Our first full day on our Carnival Caribbean Cruise was spent entirely at sea. Typically, the first thing people want to know when you’re going on a cruise is how you will entertain yourself while at sea. Trust me, it’s not hard.
After sleeping in extra late, we wandered up to the Lido Deck (the 9th deck on the Carnival Valor ship) to have a late breakfast.
The Lido Deck always holds the ship’s 24/7 buffet food service (I’ll do a post next week about the food service onboard Carnival’s Valor).
With our stomachs all full, we headed up two levels to the 11th floor to the Serenity Deck. On Carnival’s line, the Serenity Deck is typically the top 2 levels of the very back of the ship. This area is for adults only (21 and up) and it is the oasis from the hectic pools and slides. It also has cushioned furniture, including hammocks, couches and chaise lounges, and two whirlpools overlooking the ocean.
We found out on our last cruise that we prefer this location to the other outside lounging areas because it’s much more relaxing. The other lounging areas on the ship surround the pools. This means lot of loud music and screaming kids. Additionally, the pool areas only have your standard beach lounge chairs and typically there’s little shade.
We aren’t “lay in the sun” people. If you couldn’t tell, my skin closely resembles a creepy porcelain doll and my husband has already had to have two precancerous moles removed. Needless to say, we like to have a little respite from the sun while still enjoying the view. The most tranquil place to do this is on the first level of the Serenity Deck sitting under the overhang.
So, we plopped ourselves on a couch under the overhang and spent the next few hours reading/napping/eating.
I’ll leave it to you to figure out who was doing the reading and who was doing the napping/eating.
There may have also been a few pina coladas, which my husband had been dreaming about since our last Carnival cruise.
After a few hours of reading relaxation, we decided to head back to our room to get ready for dinner at the ship’s steakhouse. Each Carnival ship has a 5-star quality steakhouse aboard that guests can have dinner at for an extra $30 per person.
This may be counterintuitive for those of you who think that people take cruises because food is included but the extra special service and the quality of the food totally justifies the cost. I would definitely equate this experience to eating at a Ruth’s Chris. The steakhouses are so popular amongst cruising guests that the restaurant is usually completely booked before the cruise even begins. So if you are interested in doing this, make sure to make your reservations as soon as possible.
We decided to make our reservation on this particular night because we figured it would break up the back-to-back sea days and it also gave us a good distraction from the Super Bowl. I may still be bitter that my beloved Ravens didn’t make it in.
After getting on some fancy dubs, we headed up to the Carnival Valor’s Steakhouse, Scarlett’s.
The restaurant is fashioned after a genteel antebellum plantation as an ode to its namesake Scarlett O’Hara. It’s a quiet, small setting removed from the hustle and bustle of the typical dinner dining room service.
The wait staff took extra care to explain the menu and their restaurant’s vision. The courses were delicately plated and the service was thoughtful. Carnival recommends giving yourself at least 2 hours to complete your dining experience. I would say that we definitely used those whole 2 hours. And it’s not because the service was slow (it actually was fabulous), it’s that the restaurant serves 4 courses and actually gives you time to digest them all.
Our evening began with an amuse-bouche meant to compliment our meal.
I had a tomato gazpacho. 
The hubs had something with shrimp.
For our starters, I opted for the Lobster Bisque with Vintage Cognac. The bisque was delicious with a subtle hint of cognac. I will say that we didn’t find any lobster pieces.
Hubs picked the New England Crab Cake with Roasted Pepper Remoulade. He really enjoyed it. I, of course, found it to be salty but I always think that about crab cakes (I like them in their unadulterated form, straight from the shell).
For our salads, we both picked the Sliced Beef Steak Tomatoes with Gorgonzola Crumbles. Even though it was the middle of February, the tomatoes tasted fresh and were a beautiful bright red. The gorgonzola was also delicious but it was plated in humongous chunks. Maybe that’s not a problem for most but I found myself breaking them up into more manageable pieces.
For the main course, steak was the name of the game, since we were obviously at a steak house.
I order the 9 ounce Filet Mignon. I’m sorry to say that even though I asked for it medium-rare, I thought the steak was a tad on the dry side. Womp, womp, womp.
Hubs ordered the Surf and Turf Combo, with a Maine Lobster Tail and Grilled Filet Mignon. He enjoyed both of his entrees and didn’t find his steak to be dry. So who knows, maybe it was just me.
We finished off the meal with dessert.
Mr. A ordered their signature cheesecake with hazelnut biscuit. It’s freaking huge. I don’t think the picture even captures its enormity. It’s 14 ounces. Let’s just say that Mr. A got a few bites in before he gave up. Just too much food.
My dessert, on the other hand, was much more reasonable. I ordered the chocolate sampler, which came with 4 shot glasses of delicious chocolate confections.
Bittersweet Chocolate Cake topped with Espresso Ice Cream.
Banana Pannacotta
Tiramisu
Chocolate Marquise
The shot glasses were the perfect size after eating all that food and I love chocolate so I was in heaven.
Once we finished dinner, we headed back to the room and shockingly the Super Bowl game was in the last 2 minutes. Watching the Patriots lose was the perfect way to end our day :)
If you have the chance to eat at one of Carnival’s steakhouses, I definitely recommend it. It’s an elegantly refined dining experience that will make you and your family feel extra special. It doesn’t hurt that the food is pretty good too.
Up Next:Day Two At Sea and I Give You A Tour Around The Ship
