The World’s Longest Freedom Review: Part 6.2featured

When the Princess Diaries II finished, we started getting ready for our elegant evening. Now, usually we’d be running super late trying to make it over to the Captain’s Cocktail Party, but that’s since fallen by the wayside in favor of a cocktail hour on the promenade bars where drinks are $1 off and a farewell party later in the week. I liked this change a lot (and I’ll touch on it more when I get to our last night when we went to the farewell party). It allowed us more time to get ready and I thought the farewell party was much nicer than the cocktail party ever was.

So after we got ready, Stephanie and I went out to the little deck in front of our room to take our obligatory formal wear pictures and then we headed down to the disco bar for some drinks. I think we had few rounds of vodka cranberries in the nearly empty disco before heading off to dinner.

When we got to dinner, there were Mardi Gras beads decorating the table. I thought the touch was adorable, but unfortunately, all it did was serve to remind us that Mardi Gras was going on and the entertainment staff had planned nothing to celebrate it. In addition to that, this was opening week of the Olympics and that wasn’t even acknowledged, either. They didn’t even air some of the events on the big screen when nothing else was being played. Oh, and let’s not forget it was Valentines Day and they didn’t acknowledge that, either. I thought these were three big missed opportunities by the entertainment staff to really get creative and make some fun and they just decided not to. I mean, come on. Mardi Gras! Have a deck party or something! On our last trip on the Miracle, we had two or three deck parties! Play some music, host some games, throw out some beads. Do *something*.

Dinner tonight was fantastic on the overall. Really, I can’t say enough how tasty the MDR food was this week and just how amazing our dining staff were. If we liked something, they were quick to ask if we’d like another, always great with the suggestions, always addressed us by our names and remembered our preferences and both of them were just so pleasant to talk to. We all started with the Baked Stuffed White Mushrooms (spinach, Romano cheese and fine herbs) and they were sooooo good but so very rich. Even though we sit alone at dinner, we almost always make friends with neighboring tables and the table next to us saw the mushrooms and all had to have their server go get them some just because they looked so good. I’m telling you guys…these are amazing. Order them from the get-go.

Baked Stuffed White Mushrooms

Mom also had her usual starters of shrimp cocktail and a caesar salad. She thinks that the shrimp get progressively smaller with each trip we take. Stephanie ordered the Greek Farmer Salad (Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, olives and feta cheese, tossed with vinaigrette) for her salad course. This salad has been on the menu for a few years and it seems to change each time (it also used to be served with chicken kebobs, but those were cut a year or so ago when they began cutting the proteins out of the salads). Stephanie thought it was just okay, but that there were too many green olives overpowering the flavor. I ordered the Strawberry Bisque and it was just as amazing as it always is. It’s poured tableside (nice touch, Carnival, but entirely unnecessary) and it’s really just like a thinner, more flavorful strawberry milkshake with lots of mint.

Shrimp Cocktail

Caesar Salad

Greek Farmer Salad

Strawberry Bisque

For her main course, Mom had the Duet of Broiled Maine Lobster Tail and Grilled Jumbo Black Tiger Shrimp (Yukon Gold potato mash and roasted broccoli florets) and Mom thought it was just fantastic…one of the best she’d ever had in the MDR. Bawa offered to bring her another, but she was more than full with the one since she thought it was bigger than the ones she’d had in the past few years.

Duet of Broiled Maine Lobster Tail and Grilled Jumbo Black Tiger Shrimp

Stephanie and I both ordered the Tender Roasted Prime Rib of American Beef au Jus (Cooked to perfection, Baked potato with traditional accompaniments) and the best thing I can say about it is that Stephanie is *not* a steak or meat person at all and she really, really enjoyed it. I thought it was the best prime rib I’d ever had on board. It wasn’t all that fatty, the meat was tender and so flavorful. I’m honestly getting hungry just remembering it. After they bring your plate, one of your servers comes around with a tray of au jus, horseradish, sour cream and bacon bits and will prepare your plate to your liking. Me? Au jus and lots of horseradish.

Tender Roasted Prime Rib of American Beef au Jus

Bawa had told us that tonight would be a special night because it was Valentines Day and they had prepared a special dessert for us. The “special dessert” was a gorgeous heart-shaped flourless chocolate cake. It was rich, it was chocolatey and it was sinfully delicious. I really only got a few bites in because I was so full and it was so rich, but it was just amazing. Along with our special dessert, we were given red carnations. The dining staff really went above and beyond to make this a festive day with both Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day and it really made for a fun evening, but it just highlighted the lacksidasical nature of the entertainment staff, who didn’t acknowledge or plan for either of these events.

