OLD SAN JUAN AND PINA COLADAS!

Carnival Celebration
San Juan, Puerta Rico
Wednesday, February 15, 2023—Donna’s birthday
84F, Sunny

Great photo of the old port area of Old San Juan

Taken by Donna

Old San Juan greeted us today with sunshine and warmth. The four of us got off the ship and walked around Old San Juan, wandering in and out of shops.

Street under construction

You can almost see the blue cobblestones

Another Old San Juan street

One of the shop’s clerks told us the island is still suffering from the two hurricanes I mentioned, plus an earthquake after that, and then Hurricane Fiona. It took a year after Hurricane Maria for electricity to be restored to the whole island—the longest blackout in U.S. history. 

We arrived at Barrachina’s, located in a beautiful colonial building over 200 years old with an interior courtyard and lush foliage. It is the birthplace and home of the world famous pina colada where don Ramon Portas Mingot first made the drink in 1963.  We arrived early enough so that we did not have to wait long to get seated, but by the time we left the restaurant there was a long line to get into the restaurant.  This is a very popular stop and we have been there three times.     (https://www.barrachina.com/ )

Entry to Barrachina's

 

TK and Janie at Barrachina's

TK-we are sitting in the open courtyard

One area of the courtyard

Bar in the courtyard at Barrachina's

TK and Lawrence wishing their wives would hurry up

Outside Barrachina's

We had pina coladas without alcohol and a delicious appetizer, “Puerta Rican Delights,” turnovers, corn fritters, and croquettes.  The pina coladas are wonderfully fresh—they should be because that is what everyone stops for!  There was another long line just to walk in and get one.

 

After that stop, we continued walking and browsing the shops. There is a lot of construction happening, especially in the streets, because of problems with the very old infrastructure.  The cobblestone streets are especially beautiful because they are blue stone cast from furnace slag which was brought over on Spanish ships as ballast. The blue color comes from age and moisture. Of course, I did not take a photo of those, but there is talk that after the reconstruction of the cobblestone streets they will eliminate car traffic from the area.

 

TK and Lawrence wait patiently as

Janie and Donna take photos and shop

A random courtyard restaurant

the Old World atmosphere I love

TK and I returned to the ship by about 3:00, stopping at a few parks along the way. I love that there are so many.   

 

For dinner tonight we went to Chibang,  a restaurant that serves both Mexican and Chinese food.  I did have a cheese quesadilla (great), but all the other choices were very spicy, so I opted for a strip steak—guests can also order some foods available in the main dining room. The décor was better than the red dining room, but the din was deafening. It reminded me of a school cafeteria and others agreed. Carnival ships are definitely different.

Entry to CHIBANG

 

Coconut Tea Tres Leches

The servers and the three of us sang Happy Birthday to Donna and we all had Coconut Tea Tres Leches, a light cake soaked in spiced coconut cream with 3 kinds of milk, very tasty. It’s an early night because it is ST. THOMAS time again tomorrow!!

WE ZIPLINED TOGETHER FOR VALENTINE’S DAY IN AMBER COVE, D.R.

Carnival Celebration
Amber Cove, Dominican Republic
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 / St. Valentine’s Day
83F, Sunny
 

TK took this photo of Amber Cove near the zipline entrance

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, including favorite sons Randy and Brian, their beautiful wives Coleen and Denise, and our precious granddaughters, B1 and B2! And, my favorite brother Bill. Happy Birthday to dear sister in law, Marge, who had the good fortune of being born on Valentine's Day! And our favorite son Paul, too!

Since this was going to be a short stop in Amber Cove, Dominican Republic today, we were off the ship by 8:30 a.m. to visit a port that Carnival Cruise Lines created, sort of like an “out island.”  We thought this would be a beach area on the sea, with lounge chairs under palm trees like Princess Cays and Half Moon Cay, with a lavish picnic area where the ship’s crew served picnic fare. 

Instead, Amber Cove is a private port destination similar to a private island, for use only by Carnival Cruise Lines ships (Holland America, Princess, and Carnival) with shops, restaurants, and bars. There is no beach here, but there is a large resort style pool with a swim up bar. Ziplining, water slides, and water sports toys are available.  

 

To get the whole sign in, we had to be little people

Lush greenery at a photo op for Janie

We found lounge chairs in the shade with palm trees and the pool within sight, to share with our 7000 new friends. Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam was also in port. I am sure that many passengers stayed on the ships, others shopped, or took shore excursions, so maybe we shared the pool area with only 3500 friends.  The atmosphere was very festive with live music and recorded music, people enjoying the sun and water, and  ambience.

By 11 a.m. the pool was quite crowded

The swim up bar is under the thatched roof structure 

TK, Donna, and I decided to try ziplining. It was something I always wanted to do, but I always said I would only zipline in a country that cared whether I lived or died. That turned out to be Dominican Republic!!  It was quite a hike up the hill, and soon, for $28 each (we could go 10 times for $28), we were outfitted and ready to go. The experience was enjoyable, and it is something I would try again. I am not a fan of heights, but it was exhilarating to fly overhead with the birds.  Donna tried it again, but TK and I were satisfied with one time. Lawrence was nice enough to take photos of our adventure.

