Fantasy Eastern March 22 - 29 2014: Where's Waldo? (Well...Nick...) updated 4/18/14

[DisneyZell]

Finally...after a long time planning it is time to board the ship! Note that I didn't make you wait months to take you onto the ship like...ahem...some of those OTHER TR writers. Even though they love to harass me...I do ultimately get done and although I leave you hanging...I DO typically finish a day.

But I digress. We had to get up a little early because we had to make the drive out to the port...and if you have read my other TR's you know that we always try to upgrade. (What? You didn't know that? Do I need to say it? Why are you here when you don't have all the glorious background on me. I mean...those TR's are done. This one might not get done for months. Years even! Go read it. I'll wait. Really. I will. Go ahead. hum...de..dum...yeah...still waiting here. Oh heck with it, I'll move on. you can catch up).

DW, while getting ready, realized that she forgot our Fish Extender. She was not pleased with herself. I had the general observation that she had remembered everything else, including the entire SUITCASE full of FE gifts....so she gets a bye for that one. See the kind of cute, forgiving husband that I am? I know! And SHE gets to live with me! Lucky lady!

So we hit Mcd's for breakfast (We need to make sure that we weren't going to go hungry...as it will be hard to find food on the ship.

After Mcd's we went to Walmart for two very important thing. 1. Some sort of FE, and a smelly thingy. Which is a term I coined a few TR's ago. Yes I'm sure that there is a better word for it...or even a name brand. But it's that thing that you put on the counter and lift higher when you need more smell. The toilet portion of the bathrooms has a tendency to get a little gamey...so it's nice to have some nice scents in there. However we picked Vanilla, and according to our 15 year old vanilla and certain bodily functions do NOT combine well. So there you go. TMI, I know, but I want to give you the opportunity to choose a different scent. Again...yes...she gets to live with me!

So into Walmart we go...and after digging around we land on some canvas bags, fabric markers and some ribbon. Who says you have to plan ahead for FE? Now that I know this I will not allow DW to plan ahead in this area. Less for us to pack and haul across the country!

From there we hauled our way out to the port...

DW driving. Yup...I make her drive. Lets me play Clash of Clans. Good times.

Senor grumpy in the back seat. Actually he wasn't grumpy. But he is Connor. That's our answer for any question related to him.

DS15...pay attention you won't see a lot of him. Fleeting images. Foreshadowing. Well not really since I've been talking about it

A really bad Selfie. Not sure why I didn't retake it. But I am Drew. Huh...works for me too.


After driving for a while...we made the turns...and there she is...

Our home for the next 7 days!!!

Woohoo!

We got to the port around 10am...I dropped the luggage and the other three off so that DW could get us checked in and get in line to find out about getting us the upgrade. Yeah...I'm ever hopeful.

We rented from National which used to mean that you had to take a taxi from the car rental place. National and Enterprise merged into one location...and now has a shuttle so you can add it to the list of rental car places to your list. I'm a fan of National because you get to pick your own car which I always like.

On the way to drop the car off I stopped to get gas...and across from the gas station was the most expensive chicken McNuggets ever.

Wow! Look closely at the sign....

Dropping off the car was really easy, the people were super nice and they held the shuttle for me...so that was nice. I definitely recommend National....as it is easier at the airport than Budget is in my opinion. But for any of the rental car places make sure you sign up for the frequent renter program. Most of the times if you do that you get to skip the line...which at the Orlando airport can be a nightmare (again see one of my past TR's).

DW and the boys got in around 10:30 and when she got there she went to the first timers line because it was, ironically, shorter than the Castaway Club line. She checked in and got boarding group #2! Nice!

Yup...we are the bomb. or something.

After she checked in she went over to the supervisors line while the boys sat down to wait.

Meanwhile I arrived, chatting with a nice family on the shuttle..and we all waited in line to get into the terminal. That went pretty quickly and I was able to join DW in line for the supervisor. My fingers, toes, and hair were all crossed...I was hoping that there would be a verandah....that's what I love. Sea wind in my hair...etc...etc....

The line took FOREVER to move! But finally we were up there. The first Verandah we were offered was on the 8th deck (same as our current room), and was around $800. We hemmed and hawed (I don't even know how to spell that!), and the CM came back with another one on the 10th floor for $385. Score! Difference was the one on the 8th floor was a family Verandah. So we switched from a 8C - Deluxe Family Oceanview (love how they add Deluxe. That makes it special. If it was just FAMILY OCEANVIEW that wouldn't be that great. But Deluxe? You kidding me? that's fabulous! But I digress) to a 5A - Deluxe (yup...I said it again...Deluxe!!!) Verandah.

