Carnival Miracle 1/24/2009 Part 9featured

We woke up today feeling very melancholy. It was our last day at sea, our last day on the boat and it was time to start saying goodbye’s to everyone who made our cruise so special.

Stephanie was feeling VERY sick when we woke up (and, as I said in the post or two before this, she’d get sicker and sicker and didn’t get better until a week or so later. The 22-hour drive home was like torture to her), but she still wanted to go upstairs and go swimming and tan. So, we got dressed and had a quick breakfast at Horatios before headed back to the adults-only pool. This was the first cruise we didn’t use the main pools and I think I prefer the smaller, quieter adult pools to the crowded and loud main pools.

We stayed out for about an hour before Stephanie decided it was too cold for her (it was rather brisk out…much like our first day at sea, and the winds were picking up. At one point, there were only ten people, including the four of us, sitting out), so we all headed back to our rooms to change. I think we stayed in the rooms for awhile before heading back to the rooms to shower and get dressed in normal clothes.

Today’s Taste of Nations was CHOCOLATE. This meant it was a mad zoo at Horatios. The real problem was that with the winds outside, people took to hogging tables to play cards and read and such when they weren’t eating. There are PLENTY of areas around the ship to read, play cards, do crossword puzzles, etc when it’s too cold or windy to go outside. It took us a good 15 minutes to find a table ANYWHERE. There wasn’t much actual lunch food because it was all chocolate- cookies, cakes, pastries, mousses, candy’s, chocolate sushi, and a chocolate fountain with a zillion different dippers (doughnuts, cakes, fruits). And of course, STRAWBERRY BISQUE! We found a new addition, as well: made to order ice cream swans. I often put a lot of food on my plate and take a few bites of everything and it was all fantastic, but I was hankering for something more substantial than a bite or two of chocolate sushi and chocolate cake, so we’d eventually end up in the dining room.

We took our time getting to the dining room. We stopped into the shops to see if there was anything we really wanted to buy and into the photo gallery to see if there were any more pictures we wanted to buy and to purchase the St. Kitts DVD that Stephanie and I were on.

Let me vent for a minute about the ship DVDs. On our first trip on the Paradise in 2004, a vacation VHS that encompassed the ship, the onboard activities, the ports of call, and all kinds of footage was around $20. On our second trip less than a year later, it was switched to DVD format. It still had all of the features and was around $22 or $25. Somewhere along the way, Carnival got the bright idea to break everything up onto separate DVDs and charge $25 a piece. So, there’s the ship DVD, the onboard activities DVD, a DVD with the bridge and galley tours, a DVD for St. Maarten, a DVD for St. Kitts, a DVD for Grand Turk, etc. It would cost HUNDREDS for all of them when it would previously cost $25. Who wants to pay $25 for a DVD of the bridge and galley tour? Seriously? I love these DVDs because I love reliving the memories, but it’s becoming too much.

Anyways, we headed up to the dining room for lunch. The boat was really starting to rock and I was getting very sleepy, so I forgot to take pictures of anyone else’s food but my own and I don’t remember what they had or thought of it. I started with the Cream of Spinach soup, which was good but needed a heavy dose of salt and pepper, and then had the Philly Steak Sandwich for my main course, which was excellent. For dessert, I had the Grand Marnier Cheesecake, which must have been frozen because it wasn’t fully defrosted and was a bit icy when it was served. Someone must have had the ice cream sundae, because I have a picture of that.

Cream of Spinach

Philly Steak Sandwich

Grand Marnier Cheesecake

Ice Coupe “Jacques”

We settled in the lobby for a bit after lunch. The waves were really picking up and I think the only people who the waves and motion didn’t affect was me and grandma. People were talking about how bad this was and how this is the worst they’d ever been in, but if it were truly bad, Carnival would have broke out the sea sickness bags in the common areas. I imagine, though, that there were plenty of people sitting ill in their cabins from all of the motion.

We went back to the rooms to get packed. Being the ultimate procrastinator I am, I waited, but Stephanie packed. I watched TV and I went over to Mom’s room, where she and grandma were pretty much all packed up. I told them not to lock their suitcases in the likely event I’d need more room to pack everything.

We headed down to our last afternoon tea at 3:00 for the 3:30 event, and it was swamped. I heard they closed down the pools and the deck areas, so that would probably explain why it was so packed. We couldn’t find a table, so we sat at the bar. It wasn’t as special with the large setting of people. They ran out of tea pots and it took forever to get hot water, but it was nice to unwind with a nice cup of chamomile tea and it was especially good for Stephanie, who was nursing a sore throat and stuffed head.

