8/15/09-Eastern-Tortola Treasure Seekers #4

[Melcatfish]

FOOD

Ok as we are getting closer, it’s time to think what we will do on-board, so where do you like to eat on the ship apart from Dinner time in the restaurants.

Breakfast….

Do you prefer?

• Topsiders buffet and omelette station
• Lumière's for formal breakfast
• Parrot cay, inside buffet
• Room service,

Or a mixture of these or all of these?

Lunch

• Topsiders buffet and salad station
• Lumière's for formal lunch or brunch
• Room service,

Snack places

What do you prefer?

• Goofys galley
• Pluto’s dog house
• Pinocchio's Pizzeria
• Snacks at Cove café.

And then of course

• Late night snacks at Rocking bar d,
• Pirate night and
• Dessert buffet

..

Our previous cruise was a 3 night and I really feel like we did not explore the food options much so we will be aiming to try out lots of different things.

Given that our plans do not involve lengthy shore excursions I am hoping we will have time to try out a lot of the dining options at our leisure.

For breakfast I imagine we will make use of all the different options at least once on the cruise. Room service for a light breakfast, Lumieres for a sit down breakfast and a buffet either Topsiders or Parrot Cay. Plus of course the Character breakfast that will be a "must do" with our young children!

For lunches, on our sea days I have booked some nursery time for Olivia on a couple of the days so DH and I can take Izzy to the club and then enjoy a lunch date! At least one of these we will eat in Lumieres, another time we will have something quick and enjoy the adult pool.

We will probably try out Goofys Galley for snack \ light lunch one day but probably not Pinocchios and possibly not Plutos. We are not Coffee drinkers but I think I quite fancy stopping by for a cake or similar from Cove Cafe.

In the evening we will eat in the rotational dining rooms every night except Thursday when we have Palo - I haven't decided what we will do for dinner for the girls - probably room service before they go to the club \ Flounders.

As you may be able to tell the food is a big part of our cruise experience. Apart from Castawy Cay we are not planning on spending more than around 4 hours max in any of the ports so that should leave us some good ship time to enjoy the facilities and try out the dining options

Mel
x

PS Jen, my CC5K training took a nose dive today as I seem to have done something to my knee - it seems ok when I walk but after a short jog it is quite painful. I went out a did a two mile jog \ walk this evening and it was more walk than jog! I am hoping with a rest it will be ok. I also have killer blisters from wearing a pair of trainers (sneakers LOL) that I haven't worn for ages.

 

[jenanderson]

Jen, my CC5K training took a nose dive today as I seem to have done something to my knee - it seems ok when I walk but after a short jog it is quite painful. I went out a did a two mile jog \ walk this evening and it was more walk than jog! I am hoping with a rest it will be ok. I also have killer blisters from wearing a pair of trainers (sneakers LOL) that I haven't worn for ages.

Mel -

I am sorry to hear that you did something to your knee...that is no fun! Last week I was down most the week with a bad back and that is why I didn't start jogging as soon as school let out. Hopefully it will be good again soon.

My 5K training is okay but I seriously need to work on being able to jog longer. I am great at power walking but for some reason as soon as I start to jog...it all goes down hill!

I am taking the day off today but will do 5K again tomorrow.

Jen

 

[jenanderson]

We talk about the food all the time!!! Here are some of the things we have talked about....

Once on board -
We will head to the pool and eat from the snack places...maybe some pizza, maybe some fries, maybe ice cream..whatever because we will be on vacation!

Dinners -
Except for the night we have Palo, we will follow our dining rotation. The night we have Palo, the kids will go to the dining room with my SIL and eat at their regular time.

The one thing I am going to do this time is to ask for things I want a bit more. I won't be demanding but I will ask for different things this time. Examples would be to get a different side dish or to try to sample something new but ask for something I know I like as well or to get two desserts!!!

Lunches -
I am sure it will be a variety of different things! I know that 2 of the days we will be on excursions and have to do our own lunch. On Castaway Cay we will eat the buffet. One day we have the Palo brunch. On the other days, I think we will just play it by ear and do whatever we feel like.

