We were back at the cabin by 4 PM as we did some people watching from our balcony. There ended up being four ships in Costa Maya.
We got ready for our special cooking class entitled "Mission Masala Tiger" which would feature Indian cuisine. Cooking classes are rare on cruise ships. You'll find some ships will still have cooking demonstrations (such as NCL and Princess) but those are almost always done with a comedic approach. Not completely intended for you to learn much of anything. Not the case on Carnival. They have a Carnival Kitchen set up on all their Excel class ships and one of their Vista class ships. And you can really learn techniques and recipes. And they're a lot of fun. In the past we had done a BBQ class as well as a sushi class. There were a total of six people who were in this class.
We ended up making four Indian dishes: Matar Pulao (rice pilaf), Dal Shorba (lentil soup), Cabbage Foogath (salted shredded cabbage) and Vegetable Samosas. They make it easy since the sous chefs on the team prep and measure out all your ingredients. So obviously you have to do that "mis en place" yourself when you make it at home. But it's super helpful when you're learning. All the dishes were really easy to put together. Nothing complicated. And all delicious.
After making all the dishes and sampling them, we then sat down for dinner. The chef and his team had made us their versions of all the same dishes we cooked. Plus a few other special ones including chicken Tikka Masala. They also made Vermicelli Payasam for dessert. This was a warm, almost soup-like dessert. Somewhere between grapenut pudding and rice pudding. It was very flavorful with cardamom and had a needed crunch from some chopped cashews.
After dinner we tried to find some live music. We did find the string trio playing and stayed for a couple of songs. They were playing pop favorites from ABBA, but with a backing track. On other Carnival ships, we've really enjoyed the string trio when they just played their instruments. These are talented musicians who are really skilled, yet they appear to force them to play with a backing track. We left and went to see the solo guitarist playing his Johnny Cash tribute. That bar was jammed packed and SRO! So we decided to head back to the cabin.
Today we are in Cozumel and will be staying on the ship. There are some food venues we really enjoy on Carnival that have simply been too busy on other days. But Cozumel is such a popular port, we'll have those places to ourselves. And what will we be having? Blue Iguana: We're coming for your delicious Huevos Rancheros with watermelon jicama salsa, smoked tomato salsa and crema!! Guy's Burger: Well, a burger. I may try their veggie burger as well. Big Chicken: We had their delicious Chicken Biscuit with Hot Honey the other day. Maybe just chicken tenders today with Shaq Sauce. And we'll see what Street Eats has to offer. Hopefully a tasty steamed bun. No other cruise line offers the variety of quick service lunch options as Carnival. It's not even close.
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