It's a WONDER we have any money left after the Cruise! - All done!

[Leshaface]

Yes! All caught up!

Loved the formal pics!

I am SO missing access to all that food right now. I'm sitting here reading this and STARVING! I really shouldn't be reading your TR's when i'm hungry.

Congratulations on the painting! Weren't there some amazing ones there?! Wish I could have taken them all.

Hey that's a great unexpected tour of the city you guys got. And for $30, not bad at all! And the jewelry, of course, is gorgeous!

 

[franandaj]

Merry Christmas Everyone!​

Having taken many Disney cruises, most recently on the Dream in March, and seeing your food posts, it confirms how much nicer the Wonder and Magic are. Being a picky eater, the few times that DH wanted to go to the buffet, there was literally nothing I could eat and usually ended up with a Smuckers PBJ (which you can get if you ask). The food on the Wonder and Magic is much nicer and there was always something I would be happy to eat. We both prefer the smaller ships. Disney hasn't realized bigger isn't always better.

Can't wait to see more of your TR.

I've heard from many that the smaller ships are much more charming. That said, I am still interested in trying the Dream and Fantasy if just for the chance to dine at Remy!

not just Disney cruises, my DH and I prefer the smaller ship no matter which line we are on.

I cringe when I think of oasis or Allure are just way too big

I'm not familiar with those huge ships, but I wouldn't want to travel on a ship with too many other people. Even 2400 like the Wonder holds seems like quite a bit.

Darn, I missed the crab. I should've ate lunch on our cruise, we usually skipped it

We usually ate four meals a day! (at least!)

Great update. I'm glad Fran was adventurous enough to go out on her own.

Sorry people were hogging the loungers. We tender to go up one deck when we wanted to lounge. There never seems to be enough around pools.

That gave me a good idea of BBB, thanks! I was just thinking this morning how much I'm looking forward to the Wonder. I have my eye set on two January cruises I'd like to do B2B in 2014 that I'll probably book while onboard.

By no means do I want Christmas over with but I'm ready to go on vacation again

I really didn't want to sit for too long so it was fine. I need to start thinking about 2014 planning. I think a B2B would be fun. Especially if we could get the sane stateroom and not have to unpack!

Coming out of lurkdom to say how much I am enjoying your TR

We will be sailing on the Wonder for the first time next year so I am loving the photos of the ship

It looks like you both had a wonderful cruise

Welcome out of lurkdom! I think I have more pictures of the ship. I always like when people show the ships in their TRs! I hope you enjoy your upcoming cruise!

That buffet looked yummy. What a pain about people saving the loungers though. They used to be pretty good about clearing them every so often on the Wonder.

Corinna

I think if the loungers had gone for a long time with no one using them they would have cleared them. I was really only on deck for about half an hour so it wasn't a big deal.

Yes! All caught up!

Loved the formal pics!

I am SO missing access to all that food right now. I'm sitting here reading this and STARVING! I really shouldn't be reading your TR's when i'm hungry.

Congratulations on the painting! Weren't there some amazing ones there?! Wish I could have taken them all.

Hey that's a great unexpected tour of the city you guys got. And for $30, not bad at all! And the jewelry, of course, is gorgeous!

Thanks for all the compliments! I wouldn't mind having BBB one floor up right now! Although we do have quite a meal plan for Christmas day, including a trip to see "Wreck It Ralph".

 

[franandaj]

When we left off, I had just been to the pool for a refreshing dip and Fran had visited the Flea Market for some more shopping. We both made it back to the room around the same time. There was a special concierge reception going on that evening and I was looking forward to going since I was pretty sure that there would be a character appearance of some sort. I hadn’t been able to get to see as many characters as I’d hoped this trip mainly because the lines were really long and filled with kids. Not wanting to fight off a lot of kids, I just skipped the characters instead. Fran was really exhausted now that she went back out shopping again, so she passed on the reception.

I was again back at the Cadillac Lounge, they had a very nice spread of appetizers.

This Pirate Shrimp Boat was quite impressive!

These were coconut shrimp and pigs in a blanket

These were Jalapeno poppers and tandoori chicken bites

After a little while Captain Mickey showed up

After the reception we needed to get ready for dinner. However, this was our day to deliver our Fish Extender Gifts. As it turned out this was a much more ambitious task than I had anticipated. Mostly because I went a little overboard on the gifts and sizes of the gifts. I know for the future that I can tone it down a bit, but here are some of the gifts that we handed out.

