Everyone Get Off The Boat

November 2nd - Part I

We slept in as much as we could as we had to put the clocks back an hour.

We went to the buffet for breakfast and I have to say we were a bit disappointed.  After being on the Dream and Fantasy, Beach Blanket Buffet is not even close as good.  As we finished breakfast we could hear the announcement that people could go all ashore.  So, we quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the adult area.  It was quiet.  We love staying on the ship when we are at a port.  We spent some time in the hot tub.  Jeremy read his book and I simply enjoyed all the serenity.

We decided to take it really easy this morning and went back to the room and played our 3DSs (yes we are adults and yes we love our games).  It was lunch time and we headed back to BBB for lunch.  Well that will be the last time we have lunch there.  It wasn't good at all.

After lunch we walked around enjoying a close to empty ship.  We even got to meet Daisy.  I got a picture with her as well.

Our next step is something I have only read about and was so excited to finally see for myself.  The "Secret" deck.  

We were the only 2 there and it was so peaceful and the water was fairly calm.  It was lovely, and I thought for sure we would spend more time out there but sadly it never happened.

We passed the halloween tree one more time so I made sure to get a better photo.

We headed to the room to watch movies.  Our next stop was one of the things I was most looking forward to on the entire trip.  The Chocolate Tasting.

A Golden Evening

November 1st - Part II

I woke up and Jeremy wanted to go and make origami.  The class for located in the Promenade Lounge. They gave us the choice of making a box (easy) or mickey head (hard).  The group all chose the mickey head.  It was pretty hard to follow what was going on in the class.  I would suggest they use a projection or video of how to make it because you couldn't watch the cast member during each step as he was walking around.  Either way we had finished our mickey heads and went back to the room to get ready for dinner, we watched At World's End

Dinner tonight was in my favourite restaurant, Animator's Palete.  I love the original show for this restaurant.  The changing colours, still is amazing.  To start our lovely meal Jeremy had the Smoked Salmon Tartar.

After reading many trip reports I knew that I had to try the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes. They were everything I had hoped for.

For our entrees Jeremy had the Herb Crusted Veal Chop with Sun-dried Tomato Risotto.  

I had the Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes.

For some reason I forgot to take pictures of our desserts.  Jeremy had the While Choclate Brownie Cheesecake and I had an Oreo Sundae.  

We also got a bonus dessert because we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary.  It was a very very rich chocolate mousse. It was then time for the restaurant to become alive.

After dinner we walked by the atrium and saw that the tree had transformed.

I love all the little touches that Disney did on this halloween cruise.  We had some time to kill before "The Golden Mickeys" so we headed to the room and watched the end of Wall-E.  The show was just like I remembered it and I do love all the Disney magic.  Our next stop was the Adult Comedian Show Heath Hyche, in wavebands.  The place was packed, but we found some seats near the bar on some stools.  We actually had a great view of the stage.  He was ok, some people loved him but we weren't them.  I am glad we did go though, since our previous cruises we always seem to forget to do the "adult stuff".  We then headed to the Buena Vista Theatre to watch Guardians of the Galaxy.  We were late to the show but found seats in the back corner so we didn't bother anyone.  

This marked the end of a very long and busy sea day for us.  I was so thankful that we didn't have any excursions booked for the following day.  We decided we would take it easy.

A Busy Morning

November 1 - Part I

Today was a lovely (fully booked) day at sea.  We had many activities we wanted to do today.  I set an alarm to wake us up at 7:45am.  I had preordered some room service from the night before.  We had a small breakfast, bagel and pastry and some juice and chocolate milk.

Our first stop of the morning was a date with Anna and Elsa.  I always wanted to meet them, but I would never wait the 4+ hours to meet them.  Our ticket time was for 9am so just before 9 we headed to Animator's Palate. There was a small line as they had not opened the doors yet.  A few minutes later the doors were open and we headed in.  They had a frozen backdrop set up behind the princess and queen.  On the screens around the restaurant there were backgrounds from the film and they had Frozen music playing.  It was a great location for a character meet and greet.  We waited about 10 minutes then it was my turn to meet them.. Jeremy doesn't do character meet and greets but he is always willing to take my picture.

After meeting Anna and Elsa, we wanted to go to the Art of Entertaining: Appetizer but that didnt start for another 30 minutes so we watched the Princess Gathering from deck 5.

Art of Entertaining was in Studio Sea, Deck 5 Midship, so we walked right in and got a seat near the front.  The appetizer we were going to learn about was Mushroom Risotto.  We watched one of the chefs make it, and we were given a sample to try along with a Chardonnay pairing.  

