Cast: Me, TKD Lisa, 37, Planner
DH, Tim, 44, Along for the ride
DD, Kaylie, 10
DS, Casey 8 ½
Evening of Day 1, Key West, and Day at Sea
Evening of Day 1:
After we had all recovered from losing Kaylie, we went to the sail away party. For those of the DIS 5/11ers that I didnt get to talk to there, I apologize. I was still a little freaked out and wasnt terribly sociable! After that, we signed the kids into the clubs and got ready for dinner. We had the PLAPLAP rotation, which was what I expected with mid-range kids. We also had late seating. Late seating worked out fine for us. We usually got a snack for the kids at the pool in late afternoon or they ate with the kids club. Even when they ate with the lab, they sometimes came with us and just had dessert. Unfortunately, we really DONT like Parrot Cay. It seems to be really loud all the time. The first night, they had a live band playing island type music. While they were good, they made any sort of conversation impossible. We were also seated right outside the kitchen. I had a pretty substantial headache by this time, which wasnt any help. We ended up requesting a seating change, which Dale, the head server, worked pretty hard to accommodate. Basically, they put us in the table of the families who had Palo reservations whenever we were at Parrot Cay (which was 3 additional times, including the character breakfast). Even without being by the kitchen the restaurant was still very noisy, mostly from the engine noise. Our servers were Boris and Dennis. Boris was from Bulgaria, and had a little too much of that Russian Im in charge kind of attitude. He made recommendations for each night, and if you didnt pick one of his recommendations, he tended to say I told you so if you didnt like it (more on that tomorrow night). Dennis was great though! He did several magic tricks and played up to the kids a whole lot! We turned in shortly after dinner, since we were all pretty pooped!
Day 2, Key West:
We didnt dock until mid-day. The hairbraiding appointments were made in the morning for the remainder of the week. I got Kaylie an appointment for Monday at 4:00. Unfortunately, that was right in the middle of Flubber making time, so they missed out on that. But it was also right during the Deck 7 DIS meet time, so I left her with the hairbraiders and went to meet everyone during her braiding.
Anyway, we put the kids in the clubs and got some lunch before going aboard in Key West. At the buffet, we ended up sitting with TnRobin and her husband. Hi Robin! We had a nice discussion about the boards with the families at our table. Scott H and hygiene 99 were also nearby.
We did the Conch Train tour after walking around a bit on our own. The Conch Train was really nice. Our tour guide Jack was a bit of a character, but he kept the trip interesting. Thanks to Shirley for the recommendation. It was well worth it! We were pooped, so came back aboard ship, cleaned up and put the kids in the club for the night after getting them a bite to eat. Tim and I went to Lumieres alone that night. I knew from the boards that you could switch around the side items if you wanted, so I asked for the fish but wanted to try a different side dish than the spinach that came with it. Id always wanted to try Polenta, and they had a portobello polenta with one of the beef dishes. Boris gave me a really hard time about this. Are you sure you want to do this? How do you want it presented?, etc. I said that Id never tried polenta, but I like portobellos and that they could just plop some on the side. I really didnt care what it looked like. Anyway, when it came out, the polenta wasnt really very good, but it was okay. Boris literally said I told you so. And kept insisting I should try something else. I told him that I was FINE a bunch of times. I said that if I wanted something else Id ask for it! We kind of started laughing about it because he said thats what I like about you americans. Youre so polite. Youll say its fine even if you hate it, because you dont want to hurt my feelings. I do think that was the night that I had the to die for cheesecake that just melted in my mouth. It had carmelized sugar on top and a hazelnut crust on the bottom and was GREAT! After dinner, we picked up the kids and went to bed.
Day 3 At Sea:
The kids spent most of this day in the club or the pools. Kaylie got her hair braided, and Casey saw part of Harry Potter again. The wine tasting was already full by the time we checked, so we just kind of killed time. Days at sea didnt turn out to be very good for us, since we dont lay out by the pool much or use the spa. It was formal night, so we got cleaned up for dinner, then went to see Hercules. It was really great. The Muses in particular were very good! We came back to the cabin to dress and went down to the ventriloquist family show in Rockin Bar D. All 3 shows we show in Rockin Bar D were really entertaining. We all really enjoyed them! Formal night was in Animators Pallet, with the light show. It was really neat and the kids kept pointing out each thing that changed. Our seats in Lumieres and Animators Pallet were much better located! Once again, off to bed.