This is what we gave the DHs

This was for the boys around 8-10 years

And for the girls around 7-9 years

This was for the girls around 4-6 years

This was for the boys around 4-7 years

The teenage girls got this, but I think I also added another puzzle book and some pencils

Now we were supposed to have five kids under the age of 3, but it ended up that we only had about three so I gave a couple of the kids two of these books.

For the DWs, they got the same candies as everyone else, but I gave them some photo frames or plastic hanging frames for 5x7 photos to display memories from the cruise or other family moments. In addition everyone got five recipes. I’ll share them all with you here now.

---------------------------------------------------

Heirloom Tomato Salad - Chef Andrew Sutton, Napa Rose Serves 2

2 slices bacon, chopped into small pieces
¼ cup shallots chopped
1/3 baguette cut into bite sized pieces
4 tbl butter

½ cup Blue Cheese crumbles
3 Heirloom tomatoes, varied colors & varieties.
Vinaigrette or Caesar salad dressing
2 tbl chives chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove and drain reserving the bacon fat. Sauté the shallots in the bacon fat until they are tender. Remove and drain.

Meanwhile place bread chunks on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown. While the bread is baking, melt butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Add half the Blue Cheese and stir to melt. Add the baked bread crumbs to the butter mixture and toss to coat, making sure to use up every drop of the butter/cheese mixture. Return croutons to baking sheet and bake another 7-10 minutes to crisp croutons.

To Assemble the salad, cut tomatoes into pieces similar to the size of the croutons. Place tomatoes on plate, add croutons, sprinkle shallots, bacon, remaining Blue Cheese, and chives over salad. Drizzle with vinaigrette dressing, serve with remaining baguette, sliced.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Grilled Romaine Hearts - by Chef Sutton of Napa Rose Serves 2

ROMAINE HEARTS
1 head Romaine Hearts
1/2 cup Toasted Garlic Caesar Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
1/2-3/4 cup Toasted Garlic Croutons
1/3 cup Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese

TOASTED GARLIC CAESAR VINAIGRETTE
4-5 cloves roasted garlic
3/8 tsp Chopped Anchovies
¼ tsp Prepared Dijon Mustard
½ Lemon, juiced and zested
2/3 tbl Golden Balsamic Vinegar
2/3 tbl Red Wine Vinegar
1/8 tsp Worcestershire Sacue
Dash Kosher Salt
¼ tsp Cracked Black Pepper
1 tbl Grape Seed Oil
3 tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2/3 tbl Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 tbl Garlic Chips (thin slices, baked on low 10 min)

TOASTED GARLIC CAESAR VINAIGRETTE
Smash garlic and Anchovies in a bowl. Add Mustard, Lemon Zest, Balsamic and Red Wine Vinegars and beat with a whisk. Add Worcestershire, salt, pepper and mix again. Whisk in Grape Seed Oil, then Olive Oil. Add Garlic Chips and Parmesan.

ROMAINE HEARTS
Cut Romaine hearts in half lengthwise. Brush the cut side of each half of the Romaine heart with vinaigrette. Grill romaine on both sides for 1-2 minutes per side.

ASSEMBLY
Drizzle each half of the grilled romaine with vinaigrette. Top with purchased croutons and the freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Serve with a knife and fork.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Beer Cheese Soup - Le Cellier Serves 6

¼ lb. smoked bacon finely chopped
1 medium red onion cut into 1/4 in. pieces
1 cup finely sliced celery
½ cup finely chopped carrots
3 tbl all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 cups chicken stock
12 oz grated white cheddar,
3 dashes Tabasco
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ cup Moosehead Ale, room temp
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbl thinly sliced chives

Cook the bacon in a large heavy-bottomed, non-reactive soup pot over medium heat until wilted but not browned.

Add onions, celery and carrots and cook until the onion is translucent and bacon has crisped.

