Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust! Jenn & Kevin 10/12/14 Italy/ADH/France - The End (7/2016 New TR Link!)

[elphie101]

Sunday October 19 - Cruise Day 2

Probably the worst thing about our cruise was that we never adjusted to "ship time" - that is to say, our bodies were always on work/WDW time. Especially for adults the activities on the ship tend to start and end later, so we missed the majority of the adult entertainment - and got up really early in return! Oh well.

This started right on the first morning, when we both opened our eyes before 7am. We both knew we were up too early and ought to go back to sleep, but first I slipped outside to our verandah to check out our first sunrise at sea.


We were facing the West, so I imagine it was even more beautiful on the other side

After that, we both went back to sleep for another hour or so! We're on vacation, in the middle of the ocean - what else do you do? As we got ready, we perused the navigator to make our plans for the day. There were a few things I definitely wanted to do: visit the kids club during their open house hours (when adults were allowed in, which we had missed the chance to do the previous day), see Jack Jack's Diaper Dash in the atrium, and of course our pre-paid Mixology class that afternoon. We decided to head up to Cabanas for breakfast and then check out the kids clubs, since the open house was only for an hour that morning.

Cabanas was far more crowded at 8:45am than it had been at 2pm the previous day. Once again we weren't allowed to touch anything, not even the stacks of plates - CMs were passing plates out to us as we approached the buffet. There were enough people that the only seats we could find were outside, as opposed to sitting in the air conditioning (though at least we were shaded). The one downside to eating outside while the ship was moving is it was so windy! We had to weigh our napkins down with our glasses to keep them from flying away.


My breakfast - eggs, french toast, sad bacon, hash brown, some danish (I want to say cheese or apple), watermelon and a Krispy Kreme. I don't know why I grabbed the donut, as I don't really like Krispy Kreme (shoot me, but I'm from Dunkin Donuts country!), I think I only had a bite. I know I didn't touch the danish. Everything else was perfectly delicious buffet breakfast food (you can also see Kevin's plate - pancakes and hash browns. He looooooves hash browns when they come in this form)


Our view at breakfast - can't be beat!

After breakfast we walked around the ship a bit before heading down to Deck 5, where the Oceaneer Club is located. The Oceaneer Lab was not open for open house, and we never did make it back to check it out (reason #1 to cruise again!). The Club/Lab serve the 3-12 year olds on the ship, for those that do not know (the spaces are connected and the Lab I've heard has more kind of computer games/stuff to please the older age bracket).

The first thing you have to do when you enter the club is wash you hands, just like the kids do who get dropped off there. It is hands down the COOLEST hand washing machine I have ever experienced - I wish they had it in every restroom on the ship!

Now, the Oceaneers Club is super freaking cool! If there's one thing Disney does right by, it's kids.


The main room with dance floor (you can see the doorways to the other themed rooms)


Pixie Hollow (the stools were so tiny!)


Where they serve meals (adorable)

And then there was Andy's Room - and I FREAKED OUT!




Driving RC



Finally there was a Monsters Inc Scare Floor room, which I also freaked out in. They were playing Toy Story on the screen (open house times can also be used as a chance for families to play together or for kids to play together if not all of them are over 3 - not just for honeymooners to explore!)





After exhausting the Oceaneer's Club, we then headed to Vibe (for 14-17 year olds) because it was also on Deck 5. Well, it turned into a bit of an adventure - while Vibe itself is on Deck 5, you can only get to it by walking all the way forward on the Deck 4 jogging track, then climbing a very nondescript staircase up to Deck 5. Kind of perfect for the high school crowd if you ask me! There was no mistaking it once you found it though:


Unlike the Oceaneer's Club there was no fun handwashing machine, just average wet wipes (that you had to use to enter the club)




Considering it was only 9:15, I'd hazard a guess most of the target age group for Vibe was still asleep!


These cool little pods where you could watch TV/listen to music


The freaking smoothie bar!

We weren't able to go out to Vibe's private pool deck, but dang doesn't it look cool! I would have loved this if I was in high school



There wasn't nearly as much to see here, as it was more of just a lounge, so we left pretty quickly


The hallway changed colors!

I asked Kevin if he wanted to go find Edge next (for 11-14 year olds) but he was kind of done, so we decided to go change into our suits and hop into the adult pool. Since we went swimming, I have no photos, but the pool was EMPTY. We were one of maybe two people swimming. So secret Fantasy fact: if you want some privacy on a sea day, go at 9:30 in the morning! The adult pool has three levels to it - a really shallow ankle deep section (where the bar stools are), a deeper, maybe 6ft section in the center, and then a waist deep section on the opposite end. We took our time just enjoying every area, and Kevin decided to get an energy drink (because he hadn't had any caffeine yet). The bartender asked if he wanted a shot of Jager with it! He was shocked. As for me, I got a mimosa, because we were on our honeymoon after all! It was here we found out my favorite of all alcohol deals - $3 mimosas before noon! Man oh man do I miss the Fantasy for that (although I'm told it's on all DCL ships!) After some time, we also tried the hot tub, because it was usually SLAMMED with people. Kevin was disappointed to find that the glass bottom wasn't really directly over the ocean, and more like over many parts of ship equipment. I'm personally not a huge hot tub fan, so we didn't stay too long there.

We stayed at the pool for about an hour, and once we were all swimmed out we made our way back to the room to shower off and veg out to a little more Halloweentown. Finally our stomachs were grumbling so loudly that we figured it was time for lunch! Cabanas had just changed over to lunch so we had a ton of fresh offerings


Pasta du jour, fries, broccoli and shrimp. I have no photos of Kevin's plate, though I'm sure you can guess what he had.

