Carnival Sailabration: Day 2

By
Saint Greg

April 4, 2022

Good morning! I’m out on one of the forward decks. It’s pretty windy out here so I’m not going over to the railing.

Today is a sea day. We are currently in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. We are making our way to meet other Carnival ships off the coast of Cozumel for Carnival’s 50th birthday celebration tomorrow.

The internet has been bad today. I received an iMessage and some emails this morning but I can’t get web pages to load.

I had to pay tax on my “free” platinum water yesterday since we were on the river. When they left it in your cabin the first day it wasn’t taxable. Now that you have to pick it up at the bar it is. I could’ve waited until today to pick it up and not paid the tax, but I wanted the big bottle of water in my room in case I got thirsty last night.

This hasn’t been an issue out of other ports because you get to international waters pretty quickly the first day. But out of New Orleans you’re on the river all day.

Here is today’s schedule of events.

One good thing about having a room on the lido deck of this ship is you don’t have to go down to the promenade for coffee. They do have the regular coffee shop on promenade but they also have this small coffee shop in the back of the buffet on lido deck.

I decided to check in for brunch, but I couldn’t find a check in option on the app. I headed down to the dining room only to find the elevator lobby loaded.

I asked a couple in front of me. They said they were able to check in on the app but it took awhile to get the option.

It took me several times but I finally got it. There was actually a delay just loading the page. I haven’t had that problem on the other three ships I’ve sailed on since the restart. I think it’s a product of this being an old ship with a slower network.

This is the scene outside of the dining room. I stood here for 10 minutes.

After finishing my coffee I went up to the promenade for another.

After I got that coffee I went down to the casino bar for a screwdriver. I had this idea on Christmas. My sister made mimosas and I was thinking I’d rather some vodka with that orange juice myself. Then I began to wonder why the screwdriver never took off as an alcoholic breakfast beverage. I decided to give it a try on the next cruise.

I took a seat on promenade away from the madness waiting for my number to come in.

Finally 30 minutes after I put in the request, I got a table assignment.

After fighting my way through the crowd to get to the people who take you to your table, I found now it’s not good enough to just walk up to them with your table number. She is calling out table numbers and if you have that assignment, you go.

After a couple minutes of them calling out table numbers of people who weren’t there, an employee walks out and asks. “Does anyone have a table number?” I shout mine out and she takes me to my table.

It took about 30 minutes to get my breakfast which is steak ‘n eggs medium rare, scrambled, with a side of bacon and hash browns.

Here is a look a the weather.

I didn’t get a chance to walk through the comedy club yesterday because people were in it. We’ll do that now.

I hate this bar. The seats are low like the ones that spin around at McDonald’s. And to watch the show you have to totally turn around with the bar sticking in your back.

I’m heading to the front of the ship to see what’s going on in the theater. I like this lighting on the ceiling.

Cruise Director Cam is doing Fun Aboard Fun Ashore presentation. I already booked all of my excursions so I don’t need to be here.

There really is no mask requirement on this ship other than crew. I wore a mask lanyard everywhere yesterday in case I needed it. I didn’t so today I’m not wearing it. I’ll probably bring it to comedy tonight just in case.

This bartender working the atrium bar was at alchemy yesterday. Jenniel was teaching her how to make alchemy drinks.

Someone just dropped their glass on the bar and it shattered. It’s only 11am and they’re dropping glasses.

I stepped outside with my bloody mary. There isn’t anything in the schedule that interests me until the 1pm ice carving.

I’ll probably try to do lunch just before that. I’m thinking BBQ. I don’t want to fight that MDR line again. I could always order a MDR table and then cancel it if it doesn’t come quick enough.

Last night Cam said we have 3,700 people on board. The most they’ve had since the restart and a couple hundred below capacity he said. Someone said guest services told them 2,673 guests and 1150 crew.

After the bloody mary I headed up to the Red Frog Rum Bar on Lido deck.

I went with the Thirsty Frog Red.

They have a competition starting here which seems a lot like the lip synch auditions which I thought they got rid of.