Sprinkle in flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Stir in milk and stock, a little at a time, blending well to ensure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in cheese, Tabasco, Worcestershire and ale. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with your favorite bread and top with chopped chives.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Lamb Burger - Catal Restaurant & Uva Bar Serves 2

1/2 lb ground lamb
4 oz Feta Cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Kaiser rolls (I prefer the mini rolls)
2-3 tbl butter
2-3 tbl mayonnaise
2-4 slices roasted red pepper (I keep a jar in my fridge, I make these so often!)
2 slices red onion (from a whole onion, not just a couple strips)
Arugula leaves (I use 2 leaves red leaf lettuce, but any kind is fine)

Mix lamb, Feta, salt and pepper. Don't over mix as it will make the meat tough. Butter the Kaiser Rolls on either side. Brown in a skillet over medium heat until the rolls are golden brown. Cook lamb patties for about 3-4 minutes per side (longer if you prefer medium or well). Spread rolls with Mayonnaise, and assemble each burger with the red pepper, onion and lettuce.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Disneyland's Blue Bayou Monte Cristo Sandwich Serves 2

BATTER
2/3 cup water
1 small eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

SANDWICHES
4 slices white bread
2 slices roasted cooked turkey
2 slices tillamook swiss cheese
4 slices smoked ham
vegetable oil, for frying

GARNISH
Currant Jelly
Powdered Sugar

BATTER: Place water, egg, salt, and pepper in a bowl and using an electric mixer, mix well at low speed. Add flour and baking powder and mix until batter is smooth. Chill.

SANDWICHES: Make 4 sandwiches, putting cheese between ham and turkey. Cut into fourths and put a toothpick through each quarter. Heat about 6" of oil to 340 degrees in a fryer. Dip sandwiches in batter to cover all surfaces. Deep fry sandwiches until golden brown, turning as needed. An alternate way of frying is to put approximately 1/4" oil in a large pan and fry the sandwiches on both sides until crispy and brown.

Remove from oil and take out toothpicks. Drain on paper towel to remove excess oil. Sprinkle sandwiches with powdered sugar. Serve with currant jelly sauce.

---------------------------------------------------------

I still have a few of the cards that I printed out, in case anyone would like me to mail them to you. Oh yeah, and after all the discussion about how to laminate them. I saw a laminating machine at Costco the other day for $19.99. Might be worth the investment for the future.

 

[Pinkocto]

Merry Christmas!

The spread at the reception looks delicious!

Great ideas for the FE gifts. I will definitely be trying some of those recipes.

 

[franandaj]

Merry Christmas!

The spread at the reception looks delicious!

Great ideas for the FE gifts. I will definitely be trying some of those recipes.

Merry Christmas to you too Pam! I just wish I wasn't so full, from lunch. I couldn't eat as much as I would have liked!

I'm just putting up a few updates I've had in word for about a week before we move on to our Christmas Festivities. We are watching the Disney Parade special on our new TV in our room at my parents before venturing out into the kitchen/family areas.

 

[franandaj]

Dinner was at Animator’s Palate tonight. For those who haven’t dined at Animator’s Palate on the Wonder or Magic, it’s a lot different than the Dream or Fantasy. When you enter the dining room the walls are black and white with character sketches and other animator’s tools throughout the room.

The menus were cool with lenticular pictures on the fronts. Sorry they are blurry, but you can see how the pictures change as you move the menu.

Some more shots of the room

And the pictures on the wall at the beginning of the evening.

Here was the menu for the night

Our bread

And the Roasted Garlic dip

Here’s Rose with my bottle of Sancerre

I ordered the Tuna Tartar. It was OK, I was probably expecting it to be seasoned with wasabi and soy sauce, that’s how I like my tuna sashimi! Oh well, I ate it all so it couldn’t have been that bad.

Fran got the Wild Mushroom Risotto with a Porcini Twist, she seemed to like this.

As dinner progressed, the pictures got more and more colorful. However, it seems to me that when we were on the Wonder in 2001, the walls also became colorful. Perhaps I could have been imagining things, that was a long time ago, but it seems to me that the show was a little more impressive back then. Fran said it was because technology has improved so much in over 10 years.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Next our soup courses arrived.

She had the Butternut Squash Soup.

I had the Baked Potato and Cheddar Soup, why of course! It had bacon in it!

The pictures just kept changing images and changing color too. I thought I was going crazy that the walls were supposed to change colors too.

