5-Night Magic Double Dip Jan 3-8th (Lots of Food Porn!!!)

[Silverfox97]

Magical Day at Castaway Cay by ssanders79, on Flickr

Magic Double Dip Navigators & Cruise Documents January 3-8, 2011
Includes links to the Navigators, Menus, and other cruise documents.

Day 1 - Embarkation Day | Port Canaveral
Day 2 - Castaway Cay
Day 3 - Nassau
Day 4 - Castaway Cay
Day 5 - At Sea
Day 6 - Disembarkation Day


For a comparison here is our 5-Night Wonder Double Dip Delight Aug 8-13th Trip Report.

 

[Silverfox97]

DAY 1 - Embarkation
The time has come – our 5 night cruise on the Magic was finally here!!! Let’s see….introductions?? There are 3 of us; myself, my spouse, and our 3 1/2 year old daughter (who will be 4 in March, but I swear, she is going on 15 or more!!). We were on a 5 night double dip in August (wrote a trip report then, as well), and re-booked on board for the Magic for a 7 night western Caribbean for October 2011. Well, not 48 hours after we got home from that, we decided we couldn’t wait that long, and I found this cruise, which was really like a budget cruise – it was such a great price for the 3 of us as an 11C GTY. We eventually found out that we were upgraded to a Cat 9C, room 2628. However, after checking out the stateroom reports, I was bummed, as the location made it sound like it was going to be noisy. A fellow DISer on our meet thread offered to change with me for an inside room on a higher deck, but we decided to take our chances.

Since we live in Tampa and are only 1 hr 40 min from the port, we over pack. In fact, we have a new suitcase, which is an absolute monster, really. DH and I dubbed it “team lift.” We were packed into the monster, a garment bag, a duffle for all of our FE gifts, then DD’s suitcase, our 3 carry-ons, and this time, we brought our soft-sided rolling cooler with DH’s beer and my two bottles of wine. Good stuff. We got it all packed in and were out the door and on to the port!!! Disney Magic here we come!!!

We arrive at Port Canaveral about 9:45-9:50am. The Disney Magic was waiting for us!! We knew exactly where to go since we had been there in August. They sent us to park in the lot on the right vs. the lot on the left, and we were also surprised that you now pay for parking after the cruise, not before. DH & I liked the old way of paying before. Oh well, no big deal. We parked, and rolled our suitcases/carry-ons up to the area, dropped the 4 bags off to the porter, and made our way to the desk outside to check in. Yeah!!!

When we got inside, there was literally NO ONE in front of us at security, and after we got up the escalator, we noticed we were about the 2nd or 3rd family to check in. In fact, the gentleman checking us in said his computer wasn’t even warmed up yet. No big deal for us, we got our boarding number “2” and that is all we wanted. Now, we have nothing but time. Vacation on!!!


Oh So Close, Yet Still Far Away by ssanders79, on Flickr

We were given our silver Castaway Club lanyards, as it was DH & my 3rd cruise, and DD’s 2nd, and checked the KTTW cards for the dining rotation. I did request one, but I really didn’t care what we got, as we had Palo dinner scheduled for the last night, as out of the 5 menus, we can take-or-leave the “Till We Meet Again” menu (we like the Celebration Cake, though!!!). We were assigned APLAP, which meant the rotation that I had requested didn’t even exist.

We went to find a seat & hang out. Since we knew the ropes, we knew that Captain Mickey would be out around 11am, and DH knew to scoop up DD before then to avoid having to wait in that long line. Until then, I had a Navigator to peruse, plus a toddler to occupy. We all went outside to see the Magic, and watched them loading her up. It was a bit chilly, though, so we weren’t out there for too long. The Navigator had some interesting info, and one was the low-down of what night was going to be what on our cruises. We were going to Castaway Cay Tuesday, Nassau on Wednesday, Castaway Cay on Thursday, and a day at sea on Friday. It listed a semi-formal night for night #2, and pirate night for night #4, which was weird, as we were used to pirate night being Nassau day. We figured out that they like to have pirate night the night before your sea day, since it’s a late night and you can sleep in I guess.

We hung out, DH took pictures, and I have learned that you always come prepared with a small child! So, I usually bring something new and exciting for her to do – nothing fancy, just something different. This works wonders, as 2 hrs is a long time for an almost 4 year old to stay occupied, especially since I prefer she doesn’t stare at a TV screen. I got this awesome thing from the Disney Store – it was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book that came with a “dabber” – reminded me of the Magic Ink markers/pads I had growing up. Well, it worked like a charm & kept her interest, which kept her busy. She even had a little boy “helping” her. (I will tell you, parents of small children reading this – if you take nothing else from this trip report, take that tip and use it! Bring something small, cheap, fun and new for your child(ren) to do at the port!!)

We noticed it was nearing 11am, and so I sent DD off to DH to walk around and be ready to see Captain Mickey. Sure enough, not 5 minutes later, here comes Captain Mickey and lo and behold, DD and DH were 1st in line!! She was excited as always. Once she was done meeting Captain Mickey, she came right back to work on her little book until the announcement for boarding came on.

Captain Mickey by ssanders79, on Flickr

The announcement came on ~11:45am, and group #1 boarded shortly after. It cracks me up all of the people that crowd around – there isn’t any point in doing that. I know everyone is excited and ready to board the boat, but really! So, now it’s time for us, group #2 – yeah!!! What was more exciting was that the giant Mickey head was “open for business,” as when we were there in August, that area was closed for refurbishment. We walked on, our names were announced, and immediately, I was taken aback at the beauty of the lobby of the Magic. It seemed so regal – not that the Wonder is not beautiful, because it is, it was just….different. So nice.

DCL Terminal Mickey Entrance - Post Construction by ssanders79, on Flickr

We made our way down to Parrot Cay for lunch and were among the first families to be seated there. The PC lunch buffet was delicious. As on our last trip, I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to go way overboard over indulging on this trip, especially since the holiday were just over. So although I ate more than I typically do for lunch, I still went conservative, however, something I can never pass up is the strawberry soup!! That is sinful. For dessert, I ate fresh fruit and this cup that was basically sweetened heavy whipping cream, drizzled with a little raspberry sauce and topped with some white chocolate shavings.

Parrot Cay - Embarkation Desert by ssanders79, on Flickr
This was terrific! It was better than the one we had in August for sure!!! Once DD finished her meal, she had her first chocolate chip cookie. Even though they are overbaked, she eats one after every lunch while on the cruise (and a Mickey bar after dinner). Cutie. We did notice that the server was barely visible, and I was hoping this wasn’t going to be a precursor to the rest of the cruise….

By now, it was nearing ~ 1pm and we knew that our stateroom wouldn’t be ready until 1:30pm. So, we decided to walk around a little and we went down to Beat Street just to be nosy. First off, aesthetically, I loved it compared to Route 66 on the Wonder. It is just so cool down there. We walked into Diversions, played a little foosball (this was DD’s first experience with it), and just hung out.

We kept an eye on time because we wanted to head over to the stateroom as soon as it opened to get DD down for her daily nap. This was our budget cruise, so as stated above, our 11C GTY was upgraded by DCL to an Cat 9C porthole room on deck 2. I have no previous experience with deck 2 – previously, we had been in an inside stateroom on deck 7 aft, and on the last cruise, we booked a “secret verandah" cabin. First impressions - nice room, porthole seems cool, but we were most excited about the fact that the room had a steamer trunk and a split-bath. I also noticed that our Castaway Club gift was not waiting for us….

We hung up the FE and door magnets, and then dropped our stuff off on the desk side, and got ready to put DD down for a nap. While I was hanging the FE, I was able to spot Margaret, our stateroom hostess, and ask her about the Castaway Club gift, which she was going to check into. Just like last time, we decided to let DD nap on the bed, so that we could sit on the couch while she slept with the curtain pulled. Uh oh. This room is DIRECTLY above the loading gangway. This is noisy. I don’t mean a little noisy, I mean LOUD & NOISY. Well, we figure we’ll try anyways. I know she is tired. We read her a story and by the grace of God amongst all of that noise, she fell asleep. This time, we met our stateroom host, and let her know DD would be napping, and that if the luggage arrived, we’d get it when she woke up, as to not disturb her.

