Highlighting the Experience...Welcome Aboard!

The Promenade
Here are some pics that depict our experiences onboard. We will post videos as soon as Blogger doesn't take 2 hrs to load them ;-) We know that you're just dying to get the inside scoop!

yum!

A HUGE poblano pepper


Spaghetti

lobster and shrimp for the formal night


all smiles at the Lido Deck


having a great time

1st Sea Day & Riding the High Seas

Well, it’s our first day at sea and the waters are pretty choppy today. Can you believe that this ship is taller than the Statue of Liberty?! We sure can't! We got seasick, which was a first for Tamika and I. This is mother’s first cruise and she DID NOT get seasick at all. A crew member advised us to eat saltine crackers and not drink any fluids to rid ourselves of that queasy feeling. Fortunately it helped, and we were all better in about an hour.

We are in love with our room, and the view of the ocean is just gorgeous. We ate breakfast at the Lido Deck and attempted to lounge around poolside, but alas the weather is a bit chilly.

At the Lido deck

Our itinerary includes stops at Progesso, Mexico and Cozumel Mexico. Tomorrow we will arrive in Progresso and we are just giddy with excitement. We walked around the ship so that we could become more familiar with it; it’s still confusing to navigate around.

Tonight is the formal night so we get to dress up in our fancy smancy clothes and take pictures that will cost a minor fortune if we choose to buy them.

After dinner, we headed to the Promenade where there was a Motown show. Everyone was dancing, and the entertainment was wonderful. We had a really good time sashaying around in our cocktail dresses to the music of Motown. Later that night, we attended a show.

Our room steward spoiled us rotten. These stuffed animals were such a nice surprise ;-)

Ready for the show in the Rome Lounge…

Travelin Sistahs looking fancy!

Ready for a Fun Time?!!! (Day 2)

Tamika & Ma

Me at Mother's Restaurant

TODAY is cruise day and we are very excited. After getting dressed, we decided to venture out into the city. We received recommendations to try Mother’s Restaurant for breakfast. After a ten minute walk we arrived at Mother's and waited outside for about ten minutes. We were then escorted into the quaint restaurant where pictures of celebrities lined the walls. Mother’s is a neat place that serves up French Creole cuisine and very good breakfast entrees. Ma ordered a ham biscuit, and I must say, the biscuits are HUGE and come with a dollop of what appears to be homemade grape jelly. YUM!

Tamika and I both had grits and cheese, smoked sausage, and biscuits. The portion sizes are large and the food is delectable. I haven’t had a smoked sausage in a LONG time and it was so good. Check out the pic of our food!

Breakfast for champions... Yummy!

We left Mother’s Restaurant stuffed and happy. Afterwards, we walked over to Harrah’s casino, played a few slots, and headed to the Riverwalk in search of Café du Monde. We heard such great things about the beignets at Café du Monde that we just had to try them. A beignet is a fried French doughnut with powdered sugar on top. We waited about ten minutes for an order of beignets (everyone was ordering them). They were $2.14 for three and we each had one. The beignets were good, fluffy, and airy. Ma really enjoyed them and it made for a nice experience.

While waiting in line, a jazz band walked around the Riverwalk and sung Christmas classics with a New Orleans jazz twist. It was quite the sight to see!

Nothin' like Christmas tunes with a NOLA twang!

Ma playing a few slots

After leaving the Riverwalk we headed to the Port oF New Orleans to meet our ship—the Carnival Triumph. After a bit of waiting, we finally boarded the ship, dropped off our luggage, and headed to the Lido Deck for lunch. The Triumph is gorgeous! Walking into the 3^rd floor lobby just takes your breath away as one encounters the beautiful décor, Christmas decorations, and the grandeur of the ship.

Okay, back to lunch. If you’ve been on a cruise ship you’re well aware that the food is nothing to rage about—at least its that way for me. We each had samplings of nachos, hamburgers, chicken fingers, and yogurt. The yogurt was incredible—I had two cups ;-) Everything else was pretty average. We didn’t see anything else on the buffet that suited our fancy sans fruit, so we stuck to the grill.

After eating, we decided to head back and REST. Our feet were burning from all the walking we did while waiting to board the ship. We met our room steward who is so sweet, and decided to catch a few zzz’s before dinner.

Dinner was in the Paris Dining Room and fancy smancy…LOL. The dining room is so beautiful, and service was excellent. We dined with two funny ladies from Mississippi, and three other ladies from Louisiana. Tamika and I even found out about a strawberry festival in Louisiana that we will try to attend next year. Mother had the ribs and they were good. I think she lucked out on her entrée. Tamika had a medium well steak that was tough as nails, and I had Mahi Mahi. 


The food was not well seasoned, but then that’s to be expected—cruise lines are not expected to please everyone’s taste buds, so I was content with the good company, ambiance, shrimp cocktail, and vanilla icecream ;-) The food was ALWAYS displayed so elegantly on the china...sometimes it looked too pretty to eat!

At the Paris Dining Room



Stuffed mushrooms