By this time Connor had come running up because they had started boarding...so he was nervous and wanted to get on immediately. But I figure the Verandah is worth it. By the time we boarded it was about 11:40am (which seemed early by the way), and we were boarding with group #5.

Trying to add the video of us walking onto the ship...hopefully it works! Ok...looks like it does. click it and it will take you to photo bucket and play it.

We went straight up to the pool deck (Deck 11) and grabbed a table for us to hang out. The kids immediately went and changed into their swimming suits and get in line for the Aquaduck. Connor gets to ride the Aquaduck by himself this time...and he was very excited about it! Good times all around! Now it was time to relax.

 

[DisneyZell]

I ventured into Cabanas to get some lunch...got the required pile of shrimp, among a few other things. None of it was overwhelming. Eventually I made my way over and got a bratwurst...that was pretty good. I guess I throw this out now...Disney is just not known for it's food. The service is out of this world...but the food is just ok. It's NOT bad by any stretch of the imagination...but generally it won't blow you away so be prepared for that. There is a lot of it..and it is available most of the times (some of the times it is not is frustrating), but there it is. Just go expecting ok food...and unbelievable service and you will be happy.

Food porn. I did a little food porn on this trip. But I kept forgetting as I don't normally take pictures of food! I do say stay away from the crab claws. A lot of work...and NOT a lot of flavor. The shrimp, however, are good.

DW spent her time doing two things...1. writing in the beloved journal (Which as I think I have said, I thank God for...because I could never do what I do with my short term memory!!!), and 2. building new Fish Extenders! She did a great job in a short time...back to why she doesn't get to do them in advance anymore!

Across from us was the Carnival Dream. Those poor people. Ha! just kidding. Sort of.

The only other thing I did was find the sports simulators. I had heard that on said away day they let you test it out for free...I thought that would be cool. I had never done that. Unfortunately what I had heard was not correct. Sad.

Shortly before our room was supposed to be ready we decided to go check out the clubs that the kids would go into. We first headed to the Edge and got Connor all signed up. We had been here before and not a lot had changed. Cool kids space.

After that we headed to the Vibe which is the teen club onboard. They made use of the space that used to be the crew pool (that apparently never got used). This place was awesome. The teenagers even got new keys to the world that were orange and said Vibe across it. It was definitely all about making them feel like they were the kings for the week. It worked. Nick even talked to a few people including a couple of girls so that was promising. I know, I know...I encourage and then whine. it's what I do.

The pool deck at the Vibe. They had their own hot-tub looking things....though apparently not hot tubs...they were cold. Weird.

Lounge chairs all around the deck. These were really comfortable. And of course the only time we were allowed in here.

After we were done it was time to go down to our room. Our cabin was 10644. there was no luggage, but we figured that was just because we switched rooms.

Shot from the door...

Shot of Nick and DW on the balcony. The only thing I didn't like about the balcony is that because we were below deck 11 it hung out way over above our heads...

At 3:00 it was time for our Disboards meet. Now I was torn because I wanted to go tour the spa and try to win some free spa services. So we figured we would hit the Disboards meet for a bit and then head to the spa. We got there and met everyone (big group!), and Mike had ordered yellow silicone bracelets for everyone which we got (Thanks Mike! ). We talked to a few of the Disers...which is always fun...putting faces to nicknames. Or at least for DW. I wasn't actively involved in the board. Dw does that better than me.

Then we dashed up to the Spa, but unfortunately we were too late and they were already doing the drawing. Oh well...no free spa services for me!

We headed back to see if our luggage came...and stopped by our old room to check there (just two floors down). We saw the room steward we would have had and one of our pieces of luggage. He was nice and gave us our Castaway Club gift, dining room tickets and excursion tickets and we grabbed the bag and took it up to our room. This was the first time we had issues with luggage when changing rooms. We ended up going down and grabbing everything vs. our room steward bringing it and transferring it. Not sure if that is due to the bigger size of the ship or what. Kind of annoying...you do pay more...so they should shift our luggage! And they knew we moved. It is what it is...and certainly it was not the end of the world...just a bit frustrating and not very Disney-like.

