We need a little “Magic”, right this very moment! – Completed

[Leshaface]

Sonic onion rings are the best!

Jill in CO

They seriously are the best!

Totes.



And no Sonic? How do you survive? You've got the Ocean and Jack in the Box. And Nicks on 2nd which we tried and it was amazing. And Johnny Rebs, rain check. And Supermex. And Trader Joe's with wine. And Legends' wings. And Disneyland!! Clearly I could go on and on.

Got to add one more...Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. If you haven' had it, you MUST at some point in life.

 

[rentayenta]

Got to add one more...Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. If you haven' had it, you MUST at some point in life.

I haven't been! Must add to next So Cal trip. We have an amazing chicken and waffle place in SLC called the Bayleaf Cafe. It's unreal. It's also a bar. It's got a crazy eclectic menu.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Got to add one more...Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. If you haven' had it, you MUST at some point in life.

I do not need another addiction. I do not need another addiction. I do not need another addiction!

 

[franandaj]

Thanks for checking in. No rush with the pics.

Relish the time remaining!

I did!

Enjoy the rest of the cruise and being with each other. I can await your return for more pictures...


Have fun!!!!!

Thanks!

My heart just stopped then. I am hoping for Interline rates for this cruise and if a whole category has sold out, then there is little chance of this happening. Then I realised that you probably meant just the accessible veranda cabins. Fortunately all categories are still wide open so I can breath again. The September cruise goes from Los Angeles to Galveston and stops at Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Cartagena (Columbia) and Cozumel.



How much fun. I love DLP. I really need to go again.

Corinna

Yeah, I guess the future cruise lady was only looking at the H/A cabins. Fran told me she would "try" the regular kind, but I would hate to make her do the step up into the bathroom and have such a small space with no bars for stability. She also wouldn't be able to get into the tub for a shower, so we're sticking to the H/A cabins.

Totes.



And no Sonic? How do you survive? You've got the Ocean and Jack in the Box. And Nicks on 2nd which we tried and it was amazing. And Johnny Rebs, rain check. And Supermex. And Trader Joe's with wine. And Legends' wings. And Disneyland!! Clearly I could go on and on.

They seriously are the best!



Got to add one more...Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. If you haven' had it, you MUST at some point in life.

I haven't been! Must add to next So Cal trip. We have an amazing chicken and waffle place in SLC called the Bayleaf Cafe. It's unreal. It's also a bar. It's got a crazy eclectic menu.

I do not need another addiction. I do not need another addiction. I do not need another addiction!

OK, enough of the hikjaking of the TR... Back to your regular programming!

 

[franandaj]

We woke up at 6AM Saturday morning. I took another bath and started to repack our suitcases. Once I had the large suitcases filled to capacity and able to close, we went down to breakfast. No pictures, but it was basically the same thing, except that we had kielbasa instead of bacon.

We were done with breakfast by quarter to nine. Our shuttle to the port was leaving at 11AM and they suggested that we meet downstairs between 10:30 and 10:45AM to load the bus. I went back to the room to work on an update, and Fran took her scooter over to Walmart. You see yesterday she bought these “loafers” that were really comfy, so last night when she went back for Ibuprofen, she decided to get another pair of the loafers in case the first pair got wet. That way she would have a back up. Well, she didn’t remember that she had tried them on yesterday and bought one size above her normal size.

So the size she bought last night was one size too small, she had to exchange them for another pair. She actually bought a total of five more pairs of shoes total, a pair of sandals and loafers on the first trip, another pair of loafers, more sandals and some pool shoes on the second trip. She was able to return the loafers for a different pair in another size, so now she had 10 pairs of shoes to choose from on the cruise.

At 9:30AM I had gone downstairs to see if there were any luggage carts available to get our bags downstairs. There were none in the lobby, so I went and searched all five floors of the hotel to see if anyone had left them in the halls, but there were none. That’s how I knew that the 4th and 5th floors had limited views of the ocean.