Fran and I both enjoyed the Veal Chop.

The room continued…

And then it came time for dessert

If I hadn’t been here before it was pretty easy to tell that something was up. The servers were all trying to get us through dinner and dessert quickly making sure that we had everything we wanted right away. I had the Buckled Warm Apple Crumble.

You have to ask for ice cream on the side

Fran got the Double Fudge Chocolate Cake

And then (for those who didn’t know it) we realized why the servers were all a twitter (not the social media site, sillies!)

Our servers had told us that had a really great location, and when the show came by us, we realized why. Mickey was dancing to the tune of Fantasmic! And the servers all paraded past him with their colored vests. I guess this is where the color on the walls comes in, but I could have sworn that it happened gradually throughout dinner.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

So I mentioned on a previous night about how well I had the servers trained. They brought me the menu for tomorrow night, however, we would not be dining from this menu as we had booked Palo specifically because I wanted to avoid Pirate night’s menu. Fran said that she would have enjoyed eating some of the items on this menu, and I felt bad that I had deprived her of it. Maybe on our next cruise we will eat in the dining room on Pirate night and skip a different menu night. I’ll have to find out what the rotations are for the six night cruises.

Here is the menu.

Fran and I ended up going back to the room. She straggled behind to take these pictures of the artwork in the stairways.

I guess I went back to the room without stopping because she informed me that she took a picture of a discarded gingerbread house left in the hallway! I guess it was from that class that I didn’t choose to sign up for.

Tonight Lucifer was not harassing our towel animal!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Merry Christmas.

I love your Fish Extender gifts. This was quite a spread at the reception. I would have loved the Jalapeno Poppers and the Coconut Shrimp. It was nice that you got the chance to have some photos with Captain Mickey.

We try to escape to Palo on Pirate night as well. There are some nice things on the Pirate Night menu, but we don't like the noise in the dining room that night.

Corinna

 

[QuiltTeddy]

I've heard from many that the smaller ships are much more charming. That said, I am still interested in trying the Dream and Fantasy if just for the chance to dine at Remy!

The Magic is our favorite ship, with the Wonder closely following. We just cruised on the Dream in March this year and, while they have some huge improvements, there were major flaws -- at least in our opinion.

The ship is huge, but the adult pool and lounging area is extremely small. On a sea day, if you didn't get to the pool VERY early, you had to find a lounger on another deck and then walk down to the pool if you wanted to swim. With the pool being so small, it was wall to wall people on the sea days in the pool. Absolutely not enjoyable in the least bit!

The "swim up" bar attached to the pool also led to some extremely unruly patrons in the pool.

The hot tub was very cool in that you could see down to the deck below, but, again, it was very small and a limited number of people could utilize it.

The "adult only area" had a constant stream of children and family walking through as the foreward elevator dumped out at the pool.

Service suffered in many areas -- the wait staff, cleanliness, food quality, etc. Throughout the cruise we kept saying "it's just not the typical Disney quality". One curtain was actually falling down in one of the restaurants.

One really fabulous addition was the inter-active art that was displayed throughout the ship. You could sign up for a detective game and work to solve the mystery and while doing so, you visited various artwork displayed throughout the ship. When you stood on a marker and displayed your detective badge the artwork came to life. VERY COOL!!! We loved this and while participating saw many areas of the ship that we would not otherwise have seen.

The other unbelievable addition was Animators Palate. On the two new ships it is now interactive. I won't say more because it's just something that needs to be experienced. All I'll say is AWESOME DUDE!

Dispensing our FE gifts was lengthy with the size of the ship. We basically had to do one deck a day in order to be able to cover all the rooms. We had a lot of rooms who were participating.

We didn't dine at Remy (since I'm such a picky eater), but choose to have dinner at Palo (can't miss out on the chocolate souffle!) and then had brunch there another day.

While I'd love to be able to say I've been on each and every ship in the Disney fleet, I don't think I will make it a point to hit the Fantasy since it's basically the same design as the Dream......although we are considering a Christmas and/or New Year's cruise in 2013 if they don't offer the pacific cruise again in 2014. We are waiting anxiously for any word.

Loving your TR and each update. It's making me want to cruise again long before the end of 2013 or beginniing of 2014.

 

[rentayenta]

Hope you and Fran had a nice Christmas.

