New York is Thatta Way, Man: Just Another SaUD Miracle Review- May, 2010 (Part 9)featured
When it rains, it pours. Ohhhh how it pours. And when you’re in a Bahamian island with me, it’ll always pour. I have that kind of luck.
I knew I shouldn’t have gotten on that tender. We woke up on Half Moon Cay morning at 7:30 am. Stephanie loves beaches and she demanded we get an early start. The skies were gray and ominous. We got to breakfast on the Lido deck (Mom and grandma were going to skip the beach and sleep in…enjoy the ship) and the skies only got darker. Malcolm came over the ship’s PA and told us that once the big storm cloud passed, we’d be in the clear.
I shouldn’t have gotten on that tender.
Breakfast up on Lido was pretty solid. There were more new options (like fruit-filled wontons). But I couldn’t concentrate on breakfast. I was begging Stephanie to stay onboard and let us skip Half Moon Cay.
Here’s the thing: Stephanie loves beaches. All beaches. Any beaches. And she’s certain that HMC is the closest we’ll ever get to paradise. I hate beaches. I really hate beaches. They just seem so…dirty. And the only tolerable beaches to me are the ones at five-star resorts where there’s a pool nearby for me to swim in since I’m clearly not an ocean swimming kind of girl. The one thing I hate more than beaches? Rain. I hate rain. I hate getting wet. There’s few things that feel worse than getting stuck in a rain storm and getting soaked to the bone (see: Nicole in Nassau, 2007 and 2009). Naturally, Stephanie won, so off to the Phantom Lounge we went. At around 8:45 am, we got tender tags for the second tender, and they started tendering early so we were really waiting for only a few minutes.
And, you guessed it, once we were safely on the tender and pulling away from the ship, the rain started. And it was raining hard (because, you know, when it rains, it pours). And when we got off the tender? Yep. Still raining.
At this point, I decide we should just catch the next tender back to the boat since it didn’t look like the rain would break. Stephanie was sure it would, so we huddled under the first bar hut we found and waited for it to let up. And then we ran to get a clam shell (Stephanie’s reason for getting off the ship early, $17 for a full day). From then on, the rain was off…then on…then off…then on. Stephanie got to swim in the ocean for maybe 15 minutes. I sat in the clam shell and waited for the sun Stephanie was sure would come out at some point (you know…since Malcolm said this would pass).
And then the skies opened up. Like whoa. If when it rains, it pours, when it pours, you must be with me in a Bahamian island. It’s just my luck. So I’m stuck in a clam shell in the biggest downpour I’ve ever seen. Stephanie’s off trying to get a refund for our clam shell because this weather was clearly not going to get better. Oh, and a family that I’ve never met before comes into OUR clam shell, that we paid for, without asking. Hello, this is not your shelter and I’m pretty sure when Stephanie comes back, there won’t be room for you. But they had a baby, so I let them stay. But then Stephanie came back and they made no move to, well, move, until one of them left to get their own clam shell. Sigh. Beach. Rain. Crabby Nicole.
So no refunds (they told us to take it up on the ship and that we’d probably get a refund…we didn’t) and we decided to try to wait it out. I’m huddled up because I hate getting wet, so now I’m achy from contorting my body to avoid the rain and the rain just keeps coming harder. Stephanie wants to make a run for it. I’m afraid the rain will damage my camera. We wrap it in a towel, put the towel in her backpack, wrap her backpack in a towel and run for it. We’re soaked to the bone within seconds of leaving our temporary shelter.
So then we had to wait in line for the next tender. In the rain. And they kept pushing people with kids forward (despite the ages of said kids…pretty sure your nine-year-old isn’t any more likely to get pneumonia than I am), so we had to wait for ANOTHER tender because no one was allowed on the upper deck of the tender. So we’re soaked. I’m praying there’s no water damage to my iPhone in my pocket or my SLR camera in Stephanie’s backpack. And then we board the next tender, and there’s a good few inches of standing water. You never want to be on a small tender that’s got inches of standing water.
