TravelBluebird

All the food was excellent! Here is the beet salad and the Lamb Wellington. Mini cheese course and peanut butter and chocolate torte to follow (ss…I don’t ALWAYS eat healthy!

I really like that the chairs are spaced like a land based restaurant. Very private and quiet! The restaurant is not full; reservations on first night should not be hard to get!

I’m at 150 Central Park! Beautiful restaurant. Rain has stopped and that was my first walk through Central Park—lovely at night! I’m having the Roasted Beet Salad, the Seared Honey Glazed Scallops and the Lamb Wellington. More to follow but here are the scallops! Served hot and excellent flavors! I like them a tad more well done but DH would think they are perfect! oh and there’s me dining. These chairs are ENORMOUS I feel like a kid in a grown up chair!

I can’t fairly judge the sail away party because the weather was so fair. Only about 20 cruisers were half-heartedly dancing with the people from the entertainment squad (was NOT the cruise director). It’s a bit awkward for a deck party—the “stage” for the entertainment squad looks square onto the void that is in the middle of the ship for Central Park. Very far from everyone, but there is also a big screen. Found a sheltered area and danced with one older lady and 2 teen boys, and we were kind of it on our side. Then I nearly got blown away by the wind and we weren’t even out to sea yet! I bet we feel some good ship motion tonight. I can already feel some decent ship motion in my room! Off to wash my hair; wasn’t planning to but it did NOT survive the sail away party!

Nice! Just pouring rain for sail away. Stayed up till now but the wind just about blew me away—now I have to wash my hair, I look like a drowned rat.

@Hogladyrider There are FOUR pools on the top deck; 2 on each “side”. More photos when it stops raining!

I’m on the pool deck. still raining. WHERE IS THE PARTY? If sail away party is rained out, where is a good spot to watch sail-away?

Did some chore-like things. Fixed WiFi technical issue with Kiosk on Promenade. Tried to get a NoJito at Boleros (Latin Bar) but they are out of something. Made me something else and it’s too sweet! Blech. At least with the refreshment package I don’t have to drink it! also got a bottle of water. prefer a more closed-in Latin bar—there’s some cherry Muzak wafting in here! But I have a great seat watching the world go by. Right by the Starbucks—always a line, even at sea.

@Spinelli1107 Sorry about jumping around like that. Sometime if I’m running around I’ll give the basic details with more to follow later. That salad! I think I need to go back to Mason Jar and have it again sometime. Was fantastic. And you are very welcome! As a solo cruiser especially this trip, it’s nice to have y’all along!

WOAH THE captain is not Italian! Sorry, I’ve been cruising on Carnival for so long 😂 We just had the captain’s announcement for everyone to complete their muster drill. Honestly, I would have possibly forgotten my head was spinning so much when I got on the ship, but I wandered by my muster station on the way to Izumi. My station is conveniently located by the casino; works for me! Captain is Captain Trym. Announcement in room was very clear.

Well right at THIS moment it seems to be a bit of a misnomer. It looks like its letting up finally. I wonder if they cancel the Aqua show if its raining tonight?

By the way, if you see I always “edit” my posts, its from an old trick that Jim on the Celebrity board taught me—I edit so I can separate the photos by a little space. I am very visual, and I just hate them all jumbled up!

