After lunch we did not have long before the girls Cupcake Decorating Class at the Cupcake Cupboard. Ours was scheduled for 3:30. They are offered on the Sea days at different times, and there are classes for both children and adults. The Childrens class was $15 and the Adult classes were $22. They last a half an hour, and are a lot of fun. The classes are by reservation only, and can be booked prior to the cruise if you so desire. I do advise booking as soon as possible whether online or onboard- they are quite popular and do fill up. Ours was at capacity.
The Cupcake Cupboard located in the Royal Promenade:
When we arrived at the Cupcake Cupboard the tables were all lined up together and the supplies were already out on the table- including the cupcakes- covered in plastic wrap.
With 20 children in attendance and an average of 1.5 parents per child (LOL) it was quite packed in the Cupboard. During our class they stayed open for regular business as well, so with traffic in and out and so many photographing parents around, we were pretty much packed in like sardines. Sarah and Savannah were lucky to get two seats next to each other, when the decorator doing the class invited the children to pick a seat it was kind of a melee.
It all worked out though: here they are ready to go:
It was quite noisy due to some dance classes going on right outside in the Promenade (In addition to the Flash Mob, I saw Zumba and also Michael Jackson classes- all were well attended) The class started off with the decorator giving each child a chance to introduce themselves by name and hometown, and say whether or not they have ever decorated a cupcake before.
Sarah didnt say anything. Savannah- for some reason- said she had NOT ever decorated a cupcake before. Im not quite sure that is accurate. For sure she has decorated cookies, but maybe not cupcakes. Maybe shes right and I was not insane enough to allow her free reign with my Pampered Chef decorating kit
Anyhoo, as the class got underway it was quickly obvious the Savannah may have been a tad too old and Sarah was way too young. The ages ranged from about 5-8 mostly, with a couple younger and Sarah the youngest by far and Savannah was clearly the oldest. Id have to say this class is perfect for kids aged 5-8 or so. Younger is too young and it was too easy for Savannah at age 10. Now Im not sure if they allow older kids and teens to do the Adult class. That class actually uses pastry bags and does more intricate designs with fondant and such. But if you have an older child (age 10 and up) do consider this.
We have seen pictures in the past of some of the cupcakes the classes do. The Adult class does a cheeseburger and French fries that is pretty impressive. I have also seen a lion and a monkey. This class and I could tell by just looking at the preparations on the table- would be doing something different.
Display of examples from the decorating class and the famous cheeseburger cupcake (photo from cruise critic):
On the table each child had a cupcake (vanilla), a glob of buttercream frosting that had a few drops of blue food coloring on it, a cup with some green fondant, a cup with some red fondant, some graham cracker crumbs, and some non-pareils (the little round bead-like sprinkles)
I tried to take a lot of video and pics, but since it was just me with the girls (the boys were on the flowrider or doing something else fun!) and I ended up having to help Sarah quite a bit, I didnt get as many pictures once they got started. Here again another shot from before they began:
The first instruction was to take the green fondant, split it into parts, roll it and then pinch the rolls. Everyone with the exception of Sarah did well with that instruction. Sarah understood the rolling part, but the pinching not so much. I was trying to just let her do her thing with it, I mean she is 3...I didnt really expect her to become the Cake Boss from just one class or anything.
The next instruction was a little more involved with the red fondant. They basically created little fishes out of it (round circle, then another circle with two parts cut out for the tail fins. The fondant pieces were then set aside, unless you are Sarah and in her case, they went right on the cupcake before the frosting.
Next, they stirred the icing to make it a nice pretty blue, and spread it on the cupcake. No, Sarah did not remove her fish and seaweed pieces first. LOL.
She does mean business!
The next step was to sprinkle the sand (the graham crackers) at the bottom of the ocean. Savannahs looks like what they were supposed to look like. Sarahs just looks cute!
Then the seaweed, and finally the fish were placed on top, finally followed with little non-pareil air bubbles coming from the fishs mouth! So cute!!
Here is a short video at the end, showing the girls creations. It was a little but chaotic as the class finished up, with people trying to wrap cupcakes, clear the area, and get their aprons (you get a cute little cupcake cupboard apron for participating). I somehow did not get a picture of Sarahs cupcake at the end (the video there is the best I have of it), and back in the stateroom she snuck it into the bathroom and ate it without us knowing
LOL!
Here is Savannahs all wrapped up:
So overall they did enjoy the class and would we do it again? Yes. We would do it again-maybe if Sarah was older and Savannah could be in the more challenging Adult class.
With all of this dessert talk, now lets go work off some of those calories with some Flash Mob dancing!
For those not familiar with this new trend, a Flash Mob is when a group of people come together at a pre-arranged time and place and perform a choreographed dance together. RCCL began doing Flash Mob dances earlier this year on Allure and Oasis, and it has now expanded to Freedom, with other ships soon to come Im sure. We read about the Flash Mob onboard first on Cruise Critic, and watched the videos on You Tube so we were familiar with the dance going into the cruise. I definitely recommend doing so if you want to do the Flash Mob on your cruise. There are classes held each Sea Day in the afternoon (usually 2:30 or 3:30), and they are held in the Promenade right where the dance will be performed. On the Eastern itinerary they also hold a class in the afternoon after leaving Nassau.
Our first class had about 20 or so people in it- mostly women, a couple of men, and Savannah was the only child. Each class follows the same structured outline: the entire dance is taught song by song so that if you only make one class you still know enough to get out there and DANCE! during the actual performance. Participation does grow throughout the week; our last class easily had double the amount of people in it. The actual dance performance had maybe 50 people participate.
This class the instructor had problems with his ipod that had the music on it, so we lost about 15 minutes of time while he tried to fix it. The music and his instructions are played over loudspeaker so that everyone can hear. I do advise though if you are a visual learner- like me- and need to see, do try to get near the front of the group. I was towards the back and it was quite difficult from back there, because if you cant see the instructor, then you have to watch others and they arent necessarily doing it right, KWIM? I got a little frustrated at one point because I kept asking Savannah to show me how to do things and she was really getting an attitude about it. So I got more frustrated. Ha! Actually LOL, I really make it sound fun dont I? Haha! Actually it is fun, but I do get frustrated when I am trying to learn something and cant see the demonstration.
The view from the rear:
I thought I had more photos and video but it looks like this one short clip taken in the very beginning- before we actually started learning the dance- is all I have: (click to play)
Each class ended with a run-through of the entire dance. So like I said, even if you only make one class, you have probably learned enough to get by in the actual performance. We went to 2 classes and knew the dance quite well, although like I said, we were familiar with what to expect beforehand, thanks to You Tube.
After Flash Mob class, the Penguins of Madagascar were out in the Boardwalk. Ron took them down for pictures while I got showered and ready for the evening.
This character line was probably the worst of the cruise. It was quite long and there were some line cutters- or attempted line cutters, disguised as sweet little old ladies. I wasnt there so I will let Ron tell that story if he wants. LOL!
And of course afterwards, another ride on the Carousel. Why Not???
Yeah, Ill take a Coney Island to go. Extra Kraut!
Afterwards they took a stroll around the ship for some random photos. Meanwhile the sun is setting over the ocean:
Going, going
gone:
Up Next: Splash!
Does Shrek win? Well, yes... Allure does win. But a special place in my heart will always be held for DCL and we are very excited to go on the Fantasy this year! 
With the sound of the dance class in the background, maybe they could do correographed decorating! 
Yeah it was really hard to hear the girl doing the class, and she had a thick accent too so I had to repeat her instructions for the girls sometimes. 
(It wasn't a lot of them, only a couple, just enough to make me wonder how they got there!)
