Celebration Day 2: Sea Day!

When we talk about cruising, we always talk about how much we LOVE sea days. I personally love waking up with nothing to do and allowing myself to just relax. My relaxing is quite different from Cory’s so we usually separate on sea days and do our own things.

Our second day on the Carnival Celebration was exactly what we needed, a very relaxing and go with the flow kind of day! We woke up early so we could get good seats at the pool, a trick we learned early on. For cruising, the early bird always gets the good seats and the ones who sleep in struggle to find a seat. Before heading to the pool we decided it was best to grab breakfast since the Lido deck was so quiet. We made our way to Blue Iguana for some breakfast tacos, YUM! The crispy hashbrowns are my absolute favorite from there!

After filling up on breakfast tacos, it was time to find the sun and a chair to call home for the day. We have grown to love the Serenity deck since it is often the quietest space and kid free! As a 4th grade teacher, I take the silence and adult only atmosphere seriously while on vacation. I found the perfect spot to soak up the sun and read a book but also made sure we had good seats so Cory could watch the waves and take in the horizon.

By the time we found seats and got settled it was about 8:15 am so why not have a cold mimosa and take in the beautiful view? Reading on Serenity is my all time favorite activity while cruising and I could talk about all the books I read while on this cruise but I won’t get into those details yet.

After a few drinks and a few hours of relaxing it was time to take on the Bolt! If you haven’t heard of Bolt, it’s the first roller coaster at sea on board the Carnival Mardi Gras and Celebration. We had booked our ride on the Bolt on day one while exploring the Hub App and itinerary for the week. If you want to ride the Bolt, know it is an extra charge per person and other rules apply. For us it was $15 a person. We ran down to our room to make sure we had on our appropriate clothing and sneakers and were ready for our adventure. The Bolt allows you to control your speed and has a boost button, so if you are nervous or aren't thrill seekers you can take it slow! Luckily for us, we both love going fast and taking advantage of a roller coaster at sea! I let Cory drive since we had already talked about going again and I needed a reminder on the boost button. For the ride being less than a minute, we had a blast. We did not buy any pictures from this particular Bolt ride but the ones that were professionally taken showed a lot of laughter.

After some thrill seeking, it was time to go back to our spot on the serenity deck and to grab lunch. Cory really wanted a deli sandwich since he's heard so many great things and I had to get chicken tenders from Shaq’s for a change. To avoid lines it is best to go a little before noon or closer to 1. When you want something besides the buffet for lunch, be sure to check out the Hub App to make sure the restaurant is open (times vary due to sea days or port days).

After lunch we decided it was time to find a new pool location. We ventured down to the 8th floor and found the pool outside of Guy Fieri’s Pig & Anchor Brewhouse and quickly fell in love with this location due to the pillows on the chairs and the bar right around the corner. Cory quickly fell asleep and showed his appreciation for the chair while I continued to read and enjoy the warm weather. After I finished my first book and woke Cory up it was time to head to Family Feud Live auditions.

Family Feud Live is a huge attraction for us on each cruise that offers it. When we first started dating, Steve Harvey was always on TV while making and eating dinner. We always make it a habit to go to the live auditions so we can determine which of the three live shows we want to attend. Typically, auditions are 16 different families auditioning for their chance to battle on the stage. Immediately, we found the families we were going to cheer for! We stayed for all of the auditions and were ready to watch them live the next night!

It's hard to believe after all of this that it was only around 3:45 in the afternoon. But sea days are for relaxing and taking advantage of all the things happening on ship! We stopped by the Golden Jubilee to grab a smoked Manhattan, Cory had to try every smokey drink he could find at the bars on ship. Although Cory learned he did not love a Manhattan, the experience of a smoked drink was fun and worth trying a new drink!

Since it was still too early to head to the room to prepare for dinner Cory suggested we go to the casino for some slots! Unfortunately, the casino was packed and there was little room for us to try to win big. We decided the crowd was not worth fighting so we headed back to the room to enjoy the balcony and casually get ready for formal night dinner.

I love heading to the room midday to recharge and take some quiet time on the balcony or at least with the balcony door open to enjoy the waves to take a nap. But on this day I decided to enjoy the balcony while reading the latest thriller and sipping on my margarita. While I was on the balcony reading, Cory decided it was time to take a nap (insert flat pancake picture).Drinking all day does a number to the big guy. During Cory's nap time it was time for me to begin getting ready for formal night.

Formal nights are always fun to see how fancy or how casual each couple/family decides to get. We tend to stay on the more casual side of formal night, we leave our ball gowns at home. But you can wear your most formal dresses/suits or stay as casual as us, a sundress for me and a Hawaiian shirt and jeans for Cory. Formal dinners are always nice because the dishes at dinner are usually better than a typical dinner, and tend to include lobster or filet mignon. On a cruise, I tend to take advantage of as many steak dinners as possible since at home that is a dinner we only make for special occasions.

After dinner we had a little bit of time to waste before heading to the show of the evening. We decided to check out the Havana Bar– and to our surprise, it was completely empty. We enjoyed a quiet drink and were able to take in new views. Although this was our only time at the Havana bar, it was a great spot and we would definitely recommend it to anyone. It was quiet, quaint and a great spot to watch the water.

After our drinks it was time for my favorite show on the cruise ships… Love and Marriage! Think of the newlywed game. I love the different couples that come to the stage, the newlyweds, the couples who have been married for 10-20 years and of course the longest married couple in the room. Cory wanted to participate in this show as the middle married couple but the tryouts were all about PDA and if you know me, that isn’t my thing so he settled on watching and laughing in the audience. The couples are asked the same questions and earn points if both answers are the same! The questions and answers start out calm and PG but as the show goes on, the ratings go higher and the answers get spicier. Since we had such a great time watching the first show we decided we had to stay and watch the second round of the show with new couples.

After several hours in the sun, a day full of drinking and delicious food, it was time for me to call it a night and enjoy some quiet reading on the balcony. I tend to go to bed early on cruises to give Cory a chance to go to the casino guilt free! Day 3 is coming soon, our first day at a port! Come back for a breakdown of our day in Cozumel, Mexico.