So once our munchies had been eaten, it was getting close to 6 pm so we headed back to our cabin to change for the show.
The first night’s show isn’t our favourite and we actually skipped it last time. Heath Hyche was the main entertainment this cruise though so we were curious to see what he was all about.
Apparently we aren’t as experienced at cruising as we thought because we forgot where to go and ended up at the Buena Vista Theatre first, then had to scramble to find the Walt Disney Theatre!! We took the scenic route around deck 5 before realizing we should be on deck 4 (or was it the other way around?)...We got to the theatre with about five minutes to spare but were still able to find four seats together. The show was ok, although really once was definitely enough. Heath Hyche was fantastic though - his Love Boat bit had me dying, maybe because I remember the show so well!
After the show, Dh went back to cabin to change and girls and I prowled around and ended up in to the very busy gift shop. We bought some pins and a trick/treat bag to use for a FE because as we had been unpacking our suitcases earlier, I suddenly realized that I forgot to pack our Fish Extender!! Remember, the alternate name of this cruise is 'the things mommy forgot cruise' ... Our poor sad, woebegone fish extender - still hanging on our bedroom door hook. I remember thinking at one point leading up to our departure 'oh, I should move that or I'll forget to take it'. I really should listen to myself sometimes.
In the end, even the Trick or Treat bag ended up being too wide to use so we just put out our Pirates of the Caribbean bag that we used to hold our pirate jewelry.
I was very disappointed in the pin selection this cruise. They still had a bunch of Alaska pins and nothing specific to Mexico or the Baja. We are not hardcore collectors or anything but I like to get a pin with the year on it as a souvenir but there was nothing. It kind of felt like they were just trying to clear out the leftovers.
Our first night's dinner was in Animator's Palate, so of course we dressed in black and white clothes. We loitered in the atrium as I wanted to get family photos taken with the white background (I say that every cruise and every cruise we don't get them). We stood in line for a bit, but it was clear we wouldn't have time to get photos before dinner so left for AP.
Does anyone else want to grab a box of felt markers and just go nuts in this dining room?
Our table was set up for 8 people so we took four seats on one side. There were two kids menus and cups for Caleb and Owen already set out (damn...boys!) then suddenly the assistant server swept away those glasses and one for Gabrielle (another girl! yay!) appeared.
But it was all for naught as no family ever showed up so we ended up with the table all to ourselves. Rejected before they'd even met us. That's a new record.
Our assistant server was Istvan from Hungary and our server was Bugas, from Indonesia. We had had a bet on before the cruise to see who could correctly guess which countries our servers would be from. K had guessed Hungary and Dh had said Indonesia so not sure who won, other than it wasn’t V or I. Both of them were fantastic, although Istvan had a small obsession with pepper.
V & K were ecstatic when the bread arrived and pigged out. Dh ordered the truffle pursettes and I had the smoked salmon tartar. I tried some of the pursettes, much to his dismay. I will definitely order one or three or ten of those next time! We had also ordered the 4 night premium wine package before dinner so enjoyed a Crema pinot noir.
As it was a five night cruise, this was the show night in AP. It seemed shorter than I remember, but it could just be that I was so tired and felt like I'd hit a wall! I think a lot of families ended up not being able to get first sitting as there were many tables that remained empty after the first night. The kids at the table next to us fell asleep half way through dinner and I don’t think we saw that family in the dining rooms again.
After dinner, Bugas entertained the girls (and us) with some brainteasers, although we were so tired I don’t think we offered much challenge for him.
My favourite decadent cruise vacation dessert: ice cream sundae!
Both of the girls were determined to make the arcade night at midnight so they were keen to go back to the cabin to 'rest' for a bit. Yeah, I seem to remember this from the last cruise and how a ‘rest’ turned into a solid nine hour snooze!
The girls lay on their bunks and watched Little Mermaid and Wall-E, trying to stay awake. We were kind of hoping they would fall asleep because we were so tempted to snuggle into those soft comfy pillows and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz……….