Magic Stateroom 2628 - Fish Extender & Door Magnets by ssanders79, on Flickr

During naptime, DH and I used his iPhone to check to see if the cabin that we wanted to book for our June 16th, 2012 cruise on the Fantasy was still available, so that when we were in the vicinity, we could re-book. We looked over the Navigator and decided we weren’t going to see the show after dinner, which was comedy & juggling, but talked about going to see “Secretariat” instead. We did make a plan to go to Guest Services to get tickets for Tea with Alice. We looked over the documents we received in the room, and noticed what movies were playing. This was the first thing that made me shake my head, as some folks on the DIS had called DCL to see what was playing, and this was a VERY different list than what they were told no big deal for us). We planned on seeing “Tron Legacy” and re-seeing “Tangled” at some point over the course of the cruise.

After DD woke up, we pulled the luggage into the room and unpacked as much as time allowed for. Before we knew it, it was almost 4pm – time to grab the lift jackets, put them on, and head up to the muster drill in Animator’s Palate. Once that was over, it was time to head back to the room and unpack some more before heading up to the Sail Away party and the DIS meet. We got up there at about 4:40pm, and that was 10 minutes later than what we had set for the meet, but much to our surprise, no one recognized each other, so there was really no meet. The deck was actually a lot more crowded than it was when we had our meet in August, not to mention it was loud. We recognized Tisa on stage from the Wonder, then they announced the Cruise Director Peter. Now, let me preface this by saying we had Christiaan previously, and he comes out with energy, backflips, and hand springs. This guy skipped onto the stage, and I looked at DH and said, “B-O-R-I-N-G.” Now, I am sure he’s nice enough, but the energy was missing. Also, the countdown was off, and early, which was odd. Regardless, it was still exciting...3, 2, 1... DCL Horn! Yeah! The time had finally arrived! Since the horn was early, the ship didn’t move – it wasn’t 5pm yet. Weird. When 5pm did arrive, DH & I noticed, for a while, there wasn’t anyone at the port with Mickey hands waving us off. Instead, they were hanging a sign “Welcome Disney Dream.” Really? You couldn’t wait 30 minutes until we left?? Really?? Geeze, did I feel like the red-headed stepchild on the Magic then!!! FINALLY, as we were pulling away farther, there were the people at the port waving with their Mickey hands. Jetty Park had people waving too, although we figured they were camped out to see the Dream, too.

Welcome Dream? Where's our Send off? by ssanders79, on Flickr

Time is flying – back to the room! Again, we unpacked in record time. This time, we wore clothes so that we didn’t have to change for dinner. At ~5:40 PM, we went to Guest Services to get tickets for Tea with Alice, and then headed up to Animator’s Palate for dinner, since we had early seating @5:45 PM. We were escorted to our table, #71, and it was a table for 3, so we were dining alone (it didn’t matter to us either way whether we dined alone or with other people, since we didn’t have anyone to link dining with this time). The table was in a GREAT location at AP – it was right in front of a screen, which would be perfect for the AP show. We were greeted by our serving team - our main server was Marcos from Chile, assistant server Taner, and Head Server, Wayne, from South Africa. I told them up front that DD would most likely order from the adult menu (and she did). We ordered drinks – water for DH, iced tea for me, and DD orders water in an adult glass with a lemon wedge! (Yes she is 3 ½….) Marcos brought us our menus, and at that time, we told him of DH’s allergy to shellfish which was duly noted. We kind of knew what we already wanted, so without further adieu, we ordered. We all decided to skip the appetizers, although this time, I did make a mistake by eating bread (which I skipped on the last cruise). The garlic & herb focaccia bread was so soft & delicious, as was the garlic dip for it.

Animator's Palate - Bread - Roasted Garlic Dip by ssanders79, on Flickr
I ordered the butternut squash soup & DH ordered the baked potato soup.

Animator's Palate - Soup and Salads - Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup by ssanders79, on Flickr
For entrees, DH & DD ordered the pennette pasta, and I ordered my personal favorite, the black bean chipotle cakes. They enjoyed their food, as did I. My only complaint was that my soup was just a tad salty, but still good.


Animator's Palate - The Feature Selection - Pennette Pasta by ssanders79, on Flickr

Animator's Palate - The Feature Selection - Black Bean Chipotle Cakes by ssanders79, on Flickr

Once the entrees were out, the AP show kicked into high gear. Something that was new to us was that Sorcerer Mickey came out at the end of the show!!! It was awesome – DH’s favorite character. This did not happen either time we were in AP on the Wonder!! It was terrific.

For dessert, DD ordered her first Mickey bar, DH ordered the buckled warm apple crumble, and I ordered the strawberry sable.

Animator's Palate - Dessert - Strawberry Sable by ssanders79, on Flickr

Animator's Palate - Dessert - Buckled Warm Apple Crumble by ssanders79, on Flickr
It was good, not crazy delicious, but good. I was more excited that it was a nice and small portion, as that was about all I needed!! A note about the meal – I don’t want to say we had bad service, because we didn’t. I noticed that Marcos & Taner’s other tables were ordering alcohol (bottles of wine, etc), as well as the children ordering smoothies & shakes, so that is where Taner seemed to be occupied with – those tables kept him busy; also, I could tell that Taner was on the newer side, which was fine. Meanwhile, Marcos was busting his butt – trying to do his own job, and also help Taner do his. This left for very little interaction. We decided, it was only night one, right? Four more to go!

We left Animator’s Palate, and went to walk around some more and check out the Magic. Plus, I had to drop off the two booking slips at the Onboard Booking desk. This time, I knew that I was not about to wait in line like last cruise. I came prepared!! We went ahead and did a little shopping – why not get it out of the way on night one!! The shops were practically empty, as I am guessing most people we checking out the comedy/juggling show. We had planned on seeing “Secretariat” in the theater, but we ultimately decided against it since it had been an early morning, and the movie didn’t end until 10pm, which would be an awfully late night for DD. So, we decided to just head back to the room.

On our way back to the room, we met Margaret, who had our Castaway Club welcome gift. When we walked into the room, DD had a look of horror on her face – there was a net on her bed!! Really, Margaret put up a bed rail on the fold-out couch, so DH removed it and just took it back down the hall to her – no harm done. She must have thought DD was younger that she was (she is small for her age), as she left us a brochure for Flounder’s Nursery, too. That’s no big deal – it’s actually nice that she was being so thoughtful!!! Showers for DD and DH, followed by bedtime. We perused the Navigator for the next day, and immediately noticed some typos. The Castaway Cay insert was misprinted – on the back of the map, it said we were setting sail for Port Canaveral!! I hope not!!!

Guess what we passed?? Yep, the Disney Dream on it’s way to Port Canaveral. We could see her from our porthole, and DH went up to get a better view on a higher deck. She is big…..

OK, time for lights out. I knew I would have to be getting up for the gym in the AM

 

[Silverfox97]

DAY 2 | Castaway Cay
The alarm was set for DH so that he could get up early and take morning shots before people started moving around the ship. He did this on the Wonder back in August, so he got up at 5 AM to go out and do his photography hobby. I laid around and got up around 5:45, as I knew that once he got back, I could go off to the gym.

Helmsman Mickey by ssanders79, on Flickr

At the Helm by ssanders79, on Flickr

We Have Our Heading! by ssanders79, on Flickr

When he got back, I was off to the gym. I took my Wave phone, and I am so glad I did. I ran up the stairs - deck 2 up to deck 9 - perfect warm-up!! I stopped at the drink station to fill up my water bottle with ice water, and then headed across deck. I love smelling the sea air!! When I got to the gym, I was shocked that it wasn't open. Apparently, I didn't read the Navigator closely enough…..So, I sent DH a text to let him know it didn't open until 6:30am, and not to expect me until after 7am. This actually might work out better, as then I wouldn't risk waking up DD prematurely.

Finally, the doors opened to the Vista Spa, and I walked in. The fitness center was pretty much just like on the Wonder. I grabbed an elliptical and went to work. As I was leaving, there was a spinning class starting. I did notice that the fitness center was not very busy at all, which I was surprised about. I also noticed that there was no water and citrus slices - there was a water fountain, and a tier of apples, oranges, and bananas. Hmmm……………Good thing I brought my own water! As I was leaving, I noticed that the hot tea area was in front of the Rainforest Room in a little alcove, not out in the open like on the Wonder. Different.

