Celebration: Day 1
I just boarded Carnival Celebration and I’m heading up to my room. I forgot the lido is deck 16 on this ship instead of 9 or 10 like most Carnival ships. I opted for the stairs over the elevator wait thinking 6 to 10 instead of 6 to 16. Since there is no deck 13, that was a 9-flight climb. But I made it.
That’s the one negative about being on a high deck like this. It’s great for everything on lido deck and above. For everything else, it’s a lot of stairs or a lot of elevator waits.
My room is a work in progress. I was able to drop my backpack off and meet my steward.
Here is today’s Fun Times.
Let’s take a look at the lido deck.
This is what they have at Street Eats today.
Let’s walk through the buffet.
To Big Chicken.
I’m going with the Big Aristotle.
This is Shawarma.
I caught one of the servers walking through the buffet with a tray of Fun Ships.
Let’s take a look at Sea Dogs.
On Mardi Gras last year they had a pretzel bun option. I’m not seeing that here. Hopefully it’s just a first day new shipment situation and we’ll have them tomorrow. I’ll be back to check it out tomorrow.
Out to the Tiki Bar.
I’m not liking what’s going on with these Tiki Bar TVs on a football Sunday.
Technically the NFL hasn’t started yet but pre-game should be on.
We’ve got the steel drum thing happening.
Tiki Bar was too crowded, I’m heading back to the Tides Bar for another Fun Ship to take to the muster drill.
The bartender didn’t give me back my boarding pass. Instead of fighting my way through the buffet again I grabbed another copy out of my room.
Muster station B8 is in Chibang.
This is a good opportunity to get some Chibang pictures without many people.
Muster drill.
This is looking down on Celebration Central from deck 8.
This is looking down on the Aquaria Bar from deck 8. This art work was rescued from one of the ships they sold to be scrapped.
This is a peek in the Bonsai Sushi.
We are now heading into the 820 Biscayne section. This is the section that is the Italian section on Mardi Gras.
820 Bar. It doubles as a coffee shop in the morning.
This is out in front of Cucina Del Capitano. On Mardi Gras they have the little Fiat car there.
This is a look inside Cucina Del Capitano.
They rebranded the pizza and deli to Miami Slice and Deco Deli. They’ve also added a couple of new sandwiches and pizzas that I’d like to try at some point this week.
This is a look inside Rudi’s Sea Grill. I will be eating here at least once this week. This looks exactly as it does on Mardi Gras. I sat at that third table on Mardi Gras.
Guest Services is packed already.
Guy’s Pig & Anchor which kind of doubles as their sports bar.
The Hero’s lounge which is inside Guy’s Pig & Anchor.
Outside of Guy’s we have another pool.
And around the corner are a couple of hot tubs
Over here we have a bar called The Watering Hole. This is where they make one of my favorite drinks on this ship.
The Watermelon Crush.
The bartender said the entire crew is doing immigration today since they came from Finland. I have heard announcements for crew doing immigration on deck 3. It’s very much like the muster drill announcements except it’s for crew.
I stepped inside Pig & Anchor. Cricket is still on the TV’s. The bartender McCann is leading a Who Dat chant.
They got a weird situation going on at the bathrooms in here. I don’t remember if it was this way on Mardi Gras or if I just never used the bathroom in the Pig & Anchor on Mardi Gras. This is the situation. I see what looks like gender neutral bathrooms. Great whatever. All the rooftop bars in New York have them. That rooftop bar in Miami last night had them. I saw someone go in each door. That’s fine. I’m waiting.
After a few minutes a man and woman come out of one door. I think…alrighty then…and proceed in. I find that these are not two gender neutral bathrooms. These are two outer entrances to the bathroom area. Both doors take you to the same place which are entrances to men’s, women’s, and accessible restrooms.
Back out at the bar. The bars are temporarily closed for a safety briefing.
This is a part of what makes their bloody marys good. This is the bloody mary vodka.
Bar is open!
This is the Porter which is one of my favorite beers brewed on the ship.
McCann seems to be on break. The bartender is telling us they can’t change the channels. I did find a spot that has the game so I moved. But there aren’t any servers so you have to walk up to the bar during commercial breaks and hope they get to you. So far they have not.
About an hour ago someone at the bar said we were sailing away. I don’t think so.
I got one. Just in time for the next commercial.
Staff in here are busy setting up for dinner. This brings up something I’ve been wondering about. If you want to watch Sunday Night Football, how do you do that since this space is used for Your Time Dining?
Are they even going to let me stay here since this game could go until 7pm? This is what is happening all around me.
They are even placing items on the table I’m sitting at. I feel like I shouldn’t be here.
A lady in a white uniform just asked me to leave until 5:30. And to request a table for dinner at that time. I did not comply. They are going to have to put the game on at the bar or I’m sitting here through Your Time Dining. I knew it couldn’t be all sunshine and roses watching football in here. Bring back the sports bars!
This guy behind me went off on someone trying to kick him out. I stepped outside to grab a few sail away pictures at the 2 minute warning.
Back inside I got a watermelon margarita.
Something just popped up on the screen that said “This TV will be turned off in 5 minutes.” McCann just found me and went on a rant. He has been watching the game somewhere else. I told him if he gets it at the bar I’ll move there. I made a 7:30 steakhouse reservation I’ve kind of regretted since I heard the Pig & Anchor steak special is tonight not not Saturday night as the menu indicates.
When they asked me if I wanted to eat I said sure. But their menu doesn’t have the steak special.
The server came to take my order. I pulled up this menu from my website.
The server told me they don’t have the daily specials anymore. That made me chuckle since they have only been sailing three weeks. I will be honoring my 7:30 Steakhouse reservation.
It’s really not a good mix when you have football fans who have been drinking all day being passionate about their teams and you have families trying to eat their dinner next to them. Carnival needs to fix that.
I made it to the steakhouse for my reservation.
We dine!
Pretzel bread and sea salt bread are my two favorites.
A slider. Compliments of the chef.
Fried mushrooms.
Watermelon martini.
This means we’re getting close to business.
NY Strip medium rare, with mushrooms, and baked potato.
I got this apple dessert because I think it’s new. It’s very much like apple pie.
Top Gun is in the last scene so I caught it.