After we ate we headed down to the atrium to browse the shops for souvenirs and get ready to watch Jack Jack's Diaper Dash, aka baby racing. We decided to go up to Deck 4 for a better vantage point of the action.


I love these mosaics!

Kevin picked one kid - we'll call him Overalls - to take it all. Before the event started he kept breaking free from his family and zipping across the room faster than anything. Pretty soon, the CM called for final entries and started the race. It was a hilarious event to watch - seeing what the family members did to try and get their kids to crawl. There were a couple of different waves to determine the 3 finalists.


The girl in pink one this one - she came back from behind to sweep it!

I don't know if this will work, but I took video of the final round - Kevin's pick won! (Click to play)



After the race we explored the Art of Disney gallery right behind us (of course the ship has an Art of Disney....) and somehow found ourselves up on Deck 11 again, at this dangerous locale:


Yes, all you can eat ice cream. Sign me up! Again, the CMs were making cones for you, which I much preferred since I'm awful at making ice cream cones. We always got vanilla, but I know they had chocolate and I think banana and strawberry most of the time (they always had vanilla and chocolate though). Kevin ended up running to Flo's Cafe (the grab & go pool deck food) opposite the ice cream for an empty soda cup, since he doesn't like his ice cream in cones.

And, like most "free" things, it was delicious!

We had about two hours left before our Mixology class, and the only thing left on our schedule was the DVC presentation in The Tube. Kevin put his foot down though, and said he didn't want to hear a sales pitch on his honeymoon, free drinks or not. And with that, I only had one request left - to take a nap. Yes, our long morning of eating, playing in clubs, swimming, eating, watching babies and eating again had tired me out. Kevin actually was tired as well, so we went back down to deck 7 and closed the blinds for a decent nap.

 

[Seia]

Ahhh, free ice cream! That is dangerous! Plus $3 mimosas... the more I read from your TR, the more I want to do a cruise! And Kevin had the right idea: save the DVC tour for WDW where you usually get a free gift card AND ice cream. Haha.

And wow, what a gorgeous sunrise! (I think being somewhere Disney related might be the only time I'd be so excited to be awake for the sunrise!)

 

[Disneyducks12]

That's so funny! Was yours table 81 too, or a different number?

God that pasta is amazing, hands down the best thing on that menu.

Table 81!! How funny is that and we were table 82 for the wedding cruise the big 10 top! and OMG the pasta is amazing yumm!

 

[Disneyducks12]

Sunday October 19 - Cruise Day 2

Probably the worst thing about our cruise was that we never adjusted to "ship time" - that is to say, our bodies were always on work/WDW time. Especially for adults the activities on the ship tend to start and end later, so we missed the majority of the adult entertainment - and got up really early in return! Oh well.

This started right on the first morning, when we both opened our eyes before 7am. We both knew we were up too early and ought to go back to sleep, but first I slipped outside to our verandah to check out our first sunrise at sea.


We were facing the West, so I imagine it was even more beautiful on the other side

After that, we both went back to sleep for another hour or so! We're on vacation, in the middle of the ocean - what else do you do? As we got ready, we perused the navigator to make our plans for the day. There were a few things I definitely wanted to do: visit the kids club during their open house hours (when adults were allowed in, which we had missed the chance to do the previous day), see Jack Jack's Diaper Dash in the atrium, and of course our pre-paid Mixology class that afternoon. We decided to head up to Cabanas for breakfast and then check out the kids clubs, since the open house was only for an hour that morning.

Cabanas was far more crowded at 8:45am than it had been at 2pm the previous day. Once again we weren't allowed to touch anything, not even the stacks of plates - CMs were passing plates out to us as we approached the buffet. There were enough people that the only seats we could find were outside, as opposed to sitting in the air conditioning (though at least we were shaded). The one downside to eating outside while the ship was moving is it was so windy! We had to weigh our napkins down with our glasses to keep them from flying away.


My breakfast - eggs, french toast, sad bacon, hash brown, some danish (I want to say cheese or apple), watermelon and a Krispy Kreme. I don't know why I grabbed the donut, as I don't really like Krispy Kreme (shoot me, but I'm from Dunkin Donuts country!), I think I only had a bite. I know I didn't touch the danish. Everything else was perfectly delicious buffet breakfast food (you can also see Kevin's plate - pancakes and hash browns. He looooooves hash browns when they come in this form)


Our view at breakfast - can't be beat!

After breakfast we walked around the ship a bit before heading down to Deck 5, where the Oceaneer Club is located. The Oceaneer Lab was not open for open house, and we never did make it back to check it out (reason #1 to cruise again!). The Club/Lab serve the 3-12 year olds on the ship, for those that do not know (the spaces are connected and the Lab I've heard has more kind of computer games/stuff to please the older age bracket).

The first thing you have to do when you enter the club is wash you hands, just like the kids do who get dropped off there. It is hands down the COOLEST hand washing machine I have ever experienced - I wish they had it in every restroom on the ship!

Now, the Oceaneers Club is super freaking cool! If there's one thing Disney does right by, it's kids.


The main room with dance floor (you can see the doorways to the other themed rooms)


Pixie Hollow (the stools were so tiny!)


Where they serve meals (adorable)

And then there was Andy's Room - and I FREAKED OUT!




Driving RC



Finally there was a Monsters Inc Scare Floor room, which I also freaked out in. They were playing Toy Story on the screen (open house times can also be used as a chance for families to play together or for kids to play together if not all of them are over 3 - not just for honeymooners to explore!)





