Cruisin'

I recently took a 3-day cruise to Baja. After the food we had eaten on the cruise to Alaska, I was none too sure what my dining options would be. But hey, I was going to Mexico, right? So what the hell. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the food on the Carnival Cruise line far exceeded the food on Princess.



The interior cabin – the one that is advertised as the “starting price” was teensy weensy. I was afraid I would fall out of bed. But once I cuddled up in the overhead bunk with a comfortingly secure wooden bar on the side, I slept like a babe in a manger. Pitch-black and quiet, I sometimes slept through the afternoon.



These towel animals do kind of freak me out a little though.



The painting on the wall was of something we started calling “meatball bushes”.



First I checked out the buffet. Huge buffets are hard to do. Plus this is where screaming children in wet bathing suits went to shriek. After reconnaissance, we ate in the dining room most of the time.



One thing buffets do really well is dessert







Nice views in the dining room



Carnival is all about FUN. And dang it you are going to have F-U-N at any price. Even in the chic dining room the waiters put on some kind of song and dance every night. It takes true talent to take orders while dancing like you work at Chippendales.



The dinners ranged between satisfactory and surprisingly delicious. My friend turned me on to the fact that on a cruise you can order three entrees if you want. In fact, you can order three appetizers and all of the desserts. Dangerous information.

A typical app was tempura shrimp



One thing I found out early was that they could cook the hell out of a steak, so that became my fallback meal. Sides were super old-school. The mac and cheese was made with a delicious béchamel. But what was up with the peas? They were also in a rich béchamel with…are those pimentos? What year is this? Once I gave the peas a fair chance I kind of liked them.



I keep checking the color, but the prime rib really was this color



Mmm short ribs





Another fallback was the chocolate soufflé. Can’t miss. Oh, and then there was the Grand Marnier soufflé in case you got bored. They made an excellent ceme anglaise.





Food I have no memory of eating:





What do you want to bet that the guy in the middle is the choreographer