I headed back and although I was quiet going in the room, DD woke up. No big deal - it was already after 7am. I jumped in the shower and got dressed. Although it was Castaway Cay day, I knew it would be way too cold for swimming. We threw clothes on and headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. Topsiders was exactly like Beach Blanket Buffet on the Wonder, and it was just as delicious as we remembered it. We were borderline "bundled up" while eating outside, so after breakfast, we went back to the room and DD put on her swimsuit and cover up (yes, it had a hood!), and DH & I didn't even dare put on ours!

We headed out down the gangway to Castaway Cay, picked up a few towels, and stopped at the post office to mail a few postcards out. We walked along to find a place in the shade with a hammock and a big sandy area for DD to play. She enjoyed playing in the sand, and DH & I took turns playing with her and relaxing in the hammock.

A View from a Hammock by ssanders79, on Flickr

DH braved the water temps twice to fill up DD's sand pail with water, and proclaimed that it was COLD!!

Sand Castle Construction by ssanders79, on Flickr
After some time, I was ready to get my DoTD, so I flagged a gentleman down. On the CC page of the Navigator, the DoTD was listed as a "Golden Start," which looked yummy, however, the drink guy tells me the DoTD was a "Paradise Punch," which was the DoTD on the ship (I know they are different). So, I pulled out my Navigator, and he said that he would get it for me since it was listed. Duh! I hoped so!! LOL - I didn't want a "Paradise Punch." (God forbid - LOL!!!)

When he came back, and I got my drink, it was waaaay worth it. This bartender made it worth the $$, as it was NOT weak in the least……yummy……By this time, it was time to make it up to lunch, and we decided out to check out Cookies Too, as this area was not open in Aug when we cruised on the Wonder. Overall, a nice area, the food was fine - a very nice lunch. We definitely missed the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, though (sigh)............

Once we were done with lunch, it was time to head back to the ship for DD to take a nap. Waiting for us on our fish outside the door, were the quotes from Leslie, the on board booking agent, so I rushed in to give her a call to get them booked!!! DD and I took showers, and then it was time to read her a story and let her drift off. Well, try to drift off. Apparently, they decided that in port, it would be a perfect day to use power washers to take paint off right above us. It literally sounded like a jackhammer was directly above our room. Now, had DD not been sooo tired and unable to fall asleep, there would've been a call made down to Guest Services for sure. I couldn't believe it. It went on until about 3:30pm. It was terribly terribly noisy.

DH went back out on the island to take pictures, while I stayed on the couch side to work on getting the FE stuff together. This was another instance where for us, the wave phones came in handy, as I was able to let DH know when he could come back in the room once DD woke up.

Ominous Magical Skies by ssanders79, on Flickr

Pelican Plunge HDR by ssanders79, on Flickr

When DD woke up, DH took a shower, and we all got ready for Tea with Alice at 4pm. This was not at all what we expected. We were seated at a table in Studio Sea. In front of us, were 3 large chocolate chip cookies, and a tea pot full of apple juice. Umm, isn't this TEA with Alice? Well, none of us (including DD) drink juice, and we certainly weren't going to eat huge cookies 2 hours before dinner, so we just sat there and tried to enjoy the show. DH & I didn't care for it too much, and DD wasn't bored, but I can tell wasn't excited about it, either. I did like some of the manners that Alice was trying to instill, and DD did enjoy pouring the juice. I was glad we did it, but had no immediate plans to do it again. We didn't stay around to take pics with Alice or the Mad Hatter, either. We just headed out to get changed for dinner. On our way back up, we stopped at Guest Services to pick up our extra Navigator, and DH was able to mention the paint stripping via power washer issue; the cast member assured us that it would not be happening again, and if it did, to give them a call. I don't think she knew what was going on in the first place, but water under the bridge - what's done is done. No big deal. She slept, and that it all that ultimately matters. Happy (well rested child) = happy everyone else.

After we changed for dinner, we walked around some and headed up to Parrot Cay. It was going to be our first trip there, as we have missed it in favor of Palo on our last two cruises. I know a lot of people don't like this restaurant, but we were looking forward to it. We were lead to our table, and noticed the dining room was fairly empty……where was everyone? No matter to us, that just meant quicker service for us! The bread they delivered was delicious - and so was the banana butter that accompanied it! We ordered, and as usual, decided to skip appetizers. For the soup/salad course, I ordered the Parrot Cay salad, and DH ordered the West Indies Romaine salad, and both were delicious.

Parrot Cay - Soups & Salads - Parrot Cay Salad by ssanders79, on Flickr

Parrot Cay - Soups & Salads - West Indies Romaine Salad by ssanders79, on Flickr

For our entrees, DD & I ordered the Pan-Seared Grouper, and DH ordered the Caribbean Roasted Chicken.

Parrot Cay - Main Course - Caribbean Roasted Chicken by ssanders79, on Flickr
Our grouper was OK - not terrible, not spectacular, but DH's chicken and sweet potatoes were heavenly!! I took one bite and was very jealous. Very good. For dessert, DD ordered her signature a Mickey bar, I ordered the no-sugar added Pina Colada bread pudding, and DH ordered the Parrot Cay Sweet Temptations. I like that they offer the Sweet Temptations - they are nicely portioned, and a great way to try different desserts.

Parrot Cay - Dessert - Mickey Bar! by ssanders79, on Flickr

Parrot Cay - No Sugar Added Desserts - Pina Colada Bread Pudding by ssanders79, on Flickr

Parrot Cay - Desserts - Parrot Cay's Sweet Temptations by ssanders79, on Flickr

Once dinner was over, we walked around some, but then it was time to split up. DH was headed up to deck 9 to go and watch the Sugar Bowl, Ohio State vs. Arkansas, on Ariel View, while DD & I went to see "Villains Tonight!" We went in, got our seats, and really, really enjoyed it. The actor that played Hades was absolutely terrific! I have always loved Disney villains, and DD's favorite movie is "Hercules," so she enjoyed it. Once it was done, we stopped up to see DH, who was bundled up on a lounge chair, but enjoying the game. DD & I went back to the room, hung out, and then she went to bed, and I reviewed the Navigator for the next day, which was Nassau, or for us, day at sea………………….(Note: I noticed another error - the Princess Gathering was listed on the grid from 8:30-9am, but on the right hand side, on the right side, was a block announcing the Character Appearances, and the Princess Gathering was listed for 11:30-Noon. Hmmm..) DH got back after I was already in bed, but told me that he was a little miffed because Ariel view turned off at the stroke of midnight at a pivital time of the game. The people watching the game outside had no choice to head down to Diversions for the finish. I was glad that he got to watch it onboard.

 

[Silverfox97]

DAY 3 | Nassau (Or 'Day at Sea" for us)
DH told me that he wasn’t going to get up and roam the ship to take pics because 1) he was up late the night before watching the Sugar Bowl, and 2) it is too dark on deck early mornings in January to take pictures. So, I woke up @ 5:59 AM, got up, and got ready to go to the fitness center in the Vista Spa. This time, there was a couple of guys waiting for it to open with me. I walked in & grabbed an elliptical machine and did my 30 minutes of cardio. It is just a nice and refreshing way to start each day.

Back to the room. DH & DD were both still sleeping. While I was in the shower, DH and DD work up and started to get ready to head down to Lumiere’s for breakfast. After eating breakfast at Triton’s on the Wonder in August, we knew we had to go back. It was one of our favorite places and meals while on board last time. We walked in and were seated near the porthole windows. Our serving team was terrific, and who did we see, Marcos and Taner! Marcos came over multiple times to say hello and chit chat with us – it’s almost like he felt out of his element that we weren’t in his section. The menu here is pretty extensive. They have a terrific selection of lighter fare as well. Everything is a la carte, so if you do not see exactly what you would like, you can pretty much devise your own combination. I always start by helping DD order and she decided she wanted wheat toast, fruit, and strawberry yogurt. She about jumped out of her seat with excitement when they brought her a carton of Mickey milk, too. I decided right away that I wanted the buck-wheat crepe filled with scrambled Egg Beaters, spinach and silky tofu with herbed tomato relish – I had it on the Wonder and fell in love with it. DH ordered an omlette.

