Cruising the Southern Caribbean - Carnival Valor - Day 7 - St Martin



This morning I needed something a little more civil and headed to the dining room for eggs benedict, bacon and hashbrowns.  Exactly what I needed.  Late nights, partying, alcohol and not enough relaxation is catching up with me.

 

egg's benedict - better than the first day

 

Of course that didn't stop me on our last day which happened to be St Martin.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather was perfect for one more last day lazing on a beach.  We decided to stay on the Dutch side of the Island (and thankful that we made that decision because it rained all day on the other side, not that you would have known that from looking out your porthole!). 

 

 

buckets of beer

this is the life - a girl can get used to this sand and water!

 

 

These two pictures basically summed up our day (these are the edited photos).  Let's just say that with that bucket of beer came free vodka jelly shots (more than our fair share) and it was my turn to go a little wild with the alcohol.  Beer, Vodka and Sun are not a good mix! - but we had fun!

 

After our big day playing on the beach, I did manage to get back to the ship and shower and dress for dinner (and more drinks (although they were non alchoholic for a good part of the night).  Not sure how I managed to stay upright - the bar was a good support - LOL!

 

Dinner was a bit of a challenge (as in trying to stay away and focus) but once I got some food into me I was doing better. I didn't over do it tonight (for a change).

 

Entree choice tonight was New England Crab Cake.  I wanted to see how this one compared to Scarlett's.  I will admit that I preferred this one.

 

 

New England Crab Cake

 

Last choice on the Didja menu as Frog Legs in provencale herb butter with garlic bread.  I've eaten frogs legs before and these were done well.  Tender, lots of meat (they must of been big frog legs) and herby butter.

 

 

Finally I decided to go with the regular menu and opted for a very healthy broiled (grilled) atlantic salmon fillet with steamed vegies.

 

Shock horror....I didn't do dessert or cheese.

 

Saying goodbye to my lovely waiters and leaving big tips for them. I said my farewells.  The staff on board really do take care of their guests and I will always remember my first cruise with Carnival and the staff, that helped make this holiday very memorable.

 

The food on board Carnival was better than I expected.  There is so much variety and options over the course of the week.  Yes, there were lunch buffets and menus that I missed out on because I was exploring the Islands (or laying on a beach) but that's okay.  I think I'll be doing another Carnival cruise in the future.



Cruising the Southern Caribbean - Carnival Valor - Day 6 - St Kitts (and Scarlett's Steak House)

Today was another beach day.  St Kitts is seriously very different from any of the other islands.  It's lush and green yes, but the beaches have darker sand and the water is green (not the crystal clear blue).  I'm loving the vibe and atmosphere here, it's more relaxed and quiet....that my have been the beach we were hanging out on.  Reggae beach with hints of Nevis in the peripheral was the perfect quiet spot to chill out for a few hours. 

 

Rush slowly - love it

Lovely little Reggae beach

 

 

Lunch options were your typical american/island fare.  Nothing was really that appealing except for the conch fritters. Conch is definitely and Island must eat (when in season).  These were hot and crispy and incredibly tender - conch can have a tendency to be rubber and tough if overcooked. 

 

conch fritters

 

 

After cocktails and sun and swimming and relaxing and a then a wander around the shops at the docks...we got back on the ship and had a few more cocktails!

 

Then I had made dinner reservations at Scarlett's Steakhouse.  This was the fine dining option on the ship and for an extra $35 you can dine here. I was looking forward to this - but knew that I wouldn't be able to do justice to a full 3 course meal (with slabs of meat) but I'm going to give it a go.

 

 

Amuse Bouche- green pea veloute with lobster bisque.

 

Tiny taste (which of course is what an amuse bouche is all about)...it certainly got my taste buds excited. 

 

Radioactive pea veloute 

 

Brioche rolls with brushetta and olive tapenade and butter

fancy bread and butter

 

First entree was lobster bisque with vintage cognac, fleuron and fresh cream.  So what's a fleuron? - It's french for a fancy piece of baked puff pastry - that's what's floating on top of the lobster bisque. This was creamy and and smooth but didn't punch as much flavour as I had expected. Still it was a lovely dish. 

 

Second entree (told you I was going to try and do justice to the menu) - New England crab cake.  This was just okay.  It was a bit mushy for my taste.  I tend to like my crab cakes a little more crispier.  There was enough crab in it but it was just a little mushy/pasty for my palette. A bit of a disappointment really.

 

New England Crab Cake

Choosing the main was harder than I expected. I'm presented with the above selection that is on show of all the cuts and offerings. I knew I was going to be near full with my entree choices and I was tossing up between a few steaks....