The buffet from the first update looks so so good. Crab legs and lamb chops? Two of my favorites. I'd be skipping the salads too.

Animator's looks so neat. Love the art and the walls and the whole look of it. The pirate menu looks good but I can't wait to read about Palo.

I'm sad that Disney got rid of the Mexico cruise. That was the one I was thinking I could talk DH into. That or Alaska. But Alaska sounds terrible to me. I know it's gorgeous but I am SO not a cool weather person. But to be able to take a Disney cruise, I'd go anywhere.

 

[ACDSNY]

Nice pic with Capt. Mickey! I love Animator's on both the old and new ships.

 

[Linda67]

Great updates

Is it just me or does it seem really sad that someone discarded their gingerbread house by the door - Someone put a lot of work into that

We've dined in AP on the Fantasy and the Dream but we are looking forward to the Wonder next year

I'm loving your TR, it's getting me very excited for our cruise

 

[PrincessInOz]

Looks like I missed a couple of updates! Wonder how that happened??? Maybe Christmas got in the way.


Love the FEs and the recipes. I might need to try some of them myself. And your food looks amazing. Seems like you're all having a great time on the cruise.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Fran on the other hand really wanted to go back to the jewelry store. You see, because we did not bring our Passports with us, we could not legally prove that we were US citizens and therefore did not need to pay the Mexican Sales Tax on our purchases. All we had to do was show a passport and then they could submit paperwork to the government so that the taxes will be refunded to our credit card. It was worth $600 so while she motored on back over there, I decided to go to the pool.
On my way to the pool, I looked over to the Flea Market next to the ship and saw Fran on her scooter going from the jewelry store into the shops. As I was leaving the pool, I saw her going through the security check to get back on the boat. She had a bag of some sort that she was carrying. Turns out she found a nice brown leather backpack for a good price in the flea market.

Great she could scooter around the flea market! Wonder what she bought at the jewelry store??? Christmas presents?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

[Pinkocto]

Loved the update. AP looks so cool.

Much to my surprise we both really enjoyed the pirate menu. Definitely worth trying at least once. I can't wait to hear about Palo dinner though.

I hope you and Fran had a fabulous Christmas! I too wished I could have eaten more. Leftovers were thoroughly enjoyed though.

 

[franandaj]

Merry Christmas.

I love your Fish Extender gifts. This was quite a spread at the reception. I would have loved the Jalapeno Poppers and the Coconut Shrimp. It was nice that you got the chance to have some photos with Captain Mickey.

We try to escape to Palo on Pirate night as well. There are some nice things on the Pirate Night menu, but we don't like the noise in the dining room that night.

Corinna

That's funny! You picked the two items I didn't eat! I was glad to have some Captain Mickey pictures without a long line.

I suppose some time we will try the Pirate Night Menu, Fran was actually disappointed that we weren't going to eat some of the things, so I'll have to make some choices in April!

The Magic is our favorite ship, with the Wonder closely following. We just cruised on the Dream in March this year and, while they have some huge improvements, there were major flaws -- at least in our opinion.

The ship is huge, but the adult pool and lounging area is extremely small. On a sea day, if you didn't get to the pool VERY early, you had to find a lounger on another deck and then walk down to the pool if you wanted to swim. With the pool being so small, it was wall to wall people on the sea days in the pool. Absolutely not enjoyable in the least bit!

The "swim up" bar attached to the pool also led to some extremely unruly patrons in the pool.

The hot tub was very cool in that you could see down to the deck below, but, again, it was very small and a limited number of people could utilize it.

The "adult only area" had a constant stream of children and family walking through as the foreward elevator dumped out at the pool.

Service suffered in many areas -- the wait staff, cleanliness, food quality, etc. Throughout the cruise we kept saying "it's just not the typical Disney quality". One curtain was actually falling down in one of the restaurants.

One really fabulous addition was the inter-active art that was displayed throughout the ship. You could sign up for a detective game and work to solve the mystery and while doing so, you visited various artwork displayed throughout the ship. When you stood on a marker and displayed your detective badge the artwork came to life. VERY COOL!!! We loved this and while participating saw many areas of the ship that we would not otherwise have seen.

