"The Dapplebeans Rejuvenation at Sea" June 20, 2009 *TORTOLA/TONS OF PICS*

[RoyalVizier]

Ok, I have been lurking in here long enough, and have to check in. Love this TR, and just had to tell you. I have read many as I am working on getting our first Disney cruise booked, and yours is by far the best!
Tearsa

Awwww! Thanks so much!!

RV is one of the best when it comes to writing these trip reports!!

Awwww! Thanks so much to you too!

Sooooo... we've had quite a gap in this trippie, huh? Got to rectify that! Sorry about that everyone, but it seems I just can't keep life's trials and tribulations at bay. They have mounted up on me and nearly smothered me here lately.

I'm aiming to get Day 6 posted this weekend so as usual... STAY TUNED!

 

[anetnmike]

sorry to hear that RV. take a few moments of mental vacation. maybe it will help. looking at the beautiful pictures of your trip has been doing it for me...
hang in there!

 

[TiggersPal]

Awwww! Thanks so much!!



Awwww! Thanks so much to you too!

Sooooo... we've had quite a gap in this trippie, huh? Got to rectify that! Sorry about that everyone, but it seems I just can't keep life's trials and tribulations at bay. They have mounted up on me and nearly smothered me here lately.

I'm aiming to get Day 6 posted this weekend so as usual... STAY TUNED!

Just as a follow-up - did your DW ever get another job? I am just curious... sorry about all the trials going on - seems that's a national condition currently...

 

[Deffenm]

Another lurker coming out of hiding. We are going to book a 2011 cruise so as any good diser does I am reading up on DCL well in advance.

Actually DH and I are going on our 1st cruise in just a few weeks, sadly not DCL as they did not have a cruise taking place on the dates we coud go. We could only go 9/4-9/7 and DCL leaves on 9/3. I was so disappointed. DH and I are going on RCCL to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary without the kids.

Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report.

 

[TiggersPal]

Where oh where has our pal RV gone? Where oh where can he be???


Bump / and hoping for DAY 6... that is where we left off right? It's been so long...

 

[anetnmike]

 

[ShirleyR]

Dear Mr. Dapplebean,
I'm one of the lurkers and I do love all of your trip reports so far because they help to brighten my day whenever I can read one. I hope that you are doing OK and I look forward to another great report!

 

[Waltworshiper]

Great report, especially with all the pictures!

 

[Disney Nana 4]

Hope everything is okay with you RV! I miss your reports!

 

[anetnmike]

RV, your loyal subjects are gonna put out an APB soon...

 

[Jennifer48]

on the lookout for Mr. RV. Mr. RV can you hear us?!

 

[ArmandXG]

OMG, you don't think he's standing on the pier, keyboard and monitor in hand, watching as his TR moves down to page 2?
RV, we're all here waiting for you. Quick, jump back on board!

 

[anetnmike]

page two!!!!!

 

[RoyalVizier]

Just as a follow-up - did your DW ever get another job?

Yes, actually she is working at a part time temporary job right now. It's not what she wants and it isn't anything that will go permanent, but it's something and that's all we can ask for at this point. Thanks for asking!

DH and I are going on RCCL to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary without the kids.

Ohhhhh I want to hear all about it! My wife and I would love to try out RCCL someday!

Dear Mr. Dapplebean,
I'm one of the lurkers and I do love all of your trip reports so far because they help to brighten my day whenever I can read one. I hope that you are doing OK and I look forward to another great report!

Well thanks so much! Glad I can spread a bit of cruising cheer!

Hope everything is okay with you RV! I miss your reports!

I'm alive, I'm here!

on the lookout for Mr. RV. Mr. RV can you hear us?!

I'm alive, I'm here!

OMG, you don't think he's standing on the pier, keyboard and monitor in hand, watching as his TR moves down to page 2?
RV, we're all here waiting for you. Quick, jump back on board!

I'm alive, I'm here!

Boy I really kinda let this fizzle out, huh?

Sorry all, life has attacked me here lately leaving me drowning in work and personal drama and trauma. Anyway... shall we get on with the show?!