Breakfast -
Last cruise we primarily did room service and we are not planning on doing that again. It was okay but I think we could eat fresher or hotter food if we go to one of the restaurants. It seemed that even though they try to do a good job of keeping things hot with room service that it is not as good. We will do our character breakfast.

Room Service -
We will be using room service more...we loved it! Cookies or Mickey bars and milk at night before bed, coffee and/or juice right away in the morning while getting ready, possibly the fresh fruit bowl, or whatever anyone else is in the mood for. I will be putting a bunch of $1 bills in an envelope so whoever wants it can have money for tipping room service.

Last cruise we missed the pirate night offerings because Emily did not feel well after being in the sun all day at Castaway Cay. I plan on taking advantage of the late night "treats" this time.

With all the food I plan on eating, I am going to have to be up working out each morning or someone will just have to roll me the whole 5K!!!!

Jen

 

[Melcatfish]

With all the food I plan on eating, I am going to have to be up working out each morning or someone will just have to roll me the whole 5K!!!!

I really hope I get myself together and get up earlyish for a workout in the gym or a walk \ jog round the decks in the morning - right now it is totally in my plans so I hope I can stick to it.

Also agree 100% about the hard jump from walking fast to jogging slowly, I am finding that when I jog on a treadmill or using my Wii in the house it is no problem, but actually jogging along a road or path I struggle to maintain it for very long and have to resort to walking for a bit. I hope to improve this before we go, if not I will still do the 5K but just with a bit of power walking thrown in between the intermittant jogging!

Mel
x

 

[jenanderson]

Alright, I am going to have to admit that we do not often eat at places like Palo. When I look at the menu...it is a bit difficult for me to figure out how many things to order. When we went last time, I just asked the waiter what he recommended...it was wonderful but I would like to understand the menu a bit more.

One of the confusing things...it looks like the menu starts with pizzette del pizzaiolo and La Pasta...is this an appetizer and then you still order a main dish? Do you order it for your main meal?

The next confusing thing...the next section of the menu...antipasti, insalatine & zuppa...are these appetizers? Again, do you order things out of here for your main meal?

Okay...by now I know that many of you are laughing at me but I have to keep asking because I want to know how to order here without looking like I don't know what I am doing on the ship!

More questions...the next sections look like what you would order for your main course. If that is the case, how many of the other items do you order?

So many things on the menu look incredible but I want to order the correct things in the correct order! Please help me!

Feel free to share what you order or your knowledge on what should be ordered!!!

Thanks from your not so sophisticated DIS friend!
Jen

 

[kritter]

Hello everyone...

Sorry, I was not around much today. Spent the day at the Children's Hopsital......with Hanna.........

Took her to the dr. on Friday.....Had a fever of 104.0 and an UTI infection but the meds. were making her get sick to her stomach so the dr. sent us up to Children's to get her meds to make her stop getting sick and to have some stronger antibotics in her. They were afraid it was going into her kidney's but she is doing better now. If the fever is still here tomorrow they want us to call them back and they will start her on a course of shots, and IV's!!!!!!



Hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jenanderson]

Hello everyone...

Sorry, I was not around much today. Spent the day at the Children's Hopsital......with Hanna.........

Took her to the dr. on Friday.....Had a fever of 104.0 and an UTI infection but the meds. were making her get sick to her stomach so the dr. sent us up to Children's to get her meds to make her stop getting sick and to have some stronger antibotics in her. They were afraid it was going into her kidney's but she is doing better now. If the fever is still here tomorrow they want us to call them back and they will start her on a course of shots, and IV's!!!!!!

Hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kristen -

So sorry to hear that Hanna has been so sick! That is terrible! I am glad that she was able to get some better meds and that she is doing better. Sending lots of wishes that tomorrow she will be better and will not need to go back tomorrow.

How is your throat? I hope you are taking care of yourself as well!!!!

Please give us an update on Hanna tomorrow if you are able to.

 

[caitlinsdad]

Hello everyone...

Sorry, I was not around much today. Spent the day at the Children's Hopsital......with Hanna.........

