ecomerford
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2007
- Messages
- 39
Anticipating that Day at Sea meant Ship full of people, Job 1 was staking out some chairs by the Goofy pool. At 8:30am the weather was already perfect. DW and I took turns getting a tray of food at Topsiders, and we all chowed down by the pool under the warming morning sun. After breakfast, the kids went swimming while DW and I started in on our books. By the time High School Musical started on Ariel TV (the huge outdoor screen by Goofy Pool) at 10:00, there was not a chair to be had.
Pool time was actually a bunch of fun. The port side of Deck 9 by Goofy and Mickey Pools has 2 foosball games and 2 table tennis tables. DS5 (Mr. Competitive, remember?) was all over these. After beating both DW and I in foosball, DS5 started horning in on other peoples games. The great thing about DCL is that almost everyone has kids, so my pushy little guy was accepted with good humor. DS5 and I also tried some table tennis, but its tricky playing with a 5-year old on a moving ship with people walking by. We had fun just seeing how long of a rally we could keep going.
Mr. Competitive really wanted to check out bingo, so he and I headed to Rockin Bar D while DW and DS7 stayed at the pool. Bingo is hosted by Bailey from England, a.k.a. The Queen of Bingo. She is an absolute howl and has a constant chatter going on with the crowd and rest of the crew (Oscar from Mexico, Luke from L.A. and Naomi from New Zealand). Game 2 was the Corners top B, bottom B, top O, bottom O. If you win you must stand up and shout I have B-O! There was much excitement when DS5s card hit, and he yelled in his little boy voice I have B-O! I have B-O! There was another winner so he split the $78 but also got a shower radio for his trouble. Needless to say, he was hooked. This would not be our last DCL bingo.
After Bingo, DW convinced me to join her for a workout. Now, Ive worked out before just not in about 8 months. We dropped the kids at the Club and headed to the gym on Deck 9. At 11:15am it was far emptier than at 9:00am the prior day maybe a quarter full. DW and I got ellipticals next to each other in the front row by the windows. Let me say that if youre going to be working out, this is the spot: A beautiful view over the pristine foredeck sparkling in the Caribbean sun. You are actually looking out over the crews private pool and sun deck, though it doesnt look like it gets much work. The machines all have TVs with the same channels as the room TVs you just need to bring your own earphones.
After 45 minutes of heavy breathing, I headed over to the weight machines. MAJOR mistake. While its fine to get back into aerobic after a long break, jumping back into weight training can only have one result pain. Combine that with the gym factor (trying to lift more than you really should), and I was still recovering from this workout as I walked off the ship days later.
Since the kids were having lunch at the Club, this would have been the day to hit the sit-down restaurant for lunch, especially since it was Lumieres. Unfortunately, by the time we were all cleaned up it was 1:15 and lunch was over by 1:30, so it was off to Topsiders again.
After lunch, we headed down to Signals for the Stem-to-Stern Wine Tasting. Shockingly, this was the only activity that we signed up for at Guest Services. It was actually pretty full, so book in advance. When we arrived, each place was already set with 5 glasses 3 white and 2 red. We had a great time. A word of warning though: theres about a 20 minute talk before you get to taste the first wine. Luckily the tasting is hosted by Shawn, the sommelier from Palo. Hes a real character a little cocky but very amusing. Overall, the whole thing was informative and entertaining. The wines are pretty tasty, but dont go expecting $100 bottles of world-class Cab.
The high point was when one of the other wine stewards demonstrated sabrage -- opening a champagne bottle by knocking the neck off with a knife. Very dramatic. We actually found out later from our head server that the sabrage was eliminated from the Wine Tasting for a while after a steward had the bottle slip and slit open their hand from the razor-sharp broken neck. OUCH!
After all the excitement, we picked up the kids and headed back to the room for a little R&R. After the late night before, we decided that boys needed a nap. By 5pm the whole family was out. Unfortunately, we had to rouse them only an hour later since tonight was formal night, and we wanted to hit the Captains cocktail reception at 7:15. Hey, DCL doesnt give out free booze much, so youve got to take it when you can. Then the plan was to see Freddie Fusion at Rockin Bar D. DS5 clearly didnt get enough sleep and had a bit of a meltdown. As I was getting on his shoes, he decided that this was the moment that he had to learn to tie his laces BY HIMSELF!
I went with my tux, while DW had a slinky dress. DW had found some used blazers on eBay for the boys for only $5 each! They were perfect and the boys looked like proper little gentlemen:
Of course, by the time everyone was dressed it was 7:25. So the choice was free booze or Freddie Fusion Freddie won. We had looked forward to his show ever since his performance on opening night, and he did not disappoint. A great time for all ages.
After the show, we headed across the Atrium to dinner at Lumieres. It was the perfect spot for Formal Night. Heres a picture of the family with Ivan and Ranzil:
The boys had Mickey bars for dessert, which were a great hit!
After dinner we took the obligatory picture by Capt. Mickey:
Being all dressed up, we wanted somewhere to go. Luckily DCL provided the Golden Mickey After Party in Studio Sea. This was a fun family dance party hosted by Sheika and ???? from Australia (for some reason I cannot remember the MALE staff members name). We had overall boogying, line dancing, and more.