Lumiere's Breakfast - Ham and Cheese Omlette by ssanders79, on Flickr

While we were waiting, the assistant server brought around a tray of pastries – it had donuts, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc. DH chose something, but I passed (in the interest of calories……….), as did DD. Our breakfast arrived. My crepe was downright incredible, I ate every bite. DH enjoyed his breakfast as well. Now, DD was a little sad. Her favorite breakfast at home is some sort of wheat or multi-grain toast with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top. This toast was plain. Well, immediately our server noticed that something was up, and so she came over and asked DD what was up. DD told her that she was missing her cinnamon; the server left and re-appeared with a gravy boat full of cinnamon and powdered sugar! OMG – she went criz-azy!!! Now that was some cinnamon sugar. Bravo!

After breakfast, we headed back up to our room to get ready to go to the pools. Even though it was not at all warm, I knew DD would have a blast in the Mickey pool. And, the pools are heated, so the worst of it would be the air temperature when she got out. We got changed and headed up to the Mickey pool. DD and I went into the Mickey pool and she had a great time. I was in from the waist down, and the water was warm, but the air was cold and windy. It was busy, but not too crowded. After about an hour, I got out and went to one of the hot tubs at the Goofy pool to warm up while DH watched DD. Holy crap – talk about being COLD when you get out!! I grabbed 3 towels, wrapped myself in them, and laid on a lounge chair hoping that the sun would warm up the towels, which in turn would warm me up and dry me off – the ‘ole physics transfer of energy. Worked like a charm!!

Now, play time was over and it was lunch time. It was very hard to get DD out of the pool, but somehow we managed to do it. DH got some caesar wraps from Goofy’s and then we all went into Topsiders to get some lunch. We brough it out and ate it pool side. It was pretty good. We were careful not to overdo it (although, I eat olives every time I see them - delish!).

By now it was almost 1:30 PM, time to get back to the room, shower and get DD ready for her nap. We planned on seeing “Tron Legacy” at 3:30pm, so we had to hurry. DH left to do some work at a table in Quiet Cove and I just hung out getting the FE’s organized by deck so that we could start delivering them. The time passed quickly, and DH texted me using his wave phone that he was going to deck 9 to get drinks, then would go to get us seats in the theater, so that I could just bring DD when she woke up at the last minute. I actually had to make some noise to wake her up, which I felt bad for, but I knew we could probably get her to bed early.

Down we went to the theater and loved the movie!! I absolutely loved was that “Tron Legacy” was able to keep DD’s interest for two hours! She enjoyed it, too. One thing that was funny at first, but quickly got old, was that everyone in our row (not exaggerating) got up and left multiple times during the movie. It got pretty annoying. Although, the people behind us got a laugh every time is happened and DH sighed. After the movie, when the lights came on, there were 3 people at the far opposite end of the row, and us – literally the entire row emptied in front of us during the movie. Movie etiquette was lost that day. I also doubt this would have happened if they were paying $10 for the movie.

We passed out some of our FE goodies, and stopped back at the room to get changed for dinner, which would be at Lumiere’s tonight. They announced that we would be staying in Nassau until 2am, which didn’t matter to us, really. DH got excited to go on shore and get some night shots of the ship, as usually we wouldn’t normally get this chance.

Onto Lumiere's, which is such a nice and elegant restaurant. We were seated at our table, and as always, DD goes right for the crayons - since she's not going to order from the kids menu, she might as well color it. I loved the bread selection tonight - well, the bread was boring french bread, but it came with a yummy olive spread - yummy! I am so glad that no one else likes olives, so I can get it all to myself. DH & I decided to forgo appetizers again, and started with soup & salads. I ordered the Market Green Salad, and DH ordered the Tomato and Basil Soup.

Lumiere's - Soups and Salads - Tomato and Basil Soup by ssanders79, on Flickr
DH & DD both ordered the Grilled Farm-Raised Chicken Breast Salad (actually, they both love caesar salads in general!!!) -

Lumiere's - Main Course - Grilled Farm-Raised Chicken Breast Salad by ssanders79, on Flickr
I ordered the Porcini Mushoom Ravoli. Not that exciting. Not bad, just not great. I think it might have been better in a different sauce, perhaps a cream sauce, or maybe a garlic butter sauce. There is room for improvement with this dish in my opinion.

Lumiere's - Main Course - Porcini Mushroom-Stuffed Pasta in a Vegetable Broth by ssanders79, on Flickr
Dessert more than made up for it. I have found my new favorite - move over Palo, there is a new souffle in town. OMG - this dessert is so good, it is sinful. I would scream from the rooftops and proclaim my love for the Grand Marnier Souffle. Worth every single calorie hands down.

Lumiere's - Dessert - Grand Marnier Souffle by ssanders79, on Flickr
DD ordered her signature Mickey bar, and DH ordered Creme Brulee, but soon wished he'd have ordered the souffle as well (not that the creme brulee wasn't good, it just wasn't that souffle!!!).

Lumiere's - Dessert - Creme Brulee by ssanders79, on Flickr

After dinner, we grabbed the rest of our FE goodies (we were almost done; just had deck 8 to do & decided we’d do that deck in the AM), and passed them out. DD just loved looking at everyone’s FE and door. DH was on a mission to see if our mini red Pascal magnet (from “Tangled”) would turn up on anyone’s door, as it had gotten stolen, which broke DD’s heart (she cried). Once we delivered to the lone cabin on deck 1, we left the ship. It was a lovely night. We all walked down the pier and we were flanked by two Royal Caribbean ships – one was the Monarch of the Seas, and I don’t remember the name of the other one.

Magic at Night by ssanders79, on Flickr

The Magic's Bulbous Bow by ssanders79, on Flickr

The coolest thing by far was the beautiful tall ship that was docked ~ it was beautiful. I’d love to charter that boat! DH was snapping his pictures of the Magic, and decided that he was going to walk up the dock by one of the RCCL ships to get pics of the front of the Magic; he especially wanted to see if the word “Magic” was lit up.

Illuminated Magic by ssanders79, on Flickr

Illuminated Magic - Light Sources by ssanders79, on Flickr

DD and I just wanted to stay at the end of the dock and hang out and wait for him. That was a mistake!! RCCL passengers were walking back and forth and it was comical at first listening to people as they walked by. Some people commented on how cute DD was, some commented on how beautiful the Magic was…..then, there were the others. A group of ladies walked by, maybe in their 60s, and said, “Can you imagine being on that ship with all of those little kids running around??" I just kind of chuckled. Then, there were 3 people in their 20s, two guys and a girl, stumbling back to the RCCL ship carrying those drink glasses that are a yard long. As they pass, one of the guys spits toward DD and I. Heathens!! That was it! DD & I left DH and we headed back to the ship. No thank you. As we rounded the corner towards the gangway to the Magic, I saw that DH was on his way, and could thankfully see us (I didn’t want him to think that something happened to us on shore). We went back to our stateroom and went thru our usual cruise bedtime routine – DD goes to bed, then we review the next day’s Navigator before heading to bed ourselves. Tomorrow AM we would be waking up at Castaway Cay again -- that never gets old!!

Note: More Navigator errors!! Again, on the Castaway Cay insert in the Navigator, it said we were departing at 5pm for Port Canaveral. Um, nope. Sure aren’t. We had a day at sea on Friday. Apparently the editor didn’t get the memo……..

 

[Silverfox97]

DAY 4 | Castaway Cay (again!)

Magical Day at Castaway Cay by ssanders79, on Flickr

Oh my goodness. That is how I felt about Day 4. Ok, here’s the deal. I get up, and go thru my usual routine – time to get to the gym. I climb the stairs from Deck 2 up to Deck 9, and as I open the door, I about FROZE. I am not exaggerating. It was flippin’ C-O-L-D!!!! I was in a short sleeved dri-fit work out top and shorts, and clearly not prepared. So, I hurried to fill my water bottle at the drink station and then I ran, literally ran to the Vista Spa to wait for them to open. It was so cold and windy. What was Castaway Cay going to be like???

Once I was done working out, I again struggled to get hot tea at the drink station before freezing (!). Once I got back to the room, I couldn’t wait to get into the warm shower. I knew that we wouldn’t even remotely entertain the thought of bathing suits this trip to Castaway Cay. While I was showering and getting dressed, DH went up on deck to see what was going on, as we noticed that the ship was not yet docked, but was stopped – like dead in the water. The thrusters kept going on and off, which was something new to us. DH came back and said it looked like we were waiting to dock, which we eventually did.

