scluvsrain

I didn’t see a shelf for book swapping. But I will go look again. 

 Desserts

Mains 

Here’s the start of the Pinnacle menu. 

Small plates/appetizers 

1 minute ago, cruzingnut said:

Sherita, when you get a chance, could you post the new Pinnacle menu?  I'm so hoping the pork chop is still on it!

 

Thanks,

Linda R.

The pork chop is alive and well!

And for dessert I had key lime pie. Heaven!! And a lovely strong cup of decaf. And no, it’s not the reason I’m awake 2:00 AM. My sleep schedule has been out of whack all week. 

Photos are uploading very slowly so I will post the new menu piecemeal. 

For my main I chose the new tenderloin and a side dish of roasted baby beets. The tenderloin was perfection. The beets were quite good. 

I had dinner at the Pinnacle last night. It was fantastic! New menu. Old standby items and new items. Each dish I ordered was a new one and was not disappointed except for one. For starters I had the iceberg wedge salad and the candied

bacon. The iceberg had virtually no dressing on it so it might as well have been just a slice out of the fridge. But the candies bacon more than made up for the lackluster lettuce!

If we’ve been quiet here for a bit it’s because our internet crashed for the bulk of yesterday. I went ashore in Malaga around 8:30 in the morning and returned around 2:00 PM. The internet and the intranet both were not working. 

Of course I called the front desk and the woman there didn’t even know. She tried to log in while we were on the phone and discovered that she too could not get on. 

Throughout thr the rest of the day and well into the evening I kept trying with no success. I finally went to bed. And now it’s the middle of the night and I’m awake and the system appears to be back up again. Yay!

And here’s some more art pics from the stairwells around the ship. I did some closeups of a couple of them so you can see the type of media used and a few are out of order - sorry!

And here is a cod fish from the first night menu in the MDR. It, too, was delicious. 

5 minutes ago, shipfriend_max said:

Thanks for the great trip report!

you take a lot of photos that are amazing.

We are considering her for next year.

Will you also have some dinners in main dining room? That’s what is interesting for me, I don’t care at all about those upcharge eateries...

Here’s a picture of one of last night’s desserts in the main dining room. It is chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup. It was delicious!

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Loving this thread! I'd put off starting it for a few days, but now I'm all caught up. DW and I won't be boarding until next June, but between our past experience on the K'dam and all these posts, it will feel very familiar. The photos are outstanding!

 

I do have a question. On the port side passageway leading from the Lido Market to the Lido Bar and pool, there's a men's washroom on the right an an unidentified space (deck plans) on the left. Can anyone tell me what is located there? We will be in V8080, one deck below, and hope that the benefits of a huge balcony won't be offset by daily 5:00AM tap-dancing rehearsals immediately above us! 

I checked this out and there is a walled area across the hallway from the men’s room that is marked Restricted Area. Right after that you step off the carpet and onto the Lido Bar area just past the sliding glass doors. On the left there is a soda machine and next to it a door marked pool equipment. 

Oh. And I ran into Orlando Ashford this afternoon so I talked with him for a few minutes. I told him I really like that they moved Lincoln Center and that I can see that with a lot of the changes that are happening, it looks like our voices have been heard in many areas. He appreciated that. I asked him to clarify his comments about the $2 million loss of library books. Those are HAL-wide, not Carnival-wide. He said even if they put back a librarian the books still get stolen. Then, ladies and gentlemen, I asked him what on earth is up with HAL’s new website. He grimaced but said they’re working on it and hope to see steady improvements over the next six months. Since he had some melting ice cream in his hand, I didn’t keep him any longer. 

16 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

Sherita, Snort's day has been quite different from our time there in September!  Wasn't Snort being ravaged by a Viking?!

 

Thanks you all of you contributing to this thread.  I'm really enjoying it.  Particularly since I'll be onboard in February.

Yes!  Snort asked me this morning if we might find his Viking again today. For those of you never saw it, here’s his Viking. 

Once back on board, after a Lido lunch, I went back up to the Crows Nest to get some better pictures of the bar. I also took some more of the library sitting and EXC areas. 

The interactive computer screens are pretty cool. There’s one where you can answer travel questions and each day there’s a new question. Today’s was where is the place you saw that left you speechless? To answer it you drag the screen icon to the place in the world. For me, it was Antarctica. 

In the EXC area also, are interactive touch screens that show all of the ports we are visiting. Then you can drill down by port, and areas of interest within each port. There’s a map showing where the areas of interest are located, by number, and when you click on them you get a picture and a short description of it. I really like it 

In the library/reading area, there are lots of seats and a nice couch where you can sit and read. There are two puzzle tables for jigsaw enthusiasts. 

The bar, as I mentioned before, is dual purpose. Half coffee bar, half alcohol bar. Pretty nice. 

Snort came along with me for the day. 

On my way back to the ship I passed by some cool sculptures. One was quite moving - memorial to the victims of terrorism. 

I had a great day in Cartegena too. Having been here twice before, and in the last 3 months, I took my time getting off the ship this morning. Last night my glasses broke, so today’s mission in town was to find an optician who could hopefully repair them. I was in luck. I found a place pretty quickly and they were able to be repaired. 

Happily able to to see again, I wandered around town for awhile and visited a couple of places I hadn’t seen before. One place was the Palacio Consistorial. It’s where the mayor of Cartegena (a woman, and I believe the first woman mayor) and the city government meets. It’s a gorgeous building, first built in 1907. Made of marble, cast iron and wood. Here’s a few pictures. 

Welcome to Cartegena, Spain. We have arrived!

2 hours ago, trixiee said:

Which deck are you on?   We scored an aft too!

Deck 6 - Mozart. 

Most of the changes center around the music walk concept and EXC expansion. The music walk venues are being rolled out to the other class ships as those ships go into dry dock. 

The EXC program is trying to expand as well - they are working to add depth and value to the ports we visit by including culinary tours local to the destinations, as well as more in-depth cultural tours and programs. The EXC center has some added features to support these efforts. 

The shops are in the process of being changed too. More collaborative sales for jewelry with a new partner - you can work with them to customize pieces and create legacy items. Also, new vendors for other

merchandise. 

The photo gallery and and ship is also seeing a new upgrade. No more hawking photos - now you can create your own albums and souvenirs using your own photos from your phones or cameras. 

Similar approach with with the art. Unique and local artists relevant to the ports you are visiting allow you to purchase pieces that are more custom and meaningful. 

Someone also asked Orlando about the shrinking libraries and he said the primary driving factor for removing most of the books was due to people taking them and not returning them, and to replace the books cost over $2 million. He thinks that money can be better utilized elsewhere. I will say that there appears to be more

quiet and comfortable reading areas in the Crows Nest on this ship than on the Koningsdam; I know a lot of complaints had to do with losing that space. 

I enjoy a different kind of quiet space - my veranda. 

By the way, I think I like Lincoln Center’s venue change to BB King/Queens Lounge much better than where they were before. It is set up better and reflects a much more intimate environment while giving more seating space. 

Something that’s a big bummer - no cup/glass holders in World Stage!!! They have them on the Koningsdam and are great - so very sad to not see them here.