I wanted to go out on the promenade deck (even with the rocking…maybe not the best idea), but all decks were closed due to the high winds. Bah humbug. We went to the casino bar instead.

There was plenty to do around the boat, but we ultimately went back to the room to watch TV and rest. Tomorrow, we had to drive 11 hours to Atlanta, and do 12 hours from Atlanta to our home just north of Chicago the following day, so we would need our rest.

When we headed to dinner, we noticed there were noticeably less people there (and they weren’t eating on the Lido deck, either, because it was almost empty when we went with grandma). It was very melancholy leaving our dinner friends and our dining team. Dalibor was leaving the ship in less than a month, and was planning on taking a cruise for himself before heading home to Serbia. He said he probably wasn’t going to re-sign a contract because the work was so hard and the hours were so long, but it was easier when he had nice people to chat with like us. Sara thinks she’ll be on the Miracle when we cruise in May and asked us to request to be seated in her area.

I started with the fruit with peach schnapps, which was very fresh and sweet but could have used more schnapps, and the appetizer portion of the fettuccine and chicken dish. I guess the dinner portion comes with two chicken breasts because this portion came with one and I couldn’t even come close to finishing it. It was very delicious, though. I had the flat iron steak, again, and it was the best of the three times I ordered it. For dessert, I had the Grand Marnier Souffle and a cheese plate for dessert and both were fantastic. Stephanie had the fruit platter, also, and Navy Bean soup, which she loved. She had the prime rib for her entree, and a warm chocolate melting cake for dessert. Mom had her shrimp cocktail and caesar salad, and I believe she had the shrimp, but I don’t have a picture so I don’t remember. She also had the warm chocolate melting cake for dessert.

Chilled Supreme of Fresh Fruit

American Navy Bean Soup

Grilled Chicken Breast (served over fettuccine with mushroom cream)

Flat Iron Steak

Tender Roasted Prime Rib of American Beef Au Jus

Cheese Plate

Grand Marnier Souffle

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

Dalibor and Sara sing us goodbye

Our dinner friends came over to get our email addresses and hug them goodbye. We don’t like sitting at large tables, but it was so nice having them next to us and talking with them. Who knows…maybe we’ll see them on another cruise. Sara and Dalibor hugged us goodbye and Mom discreetly gave them an extra tip for making our cruise so great and Sara reiterated to request her in May.

After dinner (and grandma’s dinner), Stephanie and Mom insisted that I get packing. I plopped on the floor and hurt my butt on the bottom of the table. Ouch! Our room steward left us a heart out of towels. I thought it was sweet, Stephanie thought it was odd and would be more appropriate for couples. After I packed everything back in vacuum travel bags, I realized I’d be traveling home to Chicago in what I was wearing- a tank top, a sleeveless top, and cotton gauchos. And flip flops. I had my Northface fleece in the car, as well as a pair of gym shoes, so as long as I wasn’t spending a lot of time pumping gas through Tennessee and Indiana, I’d be okay. Mom offered to go to the gift shop and buy me a sweater, but I declined. She’s like that, though. If I’m downtown and it’s raining, she’ll tell me to go get an umbrella. One time I called her from school in downtown Chicago and told her my shoes were hurting my feet and she told me to go to Macy’s and buy a new pair of shoes. It’s just the kind of person she is. I think I just need to learn to think ahead more.

After I packed, we all put our luggage out in the hallway and headed down to the Phantom for Bingo and the Carnival Legends show. We came close to winning Bingo, but not close enough. The Legends show sucked. It sucked hard, with very few exceptions. How bad was it? “Aretha Franklin” was lip syncing to a track. How do we know this? She lost her place and started laughing. Oh well. We were still entertained.

After the show, we split up: Mom and grandma went to sleep and Stephanie and I went to the casino. Stephanie lost $5 (we aren’t what one would consider “high rollers” by any means…more like low risk, low reward and that’s okay with us) and I came out $20 ahead at one point and didn’t realize it and lost it all except for $5. At least I came out ahead.

We went up to the late night bistro to grab a snack and headed to bed. I was pretty bummed…now all I had to look forward to was an early wake-up and a 22-hour drive.

Up next: The Long Drive Home and Final Thoughts