ducklite
<font color=teal>Take the Poly, it's fabulous!<br>
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2000
- Messages
- 33,487
Magical Day 2
We slept like rocks. I didn't even hear DS come back in from Common Grounds the night before. The ship could have sunk, and I never would have woken up. There is something about the gentle rocking of a ship at sea, along with a comfortable bed that makes one sleep. A really good, long, sound, sleep.
I woke up without an alarm at about 7:00am. DH had gone out for a run and come back, which is possibly what woke me up. I put on the robe provided by DCL (which had the WDW logo on it we noticed that many items had the WDW logo rather than the DCL logo, but more on why in a later report ) and went out on the verandah. The sea bands were doing a pretty good job, but my vertigo was bothering me, and I felt a bit dizzy. The sky was clear and blue, and the personal navigator indicated that I would be able to see Great Abaco off the port side. I grabbed the binoculars (This is one item that I HIGHLY suggest you bring. If you dont have them, buy them. You'll be glad you did!) and scanned the horizon. I couldn't see anything. Not a piece of land, not a gull, not a barge, nothing. It was a bit eerie, knowing there was nothing out there but us.
I stumbled back into the cabin, and woke up Mark long enough to see if he wanted breakfast. True to teenage form, he was starving, and asked for waffles. I picked up the phone, and in short order had ordered waffles, oatmeal, pastries (reminding them that I have nut allergies and to be careful of contaminating my pastries), juice, milk, and tea. DH decided that he "couldn't wait" for room service, and decided he would head out to Topsiders. He didn't believe me when I told him it would only be about twenty minutes. I jumped into a quick bath, which was a rare luxury for me, and even ran the jacuzzi jets for a few minutes. I had just enough time to soak for about ten minutes, then dry off and dress before room service came. They brought along a yellow tablecloth (like the ones used in Parrot Cay) to cover the table, and proceeded to set us up for breakfast. At that point DH was wishing he had ordered, and he headed up to Topsiders. I immediately learned one lesson. I drink a LOT of tea. Five or six twelve ounce mugs a day. Tea for one didn't cut it. I ordered tea for three every morning after. I tipped $5 to the server (there were actually two of them, I figured I'd let them fight it out later.) I woke up Mark who ate and then went back to bed. This became a daily event.
DH came back from Topsiders, and we perused the days Navigator. I had signed up for the wine tasting which was to take place at 2:15 per the Personal Navigator and my ticket. However the Weekly personal itinerary provided by the concierge said was at 2:00. I decided that I'd split the difference. DH and I decided to attend a Disney Behind the Scenes presentation with Daveigh Chase, the voice of Lilo. It was somewhat interesting. I had been lucky enough to have seen a video about the making of Lilo and Stitch a month or so before it came out, so some of the material presented I had already seen. They interviewed Daveigh, and the one thing she liked best about doing Lilo's voice was that they would fly her from her home in California to WDW in Florida for taping, and she would get to play in WDW for about a week each time. They took questions from the audience, which ranged from if she went to a "real school" (she does, but also gets tutored, and prefers the tutoring) to if she had a vocal coach (she doesn't). They also did an audience participation thing where people came up to read the script. One of the girls chosed to read the Lilo part was very good watch out Daveigh!!
We left the theatre and wandered around the ship, then headed back to our cabin to wake the sleeping lump. I had to put the Murphy bed up into the wall to keep him from crawling back into it. It was pretty hilarious, DH and I trying to figure out how to "make this thing work"! We actually took the legs right out, and left them on the floor in front of it. DH and I headed up to Topsiders for lunch, while Mark took a shower and got dressed. As mentioned previously, I had food allergies, and figured out very quickly that Topsiders was going to be very difficult to navigate in order to not have a problem. It was Italian day, and there are a lot of Pignolas in Italian food (Pine nuts). I took a piece of bread, some butter, and then went in search of anything else I could eat. Ultimately I had pasta with some marinara sauce and parmesean cheese. I never did have dessert there it was a cross-contamination nightmare to anyone with food allergies.
At 2:00pm I headed down to Sessions for the Stem to Stern wine tasting. There were about half a dozen members of the ships Sommelier team present, including their wine master. The sommeliers were noticably not from countries known for their wine connesieurs such as France, Italy, and the USA. Rather they were from India, Croatia, and others. The reason for this was explained in a way that made quite a bit of sense. Rather than hiring on people who would have a predetermined agenda on which countries wines are the best, they hire people from non-wine producing countries who will make independent judgements on selections.
