14-night Eastbound Transatlantic Cruise (May 14-28, 2011) Lots of pics! COMPLETED 9/8

[KevieKev05]

DAY 5 - May 18th, 2011 - Day At Sea #3 (Part 3)

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 5 - May 18th, 2011 - Day At Sea #3 (Part 4)

By 7:15, the show had ended, and we were heading back to the room so I could drop off my zoom lens before our Palo dinner! We got to Palo at about 7:30 even though our reservations were for 8:00. James and I would be dining together and my parents would be dining together. They got us both seated within 5 minutes of our arrival.

James and I were seated right near the entrance against the window.

Mom and Dad were seated on the other side of the restaurant in the middle (not against a window).

Our server was Mirko from Croatia. Though he wasn’t my favorite, he was far from awful. We had a lovely meal as a matter of fact! We absolutely love Palo and this experience lived up to the reasons as to why we enjoy it so much. You know what’s coming next...FOOD PICTURES!

The starter...they now bring the cart to your table and make it in front of you (like on the Dream):

Quattro Formaggi pizza:

Prosciutto pizza:

Lobster ravioli:

Palate cleanser:

Palo beef tenderloin (I always, always, always, get and LOVE this dish):

Chocolate souffle (YUM!):

After dinner digestif:

We devoured the calamari before I could take a picture, but know that we got that as well. Yes, we order A LOT of food at Palo, but surprisingly, we eat it all! It was about 9:30 when we were finishing up (Mom and Dad were done before us). Also, at 9:00, the sun was STILL setting...it was so weird to us!

After we left the restaurant, we went up to the room to change and discuss the next day’s plan with the parents. We also found this little guy in our room:

After we mapped out the next day, James and I went to the Buena Vista Theatre at about 10:10 to see “Prom.” Now, I was a little skeptical about this movie, but it actually wasn’t that bad. Who would have thought?! It ended just after midnight (well, 1 am at this point), so it was definitely time for bed! Another night’s sleep dreaming of good things to come! Stay tuned!

 

[SeaSpray]

Bravo! Thank you so much for the newest additions!! Your pictures are terrific.

 

[squitty]

Another fabulous installment, with lovely photos again

How calm was the sea

Really enjoying your report.

 

[binkytell]

It's a great report, Im hoping you have it finished by the time we take magic home ; ) waiting patiently( or not) lol for next installment!!

Are you sure your not going to rebook for September ; ))

 

[LindaBabe]

Thank you SO much for the menu photos! I'm already dreaming of what I'll eat on the WBTA in September, thanks to you!

BTW, how about a photo of you guys in your lovely purple shirts?

 

[marie714]

Thanks for the great report, can't wait for more! Do you have scans of the navigators from this cruise?

 

[christannj]

Great report.... We are also on the WBTA in September and are using your report to see what we will be seeing in reverse for the most part. Do you have any experience with the Disney Rewards Visa points. Can we apply these to our bill while on the cruise like we can at WDW?

 

[KevieKev05]

It's a great report, Im hoping you have it finished by the time we take magic home ; ) waiting patiently( or not) lol for next installment!!

Are you sure your not going to rebook for September ; ))

I want to book the WBTA SO badly! If only I could get the time off...and the airfare wasn't so expensive, haha.

Thanks for the great report, can't wait for more! Do you have scans of the navigators from this cruise?

I have all the Navigators, but haven't scanned them. That would probably take me a good 8 hours to do, haha. I don't currently have plans to scan them, but that could change!


I can't believe it's been over 10 days since my last update! I better get writing!

Great report.... We are also on the WBTA in September and are using your report to see what we will be seeing in reverse for the most part. Do you have any experience with the Disney Rewards Visa points. Can we apply these to our bill while on the cruise like we can at WDW?

Hmmm...good question. I'm honestly not sure of what you should do. I think that your best bet would be to use your Rewards points to get a Disney Gift Card. You can then put your Disney Gift Card towards your bill. I'm not sure if they accept the Visa Rewards card on the ship, but I do know they accept Disney Gift Cards. I could be completely wrong, so you might want to ask someone else who might know better.

 

[LindaBabe]

Actually, they DO accept the Visa rewards card on the shiip. But, you have to run up the bill first and then apply the card to it, because apparently they have no way to refund back TO the card if you apply it first and don't spend it all.

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 1)

At 9:00 promptly, the alarm went off. Ahhh...another peaceful day at sea ahead of us! At 10:00, we all went upstairs to enjoy another lovely breakfast at Topsider.

My breakfast of champions:

After we ate, we made our way back downstairs. As we walked through the art hallway, I took some pictures of my favorite, well, pictures! (All Don “Ducky” Williams)

We then went to the Promenade Lounge and played some Uno while the Shopping Lady talked. At 11:20, we made our way to the lobby for the “Character Festival.”

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 2)

After spending some time in the lobby, we went all the way back upstairs and sat by the Goofy Pool for a little bit, enjoying the peacefulness and weather.

At 12:15, they were showing virtual tours on the big TV. Also, the Captain came over the loudspeakers at this point and informed us that we had just passed our halfway point crossing the Atlantic! How awesome! Just after 1:00, the “King Triton’s Atlantic Crossing Ceremony” began. Wow...it was pretty lame and obviously they were trying to come up with something extra to throw at us. Not one of their better attempts, that’s for sure. Basically, we were giving thanks to King Triton for allowing us safe passage across the Atlantic. There was an ice sculpture that was brought out, and then they had any guest who wanted to to swim from one end of the Goofy Pool to the other, get out, and rub the ice sculpture. Oh, and Peter spread some goop on their heads before they got in the pool. Yawn.

