MILLIE: Karla and I decided to spend our Easter break in Los Angeles to bond with my cousin Pol Chavez, his sister Gigi Bentzen and her three kids Carlo, Dandan and Cammy. We were actually in for a surprise as Pol booked us all on a four-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. It was Karla’s dream to go on a cruise so this came as a pleasant surprise!
I had my apprehensions at first, given the many unfortunate sea tragedies, but Pol assured us that it was a fun cruise on board the Carnival Imagination, which was docked in Long Beach near the Queen Mary.
We checked in around noon on a Thursday and as soon as we were settled in our cabins, all four kids in one and all three adults in another, we went to the open deck on the 10th floor where the swimming pool, bar and some restaurants were. There was a free-flowing cafeteria offering salads, nachos, chicken strips, burgers, hotdogs, fries, and an array of delicious-looking cookies and desserts, fresh fruits and bottomless coffee, iced tea, lemonade and hot chocolate.
As we walked along looking for a place to sit, we realized there was a pizza and pasta place and the kids preferred to settle there. Dandan remarked that the pizza was available 24 hours and you could have all you could eat for free! Apparently, the kids had been on a cruise last summer and knew the ins and outs of the ship. There was bottomless soft-serve ice cream in three flavors and Karla offered to make me an affogato at the end of the meal by topping my espresso with vanilla ice cream. After our meal, the kids all trooped to the poolside where the action was. It was a beautiful day, sunny and cool, and most passengers were drinking away, so we joined by drinking cocktails and dancing to the beat, having a great time.
KARLA: Together with my cousin Carlo, we started happy hour quite early. Servers were passing around cocktail drinks throughout the whole pool deck. In between rounds, there was an announcement made that we had to do the drill. So everyone started mobilizing to the respective stations they’d been assigned to. We were briefed by the staff and taken to the deck where our assigned lifeboats would be and then finally, the drill was over. My cousins and I went back to the pool deck to continue our happy hour until my 11-year-old cousin insisted that she wanted to dance on stage. With the help of a little buzz from the cocktails, Carlo, Cammy and I danced on the stage and made fools of ourselves.
When I heard we were going on a cruise, I immediately envisioned retired couples or families on vacation for spring break, but with this cruise line, a lot of the people on board were actually in my age range. There were lots of bachelor and bachelorette celebrations, which made it seem like a party cruise — well, at least for us — more than anything.
MILLIE: At 6 o’clock, the ship sounded its horn to signal we were starting to sail away from Long Beach, with 3,000 passengers and a crew of about 1,000.
Pol, pharmacist that he is, thoughtfully gave us patches (Transderm scopolamine 1.5 mg ) to prevent seasickness. Pol and I explored the ship until dinnertime, familiarizing ourselves with the numerous bars, restaurants, shops and even a mini-casino on board.
We had a table reserved for dinner at 8 o’clock at the Spirit dining room and were actually unprepared for what we experienced. Our server was a Filipino by the name of John Vargas Sta. Iglesia who learned his waitering skills from ABS-CBN and was actually very efficient. John is definitely from the league of new Filipino heroes, our overseas workers, whom I am very proud of. I was impressed with the food, served a la carte and John intimated that Pinoy chefs should be given a chance as head chefs in the kitchen because they are brilliant and hardworking.
I ordered shrimp cocktail as an appetizer and salmon in miso glaze for my main course. Karla had the braised short rib with corn pudding and caramelized onion. Pol and the rest had French onion soup and the short rib, although Gigi ordered fried calamari on the side for the table to share. For dessert, we could not make up our minds so we tried all the offerings: warm date and fig pudding, Nutella tiramisu, and Carnival melting chocolate cake. John gave us a heads-up on what to expect the next night at the captain’s table and our mouths watered at the thought of lobsters and prime rib.
KARLA: After dinner, we all decided to do karaoke. Since I only tried karaoke very recently, I was very hesitant to sing in front of a crowd. My cousins, Carlo and Dandan, are absolute rock stars on stage and got everyone cheering, clapping and/or dancing, regardless if they were in tune or not. We had so much fun that we realized it was already 12:30 a.m. and little girl Cammy was still up. So we started to look for my mom and Papa Pol since it was their shift to take care of her. When we found them both, the boys and I headed for the club.
The next day, we got up in time for brunch. Mom had a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, while I had two orders of breakfast sausages and two orders of hash browns because they were oh, so tiny. Cammy had a stack of pancakes and lots of bacon while Tita Gigi and the boys had steak and eggs. We made it a point to wake all the kids up early because we planned to stay by the pool the whole day. We promised Cammy we would go on the giant slide with her and we did. By 3 or 4 p.m., Carlo and I were already at the bar, hanging out with new friends and sipping our cocktails.
MILLIE: True to form, the dinner at the Captain’s table was unforgettable and, without any lunch, we were all famished! We ordered practically everything on the menu as we were all undecided and everything looked really good! We had seared striped bass served with lemon and savoy cabbage, slow-cooked prime rib with giant onion rings, New York sirloin steak with pepper and herbs, rosemary lamb shank with roasted vegetables, and the star of the night, broiled Maine lobster tail with toasted orzo with shrimp citrus gremolata!
I think I had three lobsters and it kept coming until I just couldn’t stuff it in and Dandan came to the rescue! It didn’t end there; we had malted chocolate mousse hazelnut cake and Carnival melting chocolate, which our server insisted we try. I had a cheese-plate assortment and some fresh fruits.
While we all came dressed to the nines, we did not expect that John and his co-servers would surprise us with a special number as they paraded and danced to the tune of Celebration!
KARLA: The next day, we finally docked in Ensenada, Mexico, where we spent most of the day, but that’s another story. We got back to the ship around 4 p.m. that day and decided to take a nap until it was time for dinner. For our last dinner, practically everyone ordered the braised pork teriyaki ribs, while mom had a chicken quesadilla as appetizer and Carlo had a sirloin steak. The teriyaki actually came with a side of mashed potato, but it was so good that we had to ask for rice. And John, who anticipated all our needs, came back with a plateful of steamed white rice for our table. Ha ha! And we had a feast. After dinner, the servers treated us by singing modified lyrics to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane, then suddenly broke into dance with Psy’s Gangnam Style, leaving us in awe of their dance skills and craziness.
Most times, when people talk about their experience on cruises, the first thing they mention is the food. We never believed them until we ourselves were impressed, not just by the food but also the service in and out of the dining areas. Our room steward also happened to be a Filipino and always made sure that we were well taken care of. Probably the only thing that bothered me was the fact that we had no cell signal and mobile Internet during the entire trip. There was Wi-Fi but we did not want to pay for it. Our phones were pretty much useless, mostly used to check the time, take photos and listen to music, but I pretty much stopped carrying it around at some point.
I’ve always told mom that I didn’t want to go on an expensive cruise around Europe or the Caribbean because I wanted to experience the cruise in itself and explore all there was to do on the ship. Also, if I went to Europe I would like to take my time and see as much as I can and not be worried about getting left behind by the ship.
Bottom line is, even without Internet, we were not bored at all. With all the activities provided, four days on board was definitely not enough to explore everything. Would I go on a cruise again? Definitely.
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