Janie and TK start the descent

Janie and TK ziplining

Janie and TK ziplining

I will admit this was not far nor high

Baby steps--next time more!

Water slide

Donna!

Donna swooshed down the water slide too, which was free all day—quite a bargain.  While she was doing that, I made new friends, Doreen and Steve, from Pensacola Beach area, originally from Philly, and we talked about cruising, the Florida Panhandle, New Orleans, and our love of detective books. I hope we see them again on this huge ship.

By 11:30 we had enough fun in the sun, so we walked along the shops which turned out to be very interesting. We learned that one of my favorite colored stones, Larimar, is only found in Dominican Republic—it is a rare blue variety of the silicate mineral pectolite.   And, Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from the resin of the extinct tree, Hymenaea protera. I might have bought a Larimar/Amber slide for my Omega necklace.  TK was happy to find another Cariloha bamboo tee.

We also learned that some of the scenes from Spielberg’s 1993 Jurassic Park were filmed in Puerto Plata, which is where Amber Cove really is.

Carnival Celebration docked at Amber Cove 

Back on board, we tried the pizza (kind of chewy), so we actually found real grilled ham and cheese sandwiches at the Deco Deli, perfectly made.  The rest of the afternoon was spent reading our the shady balcony overlooking Amber Cove, live music from the Lido Deck playing cool tunes!

Very nice mural of the ship

Janie

TK

 

Amber Cove as seen from our balcony

Amber Cove.from balcony

For dinner tonight we headed to Cucina del Capitano on Deck 8, an Italian restaurant. The food was good, caprese salad, spaghetti carbonara, and so on. The atmosphere was much better, and the dining area was more subdued, not red everywhere. We will probably eat here again. The “traveling” magician came to our table and did a couple card tricks. Donna and I both signed the six of spades card, he shuffled the deck, and then pulled the same card with our names out of his inside jacket pocket. “How did you do that?” I asked.  His reply, “Magic.”

Cucina Dining Room--photo does not do it justice

 

Card we signed that ended up in the

 magician's inner pocket in his wallet

After dinner we went to the Punchliner Comedy Club to see Doug Williams and his R rated relationship show, special for Valentine’s Day. He is funny and I can’t give you any clues, but the show was raw.

Tomorrow we arrive in San Juan—the last time we were there in 2018, it was only four months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and people were still suffering. Electricity was still sketchy in parts of Puerto Rico at that time. I  hope things are much better now.

 

SUNNY SEAS AND A "FUN SHIP"

Carnival Celebration
At Sea, between Cuba and the Bahamas
Monday, February 13, 2023
82F, Sunny
 

The Lido Beach Pool -- 3 decks of fun and action (Decks 16, 17, 18)

Live music, lots going on!

The screen is between the two ball towers where we watched the 

Super Bowl last night

The soft ocean rolls of the ship make for a great night’s sleep—that is one of the great things about cruising. I need to reword something I said in yesterday’s blog—there is plenty of storage in our stateroom, it just isn’t always where we want it. For example, there are no night stands where we generally keep our charging cords, the closets are ample but squeezed together just outside the bathroom. The desk is longer than usual, so we can keep items on it, but usually there are shelves for many things like sunglasses, cameras, etc. Apparently, many Carnival people are saying the same thing about the bathrooms, which are especially small.

Believe it or not, Donna was able to get one of those lounge chairs in the pool at the Tides Pool at 9 a.m. when it opened this sunny morning. TK, Lawrence, and I hung out in the shade there for quite some time.

The Carnival Celebration is so big we will not be able to learn all of its spaces in a week, but we four did set out to explore.

Lido Beach Pool--opposite direction

You can see the three levels in this one

Serenity Pool area--this is not the same as a Princess Serenity Area

There is a brewerie on board

Emeril's Bistro--you have to pay extra at this restaurant

Deck 6, Aft

Seating area for Emeril's

Latitudes Bar near Emeril's

We had lunch at Guy’s Burgers (Guy Fieri, American restaurateur-- https://www.guyfieri.com/). They made the burgers right there to order and they were very good (as compared to Princess where the burgers were cooked ahead of time and warmed up on the grill).

At 5:30 we met up again for dinner in the Festivale Dining Room. We had to check in and our wait was only 10 minutes. The two story dining room was quite dark and very red. This was formal night, yet no tablecloth graced the table (Princess dining rooms always have tablecloths, always). Our water and soda drinks made the table wet.  The food was tasty. TK and Lawrence had grilled shrimp, Donna had filet mignon, and I had spanakopita with shrimp cocktail for an appetizer.  

The very red dining room, Festivale 

The ship has so many activities and it certainly deserves to be called a “Fun Ship.” Everyone is congenial and seem seems to be having a good time.  The elevators are certainly sufficient, and the walkways are wide. There are restrooms everywhere.