The other unbelievable addition was Animators Palate. On the two new ships it is now interactive. I won't say more because it's just something that needs to be experienced. All I'll say is AWESOME DUDE!

Dispensing our FE gifts was lengthy with the size of the ship. We basically had to do one deck a day in order to be able to cover all the rooms. We had a lot of rooms who were participating.

We didn't dine at Remy (since I'm such a picky eater), but choose to have dinner at Palo (can't miss out on the chocolate souffle!) and then had brunch there another day.

While I'd love to be able to say I've been on each and every ship in the Disney fleet, I don't think I will make it a point to hit the Fantasy since it's basically the same design as the Dream......although we are considering a Christmas and/or New Year's cruise in 2013 if they don't offer the pacific cruise again in 2014. We are waiting anxiously for any word.

Loving your TR and each update. It's making me want to cruise again long before the end of 2013 or beginniing of 2014.

Thanks! At the D23 Expo last year we went to the "Imagineering the Dream and Fantasy" seminar, so I know all about Animator's Palate and the Artwork games. That's too bad about the adult pool area and stuff. I actually spent a little time at the Family pool (coming in an update soon) and it wasn't so bad.

I'm not at all a picky eater, the only things I don't really like are coconut, super hot food and salmon. Other than that, I'm a pretty adventurous eater so Remy would be just up my alley!

Hope you and Fran had a nice Christmas.

The buffet from the first update looks so so good. Crab legs and lamb chops? Two of my favorites. I'd be skipping the salads too.

Animator's looks so neat. Love the art and the walls and the whole look of it. The pirate menu looks good but I can't wait to read about Palo.

I'm sad that Disney got rid of the Mexico cruise. That was the one I was thinking I could talk DH into. That or Alaska. But Alaska sounds terrible to me. I know it's gorgeous but I am SO not a cool weather person. But to be able to take a Disney cruise, I'd go anywhere.

I was pretty impressed with that lunch buffet, it was the only one that we did, but it was really good. I'm looking forward to more of that on our cruise from Galveston. It's really a bummer about the Mexico Cruises, but I guess Disney really didn't feel it was safe any more. I hope that they come up with more cruises out of San Pedro, that was just so darned easy!

I think an Alaskan one is in our future. We did it on Celebrity in 1998 and it was just fabulous. Only one day was really really cold and that was the day at Glacier Bay. And it was nothing like the pictures you've been posting of your house right now!

Nice pic with Capt. Mickey! I love Animator's on both the old and new ships.

Thanks! I can't wait to try the other version too!

Great updates

Is it just me or does it seem really sad that someone discarded their gingerbread house by the door - Someone put a lot of work into that

We've dined in AP on the Fantasy and the Dream but we are looking forward to the Wonder next year

I'm loving your TR, it's getting me very excited for our cruise

It is sad about the gingerbread house, but the one who discarded it is the one who made it, so I guess they were OK with it. We saw other kids taking them off the ship with them as souvenirs to take home.

Yay for your upcoming cruise!

Looks like I missed a couple of updates! Wonder how that happened??? Maybe Christmas got in the way.


Love the FEs and the recipes. I might need to try some of them myself. And your food looks amazing. Seems like you're all having a great time on the cruise.

I think your Christmas got in the way. You were MIA for a while once I posted them, but you're all caught up!

We have extended our stay at my parents for another couple days, but I can't wait to get home and have the lamb burger again. I still have one more serving of meat in the freezer. I just make Fran a beef burger and I have the lamb, that way we are both happy.

Great she could scooter around the flea market! Wonder what she bought at the jewelry store??? Christmas presents?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Actually we visited the jewelry store together, I posted pictures of the purchases a couple of pages back. I got a necklace, and we both got rings. Yesterday at Macy's I picked up a pair of Tanzanite earrings on half price, I hope they match the color of the stones we got in Mexico. If not I can always take them back to a Macy's near my house.

Happy New Year! To you too!

Loved the update. AP looks so cool.

Much to my surprise we both really enjoyed the pirate menu. Definitely worth trying at least once. I can't wait to hear about Palo dinner though.

I hope you and Fran had a fabulous Christmas! I too wished I could have eaten more. Leftovers were thoroughly enjoyed though.

I just looked it over again and found at least one thing on each course that I could eat, so perhaps we will do it April and Fran will feel good enough to get dressed up. I'll have to start thinking about my pirate wench costume!