After working off a little of dinner, we headed back to our room. Ike had worked his magic: the room was spotless, and we were greeted by tonights towel animal -- an elephant:
Pool time was actually a bunch of fun. The port side of Deck 9 by Goofy and Mickey Pools has 2 foosball games and 2 table tennis tables. DS5 (Mr. Competitive, remember?) was all over these. After beating both DW and I in foosball, DS5 started horning in on other peoples games. The great thing about DCL is that almost everyone has kids, so my pushy little guy was accepted with good humor. DS5 and I also tried some table tennis, but its tricky playing with a 5-year old on a moving ship with people walking by. We had fun just seeing how long of a rally we could keep going.
Mr. Competitive really wanted to check out bingo, so he and I headed to Rockin Bar D while DW and DS7 stayed at the pool. Bingo is hosted by Bailey from England, a.k.a. The Queen of Bingo. She is an absolute howl and has a constant chatter going on with the crowd and rest of the crew (Oscar from Mexico, Luke from L.A. and Naomi from New Zealand). Game 2 was the Corners top B, bottom B, top O, bottom O. If you win you must stand up and shout I have B-O! There was much excitement when DS5s card hit, and he yelled in his little boy voice I have B-O! I have B-O! There was another winner so he split the $78 but also got a shower radio for his trouble. Needless to say, he was hooked. This would not be our last DCL bingo.
After Bingo, DW convinced me to join her for a workout. Now, Ive worked out before just not in about 8 months. We dropped the kids at the Club and headed to the gym on Deck 9. At 11:15am it was far emptier than at 9:00am the prior day maybe a quarter full. DW and I got ellipticals next to each other in the front row by the windows. Let me say that if youre going to be working out, this is the spot: A beautiful view over the pristine foredeck sparkling in the Caribbean sun. You are actually looking out over the crews private pool and sun deck, though it doesnt look like it gets much work. The machines all have TVs with the same channels as the room TVs you just need to bring your own earphones.
After 45 minutes of heavy breathing, I headed over to the weight machines. MAJOR mistake. While its fine to get back into aerobic after a long break, jumping back into weight training can only have one result pain. Combine that with the gym factor (trying to lift more than you really should), and I was still recovering from this workout as I walked off the ship days later.
Since the kids were having lunch at the Club, this would have been the day to hit the sit-down restaurant for lunch, especially since it was Lumieres. Unfortunately, by the time we were all cleaned up it was 1:15 and lunch was over by 1:30, so it was off to Topsiders again.
After lunch, we headed down to Signals for the Stem-to-Stern Wine Tasting. Shockingly, this was the only activity that we signed up for at Guest Services. It was actually pretty full, so book in advance. When we arrived, each place was already set with 5 glasses 3 white and 2 red. We had a great time. A word of warning though: theres about a 20 minute talk before you get to taste the first wine. Luckily the tasting is hosted by Shawn, the sommelier from Palo. Hes a real character a little cocky but very amusing. Overall, the whole thing was informative and entertaining. The wines are pretty tasty, but dont go expecting $100 bottles of world-class Cab.
The high point was when one of the other wine stewards demonstrated sabrage -- opening a champagne bottle by knocking the neck off with a knife. Very dramatic. We actually found out later from our head server that the sabrage was eliminated from the Wine Tasting for a while after a steward had the bottle slip and slit open their hand from the razor-sharp broken neck. OUCH!
After all the excitement, we picked up the kids and headed back to the room for a little R&R. After the late night before, we decided that boys needed a nap. By 5pm the whole family was out. Unfortunately, we had to rouse them only an hour later since tonight was formal night, and we wanted to hit the Captains cocktail reception at 7:15. Hey, DCL doesnt give out free booze much, so youve got to take it when you can. Then the plan was to see Freddie Fusion at Rockin Bar D. DS5 clearly didnt get enough sleep and had a bit of a meltdown. As I was getting on his shoes, he decided that this was the moment that he had to learn to tie his laces BY HIMSELF!
I went with my tux, while DW had a slinky dress. DW had found some used blazers on eBay for the boys for only $5 each! They were perfect and the boys looked like proper little gentlemen:
Of course, by the time everyone was dressed it was 7:25. So the choice was free booze or Freddie Fusion Freddie won. We had looked forward to his show ever since his performance on opening night, and he did not disappoint. A great time for all ages.
After the show, we headed across the Atrium to dinner at Lumieres. It was the perfect spot for Formal Night. Heres a picture of the family with Ivan and Ranzil:
The boys had Mickey bars for dessert, which were a great hit!
After dinner we took the obligatory picture by Capt. Mickey:
Being all dressed up, we wanted somewhere to go. Luckily DCL provided the Golden Mickey After Party in Studio Sea. This was a fun family dance party hosted by Sheika and ???? from Australia (for some reason I cannot remember the MALE staff members name). We had overall boogying, line dancing, and more.
After working off a little of dinner, we headed back to our room. Ike had worked his magic: the room was spotless, and we were greeted by tonights towel animal -- an elephant:
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Holy Moly!!! I would have had a heart attack!!!! Nice info for future references....
