Well no more ports of call left now on the Carnival Panorama and after 3 days of having to be on time to get to port we can get up anytime we choose as its a sea day. I was looking through the wardrobe for something I have not worn and decided to wear my new adidas blue that I bought from Macys in Portland which still had the $4.97 price tag which is amazing as its a genuine authentic product. Actually as far as clothes go I will make an effort to try and wear the couple of nice shirts that have not been used but one item that has not been worn and is not going to be worn is a pair of blue dressy shorts and it might be a while before I can fit into them again !
We decided wed go to the Vista Restaurant for a late breakfast as they are serving brunch from 8.30 to midday and we can get table service rather than going to the Lido Marketplace (aka buffet). I went to the Carnival Hub App and requested a reservation for a shared table and within 1 minute
my booking was confirmed for Table # 398 so we headed down to Deck 3 Aft straight away. Our table was right at the back of the ship and we had a view out the back and it was interesting that we had not seen the view from here before as the two other occasions we had been here for dinner it was night time. When we were seated at our table there was a lady there named Gloria and she was from Los Angeles.
For the first time we felt a little vibration of the ship here but nothing too bad. It did bring back memories of a previous cruise that had a pretty bad vibration problem and that would be hard to fix I guess once it first sets sail. There was a good choice of items on the menu and Kerry chose the Parfait (granola, greek yoghurt and berries) and the House Special of 12 Hour French Toast with roasted peaches which looked more like a cake as it was about 2 inches thick ! I had an omelette with bacon and a side dish of corned beef hash which is one new food
It was just after 9 and as this was a brunch menu they also had desert so why not have desert for breakfast ? So I went in for the Banana Cream Pie with graham cracker crust and it was delicious. An OJ and a couple of coffees and Im set for the day ahead. We chatted with Gloria who is a lovely lady who was really genuine and is sailing on her own and she said she was one of 9 children and has actually been to Australia twice. One on occasion she flew to Brisbane with some of her sisters and rented a car and drove down to Sydney using time share coupons so she must have driven right past our home in Tweed Heads (its a small world !).
She has been on many cruises and mentioned she got casino rates where the 7 day cruise only cost her $200- and she got casino credit of $200- so essentially cost her nothing. I asked about how this worked and she said if you gamble in the casino and win they will invite
you back at very cheap rates to get the money back off you next time. If you are lucky enough to keep winning then its happy days but if you lose your money its unlikely an invitation to cruise on casino rates your way. Anyway she is not a big gambler so sounds like she got a good deal.
She mentioned the biggest problem she had whilst driving in Australia was with roundabouts going the wrong way and I have certainly noticed that here on this trip (especially when we were in Sedona). Its OK when there is raffia around as you just follow cars but once there is around you default to old habits.
As I was devouring my desert I mentioned to Gloria that I was a bit disappointed that after being here for 6 weeks I had not once found a Key Lime Pie on the menu and I was so looking forward to having a slice somewhere. I cant recall when but it was definitely on a cruise ship where I had this for the very first time and is without doubt the best desert that has
ever been made (or maybe the a tie with the vanilla cannoli !).
