Tropical Contact Highs: Eight Breeze-y Nights in the Southern Caribbean (Part 2)featured

by Nicole on December 30, 2013

Our wake-up call came bright and early at 8:00 am, but while I was rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, Mom and Stephanie were already up and dressed. We had a quick breakfast of some muffins that we got the day before at Target while we finished re-packing our bags, and Mom called for a bell hop to come and get us (and all of our bags) so we could check out.

We were picked up in front of our lodge, loaded into a golf cart and given a tour of the resort as we made our way towards the main lobby to check out.

We had to drop our rental car off at the airport and it was a quick ten minute drive from the Trump Doral to Miami International. We dropped Stephanie off on the shuttle deck of the car rental center with our luggage while Mom and I dropped off the car. National/Alamo and Dollar/Thrifty have shuttles to the port, but renting from Budget, our choices were limited to…cabs. Not to fear – cabs are readily available on the shuttle deck of the car rental center if you choose to do your rentals through the airport rental locations.

They have a flat rate from the airport to the sea port (around $24, I think) and the ride wasn’t long. We arrived at the port at 10:45 am and our bags were tagged with FTTF tags by the porters when Mom told them we were Platinum. We went into the Platinum/VIP line, shot through security (with no questions about the wine, soda and Vitamin Water bottles we were carrying on), went straight to the Captain’s Lounge (where we got our cards) and right as they gave us our cards, Platinum/VIP boarding began and we were led right onto the ship. From the time we arrived to the time we were stepping foot on the ship was less than 20 minutes.

In my opinion, the best current perk of being a Platinum cruiser is the ability to go straight to your room. I know there’s a lot of back and forth about whether you can sneak in and drop your stuff off without Platinum/FTTF perks…we never tried before because we never cared that much to bend the rules. Being able to go straight to our room, drop off our carry-ons, check out our room and then head out without our bags weighing us down made our embarkation process entirely more relaxing.

We were booked in room 2411, which was a cove balcony room. There isn’t much to say here – we travel in Carnival’s balcony rooms frequently and find the accommodations plenty roomy for the three of us. One thing that I didn’t know about before we boarded was that in order to keep the lights on in the room, you need to have a card in a little reader by the door. Mom knew, apparently. She brought one of grandma’s old S&S cards to keep in there all week so we didn’t have to worry about forgetting our cards in there and to bring a little piece of her on our travels.

Free from our luggage and bags, we set out to explore the ship and grab some lunch.

This was our first time sailing a ship with the FunShip 2.0 upgrades, so we’d never tried Blue Iguana Cantina or Guy’s Burger Joint and decided on those for lunch. Stephanie and I grabbed tacos and a burrito (respectively) from the Blue Iguana Cantina and thought that while were fantastic, fresh and all kinds of delicious. The ingredients were fresh and the flavors bold. And the toppings bar was an experience in and of itself – dozens of salsas (both fresh and bottled), limes (a must for tacos!) and even fresh slices of watermelon.

Chicken Tacos

Vegetarian Burrito

Mom grabbed a burger from Guy’s Burger Joint because, well, one, she likes burgers but two, as a kind of “test.” See, right before we left, I’d been reading Cruise Critic and someone mentioned that the buns are coated with a layer of mayo before they’re grilled. I hate mayo. The thought of it makes my stomach churn. I can’t look at it (Mom doesn’t even keep it in her fridge so I don’t have to see it on my visits home). So reading that was kind of a buzzkill because I was really excited to try a Guy’s burger and see if it lived up to the hype. But mayo grilled onto a bun? I’ve never heard of that and I wasn’t sure how much I believed it. So Mom was going to be our guinea pig. And the verdict? YEP! They definitely slough mayo onto their buns before grilling them. It’s not noticeable if you’re not looking for it, but it was noticeable enough to turn the ketchup on mom’s bun pinkish. Mom thought the burger was super tasty as it was, for the record. But for all you mayo-phobes like me? Ask for your burger on an ungrilled bun. They’re happy to accommodate.

