Oh the places We Go, The People We see

[brookelizabeth]

I got goosebumps just reading about the horn going off at sail away!

 

[jenseib]

Hi Jen,

I just wanted to say that I'm having a blast following along with your trip and eagerly await the next update. We are a family of 6 but we took grandma and grandpa with us on our last cruise in 11 on the Dream, and it's funny to read about your folks because they sound just like my wife's parents. It's always fun to vacation with relatives!!

I miss the ship and love remembering all the different areas and events through your pictures.

Mark

I see you are from Kettering. I just had a friend move there. Small World.

We did have a good time, but yes, my parents can be a bit goody at times.

I got goosebumps just reading about the horn going off at sail away!

I love the horn too. I always feel so special being on a ship with such a superior horn.

 

[jenseib]

I am so mad at darn photobucket. It changed on me yesterday. I just can;t stand the new format. It mixes my pictures up, takes forever to load a page full of pictures and I basically have just had it.
I decided to give flickr a try. I bought the 3 month pro package there and we'll see how it does for me. Who knows, if photobucket goes back to normal, I may switch back, but right now I need to make a statement to them about how terrible this new site is. My pro account expires there in April. Which means my bandwith on all previous pictures may be too big and some point, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

 

[jenseib]

They all look excited to be on our way!

Geoff played with some settings on his camera and got some neat sun pictures.

Claire and I made it back to our room and we took some pictures from the balcony. Evidently Geoff and I have the same likes, because many of our pictures are very similar.

The sky was just gorgeous!

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. I will tell up right now, I do NOT like early dinner. I much prefer to go to the show first and then eat. We often eat late at home too, so I am used to eating later. Another disadvantage with early dinner is that they do not offer dine and play. If that had been offered for this meal, I think I wouldnt have minded it so much. But our kids got a little jumpy before we all finished. They brought the kids food out fast and then they were bored waiting on us. Some nights, some got a little more feisty than other nights.

So Claire and I made our way to the dining room. We had the same rotation as we did last cruise. Our first night was Enchanted Garden, which I think is such a pretty restaurant.

They had the table set up, but they had all the kids at one end. This doesn't work well for our family, and probably most others. Kids like to be by each other, but we do need an adult in the mix to help them out. And in the case of little ones like Abby and Jude, you just have to have an adult near them.

I took these before I sat down.

Soon the family all arrived and we settled into our spots and looked over the menu.
Rolls were brought out right away.

And we met our servers!

Benjamin was our server and Rasheeta was our assistant. Of the 3 DCL cruises I have taken, they were my least favorite servers. They werent horrid, just not as good. And Rasheeta was SLOW. She was REALLY nice, but she was not very fast with anything. She seemed to take a liking to me right away and I felt bad because she was just so nice, but service wise, this did not seem to be her calling.

Our Menu for this evening.

Cheers Geoff!

 

[jenseib]

We made our orders and soon the appetizers arrived. It was funny, because Pete was just impressed that you could order more than one thing if you wanted to. Rob was all for this as well.
I took several pictures of the foods brought out tonight. As the cruise went on, I usually only took mostly my food, and sometimes another picture of something else here and there.

I had the North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli with roasted garlic and sweet basil in a light tomato broth.

I have no clue what this is, but I think Pete ordered it.

I believe this is mine and I think it’s the Thyme and Garlic Brioche filled with chanterelle, hedgehog and black trumpet mushrooms and leek stew in a light buttermilk cream.

I am not sure who ordered this, probably Pete, as he sat across from me and let me take pictures of his food.

Romaine Wedge; Fresh crisp romaine topped with a creamy Romano dressing and homemade spiced croutons.

And these are all from family members around me as well.

The menus online don’t appear to have all the same items, so I am thinking the menu has changed slightly since the last time it was updated online.

The kid’s meals came out right away. This is nice if you have late dining and the kids can leave for the kids clubs after they eat. For early dining, it just makes for a lot of extra time the kids have to wait for the parents to finish up.

Claire went with her trusty chicken strips.

Jude was adventurous tonight. Katie asked him what he wanted and he said fish. She said he never eats fish and wasn’t sure if he knew what it even was, but he was insistent that he wanted fish.

I ordered 2 entrees this evening.

First was the Caramelized Sea Scallops with roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and pearl pasta, garnished with caramelized leeks and veal jus reduction. I don’t care for the pearl pasta at all, but I like the scallops.

I think both Rob and I had the Grilled NY Strip Steak; Thyme roasted vegetables, double-baked potato topped with handmade herb butter. I took pictures of both. Mine being the one that is rarer.

by

by

Dessert time!!!!
Most of the kids got Mickey bars!





I believe I got strawberry cheesecake.



A few of the other desserts ordered tonight.





Katie’s birthday was on Halloween and I had it noted to celebrate it on her reservation. She was totally shocked they knew. They brought out a cake for her and though she seemed happy, I think she was a bit embarrassed too, more because she didn’t know.

Jude was VERY happy with his choice of the Mickey bar.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Considering how hungry I was during my last cruse I would still pick early dinning

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame that your serving team was not as good as the ones on previous cruises. The restaurant looks gorgeous, but I would struggle finding something to eat on this menu. I could not imagine doing early dinner and it is a real shame that they do not offer Play and Dine for early dinner.