I went back to the room and worked on the TR. Around 10AM, Fran got back to the hotel and called me from the lobby to say that there was a cart available, so I rushed downstairs to grab the cart and we came back upstairs to load it up. We were back in the lobby by 10:30AM and by 11:00 we were loaded into the van and on our way to the pier.



The “Pleasure Pier” is a slightly new (or refurbished) area of Galveston. I had looked at the dining options here, but the only place on the pier is Bubba Gumps, across the street is the Landry’s restaurant “Fishtales”, but as I said the Mom and Pop option won out over both of these.







Coming from Long Beach, we have a breakwater protecting the beach so I’m not used to seeing waves wash up on the shore.



At the pier we turned West and headed toward the center of the island. I’m not sure who was depicted in this statue, but I thought I would take a picture.



Since we’re musicians, I always like to take pictures of funny musical items.



This was the Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant, another of the choices that we considered for dinner last night.



And here we are at the terminal



We entered the terminal, our check in bags were conveniently taken by the porters, so all we had to deal with was our carry ons. We made it through security and went through the line for Silver and Gold Castaway members. We didn’t have to wait long before we were checked in, but our boarding group was 26. It was still 20 minutes until noon, when boarding would commence. They called group number one right at noon. By 12:02 they called group number two. At this rate we were going to be lucky to board by 1:00PM. However, once they hit boarding group number 10 they started calling folks in groups of two. When they hit 20, they actually called groups 20-25. At that point we moved to the closest row to the boarding gate. In hindsight, I guess we could have actually just got into the boarding line because shortly thereafter they called 26-30. That was probably about 12:35 or 12:40.

We had been given the daily Navigator to peruse. Since I don’t have my scanner with me you’ll have to bear with me on these pictures. The remaining days will hopefully be scanned in, instead of pictures with my camera so they will be easier to read.













The line was pretty long and wound through the terminal, but it moved quickly. Soon we were in the actual line that lead to the ship.



After that it wasn’t long before we were on the ship. We had a plan. Fran would head towards Parrot Cay, I would head to the Rockin’ Bar D where they were signing up for various “experiences”. I got us into Palo for Brunch, but while I was waiting to speak to the reservationist, I spoke to the lady in charge of tastings. She told me about all the various Martini, Tequila and other tastings. There was a new one, a chocolate tasting. I should have just exercised my better judgement and signed up on the spot, but silly me wanted to consult Fran before committing to anything. Heck it was chocolate, what was there to consult?

 

[PrincessInOz]

The Galveston foreshore looks nice. Seems like there are lots of restaurants and activities there to do.
That's a good choice of shoes for Fran.


Seems like there are heaps of on-board activities to do from the navigator. Looking forward to seeing which ones you end up doing.


Chocolate tasting? WOW! Can't wait to read all about that one.

 

[Pinkocto]

I love that first glimpse of the ship!

I'm worried there's some negative foreshadowing going on here...

 

[jedijill]

Chocolate tasting? You hesitated? Oh please don't turn out to be a bad story!

Jill in CO

 

[dgbg100106]

Well you got all packed up and into the van and to the pier, and you are on the boat...

Chocolate tasting... umm, I could have told you to book that!

 

[rentayenta]

Chocolate tasting? You hesitated? Oh please don't turn out to be a bad story!

Jill in CO

It can't turn out bad. I hope they got chocolate wasted!


Alison, great update. That first glimpse of the ship is so exciting.

10 pairs of shoes?

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am glad that you got your additional Palo Brunch. I am curious about the chocolate tasting so I am also hoping that you managed to get this booked later on. I see that they have been messing with the Navigators again. I am not sure what to think of the new style.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

The Galveston foreshore looks nice. Seems like there are lots of restaurants and activities there to do.
That's a good choice of shoes for Fran.


Seems like there are heaps of on-board activities to do from the navigator. Looking forward to seeing which ones you end up doing.


Chocolate tasting? WOW! Can't wait to read all about that one.

I'm sure there would have been some fun things to do if we weren't so wiped out. But she is already talking about "next time" so that's good.

I love that first glimpse of the ship!

I'm worried there's some negative foreshadowing going on here...

