanted to stop to use- and some to even just see- the bathrooms. This exasperated the tour guide a bit- she was a fantastic guide and very personable, but she has to give many tours throughout the day and she’s not supposed to stop and wait. But she did, and we waited about 10 minutes so everyone who wanted to could see the bathrooms. We headed towards the lobby and she pointed out Atlantis’ throne, which she recommended as a photo stop before we left. Stephanie really wanted to do this, but we totally forgot since we didn’t pass it on our way out. The lobby we were in (I don’t remember the name of it since the Atlantis has multiple lobbies) was stunning, with soft artwork and high domed ceilings. There was something new to see everywhere we went.
After the lobby, we entered the main part of the tour- the Dig. We stepped down the stairs and flashed our bracelet at the security guard at the entrance before entering the Dig, which is an unbelievable underground aquarium maze of 13 (I believe) different chambers, each one depicting a different “scene” of the underwater land of Atlantis. We were guided through the cool tunnels and our guide told us about the various species and the scenery. There really aren’t words to describe the experience. It’s mystical and dark and intrinsically detailed. Aquarium tanks are all around, some with mixed species of fish and other sea life and others with one species. My favorite were the eels (which were sticking out of pots as if they were part of a scene in a video game) and the jelly fish, which were absolutely mesmerizing. And then there was the predator tunnel where you walk through a tunnel that goes straight through a shark tank. But really, there are no words that really describe it. But there are pictures, and you know how many words they’re supposedly worth…
After the Dig, we were given a tour of the outdoor tanks and gardens on our way to the predator tank. It was really hot, super humid and the clouds were turning gray. Now this was the Nassau weather I’ve come to know and loathe. We had done a lot of walking, stair climbing and still standing. I was hot and achy. This tour, if taken as a guided tour as opposed to touring yourself at your leisure, really should have an activity level of two. It’s rather faced-paced at parts and many people in the group started with us and ended going at their leisure when they couldn’t keep up with the guide.
Outside, they have the tanks for the baby sharks and baby rays, amongst other sea species. The gardens are well-manicured and the waterfalls were gorgeous (and similar to the ones they have at the Gaylord Palms, which is my favorite resort). The guide showed us the bridge suite (or, as they call it, the Michael Jackson suite, because he was the first guest to stay there). At $25,000 a night, with a five-night minimum stay, I don’t think even Michael Jackson can afford to stay there anymore.
The last part of our tour was the predator tunnel. We had to go through one of the outdoor restaurants and down more stairs to get down to it. The predator tunnel has a few more aquarium tanks (including one with octopi), but the main part is a glass tunnel that goes through the shark tank. We ran a bit ahead of the group so we could get uncrowded pictures in it.
The predator tunnel was the last part of the tour. We were taken back up a few stairs (and ramps) to the gardens and into a different lobby from where we started. I wish they had given us a map so we could have more easily found our way back to where we needed to be.
Stephanie was insanely thirsty, so we stopped at a bar so she could get a diet Coke. At $4.00 for a short glass of soda, it better be the best diet Coke in the world! We wanted to buy some souvenirs, so we looked in some of the hotel boutiques. There was a commissary not far from the bar that had bottled drinks and snacks that were far less expensive than the $4.00 pop and a few clothing stores. We found a logo shop that had a lot of Atlantis stuff, so we bought some very overpriced souvenirs there because we didn’t want to go back to the Dig to the aquarium store where the fun souvenirs were. We made our way back to the high-end boutique area that we entered from and made the short walk over to our bus stop, where we barely made it onto the shuttle.
Now, that’s where the pictures end until we’re back on board. Why, you might ask?
That’s right, we got stuck in ANOTHER tropical storm. Bright and sunny morning, gray, foggy and pouring by the afternoon. I hate Nassau. It started raining when we were on the shuttle…just a little drizzle. Nothing to be worried about, I thought. We’d just walk briskly towards Senor Frogs, have a little lunch, and then we’d skip the shopping and just go back to the boat unless it stopped raining. Wrong. It was coming down in sheets, with high winds to boot, by the time we got off the shuttle. And of course, we were docked at the furthest possible spot. It had to be a half-mile walk easily from the street we were deposited on across from the cruise terminal to the ship. We passed the port security (where they do require a photo ID with your ship card) and saw the line for the rickety shuttle van. There were easily 40 people waiting, likely more, for a van that didn’t hold more than 8-10 passengers at a time. But we saw one of the more traditional looking shuttles, with a thin roof and open sides and some people sitting on it, so we decided to join them. After about 10 minutes and getting totally soaked (thank goodness I had room in my purse for my SLR camera, since I didn’t want to lug around my camera bag and extra lenses), we learned that this shuttle would not be used at all that day and was just parked and we could get in line, which was even deeper than before. No thanks. I’m already wet and cranky, waiting in a crowded line of people with no order or orderly way of getting on the shuttle was not going to put me in a better mood. So we walked. And I was wearing white. And flip flops. And a canvas Coach handbag. I felt so unbelievably gross. Nothing feels worse than wearing soaking wet clothes…except for wet denim, which I thankfully forewent that morning in favor of some leggings.