 

Meat Trolley

 

then I saw the Grilled Cowboy steak (which is a rib chop) served at another table and I could not resist.  Yes I knew I was never going to eat an 18 oz (500grams) steak on my own (especially after the other previous dishes).  But Rib Chop? It had to be done.  Medium rare, just like I love it.  This was perfectly charred and so tender and juicy.

 

Slab of cow

 

Bursting point but I'm in a fancy restaurant and paying extra for this meal on board.  I needed a palette cleanser so I opted for this champagne sorbet.  Just enough to taste.

 

Champagne sorbet

Scarlett's is an open kitchen, perfect for any foodie (blogger) and they are more than happy for you to watch them prepare and cook.

After my lovely meal (and I can recommend dining here on ship at an extra cost at least for one night (just don't do it on a formal night as the main dining rooms have special on for those nights like lobster and prime rib) I joined my lovely new friends for cocktails and dancing.  After hours of partying way to much again, I headed to the 24 hour pizza parlour on the back deck of the ship.  Here you can order by the slice (or half a pizza) or you can make your own and have the whole one to yourself.  This is a mozzarella, garlic  and rocket pizza.  In true US style you can add chilli flakes and Parmesan to it afterwards.  It's very good pizza and perfect to sop up the cocktail dregs.

yummy 24 hour pizza on board

Cruising the Southern Caribbean - Day 5 - St Lucia Island Tour

This is the only day that I actually booked a tour on an Island.  I arranged this before the cruise directly with the company that was recommended on a cruise forum. 

For some reason I got my timings wrong and very lucky for me, got off the ship early and was greeted by our driver....lucky because I thought it didn't start for another hour (in which case I would have missed out)....I'm so glad I decided to get off early!

What a great day.  The tour company is called Cosol.

Not only was this an island tour it also included a brunch of local eats (which was one of the drawcards).   We headed up into the hills of St Lucia (which is a beautiful lush tropical forest covered island) where we were greeted by about 10 other vans on this tour.  We headed to an outdoor patio overlooking the Caribbean and munched our way through local bites.  Although lots of fried foods and stodgy, starchy munches...some of it was rather tasty.  It was just unfortunate that you had to fight your way through the masses to get a sample.

Here is a sampling of some of the foods.  There was also an array of fresh tropical fruits.

breadfruit balls                                                    candy sticks

 

The breadfruit balls are a surprise.  They are not sweet but savoury, filled with onion and cheese along with the breadfruit. the candy sticks were just that, sweet fried dough.

 

saltfish Accra

 

These were salty and crispy and not unlike a croquette (just in ball form).

 

 Johnny cakes

 

These are found from Newfoundland all the way through to the Caribbean and are little balls of cornmeal, mixed with water (or milk) and are deep fried.

 

Labadbad                                         split pea samosas

 

I was a big fan of the Lababad.  It's a coconut lavosh style flat crisp bread/cracker.  I kept going back for more of it.  The samosa were very tasty.  The only downfall for most of this deep fried food was that it was cold....and we all know that deep fried cold foods are soggy and oily and not that great...would be better if everything was hot and fresher.

Coconut candy

 

The coconut candy was sweet and almost toffee like..I could of eaten a bowl of this (but I didn't)

Pitons lager

 

Satisfied (aka full) with a Pitons in hand we headed on our way (there were only 5 of us in this van today) around the island.  The tour included a stop off on a roadside banana plantation, the volcano (which is still very active) and a dip in the therapeutic mud baths, a speed boat out to Sugar Beach between the two Pitons for some beach time, a waterfall, a couple of stops at fruit stalls and lots of beer and rum punch.  There is a 'blue van' (part of Cosol's) that follows the vans around the island for refreshments at the main stops.  Plenty of rum punch and beer (and non - alcoholic beverages) when you want them

This is me with the Pitons in the background.  Truly a beautiful, laid back island.

The Pitons

Before heading back to the ship we made a brief stop (ie didn't get out of the car) to pick up these local baked breads...they remind me of turkey legs and they are the size of them too.  We ate these piping hot with slabs of Cheddar cheese in the car on the way back.....okay the cheese is imported from the USA but the bread is made locally.

This was one island tour that I was very impressed with. You can book via email, no deposit required and pay in full after the tour has completed.

Cruising the Southern Caribbean - Carnival Valor - Day 5 - St Lucia

Arriving in St Lucia this morning was a beautiful sight.  Each island is very different to the other in terms of lushness, beaches, forest and obviously size.  I've booked myself a tour of the Island today so the day (with lots of food too) will be in a separate post.  So this one will be short and sweet.