A Captain's Concentration by ssanders79, on Flickr

We dressed warmly and went up to Topsiders for breakfast. While at breakfast, there was an announcement from the Captain that there was a storm that would be rolling in between 5-6pm, so all ashore would be at 3pm instead of 5pm in hopes to avoid it. We didn’t care, as we are usually on board by 1-1:30pm for DD’s nap. After breakfast, we packed our bag and went on shore. It was soooooo windy. It was cloudy, and a bit blustery-ish. We decided to head over to the bike rental and rent 2 bikes. We got 2 with child seats on the back; one for DD and one for our backpack. This seemed to be a popular activity at the time. We had a great time. We biked over to the Observation Tower, headed up, and took some pics. Lovely view. I had to chuckle again – the tower was swaying in the wind!! Once DH snapped a few pics, we got back on the bikes and biked past the adult beach to the furthest point we could ride to. There was a nice little sandy area that you stop at, park your bikes, and take pictures. It had a nice view of the adult beach on the left, and just pure sea everywhere else. Pure beauty.

"Locals" by ssanders79, on Flickr

A View to a Cell Phone Tower by ssanders79, on Flickr

We got back on the bikes and had a leisurely ride back. When we got back, a Cast Member asked us politely for our bike with DD riding in the back, as now it seemed that the bikes were extremely hot commodities. Well, as we handed the bike back to the CM, there was a guy who starts to get into it with the CM. Apparently, he tells the CM that he has been waiting over 45 min for a bike with a child’s seat on the back. DH stepped in and handed the guy his bike, and it seemed that everyone was now happy (I guess).

We decided to head over to Scuttle’s Cove, as DD wanted to dig for whale bones at Monstro Point. The line to get into Scuttle’s was soooo long (I can’t even imagine what will happen with the Dream/Fantasy…..). DD wasn’t registered for the kids club yet, so we hoped that this wouldn’t cause a problem. We planned on dropping her off for ~45 min., then heading over to the Heads Up bar for a drink and to check out the view, as DH had been over there on the last cruise, but I had not. Well, when we got to the front of the line, the gal was going to get DD all registered, but then told us that if we all went in as Visitors, that it might be easier. DH & I decided to just skip the drink/bar and head in to play in the sand with DD. Boy are we glad we did! It was cold, yet there were tons of kids getting wet, and since DD is a kid, even if we told her that she wasn’t in a swimsuit and not to get wet, I am sure she would have. Lilo and Stitch were starting a luau, and I am not sure what else was going on. It was busy in there.

We went down to Monstro Point and began to dig in. Believe it or not, there were not many kids over there. It is a neat and fun area and we all dug in and had a great time. About 10 minutes in, a CM announced that any kids checked into the club had to leave the area – we couldn’t believe it! We just got there. Luckily, the CM came over to us and told us that since we were just “visitors,” that we could stay as long as we wanted, and to exit from the area. Now we got excited, as the exit is right by Cookie’s BBQ, which is where we were headed after digging in the sand. Awesome.

Focused by ssanders79, on Flickr

The Big Find by ssanders79, on Flickr
For a little while, it was just the 3 of us. Another family of 4 came in (Mom, Dad, little girl, and even smaller boy), but they were arguing and stressed and all kinds of stuff. It was after 12 Noon, so it was time to head over to lunch.

We left the kids area, headed to the bathrooms to wash our hands, and then to Cookie’s. At this point, there was no sun, it was really really cloudy, and the wind was picking up even more.

Impending Storm by ssanders79, on Flickr
We got our food and man, I couldn’t believe I was in the Caribbean! We hurried through lunch and then stopped at the shop before heading back to the ship. We even had DD bring her cookie with her, rather than wait for her to eat it. Now, something we noticed while we were walking back to the ship – there were CM’s waiting by the gangway with cookies and hot cocoa!!! Only on DCL do you get service like that. We didn’t get any, but smiled at the thoughtfulness of DCL.

We took showers to get the sand off and warm up, and it was time to get DD off for her nap. Tonight was Pirate Night, so it was ultra important that she sleep and sleep good. While she was sleeping, DH did two loads of laundry for us and did some work up at the Cove Café (until it got too cold then went down to Diversions) while she slept. I just hung out and relaxed myself. The seas were a little rough after we cast off – the winds were 20-30+ knots, and the waves were picking up. Again, the wave phones came in handy, as we were able to communicate about the laundry and not have him disturb DD’s nap. Eventually, she woke up after I had to make some noise, but we had to get dressed for dinner. DH came back with a drink concoction --he was trying to make the “Nes-Crappe” drinkable by adding a hot cocoa packet to it. I wasn’t convinced – still Nes-Crappe to me, just with added calories!! I passed. [DH promised himself that he would resolve the coffee issue by the next cruise. He settled on a Bodum Stainless Steel Travel Mug Press. It works great and came with a regular lid. DH has a silver one with a red grip, and I am hoping that by October, he get me one with a purple grip. HINT HINT.]

We got DD dressed in her pirate costume. It was a homemade costume (from a pattern) that I made for her to wear on Halloween. I kind of had to talk her into being a pirate for Halloween instead of Tinkerbelle or a princess by telling her that she would get to wear her costume on the Disney cruises (I made it big, so she will be wearing it in October. If I am lucky, she can wear it in June 2012, too!!). She got her tattoos on and looked adorable. DH was all dressed up and had his Disney pirate tie on, and I had my pirate shirt on as well. We went off to dinner back to Animator’s Palate. We actually really like the Pirate menu, so we were excited.

Mean Pirate by ssanders79, on Flickr

Happy Pirate by ssanders79, on Flickr

A Family of Pirates by ssanders79, on Flickr

We were among the first to arrive to dinner, and we knew where our table was, so we just went to it. Marcos and Taner loved DD’s costume, and so did our Head Server Wayne when he came over later. (I still wish I would have snapped a pic of her and Wayne!) We ordered; for appetizers, I ordered the Buccaneer’s Pineapple, and DH ordered the Pot Stickers.

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Bread Service - Pigeon Pea Relish by ssanders79, on Flickr
I **love** the pineapple app – it comes with a banana wedge that they roll in toasted coconut. Delish! DH noticed that his pot stickers did not come with the dipping sauce, but they were still good.

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Appetizers - The Buccaneer's Sun-Ripened Pineapple by ssanders79, on Flickr

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Appetizers - Pirates Golden "Pot Stickers" by ssanders79, on Flickr
DH & I both ordered the Jerk Chicken Salad.

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Soup and Salad - Jerk Chicken Salad by ssanders79, on Flickr
Now it was time for the crown jewel – mine and DD’s favorite entrée on the cruise – the Treasure of the Seas pasta. Yummy!!!! DH ordered the Castaway Chicken Breast, which was different entree than he had ordered the last time we cruised. I think he was saving up his red meat for Palo.

The entrees arrived, and were dropped off. Now, on the last cruise, our server de-shelled the shrimp for DD and cut her pasta, and then de-shelled my shrimp as well. As usual, Marcos was busting his butt, so I began de-shelling my shrimp, with the plan on trading plates with her. Well, just as I was working on that, Marcos came by and saved the day by de-shelling DD’s shrimp. I just love that extra help that the DCL servers do – that extra mile that they go. This helps Mom have a vacation, too! We all dug in, and as usual, DD & I adored our pastas. I ate all of mine and she ate all of the shrimp and scallops (and most of the pasta).

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Main Course - Treasure-of-the-Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops by ssanders79, on Flickr

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Main Course - Castaway Chicken Breast by ssanders79, on Flickr

This time, she didn’t want dessert, which was shocking, but no problem. I would let her have some dessert at the Pirate buffet if she wanted – we are on vacation after all. DH ordered the no sugar added coconut rice pudding, and I ordered the Sweet Temptations. My dessert was mediocre. The chocolate cake wasn’t bad, but not exciting, and the cheesecake was bland. I did like the rum barbossa. I can tell you that next time, I will order the coconut rice pudding (with extra raspberry sauce!), as that dessert is very good!!