I recognize a couple of these bartenders at the red frog. Tom was working Atrium Bar yesterday. Andrea was working the Alchemy Bar.

I uploaded this to YouTube in a couple minutes which is pretty good on this ship. I remember it taking about 45 minutes trying to upload a video on this ship in 2019.

On Freedom there’s a really nice Statue of Liberty where that sailboat is. It’s my favorite decoration on any of the ships I’ve been on.

I was thinking since they have a good bit of Mount Rushmore art on lido maybe it would’ve been a nice choice to put a replica of Mount Rushmore here instead of the sailboat.

I thought I remembered liking the beef here before. It tasted a little salty today. I got the last bit of mac ‘n cheese. It was cold.

My opinion of the potato salad is that it has too much potato and not enough salad. The long slices and the skin on for people who don’t eat the skin. I think you end up with the potato to salad ratio being way off.

I waited for a fresh batch of mac ‘n cheese and tried the other meats so I know what’s what up here. It’s a step down from Guy’s BBQ on the newer ships. If I come back it’ll probably be because I have a mac ‘n cheese craving.

I’m back down at the Red Frog Rum bar in time for the ice carving.

After ice carving I caught pixels with no line so I stopped to pick up my platinum gift and pin.

The new gift is a koosie.

After having generic pins all last year they are back to having the ship specific pins.

I found this on the glass elevator.

While I’m thinking about my platinum benefits, I’m going to pick up my $25 in free chips.

One good thing about cruising out of New Orleans is they have Abita Amber.

I hit the blackjack table and quickly turned the $25 in free play into $40 cash and a $4 tip for the dealer.

Remember these fun ship Freddie dolls and hats from the gift shop yesterday?

All gone today!

I’m going to grab a couple pictures of the theater while it’s empty.

This is the Serenity bar. It’s actually my favorite Serenity bar because you can sit facing the ocean and have a view. Sometimes I’ll even bring my coffee up here when the bar isn’t even open.

I went with a pina colada.

This bar usually isn’t crowded. It’s 3:30 on a sea day here.

I stopped by the room to shower and change for dinner. I’m going to the Alchemy bar and I want to hang out there until dinner.

I asked Andrea for something sweet made with rum or vodka.

Jenniel is here now. She made this one.

I need to balance out all of that sweetness with a bloody mary. Bonus: I got a bleu cheese olive in there.

Back to the sweet drinks from Jenniel. I’ve been having a nice long chat with a female from Little Rock who travels with her brother. There’s a solo cruiser in there that just wants to get out.

I requested a table for dinner. We’ll see how long it takes.

Fried oysters.

Baby spinach salad.

Lobster and mushroom risotto. I just don’t know if I can handle this much broccoli though.

I took a bite out of my creme brulee before I took this picture. I tried to hide it.

After dinner I headed to the Epic Rock show in the theater.

They have live music down in the atrium.

A dive-in movie just ended.

This is a look at the aft pool at night. I’m about to take the elevator down to the comedy club.

I’m at the comedy club bar for 9pm comedy.

Carl Faulkenberry is the first comedian tonight.

I want to stash a turkey sandwich in the room just in case I get hungry later. The Geechy Guy comedy show is at 11:15 so I know I’m going to be up till midnight. We’re an hour from the 10:30 show.. The deli closes at 11pm so now is the time.

I slipped out of the comedy show just before the end and hit the deli before anyone else.

Turkey on a pretzel roll.

I’m back down at the comedy club. It’s 9:48 and they haven’t opened the doors yet.

I’m back at the bar with an Abita Purple Haze.

The second comedian is Kenny Powers…I mean Kenny Miller.

The way they’re handling the short turnaround (15 minutes) between shows is they just aren’t clearing the lounge. I think about 25% of the people left.

I maxed out on my alcoholic drinks so I’m switching to water.

The final comedian of the night is Geechy Guy. I haven’t seen him on a ship yet but I know him from his time on America’s Got Talent. So far Geechy is my favorite of the comedians. There is one who didn’t perform tonight. That’s Ron Josol who performed at the Welcome Aboard Show last night.