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I won the raffle! This is the only jewelry raffle we have attended so far on this cruise and I won it. I also won the raffle on the first raffle we attended on our prior cruise on Carnival. It must be fate. I'm probably the only person in the room hoping not to win. I don't like being the center of attention even for a few seconds. I didn't even intend to enter this raffle but a sales person came around and handed a raffle entry to both myself and my wife, Barbara. He had already put the other half of our raffle tickets in the raffle bag. After drawing a ticket from the raffle bag he slowly called out one digit at a time. When he was about to read out the last digit, I just knew it was going to be me. So, probably being the only person in the room hoping not to win, why not.
Anyway, above you can see photos of the EFFY Keychain that was my prize. I gave it to my wife. She doesn't need a keychain but using some jeweler tools I have at home I should easily be able to remove the keychain loop and any other parts of the chain not needed to turn it into a necklace pendant or broach. It is a nice piece, nicer than the very tiny EFFY item that I won in the raffle on the prior cruise. In that prior raffle they did multiple draws after I won the first so there were a few winners. At this raffle they only drew one ticket so I was the only winner. They would be holding another raffle at 2 pm later that day but we didn't go to that one.
This is just the "Chaat" part of the Indian Buffet available each day for lunch. I could not get a photo of the main part of the buffet as there were constantly too many people standing in front of it loading up their plates.
I have accounts on Facebook and Twitter but none of the other Social Media platforms. I frequently use Facebook, but mostly just to promote my own websites and to follow family, friends, and other interests. So far I have not used Twitter for anything other than to link it to my Facebook so that whatever I post to Facebook automatically gets posted to Twitter. From this lecture I got some ideas on how to use Twitter more effectively. I'm still not sold on why I need to set up an account with any of the other Social Media platforms.
"Elton John Live 1975 - A fantastic tribute to the fantastic Sir Elton John, whose timeless music and flashy sense of style have gathered fans of every age the world over." This stared Rohan who plays almost every evening in the "Grand Piano" bar from 8pm until late (at least until midnight).
So, this is one reason why we don't buy any "Drinks Package". This was the first time I had ever bought any bottles of alcohol from Carnival to be delivered to our cabin. At $95 per one liter bottle these 2 bottles are way over priced compared to their cost in a retail store. Plus, Carnival added an automatic 18% gratuity to that making it about $112 per bottle, or $224 together for both bottles. But this is enough alcohol to fill more than forty 1.5 US fl oz (44 ml) shot glasses. Most drinks on Carnival cost $10 or more. Carnival offers to "Make It A Double" for just $3. So let's say you can get a double for as little as $13. But then don't forget to add the 18% automatic gratuity and maybe $1 additional tip for each drink a server brings to you. That comes to about $16 per drink for about the least cost drink you can buy on Carnival (other than a beer). I can make twenty double shot drinks with the $224 that I paid for those two bottles which comes to about $11 per drink (doubles) compared to $16 per drink in the bars. Buying twenty double drinks in the Carnival bars would be about $320 compared to about $224 using the bottles that I purchased for my cabin, a savings of about $100 or about 30% less than buying in the bars. If you buy single shots instead of double shots, the savings become even more pronounced.
Since my wife and I prefer wine over other alcoholic beverages, these two bottles should last us until almost the end of the cruise. But, I will make sure we do use them up before we get to the end of the cruise. The cost of these two bottles is about what it would cost for the two of us for just ONE DAY if we had purchased an Unlimited Drinks Package. If you think this is a great idea but would need to purchase several more bottles of alcohol to last the cruise, forget it. Carnival will only sell you two bottles of alcohol per room and no more than that no matter how long your cruise is. I know. I tried to buy more.
As I mentioned, my wife and I prefer wine over other alcoholic beverages and we will consume about one bottle of wine between us each day. We purchase one bottle of wine from the restaurant wine list each day at dinner. Sometimes we'll finish that bottle at dinner. Sometimes we'll end up with just enough to top off our glasses at the end of dinner to then take it to a show or to listen to music. And, sometimes we'll take what's left in the bottle back to finish in our room that day, or maybe the next day. Most of the wine we have been purchasing has been under $50 per bottle including the automatic 18% gratuity plus an additional $5 tip that I give in cash per bottle. At this rate we'll end up spending about $1200 for wine for this entire 24 day cruise, or about $600 each. That is still way under what it would have cost us for an Unlimited Drinks Package for the two of us on this 24 day cruise. But on top of that, with the Unlimited Drinks Package you are limited to the wines available by the glass in the bars, which are not very good, and the wines available by the glass when in the restaurant, which is a very limited selection. If you buy a bottle of wine, you only get a small discount with the Unlimited Drinks Package. The wine bottles are not free with the drinks package. We would not be happy with the wines we'd be limited to with the Unlimited Drinks Package.
