TravelBluebird

We are in the Marco Polo dining room awaiting our departure. Said our goodbyes to Zora and Alit (our WONDERFUL cabin steward). Had our final macchiatos and warm croissants. I am feeling MUCH better. No congestion, coughing or other visible symptoms. Have I dodged the bullet thanks to totally resting the final 24 hours of cruise? That said, a TON of coughing here from others while we are waiting to be called. I did not wake up to see the skyline on the way in —decided sleeping was smarter!

Ooh nice indeed! We have plenty of time and have access with our Delta Am Ex card, so we are going to check it out!

You are very welcome! DH and I were talking about the ankle this trip—we feel blessed that it healed up so well. First part of the trip we were easily doing 14,000-16,000 steps a day, and I couldn’t tell the ankle had ever been injured! I was lucky the surgeon in Colombia was so good, and then diligent about exercising//physical therapy which helped. I’m off to bed; feeling better than earlier today already!

Happy Birthday Greg!

We adore Zora and were so happy to have her at our Carnivale bar!

Tomorrow we’ll exit our room at 8 and go to the Marco Polo Restaurant on 3 where we’ll “be escorted” off the ship. We don’t have a flight till 2:20 so we’ll have way too much down time at the airport. Flying Delta from LaGuardia from the new terminal which I’m excited to see. Direct flight, no connections—which never happens for us cruising from Florida, so that is nice! We also got “first class” upgrades for the flight for $50 each. We normally wouldn’t upgrade for even that amount on a small plane, 2 hours only, but we thought not having to fight lines and a little extra comfort after such a long trip would be nice.

I really wanted to attend MarQ’s Q and A and also the The World Woks Here show, but I really don’t want to get anyone sick. So I didn’t. That said, I’m not coughing or spewing, so did wear my mask to dinner and we were seated all alone on a table of 6 near the wall, so I could have a final dinner. Had the Comfort Soup (how apt), the Indian Vegetarian, and the Spumoni. Russ had the Zucchini Frittatas and the Short Ribs. Plus some nice hot tea. Then the MDR staff sang “Leaving On a Jet Plane” and we knew, indeed, this glorious trip was all over. Back in room; we will be putting the luggage out at 8, then possibly will wake up to see the Statue of Liberty and the sky line around 4 to 4:30am. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

There was no Priority Embarkation on this particular cruise, because it was a Journeys cruise—perhaps the regularly scheduled cruises will have it. I didn’t know about the Priority Disembarkation until the tags were delivered to my stateroom. To get down to Carnivale from 8, the aft stairs work (there is also a little staircase in the very back that went from 6 to 5,…I don’t know if that one goes all the way to 8, in the Carnivale area). And thank you, and I really did enjoy seeing the whales!

It’s foggy and windy and I’m sad; really hoped for some last day sun to sit out in my hammock this afternoon. Alas it is not to be.

We are all packed. Resting in the room. Did venture out (with my mask) for Sea Day brunch; needed a big glass of Orange juice, coffee, and some eggs. Was glad to not be seated directly next to anyone. Here are some photos from our day in Halifax! We took a Halifax Titanic Historical Tour; a 1-man operation, Paul is the driver and guide and he is a font of information. Loved it—comfortable van, only 6 on our tour.

We loved the Carnivale area! We were out there for every sail away, and most times going into ports as well, plus before dinner for drinks (except on those heavy, chilly, foggy days). Since I had 2 lounge chairs and a hammock in my cabana, I didn’t miss the lounge chairs, but that might be an issue for people in Terrazza Balconies and Interiors. It wad also our favorite bar on the ship; great batenders (shout out to Zora!). Used the continental breakfast nearly every day for at least coffee, often grabbed juice and yogurt//granola or muffin. Loved the special Steak House brunch ,and the priority debarkation is nice too Yeah, I’m sorry I picked up Cruise Crud too (or Cruise Plague, as my overly dramatic daughter likes to call it). But I don’t mind a quiet day at the end of a 15 day cruise.

You are welcome! Yes, a few random people have wandered by, but so few that it really hasn’t been an issue. I do think they should do some sort of key barrier to get access to that hallway though from Carnivale (it is locked from the other side, the walkway around on Dec 5, or a least it has been the last few days). You never know on a particular cruise how a group of new people will roam a ship.

One nice little surprise—Terrazza Rooms get priority disembarkation, so we had Group 3 tags delivered to our room this morning. YAY!

Yes; so good that today I was finally able to upload a video to my You Tube channel (couldn’t do it for some reason the last 3 days…I think everyone has just been on the system, then this morning everyone was packing when I tried again. That said, overall the internet was fine the last 3 days; I just need a long connection with no glitches to get those darn videos uploaded. The video is the next in my Walking Tours series—Serenity Deck. I have one more for everything else above Lido—Deck 11 with nooks and crannies and games (Bocce!), ropes course, splash zone, arcade, etc. Then I’ll have reviews, Il Viaggio, Chef’s Table, etc. Overall this has been a GREAT cruise. I watched the Wave show from my room this morning and got all teary eyed when MarQ quoted Dr. Seuss: “don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened” or something like that…great cruise, I am a little emotional today! Anyway, here is the video and thanks to EVERYONE for following along on this long 18 day LIVE! Odyssey! I’ll post more on Halifax and last night’s dinner etc today.