Then it was time for the safety drill again. We were in the Tube so it wasn't too bad...though it is very boring. Normally we are the people there very early waiting for everyone else to arrive and being annoyed at people taking so long. This time we didn't go late...but we didn't go early...so the whole thing was faster..and no more getting annoyed at the late people! We checked in and settled in for the usual spiel.

DW and Nick hanging out waiting for the time to pass!

Connor, of course, found a chair to hang out in. Very typical!

When we got back we grabbed the last of our luggage from 2 floors down including the FE suitcase. We had time before dinner so we set to work assembling our FE gifts which were a plastic bowl decorated with Mickey heads(by hand mind you...and some of them even by me), a spoon decorated with a Mickey head (also by hand...I wasn't involved in that one!), and some things to put into ice cream (like oreos and M&M's). She had also done a luggage tag (with a picture of the ship and each persons name (as in one for each person) as well as a mouse pad with a picture of the ship. She did a great job.

We finished right before heading down for dinner. Tonight we were in Animators. That was good. What was unfortunate is that we ended up in the middle of the dining room so we did not get to interact with Crush. But it was fun to watch him do his thing...and to see the various things they do in the room. The experience is very cool. And the silverware and plates are awesome.

The plates were my favorite.

Even the table numbers are cool

Some food porn..I had the steak which was pretty good.

DW had the make your own tart. At least I think it was a tart. She will correct me I'm sure.

Our server was Jiri from the Czech Republic and our assistant server Marquette from Jamaica. I'll just deal with this right now vs. waiting until later when we knew. I have said in many TR's that your serving team cannot ruin your vacation. They can, however, accentuate the vacation and make it really, really terrific. This was a team that would not do that sadly.

As with the food...they were ok. Not great. Marquette was the nicer of the two and seemed to care about us the most between the two. But even by the end of the cruise I don't think we ever had our drinks waiting for us. She did do that at one of her other tables...so I don't understand why. And we did not change our order...we were very consistent. I just can't explain it.

Jiri...just didn't do much for me. I like to have the server pick my meals for me as I'm adventurous. Most of the servers I have engaged to do this took it on as a challenge and seemed to enjoy it. Jiri seemed very put off and confused by this. I've had servers where I didn't order 90% of the time...not the case. I let him pick once and he was so put off by it I didn't ask him to do that again.

He also didn't do any interaction with the kids. He did check in on how things were going after a few days. We told him that Connor really, really likes magic tricks. The next night he did a magic trick for one of his other tables...but never for us. The funniest thing (or sad depending on your perspective) was when he was talking with us and his favorite table showed up (he really liked those people). He stopped mid sentence and went over to talk to them. It was very strange.

Again...can't ruin the experience but didn't make it better. Anyhoooo...moving on.

After dinner Connor and Nick headed for their clubs. Dw and I delivered FE gifts. OH! I forgot..also included was a red tote bag with a Mickey Head on it and Fantasy in the font that they use for the ship. DW put a ton of time into those...sorry for forgetting to bring those up DW!!!

We decided to head down to see the welcome aboard show. I'll be honest, I wasn't going to go, but then I didn't want DW to have to go on her own. We sat in the balcony first row...which would have been cool but they have a safety bar at a really bad height...so you either have to lean forward and block the people behind you...or you have a bar across everything you see. Bad design in my opinion! Plexiglass would have served the same purpose and not blocked the stage.

DW and I waiting for the show to start

The show was new from what we had seen...so that was cool. I figured out would be the same old stuff. Would I go again? Doubt it.

So now I'm sounding really negative. I'm sorry about that....at this point I'm Really, REALLY happy to be there and relaxing. Shows just don't do it for me...so it is what it is.

After that we went up to walk around the deck. We tried deck 12 and about got blown overboard...so we dropped down a deck and cruised deck 11. Just great to be on vacation and back on a Disney Cruise!!!

We headed back to the room to go to bed...and had this waiting...

Nice Lobster!

Connor showed up around 11pm, but headed back out at Midnight because the Edge was getting free time in the arcade. He made it back about 12:30 when he got bored...

both boys had been told to be back in the room 1/2 hour after the clubs closed...Connor made it...

Nick's club closed at 1pm. Would he make it? Would we have to send out a search party? Would I have to wake up?

Answer to these questions and more in:

Chapter 3: *snnoooooorrrr* huh? What? where?

