2016 Cruise to Mexico - At Sea Part 2
In the most recent part of the 2016 Cruise to Mexico trip report, we had enjoyed the first part of our first day at sea. Join us now as we finish out the day, starting right after lunch…
Next, it was time for the pool! Sort of. If you have ever been on a cruise ship before, you know that cruise ship pools aren’t very big at all. And the Carnival Liberty fit that mold well. But we went and changed into our bathing suits and found us a couple of lounge chairs to leave our stuff at. We then went to get in the pool, and fortunately there was room for us. There wasn’t that much room, so that we couldn’t swim around or anything. But we could definitely get in the pool and enjoy the cool water on the hot day.
Sea and Sunbathers. I hope they didn’t turn out to be sun burners.
Everyone in the pool sort of shuffled around, so that we all weren’t just standing in the same place at one time. And one guy even tried swimming from one side to the other. I got kicked. But I didn’t scream or complain about not having iced tea, I mean more room in the pool. I just moved out of his way the best I could. And it wasn’t a kid, either, but someone that looked to be around our age. Someone who should have had a little more common sense about not trying to swim in such a small pool. But who am I to judge.
After our time in the pool, we went up to the Serenity area at the front of the ship, which is for adults only. We were hoping to find one of the large, round, covered cabana chairs empty, but of course they were all full. So we sat in some regular lounge chairs. But not for long, because I saw someone leaving one of the cabana chairs, and we made a break for it. We didn’t push any old ladies down on our way or anything, but we might have if it had come to it. Well, not really.
Checking out the pool deck down below from up above.
Anyway, the chair was nice, and the cover provided some nice shade. Plus, we had a great view out over the bow of the ship, so that we could see where we were going. Of course, it all just looked like water to us, but we did have a nice view of the water. It was even cozy enough that we had a bit of a nap there, just enjoying the breeze and the shade.
Having a nice nap in a cabana chair. This was obviously before the rain came.
But then our nap was abruptly ended by a sudden rain shower. Actually, it wasn’t all that sudden, because I had seen it off in the distance before I drifted off to dreamland. Funny how you can see storms way off in the distance like that when there aren’t trees or houses or buildings blocking the way. And after the hot sun, that sudden rain was cold! We waited a while in the shelter of the cabana chair, with drops of rain often working their way through the wicker. But we eventually decided to make a break for it, so we gathered up our stuff and headed to our room.
Oh well, it was time to get ready for dinner anyway. This night was Formal Dress Night, and fortunately we knew about that ahead of time. So nice for Formal Night to line up with our anniversary, and now with our fancy dinner, too! So many good reasons to dress up. Of course, we aren’t necessarily the formal type. I don’t have a tuxedo, and Laura doesn’t have expensive cocktail dresses or evening gowns. What do you expect from someone who goes on a cruise and books an inside stateroom? But we did dress up anyway, as Laura wore one of her favorite dresses and I wore a coat and tie (one of the bow ties that Laura made for me).
While we were waiting our turn for a photo from the professional photographers, I took one of my own.
We also used our dressing up for Formal Night as an excuse to get some more photos made, thinking that we might like them since we were all dressed up. And if one or two of them were good, they would make good mementos of our anniversary, too. We found a photographer with a backdrop that we liked of fireworks above the ship, and of course the photographer was more than happy to take several photos of us in different poses.
Checking out the sunset before dinner. And trying not to be blown away by the wind.
After our photos, we stepped outside for a few minutes to see the sunset. One of the advantages of eating later on cruises is that you can watch the sun go down before you go to dinner, instead of eating inside while the sun is setting outside. The rain from earlier had mostly moved out, leaving some clouds here and there, and clouds always make for a nicer sunset, as long as the clouds don’t entirely block the sun. This time around, the clouds were just right, at least until the sun went behind the clouds that were near the horizon. So while we watched the sunset, we didn’t actually see the sun set, but rather we saw it go down behind the clouds. It was still a neat show, though. I hate that all of those people inside had missed it, since there were just a few of us out there to watch it.
It was a lovely sunset that evening. Read more about it in How to Enjoy a Sunset at Sea.
On our way to the restaurant for the evening’s meal, we once again went through the side of the casino. And off to the side there was a small stage with a country band playing and singing. But the scene was just a little odd, because all of the band members were Asian. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course, but it is just funny hearing a definite country twang and seeing people that you wouldn’t expect to sound like that. As they sang “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” the singer’s twang and inflection were just like that of Ronnie Dunn in the original song. It was like one of those movie cliches where someone learned to speak English by listening to nothing but country music. We got a good laugh out of it.
