Friday, November 27th – Day 1

Well, technically it’s day two but yesterday was primarily travel so we’ll start with today. We were up around 3 am – apparently even a 2 hour time difference is enough to throw us off. Hung out at the hotel reading and on the computer until about 6:30 am to head out for breakfast at Hash House a Go-Go. They don’t open until 7:30 am but we read on-line that it’s a small restaurant and there is always a crowd, so you need to arrive early if you don’t want to wait – which turned out to be true. We were one of about a dozen people waiting when they opened. We had also read on-line that they were known for “large portions”. That phrase does not even come close to describing the mammoth heap of food we received. Karin had smoked salmon eggs Benedict with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and chili hollandaise. It came with a biscuit the size of a yeast donut and a heap of “griddled mashed potatoes”. She reluctantly left about ¾ of the meal on the plate, but managed to polish off two large cups of their fabulous coffee. Andrew had fresh-squeezed tangerine juice and the “tractor driver’s special” which consisted of 2 eggs, bacon, some fresh strawberries and a 15” buttermilk pancake.

After Hash House, we headed off to the San Diego Zoo. It’s really quite beautiful there – realistic habitats and a good assortment of animals. Purchased a membership so we can go back to the zoo and the Wild Animal Park in April when we return to San Diego for our cruise to Hawaii! We spent about 3 hours there before having to head off to the cruise ship port. Returned the rental car and was pleasantly surprised to find they had a free shuttle available to take us to the port, very convenient!

We had wanted to arrive at the port about 2 hours after embarkation began and so we walked right on without any lines - NICE! Our cabin was ready and waiting when we got on board (another plus to waiting to board). It is an aft balcony cabin which, although not a suite like we had in February, is well-appointed with lots of storage to accommodate our inevitable compulsion to bring most of what we own.

Tonight we had our first experience with Carnival’s “Your Choice” dining. Rather than going at an assigned time (either 6 pm or 8:15 pm), you can go when it is convenient for you. We had this on Princess last year and liked the concept of eating when you are ready. One thing we didn’t like with Princess was four separate dining rooms. There was no way to know which would have a table open up first if they were all full and you had to go to each (on two different decks) to check for an open table.

The Spirit has only one dining room which makes it easier. The “Your Choice” dining option was just implemented on Carnival this year and it seems like they still have some kinks to work out. There was a 20 minute wait to be seated at 7 pm, though that was not entirely unexpected as we went at prime time for dinner. The bigger kink was the service - which seemed to be much slow than we expected. While the water and bread came out quickly, the remaining three courses were somewhat slow to come out. About 20 minutes between each so it took almost 90 minutes. The food was all good, but not one of the best meals we’ve had on Carnival. Karin had gazpacho and tilapia; Andrew had shrimp cocktail and sweet & sour shrimp as an entrée. Maybe we were being too picky though as they were trying to serve about 1000 meals at the same time - this isn’t McDonalds after all!!

What we did like was being able to have a table for two. Normally, you have to stand in line when you first board to make a special request to not to sit with a group of strangers (a pitfall of cruising without your own group).

While waiting for our table to open up, we went to the lounge next to the main dining room and we each had a frozen drink. Andrew has a list of drinks he wants to try, one down (Kiss on the Lips)! It was nice to sit and relax for a few minutes before dinner.

Back to the room to find…NO TOWEL ANIMAL! What?? Carnival is known for their towel animals! Maybe the room steward picked up on Andrew’s strong dislike for them!

Tomorrow is our first sea day. We’re hoping for warmer weather (it was cool today in San Diego (70 F) and is down-right cold tonight) so that we can enjoy the balcony!