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - No Sugar Added Desserts - Coconut Rice Pudding by ssanders79, on Flickr

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Dessert - Pirates of the Caribbean's Sweet Temptations by ssanders79, on Flickr
We gave DD a second change to change her mind on desert.... (DH loves the dark chocolate shell)

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner - Dessert - Mickey Bar by ssanders79, on Flickr

DD had a good time joining the dining staff dance thru the restaurant and limbo-ing – this is the first time we had seen this on Pirate Night, too. Very fun stuff.

After dinner, we had a chance to talk to Marcos a little more than usual – he seemed to have a little time. We reminded him that we would be at Palo the following night for dinner, and he suggested that we stop by Lumiere’s for breakfast again. We told Marcos that we were actually planning on going to Lumiere’s for lunch, and he told us that he would be there all day, and to request him. I didn’t know you could do this! Had I known before, we would’ve requested him the AM we ate breakfast in there!

Well, we left AP, and thought we heard thunder. We stepped out on deck 4 and could not believe our eyes. We were in the midst of a thunderstorm, full force. The wind was insane, the rain was coming down hard, lightening was lighting up the sky, and the thunder was loud! I had a feeling that Pirate Night was going to be a bust.

We decided to give DD a choice – she could go see the show “Twice Charmed,” or, she could go to the Oceaneer’s Club. I did tell her that we would be able to see “Twice Charmed” on the Magic when we were back on in Oct., but it was totally up to her. Not surprisingly, she chose the kids club. So, we went up because we had to get her registered and get a bracelet. We don’t like to register her early because she is stuck wearing that God awful bracelet for no reason (yes, we know you can take it off, but really, why bother?). Who was right in front of the kids club? Snow White!! She stopped to talk to DD for a few minutes and now, DD is enamored. After I pull DD away, we make our way into the kids club. She got her bracelet, and held out her hands to get the soap (she remembered!), and off she ran. It’s funny – she just runs off, never looks back, and yet, I walk away feeling almost empty, as I am not used to not having her with me/us. She has never been with a sitter or to daycare, so it seems so weird when she is not there!! I was glad that we made it to day (night 4) before even getting her registered.

DH and I went to walk around, and just hang out. We decided we’d give her about an hour to play, and then go get her with hopes that the weather would let up, and that we would be able to see fireworks. We heard chatter that the Pirate Party was being moved indoors, but could not fathom that everyone would be able to enjoy it in the lobby – too many cruisers, not enough space. We tried to open the doors to get out onto deck 4 to see what was up, and we literally could not get the door open. It was crazy windy! It was actually kind of cool being out in the open sea in a storm.

We picked up DD, and headed up to deck 9 to get some diet coke. We also found out that the buffet was not moved into Topsiders, but would be on deck 4. Now, trust me when I say that no one was at all hungry, but I guess it’s principle; if it’s offered, might was well taste it, right. Why not? Sure enough, rain kept on and the dessert buffet was on deck 4 right before the Promenade Lounge. We got in line, but then DH left once he saw that it was just desserts – he was hoping for the tacos, and such – the “non-desserts.” I got a plateful, but I only planned on having a forkful or two of each. We decided to take it back to the room, DD & I had a few tastes, and then it was time to hit the hay. The boat was definitely moving in the weather, but it didn’t bother us at all.

 

[Silverfox97]

DAY 5 | At Sea
Late night, schmate night. It’s time to get my butt up and get to the gym. I made it there at 6:30am again, in time for opening. This was the day we were hoping to get a photo op with the Wonder and the Dream. We were “at sea,” the Wonder was scheduled to be at Castaway Cay, and the Dream was out and about. We figured that for sure it was the day to get the photo op with all 3 ships. I was on my guard big time while exercising. Still, we saw nothing (and found out later the Wonder never did get to dock at CC due to the weather & rough seas).

When I got back, it was time to shower and head up to Topsiders. I love their oatmeal, sprinkled with a little brown sugar, and walnuts. Yummy!! We ate inside near the windows because man-o-man, it was not at all warm!!! Certainly, had it been less windy, it might have not been as cold, but it was.

After breakfast, we took DD down to the Playhouse Disney party in the Promenade Lounge. DD looked like she had fun, but the kids that were there were pretty little. They really just sang songs from the shows, no big deal. I used this time to review the Navigator some. We were a little disappointed in the schedule of activities for the sea day, as it seemed that everything seemed to overlap. DH & I wanted to go to the “Disney Innovations: Parks and Resorts” presentation, I was planning on taking DD to the Scrapbooking Party (no, I don’t scrapbook, just thought it would be fun to do a craft together on the ship). They were offered at the exact same time. We decided instead to go and see “Tangled” at 10am.

We ended up in one of the first few rows, which surprisingly wasn’t as awful as it would be in a local theater. It was our second time seeing it (the first was on “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving), and DD loved it even more than the first time she saw it. It was terrific.

After the movie, we up to meander thru the gift shops, then headed over to Lumiere’s for lunch. I wasn’t even hungry yet, but today was Palo night for dinner, so we had to eat early and light. We asked to be seated with Marcos, and were – no problem. Taner was working with him, as well. Marcos seemed pretty happy to see us – it’s got to make it nice for them, since they know us!! Taner came back with our drinks (we didn’t even order them – he just brought us our “usuals”), and I threw him for a loop – I wanted the Drink of the Day, which was an "Ocean Cruiser." I think Taner thought I was joking; he just kind of looked at me, shocked. He left to go get it, and it took a while…..DH thought he went up to Deck 9 to get it from a bar up there (ha ha). When I did get it, it was delicious!!! It was a little on the strong side, and I was glad – love to get my monies worth!!!

For lunch, I ordered two appetizers, the chilled strawberry soup, and the roquette salad.

Lumiere's Lunch - Soups and Salads - Chilled Strawberry Soup by ssanders79, on Flickr
DH ordered mozzarella sticks from the kids menu, and the angus chuck burger with fries.

Lumiere's Lunch - Appetizers - Deep-Fried Breaded Mozzarella Sticks by ssanders79, on Flickr
DD wanted the fettuccini alfredo, but I really wanted her to have some protein, and not so much fat, so I talked her into the pasta with Bolognese sauce instead. She asked Marcos if she could have a side of carrots (not on the menu), and he never balked, and made carrots appear!! She of course had to have fresh parmesan cheese shaved on top, as well.

Lumiere's Lunch - Childrens' Menu - Buttered Spaghetti by ssanders79, on Flickr
I love the strawberry soup – it’s like vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce, blended together, I swear. It’s a dessert, who are we kidding? I love it. The salad wasn’t great, but I really didn’t care – just needed something to tide me over until 6pm at Palo. DH loved his mozzarella sticks (I did steal one; DD not so much), and ate the burger and left just a few fries. DD ate all of her carrots (every last one), and some of her pasta. (Rule #1: never try to talk your child into something different than they want…………Rule #2: never force your child to order pasta off the kids menu when they originally asked for something off the adult menu. I should've known better -- ) We didn’t order dessert, although Marcos drove a hard bargain on the tiramisu, I didn’t want to fill up before dinner. Plus, based on our August cruise, I knew the tiramisu wouldn’t hold a candle to Palo’s (or so I thought………….), as I did have it at Triton’s then.

Here’s where the fun kicked in – after lunch, we had time to just chill and hang out with Marcos. It was a great time. He had plenty of time (I think there was one other table with folks at it in his section), and he just hung out with us. We talked about working on DCL, what he did pre-DCL, how much he likes kids, how he was going to Chile to see his son during his break, what DH & I did – just hung out for about 20 minutes or so. It was a good time. It was cool to see him so laid back, relaxed, and not stressed like at dinner. It was almost like making up for lost time, but even better, because he wasn’t being fake – he was just hanging out. Fun stuff.

Finally, it was time to go back and get DD ready for her nap. Being that we weren’t going to be at dinner, we gave Marcos & Taner their tip envelopes (which I always put in a hand written Thank You card – I prefer to be more personal). They were surprised, and very grateful. We did ask if they knew where Wayne might be, and they thought he might be at the Parrot Cay seafood buffet, so we decided to catch him before dinner.