After exhausting the Oceaneer's Club, we then headed to Vibe (for 14-17 year olds) because it was also on Deck 5. Well, it turned into a bit of an adventure - while Vibe itself is on Deck 5, you can only get to it by walking all the way forward on the Deck 4 jogging track, then climbing a very nondescript staircase up to Deck 5. Kind of perfect for the high school crowd if you ask me! There was no mistaking it once you found it though:


Unlike the Oceaneer's Club there was no fun handwashing machine, just average wet wipes (that you had to use to enter the club)




Considering it was only 9:15, I'd hazard a guess most of the target age group for Vibe was still asleep!


These cool little pods where you could watch TV/listen to music


The freaking smoothie bar!

We weren't able to go out to Vibe's private pool deck, but dang doesn't it look cool! I would have loved this if I was in high school



There wasn't nearly as much to see here, as it was more of just a lounge, so we left pretty quickly


The hallway changed colors!

I asked Kevin if he wanted to go find Edge next (for 11-14 year olds) but he was kind of done, so we decided to go change into our suits and hop into the adult pool. Since we went swimming, I have no photos, but the pool was EMPTY. We were one of maybe two people swimming. So secret Fantasy fact: if you want some privacy on a sea day, go at 9:30 in the morning! The adult pool has three levels to it - a really shallow ankle deep section (where the bar stools are), a deeper, maybe 6ft section in the center, and then a waist deep section on the opposite end. We took our time just enjoying every area, and Kevin decided to get an energy drink (because he hadn't had any caffeine yet). The bartender asked if he wanted a shot of Jager with it! He was shocked. As for me, I got a mimosa, because we were on our honeymoon after all! It was here we found out my favorite of all alcohol deals - $3 mimosas before noon! Man oh man do I miss the Fantasy for that (although I'm told it's on all DCL ships!) After some time, we also tried the hot tub, because it was usually SLAMMED with people. Kevin was disappointed to find that the glass bottom wasn't really directly over the ocean, and more like over many parts of ship equipment. I'm personally not a huge hot tub fan, so we didn't stay too long there.

We stayed at the pool for about an hour, and once we were all swimmed out we made our way back to the room to shower off and veg out to a little more Halloweentown. Finally our stomachs were grumbling so loudly that we figured it was time for lunch! Cabanas had just changed over to lunch so we had a ton of fresh offerings


Pasta du jour, fries, broccoli and shrimp. I have no photos of Kevin's plate, though I'm sure you can guess what he had.

After we ate we headed down to the atrium to browse the shops for souvenirs and get ready to watch Jack Jack's Diaper Dash, aka baby racing. We decided to go up to Deck 4 for a better vantage point of the action.


I love these mosaics!

Kevin picked one kid - we'll call him Overalls - to take it all. Before the event started he kept breaking free from his family and zipping across the room faster than anything. Pretty soon, the CM called for final entries and started the race. It was a hilarious event to watch - seeing what the family members did to try and get their kids to crawl. There were a couple of different waves to determine the 3 finalists.


The girl in pink one this one - she came back from behind to sweep it!

I don't know if this will work, but I took video of the final round - Kevin's pick won! (Click to play)



After the race we explored the Art of Disney gallery right behind us (of course the ship has an Art of Disney....) and somehow found ourselves up on Deck 11 again, at this dangerous locale:


Yes, all you can eat ice cream. Sign me up! Again, the CMs were making cones for you, which I much preferred since I'm awful at making ice cream cones. We always got vanilla, but I know they had chocolate and I think banana and strawberry most of the time (they always had vanilla and chocolate though). Kevin ended up running to Flo's Cafe (the grab & go pool deck food) opposite the ice cream for an empty soda cup, since he doesn't like his ice cream in cones.

And, like most "free" things, it was delicious!

We had about two hours left before our Mixology class, and the only thing left on our schedule was the DVC presentation in The Tube. Kevin put his foot down though, and said he didn't want to hear a sales pitch on his honeymoon, free drinks or not. And with that, I only had one request left - to take a nap. Yes, our long morning of eating, playing in clubs, swimming, eating, watching babies and eating again had tired me out. Kevin actually was tired as well, so we went back down to deck 7 and closed the blinds for a decent nap.

I had the same problem on the ship I was up every day by 6:00am, I could never sleep in but it is super empty which is so nice! And the free ice cream I gained so much weight with that bad boy and I used your husbands trick use the cups and filler up I maybe filled up two per trip! I also loved the kids areas made me want to be a kid again! and I love the diaper race and that one kid in the video zoomed off!! Loving your TR!

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Are you trying to tell us something????????

 

[LadyD]

You make the DCL cruises sound so appealing. Now I really want to do one!

 

[MagicalEnding]

Goodness. . . how did I get so behind. . . I'm all caught up now and everything looks amazing. . .You're making me hungry. . .lol Can't wait to read more.

 

[PrincessJosie]

October 15th Continued

We met both sets of parents over by the Frontier shooting gallery, right up against the tree planted in the side walk. I kid you not, my dad had grabbed literally the ONLY shaded spot of sidewalk in all of Frontierland. Best of all, we we right against the rope/tape line, and it was only about one person deep, so no fighting anyone for space! We settled in on the ground, but not before I darted across the street to grab a favorite Disney snack -


Mmmmmm churros.



The Main Street Band and the Grand Marshalls of the parade came through, and then it was parade time! I was cautiously excited about Festival of Fantasy - I used to pick up several shifts working Celebrate a Dream Come True during my college program as a way to earn a little extra money, so the old parade is near to my heart. I did notice right away that there was some kind of sound issue with the parade - while the music was being broadcast out of each float, the speakers in the surrounding area of Frontierland seemed to be broken and silent, so the parade soundtrack would fade in and out with every float that went by. But now, pictures!












Definitely my favorite shot from the parade!