It took forever to get back on the boat because there are little huts on the sidewalks on the way to the ship. The rain would pour, and then it would REALLY pour, and when it REALLY poured, we tried to wait it out. And then we had to get back in line to get back on the boat because some people didn’t keep their cards out and had to search through their bags for them (rookie mistake, obviously). It was still relatively early (around 2:30pm, and we were free to roam Nassau until 5:30pm) and I really wanted to go to Senor Frogs for Mom’s birthday. Stephanie and Mom didn’t want to bother so we compromised and Mom finally relented and told us we could go to the supper club that night. Our experiences have been off and on in Carnival’s supper clubs for Mom (I’ve always enjoyed them immensely) and I had been almost begging Mom all week to make a reservation there and she had been on the fence. So Stephanie made a reservation for 6:30pm that evening while I changed into some dry clothes.
It turned out to be a great decision because the weather only got worse from there. We were very lucky that our balcony had a very long overhang, which kept us (and it) dry. There was even more rain (if that was even possible) after we got back on board, lots of fog and wind, and even some lightning strikes, but we were nice and dry on the balcony while we waited for Mom to change and grandma to get ready so we could all go grab some lunch.
We went upstairs for lunch and Horatio’s was relatively uncrowded. We quickly found a table and didn’t find any lines getting food (but lines were rare on the Lido even in prime dining hours because it’s set up and spread out so well. Lines were frequent at the Taste of Nations and at the Deli because every sandwich is made to order and they sometimes have to stop and shave more deli meat, but the lines were never unbearably bad). After lunch, we headed back to the rooms to watch TV and rest. Tonight was the big deck party and so it would likely be another late night. It started to clear up a little bit and I was kind of wishing we could go out again, but given the unpredictable nature of the weather in Nassau, we made the right decision staying in.
We got ready a bit early and decided to hang out on our balcony with some individual wine boxes (they weren’t that good, but that was a given since we bought them at Target) that we brought on. It was clearing up a little bit more and we watched people stagger back to the ship from Senor Frogs.
Now, here’s a PSA for everyone who wears motion sickness patches. You might notice that Stephanie is wearing her glasses. She almost NEVER wears her glasses. So why is she wearing them? Because she went nearly blind that morning and had no idea why. She thought it was a defective set of contacts that was making her vision blurry, even when she was holding something a foot or so from her face (and her vision isn’t nearly THAT bad). So she switched the pair and had the same problem. Then she put on her glasses and had the same problem. She was freaked out and had no idea what was happening or why. Later that night, it hit her: she touched her patch and forgot to wash her hands and then touched her eyes. It was a temporary effect that lasted a day or so, but it really scared her, especially given that we were on a cruise ship. So, if you wear a motion sickness patch, make sure you thoroughly wash your hands each and every time you touch it. And don’t touch your eyes if you touch your patch.
We headed up to Nick and Nora’s a few minutes early, and they happily seated us despite our early arrival. I love the look and feel of Nick and Nora’s at night. It’s dark with soft lighting and very intimate and romantic.
It was nearly empty in the supper club. This has always been our experience on Carnival. Despite the fantastic food and excellent service, it’s always empty when we go. We had more full tables around us than ever before- five. In the entire restaurant, which uses two floors, there weren’t more than 10 tables being served between 6:15 and 8:00. One of those tables was a table of 10 Carnival employees. Karuna later told us that the staff frequently eats at Nick and Nora’s on cruises that aren’t anywhere near capacity. She ate there a few times on the repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale to New York. We were seated at a half-booth near the windows that had an excellent view of our least favorite island and the Disney ship that was docked with us.
I’d like to say I brought back some pictures of different foods than we had in January, but we liked it so much that we, for the most part, ordered the same things again (except for Stephanie, who deviated from her usual main course and dessert). Our server was excellent, and even though we’ve dined at Carnival’s supper clubs several times before (and three times at Nick and Nora’s), she still took us through all of the cuts of meat and the specials that weren’t shown on the cart.
We started with the traditional amuse bouche, compliments of the chef. I was brought some sort of shrimp and caviar taster, which I played around with but didn’t eat (you know me and seafood…) and Mom and Stephanie were both brought some sort of tuna taster. Since the only tuna both of them eat is canned, they barely touched theirs. Both were beautifully presented, though.