Laura on the stairs in front of the color changing chandelier. It never could make up its mind what color it wanted to be.
Fortunately, we had happened to see the Diamond Steakhouse entrance on one of our walks around the ship, so we knew exactly where to go. We arrived a few minutes early, but we decided to check in to see if they could go ahead and take us. As it turns out, there were several empty tables, and we were shown to one by the window. Except that unlike our regular dining location, this window looked out over one of the outside decks of the ship and then to the water, instead of straight out onto the water. No big deal, because it was still a nice view, even if there were people walking past the window every now and then.
The server greeted us and told us that our dinner included a free bottle of wine. But of course we declined, choosing instead just to drink water. After perusing the menu (gotta use big terms like “perusing” when you are eating in a fancy restaurant), I decided on lobster ravioli, while Laura chose lobster tail. That’s what we do - go to a steak restaurant and get seafood. Live unconventionally, my friends. And then for dessert, I got some sort of apple thing, while Laura got a chocolate sampler. She said that was the best dessert she had on the whole cruise, by the way. In case you were wondering what dessert to order when you dine at the steakhouse.
As you would expect, the food was good. At least our food was good. The couple at a table near us seemed to complain about everything. And then the woman got hers to go, leaving her husband behind to pay the bill and deal with the waitress. That’s a good way to do it - make a scene and then leave someone else to clean up the mess.
Lobster ravioli, topped with shrimp. Delicious.
But everything was good for us, so we didn’t feel the need to make a scene. We just happily ate our food and drank our water. When we were done, the server came and said, “Your meal is complimentary tonight, but I still have to bring you a bill to sign. It will just show that you don’t owe anything.” We knew that already, but it was still nice to know. And it was nice that they knew that ahead of time without us having to say it. That ended up being a really sweet deal, especially for our anniversary! Except the servers didn’t know it was our anniversary, so they didn’t sing to us or anything. No big deal, though. I’m not complaining.
After dinner, we were once again really full, but we managed to walk out on our own without having to be rolled out or anything. And we did get our photo made again by the professional photographers, this time with the lobby chandelier in the background. Hopefully, all the extra pounds we packed on with all of the food we ate wouldn’t show in the photos.
We also happened upon a game of 70s Music Trivia, already in progress in the main lobby, hosted by Cruise Director Frankie. Here’s how the game went: Frankie would play a very brief clip of a 70s song, and everyone would write down on their paper what they thought it was. Because we arrived late and just stayed off to the side, we didn’t have a paper to write our guesses on, but that was fine. And as it turns out, we know quite a few 70s songs. But then that makes sense, since our early formative years were all spent in the 1970s, which these days probably makes us sound old to some people.
Anyway, after all of the clips had been played and everyone made their guesses, Frankie went back through them all and gave the answers, either playing each song entirely or playing a good portion of the song. There was lots of dancing to the songs (probably helped by the nearby bar), and it ended with a long sing-along version of the final song from the game, which was Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course they would throw that one in there, because what would 70s music be without it? At the end, Frankie mentioned that 80s Music Trivia was a few nights away. We thought that one might be interesting as well, but we didn’t necessarily commit ourselves to seek it out, thinking instead that if we wandered up on that one, we would be okay with that, too.
We took an evening stroll before heading back to our stateroom. Once we got there, we discovered that our towel animal of the evening (which I think was a dog, not that I am criticizing anyone’s towel animal making skills, but rather it was shaped like a dog) was holding a card for us. The card included gift cards for a free 6x9 photo from the photo people, a free bottle of wine, and a $25 credit at the salon. That was so nice! We would probably only end up using one of those, but it was still a nice gesture.
Our anniversary towel animal, complete with gifts.
And then we saw that “Happy Anniversary!” was written on our mirror. So of course we had to take a photo of that with ourselves in the mirror. It was a nice photo opportunity, and once again a nice gesture from the staff. I don’t know whether Iketut did that, or someone else from the staff did that, but we enjoyed it. Always nice to receive a little extra attention on a special occasion like that.
Happy anniversary to us from the ship staff! We appreciated it!
We didn’t have any desire to go to the show that night, which was some singing and dancing revue or something. And we also knew that we would have to be getting up early the next morning for our shore excursion, so we called it a night and went to bed. And once again, the ship gently rocked us as we drifted off to sleep.
One more anniversary photo, because I couldn’t pick a favorite.
Watch for more from the 2016 Cruise to Mexico trip report coming soon!