Ok so verdict - I've actually fallen more in love with this parade in the time since we saw it. In the moment, I just thought it was OK - I don't like how they evicted Aurora from the first float for Elsa and Anna (which is obvious in the soundtrack, as they play Once Upon a Dream for that float and nothing from Frozen), but the costumes and design elements are absolutely STUNNING. We may catch this again in our August trip, but it's not a priority for me (only parades that are: Soundsational in Disneyland and Boo to You during the Halloween Party).

After the parade, we split off with Kevin's parents (who decided to do their own thing) and went over to Big Thunder Mountain with my parents - both of them! This is HUGE as my mother has historically sat out on this ride for as long as I've been alive, and is definitely not a coaster person. However, 7DMT awakened something with her, and she found that as long as she was riding in the same car as my dad, and he prompted her with which way to lean so she could lean into the curves, she actually liked it, and so she decided to give Big Thunder a try!


Success!! Victory is ours!

After my mother's brave coaster experience we branched off on our own for our last Fast Pass of the day - Enchanted Tales with Belle. Neither of us had ever experienced it before and I had heard it wasn't worth it if you didn't have a FP due to long waits, so I grabbed one early on so we could check it out.


I won't spoil it, but this preshow is BY FAR the coolest thing I have ever seen in a preshow.

I did warn Kevin as we visited the Beast's castle that while predominatly children were picked for story time with Belle, there were two suits of armor who were typically adult men. He made sure to stand alllll the way in the back and make himself as small as possible - luckily for him he was not chosen.


LOVED Lumiere, what a fantastic addition!

I thought the show was really cute, and a fresh original idea for Disney (especially in the land of endless meet & greets), but not something we'll do again any time soon unless we were traveling with a child. Just our personal preference, as we aren't huge character people in the parks.

After our visit to Belle, we had about two hours before our dinner reservation at Ohana that evening, so we figured we'd hit up one more ride before catching the monorail over to the Poly. So we wandered over to Little Mermaid, which I will always love on the basis of my love for Ariel and the movie, even if the ride itself is a little boring (isn't that queue fantastic though?)





Being that we were all the way in the back of the park, we figured it'd be prudent now to make our way out and catch the monorail, and decided to stop at the Contemporary along the way since a) the resort monorail would stop there first and b) Kevin had heard they had a decent Vinylmation selection there and wanted to try our luck at completing a series. We had no such luck on the Vinylmation front, but we did get to see this really cool model of the Fantasy - just 3 days till our sailing!



Before long we were at the Poly, or land of a million walls. This was before the great unveiling of the lobby, so a lot of these pictures are moot now, but they were super documentary at the time. (In hindsight, I'm also really glad I changed our Kona ADR to Trail's End just so dinner was a change of scenery!)


Not a beautiful lobby


Construction as of 7 months ago

Since we had gotten over a little early, we figured we'd check in and start the waiting process already. Of course our table wasn't ready yet, so we were invited to have a seat - and being honeymooners and alcohol lovers, we chose to visit the Tambu Lounge!


Kevin had the Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, and I had the Kona Longboard Island Lager. The beer was sooooo refreshing after a long day of touring in the parks and the sun.

We relaxing, drinking our beers, not caring that we didn't have a table yet. This moment is one of my happy memories of the honeymoon - us just enjoying each others company, not a care about what was going on around us, just having a drink and a good time and enjoying being in our favorite place together.



We closed our bar tab a little early, which I'm glad about as we used our Tables in Wonderland card (heck yeah 20% off beer!) and this was the first time we realized that every swipe of a TIW card requires the CM to call over a manager to approve the transaction. It was a bit of wait, but our table still hadn't been called, so we were in no rush.

We ended up being seated an a tiny two-top right next to the shiny wooden coconut racing track, though we didn't know it at the time. Neither of us had ever been to Ohana's dinner, so we were really excited to try it and see what all the fuss was about. Our assistant server (not the title, but closest thing I can think of to describe them) came over and took our drink orders, explaining that someone else would be taking care of serving us our food throughout the night. We ordered another round of our beers from the bar, and I enjoyed our (heavily zoomed in) castle view:


Sunset castle!

Bread was served, quickly followed by lettuce wraps. The bread was pretty standard to my memory, it did the job but I'm not remembering it being outstanding. We both enjoyed the lettuce wraps (and I can tell you I like the idea of lettuce wraps more than a salad - sorry old-menu Ohana fans!) but agreed that PF Changs does them better.




Every now and then I insist on getting a human in my photos - Kevin usually agrees, begrudgingly.

Our drink server came by to tell me that the bar was actually out of my beer on tap, and offered to bring me something else or the same beer in a bottle. If memory serves, I believe I ordered a Yuengling or something generic they have across property. It didn't matter though - a few minutes later he returned with both of our original selections! It turns out they have a second set of taps in the kitchen and there was still some Kona in that keg (or maybe the tapped a new keg and just didn't want to say anything. Who knows. I'm not complaining!)

We next got our skillet of pot stickers and chicken wings, followed very closely behind our veggies and noodles



Holy mother of Mickey those pot stickers. I think I ate about 10. I think I could have kept eating them all night, they were amazing. By far the only thing on the menu I asked for refills of during the night. Kevin isn't crazy about bone-in meat, so he didn't really eat the chicken (I thought it was ok - just average) but thought the pot stickers were good. The veggies were veggies, certainly not bad but nothing special, while the noodles delicious, if not a bit bland, which disappointed me - I am a lo mein addict so I was looking forward to these for awhile.

Our meats came around, first steak (not bad), then pork (pretty meh, but I don't love pork to begin with) and then after a bit of a delay, shrimp (good, but not worth the wait. I probably would have liked it more had I not have to wait for it and built it up in my head). While we were eating and waiting for shrimp, the coconut races started - and you'll see how close we were:


We certainly didn't mind, but some people might.