Another quick breakfast at the buffet (which I have to admit I'm a bit over but it's quick and easy).  The eggs were better today and well American bacon just doesn't get much better than this.

bacon, eggs benedict, melon and peanut butter and jam (for the bagel)

After a day exploring I was hungry.  It just happened to be formal night number 2, but I didn't really dress up tonight (it just didn't seem to be such a big hoo ha for the second night).....skipping photos and introductions with the captail I head to my dining room and my favourite head waiter and suggestions of the snails as a must have....how can I resist and good recommendation.

I am not disappointed, in fact these are probably the best garlic snails I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Lots of herby garlic butter with chablis and pernod drenching very tender morsels of snail.

 

Escargot

 

the seafood platter which had black tiger shrimp, ahi tartare and hickory smoked pacific salmon with watercress and American cocktail sauce was okay. Nothing wrong at all with it, just didn't wow me.

Seafood platter

The Chateaubriand with sauce bearnaise was absolutely superb.  The beef tenderloin was perfectly tender and rare, exactly how I love it.  You could slice it with a spoon it was that butter soft.  The peas with raisins and the mustard mash were okay....I just wanted the meat! Meat wins any day!

Chateaubriand

Okay, bursting point has been reached so my philosophy that  ice cream always fits in was used...I pull that card quite regularly.  ...hey ice cream melts and goes down between the cracks - it doesn't fill you up! hehehe

This was butter pecan. After trying it I will admit I'm not a big fan of the flavour but I'm glad I sampled some.

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Two more days to go on this cruise and I'm so satisfied by this food (well, full) that I'm gaining a couple of kilos (so much for hitting the gym on the cruise ship everyday) LOL I think I've been once.....for 20 minutes!!!!!



Cruising the Southern Caribbean - Carnival Valor - Day 4 - Barbados and the Boatyard

Feeling rough again today.  So much for a relaxing and rejuvenating cruise.  I'm a party animal and loving it....sleep will come some other time.

 

We are in Barbados today and heading to the Boatyard.  Party central apparently.  Off to fuel the body before heading off the ship.  Another breakfast of bacon, eggs and bagels.  I don't recommend the scrambled eggs.  What is with American Bacon?  It is the bomb!  love it.

 

standard buffet breakfast

 

A quick taxi ride over to the Boatyard where we find a warm and inviting beach bar with lots of lounges and beautiful white sandy beaches and the clearest water I've ever seen.  a day here is going to be fabulous.  It's a cover charge bar but this includes a free drink, a lounger and umbrella, wifi in the bar area and the taxi ride back to the docks.

 

This is how we are welcomed. Hello! my kind of special I reckon.

 

 

I am definitely a Pirate. Arrgh me hearties, I'm home!

 

Sampling a  free Shark Bite in the funky open bar.  Great tunes playing in the background and a fun vibe.  This is the bar where I'm doing tequila pours off later!

 

A shark bite is a mix of passoa, Mount Gay White Rum (the famous, local rum) and orange and pineapple juice.  To be honest I don't think there was that much alcohol in the freebies but it was refreshing and tasty.

 

Boatyard Bar

 

Propping up the bar (but let me just add, I wasn't the one later in the day that was propping up the bar - yes it ended up being a huge day and having to drag certain friends back onto the bus! But I'm not mentioning any names.

 

Lazing on the beach taking in the view (who could get sick of that blue water in the background), the locals wandered along selling their wares.  We weren't interested until this guy came along and cut us some fresh aloe vera juice for our delicate white skin (which was by now turning a love shade of red!)

Fresh Aloe Vera juice

 

Into the shade and some cool beverages, I decided to switch to the local beer. Carib time!

 

Carib Lager - perfect sunny weather drink

 

A MUST try in Barbados is a famous flying fish burger.  These fish really do 'fly' across the water and are very tasty in between a bun with some lettuce.

Flying Fish Burger

 

It certainly is an entertaining beach spot.  Yes I didn't see any of the Island, but this is one place that I would definitely come back to stay!

 

When we finally did manage to get back on board the ship, we hung out and had a cocktail (because you know we hadn't already had enough right?) - I just love this drink.

 

Miami vice

I joined one of the girls tonight for dinner in the other dining room.  I opted for the 'Study in Sushi' (seared ahi tuna, ebi shrimp and norwegian salmon tartar with soy sauce. Epic fail. Was not nice at all. First and only real bad choice of the cruise.

A study in Sushi (they need to learn to make it better)

 

The main was a better choice but the sauce was very rich. Tasty, but very rich and spicy. Jerked pork loin, marinated in island psices and hersbs with fried rice and crisp garlic green beans.

Jerked Pork Loin and fried rice

 

Now I have either been in the sun to long today or drank to much (or a combination of both!) and I just couldn't eat much tonight.