Took her to the dr. on Friday.....Had a fever of 104.0 and an UTI infection but the meds. were making her get sick to her stomach so the dr. sent us up to Children's to get her meds to make her stop getting sick and to have some stronger antibotics in her. They were afraid it was going into her kidney's but she is doing better now. If the fever is still here tomorrow they want us to call them back and they will start her on a course of shots, and IV's!!!!!!



Hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sending lots of pixie dust your way

 

[kritter]

Thanks, Jen and Ed.


Ed, Happy Birthday Caitlin........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jen, no-time to worry about my throat.....LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
How are you??

She is finally asleep and hoping tomorrow she is better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jenanderson]

Jen, no-time to worry about my throat.....LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
How are you??

She is finally asleep and hoping tomorrow she is better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know you say there is not time to worry about your throat but I do hope you are able to find some time for yourself!

I am glad to hear that Hanna is now asleep - maybe if she rests with the new medicine she will begin to recover a bit!

I am pretty good - finding plenty to do to fill my days. I think we have finally gotten the flu bug out of our house (Ben last week and Emily this week).

Please take care of Hanna (and yourself)!!!

 

[kritter]

I know you say there is not time to worry about your throat but I do hope you are able to find some time for yourself!

I am glad to hear that Hanna is now asleep - maybe if she rests with the new medicine she will begin to recover a bit!

I am pretty good - finding plenty to do to fill my days. I think we have finally gotten the flu bug out of our house (Ben last week and Emily this week).

Please take care of Hanna (and yourself)!!!

I will have to wait till school starts back now to have time for myself....LOL!!!!!!

I hope that she will be better tomorrow. We were supposed to go to my nephew's Birthday party tomorrow morning in MA.....But even if she wakes up fine I am hesitant to take her anywhere I think she needs to rest, rest, and more rest...........

Glad, to hear Ben and Emily are better. I hope you do not get it............Did they both have it bad??

 

[jenanderson]

I will have to wait till school starts back now to have time for myself....LOL!!!!!!

I hope that she will be better tomorrow. We were supposed to go to my nephew's Birthday party tomorrow morning in MA.....But even if she wakes up fine I am hesitant to take her anywhere I think she needs to rest, rest, and more rest...........

Glad, to hear Ben and Emily are better. I hope you do not get it............Did they both have it bad??

Yep...both the kids had the flu pretty bad. First it was that they could not keep anything down. Then, it was a fever. They are both better. I have been hoping that neither Paul or I get it...it was so bad.

Tomorrow we have no real plans! Yea!!!! Our goal is to get some laundry done...that is the endless task in our house!

There is also the Disney plans to attend to...tomorrow I want to make door magnets for my SIL and her kids. They have no idea about that type of stuff. I am going to make them, try to sneak them on her door before they get to their stateroom and surprise them with a bunch!!!

 

[kritter]

Check this out::

JCPenney: FREE Bare Escentuals Foundation + Brush

http://www.sephora.com/promo/besampl...equestid=33224

you can print this coupon and go in for your free make-up. Or you can order directly through the link below. You have to pay shipping but I was able to put three samples in my cart for the same $3.95 shipping!

http://store.bareescentuals.com/Peac...CMP=KNC-GPS-GC

 

[gfolchick]

Hello everyone...

Sorry, I was not around much today. Spent the day at the Children's Hopsital......with Hanna.........

Took her to the dr. on Friday.....Had a fever of 104.0 and an UTI infection but the meds. were making her get sick to her stomach so the dr. sent us up to Children's to get her meds to make her stop getting sick and to have some stronger antibotics in her. They were afraid it was going into her kidney's but she is doing better now. If the fever is still here tomorrow they want us to call them back and they will start her on a course of shots, and IV's!!!!!!



Hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope Hanna is feeling better tomorrow!!! It's a wonder what a good nights sleep can do for her (or you).