By this point, I have the chills. I’m soaked to the bone and shaking. Oh, and I have to keep my legs lifted up so my feet aren’t swimming in the standing water on the tender. We get off the tender and there’s staff handing out dry white towels (lots of good that’s going to do me at this point…I’m gonna drip water all the way to my room unless you wanna wrap me like a mummy in these shower towels) and taking our wet beach towels (and our room numbers so we wouldn’t get charged, but in the fracas of getting a hundred soaking wet and grumpy people off a tender and trying to get clean towels to them and get their room numbers, we worried everything would get lost in the fray. Alas, we were never charged, so I guess it did work out. At this point, Stephanie wanted me to make sure I wrote that she still thought the beach was beautiful. I didn’t care. There was a hot shower calling my name.
We went straight to Mom’s room to tell her we were back (I guess she was kind of worried because we were off on the island in a storm and she didn’t know the status of the tenders. It’s times like this we wish that our cell phones would work in international waters). She gave us all her dry towels to dry off with. I left my wet stuff in her room (she’s got more room than us anyways) and went right back to my room to take the hottest shower I’ve ever had. And it was glorious but short (had to leave some scalding water for Stephanie). At this point, I was still chilled to the bone and perhaps the only person on a Caribbean cruise in the very late spring to don sweats around the boat.
After Stephanie was showered, dry and changed into dry clothes, we went up to the Lido deck to grab some lunch and plot out the rest of our non-beach day. And at this point, I was just so thankful to have such a wonderful cruise staff. Even though it was a port day (a rained out port day, but a port day nonetheless), there were a ton of activities available to us so we didn’t spend the day wandering around the ship or in our room watching movies. So we poured over the Capers while we feasted on the Asian fare (I think it was Japanese that day, but seriously, the Asian station on the Miracle serves some of the best Lido fare we’ve found across the fleet).
We tried to go to Name That Jingle trivia in the Fountainhead, but it was insanely crowded so we just sat by the cafe, grabbed some news sheets and listened to the trivia game.
They announced on the loudspeaker that they had gotten clearance to open the casino early because I guess some of our fellow passengers were getting restless, so we just mosied on over there for a bit to take some spins on the slots.
We went to the sports bar for a little while after the casino (so I could watch the ticker…again) and then just kind of walked around a little bit. My favorite onboard activity might be just walking around the ship. There’s always something to see or discover or take a picture of. All kinds of people to meet, activities to stumble upon. Random wandering around the ship is an activity in and of itself.
They were showing Amelia on the big screen in the Madhatters Lounge while we were in trivia, but we didn’t really want to see it. It wasn’t in the Capers, but they were showing Avatar after Amelia, and since neither of us had seen it, we headed down to the Madhatter to watch. It was kind of a cool experience…very cozy. I kind of wish they had popcorn.
We left the movie early to go back to the room and change for dinner before meeting up with Mom. Dinner tonight wasn’t all that great. It’s one of the menus we usually skip in favor of the supper club. Mom started with her usual Shrimp Cocktail and Caesar Salad. Nothing exciting there. Stephanie started with a soup- the Yukon Gold Potato Soup (enhanced with cheese and garlic croutons)- and thought it was too heavy for a starter. She also had the Wilted Spinach and Portobello Mushrooms with Fresh Bacon Bits (walnut and blue cheese dressing) and really enjoyed it. She said it’s not as good as the spinach salad up in the supper club, but it’s a well-balanced salad nonetheless. I started with the Fried Mozzarella with Mixed Greens (served with marinara sauce) and thought it was passable. It tasted fine, but it wasn’t gooey like good fried mozzarella is. Instead, it was just kind of gloppy, fried congealed stuff. I also never quite know what to make of the “salad” they serve it with given they never dress the salad with anything other than olives and some fried garlic chips. I also had the Chilled Cream of Peaches and it was pretty good, even though I don’t typically like peaches. I think, though, that this was entirely too sweet to be a starter and would be greatly enhanced if herbed, like the Strawberry Bisque is.