Sometimes we'll do a Mini-Martini Tasting or a Mini-Mule Tasting. Again, those are not free with the Unlimited Drinks Package. You only get a small discount on those tastings. I guess you could get 4 full size Martinis or Mules one at a time with the Unlimited Drinks Package. But I think that somehow misses out on the fun of having the flight of all different tastes in front of you at once to compare and enjoy.
I guess it is worth it for some people who like to drink different fruity, fun or exotic alcoholic beverages all day long. If you start in the morning and keep drinking all day, I'm sure you will come out ahead with an Unlimited Drinks Package. But that is just not our style. On average we each drink about one half bottle of wine each day along with one, sometimes two, cocktails beyond that. Usually the cocktails will be from the bottles of alcohol in our room, but sometimes we'll buy a double Ardbeg Scotch on the rocks or some other drink. That is pretty much as we want to drink in a day. We don't feel deprived at all limiting our drinking to that amount. Every time we've done the calculations that has come up to hundreds less than what the Unlimited Drinks Package would have cost us. On this long 24 day cruise, I think it is going to come up to thousands less than what the Unlimited Drinks Package would have cost us.
We also purchased four 6-packs of Coke Zero (though they were delivered to our room as two 12 packs) and three 12-packs of water (The small bottles, each being 16.9 fluid ounces, or 1.05 pints, or 500mL), and 12 4oz cans of Mr & Mrs T Bloody Mary Mix. Our Cabin Steward also gave us two free 50.7 FL OZ (1.5L) 1.58 QT large bottles of water like the ones that you see in the photo above for $3.75 each. We never touched the two bottles of water in our room that Carnival would have charged for.
The Coke Zero is for making mixed drinks with the whiskey and the gin. We generally don't drink any soda at home and rarely have any in our house. Thus there is a good chance the 24 cans of diet code will last for the entire 24 day cruise. For those that know their drink mixers you may have noticed there is no alcohol to use with the Mr. & Mrs. T Bloody Mary Mix. It generally goes with Vodka to make a Bloody Mary. It does not go very well with Whiskey or Gin. But I didn't buy it for that purpose. Normally we take our morning vitamin & mineral supplements with an 8 ounce glass of Spicy V8 Juice to avoid taking them on an empty stomach. Unfortunately Carnival does not offer any kind of V-8, or even any kind of tomato juice other than through room service. So I purchased these to drink when we take our morning pills as it is about the closest in taste and calories to our Spicy V8 Juice.
We had our Cabin Steward bring us 3 buckets of ice every evening and sometimes in the early afternoon also. We used this to make plenty of ice water to put in the "hot / cold water bags" that we purchased in Hawaii that Barbara used on her painful legs a few times each day. This treatment was recommended by her doctor.
This is the best wine we've had so far on this cruise, maybe even better than the Duckhorn Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon that was $47 per bottle. This wine is only $33 per bottle. So I've found one more wine on the Carnival Splendor Restaurant Wine List for under $40 per bottle that is acceptable. Actually, way more than acceptable. I hope this wine will be on the two future cruises I have already booked with Carnival for January 2020 and September 2020. I had high hopes for this wine before even trying it as the tasting notes on the bottle read: "A deep coloured, full bodied red wine with soft and silky tannins. Deliciously fruity, with aromas and flavours of plums and blackberries." The serving suggestions read: "Ideal with steaks and other grilled meats or with tomato based pasta dishes and pizza." Barbara and I like bold full bodied red wines that can stand up to the flavor of red meats and other foods that can overpower a more delicately flavored wine. From first taste this wine lived up to the description on the label.
There was something not quite right about the food today, both the Indian food we had for lunch and what we had for dinner. Neither meal was of the excellent delicious quality that we had been enjoying for this entire cruise. The Indian food we had for lunch was dry and most of it was bland. For an appetizer I had the "Fire Roasted Chicken with BLT salad and sesame dressing" and for the main meal I had the "Chicken Masala". The chicken appeared to have been prepared the same in both dishes. In both cases the chicken was pretty dry and tasteless. Even after adding a lot of pepper to it, I still could not finish the Fire Roasted Chicken appetizer. I was expecting something with a bit more spice. I guess I was mislead by the words "Fire Roasted". The chicken in the main meal seemed to be prepared identical to the chicken in the appetizer, but at least there was some sauce to offset the dry chicken. But the sauce was about as bland and tasteless as the chicken. I did finish that chicken, but I don't know why as it was a waste of calories. I normally love risotto, especially Herbed Mushroom Risotto, but this had a weird bad taste to it. The Fragrant Basmati Rice looked more like Uncle Bens steamed rice and I did not touch it at all. I love veggies and ate all of the steamed broccoli and sauteed green beans.