 

Crystal staircase

Donna and Lawrence near the staircase

Our choice this evening was comedy at two different comedy clubs on board the ship. Happy Cole performed in the Punchliner Comedy Club at 7:45---his standup comedy was R rated, but he was very funny.  I liked how he asked for Army veterans, then Navy, then Air Force veterans, and so on to stand up and he asked each one their name and what they did in the service. All received a good round of applause.  His website says, “A cause very close to my heart is the Laughs for the Troops program where I dedicate my time, and hopefully some laughs, to help our troops who are suffering from PTSD and TBI.”  (https://www.happycole.com/ )

Punchliner Comedy Club

At 9, we went to the Limelight Lounge for Doug Williams’ PG comedy show, another very funny comedian. He also honored veterans. His bio online shows that he is quite talented too. His ability as a a comedian/actor led him to be cast as a series regular in the role of Kevin on the HBO’s series “The Mind of the Married Man.” (http://dougwilliams.net/ )

 

We called it a night after an ice cream cone near the Lido pool.

First time we have had a towel animal in a long time

Some cruise ships are cutting back to cabin service once per day,

including Carnival. Princess room stewards 

attended to the stateroom twice a day

 

 

 

 

CARNIVAL CELEBRATION, MIAMI TO SUPERBOWL 57

Carnival Celebration
Miami, Florida/At Sea
Sunday, February 12, 2023
72F, Sunny

 

Miami from our stateoom balcony

Early this morning we were ready to drive to the Port of Miami to board our new ship, the Carnival Celebration.  Donna and Lawrence were catching an Uber, there was no room for everyone’s luggage in our truck. Originally they were going to park at the port too, but because of car issues it was easier to leave theirs at the hotel.  Since we all left at the same time, we arrived at the port about the same time too.  We waited about two hours to board, despite being priority passengers, but that time passed quickly as we talked and met a new friend, Melanie from Philly.

 

Janie--Priority seating to wait to board the ship

Walking onto a ship the first time is really magical, you don’t know what to expect and a wondrous scene unfolds. We were able to drop our carry on luggage off at our room right away.  The stateroom took us back a little as it reminded us of the one that we had on the NCL Epic in 2012—narrow, not much room between the wall and the bed, and a small bathroom. Yes, bathrooms are generally small on a cruise ship, but it is a good thing we aren’t any heavier than we are.

Bed, desk, and couch--leading to balcony

Shower

Necessity area

Balcony--note: the balcony on the 

Caribbean Princess was large 

enough for two chaise lounges

 

This ship’s inaugural cruise was in November 2022, so this is its inauguration year. Costing $1 billion, it is 1130 feet long, with a 137 foot beam.  There are about 1735 crew members, and a max passenger capacity of 6500. There are probably around 5400 people on the ship this week.  I do not think the ship’s architects asked any passengers about what they would like to see in a billion dollar ship.  For example who wants less storage space, and a room designed for skinny people? 

 

There is superior lighting on the desk’s mirror which also can also as a makeup area. This is the first ship we have been on that actually has three electrical outlets for U.S. appliances and USB ports (4). 

 

That said, Internet cost $154 for each of us. We are connected, but I can only use only one device at a time. Contrast that to Princess, and TK and I could share the Internet package with 4 devices—2 phones, my iPad, and my laptop. I believe the price for that was about $150 for two weeks for 4 devices.  For example, on the Princess cruise I was writing my blog, sending photos from my phone to my email so I could use them in the blog, and playing Words With Friends with my dear friend Heather while photos were downloading, all at the same time.  Not now—I have to disconnect to go back and forth. It does seem that the Internet is quite speedy!

 Back to the cruise. We met up with Donna and Lawrence for a bit of lunch at the Lido Marketplace (buffet)—it was packed. We ended up at Big Chicken for chicken and fries and Donna and Lawrence chose the Pig and Anchor Barbecue.  We explored just some of the ship.

 

Donna and Miami

Bonsai sushi bar

Central area --2 decks overlook this area

Tides Pool and Bar--Donna thinks we would need to get up at

 4:30 a.m. to get one of these lounges

Huge hot tubs near the Tides Pool

About 1/4 of the Casino

About 5 p.m. the ship started to leave the Port of Miami and we watched with D & L from our balcony.

Virgin's Scarlet Lady
Richard Branson started his own cruise line (adults only)

Passing cruise ships on our way to  the Atlantic
as we follow the Scarlet Lady

NCL Encore

We also passed the MSC Divina and the MSC Seascape

and the Royal Caribbean cruise ship docks

After making it to the Atlantic, we all went to the Lido deck and found spectacular seats to watch the Super Bowl under the stars.  I think the ship was divided, many for the Eagles and others for the Chiefs.  I believe in supporting the home team, and that would be Philadelphia this time, but TK, D, and L all wanted the Chiefs to win, and they did.  We ate while watching the game—fried shrimp tempura was fantastic!

 

TK took the photo, and he preferred sitting in the chair near Donna

Wow!

We explored the ship some more and then called it a day---another adventure awaits!