Day 4 Navigator
Our sea day dawned clear and calm. It was amazing how calm the ocean was for this entire cruise. I am very prone to motion sickness so I continued taking a Bonine each morning, but I very seldom felt the ship move. We had a reservation for Palo brunch at 10:00, so we decided to sleep in and take our time getting going. When we left our room, we found a Magical Moment certificate with two "Happy Anniversary" pins in our starfish mail holder. Gotta love Disney!
Palo Brunch
We stopped in the lounge for some coffee and then headed to Palo. We had Sasa for our waiter again, and he seated us at a table near the windows. He offered us a complimentary glass of prosecco or a mimosa, and we both went with mimosas. Once we finished our drinks, Sasa took us over to the buffet for a tour. The buffet area is very compact, but there were many, many tasty looking choices. The hot entrees that are cooked to order were on display as well. DH and I both filled our plates from the buffet and then headed to the table. Sasa gave us some time to get started, and then he stopped by to see what hot entrees we wanted to order. DH wanted eggs and decided on the Eggs Julia, which are similar to eggs benedict but with salmon. We both love chicken parmesan, and after everything we've read about Palo's version, we both had to have our own orders. I knew I wanted to try the grape and gorgonzola pizza, but Sasa recommended that we go with half grape and gorgonzola, and half sundried tomato and goat cheese. We both preferred the grape and gorgonzola, but half was plenty considering all the other food we had eaten! The chicken parmesan was everything we had heard it would be. So, so good. We went back to the buffet one more time for some desserts. There were lots of choices available, and we liked the fact that they were all miniature in size. We were pretty full at that point, but I think we each managed to try at least three different desserts. We were presented with another Happy Anniversary plate to finish off the meal, and as an added bonus I actually remembered my camera this time!
The Concierge Sundeck
Once we had finished at Palo, we headed back to the room to change and get ready to hit the Quiet Cove pool area. Unfortunately, the area around the pool and the pool itself were absolutely packed. We walked around deck 12 a little bit and then decided to try the concierge sundeck, which is on deck 13. You can access the sundeck either through the lounge (via a flight of stairs), or using doors on either side of the forward part of the sundeck. (The card reader on one of the deck 13 doors was not working during our cruise.) There was no one using the sundeck when we arrived. In fact, aside from a couple of people who stopped in briefly and left, there was really only one other couple who used the sundeck all day. It was pretty hot up there, but there's a shower in one corner and we were in and out of it frequently. There is also a round bench area with misters in the middle that helped with the heat. We couldn't figure out how to turn it on, so we had to go down to the lounge and ask Annie-Marie to help us. The sundeck is also equipped with a variety of sunscreens as well as Evian facial misters. At one point during the afternoon, the CM who had been popping in periodically to tidy up came around with cold washcloths. At that point the sundeck was the most crowded it would get all day, with six people!
The Rainforest Room
After a couple of hours on the sundeck, we decided that we should head down to the spa and visit the Rainforest Room. I had purchased two 1-day passes months before the cruise, but we had not made it over there yet. The RR was fairly crowded when we arrived. There were several people in the sensory showers area and the heated tile loungers were all taken. As we were looking through the glass door, though, we saw two people gathering their things to leave. We spent 10-15 minutes in the loungers, and then decided to check out the showers. There are four different showers, each with several settings complete with custom lighting, sound, and even scents (unless we were hallucinating that part!). We spent about 20 minutes going from shower to shower and then headed over to the saunas. There are four different types of saunas, three of which were too hot for me! I sat in the other one with DH for a few minutes, and then I headed back to the showers while he tried out the remaining three. We would have liked to spend more time in the tile loungers before we left, but once again they were all full. There are two hot tubs on a verandah outside the tile lounger area, but there were people in them both times we checked. They're fairly small (nothing like the ones in the family pool area and the Quiet Cove), so we didn't feel comfortable using them when other people were in them. We both showered in the changing rooms and then headed back to the concierge sundeck for more lounging.
For those wondering, you can purchase day passes either in advance or during the cruise. Length-of-cruise passes can only be purchased on the ship. I paid $16 each for the day passes. The day 1 Navigator for our cruise advertised the price of a couples length-of-cruise pass for $144.00 and a single pass for $101.00. My understanding is that these passes include scrubs, but IMO that does not make up for the difference in price. We could have bought four 1-day passes for the two of us for $128.00. To purchase day passes in advance, go to the Planning Center on
DCL's web site and choose "In-Room Gifts & Shopping," and then select Port Canaveral as your port. Rainforest 1-Day Passes are listed near the bottom under "Spa & Merchandise Pre-Purchase Options." You can either fax or mail the order form, or you can call DCL at 800-601-8455. There will be a card in your room on arrival confirming your purchase.