Away from the topic of mayo-gate, the burgers at Guy’s are by and large pre-cooked and waiting on sheets for plating. The toppings bar offers a wide variety of accouterments for your burger ranging from the traditional (lettuce/tomato/onion) to the unconventional (freshly fried bacon bits and crunch shoestring potatoes). They also have a variety of sauces to top your burger with, but unfortunately, no nacho cheese sauce.

As we were finishing our lunch, the Lido restaurant started filling up, so we headed out. I think one of the larger design flaws on Carnival’s ships is that all of the free dining on embarkation day is in one place: the Lido Marketplace. When we sailed on the Allure of the Seas last spring, we had noted how spreading out the free dining venues aided in potential crowding issues. You could eat at the Windjammer Marketplace, or in Park Café in the Central Park area, or in Café Promenade on the Promenade deck. There was also the Dog House on the Boardwalk and Wipeout Café on the sports deck. Everything was spread out. On the Breeze, it was like one hub with spokes. The Lido Marketplace was the hub and Guy’s Burger Joint, the Blue Iguana Café, Pizza Pirate, Deli, Pasta Bar and Tandoor were all spokes of the hub. They all share the same seating, too, which makes embarkation lunch a mess. There just isn’t enough seating for everyone.

So we ate and headed out to walk around the outside decks. It was a balmy Miami afternoon, a far cry from the Chicago chill we left at home, and we soaked in all the sun we could.

It got a little too warm too fast, so we took our explorations indoors for a little bit.

We headed back to the room and found our luggage was starting to arrive. Nearly all our luggage had arrived before muster drill, which allowed us to finish almost all of our unpacking before we left for the drill. While our cabin was spacious by cruise ship standards, it was still too small for all of us to unpack at the same time, so I unpacked while Stephanie put up some of our Halloween decorations and Mom made our dinner reservations (you can view the entire week’s worth of menus on the television, and once we had realized that the new menus weren’t in effect yet and it was a menu we don’t care for, we decided to make reservations for Cucina del Capitano). By the time we left for muster, only one piece of luggage was missing: my small piece with my jewelry, makeup and all of my purchases from Miami. Our room steward came by to introduce himself and promised Mom he’d keep a look out for my missing luggage, and we headed out to muster drill.

Our designated meeting place was one of the dining rooms and the crew kept it serious business. They gave stern warnings to anyone using cameras or cell phones during the drill. It wasn’t surprising to us that Carnival was taking these drills more seriously these days.

Once the horn sounded, marking the end of the drill, Mom and Stephanie made a beeline for deck 11, while I ran back to the room to see if my luggage had arrived yet (it hadn’t). Resigned to an evening without lip gloss, I headed upstairs to join Mom and Stephanie for sailaway.

It got really crowded out on deck, so we decided to head down to our cabin. We discovered that we got a lot of direct sunlight on our cabin, which made it a lovely place to sit out.

Not long after we cleared land and were fully out into the open sea, I lost service on my iPhone. I took it as a sign I should finish unpacking and settling into the cabin. My second suitcase was still MIA, which meant I couldn’t get ready for dinner even if I wanted to. So after a change of clothes and a fresh coat of lip gloss (the only makeup I had on me in my handbag), we headed up to Cucina del Capitano for dinner.

We don’t typically eat at the specialty restaurants on the first night of a cruise because we like to get to know the dining staff, but since the new menus weren’t in effect yet and we’d grown tired of the old menus, it seemed like a good chance to slip out of our regular cruise routine to try something new. And Cucina del Capitano was as new as it gets – we hadn’t sailed a ship with CdC yet. We’ve done 13 Carnival cruises in nine years and not all that much has changed in those years outside of the size of the filet mignon in the MDR. This was an entirely new experience for us to try and we’ve been craving something new and different to try.

We were greeted immediately upon entering the restaurant and led quickly to our table. The restaurant serves as the pasta bar during lunch time, and we were pretty familiar with that from other ships, but they’ve warmed up the décor a bit on the ships with Cucina del Capitano, with old black and white pictures adorning the walls, bottles lining the ledges and those old school picnic checkerboard tablecloths covering the tables. Soft music plays overhead and the entire scene is just vey comfortable.