Until then...enjoy..and take that Tokyodisneydad!

DZ

 

[tokyodisneydad]

I have to give you two thumbs up for that update.
Really nicely done. Sadly my server experience this time was very similiar.
How many rooms in your FE group this time?

 

[pepe3penelope]

Following along!

 

[dededisney]

I have to give you two thumbs up for that update.
Really nicely done. Sadly my server experience this time was very similiar.
How many rooms in your FE group this time?

The server thing was too bad, also, we figured we would be sitting with another family since there were only four of us...not so much. We had a table for just us. Next time we know to request a bigger table. It seems like on the Fantasy (and probably the Dream too), that there were so many more tables for four than bigger tables. We were looking forward to meeting another family, but it didn't happen. Oh well, now we know. For our FE, we had 21 cabins in our group, and there ended up being four groups and then a last minute 5th group with a few cabins.

 

[dededisney]

Oh, and everyone, don't get too excited that Drew posted an update...you probably won't see one for another week since he left again today for another week away and I see my journal sitting in the kitchen! I just don't want anyone getting their hopes up that another update will be posted soon...and Drew, you don't have to flame me b/c you know it is true

 

[SacCruiser]

Joining in, great report so far, and liked your other ones too.

We went to Universal after our cruise and found it kind of disappointing. We just kept seeing things that would make us say, "You know if this was Disney then this ting would be moving, or talking". Just seemed like they missed a few opportunities to bring you into the fun, especially in the Harry Potter areas. They could have done so much more. We still had fun, just missing something, that's all.

 

[dededisney]

Joining in, great report so far, and liked your other ones too.

We went to Universal after our cruise and found it kind of disappointing. We just kept seeing things that would make us say, "You know if this was Disney then this ting would be moving, or talking". Just seemed like they missed a few opportunities to bring you into the fun, especially in the Harry Potter areas. They could have done so much more. We still had fun, just missing something, that's all.

I agree with you completely. We had fun, but could not spend a week there...heck we didn't even spend a whole day at Islands of Adventure. Of course we were all tired from traveling all night, but I don't think it would have made that much of a difference to us. We didn't have the park to park ticket, so maybe if we had that, it would have been better.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

It sounds like you had a fabulous start to your vacation. Score for the upgrade. Sorry the servers weren't the best.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Caught up! I've been following tokyodisneydad & I'm glad I have another TR to follow!

Too bad about your MDR servers. We really liked our last team. I love getting to know them, seeing how they interact with us adults, how they treat the kids, & always loved how the drinks magically wait at the table. Sorry that wasn't the case for you.

Congrats on scoring that port upgrade. We are planning (hoping) to upgrade at the port. Secretly wonder and worry how the luggage gets to the new cabin. Also how did you let the FE groups know of your cabin changes? Figure not everyone can make it to the DISmeet.

Look forward to reading your other TR's until you update again!

 

[DisneyZell]

I have to give you two thumbs up for that update.
Really nicely done. Sadly my server experience this time was very similiar.
How many rooms in your FE group this time?

Thank you, thank you. Ready to concede yet???

Following along!

Welcome aboard!!!

Oh, and everyone, don't get too excited that Drew posted an update...you probably won't see one for another week since he left again today for another week away and I see my journal sitting in the kitchen! I just don't want anyone getting their hopes up that another update will be posted soon...and Drew, you don't have to flame me b/c you know it is true

ahem. That is not support. Where is the support??? My good readers, you need a week to truely digest what I have written...so by the time you have re-read the amount of times you should to truely grasp everything that I wrote there will be another episode up. Actually I just couldn't fit another thing in my backpack...Dw didn't believe me when I told her that either...but if you saw my backpack you would get it!

Joining in, great report so far, and liked your other ones too.

We went to Universal after our cruise and found it kind of disappointing. We just kept seeing things that would make us say, "You know if this was Disney then this ting would be moving, or talking". Just seemed like they missed a few opportunities to bring you into the fun, especially in the Harry Potter areas. They could have done so much more. We still had fun, just missing something, that's all.

We have always found ourselves doing that. the first time was when we were in California...we did Disney one day and then Sea World the next. Sea World was gross in comparison...just the little things, you know?

It sounds like you had a fabulous start to your vacation. Score for the upgrade. Sorry the servers weren't the best.