We spent the next couple of hours back and forth between the sundeck and the adult pool. We walked around the corner to Currents for a couple of beers because, as far as we could tell, there was no bar service on the sundeck. We had brought DH's souvenir beer mug back with us and had purchased another for me on the first day. The cost of the 22 oz mug is $14.95, and you can get refills for the cost of a standard 16 oz draft. I don't want to split hairs, but I tested it at home and the mug holds closer to 20 oz. Still, 20 oz for the price of 16 is a deal, and the mugs make great souvenirs! At the end of the day, we traded our mugs in for beer tokens (which are actually cards now) so we wouldnt have to pack the glass mugs. We'll be on the Fantasy for spring break next year and will take our tokens with us.
At around 4:30, we decided we'd had enough sun for the day. We headed back to the room to shower and then we hit the lounge for cocktail hour. We each had two drinks and a couple of light snacks and then left the lounge and walked around the ship for a little while. We stopped by Shutters while we were out to look at our photos. One of my beefs with Shutters is that they seem to print most photos only in the 8x10 size. I personally don't care for large pictures, so I never buy the 8x10s. Even if they'd had a smaller size, it would have been 6x8. I still can't figure out what that size is all about! There was a decent photo from our first dinner at Palo and a good one from our second dinner. In retrospect, I should have asked whether I could buy just one or two photos on a CD since I liked our embarkation photo as well. Then I could have printed 5x7s at home, although they would both have had borders. For those who aren't aware, when you purchase photos on a CD, they all have borders. In some cases I actually like the borders, but other times I find that they're too busy and detract from the photo. I wish they provided them both ways on the CDs. After we left Shutters, we headed back to the room to do some packing. As soon as we had closed the door, the doorbell rang. It was Andy, one of the concierge hosts, stopping by to deliver our limited-edition lithograph. I had forgotten all about this concierge perk until that moment. It's called "Drenched in Fun with Daisy and Donald" and is 16" x 20". It came complete with a certificate of authenticity and a note from the concierge team thanking us for sailing with them. Surprisingly, the lithograph made it home in our large checked bag unscathed. Now I just need to have it framed and find the right place for it!
Dinner at Remy
Our anniversary is on September 5th (disembarkation day), so we had designated the 4th as the day we would officially celebrate. I had made a reservation at Remy for 7:40 when our booking window opened at 90 days out. I got a little nervous about the time when we received the letter in our room the previous night reminding us that we had to have our luggage out by 10:30 to participate in the onboard airline check-in program. I called Remy to see if they could take us a bit earlier, and they very graciously told us that we could come whenever we were ready. We stopped in the lounge for a couple of photos and then headed to Remy at about 7:10. We were seated right away and introduced to our waiter, Sylvain. After chatting with us for a few minutes, he prepared Remy's signature cocktail for each of us. It's called the Colette after the female lead in Ratatouille. Sylvain started by placing a blueberry and a mint leaf in each glass, followed by champagne, and then pear-infused vodka. Finally, he dropped a small piece of candied apricot in the bottom. The vodka had taken the fizz out of the champagne, but when he added the apricot it sent a stream of bubbles straight up through the glass. A cool effect and a very tasty drink!
Sylvain explained the menu and asked whether we wanted to order one or both of the chefs' tasting menus or would prefer to order a la carte. When we told him that we wanted to try the chefs' menus, he recommended that I try the French menu and DH try the American menu. That ended up working out really well except for one of the early courses, which we traded. I can't remember all the things we ate because there was a constant stream of dishes arriving at the table. I will say that we enjoyed everything that was put in front of us and agreed that the $75/person upcharge was well worth it given the quality of both the food and the overall experience. We opted not to go with the $99/person wine pairings and instead ordered by the glass. That brings me to sort of a funny incident. The sommelier came over early on to introduce himself and go over the wine choices with us. He had a velvet bag with him. When we told him that we had decided not to order the wine pairings, he said "Oh, then I will not be showing you what is inside here." We thought he was kidding, but after taking our by-the-glass order, he turned and left the table with his mysterious velvet bag still cinched closed. Hmmph! After dessert (IMO the one somewhat weak link in the meal), we were presented with a gorgeous hand-decorated plate and some delicious chocolates and other treats to take with us. Remy was the perfect place to celebrate our anniversary, but this is not something we'll be doing on every cruise.
After leaving Remy, we stopped by the concierge lounge for our nightly decaf espresso drinks and then headed back to the room to finish packing (and begin mourning the end of the cruise). Benny had been leaving great towel animals throughout the trip, but tonight's was our favorite:
Next up: Disembarkation and Miscellaneous Info