Shrimp and Caviar
Tuna
The bread basket came around next, filled with brioche and focaccia, amongst other carb-laden delights, and a tray of tomato tapenade, fresh butter and eggplant tapenade was placed on the table. I don’t care for tapenades or oily dips and spreads so I stuck with the buter, but I miss the tray of different butters. I loved the truffle butter they used to serve. The bread basket came around frequently, and the fresh-baked breads are SO good, but if you don’t watch it, your full stomach will sneak up on you and you will have no room for dessert. I had the brioche and it was absolutely decadent.
Brioche
Butter and Spreads
We started with our usuals- shrimp cocktail for Mom, onion soup for Stephanie and beef carpaccio for me. Mom’s shrimp cocktail was beautifully presented in a long-stemmed martini glass and the shrimp were far larger than anything you’ll ever see in the MDR. Stephanie’s onion soup needed a bit of salt, but was very good and melty. My beef carpaccio wasn’t as good as last time. Maybe it’s because I declined the freshly-ground pepper. The beef was nicely marbled, thinly sliced and drizzled with premium extra virgin olive oil. On the side was an excellent fig pate and a few small crisps. I like the beef carpaccio a lot, but I think it’s a bit too heavy for a starter because I’m always full after half of it.
Shrimp Cocktail
Baked Onion Soup “Les Halles”
Beef Carpaccio
Somewhere in between the appetizer course and the salad course, the skies blackened up and rain started REALLY pouring again. We made the right decision after all. We were still docked and I didn’t know if we’d be able to leave anytime soon because visibility became nearly nil very quickly. If you can’t see the Atlantis from the ship, there’s a problem, and the Atlantis was blurred out by fog. Soon after the Atlantis faded into the fog, the Lido deck started flooding. There were a good few centimeters of standing water on the track near Nick and Nora’s. And then there was the lightning. It was one of the worst storms we’ve ever been in on a cruise, but that’s what we get for cruising so close to hurricane season.
Our next course came with the stormy weather. Stephanie and I both had the spinach salad, which was fresh spinach, large pieces of crumbled bacon and lots of various mushrooms in a blue cheese vinaigrette. It was as fantastic as it always is. The spinach was slightly wilted and soft and I liked the juxtaposition between the soft spinach, the crunchy bacon pieces and the firm mushrooms. Mom had a garden salad with the house dressing (which was olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and some herbs) and thought it was very good.
Baby Leaf Spinach and Fresh Mushrooms
Tossed Garden Salad
Everything was so good and rich, and my stomach was quickly approaching full when our entrees showed up. Mom talked for days about “if we go to the supper club…” she really wanted to try the dover sole. But she ordered the Surf and Turf, which is a petite filet and a small lobster tail. Go figure. Both were fantastic, and the steak was expertly grilled to well done (Mom won’t eat any meat that isn’t gray in the middle or has ANY juices coming out or on the plate). Stephanie had the chicken and thought it was really good and she really liked the berry sauce that accompanied it. I had the 9-oz. filet mignon. I wish they had a smaller one. I barely got through half of it. It was fantastic and everything the dining room filet was not. It was soft, it had no gristle or fat and it was prepared perfectly medium/medium-well. I also requested a side of béarnaise sauce. We all had the wasabi mashed potatoes and had mixed reactions to them. Mom thought they were good but not great, Stephanie thought they left a funny aftertaste and didn’t care for them, and I loved them but thought they weren’t as good as last time and needed more wasabi. I really dislike how they unceremoniously spoon the sides onto your plate. It doesn’t match the level of sophistication of the restaurant or the careful plating done by the chefs. Maybe next time we’ll ask for our sides on a small plate instead of on our main plates.
Surf and Turf
Broiled Supreme of Free Range Chicken
Broiled Filet Mignon
The same filet with the Wasabi Mashed Potatoes
While we were digesting the enormous amounts of fine food we’d just consumed, I started doing what I do best: talking baseball to the two people who couldn’t care less- Mom and Stephanie. I interned in the sports department at a TV station in Chicago during college. I’m a huge sports fan, and we take our sports seriously in Chicago. Yesterday, Mom came into our room in the morning and told us she heard Carlos Zambrano’s name on CNN. This was odd, but not out of the realm of possibility if you know of him and his potential and talent, and also for his propensity for on-field antics and his raw emotion for the game. So I narrowed it down to four things: he threw another no-hitter (he threw one last September), he hit a game-winning grand slam (he’s a great hitting pitcher), he hurt himself again (it was his first start back off the DL after hurting himself at a game I was at the week before we left) or he did something crazy and got himself suspended or fined. Even Stephanie was intrigued. So we flipped through Good Morning America, through the Colorado news stations (the only feed the ship carries of ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX is from Colorado…go figure), and CNN Headline News. We were about to give up when the sports segment comes on CNN and the first thing they cover? One of their favorite pitchers on one of their favorite teams and the headline “MAJOR LEAGUE MELTDOWN.” Do I know my team or what? All I knew was at some point, he threw his glove into the stands, tried to eject an umpire and took a bat to the Gatorade machine in the dugout. None of this surprised me. I love his fire and passion and just hoped he didn’t hurt his throwing arm.