After one last pot sticker, we gave the OK for our plates to be cleared and out came dessert - bread pudding and a celebratory cupcake!



Kevin was absolutely stuffed (and doesn't like bread pudding anyway) so he refused to touch either. I have to be honest - I didn't sample the cupcake at all. I was waaaaaaay too focused on that bread pudding in all it's warm, cinnamon-y, delicious ice cream-y wonderfulness. If you couldn't tell, it was really, really, REALLY good. I was so bummed I could only manage a few bites - next time, I'm going easy on the noodles and (gasp) the pot stickers so I have more room for this wonderful concoction.

As we waited to settle the bill (thank god for Disney Visa rewards) I asked Kevin what he thought of the meal, and surprisingly he said it was the best of the trip! I really hadn't known what to think since a lot of the menu items (lettuce wraps, pot stickers, bone-in chicken, pork) are items he doesn't usually like to eat back home, but the food really impressed him. I have to say I loved the meal too, and I would happily dine here again, were it not for the outrageous price. We saved a whopping $19.25 with our Tables in Wonderland card, and the bill (2 meals plus 3 beers total) came to $99. That's just plain absurd for a restaurant where kids race coconuts a foot away from your table, and definitely at a non-signature at Disney. So will we be back? Yes........someday. No time soon, and absolutely not without TiW.

It was about 8:30 by the time we left Ohana, and I had been begging Kevin to see Wishes at 9:00pm even though he was exhausted, as it was our only night with a chance to see MK's fireworks. Reluctantly, he agreed, and we hopped on the monorail over to MK and began to make our way to the turnstiles. Something didn't seem right to me though, and I pulled up My Disney Experience - only to find Wishes didn't start till 10:00pm. As much as I love Wishes (and I LOOOOOOVE Wishes) even I didn't want to stay that long, so we kept walking past the tapstiles over to the buses to find our way back to the Beach Club.


Goodbye MK! Thanks for a lovely evening.

Tomorrow was a big day - we were finally venturing over to the Dark Side - and most importantly, to Diagon Alley!

I imagine that Spirit of Aloha has the same bread pudding as Ohana and I also don't like bread pudding but I had to try it while we were at Spirit of Aloha and it is absolutely TO DIE FOR! Do not skip it at either place if you are there!! So GOOD!

 

[PrincessJosie]

OMG, Jenn, I read your entire journal. I love it! Your wedding was SO beautiful!! I laughed, I cried. I'm loving the trip report. I just told Shane that it's making me wish we'd had more people at our wedding and that we'd been able to hang out more with those who did come (most only came for the wedding and didn't even go to the parks). I adore the last photo of Vanessa with her comment of "Ok, I totally get why you guys love this place so much".....I wish I could convince more of my friends and family that it's so worth the trip and the money. If I could just get them there, I'm certain I could make them understand! You are so very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends.

I have the exact same thought! My family is just coming for our wedding and not staying even going to the Parks either!

 

[charliegirl76]

I have the exact same thought! My family is just coming for our wedding and not staying even going to the Parks either!

In writing my TR, I've realized we did get to spend at least one day in the park with my family and some friends, I just wish I'd been able to have more park time with them.....there's always a vow renewal! LOL

Jenn, still loving your report! You make me want to take photos of all my food so I can review it later! LOL

 

[elphie101]

Ahhh, free ice cream! That is dangerous! Plus $3 mimosas... the more I read from your TR, the more I want to do a cruise! And Kevin had the right idea: save the DVC tour for WDW where you usually get a free gift card AND ice cream. Haha.

And wow, what a gorgeous sunrise! (I think being somewhere Disney related might be the only time I'd be so excited to be awake for the sunrise!)

I've heard you get the best incentives when you buy into DVC on the cruise line, maybe the points are cheapest or something. Although a gift card does sound good.....maybe I can get him to go on a tour during our next WDW trip!

I had the same problem on the ship I was up every day by 6:00am, I could never sleep in but it is super empty which is so nice! And the free ice cream I gained so much weight with that bad boy and I used your husbands trick use the cups and filler up I maybe filled up two per trip! I also loved the kids areas made me want to be a kid again! and I love the diaper race and that one kid in the video zoomed off!! Loving your TR!

Yes Table 81!! That kid was NUTS how fast he was! He also had this really distinct way of crying (we heard it when he parents where trying to keep him from zooming off) and we actually recognized it later in the cruise! We just heard him down a hall and were like "ah yes, our buddy".

Are you trying to tell us something????????

Bahaha! Listen, I'm not about to pretend I'm a prude, but I promise we really did pass out!!

You make the DCL cruises sound so appealing. Now I really want to do one!

You know, sometimes they do sail out of CA! Or at the very least you can do Alaska easily enough!

Goodness. . . how did I get so behind. . . I'm all caught up now and everything looks amazing. . .You're making me hungry. . .lol Can't wait to read more.

Seriously, if you love food you will LOVE cruising!! You can even order two entrees! (Not like we were ever hungry enough to do that)

I imagine that Spirit of Aloha has the same bread pudding as Ohana and I also don't like bread pudding but I had to try it while we were at Spirit of Aloha and it is absolutely TO DIE FOR! Do not skip it at either place if you are there!! So GOOD!

I may or may not order it at the Tambu Lounge next trip!

In writing my TR, I've realized we did get to spend at least one day in the park with my family and some friends, I just wish I'd been able to have more park time with them.....there's always a vow renewal! LOL

Jenn, still loving your report! You make me want to take photos of all my food so I can review it later! LOL

I'm a little obsessed with food pics, especially on our cruise when it was all new!

