The World’s Longest Freedom Review: Part 9.3featured

Well, T-two weeks until we leave (plus a few days, but we’ve got Mother’s Day *and* grandma’s birthday coming up), so it’s about time I kick this review into high gear, eh? Keep sending NYC recommendations my way. I’m really hoping to avoid chain restaurants and really dig into the local fare, so any and all recommendations are welcome 🙂 Also? Tour recs. Got ’em? I want ’em.

Also, I don’t know if anyone here has a Tumblr, but I have a personal one and I’m thinking of making another one to link with this blog. I can upload pics right from my phone and do a little live picture blogging from NYC and on the way home from the cruise. Might be fun 🙂

So Stephanie ran to the rooms to tell Mom we were alive. As it turns out, Mom had literally gone to the purser’s desk while we were gone to find out where we were because our tour came in three hours late and she was freaked out. We’d been warned to be vigilant about our safety in Costa Rica (more than usual) and while this wasn’t the first tour we’d taken alone together, it was the first time we had been that late getting back to the boat and since our phones didn’t work in Costa Rica, we had no way of checking in with her. And while Carnival says they’re in constant contact with their tour operators, they weren’t. They had no idea where we were, if we were okay, anything. They just knew nothing had gone drastically wrong because they hadn’t heard anything.

While Stephanie was proving to Mom that she was, indeed, alive, I ran down to the internet cafe to get on and check the weather at home and the forecast while it was happy hour internet prices (50% off). Okay. The internet on the boat? It sucks. With the 50% off and excluding the $3 set-up fee, it cost me $16 to check the current weather (remember, we left before a huge snowstorm), the forecast for the drive home and my email. The server kept crashing, pages weren’t loading and had it not been happy hour, it would have cost me $32 to check what normally takes me three minutes at home. That’s just absolutely ridiculous and there has to be a way for them to time out the charges when the server crashes. I shouldn’t be charged for sitting there and clicking “refresh” until the error message stops popping up.

Because of this, I was insanely late for dinner. I called Mom and Stephanie and told them I’d meet them there and I ran to the room to change (because I wasn’t going to dinner in my sweaty jungle clothes). And dear lord…let me tell you…do NOT wear a brand new pair of gym shoes into the rainforest to do any kind of walking. Once my feet were out of the shoes, you’d think the pain would go away, but it was just intensified. I wish I had time to take a hot shower, but I literally had to run to dinner. I stopped in to see grandma for a few seconds because I hadn’t seen her since breakfast and then I made my way to dinner.

Dinner tonight was pretty much the best tasting food in the world because I was absolutely famished. I guess Mom was pretty hungry, too, since she started with two shrimp cocktails with her caesar salad.

Shrimp Cocktail x2

Caesar Salad

Stephanie and I both started with the Fried Mozzarella with Mixed Greens (served with marinara sauce) and I thought it was decent…crispy on the outside, but lacking the necessary gooeyness on the inside. Stephanie didn’t care for it. Then we both had soups- Stephanie had the Yukon Gold Potato Cream Soup (enhanced with cheese and garlic croutons) and I had the Chilled Cream of Peaches. Stephanie loved her soup (though it was quite heavy) and though I’m not usually a fan of peaches, this soup was nice…light in flavor and very refreshing. I probably would have enjoyed it more as a dessert, though.

Fried Mozzarella with Mixed Greens

Yukon Gold Potato Cream Soup

Chilled Cream of Peaches

Stephanie ordered the Grilled, Marinated Center-Cut Pork Chop (grilled zucchini and boulangere potatoes) as her entree and she really enjoyed it. It wasn’t the best pork chop she’d ever had, but she said it was flavorful and tender.

Grilled, Marinated Center-Cut Pork Chop

Mom and I both opted for the Black Bean and Vegetable Enchiladas (served with sour cream, guacamole and mild salsa), but Bawa suggested we order something with it in case we didn’t like it because it wasn’t a very popular entree. Mom declined. I ordered a flat iron steak and was very glad I did because neither Mom nor I cared for the enchiladas. They just tasted…off. They weren’t bad, don’t get me wrong. They just weren’t good, either. The steak, though, was much better than I remember the every night steak being. And it was cooked medium, just as I asked.