We headed back, did a little packing, and again, DH dropped us off, took his Wave phone, camera, and computer to head up to Quite Cove and later Diversions to work on some stuff. I just hung out and started to pack up quietly, while watching our direction on the map. We were sure that we were going to pass the Dream that day, as the Dream was out and about, the Wonder was suppose to be at Castaway Cay (we didn’t know yet that they couldn’t dock), and we were at sea. We even asked Marcos about it, and he hadn’t heard, but talked of when the met her on New Year’s Eve. We were headed back in the direction of Castaway Cay, so we were sure that we were going to have the photo op with all 3 ships.

Once 4:30pm rolled around, I texted DH to come on back and bring DD two slices of pizza from Pinocchio’s. That is what we did on our August cruise on Palo night, and it seemed to work well. He came back, and we packed, while DD slowly ate her pizza, and watched a Disney movie. Not what we do at home, but she is on vacation!

We got pretty much packed up, and changed for Palo. DH loves wearing a suit, so he was in heaven. We poured our glasses of wine, and headed out. We left our tip & Thank You note on the bed for Margret to get in our absence. We dropped off DD to the Kids Club, and told them we were going to Palo, and then we went off to find Wayne. DH ended up dropping it off to him, and also thanked him for being a visible head server, which can sometimes be hard to come by, and we went up to Palo.

Palo by ssanders79, on Flickr

We got there before they opened the doors, just before 6pm, and DH handed me his wine glass and headed off to the bathroom for a quick pit stop before dinner. In his absence, they opened the doors and started seating people. We like the 6pm time because 1) we eat early at home, and 2) we like the prime window seating. We were seated and then greeted by Alvin, our server.

Palo - Menu by ssanders79, on Flickr
We ordered our drinks (water with lemon for me, iced tea for DH), and then chatted with Alvin a little. We told him we had just cruised in August, and he was asking us about future plans, and actually didn’t really seem to believe that we were booked for the June 16th, 2012 cruise on the Fantasy. He was like, “You mean the ship that they haven’t even started to build yet? Really? How did you book that?” Umm, newsflash, Alvin. Bookings opened in October, and it was now almost 3 months later. Definitely not lying.

We were brought the bread and the antipasto, and as usual, I ate the olives and the olive tapenade—I just LOVE olives!!

Palo - Pane Casalingo (Bread Service) by ssanders79, on Flickr

Palo - Specialita Del Palo: Antipasto Freddo by ssanders79, on Flickr

We didn’t want to fill up on these appetizers, as we knew what was to come. At the risk of being boring, we ordered the same appetizers; DH ordered the Quattro Formaggi pizza, and I ordered the calamari. Here’s where our Palo experience started to derail some. DH orders his favorite – Beef tenderloin Palo with the Gorgonzola sauce. I ask if I can have the lobster ravoli, but with some scallops, as I know that each item is made to order. Well, Alvin stands there, hands behind his back, and starts to tell me, “No M'am, I am sorry. We are unable to split orders, as it ruins the presentation.” I tell him that I was just on the cruise in Aug., and ordered two half entrees, as I didn’t want to be wasteful. He tells me, “New chef, new rules.” He could tell I am shocked, and I could tell he was thinking. He then tells me that he would suggest ordering the scallops, then getting a half order of the lobster ravoli, as pasta is pasta, and the presentation wouldn’t be any different if it was smaller. I decided that would be fine and appreciated his willingness to work something out to make all parties involved happy.

Our appetizers arrived, and immediately, DH noticed that his pizza was definitely different, and soon found out that it was not different in a good way……The pizza crust tasted like the crust from Pinocchio’s, and there was a lack of cheese (!) – interesting for a four cheese pizza. I noticed that my calamari also wasn’t as good – a little more chewy, but still good.

Palo - Antipasti, Insalatine & Zuppa - Fritto di Calamari by ssanders79, on Flickr

Palo - Pizzette del Pizzailo - Quattro Formaggi by ssanders79, on Flickr

Again, had we not just had been to Palo on the Wonder in August, we may not have noticed. We got our palate cleanser, which was a little weird on the flavor combination – lime tarragon sorbet. It was refreshing.

Palo - Palate Cleanser by ssanders79, on Flickr

On to the entrees. Uh oh. Let me start with mine. The scallops were cooked perfectly. Honestly prefect and delicious. I am glad he brought me a full order of them. They were the best part of the meal (although the bean ragu in the center was lackluster, so I left most of it). The lobster ravoli also wasn’t as good as they were in August; they were chewy and the lobster was a little overcooked, but the flavor was still pretty good. (I was not liking the new chef so far!!)

Palo - Il Pesce - Grilled Sea Scallops wiht Brolotti Beans and Pancetta by ssanders79, on Flickr

Palo - La Pasta - Lobster and Mascarpone Ravioli by ssanders79, on Flickr
Poor DH. Poor, poor DH. You see, on our last cruise, he went on a red meat vacation – ordered a steak at dinner almost every night (I don’t typically buy red meat at home, so for him, if he wants it, he can order it in a restaurant). This time, he didn’t, as he was saving his red meat steak dinner for Palo; cap off the cruise right! His steak arrived, and he immediately noticed that his “medium” steak was waaaaaayyy overdone! What?? Then, to top it off, the potatoes that accompany the steak had no flavor and were barely cooked – he didn’t even eat them.

Palo - La Carne - Our Beef Tenderloin "Palo" by ssanders79, on Flickr

Now, we aren’t complainers, so we didn’t complain – we just took note, and were surprised.

As usual, while we were eating dinner, Alvin came to ask for our dessert choices, and we made sure to tell him that we did not want the soufflé – we’ve had it twice – once amazing and great, once dry, and we didn’t want it. Sometimes at Palo, they bring it anyways, so we just wanted to let him know not to bring it, so that we didn't waste it. I ordered the tiramisu, and DH decided to try the sweet pizza, which sounded intriguing to say the least.

Let me start with the good – I loved the sweet pizza – it was different, and delicious. Great choice by DH. Something “outside the box.” I wouldn't hesitate to get that again!

Palo - Dolci - Sweet Pizza by ssanders79, on Flickr

Here came the disappointment of the cruise for me – the tiramisu. It was basically a scoop of vanilla gelato, with a few little cruncky cookie-type things (that had ZERO flavor), with limp crème around it, sprinkled with cocoa. No ladyfingers, no firm crème, nothing great. What??? What happened??? I didn’t even finish it – why bother?? I was severely disappointed. I actually felt let down.

Palo - Dolci - Palo's Homeade Tiramisu by ssanders79, on Flickr

Alvin came over and we sung the praises of the sweet pizza. When he brought the “check,” he came back with the shot. I was excited, and told him that I loved it – lemon sorbet, vodka, and sparkling wine – he was so excited that I knew that, he hi-fived me. Too funny. It is delicious, though.

Palo - After Dinner Shot by ssanders79, on Flickr

Time to go. We were also surprised that the manager didn’t come over to ask us how our meal was, which they always do. We joked that he was probably too busy leaving voice mails reminding people of the dress code, as we had received three calls. (Maybe someone should be calling all the cruisers to remind them of main dining dress code -- seriously there was an adult who wore basketball shorts every night!!!)

One main difference we noticed about cruising in the winter is that the sun sets much earlier (duh!). We could only see outside of Palo for a short time, thus making it null and unnecessary to have a seat by a window. We strolled around for a bit, and then made our way to check on and pick up DD from the kids club. On our way, we stopped at Guest Services, and there was NO line. Not sure how that happened, but we jumped up to an assistant and had them apply our gift cards and cash to the account. Easy peasy.

When we got to the kids club, it took a while to find DD – once I did, she had an armful of stuff. Now, mind you, it was about 8pm, but they had given her a pillowcase for Goofy’s Pajama Party, plus, a t-shirt from “Friendship Rocks!,” and an adorable blue sailor hat (good quality, too) that said “Oceaneer’s Club.” That was sooo very nice of them. As she left, they cut the bracelet off her, and she was crying. She spent so little time in there, and she was so sad to leave. We told DD that she would be back on the Magic in October, and the counselor was a quick study and told DD that she would watch her bracelet for her until October. Smart thinking – it worked!!!

Off we went. We had just seen “Dreams,” so we decided to go back and make sure we were all packed up and set out the luggage. When we got back, we saw Margret, and DD wanted to color her a picture, which was awesome, as that kept her busy as we finished packing. We packed up, set the luggage out, and that was that.