Thank you! no worries on the servers...again they can make the vacation...but they can't detract from it!

Caught up! I've been following tokyodisneydad & I'm glad I have another TR to follow!

Too bad about your MDR servers. We really liked our last team. I love getting to know them, seeing how they interact with us adults, how they treat the kids, & always loved how the drinks magically wait at the table. Sorry that wasn't the case for you.

Congrats on scoring that port upgrade. We are planning (hoping) to upgrade at the port. Secretly wonder and worry how the luggage gets to the new cabin. Also how did you let the FE groups know of your cabin changes? Figure not everyone can make it to the DISmeet.

Look forward to reading your other TR's until you update again!

Well I'm glad you have this one to look at along with Tokyodisneydad....who will henceforth be known as TDD because I'm tired of typing it all out. You can note that I do full days. ha!

Good luck on the port upgrade! Hope you get it. usually they will change the luggage without problem. but if you don't...go check your old cabin. Worked for us. fortunately people seem to not touch luggage that doesn't belong to them.

for the FE groups..usually there is one person who will have the list on their door with the room changes on it. At least that is how it has worked for us! Again good luck...and have fun!

Thanks to everyone for your comments...let me know if you have any other questions.

DZ

 

[dededisney]

Congrats on scoring that port upgrade. We are planning (hoping) to upgrade at the port. Secretly wonder and worry how the luggage gets to the new cabin. Also how did you let the FE groups know of your cabin changes? Figure not everyone can make it to the DISmeet.

Look forward to reading your other TR's until you update again!

Along with the list on one the participant's door, I made cards that said we had moved cabins with the new cabin number on it. I delivered my gifts the first night, so I put that in the fish/seahorse clip.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Thank you, thank you. Ready to concede yet???

Welcome aboard!!!

ahem. That is not support. Where is the support??? My good readers, you need a week to truely digest what I have written...so by the time you have re-read the amount of times you should to truely grasp everything that I wrote there will be another episode up. Actually I just couldn't fit another thing in my backpack...Dw didn't believe me when I told her that either...but if you saw my backpack you would get it!



We have always found ourselves doing that. the first time was when we were in California...we did Disney one day and then Sea World the next. Sea World was gross in comparison...just the little things, you know?

Thank you! no worries on the servers...again they can make the vacation...but they can't detract from it!



Well I'm glad you have this one to look at along with Tokyodisneydad....who will henceforth be known as TDD because I'm tired of typing it all out. You can note that I do full days. ha!

Good luck on the port upgrade! Hope you get it. usually they will change the luggage without problem. but if you don't...go check your old cabin. Worked for us. fortunately people seem to not touch luggage that doesn't belong to them.

for the FE groups..usually there is one person who will have the list on their door with the room changes on it. At least that is how it has worked for us! Again good luck...and have fun!

Thanks to everyone for your comments...let me know if you have any other questions.

DZ

The only thing I will concede is that you do indeed give full days. I on the other hand give little tidbits to savor. I compare it to nibbling cheese with a fine wine versus eating a whole meal so fast that you get gas.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Along with the list on one the participant's door, I made cards that said we had moved cabins with the new cabin number on it. I delivered my gifts the first night, so I put that in the fish/seahorse clip.

That is an excellent idea and suggestion. I definitely know who thought of that... A fellow Capricorn of course.

 

[dededisney]

That is an excellent idea and suggestion. I definitely know who thought of that... A fellow Capricorn of course.

Of course! We have to stick together.

 

[Purplejewel]

HI! I am really enjoying reading your Trip Report. Sad to hear the next update won't be for another week or so because I will be on the Disney Magic for a 4-Day Bahama Cruise on Monday (Surprise for my four daughters who will not be told about the cruise until the day before we leave) and I will probably miss the next update. Oh well, something great to look forward to when I return. You are an excellent writer and you sure know how to make your personality come through as well as keeping readers entertained. After reading you trip report style, I almost feel like I know you. I have not done a Trip Report yet, but you may have inspired me to try.

 

[DisneyZell]

HI! I am really enjoying reading your Trip Report. Sad to hear the next update won't be for another week or so because I will be on the Disney Magic for a 4-Day Bahama Cruise on Monday (Surprise for my four daughters who will not be told about the cruise until the day before we leave) and I will probably miss the next update. Oh well, something great to look forward to when I return. You are an excellent writer and you sure know how to make your personality come through as well as keeping readers entertained. After reading you trip report style, I almost feel like I know you. I have not done a Trip Report yet, but you may have inspired me to try.