Theories were going through my head like: "Was this the regular head chef's night off?" The food wasn't inedible, but it wasn't anything I'd look forward to. It reminded me of the taste of the food that we had on our two prior cruises on the Carnival Splendor: OK, but nothing to write home about. Actually, the food today was even worse than that. Hopefully the food will be back to its excellent taste tomorrow that we've experienced every day on this cruise so far, except for today.
This is the third or fourth time Barbara and I have done the Mini Mule Tasting; the first time on this cruise but once on our Hawaii cruise, once on our Mexican Riviera cruise and maybe once on our Panama Canal cruise a while ago. This time we made note of which are our favorites. The original "Moscow Mule" is the one that we liked the best. Other ones we liked include the Mexican Mule, the Vanilla Mule, and the Peach Mule. If we do a Mini Mule Tasting again we'll probably both get those four Mules. I did learn that the necessary ingredients in a Mule are Vodka and Ginger Beer. What other flavors are added are what make it different types of Mules.
Barbara and I did notice the Mules seem to taste better this time than they did on our prior cruises. The bartender said the reason for that is Carnival switched the type of Ginger Beer that they now use. They now use "Q Ginger Beer" from New York. He said the Ginger Beer that the prior Ginger Beer was too sweet and even he did not like the taste of the Mules made with that sweet Ginger Beer. Right on the label of the "Q Ginger Beer" it says: "Spectacular Ginger Taste - Sharp Ginger Bite Not Too Sweet".
We found this notice and these forms in our stateroom. It seems strange to have to go through Customs Clearance when we have as yet to stop at any non-U.S. ports yet. Usually when going from one U.S. port to another U.S. port, going through Customs is not necessary. Even when we went on our Island Princess Pacific Coast Wine Cruise, we only had to go through Customs at the first U.S. port. Once in the United States we no longer had to go through Customs. But, from what I've heard, Guam doesn't get many visitors from the U.S. compared to the number of tourists coming from Japan and other Southeast Asia countries. There is a lot of tourism in Guam, but mostly from Southeast Asia. Very few cruise ships ever stop at Guam as Transpacific cruise ship crossings are relatively rare compared to other cruise destinations.
We will be participating in a Carnival Shore Excursion in Guam so we just need to pay attention to the "***IMPORTANT NOTE***" part that says that we are to meet in the Spectacular Theater at the designated time on the Shore Excursion ticket and will be escorted separately to the clearance area. Over the P.A. system they mentioned that passengers not on a Carnival Shore Excursion could purchase round-trip shuttles to shore for $25 per person. At first there was some confusion about that as I guess dozens of people showed up at the Shore Excursion shuttle tickets. They cleared that up by saying there would also be free round-trip transportation available to shore and this was only for those that wanted to purchase their own transportation to shore. I'm not sure why one would want to purchase transportation if it was going to be provided for free. Maybe by paying one would be transported to shore sooner. I guess I'll find out when we get to Guam. Barbara and I don't have to worry about that as transportation to shore is included and will be coordinated with the Carnival Shore Excursion that we purchased.
Piano Bar Sing Along with Rohan, 8pm - 10pm
Piano Bar Sing ALong with Rohan (18+), 10pm - Late (sometimes till after midnight)
The piano bar was only about half full when we arrived around 8:45 PM but by 9:15 PM it started filling up. I think people must have been coming from the early performance of the show in the Spectacular Theater or from just finishing up with late dining.
Jeffrey Munks, the pianist who usually plays cocktail tunes in the Promenade from about 11am to 3:15pm most days, got a chance to play in the Grand Piano Bar. He played Bohemian Rhapsody along with a few other tunes. Jeffrey actually sang while playing the piano. I've never seen him sing while playing on the piano in the Promenade. The above photo on the left is Jeffrey Munks playing the piano this evening. The above photo on the right is Jeffrey Munks playing the piano on our cruise on the inaugural Transatlantic Cruise of the new Carnival Horizon ship in May of 2018. Also, this was the first time that I've ever seen Rohan play an instrument other than the piano.
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If in this report you see any typos, misspellings, factual errors or other types of errors, please let me know.
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