Monday Dec 5
Carnival Wine Cruise 2005
Monday morning Bob brought me breakfast in bed, having visited the various buffets and gathered up my favorite items. After we showered and dressed, we gathered our things and headed down to the bottom floor to head out the gangplank. It was a very easy exit - just show your card, and you walked off the ship onto the main pier at Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. You'd already filled out your customs form and provided your passport back when you did the main security check before boarding the ship.
The dock area was very simple - a covered area to wait for taxis, a covered area to the right for a band, and then a group of shop buildings. We went to the taxi stand and considered taking one of the taxis to the main shopping area, but really we aren't shopping people. So we walked over to the bandstand and listened to the reggae band for a while. We did poke into the local shops but just weren't interested in buying things. The long embroidered dresses that they had, which I get on eBay for $15 each and love, were $60 each here. We did get a waist pack that was waterproof, to use at the stingray swim on Wednesday.
I went lizard hunting and found a few, but never got a photo of one. They're fast suckers! We were shooed out of the dock area by a crew member - they don't want you lingering on the actual "dock" - I suppose so you don't fall in. They wouldn't even let you on the grass near the dock. You would think there'd be a sign if that was the policy - but instead the crew person just walked over and scolded anyone who ventured into that area :) We saw a cool limbo guy with the band, who could even limbo while balancing a blonde tourist girl on his lap :) Bob talked with the bass player for quite a while, even playing some Sinister Minister along with the band.
After a while we got back onto the ship. Again it was easy - we slid our cards to register our return, and put our personal items through a metal detector. That was it, no other documentation was necessary. We headed up to our room. The room cleaner had put my mardi gras beads around the light as a necklace! Very funny :)
I put on a swimsuit and sarong skirt. First we went up to the curly slide and I took a ride down that. That was quite fun! There was one other adult that went down it, but mostly it was kids enjoying the ride. Next, we went to Emile's fish & chips. Note that they pronounce the name "Emilys" and not "EmEEEls". The fish & chips station is in essence the "top part" of the buffet area, and it was EXCELLENT. They had tuna sushi plus fish stew, fish & chips and other dishes. We noticed a downside to the layout here though. I would have wanted a glass of wine with lunch, but the bars are all located at the far ends of the pools. There aren't any near the buffet areas! So I had water and Bob had soda. I do love the decor in here, with the oriental medallions embedded in the tables.
We roamed around the rest of the deck taking pictures of all the areas and then changed back into regular clothes. Soon it was time for the wine tasting seminar. I took full notes of it which I'll post later on my wine site - it was quite informative and lasted an hour and a half. When it finished I was able to talk to winery owners and other wine enthusiasts. We even talked to a photographer; Bob with his camera equipment tends to attract the attention of the photographers on the ship and get into long conversations. Finally we headed back to the room to prepare for the formal dinner.
At 7:15pm was a pre-dinner celebration with the captain. It was held in several rooms but we went to the main Victoria Lounge as that was the large room we'd had the Champagne celebration in yesterday. It was already chock-full when we got there about 7:30 but we found and empty table and were joined by a friendly travel agent and her husband. There was free Champagne and appetizers that were quite tasty. The captain and crew went up on stage and introduced themselves. In no time at all it was 8pm and time for dinner.
We headed back up to our table again. This being a wine dinner, we were given free pairings of wine with each course. The appetizer I got was sushi, quite tasty, with Champagne. Then came a salad with an Aura white wine. The main course was a Japanese combo for me, while Bob got both prime rib and lobster tail (two separate entrees). All 3 dishes were very tasty - and we had both a Chardonnay and a Cab with these. Finally for dinner he got a pear "light" dish - but I had an AWESOME melted chocolate pot with port wine which was incredibly delicious. If I had not been absolutely stuffed by this point I'd have had another. People raved about this dessert for the entire cruise.
The crew even sang "That's Amore" for us, dancing around us. It was quite blissful.
We headed back to the room and found our first towel animal!! It was a friendly dog. After a quick freshen up we headed down to the theater in the bow which was a "world tour". They had dance music and styles from all around the world and I really enjoyed it a lot. They did quite a nice job with it. I do comment that nobody ever came by asking us for drink orders - not that we wanted more drinks after the wine evening, but if anybody thinks they are going to be "pressured" here I haven't found that at all. We went back to the room so Bob could change, then right back out to the theater for the "R rated" comedian. He was really funny, well worth going back for. By 1:30am we were back in our room again and collapsing to sleep - we had a full day planned for Tuesday with the wine events!!
Photo Collection from Monday
Carnival Liberty Winecruise main travelogue page