 

So we shared a dessert.  Much better and not so wasted.  We shared this warm fig, date and cinnamon cake with rum raisin icecream.  Perfect ending to the meal.

Warm fig, date and cinnamon cake with rum raisin icecream

Cruising the Southern Caribbean - Carnival Valor - Day 3 - Sea Day

Today was a sea day, so after another boozy night and a sleep in I headed for a quick buffet breakfast to get me through the morning, before meeting up with the girls for brunch (which was actually lunchtime when we went).

Buffet breakfast - standard

 

Here I just had a bagel with bacon and boiled egg and some breakfast potatoes.  I love bagels (and only ever eat them when I'm in the US or Canada).

 

After lazing in the sun on deck for awhile, I headed to the dining room for Brunch.  Always feels fancy when you are seated by waiters who carefully drape the napkin over your lap.  We started with these little heavenly bites. Popovers.  Something new to me.  Actually it's similar to a yorkshire pudding. Those popovers easily popped into our mouths!

 

 

popovers

Hungover and seeding, the extensive menu had to many things to choose from.  I didn't particularly want 'breakfast' brunch so I opted for the steak and eggs options, that came with grilled tomato and onion rings.  This was a huge serving.

Steak and eggs

 

The eggs were sunnyside up and perfectly cooked (for a change) and the steak was perfectly medium rare and juicy.  The onions rings were crispy and golden and the chimmichurri sauce on the side was tangy and bitey.



Bacon mac' cheese

 

I also asked for a serve of mac n' cheese with bacon. Yes I was being a glutton (and was proven once again that I cannot eat huge portions anymore)...and it wasn't exactly what I expected. I thought the bacon would be chopped up through it and it unfortunately tasted like it came out of a Kraft box.

So what doe's on do one do on a sea day? - drink cocktails on deck and the open seas of course!  This was the day's special a pomegranate something or other.  We spent a lazy afternoon on the top deck away from the buzz and chilled out.  Hanging out with new friends is fabulous!

 

cocktails in the day

 

Tonight's random tasting menu is from Scarletts Steakhouse (which is on our ship the Carnival Valor, and I have a booking for later in the week).  Pumpkin Bisque with sour cream and short ribs croquettes with chipotle aioli, guava and tomato relish.

 

 

Pumpkin Bisque and Short Rib Croquettes

 

the soup is creamy and velvety and very soothing and the short rib croquettes aren't overly potatoey and the richness of the short rib shines through. I'm really looking forward to my special dinner here later.

It's formal night number 1 and everyone is dressed up to the nines.  I've met the captain and his team, taken a few formal photos and head to the dining room.  Gusti is happy to see me again and I'm seated next to a few couples that I have chatted to before. Always lovely to catch up with others.

I start with spicy alligator fritters served on tropical tomato salsa.  They aren't very crispy and far to greasy for my palette, but now I can say I've eaten alligator.

Spicy alligator fritters

 

To maximise the flavour sensations, I have started to order two entrees (don't judge, some people order two mains on top of entree and dessert).  My second entree is sake stewed beetroot carpaccio with grapefruit, gorgonzola and baby arugula.  The beetroot is paper thin and punchy with sake flavours.  I really love this dish.  Simple and flavourful, it's colour bursting on the plate that grabs me!

.

Sake stewed beetroot carpaccio

However, it's the main course that is the special of the night (being formal night). Broiled (grilled) maine lobster tail and jumbo black tiger shrimp (prawns in our language!) with yukon gold potato mash and roasted broccoli florets (for the token vegie).  The lobster is soft and tender and dipped in the warm drawn butter it's a mouthful of scumptiousness! I only have a mouthful of potato and brocolli

broiled lobster tail with jumbo black tiger prawns

 

I'll admit I really can't fit in dessert but feel if I don't try the special dessert I'm missing out.  Cherries Jubilee (apparently it's a Carnival must have (along with the Bombe Alaska that seems to be on every cruise!).  I love fresh cherries and these are pretty tasty.

Cherries Jubilee

After dinner, I meet up with the girls again for cocktails in our favourite Paris Hot lounge and then the boys found us and invited us to a comedian show.  So we headed over for an hour of laughs. In this lounge they had a different cocktail menu and I decided to try the Miami Vice.  Pina colada and Strawberry Cola swirled together.  OMG! This was the drink of choice for the rest of the trip (side note - any of the bars can make it even if it's not on the menu!)  Icy, creamy, coconuty and very refreshing.

Miami Vice (not so Don Johnson!)

Another perfect day at sea. Drinking and dancing the night away again just seems to be our night time activity and I'm loving it!