 

[franandaj]

When I woke on Thursday morning, I was still remembering the discussion that Fran and I had regarding Cabo the night before. She was willing to try going into town.

I took some pictures of the town out on the balcony as we pulled into the bay of Cabo.

I got online and did a little bit of DISing before she awoke with cries of pain. Her arthritis flared up so bad, and her wrists hurt so much she could barely push herself up out of bed. At that point we decided going into Cabo was not going to be an option.

I convinced her that we should go out and at least get some breakfast so that the host could clean our room. It was about 9:15 and Tritons was going to close in 15 minutes. She hates going into a restaurant just before closing, so we didn’t pick that. Our choices were BBB or Parrot Cay, both of which were serving buffets. I guess she didn’t like the idea of going topside, so we ended up at Parrot Cay.

It was really nice because that is where our regular dinner server was working that morning, so he was very helpful getting Fran and her tray back to the table. It was very welcome especially since her wrists hurt so badly. Here was the offering on the buffet.

Various fruits:

More cold cuts, cheese, lox and other fixins

Yogurt, cottage cheese and not sure what the one in the foreground is.

Topping for yogurt and oatmeal

Donuts and other breads

Milk and stuff

Now we’re getting to breakfast! Potatoes, Hash, eggs and meats

I was bummed that they didn’t have an eggs made to order station down here. I don’t like eggs that have been sitting around for a while, so I wasn’t going to be having any eggs today. Here is my plate.

Fran’s plate

I went back for seconds, and Fran did about the same for her second plate too.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

After breakfast, she just wanted to lay down, the pain was so bad. Tonight was the night that we had reservations for Palo, and she promised that she would make it to dinner, but needed to rest if she was going to be up to dinner. I took some pictures of the tender boat approaching from our verandah.

I decided to walk around the ship while she rested, I took some pics of the Christmas decorations.

I also went inside this lounge. I can’t remember the name, Diversions? I think it was mostly a teenage hangout. This was the only time that I was in there.

I also wanted to figure out how difficult the whole tendering process would be.

That looks like a pretty big distance to jump to me!

At the other end of the ship, you can really see the rise and fall of the current.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

After running around the ship, I was hungry for lunch. Fran would have rathered to continue to sleep, so I decided to head to Triton’s for lunch.

I also realized that I had not taken any pictures of the wine list. With the exception of Palo, all the sit down restaurants shared the same wine list.

No sooner than had I ordered and they brought the bread service out to me, the lady at the table next to me went running off frantically with her small child in her arms. The husband stuck around for a few moments, and then he left too. From what happened next, I assume that the kid threw up. I really wished that they had moved me to a new table, but I’m guessing that they didn’t want to bring attention to the event or some other garbage. Here is the bread service

I ordered the Lobster Ravioli in light tomato broth with Arugula Foam. In hindsight, these were probably frozen raviolis similar to the ones that you can buy at Costco, but they were still good.

And even better doused in Parmesan Cheese!

I followed it up the Tomato & Mozzarella Salad with Balsamic dressed Arugula. There was a little too much Arugula for me but it was still rather tasty.

I had told the waiter that I would eat the first two courses and decide if I had room for a third. I suspected that I wouldn’t and was right. For some reason he seemed annoyed that I was only ordering two courses. Had I ordered and entrée it would have been the Orecchiette Pasta with the Clams in the Riesling Wine Sauce.

What I found amusing was the treatment of the table next to me. All through lunch, no one touched the table, everything was left just as the patrons did when they rushed off. After I completed my meal, this gentleman showed up and he put on the “hazmat” suit complete with beanie and face mask.

He folded up the table cloth and all the dishes and contents and placed them inside this box, and as quick as he showed up, he disappeared. The wait staff then came and completely disinfected the table and redressed it for dinner.

After lunch I returned to the cabin. Wreck It Ralph was going to be shown in the Walt Disney Theater that evening at 5PM and 8PM. Originally we had a 6PM Palo reservation, but we changed it to 8PM so that we could make the 5 o’clock showing for Ralph. Fran was still in too much pain to go, but she let me watch it on my own. It was a very cute movie and afterwards, I came back to the room to dress for Palo.