The only real downside is the outward views. While windows to open decks afford sea views like this…

…it also affords views of inebriated adults making questionable decisions.

We settled in with our menus as our wait staff came over to introduce themselves and explain the menu. We ordered a half a carafe of some kind of Pinot Grigio, which was served to our table by a singing waiter.

Before we left Chicago, I’d read a review of CdC that had a picture of some really fantastic looking deconstructed bruschetta, but I couldn’t find it on the menu. I was super disappointed until our server came out and served it to our table as an amuse bouche. It came on a wooden plank with thick slices of freshly grilled bread, cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic and the most amazing homemade ricotta I’ve ever tasted in my life. I could have made a meal on this alone. It was so light and fresh and all things wonderful.

Our appetizers came out next. I had the antipasti platter, which was just okay. The prosciutto was the best part but in all honesty, I just wanted more of that fresh ricotta. Mom had the Parmigiana di Melanzane (Eggplant Parmigiania) and really seemed to enjoy it, and Stephanie had the Insalata Caprese (Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil), which she noted as really refreshing.

Antipasti

Parmigiana di Melanzane

Insalata Caprese

We were advised that our main dishes would be served individually and without accompaniments, but that the side dishes would be served family style. Mom really enjoyed her Brasato al Barolo, which were really tender short ribs crusted in almonds and Stephanie raved about her chicken parm. I had the Bistecca alla Griglia, which was a NY strip steak topped with roasted garlic. I spread the garlic over the steak and it was just sublime. Stephanie ordered spaghetti as her side, while Mom and I split a side of rosemary potatoes. The spaghetti was much better than the potatoes, which didn’t have as much rosemary as I would have liked.

Brasato al Barolo

Pollo Parmigiana della Cucina

Bistecca alla Griglia

Spaghetti with Captain’s Tomato Sauce

Rosemary Potatoes

We enjoyed the sunset while we perused the dessert menus. While a small selection, there were many strong options.

Mom ordered the Sicilian Cannoli while Stephanie and I both ordered the Magic Tiramisu. I snuck a bite of Mom’s cannoli and I thought it was the stronger option just because it was lighter. The tiramisu was an incredibly large portion, which was a bit intimidating after such a heavy meal.

Sicilian Cannoli

Magic Tiramisu

We settled our tab and headed out. At a modest $12/pp for the meal (the wine was an additional cost), we thought it was a change for the positive. I know this could be an unpopular opinion, but I actually wish Carnival offered more alternative dining venues (for charge, for free, I actually don’t care) because they do them so well. Some of the best dining we’ve had at sea has been in Carnival’s extra charge restaurants.

Mom headed back to the room to check on my bag while Stephanie and I headed to the Lido marketplace for some coffee and then took a walk around the Lido deck.

When we got back to the room, Mom announced that the purser had my bag – the tag had fallen off. I guess those plastic sleeves aren’t as fail proof as we thought.

With our Fun Times for the next day, we were also left an entertainment schedule for the week, which I found really helpful in planning our activities and dining schedule for the week.

We skipped trivia and Movies Under the Stars (two of our favorite night time activities). The boat was really rocking, which made me sleepy and Mom and Stephanie a little queasy, and we were all still tired from all the travel. So I unpacked, Mom watched some TV and Stephanie decorated our door for Halloween.

While I was unpacking, we realized we forgot to buy shampoo and conditioner in Florida. We never pack shampoo and conditioner because they are so heavy and we always tow the baggage weight limit line, and since we were short on pre-cruise Florida time and we stuck strictly to the list Stephanie texted us while we were at Target, we just totally forgot. Wine and Ponds wipes? We were set. But we were faced with a week of using the stuff they put in the shower, which is incredibly drying. I packed some travel sized conditioner so I was willing, but Stephanie insisted we get some from the shops upstairs.

