It's My Birthday Cruise - Day Two - Carnival Valor
It was our first sea day, and we decided to just lay low for the day. The weather was still pretty cool. We began our day with a bagel and coffee delivered to our room at 7:30 a.m. while we got ready for the day. We headed down to the Washington Dining Room for Sea Day Brunch. Both Dave and I had the filet and eggs. Dave added salmon to his, and I added mac & cheese. The service was great, and we were put at a table with two other couples.
After brunch, we decided to check out the cooking class offered up at Scarlett's Steakhouse. A big highlight when we cruise is eating at the steakhouse. There is always an add on fee, but until recently, we gladly paid it. As platinum cruisers, we are supposed to get preferential seating for our reservations. When we sent off our request to eat in the steakhouse on my birthday, we never received a response, so Dave sent another email - again no response. We then went through our cruise agent, and were told they were booked up until after 9 pm. When we boarded the ship, we tried again for reservations, but kept getting terrible times (either when they first opened or after 8:30). We tried playing the platinum card but were told that only Diamonds got preferential seating. Then we actually thought about it - the surcharge is now $35 per person plus gratuity. Granted they have some great dishes and we love their Lobster Bisque, but the last couple times we've had the steakhouse the portions were really small and the meat tough. I always get the lobster. It used to be one nice sized steamed lobster tail, now it's two halves (like they used to serve on formal nights) of a small 6 oz or so tail. Not worth $35.00. But I digress.
The cooking demonstration was very informative, and they let us have a sample of everything cooked. Everything was awesome, and we all received recipes of everything they served. We were stuffed full when it was over. It was a great experience, and my only recommendation would be to have the chefs wear a microphone so that as they explain what they are doing it can be heard. Instead one of the girls from the entertainment staff would give a highlight.
After the cooking demonstration, we decided to check out the slot tournament. Because we are platinum, we get a buy one get one free ticket into the tournament. We used my BOGO for this session. We were assigned slot machines four and five. I always like the number four, so I picked that one, only to have Dave want to switch with me at the last minute. He made it to the final round. For the final round he picked slot machine five, and ended up winning the tournament. He beat the second place winner by only 20 points. He won the proverbial "ship on a stick", a seat into the main tournament in April (which we are selling), and $500.00.
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, and attended the Veterans' Table tea at 3:00 pm. We actually went to tea time, but as soon as Dave found out that Veterans were at a separate table, he left us ladies and went to be with fellow Veterans. We both enjoyed it immensely, and planned to do it again on the last sea day.
It was formal night, so we dressed up and headed to dinner. Dave had the shrimp and I had the salmon. We also took our bottle of Moscato, and shared it with those around us. The wait staff performed and danced in the dining room. Although a good meal, it wasn't "hot" more like room temperature, but it was still good. The wait staff works hard, and formal night is always very busy. We finished dinner with cappuccinos and warm chocolate melting cake.
The shows were updated on the Carnival Valor from the shows we saw in October. The dancers performed "Nightclub Express" on our first sea night. It was a pretty good show. They did songs from famous clubs like the Cotton Club, 21, Studio 54, and the Copacabana. We noticed that instead of four male dancers, there were three. We figured one must have been sick. The only way anyone would notice is if you cruised on carnival and knew that they usually have four male dancers, 8-12 female dancers, and the two lead singers. We enjoyed the show.
After the show we did our fresh air walk, spent time watching the Dive In movie, and ate some pizza. We were back in our room by 11.
