I profusely apologize for the lack of updates! A mix of a rough first semester to school and the death of my beloved laptop left me out of commission. But, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season filled with dreams of Disney!
So, here is the second day of our Eastern Caribbean Cruise
Reason #8 - Palo Brunch and a Nap
Josh and I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in on our lazy Sunday. We sent our alarm with just enough time to get ready for Palo Brunch. We made the trek up to Palo, our stomach ready for the upcoming feast. We had the best server on Palo and I really wish I could remember her name. She was such a sweetheart and had the best accent. We sat at one of the tables with chairs facing the ocean. We indulged in the complimentary mimosas, a beautiful start to our day.
Then, it was time to start the buffet, where I gluttonously loaded up my plate. Now, you should understand...I don't like food touching on my plate. But, today, I didn't care. I made a small mountain of baked goods, fruit, seafood, and cheese. I wish I could say I took a picture of this masterpiece, but I was too busy eating. The highlights were the sticky buns (I may or may not have had 4 of these bad boys), the croissants, the succulent strawberries, the shrimp (which were amazing, but I would have killed for some Old Bay), the bresaola, and the prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe.
However, I did promise myself I would try one unusual thing at Palo and I decided to try caviar. The wait staff made me up a beautiful plate of crostini and butter with the caviar. Josh laughed as I nibbled off the tiniest piece, but to my surprise, it was okay. I don't think I would order it personally, but I'm glad I tried it. Next time I visit Palo, I would hope to continue this adventurous streak, but I'll probably just eat my body weigh in sticky buns and aged meat.
After the first plate of appetizers, my foot really started to hurt. After I finished stuffing my face, I noticed my heels had rubbed a gigantic blister and blood was getting all over my shoes. I quickly excused myself and ran up to our room to grab a band-aid and a pair of sandals.
Next, Josh and I did some intense negotiating over the entree we wanted to sample. We decided to order the chicken parmesan, the strawberry soup, and a pizza with half grape and gorgonzola and half sausage. Plus, our waitress insisted on trying the lasagna.
Now, I will probably be cast down by the powers of DISboards, but I wasn't crazy about the chicken. While it was tasty, I didn't think it was any better than some chicken parmesan I get in Little Italy. But I'm glad our waitress insisted on the lasagna, because that was heaven sent. The slice easily weighed a pound from the layers of meat, cheese, and pasta. Josh and I started fighting over the bowl. I also really really really loved the strawberry soup. I dreamed of eating that soup every morning for breakfast and, if I wasn't so full, I would have probably ordered a second serving. I went into a small period of mourning when I learned the strawberry soup was replaced on the Palo menu.
For dessert, I loaded up on tiramisu, chocolate covered strawberries, cream puffs, and something made Nutella. These were all fantastic, but my favorite dish was the berries with champagne jell-o. It was the classy version of my favorite kid's food. I may have had 1....2...or 3 of those....
Overall, I would highly recommend Palo brunch. It was an amazing start to our cruise and it was a nice retreat from the crowds. We went around 10:30 and it was empty, we had the buffet and room to ourselves until 11:30.
I wish I could write about the grand adventures we went on after Palo, but we went to our room and took a two hour nap. Basically, it was my dream morning.