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Explore the amazing world beneath the ocean surface and the beauty of its coral reefs and underwater denizens.
"I first heard of the Mariana Trench in the most unlikely place: on the 605 freeway in Southern California." The lecturer explained that when she was little her dad tried to give her a feel for the depth of the Mariana Trench, over 6 miles deep, while they were driving along the 605 freeway. He set the trip odometer and then pointed out all the places that she was familiar with as they drove the next 6 miles. They drove by almost every relevant location in her life before they reached the 6 mile mark. That is how deep the Mariana Trench is, the deepest part of any ocean in the world and it is pretty close to the coast of Guam that. We will be passing over the Mariana Trench shortly before arriving in Guam. "More people have been to the moon (12) than have visited the deepest part of the ocean (8).
Notice how many people are at this lecture in this very large three floor theater. A lot of people are obviously interested in these lectures. There aren't as many people attending as there are at the performances which fill up this theater twice each evening, but there are more people here than attend any one comedy or live music performance at any other bar or lounge on the ship. I hope Carnival expands these educational lectures to all of their cruises, not just the "journey" cruises.
Another bottle of wine for under $40 that we'd be more than happy to order again! This one we rated between "Very Good" and "Excellent". The Banrock Station Merlot we only rated as "Good Plus", but their Cabernet Sauvignon is at least "Very Good" and approaching "Excellent".
Both of the above items were very good. The soup was very similar to the Spring Pea Soup that we had at the Chef's Table event, but the one we had at the Chef's Table event was more tasty. That one was served hot instead of cold and it had some additional spice that gave it a bite.
Above left: Mains: Low Country Shrimp And Grits - Spicy shrimp and andouille over charlton style stone ground grits. Above right: Mains: Turkey Parmigiana - Lean turkey cutlet hand crumbed, herb tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella.
Our server apologized for their not being any onions but they said they don't have any. That is a bit of a mystery. I'm sure they must use a lot of onions in the kitchen for the various dishes they prepare. They have plenty of raw red onions in the salad bar at the buffet and they even have grilled onions at "Off The Grill". But they have no onions at "Pizza Pirate" either. Maybe it has something to do with the type of onions they are short. This side was probably supposed to have baby pearl onions and I can understand they might have run out of those. Personally I think they should make sure they always have a good supply of "Pearl Onions" in the "Black Pearl", "Gold Pearl" and "Pink Pearl" restaurants.
'80s style dance and dressing in The Black Pearl restaurant? Tonight was '80s night on the ship with an '80s theme variety show in the Spectacular Theater followed by an '80s theme glow party on the Lido Deck, and other '80s tunes being played by live bands around the ship. All the servers were dressed in '80s style T-shirts instead of their usual more professional server attire. I almost didn't recognize our servers they looked so different dressed like that!
The food, both at lunch and at dinner, was back to being fantastic! Siva, the head chef, stopped by our table again and we let him know that the food was great today, both at the Tandoor and this restaurant. We did mention there was a problem with the food in both places, but just yesterday, and that we were mystified as to why since it was so good for all of the prior days on the trip. We even let him know that the food is way better on this cruise than it was on our cruises on the Carnival Splendor in January and June of this year. Actually, the food has been as good as, or better than, the food we've ever had on any cruise line including Norwegian, Princess, Holland America, Oceania and Cunard. We let Siva know that also. If Carnival could bring up their food standards to what it is on this cruise, I think it would be improve its rank among cruise lines best known for their great food.
Above is a photo of the carpet in front of our room. I agree that with the seems coming apart it does need replacing. I am curious if it will be replaced with a carpet with the same pattern or a different pattern. That might give a hint as to what the carpet through the cabin hallways is going to look like after the refurbishment. I would expect they will be using carpet that is planned for the refurbishment in Singapore. It is hard to believe they would replace it just for the remaining 12 days of this cruise and then rip it out again during the refurbishment.
It looks like Carnival is not going to wait until the ship gets to Singapore to start on some of the refurbishing. There has been a minor amount of work going on around the ship sometimes making noise where people were listening to a live music performance. One of the performers even commented: "Don't worry folks, that is just someone getting a root canal upstairs". I don't know if working on these items is routine maintenance or if they really are trying to get a head start on refurbishing the ship.
They have "Tea Time" on many days, maybe every day, on the Carnival Splendor. We have not yet been to one of those. Many of our past cruises have had Tea Time every day but there was never a need for a reservation and it never cost extra unless you wanted a beverage other than tea or coffee. Maybe we'll do one of these before the end of the cruise just so we can say we did it and get some photos.
7:00pm & 9:00pm Doors Open,
7:15pm & 9:15pm Pre-Show Fun,
7:30pm & 9:30pm Showtime
We've got the hottest music video hits from the '80s in concert. From pop-rock of Duran Duran and Cindy Lauper to the smooth soul of Whitney and Michael. Like, totally awesome!
A totally bodacious party with awesome giveaways, a rad '80s dance contest, a tubular '80s concert with The Wrecking Crew and of course, the Thriller dance!
9:00pm - I Love the '80s with The Wrecking Crew & The Dynamite Horns
9:45pm - '80s Music with DJ Chef Shur
10:15pm - '80s Rock-n-Glow Party
10:15pm - I Love the '80s with The Wrecking Crew & The Dynamite Horns
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