 

[gfolchick]

Check this out::

JCPenney: FREE Bare Escentuals Foundation + Brush

http://www.sephora.com/promo/besampl...equestid=33224

you can print this coupon and go in for your free make-up. Or you can order directly through the link below. You have to pay shipping but I was able to put three samples in my cart for the same $3.95 shipping!

http://store.bareescentuals.com/Peac...CMP=KNC-GPS-GC

I love Bare Escentuals-it's the only makeup I wear. The sephora link was down but I too was able to put 3 of them in my cart through BE (although it did say 1 sample per customer). We'll see how many I end up with. But a big THANK YOU for the info. Can't wait to try it. Today I tried to use their new powder SPF that comes inside the brush, but after tapping for more than 5 minutes I gave up. Will return to the store and see what I'm doing wrong. It started to come up through the bristles but not enough for any type of coverage, especially as a primary sunscreen.

 

[gfolchick]

Alright, I am going to have to admit that we do not often eat at places like Palo. When I look at the menu...it is a bit difficult for me to figure out how many things to order. When we went last time, I just asked the waiter what he recommended...it was wonderful but I would like to understand the menu a bit more.

One of the confusing things...it looks like the menu starts with pizzette del pizzaiolo and La Pasta...is this an appetizer and then you still order a main dish? Do you order it for your main meal?

The next confusing thing...the next section of the menu...antipasti, insalatine & zuppa...are these appetizers? Again, do you order things out of here for your main meal?

Okay...by now I know that many of you are laughing at me but I have to keep asking because I want to know how to order here without looking like I don't know what I am doing on the ship!

More questions...the next sections look like what you would order for your main course. If that is the case, how many of the other items do you order?

So many things on the menu look incredible but I want to order the correct things in the correct order! Please help me!

Feel free to share what you order or your knowledge on what should be ordered!!!

Thanks from your not so sophisticated DIS friend!
Jen

Palo:
I am a creature of habit. Once I find something I enjoy it's hard for me to try something new. We usually each order 1 appetizer like tomato and mozzarella for me and calamari for him. Last time my parents were with us so we split 2 pizzas as appetizers too. Then we move on to a salad, then the entree. I love their risotto. Jim usually goes for the Filet or a fish dish, depending what their fish of the day is. Of course I have to have the souffle, he sticks with Gelato because he's not much into sweets. I will warn you, our last dinner was 3 hours!!!!!!!!! It was too long. The best part is that they will bring you things to try. I don't know how they do it, but at brunch one time we never placed our order but our server brought us both what we were planning to order. Maybe they go by your reaction as they are showing you items or telling you about them. I did have them skip the bread, as much as I love bread I wanted to save room for the really good stuff. I think they also start with a small antipasto plate too if I recall correctly. You can order as little or as much as you want so go for it!

 

[gfolchick]

The sun came out today (and best of all, stayed out). We spent the afternoon in the sunshine at the carnival and ended the night with fireworks. I tested out my Canon D10 on fireworks mode. It has a definate slow lag time but it looks like the pictures came out good. I would have taken more but I had a low battery.

 

[gfolchick]

New menus are posted!!!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2214851

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hello everyone...

Sorry, I was not around much today. Spent the day at the Children's Hopsital......with Hanna.........

Took her to the dr. on Friday.....Had a fever of 104.0 and an UTI infection but the meds. were making her get sick to her stomach so the dr. sent us up to Children's to get her meds to make her stop getting sick and to have some stronger antibotics in her. They were afraid it was going into her kidney's but she is doing better now. If the fever is still here tomorrow they want us to call them back and they will start her on a course of shots, and IV's!!!!!!



Hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope she gets better soon.

HAVE A GOOD SUNDAY EVERYONE​

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Our previous cruise was a 3 night and I really feel like we did not explore the food options much so we will be aiming to try out lots of different things.

Given that our plans do not involve lengthy shore excursions I am hoping we will have time to try out a lot of the dining options at our leisure.

For breakfast I imagine we will make use of all the different options at least once on the cruise. Room service for a light breakfast, Lumière's for a sit down breakfast and a buffet either Topsiders or Parrot Cay. Plus of course the Character breakfast that will be a "must do" with our young children!