My room, a Neighborhood View Interior, is very spacious for one person! Would be fine with DH too. I do miss the feeling of opening up to the balcony and looking outside. BUT, Just love the layout and the extra window seat. Definitely has a balcony-type layout as I was hoping for. A couple pictures below; full room tour to follow later. No Cruise Compass in the room; I will ask my room steward about them when I see him. No ice bucket is my other one disappointment. Does anyone know where I can get bottles of water with my Refreshment Package? And my coke cup. No luggage yet I’m going to the 4:30 sail away party if it does not rain too hard (can’t compare with Carnival if I don’t go to the sail away party!) Evidently there is some big party later tonight with a giant balloon drop, but I have my reservation tonight for the Aqua show which is at the same time. 😭 My UDP reservations were a breeze. The line at the kiosk right where you board on 5 only had a line about 4 deep. Because I’m OCD, I had a typed list of the restaurants I wanted t go to, and times I would be available, and we knocked them right out. And had to make reservations for the one night I’m planning to go to the MDR (formal night); glad I was reminded to do that. Got on line about noon. Then decided to try for the Izumi Hibachi after all, and that line was much slower (only about 5 deep) but I snagged final night Hibachi reservations (at 5pm; that is practically lunch time for me 😂. Looked around the ship and was at Mason Jar around 1pm. I have dinner reservations at 150 Central Park, Wonderland, Chops, Hooked, Giovanni’s, and Izumi Hibachi. Lunch reservations for Giovanni’s (which I may or may not keep) and Izumi Sushi. Quite pleased with all of that; definitely getting my value out of the UDP! Thank you to those of you who told me I could just board early—I’m one of those by-the-rules people, and I have to say it did make me a little uncomfortable “jumping the line” BUT there was NO back up anywhere in the boarding process; I literally walked right through security and check in and onto the ship with no delay at all. I assume if there was a back up they would have been checking check in times (but they did not even look). OK, off to do more exploring of this big beautiful ship!

The Non-Alcoholic version was also very good! Maybe a tad too sweet. I will often—but not always—look for lighter or healthier options. Nice that they are available! So glad to not have to do the buffet on the first day, I LOVED the watermelon salad. Fresh and delicious with some Jalepenos is thrown in for zing. Going to try and make that at home! The Ava ack Salmon toast was tasty and generous portion, and I loved the warm cornbread with the pimento butter. Service was fast and friendly.

I’m at lunch at the Mason Jar! If you can get past all the people making reservations, plenty of seats. Going to have the Salmon Avocado Toast AND the Charred Watermelon Salad, and the Mississippi Moonlight (no moonshine version). Tonight is 150 Central Park! Going to start off BIG! View of the rain from the restaurant!

You guys put me over JUST as I was boarding the ship. THANK YOU. I can’t believe 1,000 people are interested in what I have to say! 😂 but it’s very lovely Boarded NO PROBLEM at noon. Got all my UDP reservations on Promenade—now at Izumi’s to see if I can add that. More to follow! Still pouring rain.

Also, my video of the hotel I’m staying at just loaded up! Here it is if you would like a room and hotel facilities tour. And, I don’t usually ask for subscribers to YT here, but I’m just 3 away from 1000 and I would love it if my Cruise Critic family put me over the top!

Thank you @Hogladyrider and @Vibe! Heading down shortly to catch the shuttle to the port!!

IT’S CRUISE DAY! Woke up to some thunder and pouring rain; last night the weather people said it would be over by noon; now the forecast is not so sure. Oh well, it is Florida! Oh wait….just got a FLOOD WARNING until around noon. Hope that doesn't’ complicate getting to the ship. Also, seas in the port area predicted to be 5 to 8 feet and occasionally to 9! Slept well; very comfy bed and pillows here. I stayed last night at the TownPlace Suites Port Canaveral//Coco Beach. More on the hotel later; very convenient, and one of my favorites here. Got a quick breakfast at the hotel; I’d show you a photo but it was literally 2 hash browns, a coffee and one of those 1/2 yogurts that they like at hotel breakfasts to save money. Saving my calories for the ship!

Well I got my video ALMOST done. Hope to finish it over coffee in the morning. Trying to head to bed a little early; I think I’m tired enough! See y’all in the morning!

Thanks for following @Tazzybear14! I’ll be getting off as you are getting on (I’m sure I guess who will have the sad face). I’m just like you; no matter how many cruises I’ve been on, I’m just like a big, excited kid on boarding day!

@BecciBoo that is a good sign! I hope they are back fleet wide and we have them on Wonder!

That is very helpful @OCSC Mike; if I can’t get the paper copies, a saved PDF will let me print them later and also share them. Thank you!

Thanks for the info @OCSC Mike! I will definitely want the hard copies of the Cruise Compass. The app doesn’t do you much good when you get home and are trying to remember what happened and when. Carnival just recently brought back paper copies to the room, and I realized how much I missed them. I like to curl up with the paper copy before bedtime and figure out the next day! I hope they have them available on Wonder.

@Hogladyrider Sometimes you just need to know when to have down time! I needed some tonight. Right, rolled is just not what I wanted. My Italian grandmother would never serve it to me like that! You have a nice evening too!