So I was talking about this with Mom and Stephanie, who really didn’t want to hear it, and the guy at the table across from us having a romantic meal with his wife overhears starts talking baseball with me (the wife thought it was amusing). Then, the guy sitting next to me eating solo also joined in. The man with his wife was a big Phillies fan and the guy next to us was a Cardinals fan (as a Cubs fan, I was okay with this so long as he wasn’t a Brewer’s fan). We must have dominated the entire section of the supper club for 20 minutes just talking baseball and stats. I saw some other guys looking like they wanted to join in our conversation but thought better of ticking off their wives or girlfriends with sports talk. The Phillies fan told me he’d never seen a woman who knew so much about sports and that I’d make a great wife someday. I tend to agree…so long as my husband isn’t a Brewer’s fan ;o)
Dessert came towards the tail end of our baseball chatter. Mom’s apple tarte tartin came with a candle and my new baseball friends decided that the entire restaurant should sing to Mom to compensate for her having to listen to us talk baseball for so long. It was a very nice gesture, but Mom enjoyed the gesture more than the tarte tartin. She picked at it, and I’m not sure if she didn’t like the taste or if she was just too full to do more than pick. Stephanie and I both had the quad of chocolate desserts. I have never finished this before and this was no exception. It’s very rich and decadent, with a banana flavored chocolate cake, tiramisu, dark chocolate pate and flourless chocolate cake, all with their own accompaniments. Carnival used to bring out a tray of gourmandises and truffles for the table to share at the end of the meal, but we have not received these our past two visits, nor have we seen them anywhere in the restaurant, so I feel safe saying they’ve been cut.
Washington Apple Tarte Tartin
Chocolate Tarte with Bitter Chocolate Pate
Gratuity is included in the price of the meal, but our meal was so fantastic that we decided to leave an extra gratuity for our servers. We went to check on grandma, who was still sleeping. She was feeling really icky from the constant changes in weather. We went on a walk for a bit to walk off the crazy fullness we were feeling and went back to the room to wait because Mom’s cake was going to be delivered and found a new towel animal. The cake was delivered around 8:30pm and we all had small slivers because we couldn’t muster eating much more after the meal we’d had.
Grandma still wasn’t feeling well so we brought dinner back to the room for her (one of the benefits of staying right below the Lido deck). I realized that we missed our favorite MDR dessert- bitter and blanc! So even though I was very full, I still brought one back to the room to have a taste of. No cruise is complete if you don’t have any bitter and blanc.
We watched CNN Headline News while grandma ate and the weather came on saying it was partly cloudy but otherwise sunny in Nassau. LIARS!
We missed some of the games and trivia I wanted to do, but we did make it to the guest talent show at 10:15. Only two people signed up to sing, but they were given plenty of gifts for their participation (ships on a stick, bottles of champagne, certificate signed by the captain and some other goodies). After they sang, Percy Crews did a comedy show, but we didn’t stay for much of that and ended up in the atrium hanging out and people watching. The cruise was quickly drawing to a close and none of us were ready for it to end.
The weather cleared up enough for the deck party to go on, but food was inside instead of outside. There was music, dancing and games, and plenty of food. We were too full from dinner (still, four or five hours after dinner ended…that’s how big the meal is) to have anything other than iced tea and lemonade. But I still took pictures and looked around and Carnival really outdid themselves with this buffet. The Grand Gala Buffet was nice, but a lot of the food wasn’t really munchable. It was prettier moreso than good tasting. The mexican buffet has pretty food that tastes phenomenal (or, it did in January…no clue how this food tasted). Steak quesadillas, shrimp quesadillas, empanadas, tacos, make your own nachos and an entire dessert spread to boot. Mom was fast asleep, but we brought her down a slice of strawberry shortcake and took down a flan to eat if we got hungry while we watched movies.
We headed back to the room for movies and between the heavy dinner, the drinks at the show and the rough seas, I was feeling a bit queasy. I took an anti-nausea pill and we watched movies for a bit before going to sleep. We were hoping for clear skies and a sunny day at sea tomorrow, but given the weather we’d already encountered, we weren’t hopeful. But we had a ship full of activities and it was our last formal night.
Up Next: Don’t Flat Iron Your Hair While Watching Baseball and Our Second to Last Day at Sea.
Today’s Lido Lunch menus
Today’s Lido Dinner menu (sorry, it wasn’t posted so I wrote it down)
Baked Virginia Ham
Raisin Sauce
Tom Ka Gai Soup
White Rice
Assorted Seafood Newburg
Mixed Garden Vegetables
Steak Fries
Farfalle “Alfredo”