For lunches, on our sea days I have booked some nursery time for Olivia on a couple of the days so DH and I can take Izzy to the club and then enjoy a lunch date! At least one of these we will eat in Lumière's, another time we will have something quick and enjoy the adult pool.

We will probably try out Goofys Galley for snack \ light lunch one day but probably not Pinocchio's and possibly not Pluto's. We are not Coffee drinkers but I think I quite fancy stopping by for a cake or similar from Cove Café.

In the evening we will eat in the rotational dining rooms every night except Thursday when we have Palo - I haven't decided what we will do for dinner for the girls - probably room service before they go to the club \ Flounders.

As you may be able to tell the food is a big part of our cruise experience. Apart from Castaway Cay we are not planning on spending more than around 4 hours max in any of the ports so that should leave us some good ship time to enjoy the facilities and try out the dining options

Mel
x

PS Jen, my CC5K training took a nose dive today as I seem to have done something to my knee - it seems OK when I walk but after a short jog it is quite painful. I went out a did a two mile jog \ walk this evening and it was more walk than jog! I am hoping with a rest it will be OK. I also have killer blisters from wearing a pair of trainers (sneakers LOL) that I haven't worn for ages.

We talk about the food all the time!!! Here are some of the things we have talked about....

Once on board -
We will head to the pool and eat from the snack places...maybe some pizza, maybe some fries, maybe ice cream..whatever because we will be on vacation!

Dinners -
Except for the night we have Palo, we will follow our dining rotation. The night we have Palo, the kids will go to the dining room with my SIL and eat at their regular time.

The one thing I am going to do this time is to ask for things I want a bit more. I won't be demanding but I will ask for different things this time. Examples would be to get a different side dish or to try to sample something new but ask for something I know I like as well or to get two desserts!!!

Lunches -
I am sure it will be a variety of different things! I know that 2 of the days we will be on excursions and have to do our own lunch. On Castaway Cay we will eat the buffet. One day we have the Palo brunch. On the other days, I think we will just play it by ear and do whatever we feel like.

Breakfast -
Last cruise we primarily did room service and we are not planning on doing that again. It was okay but I think we could eat fresher or hotter food if we go to one of the restaurants. It seemed that even though they try to do a good job of keeping things hot with room service that it is not as good. We will do our character breakfast.

Room Service -
We will be using room service more...we loved it! Cookies or Mickey bars and milk at night before bed, coffee and/or juice right away in the morning while getting ready, possibly the fresh fruit bowl, or whatever anyone else is in the mood for. I will be putting a bunch of $1 bills in an envelope so whoever wants it can have money for tipping room service.

Last cruise we missed the pirate night offerings because Emily did not feel well after being in the sun all day at Castaway Cay. I plan on taking advantage of the late night "treats" this time.

With all the food I plan on eating, I am going to have to be up working out each morning or someone will just have to roll me the whole 5K!!!!

Jen

Thank you for the responses, its quite an important topic, do check out the scans of the new menus, however looking at them only part is new a lot seems the same to me, or just slight changes.

Re Character breakfast. It is good for young children, but manage expectations. DCL has changed this a lot over the years, it was good, with Characters coming around, then they changed it with characters doing a dance in the middle only, then it was swapped back and the characters come around again.

But its not Chef Mickeys, now at CM, the characters do come around fast, photo, autograph, and move on quickly, on DCL its even faster, they have come or gone in less than a second.

At CM, they have a bit more more time, to come around, and people come in and go at different spaced times, so they are 'spaced' out a bit more, in Parrot cay they are like buses, and after waiting they all come at the same time, they have to turn around a complete breakfast in less than 60 mins with everyone turning up at the same time.

Room service:-

With so much food on the cruise, and also often being on deck 8, with very easy access to deck 9 snacks and soda station, we do not seem to need to order RS much, I often am told to do a ''run'' to the soda stn or Topsiders and bring stuff back, (using the secret stairway at the back to exit and come back quickly)

We have used it early morning as a wake up call, and to rotate breakfast and restroom activities of our family on port days to make best use of time.

I think we might use it more this time. Full breakfast in our room will be nice.