pirate4me2

After dinner, we headed to Manny Olivera’s 7:45 comedy show. We LOVE Manny, but he’s…well, he’s a love him or hate him act. We have seen him 4 times now so we know what to expect. It was a good show, in our opinion. From Manny’s show we headed to Fortune Teller, and I gotta say…I’m not as big a fan as I thought I was last year. The drinks are all for show, not as good a flavor. I got the Crystal Ball and the Lime in the Coconut. They’re ok, but at heart, I think I’m truly an Alchemy girl.

We showered and got ready for dinner, and I checked us in on the app at 5:45. We got notice JUST AS WE SAT at alchemy to wait it out, at 6:00, that our table was ready. So much for pre dinner drinks! Like we needed them, right? I liked tonight’s menu! I couldn’t decide between the avocado soup or the Caesar salad to start, so I got both. For me, the salad won, even tho the servers never offered fresh ground pepper or grated cheese. The soup was ok, just very cucumber-y and chilled…not quite what I expected. For my main, I got the shrimp and fish cake, which I LOVED, the shrimp were delish, side of broccoli cooked just right so it was crisp, not mushy, and fish cake was not overly fishy, just mild. It was delicious! I also got a white sangria to go with my dinner, but they said they didn’t have any (after they brought me a red one), so I rolled with it, and you know what? I kinda like the red. Cool. Another something new today!

After lunch we hit the casino…which treated us both badly. Within 15 minutes we both lost our $25 free FunPlay moolah, so we said to heck with it and left. The dang Panda machine hates me! We headed to good ol’ Alchemy at 2:15 to drown our sorrows, and Drazen made those memories disappear! He made me absinthe drinks, but also kept me hydrated. We left around 4:45 to get ready for elegant night, with promises to come back after dinner for drinks!

After brunch, we went to the casino to load our $25 FunPlay money to slots. From there, we headed to the spa around 10:00. Holy moly, that was a hopping place today! I will *try* and get pics of the thermal areas sometime this week, but if it continues like it was today…yeah, sorry. We did manage to get into the TPool, which was interesting..there are hardly any jets except in this one corner, and, ummm…if you’re a lady, be careful how you position yourself in that corner. all the jets come from down below…and yeah..’nuff said. I did enjoy the spa time tho, and plan to go back! The aromatherapy steam was nice, and those tile loungers…ahh! So relaxing! At noon we went to Center Stage to see the Family Feud auditions. They were fun, but it was PACKED. We left right before the end to avoid the mass exodus to go find lunch. Chris opted for some icky buffet stuff (is it just me or is the buffet more limited on MG? Salad staton seemed MUCH smaller!) while I opted for the so unhealthy but soooo food Street Eats, along with a Serenity Fresh Creations salad. The cheesesteak fries were delish, the beef thingy in a wrap delish, and the salad PERFECT!!

Those were the exact words a lady at the table (2 inches) from us said..,”should just make it a table for 6!” As far as sea day brunch..,pre Covid I loved it! It was yummy, menu was bigger (they removed several favorites!) and it was our go to. Now…it’s still good, but with more limited hours, smaller menu, and yeah…not what it once was. I still have a few things to try this cruise, but I gotta admit…the next few days, being port days, I’m hitting up Big Chicken (have the biscuits improved? At least Bojangles quality?) and Blue Iguana (WHEN is the last time I had a breakfast burrito? I think pre Covid! Gotta change that!) and maybe, possibly, depending on my previous 2 choices… the regular buffet? Or maybe just pizza? I dunno. Dang, so close! I tried. 😂 I love the Alaska salmon my husband smokes, but this..I dunno. Maybe being early morning, or it being pink (his is usually a more white/clear color on the smoker back home), it just was not appealing. I tried it..it’s my “something new” this cruise…not a fan!