Now, the Captain announced that we would be passing the Dream ~10pm. So, DH went up on deck with his camera to wait. While he was up there, he met someone from our area (Plant City, to be exact), and had a good time. DD didn’t want to go to bed, and her face was glued to the porthole to see when the Dream came into view. Well, it did – it certainly did; however, it was anti-climactic. Just as when we passed her previously, it was dark, and all we saw were her lights and that it was a big ship. No horn battle, nothing fancy. I was again glad for the Wave phones, as DH was able to tell me that his view was no better than ours was, so we were able to stay in our warm & cozy stateroom rather than the freezing cold and windy deck. Everyone’s curiosity had been satisfied.

A Distant Dream by ssanders79, on Flickr

DH came back and it was time to turn in. We always hate the last night. I will say, one thing I enjoyed was that our last day was at sea. I know that DCL likes for their guests to end their cruise vacations on the lovely island of Castaway Cay….a day of relaxation, and plus, it makes you want more. However, we really enjoyed having the sea day for the final day.

 

[Silverfox97]

DAY 6 | Disembarkation Day
I can’t say that I slept well anyways, but good Lord, the horrible awakening when we got to port at an ungodly time (around 5am) was crazy. Remember, our room was where they load/unload luggage and supplies. Horriffic noise. We had already planned on not going to the 6:45am breakfast; why rush?? We are leaving and driving home to Tampa – no plane to catch, no reason to rush off the ship. So, I laid there, quiet, waiting until 7am to get up and shower. I did end up waking DH, who grabbed his iPhone and started in on the barrage of e-mails from the past 5 days.

We managed to be ready and out of the room by 8am and headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. It was definitely “left-overs” day!!! Oh my. They didn’t even have walnuts for the oatmeal. We certainly were able to find stuff to eat for breakfast, but it was not the same as it had been the previous mornings. While we were eating, we were worried that they would try to rush us off the ship, but there was an announcement that the ship had just cleared customs, which was at 8:30am. To us, that translated to a back up of people trying to exit. Yep, that is exactly what happened.

We made our way down slowly to disembark, and we were very surprised about the number of people still on the ship. We left the ship, but the line once you got off the ship down the gangway was looooooonnnnngggggg……Ugh. I felt like we were in line of something at the Magic Kingdom, except at the end, no payoff!! We finally were able to leave, and actually, customs moved quickly. Once we left the terminal, we took one last look, and bid the Magic adieu until October. We walked to our vehicle, and packed it up, and DH quickly looked for the closest Starbucks (which is inside a Merritt Island Target store in case anyone else driving needs their fix!!!), and we headed there. He wanted to be sure he had “real coffee” for the journey home. We are a split-coffee family, so DH stopped at Dunkin’ Dounts for my decaf (I can’t stand Starbucks -- way too strong). In no time, we were back on the highway and headed home. We passed WDW and we were not sad, as we were coming back in one week for the day (and dinner at ‘Ohana!!!!). We made it home in no time. We missed the Magic, but were happy to get home to see how our kitties faired without us!

All in all, our post-holiday cruise vacation was very nice. We could definitely tell that there were new cast members, but were still very grateful to be able to cruise again so soon after our Aug cruise. Hope you like our trip report!! Feel free to ask any questions you wish, and we hope to write another one in October, as we will be embarking on our 7-night Western Caribbean on the Magic Enjoy!!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Loved reading your TR!!! Thanks for sharing! It brought back sooo many memories for me. Things I forgot about so I caught myself saying "ohh yeah" alot!

 

[jbuckent]

Thanks for the review! We are currently booked on this itinerary for next year on the Dream. I'm thinking about pushing our reservation back to early March (our normal time of year to cruise) now that I read this. Our favorite part of cruising is the beaches and it looks like the beaches are not so hot this week.

Your fish extender is super, where did you get the gold emblems?

 

[ssanders79]

Your fish extender is super, where did you get the gold emblems?

Thanks, they are hand cut from gold foil iron-on sheets.

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Thanks for the review! We are currently booked on this itinerary for next year on the Dream. I'm thinking about pushing our reservation back to early March (our normal time of year to cruise) now that I read this. Our favorite part of cruising is the beaches and it looks like the beaches are not so hot this week.

We were on the same cruise and enjoyed the beach both days. I think it really depends on the climate you are used to. We came from Indiana where there was 6 inches of snow on the ground and 20 degree temperature. The Bahamas, 60 degrees, felt great to us!

 

[Silverfox97]

Loved reading your TR!!! Thanks for sharing! It brought back sooo many memories for me. Things I forgot about so I caught myself saying "ohh yeah" alot!

Still have 3 note cards left from your FE gift - I am trying to savor them because I LOVE them!!!

Thanks for the review! Your fish extender is super, where did you get the gold emblems?

That fish extender to F-O-R-E-V-E-R to make. Not exaggerating. Lots of blood, sweat, & tears. (Well, maybe not blood...) We are really proud of how it turned out, though. DH (ssanders79) is gearing up to do the final pocket on the bottom - the bow design for the Fantasy!!!

We were on the same cruise and enjoyed the beach both days. I think it really depends on the climate you are used to. We came from Indiana where there was 6 inches of snow on the ground and 20 degree temperature. The Bahamas, 60 degrees, felt great to us!

Exactly. We are from Tampa, and you could tell who else on the cruise was also from the south -- we were the ones bundled up!!! However, we knew this was how it was going to be, and planned for it. We cruise at different times of the year for the different experiences. In June & August, we plan on doing all of the water/beach stuff and enjoy swimming at Castaway Cay. In January, we planned on enjoying the sand and non-water activities. We live right by the Gulf beaches, so it doesn't upset us if the water is too cold to swim in at all. It's great variety. Our next cruise is in Oct., so I am excited to see how a fall cruise is.

 

[ssanders79]

This cruise was a suprise to DD. We gave her a puzzle to open on Christmas morning.

 

[delo4]

Enjoyed your trip report. We were on this cruise as well. It was a bit cooler than we are used to, since we normally cruise in October and March. This was a "can't pass up the deal cruise".

I think that we may have been in Palo the same time as you. Our reservations were for 6:30 and we also had Alvin as our server. We have eaten in Palo many times and he was our least favorite server. When I asked for butter for the bread, he actually rolled his eyes at me. Then he did it again when my husband asked a question about something. We almost left because we didn't want to spend our last night on the cruise being disappointed, but we ended up staying. We knew that if we left, the server would most likely be in a lot of trouble and while what he did annoyed us, I didn't want to make a bigger deal about it.

I, like you, did not feel like this was the best Palo food. We have had better. I also think that Alvin was not going to go out of his way to do any more than was necessary. He just did not impress us at all. We loved our servers in the Dining room and we should have just had our last dinner with them instead of going to Palo.

The weather was quite cool on that last day. I will say, though, we had a great time.

I was also glad we went because they were offering a great price on the Jan 30th sailing of the Dream if you booked while on board. We had not planned on being on the Dream until October, but we were able to take advantage of this great price. So, 3 weeks later, we were cruising again.

Thanks again for your report, enjoyed re-living some great memories through your report.

 

[disneydreamin-gang]

I started reading your trip report and one thing caught my attention. You said your room 2628 was noisy. Was that only during the day and on port days?
We are in 2630 for our first cruise. If it's only port days we are fine. No sleeping children for us. Maybe a nap for me but noise doesn't bother me.

 

[ssanders79]

I started reading your trip report and one thing caught my attention. You said your room 2628 was noisy. Was that only during the day and on port days?
We are in 2630 for our first cruise. If it's only port days we are fine. No sleeping children for us. Maybe a nap for me but noise doesn't bother me.

I would say it was mostly on port days. The embarkation and debarkation were the worst. Keep in mind you get back to Port Canaveral early in the morning and they start unloading/loading. DW may have a better memory as to the time it started. I also recall other noises from the galley.

 

[Silverfox97]

I would say it was mostly on port days. The embarkation and debarkation were the worst. Keep in mind you get back to Port Canaveral early in the morning and they start unloading/loading. DW may have a better memory as to the time it started. I also recall other noises from the galley.

That is exactly right. It was noisy on the day we left, the first day at Castaway Cay, and the day we arrived back in port. Those were the worst. I heard galley noise as well, but nothing bad -- nothing that would keep me or DD awake.