Corinna

 

[dizneeat]

Jen, I am SO with you on the subject of late dining. We changed our rotation after one night from late to early (longer story, you will have to read my trip report ) and it really threw me for a loop.
I am not a fan of dining at 5.45!!!!
And I know the server dilemma as well. I think once you had awesome servers, who you really connected with, it is hard to find someone who lives up to them.
But I just love all the pics of the food! We had quite a few of the same items only two weeks ago. So yummy!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jenseib]

Considering how hungry I was during my last cruse I would still pick early dinning

Thats when you get a snack from one of the many other options!

What a shame that your serving team was not as good as the ones on previous cruises. The restaurant looks gorgeous, but I would struggle finding something to eat on this menu. I could not imagine doing early dinner and it is a real shame that they do not offer Play and Dine for early dinner.

Corinna

I enjoyed the menus on this ship. Most are very similar to the Magics. A few differences.
I prefer late so much better. Too much to do before eating.

Jen, I am SO with you on the subject of late dining. We changed our rotation after one night from late to early (longer story, you will have to read my trip report ) and it really threw me for a loop.
I am not a fan of dining at 5.45!!!!
And I know the server dilemma as well. I think once you had awesome servers, who you really connected with, it is hard to find someone who lives up to them.
But I just love all the pics of the food! We had quite a few of the same items only two weeks ago. So yummy!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to read about it. Yeah, it just seems so early, for our family especially. Claire and I eat late normally.
I wish someone would cook me a few of those items tonight!

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Next time I will do better research on where I can get food especially lunch

 

[jenseib]

Next time I will do better research on where I can get food especially lunch

Cabanas is good, plus the fast food area out opn deck has some decent choices. Room service is always a treat too.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Cabanas is good, plus the fast food area out opn deck has some decent choices. Room service is always a treat too.

Thanks

 

[petals]

hmmmm Disney food. I need a trip to Disney just for food

 

[jenseib]

Thanks

hmmmm Disney food. I need a trip to Disney just for food

mmmmm!

 

[jenseib]

After we all finished up with dinner, I took a few more pictures around the dining room. This is when we found that Rasheeta was extra slow. Our drinks did take quite a while to arrive with our meals, and those who had ordered specialty drinks had to wait for the bill. Many nights she just would tell us she would give it to us the next night as it wasn’t ready, and many nights the bills never showed up. Gail ended up going over hers with a fine tooth comb one night from the ship account and found several that were charged to her that she didn’t actually get.







We tried to get a picture of the girls in front of the fountain. Claire of course never looks at the camera.





We needed to get Abby in there.



Abby has a different idea on how to pose! She was lifting her dress up for all the world to see that she wears undies! Gail quickly ran over and told her she can’t do that here.

One more try.



We gave up. 3 squirmy kids does not make for a nice picture.





After dinner, we headed out to get the kids their bands for the kids club. We had to go to the Fantasy Convention room to do so. And boy the line was LONG!



We finally got up there and the computers kept going down so it even took longer, but we did get them all officially signed and ready for the clubs.

A quick stop off in the bathrooms and it was time to head to the show.
I just love the different bathrooms on the Dream. This is one area where they are better than the Magic. Each area seems to have a different theme.



Golden Mickeys was the show tonight. This one is my favorite I think of all the shows I have seen so far. As you can see, Claire’s dress was themed for this night’s show.




It was Gail and I and our girls. Mom and Dad mentioned that they would be coming and we did see them walk in with Geoff, but they were on the other side and made their way to different seats.





The show was great. The girls did have a few moments of being scared, but they did fine. I had tears in my eyes at the end when Abby just gasped. It was so precious.

After the show, we headed out and found Donald. Mom, Dad and Geoff met up with us as well.

Abby was not scared one bit.

She also did not want to leave.

 

[jenseib]

Continued from previous page

We walked around a bit and spotted Chip and Dale.



Abby took a seat to watch them while we waited in line.

The line was kind of long, so Geoff and Gail took Abby and headed up to see Mickey while we waited.

While I waited, I took a picture of the light fixture. You can never have too many of those!



Geoff took a couple of us while we were waiting.

We were getting close and they were done, so we waved to them to hurry so Abby could be in with the 2 older girls.

She made it just in time. Chip had walked off with the family in front of us. It was the girls birthday and I think he was giving her some extra attention, so for a while we only had Dale.

See the pen in Abbys hand. Well that was my pen. For some reason she wanted a blue pen. Blue is her favorite color. Gail had given her a pen with blue ink and she threw a fit. We realized that she saw our blue colored pen so I handed it off to her. We had an extra pen or two and no need to fight that battle right now.



UH OH!!! We have a rebel passing the characters and trying to go up the stairs. Not allowed during character meets!



BUSTED!






Chips back, but no one seems to notice.



Since He was going unnoticed, I guess he decided to eat Claire.

Once again, Abby didnt want to leave.

 

[dizneeat]

I cannot believe your assistant server was so slow and charged your sister some drinks she had not had. Hope you got it all figured out!

I just love all the character pics you got! And that Miss Abby is one cute kid.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame about the issues with the drinks checks. I love the photos of Enchanted Garden and the character photos are precious. I particularly love the photos with Donald.

Corinna

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Loved Clair's dress

 

[ronnmel]

Lots of character fun!!