We all slept well the first night on board, though I woke up fairly early at about 5:40 Since I have been working out religiously at home, I was hoping to continue my routine on the ship, but not beat myself up if I didn’t. This morning at least, I woke up early enough to go to the gym before waking everyone else in the room. The gym is set up interestingly, with three tiers. The first (bottom) consists of all the cardio equipment, towels, water, and the scale if you wish to see how much you gained over the course of your cruise (the answer is four pounds). The second tier is rather small, with a hot tub and a couple weight machines. The third (top) tier is all the weight machines, the fitness studio for classes, and then a small area to the starboard side with dumbbells and benches. My workouts consist of some cardio moves combined with weights (ie lunges, pushups, squats, etc), so this little area is where I hung out. It was fine for what I needed, but I felt like I was in the way. I pretty much took up the whole area, and while no one came over looking to grab weights while I was there, as soon as I left someone did. That feeling, combined with the fact that it was hard to arrange time and the rocky boat later in the week meant that I only went to the gym one other time. C’est la vie.
I came back to the room after that and B & G were awake. I took a shower and we decided to take B up to the open play time at Camp Ocean (under 2 time) for a bit before we met my parents for Sea Day Brunch. Side note – G and I both agreed that the shower on the Pride seemed larger than those of our previous cruises on Royal. B really enjoyed playing in Camp Ocean. They had a ton of toys we dont have, as well as a play kitchen which is one of his favorites at day care. Since he seemed to be doing so well, we opted to leave him there so we could enjoy brunch. Some of the under 2 times are for babysitting ($) only, and others you can stay with your kid or have babysitting. So we were with him for ~30 minutes and then left him from about 8:30 -9:30. He didnt notice we were gone.
Sea day brunch was very nice and enjoyed by all. I ordered a mimosa which I didnt get until well into my meal, so I opted to not get one of those again (especially considering the almost $10 price tag)! I had the bagel breakfast which included cream cheese, onions, capers and smoked salmon. Yum! The rest of my family got french toast, eggs, bacon, pancakes – all the typical breakfast foods. Everyone enjoyed the food, minus the eggs which were powdered.
After brunch we picked up B and I believe took him to the arcade to win his first duck of the week. Someone had told me previously about the ducks and I was looking forward to getting one. Its a claw machine and costs $1, but its a “play till you win” game. B got a mardi gras themed duck. Keep an eye on the fun times throughout the week for arcade “power hour”. During this time all games are 1/2 price, so a duck only costs you 50 cents. All games are charged to a sign and sail card, so if you’re leaving a child in here on his/her own, I would do so with caution!
Being a sea day, there were tons of activities going on, including lots of trivia! B was taking a late morning nap so G stayed with him, while I went off with my parents. We trivia of all sorts, so parked ourselves in the Piazza Cafe for about 2 hours to play Friends, One Hit Wonder, and Harry Potter trivia, as well as trivial pursuit. We weren’t very good at most trivia’s, but when it came time for Harry Potter it was my time to shine! G had showed up with B by then, and was able to participate. G and I are huge Harry Potter fans and have read all the books and seen all the movies multiple times each. If you’ve been my previous post about visiting Universal Studios or know us in real life, you know just how obsessed we are. Well, I won! I should say we won, as G provided a crucial answer about the Hogshead Pub. And really we tied as there was a guy named Brian who got the same (perfect) score as us. If you ever go to do this trivia, be aware that the answers are based on the books, not movies so can be a bit different.
After I won my first (spoiler: only) ship on a stick, we decided to head to the art auction while my dad watched B. I’m sure there was some lunch in there somewhere, but I dont remember it! In any case the art auction was different than previous ones we went to, and much too long. They gave out glasses of champagne, but it was about an hour into the presentation. My mom won a free work of art in the raffle, and we left soon after that because G and I wanted to go to tea time. We had been there two hours at that point and they were still going strong.
Tea time on sea days is a lesser known treat. Its not listed under the activities on the fun times, and instead under the “hungry for more?” section of the food information. Its an hour long and in the main dining room. G and I were seated with two other couples, one from Dalgreen, VA and the other from Havre de Grace, MD and we all enjoyed chatting. I forgot everyone’s names promptly, but we saw the Havre de Grace couple several more times throughout the cruise. We were seated by a window and had a nice view off the stern of the boat of the pretty blue waters. Waiters came around with free teas (green, black and decaf) or a selection that you could purchase from for I think $2. Not outrageous, but we all stuck with the free. Next were tea sandwiches (salmon and cucumber), scones with cream and strawberries, and finally a dessert cart with a bunch of various tarts, cakes, and even an apple crumble. We really enjoyed it and planned to come back again next time.
After raving about tea time to my parents, we took B back and settled in for naps. Just as we were all drifting off to sleep there was a knock at the door. Oops we didn’t put up the “Snoozin'”sign! Luckily B stayed asleep as G answered the door. It was room service with a gift for us! My grogginess quickly dissipated as I jumped up to see what it was. John Heald had sent us a bunch of goodies! A bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and then a ship on a stick and medal for B. G quickly claimed the ship on a stick though, saying he deserved it for the winning answer in Harry Potter trivia.
If you aren’t aware of who John Heald is, he is the head cruise director for all of Carnival. He blogs a lot and is quite active on Facebook. I left a comment on his page several days before our cruise telling him how excited we all were to be going on our first carnival cruise, and he responded that he would try to do something to make it even better. Awesome! Now, I didn’t ask him specifically for something (though I did leave my cabin number), but people do it all the time. I feel there is some varying opinions on this and some say he is probably annoyed by requests and its tacky, while others say he loves doing it and likes to hear he made someones day. So have whatever opinion you want on it, but I was glad I contacted him ahead of time. I made sure to thank him as well when we got home, as well as shout out a crew member I thought deserved recognition.
