Day 2 on the new Carnival Celebration and it’s a sea day! In other words – a very busy day on board. I started the day off by writing the previous day’s update on Deck 16, just outside the buffet, next to the ice cream machine. This was done for obvious reasons, of course.
I was also in close proximity to the aft pool and bar, and Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken quick service place serving up fried chicken tenders, fries, chicken sandwiches, and breakfast biscuit sandwiches.
It was a little too early to give in to the temptation of fried chicken, but plate after plate walked by and I knew at some point there would be an ice cream -vs- Big Chicken showdown.
But first, let’s talk buffet. Simply put, the layout is well organized with the space being broken up by walls and dividers that make smaller rooms for a more intimate space rather than one large open food hall. There are tables for 2, 4, 6, 8, community tables, and high-top booths. Tables are bolted to the floor so they can’t be moved to keep the configuration safe from those who insist on shuffling things around.
For breakfast, you’ll find the usual stuff… eggs, french toast, pancakes, bacon, meats, etc. Lunch and dinner selections, to be honest… are average and pretty limited. However, with the vast number of places to grab a small bite or a full meal on board, there are far better options than relying on the buffet.
Overnight the sea was calm and there’s been no motion at all felt on the ship. Expect by one person. As I was walking around a woman was Facetiming a friend and she was telling her how much the “ship was rocking last night” and that was “still pretty rough.” As I passed, I couldn’t help but open my mouth and say, “are we on the same ship?” and kept walking.
Since it’s a sea day, EVERYONE is out trying to find a spot in the sun so they’re in their bathing suits and bikinis. While I get the fact that nobody wants to have tan lines (God forbid!), I’ve seen way too many buttcheeks that should be concealed rather than revealed. Also, ladies don’t forget to get your Brazilian before you don that new bikini. Monty Woolley down below isn’t a good look on the sun deck.
It’s now starting to get busy around the ice cream machine and today’s flavors are chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
BRB.
That was good.
Let’s talk entertainment for a moment. There is absolutely no shortage of it on the Carnival Celebration. There is something going on constantly whether it’s a game around the pool, kid’s activities, a musical act, or a full-on show, there’s stuff going on all day long so it’s hard to be bored.
Most of the ship’s bars have a musical act in the evening whether that be a solo musician like at Latitudes, or a full band at Guy’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse. These are in addition to the production shows that are in Celebration Central or the ship’s main theatre.
Celebration Central is the main hub of activity and is the area I described yesterday that is really the atrium of the ship which on Celebration has been transformed into a performance venue. A three-story wall of windows looks out onto the sea during the day and at night is covered with video screens to create a huge wall for the acts that perform here.
They choose to have the type of shows you’ll find in other ship’s main theatre here in Celebration Central, however, the seating is horrible. While there is seating across three decks, it’s very limited. People end up pulling chairs from other venues and bars and just pop them where they want to sit creating a jam of people watching the show while others are simply trying to pass thru. Those seated on the first level have the worst views and are unable to see the entire wall of video.
While the concept of this space may have looked great on paper and from certain angles onboard, it simply doesn’t work. The shows that have taken place here so far have been fantastic, but the audience for them is limited with many not even being able to take in the whole view. Plus, people start saving seats an hour or more before the start of the show making it even more difficult to get a seat.
Time to talk chicken… Big Chicken to be exact. Shaq is Carnival’s CFO (Chief Fun Officer) and is also heavily invested in restaurants such as Papa Johns’s and Big Chicken which also has locations on land. The chicken served is billed as premium, antibiotic and preservative-free, and raised humanely.
The menu, which you can see below, has a range of white and dark meat fried chicken sandwiches, chicken strips, and those previously mentioned breakfast sandwiches.
One of my traveling companions ordered the chicken sandwich and I got my hands on some chicken strips sans fries. The chicken isn’t heavily breaded and has a nice seasoning that isn’t too spicy but gives it a nice flavor.
After wandering around, I stumbled upon what is called Street Eats out by the pool area on Deck 16 mid. Tucked into a corner are three food outlets:
- Steam Dream which has bao buns and pot stickers
- Mad Sizzle which serves up kebabs and satay
- Time Fries which has artery-clogging fries topped with artery-clogging toppings
Steam Dream was serving up beef bao buns, so I stopped to try them out. While the beef was well flavored with a kick of heat, you could tell the buns were out past their curfew as they weren’t the cloud-like puffy pillows of dough I was expecting, they were overheated and a bit toasted from being in the warmer too long. It’s interesting to note that there is one crew member manning these three stations and he was running back and forth taking care of three windows at once.
