B and I took the Metro's Green and Blue Line trains to Long Beach, and it dropped us off at 1st and Pine, where we caught the free Passport bus to the terminal. We embarked at around 1pm, and about 2 hours later and tons of lines later, we got to the Lido buffet place on the 9th floor.
There are two main dining rooms, ours is on the Gold Pearl, upper level, and we picked the late dining time of 8:15pm. We were seated with 4 other couples, two of whom are newlyweds and on their honeymoon. One couple is from Chicago moving to LA, another is from Riverside, an hour away from LA. Another couple is from Oregon. The last couple we only saw once, and they never came back since. We met some interesting people in the boat, one is a guy who got drunk and lost after his day at the Tequila factory. We ran into him on our way back to the boat, and he was hoping to get back in without an ID.
The food selection is great, with Escargot, Duck, Sushi, etc. on the menu. One night, B and I checked out the Pinnacle for our anniversary dinner. For $30 per person, it was a great night of good food and awesome service we don't even get at most regular fine-dining places. We spent most of our breakfast and lunch at the Lido, they have an Indian station - my favorite, a Rotisserie, and Burrito station, Mongolian, Cold Cuts, and Omelette station. The Lido's regular lunch choices are not Carnival's best, but those specialty stations saved the day.
The amenities are great, they have about 4 pools, one being an adult area, with 2 jacuzzi's. We took advantage of the jacuzzi one night, and met a couple who goes to Puerto Vallarta almost every year. There is also a mini-golf area upstairs. The fourth and fifth floor houses the common areas, with bars, casino, gift shop, the main theater, a sushi bar, a specialty coffee place, a piano bar, and the disappointing night club. Their comedy shows are our favorite, which is held at the gawdily-decorated Moroccan room.
The decor is pink, like Gaudi got drunk, went to town and just decorated the place in one day. Some days I liked it, some days I'd say "wow", and not in a good way. Carnival charges $11\day\pp for tip, but we also gave more tips to Bernadetta and Dewa who were our hostess and server at the Main Dining room, and also to Viktor our housekeeper and his assistant. The room is cleaned twice a day. It was awesome to be this pampered. We got elephant, stingray, dog, turkey towel arts every night.
We did Cabo twice, since Carnival cancelled Mazatlan due to safety reasons. Cabo has some of the best beaches and water, for sure. B and I took a glass-bottom water taxi to Los Arcos, and then dropped us off to lover's beach, and picked us up, at $10\pp. We ate at a restaurant in front of the marina, and did some people-watching. For $2\beer, B had a great time. After more walking around and shopping in/near the marina, we called it a day. On the second day, we took the bus for 21 pesos, or $2 to San Jose Del Cabo, about 45 minutes by bus. We walked around the City Hall/church/restaurant/hotel zone area. B really enjoyed that day. The last port is in Puerto Vallarta. We took a bus for 8 pesos to Centro\central area, which is about 10 minutes away. We roamed around the church and boardwalk area, and walked back to the ship. On our way in front of one of the beach resorts, we rented a cabana, and ordered beer and pina colada. I got gutsy and parasailed for the first time for $35, and I had a great time. The PV day was my favorite day. The walk back was long and tedious, but it's a good way to get rid of the extra calorie from binge-eating the entire week. I also went to the gym about 5 times, so hopefully that helped.
Tico also had a 'vacation' of his own the time we were away. He's in boot-camp for two weeks with Whiskers and Tails. We now learned to walk him properly, he's more mellow and obedient, and a lot calmer. I am still not sold that we got our money's worth, but the follow-up from the trainer is still to come. She's to visit us at the house, and go for walks with us as well.
So November is a month of Camp and Carnival for the Tico household.
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