B slept a bit longer while G and I got ready for the first of two elegant nights. I know some people don’t like having to get dressed up, but I really enjoy it! We took some nice family photos after dinner in the atrium and met some new photographer friends that got a kick out of B for the rest of the week, taking lots of posed photos with/of him. This was also the first night we met Jennyfer, the crew member I mentioned to John Heald. She was vacuuming the stairs and B wanted to help her. After that we saw her everywhere; cleaning in the buffet at breakfast, collecting alcohol purchases after ports, then back cleaning the atrium in the evenings. I feel the crew must never sleep!
Now back to dinner. Its lobster night! Once again my menu photo is blurry (note for next trip: take still photos with a phone, not gopro). There was the lobster with shrimp, prime rib, and seared striped bass, and really a bunch of good sounding items tonight. I had a shrimp cocktail and baby spinach salad, while G had Italian wedding soup. B was acting up by the time our entrees were served, so I took him out in the hall for a bit. Unfortunately that meant my lobster was cold by the time I ate it, but was still good! G had the striped bass which he said was “excellent”. B had chicken nuggets, but doesnt appear he ate them. We asked for a kids menu the first night, but they never brought us one, instead just telling us what was on it. I don’t know if there actually is a physical menu or not.
I have no photo of the dessert menu for this night, but I know it was good! Some kind of Chocolate cake with sauce for me, and I cant remember what G had unfortunately. We also had the Kathy Lee Gifford Rose as our wine that night and both enjoyed it. We actually ordered it a second time later in the cruise
After dinner and all our photos were finished we headed over to the early showing of Heart of Soul. My parents were seated in the 4th row and there was room for us to join them and plenty of room otherwise as well. Surprising to me considering other (Royal Caribbean) shows have been packed. The rest of the week we found it to be the same. Some were more crowded than others, but you could always find a seat. We all found this show to be enjoyable, especially B! He was up in his seat dancing with the lady next to him for most of it. She and her friend got a kick out of him. The cast of the show consists of 3 girls and 4 guys. I thought this was odd all week that their weren’t even numbers, because they did often pair up to dance and one guy was always left on his own. There is one guy and girl that are the main singers, then another pair who often sing as well. The rest are background singer/dancers. There is one guy and one girl that really stood out to me for the dancers, but everyone was really good.
We have been on cruises in the past where the talent is exceptional, but the show itself not entertaining, and thus we left. I thought all the shows this week were really well done and entertaining enough that even if (keyword IF) the cast wasn’t as talented you would still find it enjoyable. I thought all the performers were good though.
Once the show ended, we went out to the atrium lobby where the Liberty Trio were playing. If you havent had a chance to catch these ladies, make it a point to! The do amazing strings covers of popular songs. We heard everything from Guns and Roses to Metallica, to Michael Jackson and Coldplay. It was great and became our go to spot most evenings. I had a glass or two of wine, G had a beer, and B got his own special smoothie drink as well.
B was getting tired despite all the sugar in his drink, so G took him to get ready for bed. I stayed to finish my wine with my parents and ended up playing “Name that Motown trivia”. This was my only late night on the cruise, but it was a fun one! We werent especially good at the game, but it was fun. There were two winners, one who got the most answers right (bottle of champagne), and one with the most beads (4 free drinks). Lets explain the bead thing. When it was time to tally up scores, Saffie asked for a representative for each team to come to the center. There they would identify the song, play it and “Naughty Neal” from the fun squad would reward enthusiastic cruisers with beads for their dancing and excitement. Saffie also would hand off the mike to anyone wanting to sing and then we would vote by round of applause how many beads they would get. We sent my dad up as our representative and despite his attempts Neal did not think his dancing was bead worthy. So I went and took his place halfway through and soon was rewarded with some beads of my own. I was standing next to a really nice man named Maurice and his wife. Maurice it turns out owns a catering company called Reese’s catering in the DC area (@ReesesCateringServices on FB). In any case, it turns out Maurice was quite the singer. I forget the first song he sang, but he closed out the game with the final song, Marvin Gaye’s Lets Get It On. He sounded great! When I introduced my dad later, he remarked that Maurice sounded just like Marvin Gaye. Due to his impressive pipes and dancing, Maurice was accumulating quite a large number of beads. Saffie announced there would be a winner for the person with the most beads as well, and *plot twist* we could pass off our beads to another player! I quickly removed the 8 or so I had and put them on Maurice and began counting what he had. I lost count several times as people kept coming and adding more. He ended up winning with I believe 76 (or maybe it was 67) sets of beads. Second place was a charming 16 year old girl who had something in the 50s and they posed for a photo together. Maurice’s prize with 4 free drinks for him and his friends at the bar. Maurice informed us that he didn’t drink but treated his wife (of course), two other friends, and me for counting the beads to his winnings. As we were chatting at the bar and I was telling him about G and B we realized the other friends were the women seated next to B at the show! One pulled out her phone and showed everyone a video she had taken of B standing in his seat dancing and clapping along. I claimed a spicy pineapple martini as my prize and it was very good! Not too overwhelmingly spicy, but a nice kick. After that it was bedtime for me, and casino time for my parents.
Today’s fun times
Tomorrow is another sea day with more tea time, Dr Seuss story time, and of course, lots more fun!
Tales From the Crib 