More to come!
DH, Tim, 44, Along for the ride
DD, Kaylie, 10
DS, Casey 8 ½
Evening of Day 1, Key West, and Day at Sea
Evening of Day 1:
After we had all recovered from losing Kaylie, we went to the sail away party. For those of the DIS 5/11ers that I didnt get to talk to there, I apologize. I was still a little freaked out and wasnt terribly sociable! After that, we signed the kids into the clubs and got ready for dinner. We had the PLAPLAP rotation, which was what I expected with mid-range kids. We also had late seating. Late seating worked out fine for us. We usually got a snack for the kids at the pool in late afternoon or they ate with the kids club. Even when they ate with the lab, they sometimes came with us and just had dessert. Unfortunately, we really DONT like Parrot Cay. It seems to be really loud all the time. The first night, they had a live band playing island type music. While they were good, they made any sort of conversation impossible. We were also seated right outside the kitchen. I had a pretty substantial headache by this time, which wasnt any help. We ended up requesting a seating change, which Dale, the head server, worked pretty hard to accommodate. Basically, they put us in the table of the families who had Palo reservations whenever we were at Parrot Cay (which was 3 additional times, including the character breakfast). Even without being by the kitchen the restaurant was still very noisy, mostly from the engine noise. Our servers were Boris and Dennis. Boris was from Bulgaria, and had a little too much of that Russian Im in charge kind of attitude. He made recommendations for each night, and if you didnt pick one of his recommendations, he tended to say I told you so if you didnt like it (more on that tomorrow night). Dennis was great though! He did several magic tricks and played up to the kids a whole lot! We turned in shortly after dinner, since we were all pretty pooped!
Day 2, Key West:
We didnt dock until mid-day. The hairbraiding appointments were made in the morning for the remainder of the week. I got Kaylie an appointment for Monday at 4:00. Unfortunately, that was right in the middle of Flubber making time, so they missed out on that. But it was also right during the Deck 7 DIS meet time, so I left her with the hairbraiders and went to meet everyone during her braiding.
Anyway, we put the kids in the clubs and got some lunch before going aboard in Key West. At the buffet, we ended up sitting with TnRobin and her husband. Hi Robin! We had a nice discussion about the boards with the families at our table. Scott H and hygiene 99 were also nearby.
We did the Conch Train tour after walking around a bit on our own. The Conch Train was really nice. Our tour guide Jack was a bit of a character, but he kept the trip interesting. Thanks to Shirley for the recommendation. It was well worth it! We were pooped, so came back aboard ship, cleaned up and put the kids in the club for the night after getting them a bite to eat. Tim and I went to Lumieres alone that night. I knew from the boards that you could switch around the side items if you wanted, so I asked for the fish but wanted to try a different side dish than the spinach that came with it. Id always wanted to try Polenta, and they had a portobello polenta with one of the beef dishes. Boris gave me a really hard time about this. Are you sure you want to do this? How do you want it presented?, etc. I said that Id never tried polenta, but I like portobellos and that they could just plop some on the side. I really didnt care what it looked like. Anyway, when it came out, the polenta wasnt really very good, but it was okay. Boris literally said I told you so. And kept insisting I should try something else. I told him that I was FINE a bunch of times. I said that if I wanted something else Id ask for it! We kind of started laughing about it because he said thats what I like about you americans. Youre so polite. Youll say its fine even if you hate it, because you dont want to hurt my feelings. I do think that was the night that I had the to die for cheesecake that just melted in my mouth. It had carmelized sugar on top and a hazelnut crust on the bottom and was GREAT! After dinner, we picked up the kids and went to bed.
Day 3 At Sea:
The kids spent most of this day in the club or the pools. Kaylie got her hair braided, and Casey saw part of Harry Potter again. The wine tasting was already full by the time we checked, so we just kind of killed time. Days at sea didnt turn out to be very good for us, since we dont lay out by the pool much or use the spa. It was formal night, so we got cleaned up for dinner, then went to see Hercules. It was really great. The Muses in particular were very good! We came back to the cabin to dress and went down to the ventriloquist family show in Rockin Bar D. All 3 shows we show in Rockin Bar D were really entertaining. We all really enjoyed them! Formal night was in Animators Pallet, with the light show. It was really neat and the kids kept pointing out each thing that changed. Our seats in Lumieres and Animators Pallet were much better located! Once again, off to bed.
More to come!