Ok, today’s recap up until now (dinner time): Both Chris and I awoke at 6 a.m….what the heck?? At least it made for some good sunrise and empty ship pics, and a short line for go-go juice but still…I’m mad. Vacation is for being lazy and sleeping in! After getting go go juice (aka coffee) we went ahead and delivered our gift exchange gifts by 7:45. In return we have gotten some cool stuff…a reusable tumbler, door decorations, snacks, reusable straws, keychains, etc! It’s a fun social media event we joined. At 8:15 check in for sea day brunch opened. We checked in at 8:30 and our table was assigned at 8:35. Yay! Service was a bit slow tho, and we were seated next to a complainer…kinda dimmed the experience. We had a perfect table next to the window, I loved my view of the wake! I decided to be brave and “somewhat” deviate from my usual order. I *always” get eggs Benedict, no meat…today, I decided, be brave and get the smoked salmon! So…the fruit to start was yummy, and breakfast was…just ok. The salmon was probably good, but I need to finally realize I’m just not a huge salmon fan…quit trying to be. The hollandise (is that spelling right? Prob not) sauce was yummy, and muffin toasted perfectly, but the eggs…sigh. Both of them were not poached, they were hard boiled. Yuck. And the brunch potatoes were just yuck as well. Shoulda went with hash browns.

At Alchemy, just asked Drazen what he can do with absinthe. Things are about to get FUN! Recap to come from the full day in a bit….if I’m not asleep. Bahaha

Oh awesome!! Thanks for the info!! I think he’s going to love it. Thermal suite pass for the week is $159. Not sure if they do daily passes or not.

Breakfast with a view!

Serenity deck situation at 7:00. Not too many CHOGS out yet!

Photos from Mardi Gras at 6:30 a.m. as we delivered gift exchange gifts and found go-go juice

Good morning!

Last post for today: there is a bottle of hot pepper infused vodka at Alchemy….Angel made me a cocktail with it earlier, and holy moly, I love hot stuff and that was HOT. Is he REALLY an angel? My tummy is now questioning it…time for some Tums!

I got the calamari starter…yummy! The seafood bisque was YUMMY! Crabcake…yum. That’s all I can say. Chocolate truffle cake..perfect! Tonight was a free bottle of house wine, or 50% off any bottle up to $100.

Rudi’s menus

Dinner in MDR tonight…butttttt we opted to change our Thursday’s Rudi’s reservation to tonight, so no new menu pic tonight. Sorry!

I’m so glad you mentioned this..:they really are! I’m going to enjoy it SO MUCH tomorrow as I read my book!

Bon voyage! We are leading you out!

This is our first one. I love that I have an overhang for shade and if the weather gets icky! And I love the extra room. Location seems handy too…2 decks down to Alchemy 😂

FunTimes for today…my Hub app is not currently working, don’t know if it’s related to the planned outage or not.

So, after the spa, we meandered to the Pig & Anchor and met Shervin. He’s my friend right now. He made me the blackberry bourbon fizz, but since I don’t like Benchmark bourbon (ugh it’s ICKY!!) he subbed Woodford. He told me to keep it a secret tho, so shhhhhhhh! It was delish, so I got a 2nd. We came back to the room at 1:46 and started unpacking. We are in 9374, an extended balcony. So far, it seems like a good cabin and location. I do miss my kick butt bathroom and shower on my previous cruises this year tho!

Where did I leave off? Ummm…oh yeah, after lunch we just kinda meandered around. We went to the spa and I did end up getting a thermal suite pass for the week. I’ve had an injury to my right arm, and I’m hoping the Tpool in there may help. I remember back in 2017 (or was it 2018?) when I fell and really screwed up my shoulder the night before we embarked on Magic, the Tpool in the spa felt SO GOOD on it. Also, crazy fun fact: during the “massage demo” the therapist with the hot stone went to work on my right arm, and I never said anything but when she got to the spot the injury is, she goes (and there is no outward sign of injury, it’s all internal) “something happened here…you’ve had trauma.” Yes ma’am, if you only knew…

Lol!!! Hope no technology was ruined in the reading of this post! Oh I hope you have a wonderful time and love the ship as much as we do! Lol I’ll see what I can do, I can be very persuasive! 😉 Thank you!!

Oh my gosh. I can’t even…I just can’t. Ugh. I’m….umm…how many drinks in on my Cheers now? 6? Trying to reach 15 today. Making the rounds to see which bartender will be my BFF this cruise. So far, Shervin at Pig & Anchor is winning!

Big Chicken for our first meal, of course! Paired it with a Tequila Punch. Our room wasn’t ready, so we dropped our stuff off and went to Muster, then lunch. Now I dunno…we shall see what the day brings!