 

[elphie101]

Cruise Day 2 - Continued

I can't remember if we set an alarm, or just had scaringly good timing, but a bit later we roused ourselves from sleep and headed up to the previously unexplored Deck 12, where our Mixology class would be taking place. Ours was held in Meridian, the bar between Palo and Remy, but other classes on different days/times take place in other bars around the ship (like Skyline).


Pretty detailing on the window (also the cigar lounge/smoking area, should you wish to use it!)



We sat around and waited as people filled in to take the class. It was hard not to overhear some of the conversations of our fellow passengers - one of them mentioned how her child kept calling her on the wave phone to come out of the clubs, but she told her that "Mommy's busy" and laughed to her fellow cruisemates about why her child wouldn't just stay behind in the clubs so she could use the adult pool and drink without her (they seemed to be a traveling group of friends). I felt so bad for her daughter! Who does that on a vacation?

Pretty soon the class began, taught by Damian, who seemed to be the head bartender of Meridian. He called us all up to the bar and explained that we would be making 5 different drinks that would teach us various different methods of making mixed drinks. First up we would be making a Berry Mojito, which would teach us how to use a muddler. He asked for a handful of volunteers to come up and make the first drink, and I jumped up right away!


You had to be careful not to over-muddle, otherwise you would get raspberry guts and other attractive elements of the fruit that would escape up through the ice


We even got to do our own pours - the man next to me was VERY generous with his drinks!

Once we were done (we had 5 drinks each) we passed them out to our classmates to sample. The man next to me tried to give one to Kevin, and he just looked at me and said "Nope, I need to wait for one of hers!" while flashing his new wedding band - the whole room got a big laugh out of that one.


Success! It was sooooo delicious, super refreshing for being on a Caribbean cruise


Our gorgeous view! You can see all the alcohol we would be using lined up on the back counter

From there we moved on to the next drink - a Vanilla Coke (vanilla vodka and regular coke). This was learning about drinks that you just serve as is, you simply poured the vodka in followed by the coke, with no additional mixing or stirring required. Damian made sure we knew NOT to use Vanilla Coke and plain vodka - it would be far too sweet!


Pouring the vodka


The finished product, next to a Berry Mojito (we had a no show so there was always one extra drink). I thought it was just ok, definitely not something I'd order (but I'm not a Coke drinker)

Next up was a layered drink of Damian's own creation, which means I can't remember the name of it nor can I look it up online. With this drink we learned how to make crafty layered beverages. Damian mentioned that he actually got a complaint from Guest Services about this drink - someone on a previous cruise was upset that he made his own concoction instead of a standard well-known recipe so she went and complained about him! He just kind of shrugged it off and asked if any of us cared about learning how to make an original drink, which we were all game for.



You started with the yellow layer, which was citrus vodka, limoncello, and sweet & sour mix (you can see the three behind the drink - Damian had made one in advance to show us the finished product before we attempted it ourselves). Next you would pour blue curacao, then finally grenadine. Because each alcohol is denser than the one that came before it, it would sink to the bottom without mixing with the previous alcohol. It's really interesting Googling this technique later, because not once have I encountered someone who recommends pouring your liquors lightest to heaviest, when I am 100% positive that's what Damian taught us. It's interesting to see how his method worked! As for taste, I wasn't a fan of this drink, because of the grenadine. Kevin liked it though and actually finished mine.


Next up was the Pomegranate Martini, a lesson in using a shaker. Damian was sure to tell us that the only true martini is one with gin and vermouth, and once you add anything else it no longer becomes a martini, but clearly society doesn't mind!


These contained Pama pomegranate liquor, prosecco, and some pre-mixed juice concoction that was vaguely similar to the guava-mango-OJ combo you find at Boma/Trail's End/other WDW restaurants. This was simply OUTSTANDING! We both fell head over heels for this drink and it was gone way too soon.

Finally Damian said it was time to make a Baby Guinness, our final drink. The woman next to me immeadiately jumped to volunteer - she had been waiting to make this drink the whole class. This was another lesson in layering, but this time for a specific shot.


I hope she doesn't mind the post! Here Damian was demonstrating how you first pour the heavier liquid in this case (the Kahlua) then slowly, while tilting the glass pour your layer of Bailey's over the top


The result - a Baby Guinness! I've seen in other DCL classes they do a B-52 instead, which is a Baby Guinness plus Grand Marnier for the top. It was quite yummy! Kevin decided not to have his since Bailey's contains chocolate (though in such a small amount that he probably would have been ok) so that meant two for me!

With that, the class was over. We thought it was a rousing success and absolutely worth the $15, though I think the price has increased to $20 now. Even for $20, we still feel like the class is worth it. I've seen some people in different classes not get to mix the drinks, which usually leads to them being on the weaker side, but we definitely left the bar with a healthy buzz (especially since we got to finish off the extra berry mojito left behind!)


I had to get a photo with Damian, best bartender on the Fantasy!

Feeling a teensy bit too buzzed for our liking (we ate lunch 5 hours ago!) we headed down to Flo's for a quick pool deck snack, which we brought back to the room. We gobbled them right up!


Chicken Caesar wrap & fries


Kevin's pizza, chicken strips, and fries

We browsed through the navigators and the movie schedule, but nothing really appealed to us for the next hour before the Captain's Reception. I had told Kevin I wanted to be sure to go to the early Captain's Reception as well as the later one, because a) free drinks! and b) formal pictures of us (like we hadn't just had enough already....) So without any scheduled entertainment in the immediate future we settled in for a little more Halloweentown, before moving on to Halloweentown 2 (tis the season!). We kept the movie on while we got ready for formal night, which took a little more time than usual! We got all spiffied up and headed out to the Captain's Reception. Since it was formal night, Kevin wore his wedding suit (though not the wedding tie - he said he didn't want to recreate the ensemble, awwwww). A lot of women wore full length gowns, but I wore a nice dress, since I wasn't about to spend money on another gown!