Valentines Day Dessert

After dinner, we headed back to the rooms so Stephanie could change and to take grandma to dinner. I was wearing these gorgeous new shoes that I’m totally in love with but totally couldn’t walk in anymore (four inch heels don’t mesh with rocky seas) so I took ’em off on the way back to the room thinking that there wouldn’t be any broken glass on the carpeting. Later in the week, I saw lots of broken glass on the carpet, so do as I say, not as I do: don’t take your shoes off and walk barefoot. No shards up the foot this time, but you never know with the next time.

Stephanie went off to the Victoriana to get seats for the show and I went with Mom and grandma up to the Lido deck. Grandma made friends with the Lido restaurant manager, Virgil, and she would come over and talk with us every time she saw us up on deck. Virgil had recently lost her mother and her grandmother wasn’t doing too well (Virgil was actually leaving to go see her a week or two after we debarked) and I think grandma made her feel more connected to her family. People like her are the reason I can never really say enough good things about the staff on the boat. Anything we wanted up on Lido, Virgil would make sure we had. She would come and chat with us whenever she saw us, address us by name…outside of the entertainment staff, I really can’t say enough good things about the staff around the rest of the ship.

As for grandma’s dinner, she had steak for dinner. For real. They had flat iron steaks up on the Lido deck (along with most of the other foods that were served in the MDR that evening). They weren’t cooked to order (you could choose from medium-rare or medium-well), but I thought it was a nice touch that people who don’t want to get dressed up for dinner can still get a steak and a really good dinner with lots of options up on the Lido deck in a more casual environment.

Mom and grandma hung around the Lido and chatted with Virgil for awhile and we made plans for them to meet us for the second show (Stephanie and I like to see the big production shows twice…so you can only imagine how many times we’ve seen Ticket to Ride). I went back to the room and changed into something more casual and headed off to the theater.

The Victoriana Lounge is probably the largest at-sea theater we’d ever been in. Huge. And it’s just stunning, with blue tones and a breathtaking chandelier. There’s always something to look at in the public areas on Carnival ships, but in the theaters in particular, I could just spend hours looking at everything. Even on the Miracle, where I’ve spent countless hours in the Phantom Lounge and seen dozens of shows, I can find something new every time I’m there.

The show tonight was one we’d never seen before, The Big Easy, and it was all about the music and influences of New Orleans. The show started kind of slowly but it really picks up in the middle of it. The dancing and choreography was just amazing and the singers (Sam Boyers and Bobby Broughton) were probably the best duo we’ve seen at sea. And not only were they fantastic singers, they were AMAZING dancers! Really. Normally, they kind of adjust the choreography for the singers, but these singers kept up with the dancers and the normal choreography. It was a really fun show. What was kind of annoying, though, was CD Felipe’s pre-recorded pre-show spiel so he could sit and flirt with his girlfriend instead of introducing the show. That and more missed opportunities to celebrate Mardi Gras. They didn’t even mention it.

Mom and grandma met up with us to see the second show and I ran back to the room to take my contacts out because my eyes felt like they’d been scrubbed with sandpaper (the air on the boat was insanely dry all week long). When I got back to the room, waiting on Stephanie’s bed, was the last part of our Valentine’s Day surprise from Mom- two pink roses.

We walked around and looked in the shops for a bit after the show and we ultimately ended up at the Midnight Bites area to have some nibbles and listen to some of the live music coming from the casino (where they had some really great live performances all week long that drew a lot of crowds).

The boat was really rocking. It wasn’t storming out, but we were stuck in rough seas all week. A lot of people were just really sick all week. I was sleepy all week and grandma could barely keep her eyes open so we took her back to the room and then headed back out to the promenade. I heard the opening notes to Tik Tok playing as we walked past the disco and dragged Mom and Stephanie in with me.

We headed off to the piano bar after that, but we really didn’t spend much time in there because it was super crowded every time we were there. We ended up at the pizzeria around 1:30 am and grabbed some slices. It was the first and last slice I had all week. Just wasn’t good. I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t taste like the pizza I’m used to on Carnival. Hopefully, it was just isolated to that ship and this voyage.

We missed the last movie showing on the big screen (Angels and Demons), so we just headed back to the room and watched some TV and made plans for the next day. We’d be docked in Cozumel tomorrow and though I wanted to go to the beach (which if you know me, you’ll know I almost never want to do since most beaches gross me out, but the last time we were in Cozumel, we had an amazing day at Playa Mia) I was overruled and we were just going to kind of play the day by ear. Mom and Stephanie wanted to find a pharmacy downtown, I wanted to find some sangria and the rest? That was up to whatever the day brought.

Today’s Lido lunch menus

Today’s Lido dinner menu