 

[RoyalVizier]

Day 6: Napkin Madness and A New Obsession

Ahhhh, the last day at sea! It began for me at 6:45 am when I began to stir from my slumber. I was pretty tired this morning so rather than do my usual trek up to deck 9, I decided to remain in bed and work with the photos we’d taken already. We brought our laptop with us on this trip not to use for internet service, but because we were worried about how many photos our memory cards and video camera tapes would hold. So we brought the laptop so that I could import pictures if the need arose (which it really never did). So I continued to laze in bed and import some pictures, and I cropped and rotated and enhanced to my heart’s content every once in a while giggling under my breath at the photos of me at The Baths.

At about 8:45 am the ladies began to stir so it was time to rise and shine and get ready to venture into the day. Our character breakfast was scheduled for 9:45 am, and we were very much looking forward to it as it is something that we have never done before in three previous cruises. For my dedicated readers you may recall from a previous trippie that we had fully intended to go to the character breakfast before, but had a bit of an issue with time zones. Pesky time zones!!

Anyway, by the time we were ready to roll we had a bit of time to kill before breakfast so we went to animation class in Animator’s Palette with Oscar from the cruise entertainment staff. This was a lot of fun. There were only a few other people there aside from ourselves, and Oscar showed us how to draw Donald and 1920’s Mickey.

The attempts to sketch recognizable characters were quite humorous to our daughter.

Who has the best Donald?

After class we went down a deck to breakfast at Parrot Cay, our first character breakfast!! This ended up being one of the highlights of our cruising experience and I regretted quickly having never done it before. The character interaction was great! Present at our breakfast was Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip, Dale, and Donald… and it was an extra bonus for us that we’d just come from animation class where we drew Mickey and Donald so now we had something fun for the characters to sign!

So very pampered...

At the completion of the meal a glance around the dining room told me that things were getting a bit crazy as the dining room servers were donning guest’s with crazy napkin hat creations. It didn’t take long before Jozsef and Gabriella got us too!

Our hats are fairly tame compared to others we saw. There was a guy a few tables over with a napkin hat on that included big metal coffee creamer pitchers dangling from the sides of his head… another lady had a napkin hat on that included a bunch of spoons fanned across the front. Too funny!

So after breakfast… well look at the time… it was almost time for lunch! So we went up top by way of Shutters and had some pizza and then went back to the room to figure out our next step for the day. 12:30 pm was approaching so the next step was actually to attend the DVC presentation in Diversions to learn more about the DVC program. Okay, so here’s the thing… I have always known about DVC and had an awareness of DVC, but have admittedly always been very confused by the detailed inner workings of the program with the points and the borrowing and the cost and all of that stuff. So my wife and I decided once and for all let’s get it straight in our heads while we’re sailing at sea so that we can make a well-informed and educated decision about whether or not DVC is right for us in our lives. So my daughter headed off to do her thing, and my wife and I went to the presentation. Sitting there listening to the DVC representatives talk about the program, I could feel my Med cruise obsession being slowly pushed out of my left ear while the words I was currently hearing about DVC were piling into my right ear quickly filling the hole left by the previous Med cruise occupant. Except the DVC information must have been laced with an overabundance of yeast because it grew and grew and rose into a full blown DVC info loaf that filled my head to bursting. The prospect was exciting! This program was for us! It would work! A lifetime of vacations! At the completion of the presentation we signed up for a 1:1 appointment later that afternoon to ask some specific questions and get a bit more info.

I have to tell you… this pretty much consumed our thinking for the remainder of the day. We talked about DVC incessantly as we wandered the ship, as we were in the pool… everywhere. It pretty much consumed us. Our 1:1 appointment went well. We felt we had enough information to really ponder and make a decision about whether this program is right for us. We didn’t join on board, and we still haven’t made any decisions yet, but it is still a possibility, but the timing just isn’t quite right with our current life situation, so… we’re in a holding pattern where DVC is concerned, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day in the next several months we call ourselves DVC members.