Formal selfie!


Another gorgeous sunset at sea

We mingled around the atrium, admittedly looking for servers with free drinks (free booze is free booze!) I ended up with a glass of wine and Kevin a beer (something Bud Light-like in quality, not his taste but again, free is free). A cast member was waiting by an empty backdrop, and as we wandered by we heard her tell another guest that Commodore Tom was about to come out for his meet and greet, so I suggested we hop in line. How often do you get to take a photo with the leader of the DCL fleet?

Well, Commodore Tom was pretty awkward. I suppose being a people person isn't exactly a requirement to be a ship captain (and meet & greets ARE pretty awkward in general, unless you're The Mouse) so we took our quick and cheesy photo and bolted. Glad we didn't wait long for that!

We waited for another photo op - this time with the Fantasy backdrop. This was one of the few that actually came out really nicely, so it was our one photo we purchased from Shutters (I don't have any of the formal night pictures we didn't chose, because I was too scared to take pictures of pictures at Shutters!)



We then headed to that evening's performance of Aladdin the Musical, and chose to sit up in the balcony for a different perspective. I had read it was almost identical to the Aladdin show done at California Adventure, and it did turn out to be pretty similar (down to what I referred to as "that awkward moment when they insisted Jasmine have a song"). That being said, it was fantastic! Definitely more along the lines of what we were expecting from Disney in terms of quality entertainment. If anything, the fact that I knew it was similar to the show in DCA helped get Kevin into the auditorium - I seriously doubt he would have gone to the show if he thought it was going to be a repeat of A Fantasy Come True.

After the show we still had about an hour till dinner, so we headed back for Captain's Reception Round 2, More Drinks and More Photos. We got in the longest line by far, the one of the photo op at the grand sweeping staircase in the atrium. As it turns out, this photo wasn't even in our folder in Shutters! All that waiting for nothing.


It's kind of hard to tell, but the piano is playing itself! It reminded me of Haunted Mansion (even though I'm sure that's far from the intention)


The line wraps allllll away around the staircase to our left before finally making it up front

Continued in next post

 

[elphie101]

We also got photos with the Cinderella mosaics I posted earlier, and then headed downstairs to Deck 2 for our dinner at Enchanted Garden. Ambiance wise, Enanchted Garden was my least favorite of the three restaurants, but maybe that had to do with our table placement - we were literally squished between two serving stations and a pole. It was a junk spot!


No zoom here


That was Kevin's seat across from me, right ontop of that woman! I've heard seating is a bit more roomier on the Magic and Wonder


That giant window behind me on the right is where the secret buffet is concealed for the embarkation day buffet (at least I think so, since we weren't there for it!)


Our pole friend

We perused the menu for our selections of the evening. One thing we did notice as soon as we sat down was a Coke at Kevin's seat - Victoria took note of his order the night before and had one ready for him before he could even ask. Later on in the cruise he ended up asking her to stop in an effort to be more healthy, but it was a great sign of the Disney touch in the dining room!









Alfredo came by pretty soon and made his recommendations, though we had already decided for the most part what we wanted. One of the nice things about having our own table was we could eat at our own pace - at other tables everyone's courses needed to be paced at the same time, so I imagine especially with skipping courses that might have been awkward. Mostly because of that, I definitely see us always getting our own table in the future.

Kevin skipped the appetizer, but mine soon arrived:


Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart with Creamy Leeks. It was fairly meh. I like bacon, I like mushrooms........but this was meh. It didn't need to take up extra room in stomach in retrospect.

Next up was our salad, where we both got the same thing:


Romaine Wedge - fresh crisp Romaine topped with a creamy Romano Dressing and homemade spiced Croutons. This was yummy! There's not much to it, but it was light and crisp and a nice way to get another taste before our entrees without filling up.

We ate pretty quickly if you can't tell, which our serving team definitely noticed and made sure to bring out our next course accordingly.


Kevin's entree: Marjoram Scented All Natural Chicken served with Baked Crushed Sweet Potatoes, Buttered Baby Spinach, and a Thyme Red Wine Chicken Jus


My entree: Pan Seared Sea Bass with Fava Bean and Pea Risotto, sliced Fennel and a Dill-Chive Riesling Wine Sauce

Oh my goodness, this fish was probably the most amazing fish I've ever had. It just fell apart so lovely and the risotto and sauce complimented it so well. I was about half a second away from licking the plate just to make sure I got all the sauce. As for Kevin, he liked his food well enough, but really doesn't like meat on the bone so he wasn't crazy about what he chose. He tried some of my fish and agreed that I definitely got the better entree of the evening.

The cool thing about Enchanted Garden is during your meal, the sun sets and the atmosphere changed from day to night (and the flowers open!)



Alfredo came by with the dessert menu, and even though I wasn't especially hungry I took one look and knew I instantly needed to order something (Kevin once again chose to pass on dessert):




Apple Cinnamon Crunch Sundae - Cinnamon Apple, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, and Shortbread. It was yummy and delicious! Like an apple pie with ice cream, though focusing a little more heavy on the ice cream.

Alfredo cleared the empty sundae dished and bid us farewell until tomorrow's meal at Royal Court, and we rolled right out of the restaurant.



We headed back up to our room mostly out of comfort (a "get this suit/these heels off me" situation) and of course once we got upstairs we didn't really feel like leaving again.


Our towel animal for the night!

As soon as I snapped this photo, Kevin asked if I wouldn't mind if he punched the elephant again, just because he enjoyed it last night. I said sure, and he gave a sideways look at the elephant and said "Hey buddy, what did you just say to my wife? You think you can talk to her that way? Oh you're going down!" and smacked the thing. It was hilarious! That ended up becoming our new nightly tradition for the rest of the week. Now that the bed was elephant-free, we got into PJs and returned to our favorite On Demand movie watching (switching it up this time with The Lego Movie) before passing out for the night.