Well, like any Disney movie there is almost always a happy ending. Come to think of it though, there is a DOH! clip at the end!

Chocolate tasting? You hesitated? Oh please don't turn out to be a bad story!

Jill in CO

Like I told Pam, it's Disney, there's always a happy ending!

Well you got all packed up and into the van and to the pier, and you are on the boat...

Chocolate tasting... umm, I could have told you to book that!

I know! they need a hitting yourself in the head smiley!

It can't turn out bad. I hope they got chocolate wasted!


Alison, great update. That first glimpse of the ship is so exciting.

10 pairs of shoes?

Doesn't everyone need 10 pairs of shoes? In her defense, her feet started swelling with all the stuff going on in her legs and all of her regular shoes weren't fitting properly, so she needed something comfy.

I am glad that you got your additional Palo Brunch. I am curious about the chocolate tasting so I am also hoping that you managed to get this booked later on. I see that they have been messing with the Navigators again. I am not sure what to think of the new style.

Corinna

Yeah, they were doing some funny things to the Navigator since my last cruise. I noticed that the Martini, Tequila, etc tastings were not being listed in the schedule portion and now were in the part where they listed "Adult Activities". I wonder if they only started listing "free" things in the schedule because too many people would show up unannounced and thinking it was complimentary, like the culinary demos or something.

I kind of liked them the way they were on my trip last fall and the ones that I have been reading online, these were a little hard to follow and had a lot of repeated information.

I will be scanning them all in this time. I didn't last time since I was on one of the last cruises and it wouldn't have helped anyone, but since there are at least two more cruises this year and several next year, who knows, they might be of interest to someone.

Pictures uploading to PB and downloading my PhotoPass pics. After I visit the grocery store, I'll be back with some updates!

 

[rndmr2]

Yay! You are on board! Can't wait to hear more, that's good you were able to get that Palo Brunch that you wanted. Can't wait to hear about all the various tastings, hope you could do the chocolate one, now that's my kind of tasting! LOL

 

[franandaj]

Yay! You are on board! Can't wait to hear more, that's good you were able to get that Palo Brunch that you wanted. Can't wait to hear about all the various tastings, hope you could do the chocolate one, now that's my kind of tasting! LOL

Well, technically, I'm home, but in trip land I'm still on the boat.

 

[franandaj]

Since the chocolate tasting was at 12:30PM and Brunch at Palo usually takes a couple hours for us, I made our reservation for the last day at 10:30AM instead of 11:00AM. That way we could be finished in time to make the chocolate tasting. I asked the gal handling the tastings how late she would be there, and she said 2PM, so I told her that I would be back before then to reserve my sessions.

I found Fran at the edge of the Promenade Lounge waiting for me. They were trying to entice folks to go up to Topsiders by mentioning that there were four buffet lines, the same menu and plenty of seating. What they didn’t mention is that you have to schlep your bags through the buffet line while juggling your tray, and you are your beverage server. Thanks to Corinna for pointing this out to me prior to the cruise, so we knew to be adamant about wanting to go to Parrot Cay.

We were seated at a table close to the buffet, as they always take pity on Fran when they see her walking with two canes. She watched our luggage while I hit the buffet first. They had pretty much the same menu as our Mexican Riviera Cruise, but there were a few Texas twists that I noticed along the way. Here are the various greens, romaine lettuce, weeds, spinach, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, cottage cheese. Sorry I didn’t get a better picture of the second half of this tray.



Next section, had spicy beef salad, Macaroni Salad, and tomato salad. The spicy beef was surprisingly good!



And don’t forget the cole slaw



I think these were little brioche tuna salad sandwiches, and assorted cheeses.





The “peel ‘em and eat ‘em shrimp” were pretty much decimated, but I only wanted a few so there were plenty. When I came back for my hot courses, they were restocked plenty. I just didn’t bring my camera back. In the bowl next to the shrimp was a coconut pineapple cold soup.



I’m not sure if this was a soup, or gravy or sauce. I should have taken a picture of the description.



