TravelBluebird

The 20-30 minute wait for sea day brunch was actually 50 minutes. Which is a little odd because we are the only people I. Our area. Have achieved coffee—strong and hot YAY and juice. Ordered Beignets and then Eggs Benedict and Steak and Eggs for DH

It was my favorite Chef’s Table menu, and it was my third. It was $99, including a white wine, a red wine, and a port at the end of the meal. Plus a magician comes by to do a little act, and you get a photo of the group included (8 x 10). If you haven’t ever been in the Galley, it is REALLY a great experience to have the little tour and see where they produce all that food for so many guests! Everything is video for a YT video I’m going to do on the meal, but here are a few stills i pulled:

@BlerkOne how did you like Il Viaggio overall?

They LOVE that cat! We saw that poster everywhere in the old city in Lisbon.

Gondola Lounge? Those trivia people are intense. They are there all day. When we were on the way to get off the ship in Lisbon yesterday, they were doing trivia in the morning!

Ugh. Our table is supposed to be ready in 10 to 20 minutes now. We are waiting in our room as one is supposed to do. How hard is that?

We slept in (divine). Well I did; Russ had lots of espresso and cantaloupe in the Terrazza continental breakfast area, then went up into what is like a reading nook area on deck 11 overlooking the Lido. I’d give you a photo right now but he is going through my phone looking for photos he wants on HIS phone, so he’s got a death grip on it. We are waiting for the SeaDay Brunch. Said 20 to 30 minute wait at 9:20; still saying the same at almost 10am. This looks to be our first long wait for a meal using the app.

Both sourced in Europe so makes some good sense! I checked and the menus were NOT the same on the Mardi Gras as recently as March. I wonder what other ships have this menu?

We loved the Chef’s Table on Venezia! It’s held right in the Galley, which is a bit noisy but really fun, and I loved watching our meals being prepared. It was my first Chef’s Table entirely in a Galley. Service was impeccable and the food outstanding, and we had a good group, too. Here is the menu; it’s late, so I’ll do photos of some of the dishes tomorrow. Casino not at all as fantastic as dinnerl We change the clock back for a second night in a row; to Ponte Delgado time this evening. SO now we will be just 4 hours ahead of EST instead of 6!

You are welcome! The Carnival themed souvenir shop with branded Venezia merchandise is on deck 4 (its on my deck 4 walking tour). There is also a shop on deck 4 with hats and totes and such, and a big makeup store. I believe there is a jewelry shop; I’ll locate it tomorrow and let you know.

Also, overall just wanted to say this is the BEST internet I’ve ever had on a ship. Starlink is amazing!

Couple more then I have to get ready for Chef’s Table! Lots of the Walking Tour is on video (so I didn’t have to stop for a still photo); I’ll try to pull some stills out of that.

Back from our day in Lisbon! We have the Chef’s Table tonight! First photo is also from this morning, of the Ponte 25 de Abril. Then we took a Carnival walking tour. Very knowledgable guide. We left the guide to have lunch at our own at a small eatery that serves traditional Portugese cod (grilled, boiled potatoes etc). Then we visited the birthplace of St. Anthony, the St. Anthony museum and St. Anthony church. Seriously appropriate as he is the patron saint of Lisbon, plus the patron sait of travelers, the elderly, and sailors.

Photos from our sail-in to Lisbon Portugal!

Breaking news! Christine Duffy has announced this morning that Jay Leno is going to be the first ever GodFather of a Carnival ship! He will be part of the ceremonies in New York and there will also be a special comedy show for Carnival guests, which will be live streamed! In keeping with the Italian Fun Style theme, he is the grandson of Italian immigrants.

Good morning from Lisbon, Portugal! Beautiful sail in; photos to follow. Also to clarify that there IS regular coffee service in the Terrazza Carnivale breakfast area—it was on a table the first day so I missed it.

Even though we had a frightfully early morning, we saw the 6:45 PG comedy show (Spike Davis, very funny!). Grabbed dinner after (10 minute wait; more on meals tomorrow; all have been good) then headed to see a singer from England, a Classical/Pop Soprano (good; music was way too loud though) and ended the night with MarQ and the Fun Squad at the White Hot Nights party. Now that i seem to have a reliable connection again, we’ll catch up tomorrow! Although I did get an error message once on Chrome saying the bot captcha couldn’t load, so I hope that doesn’t become an issue. Also while my connection was out I posted another walking tour video, this one of the casino and some more shops and the branded Venezia merchandise. I don’t know why the YouTub links show up so huge! And I leave you with a couple more stunning places from today:

Some views of the Rock and Russ relaxing in our hammock after sail away

Well I hope I’ve fixed my connection problem on my iPad. I was about to give up and then tried Chrome (instead of Safari) and that seems to be working. Gibraltar was amazing—one of my favorite ports. So much history and so geographically important. Plus monkeys, fortresses, a cave, a famous airport runway and views and views!

Photos of the Straits from right now:

Gibraltar was—amazing! Back to Taft in a moment. Right now we are passing Africa—Morocco to be precise_in the Straits of Gibraltar!

Yes our dining companions last night asked for paper menus and they were brought right out!

Our current view of the sunset below! Just prior our room steward knocked on our cabin door and delivered some swag! Two Carnival inaugural tote bags, a photo of our route on a map and a nice letter. Sweet! And I knew that somehow on this trip I’d end up with another Carnival tote bag 😂 Some earlier excitement—both hot tubs in the Carnivale area overflowed and flooded the area. sail away next!

One minor dinner mix up—both us and our dining companions were brought the pineapple instead of the apple desert. We all dislike pineapple. The correct desserts were brought. Chill evening tonight—6:30am wake up call for our Gibraltar tour— private van with 3 other couples.

We have enjoyed the MDR this trip. We have been leaning heavily into the new Italian dishes and all have been quite good. And hot. Tonight we tried the caress salad, alligator beignets, meat lasagne and rolled eggplant. Plus the apple crumble. Most of these have fancy Italian names you can read in the menu. BTS I have been able to post all day today on cellular—I have a horrible time posting on Carnival internet for some reason which I haven’t been able to solve.