For pizza lovers, and who isn’t, there is Miami Slice onboard which has a constant line no matter when you walk by. Since it’s open till 4 am it’s literally the Waffle House of Carnival Celebration. Later in the evening when you’ll find the longest lines, they are literally pre-plating pizza and handing it out at a rapid pace to keep the line moving quickly, while the pizza chefs crank those pies out of the oven faster than even Domino’s can do it.
As the afternoon when on, I grabbed a cigar and a cold one and found a secluded spot in a corner of the smoking area. Like a family of ants attracted to a red velvet cupcake, two guys came and sat next to me despite plenty of other seats nearby. One when to light up a joint when I said, “You’re not going to smoke that shit near me.” He apologized and opted for a Marlboro instead.
The topic quickly turned to, “How did you get that on the ship?” as I just had to know. He went on to tell me that when he was boarding, “the dog sat down next to me and I knew I was caught.” He further explained that he had “two cartridges” (I’ll be honest, I had to Google what that meant) taken away but the weed which he “wrapped in three Zip-Loc bags and placed in a ‘scented bag’ in his suitcase” went undetected.
As we were talking, the smell of weed wafted by, and after looking around, there was a 70-something woman nearby just casually smoking a joint as if it were a cigarette, giving zero f&%ks if she got caught or not.
While the threat of a $500 fine and being removed from the ship is everywhere, so is the smell of weed and it’s a common theme on the Carnival cruises I’ve been on. Obviously, it’s a problem they can’t seem to shake no matter how hard they try.
With warning signs at boarding, signs in staterooms, and letters in your room on embarkation day, it doesn’t deter those who want to light up. Carnival seems to want to play the role of both bad cop and good cop because they seem all tough with their policies, but it’s simply not enforced. As one who detests the smell of weed, if I’m paying for a balcony cabin I should be able to enjoy it without having to deal with the smell of weed each time I’m out there.
Enough of the weed, let’s talk food.
Again.
This time, dinner. Before heading off to the ship’s steakhouse, Fahrenheit 555, I stopped by the casino. My donation was greatly appreciated, I’m sure, even though I didn’t get a thank you. Tonight, the casino was not as busy before dinner as it was on Day 1. Since it was “elegant night” many were dressed up while the majority were not.
I had an 8 pm reservation at Fahrenheit 555 and arrived about ten minutes early and was seated immediately. I asked for a non-alcoholic beer, but none was available. As I mentioned yesterday, it’s hit or miss finding the two non-alcoholic beer options, Sam Adams and Coors, at any bar or restaurant that has its own unique beverage menu.
Fahrenheit 555 is a specialty restaurant that costs an additional $48 per person. The menu features your traditional steakhouse options and the night started off with a mini burger.
For appetizers, I ordered the shrimp cocktail which came with 4 large (not jumbo) shrimp and cocktail sauce. I also ordered the beef carpaccio which was served with some greens and Parmigiano. Both were pretty standard.
Up next was the main course, which I chose the 18oz bone-in ribeye, medium rate, baked potato, and mushrooms. The steak was cooked to the proper temperature, was well seasoned, and was what I would expect from a fine-dining steakhouse.
Dessert came next and even though I had my share of ice cream during the day, I opted for the apple tarte which was nothing to write home about. It was average at best with not much flavor to it.
After dinner I wanted around the ship some more and went up to the Lido deck where there was an 80s Glow Party going on, down at Guy’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse there was a live band playing which I stopped to listen to for a bit and being that there was an ice cream machine in very close proximity, I indulged further.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a big mix of passengers on this cruise ranging from solos to families with multiple kids to spring breakers to the elderly. Since it’s a longer cruise, it’s not really considered a “booze cruise” so I haven’t seen any rowdiness or excessive partying.
Right now we are docked in Cozumel, Mexico and most of the people on board are finishing up breakfast and heading out. It’s going to be my day to walk around and take photos around the ship before heading off for the obligatory selfie and returning quickly with a box of cigars from the duty-free.