Welcome aboard, and thank you very much for the kind words! I really appreciate it.

Sounds like you have a terrific cruise coming up...I'm looking forward, at some point to getting on the Magic and trying the aquadunk!

Have a great cruise...and you just never know if I might get an update in sooner!

DZ

 

[DisneyZell]

Look at this...not even a week has gone by and I'm back. Uh-huh...you are welcome.

So when we last left you I was sleeping. Really soundly. Connor was back in the room..Nick was not. Nick was supposed to arrive 1/2 hour after the club closed...which would mean 1:30am. I rarely, if ever, see the words AM and a low single digit. At least not by choice.

DW didn't sleep while Nick was out...so about 1:50 she (apparently because again I was sleeping quite well) went out to try to find him. She checked out by the pool and some other places with no luck. Guess what that means? I'm sure you guessed from my reference that I was sleeping quite well. If you didn't figure this out...well you are likely in trouble for the rest of this TR!

So DW came in and woke me up concerned that she couldn't find him. I, of course, was of the mind that he would eventually make it back...I mean where can he go? But of course there is that small chance of going overboard or something...so that did get my rear end out of the bed. So I got up, got dressed and went looking. I went up through Cabanas where I saw a roving group of teenagers...they just looked like trouble. Nick wasn't with them. I was glad...that is the type of group that is going to end up getting in trouble I think. I walk the pool deck...still no Nick.

That's when I remembered someone on past TR's (see, there *is* some value to these things) had gone to guest services and they were able to look at the cameras and find where the kid was. So I wandered down to Guest Services.

Funny side note...stuff is happening on the ship all the time. So while there were very few people out and about in the middle of the night...the ship was being power washed, cleaned...everything. It's a friggin 24/7 shop to keep that think ship shape. Pretty impressive. But I digress.

The CM working guest service was very nice. I'm guessing he heard this story a lot. Told him we were missing our teenager and could they look at the cameras and figure out where he is. He said they can't do that but they can send security out to look for him if I give his name and a description.

Now at this point I'm thinking I could embarrass the crap out of him by sending security (picturing a big group of teenagers somewhere on the ship and security walking in and saying "Nick Zell? Is there a Nick Zell here? Your Mommy and Daddy want you back in your stateroom!". Huh...given that I'm tired and cranky not a bad idea.

However my cooler head prevailed...I decided not to go there just yet and instead asked if he knew where the teenagers tend to hang out. He said the D Lounge. I told him not to call out the dogs just yet and headed up there. When I walked up to it...there he was going into the D Lounge. I yelled at him and told him to come on...called DW on the wave phone and headed back to the room. I had a few words with him...and of course he felt he had done no wrong. He *is* a teenager.

When we got back to the room we laid down the law that he absolutely had to be back in the room 30 minutes after the club closed. Of course there were a lot of parents that let their teenagers stay out all night long and he was disturbed that we wouldn't let him. We tried to explain that there had been issues on other ships and teens that had been banned for life for doing stupid things. His reaction? The people I hang out with won't do that. So I gently pointed out....what if you are out on deck 12...and one of the people you are with decides to chuck a lounge chair over the railing. It would happen instantly and would be seen on camera...and you would be seen with them. Now you are in trouble...having done nothing.

Essentially nothing good happens after 2am. Nothing. So that got all settled.

This was a quick picture-free episode....but the next one coming right up.

Next up: Chapter 4: Our first day at sea!

DZ

 

[DisneyZell]

After that episode everyone slept in...including DW which never happens. We had planned to have brunch at Palo...one of our favorite things...so we did not need to go up for breakfast. I slept to about 9:30, DW got up at some point and read her book on the balcony. This is one of the main reasons we try to upgrade to a balcony...DW typically gets up before the rest of us. While I realize she could go up on deck and read...if she does that she would have to get dressed to get up there. So really...the balcony is all about DW and my taking care of her. See what I did there??

Anyhooo...We headed out to Brunch...Connor headed up to Cabanas...and Nick slept. This became a pattern (well not the brunch thing...but Nick sleeping...we would see his sleeping form...and not see him again until dinner. More on that later).