The Macaroni and Cheese is WONDERFUL! Behind it was some kind of smashed potatoes.



There were mixed vegetables for those feeling healthy.



And Penne Pasta with Pesto, I believe the other side was naked so you could add the marinara sauce and meatballs if you desires.



In the background are the meatballs, and if there were any, those would have been mini corn dogs in the foreground.



I believe that is baked Tilapia in the foreground and Pork Schnitzel in the background.



This is my cold plate, in the bowl is cocktail sauce for the shrimp and behind that is the spicy beef.



This is my hot plate with Mac n cheese, penne and sauce with a meatball, Mini corn dogs, bread and butter and pork schnitzel.



By this point it was around quarter to 2PM and Fran had agreed to sign up for the Martini tasting on the first sea day, the Tequila and Margarita tasting on the second sea day and the Chocolate tasting on the last sea day. So I ran back to the front of the ship to get us registered for all the different tastings. Then I came back for dessert.







I got a plate of dessert for both Fran and I, most of it was just sort of OK, but I really enjoyed this lemon crème puff! It was like a twinkie on the bottom and a lemon crème puff on top. Really good!






After that we wrapped up lunch and decided to head to our room since it was destined to be ready as it was well after 2PM.

 

[PrincessInOz]

YUM! So glad I had breakfast already; but that food does look good and it is making me hungry again.

Great start to the cruise.

 

[rentayenta]

Weeds.

You like your mini corn dogs. I think I need to give them another try. They look good. Was the restaurant crowded? Is there always another buffet option on the cruises? I don't like the schlep-our-bags idea either.

Your bread is touching your schnitzel. That needs to be my new tag.

I'm glad you got all of your tastings scheduled. They sound fun!

I hope the swelling in Fran's feet was manageable. When did you get home? Are you exhausted?

Looks like an awesome start.

 

[franandaj]

YUM! So glad I had breakfast already; but that food does look good and it is making me hungry again.

Great start to the cruise.

Disney knows to start people off with a full stomach!

Weeds.

You like your mini corn dogs. I think I need to give them another try. They look good. Was the restaurant crowded? Is there always another buffet option on the cruises? I don't like the schlep-our-bags idea either.

Your bread is touching your schnitzel. That needs to be my new tag.

I'm glad you got all of your tastings scheduled. They sound fun!

I hope the swelling in Fran's feet was manageable. When did you get home? Are you exhausted?

Looks like an awesome start.

I forgot I got those the other time too!

Parrot Cay wasn't crowded because they kept routing people upstairs, trying to entice them with four buffet lines. Really there are only two more upstairs and that's the one where you have to schlep your stuff. It always depends on the time of day of whether or not there is another buffet, sometimes there is, sometimes not, you have to consult the Navigator. Embarkation day there is always two places serving the same buffet, but the thing is at Parrot Cay they seat you first, then you go to the buffet. At Topsiders, Beach Blanket Buffet you get your food and then look for a table.

Non gooey things can touch.

We got home around noon today. Yes, I am exhausted!

 

[rentayenta]

Disney knows to start people off with a full stomach!



I forgot I got those the other time too!

Parrot Cay wasn't crowded because they kept routing people upstairs, trying to entice them with four buffet lines. Really there are only two more upstairs and that's the one where you have to schlep your stuff. It always depends on the time of day of whether or not there is another buffet, sometimes there is, sometimes not, you have to consult the Navigator. Embarkation day there is always two places serving the same buffet, but the thing is at Parrot Cay they seat you first, then you go to the buffet. At Topsiders, Beach Blanket Buffet you get your food and then look for a table.

Non gooey things can touch.

We got home around noon today. Yes, I am exhausted!

You just got home today? Hope you get some sleep. I always get a post vacation no sleep buzz. It's that exhausted past exhausted feeling.

I hope our cruise offers a no schlepping option.

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm glad you were able to get all your tastings booked, I was worried the chocolate one would have sold out, I've heard they are very popular.

Lunch looked delicious, I love that mac & cheese

Welcome home, I hope you were able to get some good sleep!