As James and I were watching this, Mom and Dad were relaxing on loungers by the windows. While relaxing, they saw not one, not two, but three whales! Of course when we went to see, there were NONE. Boo.

At 1:30, we made our way to the Walt Disney Theatre for Alton F. White’s second performance! We were all very excited to see him again as we loved his first performance very much. The performance started at 2:00 and lasted about 40 minutes. Today song list included:

“?” - Raisin (no idea what the song title was, just that it was from the show, Raisin.
“Bui Doi” - Miss Saigon
“You’ll Be In My Heart” - Tarzan
“If I Can’t Love Her” - Beauty and the Beast
“Jolly Holiday/Chim Chim Cheree/Feed the Birds” - medley from Mary Poppins
“Fortune Favors the Brave” - Aida (yay for Aida again!)
“Radames’ Letter” - Aida
“A Whole New World” - Aladdin
“?” - Ragtime? (didn’t catch the song title nor what show it was from. Just a guess it was from Ragtime)

After the performance, we wanted to grab some food. We went up to Goofy’s Galley, but then decided we would do room service instead. So, we went to our rooms and placed our orders. Within 30 minutes, our food arrived!

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 3)

At 4:00, we started to fall asleep. We woke up at 5:15 (quite a nap for us!) and Dad calls to tell us that the toilets aren’t flushing right now, but maintenance was aware. The problem was resolved while James was in the shower getting ready for the evening. By 5:45, we are out the door and heading to the Walt Disney Theatre for “Villains Tonight!”. The doors opened at 6:00, with the show starting at 6:30. This isn’t my favorite show at all, but there are still a few entertaining moments. I absolutely love “The Emperor’s New Groove,” so the scene with Yzma and Kronk is definitely my favorite! Did I take pictures? Well, do you need to ask?! Here they are! (Wow...a forewarning. A took A LOT.)

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 4)

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 5)

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 6)

See! I told you I took a lot of pictures!

Once the show ended, we went to the Promenade Lounge. On the way, I took a picture of tonight’s dinner menu!

Disney Tunes Trivia was about to start in the Promenade Lounge, so we decided (well, James and I) to play! Mom and Dad were there for support, though! Out of a possible 45 points, we received 42. The winning team got 43! Bummer! We were so close!

After the game, we made our way to Parrot Cay for our dinner! The doors once again promptly opened at 8:30.

Tonight was the Villains menu and we were excited as we’ve never experienced it before.

For the first course, James and I got the cheese ravioli:

For soup, I got the sangria bisque and James got the blue cheese soup. For the main course, we both got the turkey dish. It comes with sweet mashed potatoes, which I don’t like, so I got mine with regular mashed potatoes.

Turkey with sweet mashed potatoes:

Turkey with regular mashed potatoes:

Next, it was dessert time!

My triple strawberry sundae:

James’ raspberry cheesecake and creme brulee:

The Villains chocolate ending:

As we were enjoying this meal, our servers said they missed us at our character breakfast. Ummm. What?! We told them according to our dining tickets that our character breakfast was scheduled for Monday (four days from now). They said it must’ve been a mistake as today’s breakfast was the last one! WHAT?! Since we dined at Palo the night before, they weren’t able to “remind” us at dinner. So, what happened?! Why were we missed informed yet again? I went upstairs and grabbed a dining ticket to show them what was printed on them. They felt so bad and once again mentioned that today was the last one. Our head waiter came over, apologized, then gave us a plate of chocolate covered strawberries:

Marianne still felt terrible, so she took it upon herself to make us napkin hats (like they do at the breakfast). I was the only one in our group who had experienced the character breakfast before, and it was so wonderful that Marianne went above and beyond to do that for us. We all got a good laugh and appreciated what our serving team did to remedy the problem (that wasn’t their fault). Now, I realize the we’re all adults with no children in our traveling party. However, we still enjoy the characters very much and we had every intention to attend our character breakfast, especially since it is included and we rarely sail on 7-night or longer cruises.

After that snafu, we found ourselves walking out of the restaurant at about 9:45 and we starting making our way to the lobby for the Villains Ball. Mom went over to Guest Services to tell them of the problem with our character breakfast. She wasn’t seeking anything...she just wanted them to be informed that there was an issue that they needed to be aware of. Plus, she said, she didn’t want this happening to a family with kids!

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 6 - May 19th, 2011 - Day At Sea #4 (Part 7)

Just after 10:15, the Villains Ball began. It was fun to see and be a part of (and we love characters!).

The Villains Ball lasted about 30 minutes and then we went back to our rooms for the evening. James and I played Phase 10 by ourselves and at about 12:00 (or 1:00 once we moved our clocks forward), we decided to hit the sheets! Tomorrow was shaping up to be an exciting day, so we better get some sleep!

 

[cannp123165]

Great updates and amazing photos! Sorry to hear about the character breakfast.

 

[LuvEeyore]

kevin, glad you are back. Love the updates and pictures!!

 

[christannj]

Kevin

Keep the trip report coming... Your pictures are amazing but I was wondering if you then end up not being able to enjoy the show since you are watching it through the camera.