We got up to Palo...had to wait a few minutes in the bar...and then Marco from Chile came to get us. He was terrific and did a really nice job. Here is some food porn:

Blue cheese and grape pizza. Sounds gross...but is one of the best things Palo has to offer at brunch!

Eggs Julia maybe? Not sure the right name...but it is eggs benedict with smoked salmon instead of canadian bacon. yum! I ate my weight in smoked salmon on this cruise. Some people go for a ton of shrimp....I go for a ton of smoked salmon. every morning along with my bacon dipped in syrup!

This was fabulous. Fried mozzarella. The coating was so light and crispy...it was awesome. We had two of these.

Lasagna. Marco really recommended this. It was good...but came late in the meal and we were already pretty full.

Some deserts...tirimisu which is one of my favorites...and then a mango version of the same thing which was fabulous. I had not had that before and loved it.

Here we are! It turned out a bit dark but cool to see the ocean in the background.

all-in-all we love brunch. I can honestly say that if I had to choose between dinner at Palo and brunch we would choose brunch every time. We did really enjoy Marco so we actually asked about doing dinner on Pirate Night (we don't really like the menus in the dining room on Pirate Night). There were no openings but they put us on the weight list.

I can say...go to brunch. Do it. Worth the extra money and the food is just fabulous. Just stay away from the things you can get elsewhere...like shrimp and the crab claws (the crab claws are the same as the buffet which just aren't that great). The cheeses they have are incredible...and just lots of really great stuff. Don't forget the blue cheese and grape pizza!

After brunch we headed back to the room. Nick was gone (again...pattern), and Connor was hanging out. We quickly changed and headed up to play some mini-golf. This course is pretty neat...they have a big kid and little kid path to each of the holes (Goofy shoes mark where the older people plan and Max shoes mark where the younger ones do)...and one at least one of the holes the big kids (that would be us) had to turn one foot the wrong way and still shoot. This was painful. Getting old sucks.

and here is the one with funny feet. I couldn't even get mine all the way around!

DW shooting

And Connor.

Oh....here is Nick shooting golf with us....oh wait. He wasn't there.

Needless to say Connor beat us both. Which if I was competitive I would be mad about. Good thing I'm not. Or something.

our scorecard. . I lost. Man on man.

After that we went down to play some shuffleboard. We had to wait 10 minutes or so, but then we got to play. Here I am...yup they call me an expert.

Here is DW...with Connor Photo bombing in the background

And Connor too!

Connor and I between games

And Connor with DW!

I believe I was the big whiner. er...winner. Cause I rock at Shuffleboard. Actually Connor's big skill is knocking pucks off the scoring zone. He sends his puck down the way at about a million miles an hour. We reached a point where we had to have someone stand down there when he would shoot because either the one he would push would go off in different directions....or he would hit one and send it flying. We almost took out several joggers, and did take out someone else playing shuffleboard (well..didn't take them out but came really close and freaked them out). So we learned to just place one of us down there to try to cut down on the danger. At least the danger to other people.

After we were done we hit the stores so Connor could do some pin trading. Did you guys know you could pin trade on the ship? Pretty cool...the kids like it and the CM's seem to have some cool pins. They also do trading with the officers several times which is pretty neat. But of course the kids don't really understand that it is pretty cool...they just want to see the pins. It could be trading with the maintenance guys and the kids would be happy.

 

[DisneyZell]

It was around lunchtime..we weren't really hungry but Connor was so we grabbed some food upstairs to bring to our room. Unfortunately it was still being cleaned so we hung out by the stairs until she was done.

I don't think I showed you before what our new last minute FE's looked like...she did a great job, right? Like I said...no reason to do this in advance anymore!

I failed and did not do any new magnets for our door. So the ones we had were ones from past cruises. Good thing I was good at making them before...so they were still cool. or at least do I thought.

Once our room steward was done we went in. Connor picked out a movie to watch (There are a TON of movies on-demand which was really cool. One of the things I liked was that they had a whole pixar section...which had many of the pixar shorts. Definitely take time to watch these. They are almost all very entertaining....some of the characters you know...and many that you don't. There is a snowman one that is hilarious!). So we just hung out and relaxed...which is another reason I love sea days!

Nick finally showed up around 4:30...so that was the first time we saw him that day. It was formal night...and we all got dressed. Then Nick wanted to go do a scavenger hunt from 4:30 - 5:30 so we told him to meet us in the lobby for pictures.