Shrimp Cocktail
Yukon Gold Potato Soup
Wilted Spinach and Portobello Mushrooms with Fresh Bacon Bits
Fried Mozzarella with Mixed Greens
Chilled Cream of Peaches
None of the entrees really appealed to any of us, so we went with the always available menu- the grilled chicken for Stephanie and the flat iron steak for Mom and I. The flat iron steak was actually very good, but Stephanie really didn’t like the chicken (she said it was bland and dry).
Grilled Breast of Corn-Fed Chicken
Grilled Flat Iron Steak from American Choice Beef
Dessert was the best part of this meal (and is really the only reason we only skip this night every other cruise, really). Stephanie had the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, which was kind of the saving grace of her meal. She said it was the best thing she ate that meal and it was just as good as it always is. Mom had the Tiramisu (marscapone cheese with coffee and sweet chocolate) and thought it was absolutely scrumptious. By the time I could ask for a bite, she’d already polished it off! I went with the Bitter and Blanc (warm white and dark chocolate bread pudding with vanilla sauce). If you can take one tip from me- I’ll give you this: ORDER THE BITTER AND BLANC ON BITTER AND BLANC NIGHT. It will be the best thing you will eat all week. If I could eat one dessert food for the rest of my life, it would probably be this. SO good. It makes me want to book another cruise right now *just* so I can order it again. I skipped the cheese plate tonight. Just me and my Bitter and Blanc.
Warm Chocolate Melting Cake
Tiramisu
Bitter and Blanc
We decided to take a short walk around deck two to kind of walk off some of that heavy dessert. And so I could get to the sports bar to check the ticker. Again. This is what a week of no internet does to me in NBA postseason/MLB regular season time.
Stephanie, Mom and I headed back to the rooms so we could go up with grandma to the Lido deck for her dinner, but Stephanie and I wanted to change again (did I ever mention that in order to justify the massive quantities of luggage I bring, I try to change my clothes as much as I possibly can?). And both grandma and I were highly impressed by the options they had up on the Lido deck for her to choose from. Lamb. Port chops. Beef stroganoff. She was really able to enjoy most of the main course entrees they serve in the main dining room, but in a more casual environment where she could go at her own pace, on her own time.
And her nap while we were at dinner allowed her to be wide awake for tonight’s big show, Ticket to Ride, which you’ll know if you’ve read my previous reviews is one of the best shows on Carnival’s fleet. I still wasn’t feeling the male lead singer, though. He just totally lacked stage charisma and chemistry with the female lead singer. But on a positive note, that missing male dancer finally showed up. I don’t know if he was sick and feeling better or if they flew another dancer in, but we finally had a full production staff. And really, I can’t say enough about the dancers and their ability to dance so well and so in formation and coordinated on a constantly moving vessel.
Mom and grandma left after the first show, so Stephanie and I moved up as close as we could to the stage for the second show, ordered a few drinks and settled in for the second show. And while we were waiting for our drinks, Stephanie pointed out a couple that had settled in their seats…with their feet on the tables. Come on, folks. This isn’t your house. We aren’t your family. Let’s have some manners, okay? Drinks came, second show was even better than the first, but it had to be halted for a few minutes because the stage had a slippery spot that the dancers I guess had been complaining about and they wanted to mop it down. It was for the best- they do some complicated lifts during the show and it would be awful if someone got hurt because they didn’t want to stop the show.
After the show, we went to (you guess it) the sports bar…again. The Lakers won. The Cubs won. And Stephanie was being an awfully good sport about letting me obsessively check my scores. I think she’s just happy I stayed away from the interwebz during our trip (maybe she was hoping it would aide my cellular addiction…though I think I’m too far gone at this point).
We decided to go back to the room instead of to karaoke or the piano bar and we got into our jammies, ordered room service and watched Nancy Grace (which we seem to only do on cruise ships now). I don’t remember if I mentioned this earlier, but we found out that the lack of local channels wasn’t due to cutbacks but because the ship was having trouble with the satellite feed. A little relieved knowing that the next time we sail, I’ll be able to watch my American Idol.
So we went to bed with no clear plans for our next day in Nassau. If past precedent had any indication, we should probably just stay on the boat lest we get stuck in another downpour, but I had an idea and I really wanted to see if I could work it out.
Today’s Lido lunch menus
Today’s Lido dinner menu