Thank you, and Yes, we definitely got off the ship in Halifax after 6 sea days! It was glorious weather finally; SUN and warm. We had a great day in Halifax; took a small van historical tour focusing on the Titanic and the Great Halifax Explosion; was wonderful! More info to follow. I didn’t post yesterday because we were so busy on the tour and didn’t get back to the ship till 4:30…and then right during dinner I started to not feel well. Low fever and scratchy throat. Not Covid thank goodness, but I fell asleep right after dinner till this morning. I have what I call The Cruise Crud. Just glad it waited till the last day or so! Mostly staying in room today; masking up and trying to not pass this on.

Captain said there were a pod of whales on the port side of ship during Bingo. I threw the Bingo cards at DH and ran so fast out of there it would have made your heads spin! Saw several spouts and the 2 whales come up, but not close enough for a good photo.But i did get to see whales from a cruise ship for the first time (I’ve seen them up in Alaska on a cruise expedition). We did not win Bingo. Fog came back right after the whale sightings. Had a Guy’s Burger for lunch (wanted La Strada but it was too cold out for me after whale watching). Attended the Groove For St. Jude’s. Bought T shirts and grooved (danced). $24,000 was raised! But not enough to have MarQ and senior officers polar plunge. That pool is COLD. The retractable roof on the Lido has definitely come in handy this journey. Edited a video then off to dinner soon, and Color My World, a show I have not yet seen but have heard good things about!

It must be the 6th Sea Day in a row ‘cause I’m finally playing BINGO! Then again we did win $25 of Bingo from Deal or No Deal. Attended WAVE Morning Show AND THE Captain// Officer Q and A.

Fog horn blew quite a bit overnight. But we woke up to the SUN! And 48 degrees. Brrr.

Digital! No photos on the wall, just the digital screens, and you get them in your app to look at as well (although we keep getting other families photos, so that is not a perfect system). He did win the horse race! $13 on a $2 bet.

We put in for dinner at 5:15, since we knew with such a good Throwback Formal night menu the wait would likely be long. Were seated at 5:50; took awhile for our order to be taken and we were finished with dinner about 7:25, so not as bad as first formal night we did. Food was worth waiting for. We decided to skip appetizers and get 2 entress instead, plus the Baked Alaska. We both started with the lobster tail with Gulf Shrimp. Lobster was perfect tonight, “Maine white” cooked; shrimp just OK; nice mushroom risotto side. Served hot. Then I had the Beef Wellington. Great cut of meat; perfectly medium rare (unlike last night), with some nice root veggies and mashed potataoes I did not eat (just didn’t need them after the risotto). Served warm enough. Had the Josh Cellars Merlot with that. Russ had the Coq au Vin which was excellent. Baked Alaska. So yummy and the only time I ever seem to have it is occasionally on a cruise ship. We finished dinner in time for Arvin Mitchell, very funny comedian in Punchliner. Then we cashed out my casino $$. Decided I was still up for the week and should stop. I was more up yesterday but didn’t stop. It’s not true, I CAN still learn, albeit slowly. Hmm..I think I forgot to add Italian Festival photos last night. I’ve thrown in one of us with MarQ. Tonight I’m all done with food, entertainment, socializing, photographing…heading in for a nice, quiet evening with my DH and most likely an earlier than usual turn in. Only 3 days left—sea day, Halifax, and final sea day! Hoping for no fog and some sun tomorrow.

I miss those days. I hate having to pay for espresso coffees (no drink packages ever; don’t drink enough to make it worth while).

I hope you have the same menus as well! Can’t wait to hear what you think. It was great fun to have so many new menu items this trip since we’ve sailed with Carnival quite a bit recently.

Formal night—did the Captains Gala. Free drinks and my favorite ship rock band. Got pics with chef and captain (and Russ’ finger). Great throwback menu tonight! FullSizeRender.MOV

@jayjay10704 For me better than NCL unless I’m in the Haven, but so much is personal taste. The food on this particular Carnival ship is way up there—one of my favorites. I’m taking my first RC Cruise in October. I have heard not great things about the RC new menu//MDR so I have the UDP—we shall see!

The special Steakhouse lunch was superb. I did not get the steak (I’m a little fooded-out and we also have the last Formal night tonight with the throwback menu AND the formal Captain’s Cocktail party). BUT the steak—Steak and Eggs with Filet) was cooked well and also thick (next table over ordered it). We had the Avocado Toast Caprese (perfect—don’t know where they have tasty cherry tomatoes 4 sea days in but yum with a perfect poached egg and good avocado), the Mushroom Soup with Pastry Crust (hot hot hot and great mushroom flavor; lovely pastry). For mains we had the Rustic Shrimp Quiche (also super hot and nice flavors with excellent pastry crust) and the Pork Milanese (delicious, again piping hot, crispy pan-fry). Mimosas (or an Apple alcoholid drink I didn’t catch the name of) was included. For dessert I had the Profiterole Haystack (can’t say enough good things about it—matches the Mile High Gelato pie in YUM factor, which I had at Il Viaggio) and Russ had the Bread and Butter Pudding (the only item we had that wasn’t hot enough), Really enjoyed it; photos below!