$28. They charge you $14/bottle for Pantene on board. I shit you not. And don’t get me wrong – I don’t have any issue with splurging. I take Treat Yourself 20xx to new levels every year (wait till you see what I did in Aruba!). But PANTENE!? There’s something inherently wrong with charging and spending $14 for a bottle of Pantene. Do not forget your every day stuff at home because if you do, they will gauge your wallet and kill a small piece of your soul in the process.

Anyways.

We stopped in the casino on the way back to get our cards punched for lanyards, where Stephanie decided to try her hand at the slots. She lost. This wasn’t her night.

We got back to the room to drop off what should have been the best bottles of Pantene known to man and headed to the theater for the Welcome Aboard show. And when we got there, a whole lot of disappointment ensued. First, we got there 15 minutes before show time and Bingo still hadn’t started yet, which meant they were a half hour behind schedule. And then when Bingo started, it was run by Brittany (the assistant CD – we like her. We’ve sailed with her on the Dream and she’s fantastic) and instead of the traditional air machine, Bingo was run via…an iPad. iPad Bingo may be the wave of the future, but it’s just not as fun.

More disappointing than this new-wave Bingo was the Welcome Aboard show. I used to complain that the Welcome Aboard show was getting old and needed a good update, but I take it all back. Because there IS no Welcome Aboard show anymore. There’s no more dance troupe. There’s just a group of singer/dancers that don’t particularly excel at both. There’s no more elaborate sets. There’s cheap, animatronic background graphics and lasers. And that band they used to boast about while tearing down other cruise lines for cutting their live music? That’s gone, too. Replaced with a background track. The good old days of top of the line revues are gone and in it’s place are really something that I’m still not convinced is worth my evening vacation time. I haven’t been this disappointed by a change made by Carnival since they took Vegetables Princess off the menu. Because the Welcome Aboard show now? It’s not even it’s own show. It’s a preview of the other shows they’re going to perform during the week. They couldn’t even give us material original to this show. So if you’re contemplating the Welcome Aboard show against other activities, choose the other activities – you’ll see nothing here that you won’t see again later in the week.

After a few covers of Celine, Katy and Gaga set to animated fireworks, the Cruise Director, Pete, came out to introduce himself. Instead of the comic act that used to come after the Welcome Aboard show, Pete did the comedy himself – with a set of jokes they must hand Cruise Directors at orientation. The story about the woman on Lido who saves her hat because it’s new while her dress flies up? I’ve heard that joke on at least four other Carnival cruises. So we left.

I know this sounds incredibly harsh, but I pride my reviews on being honest. We’ve been pretty loyal to Carnival (aside for two non-Carnival cruises) for almost a decade and systematically watched while parts of the experience we enjoy most have been taken away. And we’ve just kind of shrugged it off. You get what you pay for and Carnival still offers a good product at a low price. But it’s gotten to a point that too much of what we enjoy has been changed into something so generic and so against everything Carnival has conditioned us to enjoy. Cruise Directors on too many of our Carnival cruises have outright bashed the other lines that have eliminated live bands in their shows, and now Carnival has become what they used to berate. I realize corners have to be cut, but I’m not sure they’ve been cutting the right ones.

We went back to the room and changed into our sweats. We watched some Nancy Grace (something about being on cruises – we always end our nights with Nancy, though we almost never watch at home) and then headed upstairs to the Lido deck for “Late Night Bites,” which were also heavily cut back. What used to be an array of tapas on some ships, or a reopening of the grill on most, has been dumbed down to a few warming trays of a couple of sandwiches and some hot dogs. None of it was all that good. We stuck to pizza for late night snacking the rest of the week.

We sat out on deck for a bit. It was nice and balmy and peaceful. No matter what gets cut back or changed on these cruises, the actual experience of being on a ship and taking in the quiet moments where it’s just you breathing in the sea air with the gentle rocking of the water…that can’t be changed. It’s the best part of everything good.

After a such a long day following what was a really late night and a ridiculously early morning the day before, I was exhausted. We went back to the room, watched The Help in the room, and went to bed.

Today’s Lido Lunch Menus