Girls Cruise - Our 1st Day at Sea, what we ate and drank

My best friend and I went on our annual girls cruise this past week aboard the Carnival Ecstasy.  We started this tradition 3 years ago when we were at a lack of what to get each other for Christmas. Since January is one of the cheapest months to cruise, we opted to use the money we would have spent on each other and put it towards the cost of a girls cruise.

After boarding the Carnival Ecstasy, Keri and I got our bearings and went on a hunt for a cosmopolitan. It is also our tradition to start the cruise off with our favorite martini. Surprise to us, we encountered a martini bar who offered a martini tasting, 4 mini martinis for $16. Since we started with the cosmo (made with limoncello!), we never ventured elsewhere. This was by far the BEST cosmo I have ever had in my life.

I even have the recipe for you:
2 oz Vodka
1 oz triple sec
1 oz limoncello
1/2 oz cranberry juice

We opted for Carnival's anytime dining, which I liked and disliked at the same time. I felt like no one other than the two of us dressed up for dinner. We felt overly dressed.....It was nice to come and leave as you pleased but you had to wait in line to be sat. Plus, I wasn't too impressed with the dining room staff which is out of character for Carnival. Next time around, I will probably opt for dining at a specific time. It helps keep me on schedule.

My first appetizer of the night was Duck. OMG - this was so good. I almost ordered a second helping. This was Keri's first time eating duck and she loved it.

For my second appetizer, I went with Red Fish and Shrimp Ceviche. It was a little on the fishy side but still good.

For dinner, I had lasagna bolognese which happened to be my favorite entree of the entire trip. It had a lot of veggies in it which made me happy.

Keri had the tender braised beef brisket. This shocked me - she isn't the type of gal who usually orders beef brisket.

For dessert, we shared (?!) the Chocolate Melting Cake. It was very good but we were both full and getting tired.

We ended things at the club, where we were literally the third and fourth people in there. This truly showed our age - things are still like they were when we were 20, people go out past 11pm. I was a prude this night, not wanting to dance. Boy did things change later in the cruise, but you have to stay tuned for that.

Turning down, we found our first towel friend, what I believe to be a walrus. We got to bed somewhat early so we could be bright eyed in Freeport the following morning.