Up Next: Palo and The Lost Dinner

 

[RoyalVizier]

Day 6: Palo and The Lost Dinner

Here’s how this evening was laid out planning-wise: tonight was Palo night for my wife and I. Our regular dining rotation put us in Animator’s Palette this evening which we totally did not mind missing for Palo. My daughter had planned for days that she was going to go ahead and eat at Animator’s Palette with a few of her friends from The Stack who would take the empty seats at the table. We were also going to see the early performance of Disney Dreams before dinner. This plan had already been cleared by our servers and everyone was looking forward to the evening. Well…

At 5:00 pm my wife and I returned to the room from the pool to find our daughter there laying down watching TV. She told us that she wasn’t really feeling all that well, and it was now obvious that the plague was jumping between the three of us this week. We told her to rest and relax while we got showered and dressed for dinner. When we were all ready to head upstairs we somehow managed to talk her into coming to see Disney Dreams with us (which she’d never seen before) although she wasn’t feeling any better.

Just a quick note about the show… this is my all time favorite show on DCL, but I noticed a few minor changes during this performance. I don’t want to give anything away to those who have yet to see this spectacular show, but THE MOMENT near the end when Ann Marie finally finds her magic… it just isn’t the same as I remember it. In my opinion, the way it was before… everything was right… all of the elements mixed together, the lighting and the effects and the music and the window and everything was perfect to evoke this deep emotion and this magic, but… it’s different now, and although it is still impressive, it just isn’t the same. It doesn’t ruin the show for me by any means, but I liked it much better in its original state. This show totally deserves to own best show in the cruise line industry!

After the show we reevaluated the situation, and unfortunately our daughter wasn’t feeling any better. She was hungry, but didn’t feel like going to dinner in the dining room. She just wanted to go back to the room and lie down. But she was struggling with this decision because also this was the one night that Animator’s Palette has something on the menu that she really wanted: a fettuccini dish. So on the way back to the room we swung by Animator’s Palette and spoke with Yolande, our Head Server. We explained the situation and explained that my wife and I were going to Palo, and we wondered if there was any way that we could possibly have an entrée sent to our room for our daughter. She said of course, no problem, and was very cordial and concerned, and asked us if 8:30 pm would be alright for delivery. We said that was fine… our daughter was pleased, we were pleased, it was good. She went back to the room, and my wife and I went up to Palo.

We love Palo! This was our third dinner at Palo in our cruising history. Last cruise we did Palo brunch for the first time and while it was outstanding, we enjoy dinner more. Ciao Rinaldo was our server, and of course he was excellent.

Here’s the food.

This dessert was the shock of the meal... upon reading about this on the menu curiosity overtook me and I just had to try it out. This is a pineapple ravioli. It's a thinly shaved slice of pineapple wrapped around an almond custard and then fried slightly. Oh. My. Heavens. BLISS!!

Do not adjust your monitors... yes, we had three desserts on our table!

We were done at Palo at about 10:00 pm so we went back down to the room to check on my daughter, and we found the room empty with a note from her. The note said that she was feeling better, she was in The Stack, and the food never came. My wife was LIVID. Livid with a capital F-U-R-I-O-U-S. It was curious and unfortunate that somehow the food had either not gotten ordered or not made it to the room, but I just don’t get mad all that often. I was unhappy that my daughter hadn’t gotten what she wanted, but my wife does not contain her anger well and she was fired up about the situation. Well what better way to abate fury than to be submerged in water, so I dragged her up to the pool and threw her in. I told her that we would talk to Yolande at dinner the next night and see what happened. The pool seemed to tame her some, then it was time for bed…

Up Next: Castaway Cay Marred by Mishaps and Moodiness

 

[TotallyAngelic]

ooooooh - long awaited updates- a great way to start the day! Love the photos of you all in the napkin hats and the Palo desserts look amazing.
Sound as though you had a great sea day apart from your DD being under the weather - but pleased to hear she made a good recovery.

 

[anetnmike]

Ok Everyone! Call in the search party and the dogs! Cancel the APB and the lookouts! RV is back and all is well! Good to have you back RV!
I gotta say-words fail me for the napkin hats (and words obviously don't fail me often!)
Pineapple Ravioli-Yum! Palo food really looks too pretty to eat! And you say 3 desserts like it's a bad thing...
I can't say I blame Olliesmamma for being Glad your DD was feeling better enough to join her friends again.

 

[MagicMe]

So great to have a not just one but two installments!!!! Thanks for returning!

 

[HeatherD]

OMG! You can't just leave it at that! I have to know (HAVE TO) why the dinner didn't come and how your DW handled it....please don't wait too long for another update (that includes this info).