 

[Belle612]

First, I just have to say, we never made it to the kids club open houses and I so wish we had because WOW they look AWESOME!!!!! Next time for sure.

Wow what an awesome day!!!! I so wish we had done one of the mixology classes - definitely on the next cruise we do, because your recap made it look like so much fun. Aladdin was definitely our favorite show on the cruise too! It was really well done, and I'm a Broadway/musical theatre fan too so I have high standards.

I have to agree with you about EG - even though it was a gorgeous restaurant, it just felt a lot more cramped to me than the others!

And wow love the story about the towel animals - that's so cute! Can't wait to read more and see what else you guys did on the cruise!

 

[Disneyducks12]

Your mixology class seeme really fun! and how awesome you got pour your own drinks way worth $15 one thats like one drink at the bar! Also the unlimited access to food at all hours is the best we used to alaways grab a plate even if we weren't hungry just because we could and we were double entree orderers at night! and the pole at that table was the worth plus the two server stations and that already was my least favorite restrauant kind of just put it over but oh well! and your husband punching the elephant is so funny!

Can't wait to hear the rest of it!

 

[Seia]

Aww... what did the elephant do to anybody? (Side note: are those little chocolates for his eyes?)

Thanks for posting the menus to everything, even if they make me hungry. That sundae looks SO good... That's a wonderful picture of you and Kevin, too!

 

[elphie101]

First, I just have to say, we never made it to the kids club open houses and I so wish we had because WOW they look AWESOME!!!!! Next time for sure.

Wow what an awesome day!!!! I so wish we had done one of the mixology classes - definitely on the next cruise we do, because your recap made it look like so much fun. Aladdin was definitely our favorite show on the cruise too! It was really well done, and I'm a Broadway/musical theatre fan too so I have high standards.

I have to agree with you about EG - even though it was a gorgeous restaurant, it just felt a lot more cramped to me than the others!

And wow love the story about the towel animals - that's so cute! Can't wait to read more and see what else you guys did on the cruise!

I want to go on every ship now (especially the Magic, what with Avengers Academy!) The clubs are so cool!

Next time we're on the Dream/Fantasy I want to have lunch at Enchanted Garden, just to see how it compares - I've been trying to figure out which restaurant I would skip for Palo/Remy, and it still wouldn't be EG I don't think, thanks to that FANTASTIC fish!

Your mixology class seeme really fun! and how awesome you got pour your own drinks way worth $15 one thats like one drink at the bar! Also the unlimited access to food at all hours is the best we used to alaways grab a plate even if we weren't hungry just because we could and we were double entree orderers at night! and the pole at that table was the worth plus the two server stations and that already was my least favorite restrauant kind of just put it over but oh well! and your husband punching the elephant is so funny!

Can't wait to hear the rest of it!

Yeah, the atmosphere was definitely dead thanks to the crappy table location, but like I said above that really was my favorite entree, probably from the whole cruise! I never attempted double entrees, I might have to do that next time....

Aww... what did the elephant do to anybody? (Side note: are those little chocolates for his eyes?)

Thanks for posting the menus to everything, even if they make me hungry. That sundae looks SO good... That's a wonderful picture of you and Kevin, too!

Yes! Two Sleepy chocolates for turn down service every night! We should have told Okta we don't eat chocolate, as we had quite the collection by the end of the night.

I'm getting hungry just re-looking at the menus! There's a "Pics of DCL Food" thread on the Cruise boards that just makes me drool.....

 

[Amanda132]

Next time we're on the Dream/Fantasy I want to have lunch at Enchanted Garden, just to see how it compares - I've been trying to figure out which restaurant I would skip for Palo/Remy, and it still wouldn't be EG I don't think, thanks to that FANTASTIC fish!

We skip the pirate night menu to go to Palo/Remy. Once you've seen/eaten the pirate night menu one time, you've seen/eaten it every time. I'm pretty sure it's the same exact menu on each ship, and it's my least favorite menu. Plus you can plan for it in advance, since the DCL planning site tells you what day the pirate night is, so you don't have to try to guess your dining rotation when you book.

 

[elphie101]

We skip the pirate night menu to go to Palo/Remy. Once you've seen/eaten the pirate night menu one time, you've seen/eaten it every time. I'm pretty sure it's the same exact menu on each ship, and it's my least favorite menu. Plus you can plan for it in advance, since the DCL planning site tells you what day the pirate night is, so you don't have to try to guess your dining rotation when you book.

It's funny you should say that, since we actually really enjoyed the Pirate Night menu! I was planning on mentioning that once I got to pirate night hahaha. If we're on another 7-nighter again, we'll definitely be skipping the Prince & Princess menu (on night 5), but since our next cruise will almost definitely be a 3/4 nighter on the Dream just because of finances I'm not sure what we'll do! Decisions decisions......

 

[Amanda132]

It's funny you should say that, since we actually really enjoyed the Pirate Night menu! I was planning on mentioning that once I got to pirate night hahaha. If we're on another 7-nighter again, we'll definitely be skipping the Prince & Princess menu (on night 5), but since our next cruise will almost definitely be a 3/4 nighter on the Dream just because of finances I'm not sure what we'll do! Decisions decisions......

Haha, to each their own! I don't think I've ever tried the Prince and Princess menu, since my last few cruises were 4/5 nights, so I'll have to judge when we go on the Fantasy in December.

I believe the main three menus are the same on the Dream as the Fantasy, so at least if you choose to skip one for a specialty restaurant, you'll have already tried it once!