Carnival Pride - Day 2 - Sea Day (Part 2)

Once Joni returned to the cabin, we both changed clothes and headed down to dinner. Hoping to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to squeeze into a seat along the rail, I asked the host at the podium if we could have a four top table tonight. He insisted that no, since we were only 2 people that we had to have a 2 top table. I countered by asking for one of the 2 top tables on the end of the row and he obliged. Right across from us, a group of 2 was seated at a four top booth. Whether it's a matter of who you ask or that they'd arrived right when all 2 top tables were already in use I can't say for certain. I also didn't make a big deal about my medical reason for asking so I might have been more convincing for an accommodation if I had. Since this was our first formal night, we had tablecloths but no water carafe on our table. The menus were also already provided on our table in single paper form rather than the folded book.

We each got our soup on tonight with Joni's Italian Wedding Soup and my Mushroom Cream Soup

We each went with the Broiled Maine Lobster Tail and it reminded me of a tiny dead bug on its back with its legs stuck up in the air. Is fried cricket painted to look like a lobster the new "Didja ever?" dish?  Joni tried to pawn off the rest of her lobster onto me. Notice how low the level of melted butter is in the dish. I guess they figure if they serve tiny lobster no one needs more than an ounce of butter? My favorite cruise dish is Spaghetti Carbonara so I had to get that too when I saw it on the menu. One of the off putting things tonight other than no one bothering to offer a drink refill the entire meal is that several wait staff came over to repeatedly tell us that this is the only night for such a menu and not to expect even seeing these items offered on the other formal night. Umm, good to know I suppose but did we need to be told literally four times? Were they expecting a mutiny when lobster wasn't on the menu later in the week?

Vanilla Crème Brulee and Malted Chocolate Hazelnut Cake. I asked the waiter if the cake had Hazelnuts mixed in throughout or just on the crust (I.e. the hazelnut crust of David's Steakhouse cheesecake I can eat) but he didn't know and didn't offer to check. Word to the wise - don't rely on your waiter's discretion if you have food allergies.

After dinner we headed down to the Taj Mahal to watch the Viva Variety show with comedy juggler Dana Tison. We tried to get each other picked when he asked for volunteers but it seemed more like he already had people he planned to pull up from the audience. At one point he had someone from the audience toss items to him and he jumped when one landed behind him on the stage with a loud thud. Joni joked that since Dana was from Baltimore, he should be used to loud bangs. There was a funny bit at the end of the show where Dana's volunteer took the hard hat Dana put over his face for protection and moved it to protect his crotch area instead while Dana juggled axes over his prone body on the stage. Dana revealed, once he was able to stop laughing, that he'd actually brought a super tiny hard hat for that purpose. 

We returned to the cabin and changed out of our formal clothes so we could sit comfortably on the pool loungers to watch The Greatest Showman movie. My first try of the pizza for a movie snack wasn't great. We got to the pool deck while the previous movie Murder on the Orient Express was finishing and found two available loungers next to each other in the second row. Shortly before the movie started, Joni got up to go rent a blanket and grab some popcorn. 

A larger crowd started moving in looking for seats and it was like circling sharks trying to snatch Joni's seat. I spoke up when two guys came by to try and take her seat as they were trying to save many loungers together for the rest of their group. They instead split up and took the one next to hers and one in the row in front of us. The rest of their group arrived and once again expected Joni's seat almost to the point of accusing her of swiping it from them when she came back while they were still standing there. They eventually moved on and elected to double up sharing the 2 loungers they could find. 

I had a nice chat with the lady who took the seat on the other side of me helping her find where to get the blankets and popcorn. She found out I was from Baltimore and started asking me if I go down to the casino. I was so in the cruise zone I thought she was asking about the ship's casino. Wasn't until later I realized she was asking about the one built downtown by the Inner Harbor a few years back.

All the movies shown on the Dive In screen had subtitles and while Pitch Perfect 3 had been blaring in sound level, The Greatest Showman was super low. A large enough crowd had gathered to watch tonight that they were even sitting along the edge of the pool. A handful of kids had decided to switch to late night swimming and shrieked in the pool so much I kept looking back to make sure no one was drowning. Their noise really bothered the ladies sitting along the edge of the pool so for every child shriek I heard a lady's voice telling the kids to be quiet or go play on the other end of the pool. Moral of the story, if you're hard of hearing choose a seat in the front row of loungers so you can read the subtitles. I soon no longer cared about the noise as I fell asleep on my lounger. Do you think I could get a pool lounger on a cruise ship installed in my bedroom?