jam19872016

Good morning everyone from La Spezia. Heading to Lido now to grab a quick bite then heading to the Queens Room to meet for today's excursion to the leaning tower of Pisa.

I've got an early morning excursion tomorrow in La Spezia to Pisa. There is some kind of tower there that is supposed to be famous 🤷‍♂️. We meet at 745 and hot breakfast is not served until 730. So it may be a donut kind of morning. Turning in for the night that 630 alarm will be here sooner than I would like. Thanks for following and welcome to all the new readers, very glad to have you on board 😀! Good night.

What ship? I will wave at you 😀

It definitely didn't fit the stereotype. I think it works both ways. A lot of people (on all cruise lines) have a belief about how awful Carnival ships and pax are. Sadly the pax is becoming true since covid but I do see an improvement recently with the higher fares. The food while not great is better and more varied than any other cruise line I'd sailed until Cunard. Better than celebrity which sends those folks into an uproar if you tell them that 😆. It's also an interesting point you make about the line evolving. The fare I paid suggests trouble filling their ships. Now that I'm experiencing it I see it's a wonderful product but it's reputation is hurting its ability to fill beds. It needs to find a way to balance catering to their traditional loyal customers and attracting new ones at the same time. It will be interesting to see how they go about walking that tight rope.

My ride home is almost put back together.

Thanks we may give that a try. The buffet didn't really satisfy us. We ended up ordering a pizza for a late night snack which ended up being surprisingly good.

That's hilarious. See the photo above 🤣. All kidding aside if my mother insists I will rent a tux and attend with only minimal voiced displeasure. But she is going to have to be more vocal than the current passing comments I'm getting from her.

Indeed it was a long wait. I didn't highlight it because it was the first night. The trouble was several tables were seated at the same time and while I only ate one appetizer, the tables near me enjoyed a soup/salad course. It happens too frequently on cruises and it drives me crazy. It's easier on the crew but honestly i would expect better from Cunard. Tonight was just slow, they were slammed for sure. But i could see my servers surveying their section and purposly never looking my direction. This happened several times. We also finished our appetizers. Sat for about five minutes with a cleared table. The waiter came back, took the dessert order for the table next to us. Came back a few minutes later with their dessert and took several more minutes to return with my next course. It's still early and I will reserve judgment but so far while the food as been excellent, the service has been a little disorganized. I had my best day yet for views! I may or may not be keeping a spreadsheet with the daily post and view count 😆. I really appreciate all the readership and commentary, makes the trip even more enjoyable.

Jackets and ties. I'm sure in European culture it's not an unusual sight but to my American eyes it stood out as odd. It was a minority for sure but I highlighted it to contrast the different experience to a typical boarding day on Carnival. You could expect many groups in matching shirts. T-shirts warning you they bought the drink package or proclaiming that they were ready to get ship faced. I saw one T-shirt. Exactly one. And it was tame, something about lifting sushi rolls was his only form of exercise 🤷‍♂️. Most wore a polo. Even I wore a polo. I NEVER wear polos to board a ship. That's elegant night dress for me 😆.

Agree, I haven't felt there is any snobbish behavior that I've witnessed and I love the quiet. The fun ships may be fun, but they are also loud 😆. Not knowing what to expect and not being someone who dresses for any occasion the over emphasis on what a person is wearing was certainly intimidating going in but not a big deal not that I'm experiencing it. Still not sure I could do Gala night though 😅.

Getting a tour booked for tomorrow then I've got to charge my phone it's almost dead. Beautiful flower display in the lobby. It smells even nicer than it looks.

If I get it again that's what I'm going to do. The chips were amazing.

My fish was good. A touch dry but still good. The risotto looked terrible but was a surprise hit. Delicious 😋. Chocolate marquis and lemon drizzle pudding 726.

The burger was good. Nice and thick and well cooked but even though Guy's is much thinner, I preferred guys. The fries were not good.

Yes 🤮

My mom really enjoyed her haggis. She kept trying to share. No thanks. My mackerel was good. Dinner finally arrived at 703. My mom got the chicken. I got the sockeye salmon and beetroot risotto.

My mom ordered haggis 🤢 She also got tequila marinated watermelon. I got mackerel teriyaki 627

I see I have some catching up to do after my time relaxing in the sauna 😆. Dinner menu.

My coffee is getting better. I used soft serve ice cream instead of cream. Think it just needs more soft serve and it will be closest I can get in my own. Spoon wasn't long enough to stir the bottom.

Those fries were meh. The beer ketchup had a very nice flavor though. The burger was tasty. I think Guy's is better though. I ordered dessert but I think it was forgotten. I flagged someone down to remind them. Apple crumble.

Looks like I miss you in Rome by one day. Looking forward to following along. Enjoy your trip!!

Yum. My donut was definitely not on that level.

Burger time.

Goodness that's a long read at this point 😆. Unfortunately I don't think I could keep up with two simultaneous reviews so I'm not gonna bite off more than I can chew and attempt to start a thread here. Thanks for reading and hope you will continue to follow along 😀

It wasn't anything amazing but for a cruise ship donut it was good 😋.