So it's just past 10am and I have already started drinking.  You will realize that is a theme for today!

Next stop after this was something Jeremy and I looked forward to for a good chunk of time.  Palo Brunch.  We headed up to Palo, and I asked Jeremy to get some pictures of the Venetian Masks. 

This time at Palo, I tried to remain classy and not take any pictures.  I succeeded, but now I wish I was the annoying shutterbug.

Judy was our server, and she was lovely.  We both chose a mimosa for our brunch, then we got a tour of all the wonderful tables.  While we were getting a tour, Jeremy recognized one of the other servers. Back on our very first Disney Cruise, we were over joyed by our Dining Room Assistant Server, Alvaro.  We saw him again when we were on the Dream.  Here is a picture of us together on our first cruise.

It was so nice to see him and since we have more time at Palo later in our adventure we made sure to request him for our next brunch.

For our main meals in Palo, Jeremy had the Grape pizza and I had the Rum Pancakes.  I am glad I tried something different, but I should of got the Chicken Parm.

After we were insanely full we retied to our cabin for a rest before our private mixology class.  The class started at 2 and was in Cadillac Lounge.  When we arrived we saw all the drinks set up on the little tables.  We found two seats together and made ourselves at home.  

The mixology class was $15 and we got 5 drinks.  I was bit disappointment that unlike our previous mixology class, all the drinks were already made and waiting for us.  

From left to right the five drinks were called:

1. Caramel Apple Martini - was strong but really enjoyed it
2. Cucumber Rose Martini - it was ok, I am not a fan of cucumber.  Jeremy liked it alot.
3. The Grinch - can't remember what was in it but it was good
4. Blue Island Ice Tea - way too strong, most people in our group didn't like it
5. Jellyfish Shot - best drink there!

After we all tried the drinks, we were asked to go up in groups and recreate the drinks.  I got to make the drink I liked the best the Jellyfish shot.  Yummy!  So if you were keeping track, that would be 8 drinks!  I was a bit tipsy at the end of the class and took a short nap.

Adventures Away!

October 31 - Part II

We awoke to the sound of Peter the cruise director telling us that the safety drill was going to start soon.  I decided to see if our luggage was outside our door and it was.  We quickly put everything unpacked and put our suitcases in the closet as they did not fit under the bed.  This is something I missed from being on the Dream and Fantasy.

We headed to our muster station, muster station T.  T was located in the port aft corner of Animator's Palette.  The drill was quick and painless, I love that we didn't have to stand outside like sardines.  The worst part of the drill was leaving the restaurant, it was a zoo.  We didn't even attempt to use the elevators.  We walked up the aft stairs from Deck 3 to Deck 10 to get a view of the Sailaway Party, Adventures Away!

We counted down til we heard the horn then went down to deck 9 aft and got some fruit from Goofy's Galley and some pop to bring back to the room.  We watched Hercules as we got ready for dinner.

We had early seating for dinner and tonight's dinner was at Triton's.  We were sat at an 8 person table.  Our table mates were 2 other couples around our age (Hannah and Justin, and Jamie and Stephen), and a father and son from Poland (Chris and Mateo)

I love french food so I was very excited about this menu because they had duck, and not just one duck dish, TWO!

I started the meal off with the Duck Confit with Dried Prunes, Candied Walnuts and some greens
with an apple walnut dressing.  It was delicious.

Jeremy had the escargot with mushrooms and garlic butter.  Jeremy said it was very good, he offered me to try one and I declined.  Snails scare me.

For our main courses I had the duck breast with cabbage potato cake with pomegranate jus , and Jer had the Lamb Shank with portobello mushrooms, polenta in a redwine sauce.  Both entrees were very good.

To end our meal I had the Vanilla Creme Brulee and Jer had the Grand Marnier Souffle.  The creme brulee was awesome, the souffle was a tad dry but still very good.

Following dinner we walked around the shops but we behaved for now and didn't buy anything.  We went back up to our room and rested while watching Hocus Pocus, but had to leave right before the end to head to Wavebands to watch Match Your Mate.  We just wanted to watch and not participate so we sat in a back booth.  Our table mates Hannah and Justin were up there though, so we enjoyed watching them.  One thing I have to say is Toy Story, if you know the questions, this will make sense.  They didn't win, the newlywed couple (known as the Hanging Chad and the Slutty Pumpkin) did.  After this we realized we were exhausted and came back to the room and had a nice sleep.