He headed out and we headed to the lobby. on formal night they have free drinks. This night it was beer (a lager, they didn't say which one), and a froo-froo drink that DW liked a lot. There were various places for pictures in the lobby and we decided to take some with Connor. We walked over to one only to find out it was going to be the captain. So we decided to wait and were the first in line. Our captain was Marco...and he actually took time to talk with us. He wasn't stuffy at all (like pretty much every other captain had been), and it was an enjoyable experience. For some reason I did not get a picture of this...so don't have it. But it was cool. Connor entertained himself with his iPod. Thank god for electronics...heaven forbid he not be entertained every second of every day!

Finally Nick showed up while we were in line to take a picture with the statue of Minnie. So we actually got some pictures with him!

The boys in the lobby

DW and Nick in front of the elevators

and me and Nick. Obviously we took advantage of him being with us when he was.

Back to back in front of one of the backdrops

Dinner was in the Enchanted Garden. I have to say...we were on the Dream a few years ago and the ceiling in the Enchanted Garden seemed really, really low. Not the case here. Not sure if they changed the plans and somehow raised it a bit or what...but I remember feeling squished on the Dream but not here. So that was cool. This is a neat restaurant that gives you the feeling of being outside. The lighting changes subtly throughout the meal too...I like this one a lot. We all had cream of asparagus soup (great stuff...while many of the food options onboard are just ok...the soups, in general...are very good and I recommend them highly!), and sea scallops. Jiri, our server, actually asked us if we liked chocolate...we all said yes. He brought us a chocolate cake for desert...but it wasn't really all that great. So maybe the fact that I wasn't having him pick for me was a good thing!

me and Nick at Dinner

Not sure what Connor is holding up...I think maybe fried cheese?

I love this picture of them

This was my appetizer and only food porn item of the day. It was a tuna tartar/avocado thing that was unbelievable. Highly recommended if you can handle raw tuna.

Nick headed back to the Vibe, and the other three of us went to change so we could go see Kevin Johnson and his puppets. We had seen him on a past cruise (possibly on our Panama Canal cruise....I can't remember for sure). His short show is hilarious. Longer one not so much. That held true here.

Disney started doing these in between shows...that were 1/2 hour long quick hit family thing that people from both seatings could go to and not miss their show. this was the short one and very worth it...very funny...though I think exactly the same show as the last time we saw him.

This is one thing I don't like about Disney. They seem to have their 5 variety acts that they call upon time and time again. Not sure if they have trouble finding others...or if these are cheap...or if they lock them into a long term contract...but seems like the more we go the more we see the same people. In some cases I don't mind...but it does get old...and you would think with Disney's clout they would be able to get a lot of variety. But I digress. Again.

One other thing about these in between shows...they hold them in the Tube...and if you are going to go...go early so you can get a seat. You can usually find a place to stand and they invite the kids up to sit on the floor (to clear room for the adults), but it does get crowded...so be prepared for that!

After we were done Connor headed to the Edge...DW went to see the Aladdin show. I didn't have any interest in that so I headed up to do the aqua duck and hang out in the adult pool. That was cool. there was no one there...I just kind of floated along relaxing and letting my mind wander. The only thing I did not like...I would have gone into the hot tub...but there were two guys in one (looked to be about 20), flirting with two girls (about the same age) that were in the other. One of those things where I could have plopped myself in there...and been uncomfortable. So I didn't. Kind of weird though...not sure why they couldn't have just been in one hot tub. I did end up going over to the family hot tubs and hanging there with a bunch of kids. I love the hot tubs...particularly when the bubbles are off because there is a window on the bottom and you can see all the way down to deck 4. Pretty cool. And pretty relaxing which is always good.

I headed back to the room. DW joined me shortly as well as Connor. Connor headed back out to play dodgeball at midnight. Him going in and out became an issue for me. I had to have a discussion with him..that after 11pm...if he comes back in...he is back in. The door to the hallway is NOT quiet!

Nick made it back about 2:15...so apparently he had learned his lesson. This time it was me who was still awake...so it was nice to hear him come in...and early. We don't need more drama on our vacation. Finally...off to sleep. :little angel:

Our swan for the night.

That's it for that day. I love sea days...they are just the most relaxing part of the vacation. No stress to get up and out onto the island or whatever. Good stuff!

Up next: Sea Day #2, and mixology!

Thanks everyone for reading along!

DZ