Black Bean and Vegetable Enchiladas

Grilled Flat Iron Steak from American Choice Beef

When dessert time came, we were pretty stuffed, but Mom and Stephanie both ordered the Tiramisu (a delicious creamy combination of contrasting flavors. Mascarpone cheese with coffee and sweet chocolate). It was good, but you know…it wasn’t earth-shattering.

Tiramisu

But on the topic of earth-shattering, it was Bitter and Blanc (warm dark and white chocolate bread pudding with vanilla sauce) night, which meant there was only one option for me: the most amazing dessert they serve on board. I swear, the moment the first bite passed my lips, for a second, the earth stopped. Yes, it’s that good. I mentioned to Bawa how much I loved this particular dessert and before I left, he had grabbed another one for me to take back to the room to enjoy later (I’d end up giving it to grandma because they didn’t have it up on the Lido deck and she deserved to enjoy it too). Oh, and I had a cheese plate, too, to enjoy with my coffee.

Bitter and Blanc

Cheese Plate

Stephanie had left during dessert to run to the room and take a shower before the show and I went back to change my clothes (again) before meeting Mom and grandma up on the Lido deck. I found a towel frog waiting on Stephanie’s bed. It’s such a small thing, but these little towel animals just always make me smile.

I found Mom and grandma talking with Virgil again and I made grandma’s plate for her. I thought it was so nice that they had a lot of the starters and main dishes from the main dining

room on the Lido deck so people like grandma who prefer to dine in a more casual environment can still enjoy the same food.

After grandma ate, we met Stephanie down at the Victoriana Lounge for the 8:30 show of Jump, Jive and Wail. I thought this was pretty good for a “bonus” show (there were three large production shows on our voyage), but had this been one of two main shows, I’d probably had been a bit disappointed in it. Stephanie thought it was lame (literally…that’s how she described it), but grandma and Mom really enjoyed it. The lounge was packed and a lot of people really got into it. I guess Stephanie and I just aren’t big band kind of girls.

After the show, the dancers headed to the lobby and started a little dance party out there. The little dance party had more energy than the entire show, which was kind of sad, but it was fun to watch. We grabbed some drinks at the lobby bar and settled in to people watch and watch people far more rhythmically inclined than us swing dance.

We all went to the casino for a little while after our lobby time, but we didn’t stay long. We ended up heading back to the room, ordering some room service and attempting to watch American Idol, but the feed kept cutting out. We ended up watching the feed of the Welcome Aboard show, only to realize that they were replaying an old show (I think I’d remember singing happy birthday to the cruise director…I certainly remember the sex innuendos from the entertainment staff to the CD and those weren’t on this one). I think this is when we realized our assistant cruise director was the one who put on the Michael Buble show the other night and we spent awhile talking about why in the world he’d put on a show and not announce he was the assistant cruise director. As it was, it was the only time we’d seen him working in an official capacity all week. Really, any opportunity I can get in this blog to say how disappointed I was in this entertainment staff, I’ll take because I was just *that* disappointed with them.

Room service came rather swiftly and brought my midnight meal while I was in the shower. There’s so many things I’d like to try on the room service menu, but I always end up with the same thing: roast beef and brie sandwich, veggie sticks and cheesecake.

I blow dried my hair after my nosh and came to the conclusion that I can’t use their hairdryers anymore. I’m bringing my own next time. It’s not nearly powerful enough for me, it takes forever to get my hair dry and straight and it takes too much effort to keep it on since you need to keep the switch pressed down to keep it on.

And with that? Bed time. We were docking in Panama in the morning and despite the fact that I was exhausted and achy from my day in the rainforest, I was SO excited to explore another new country.

Today’s Lido dinner menu