Day 7: Our Second Fun Day at Sea on the Carnival Vista

I debated with myself whether or not to combine the last two sea days into one large blog or keep them separate in their own, albeit shorter blogs. Ultimately, I decided to go with two shorter blogs. As you'll see, particularly with this day's blog, we didn't do a whole lot, other than hang out on the balcony. Since I have many readers who enjoy the "food porn" I add, I wanted to make sure they got their fill as well. 

As is now usual, we had our coffee and pastries on the balcony after sleeping in. This has become such a routine for us that I can't imagine not doing it on future cruises (except port days, of course). It's such a nice way to begin the day, and definitely lets our mind and body know we are on vacation.

Cindy was starting to feel a bit under the weather herself so she would be having a "balcony day" and not doing much else on the ship. She admitted that she wasn't feeling all that well the previous day in Aruba, so I guess not diving was actually a good thing, at least for her. While she just relaxed on the balcony and read from her Kindle, I decided to go out and about and see what kind of trouble I could get into.

With it being such a nice day, the Lido was already filling up with people, hoping to squeeze as much fun and sun out of the last two days as possible. Had we not had a balcony, I'm sure we would've been hanging out on Lido as well.

Soaking in the fun

Since the Carnival Magic came out, we have always made it a point to have at least one dinner in the Cucina del Capitano. This is one of Carnival's specialty restaurants, and the $12 upcharge is very much worth it. We learned early on that to make this restaurant the best experience possible, go hungry! Portions are huge and you'll want to have as much room as possible to enjoy it all. 

Right this way...

New on the Carnival Vista is the JiJi Asian Kitchen. It shares a space with Cucina upstairs and you'll hear all about it in the next blog. That's one of the reasons I decided to keep the two sea days in their own blogs, as the next one will have many photos from JiJi.

While the dinner service has an upcharge, lunch does not. For lunch, Carnival offers a pasta bar that is quite satisfying. Unless you are very hungry, or not planning on a large dinner, I recommend ordering their half-portion for lunch.

Lunch menu

scanned from original menu

For it being so close to the traditional lunchtime, I figured there would be more people taking enjoying this venue, but only two other tables were occupied. Sounds like a winner to me! "Pace yourself, Patrick, you still have dinner tonight." That was my first thought, right before the other side of me to the "good" side to "Mind your own business!"

Caesar salad

with garlic bread

My lunch creation

I selected the penne pasta with bolognese sauce and Italian sausage. The pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente, and the rich sauce stood up to the robust flavor of the sausage. Yes, it was filling, and I had to leave about a third of it on the plate. I was too full to continue and I still wanted to make sure I would be hungry for dinner at 6.

After lunch I thought I'd spend a little more time on Lido, taking in the sights and sounds and enjoying a sunny day in the Caribbean. Naturally, I wanted to have the complete cruise experience, so I sought the nearest bar and ordered a Miami Vice as a sort of dessert. Cold and sweet, it made for a nice finish to my lunch.

Miami Vice

Oh yes, a most pleasant finish to lunch. Well, almost. It could be just me, but I think Carnival has defective drink containers. They seem to have a leak since they typically tend to empty a bit faster than they should. The only fix to this is to, well, go get another. I made my way to the Red Frog Rum Bar on Lido and saw a familiar face. 

Dwayne from Jamaica

I say "familiar" not because I've seen him on this ship during this cruise (I have), but because I first met him on the Breeze when we did our back to back cruise out of Miami in 2013. We ran into Dwayne again on the Magic sailing out of Galveston. Dwayne, or "Skinny" as his crewmates call him, has a very distinctive laugh. He's also a top-notch bartender and all around nice guy. It was cool seeing Skinny again and hearing about his time on another Carnival ship "down under" before making it back to the Caribbean. I hope I run into him again on another ship. Maybe he'll still be on the Vista when it comes to Galveston. 

Sea days seem to pass by so quickly, and this day was no exception. How could speed up like that? Why can't my Mondays at work pass as quickly as a sea day? I went back to the cabin to hang out on the balcony and read my Kindle, and check on Cindy. She was "reading" outside, so I gently closed her Kindle and placed it on the table so it wouldn't fall out of her hands. I didn't even wake her up, either. 

Don't let the sun go down on me....

Actually, sunset wasn't that far off. That sun thing, by the way, is one of those gels I placed on the balcony door because it looked cool. In the remaining afternoon light, I relaxed on the balcony, reading from my Kindle and wondering whether or not it was worth heading back up to Lido for another Miami Vice, or Painkiller, or spicy Margarita. Nahhh, I'd just wait until dinner.

Another beautiful sunset

This was also our second formal night, or "Cruise Elegant" evening as Carnival calls it. Slacks, a long-sleeved shirt and tie and I was ready to go. I mentioned in a previous blog how I decided to leave my suit at home for this cruise. We really didn't have room in our suitcase for formal wear and everything else, since we flew in. Keith brought his tux and opted to wear that for each formal night. He did look sharp, though. My lunch was early enough that I still had a bit of an appetite, so I was confident I'd find just the right choices for dinner.

Appetizer: "Four Season Salad"

Lettuce, corn, cucumber, tomato

With the proper amount of honey mustard, any salad would be good. A drizzle here, a drizzle there, a large dollop in the middle and I'm a happy camper. 

Main: "Duo of Filet Mignon and Short Rib"

String beans, red wine sauce

This is another dish I've had before and generally enjoyed. Both cuts of beef were tender and juicy and seasoned with just the right amount of spices to give it a good flavor. The green beans were still firm and the potatoes with the red wine sauce completed a nice dish. I kept teasing Cindy that I was going to ask the waiters to bring some tortillas for my beef. She just rolled her eyes and gave me the "Let's not start that again" look. 

Dessert: "Rainbow" sherbet

Yep, after a filling lunch and this dinner, a little sherbet and I was good to go. I even managed to keep from dripping on my good clothes. I'm sure some of y'all can relate. Others can just point and laugh.

Cindy was still feeling a bit punky, so she opted to stay in the cabin while I met Keith and Barbara in the Serenity hot tub. I think I spent more time in a hot tub on this cruise than any other Carnival cruise. On one of our Alaskan cruises with HAL, we spent lots of time soaking in the hot tubs. The three of us enjoyed our time in the hot tub and watched the stars as they moved across the sky. I went back to the cabin, realizing we had just one more sea day left.

Coming up, our final day at sea, and a round of golf.


For your convenience, here are the links to all the previous blogs in this series:

My Grand View of the Carnival Vista (first in a series)

Day 1: Embarkation on the Carnival Vista

Day 2: Our First Fun Day at Sea on the Carnival Vista

Day 3: Grand Turk on the Carnival Vista

Day 4: La Romana on the Carnival Vista

Day 5: Curacao on the Carnival Vista

Day 6: Aruba on the Carnival Vista


Until next time....


carpe cerevisi