Each table was set with six glasses of wine, a glass of water, and some bread. There was also an empty champagne flute. As a single, I sat with a gentleman who was also there alone. I am a fairly experienced wine drinker, and more than anything I was hoping to sample some wines that I had not had before. We started with a very light Reisling from Germany, which although very sweet for my tastes was a decent wine. We then sampled the Fess Parker Chardonnay. I've had this before, and dont particularly care for it. While we were sampling the wines, we were told about old world v. new world wines, the differences between them, how to read the labels, and some wine history. They also explained what to look for in the various types of wines, how to hold the glass, and the possible characteristics of different wines. We got to the reds and I immediately recognized the color, aroma, and clarity of the wine in the glass. It was the Louis Jadot Boujolais Villages, which has been an extremely popular wine for years, although is much to tannic for my tastes. Next we went to a pinot noir, and then to a merlot. The finale was the wine master showing us how to open a champagne bottle with a glass. The trick is to look for the seam in the side. The pressure in the bottle will force the seam to break at its weakest spot, towards the top of the bottle where it meets the neck. After he showed us this trick twice, everyone got a glass of champagne.
I went back to the room and put some CD's into the CD payer (it was a multidisc player, I can't recall if it held five or six discs), and opened my book. I had been hoping to read two, possibly even three books, but only got about 3/4 of the way through one (albeit it was over 1000 pages long).
I decided that the sea air was making me hungry, and I'd never make it to dinner, so I ordered some cheese and crackers. They told me that the plate was meant for one. So I ordered three, one for each of us. Well, one plate would have fed all three. About ten minutes after this deluge of cheese and crackers arrived, we got a knock on teh door. The concierge team had sent another plate of cheese and crakers!
Soon enough DH and DS were back in the room, and it was time to get dressed for formal night. DS and DH both wore tuxes with matching Mickey Mouse bow ties, and I had a gown with a beaded top and long chiffon skirt.
About 6:45 we went downstairs and got in line for the formal portraits. The lines were very long, and we had to make choices as to which backgrounds we wanted, otherwise we would have had to miss dinner. At 7:45 we went to Animators Palette where we were dining that night. Ivana impressed me by bringing me a menu that had been highlighted with the foods I couldn't eat because of my allergies.
After dinner DS went off to Common Grounds and DH and I went to Rockin' Bar D to watch Match Your Mate. Our dining companions were one of the couples selected to participate, which made it all the more hilarious. The ironic part was that the newlywed couple won!
DH and I decided to call it a night shortly after, and went back to the cabin and to bed.
More to come...
We slept like rocks. I didn't even hear DS come back in from Common Grounds the night before. The ship could have sunk, and I never would have woken up. There is something about the gentle rocking of a ship at sea, along with a comfortable bed that makes one sleep. A really good, long, sound, sleep.
I woke up without an alarm at about 7:00am. DH had gone out for a run and come back, which is possibly what woke me up. I put on the robe provided by DCL (which had the WDW logo on it we noticed that many items had the WDW logo rather than the DCL logo, but more on why in a later report ) and went out on the verandah. The sea bands were doing a pretty good job, but my vertigo was bothering me, and I felt a bit dizzy. The sky was clear and blue, and the personal navigator indicated that I would be able to see Great Abaco off the port side. I grabbed the binoculars (This is one item that I HIGHLY suggest you bring. If you dont have them, buy them. You'll be glad you did!) and scanned the horizon. I couldn't see anything. Not a piece of land, not a gull, not a barge, nothing. It was a bit eerie, knowing there was nothing out there but us.
I stumbled back into the cabin, and woke up Mark long enough to see if he wanted breakfast. True to teenage form, he was starving, and asked for waffles. I picked up the phone, and in short order had ordered waffles, oatmeal, pastries (reminding them that I have nut allergies and to be careful of contaminating my pastries), juice, milk, and tea. DH decided that he "couldn't wait" for room service, and decided he would head out to Topsiders. He didn't believe me when I told him it would only be about twenty minutes. I jumped into a quick bath, which was a rare luxury for me, and even ran the jacuzzi jets for a few minutes. I had just enough time to soak for about ten minutes, then dry off and dress before room service came. They brought along a yellow tablecloth (like the ones used in Parrot Cay) to cover the table, and proceeded to set us up for breakfast. At that point DH was wishing he had ordered, and he headed up to Topsiders. I immediately learned one lesson. I drink a LOT of tea. Five or six twelve ounce mugs a day. Tea for one didn't cut it. I ordered tea for three every morning after. I tipped $5 to the server (there were actually two of them, I figured I'd let them fight it out later.) I woke up Mark who ate and then went back to bed. This became a daily event.
DH came back from Topsiders, and we perused the days Navigator. I had signed up for the wine tasting which was to take place at 2:15 per the Personal Navigator and my ticket. However the Weekly personal itinerary provided by the concierge said was at 2:00. I decided that I'd split the difference. DH and I decided to attend a Disney Behind the Scenes presentation with Daveigh Chase, the voice of Lilo. It was somewhat interesting. I had been lucky enough to have seen a video about the making of Lilo and Stitch a month or so before it came out, so some of the material presented I had already seen. They interviewed Daveigh, and the one thing she liked best about doing Lilo's voice was that they would fly her from her home in California to WDW in Florida for taping, and she would get to play in WDW for about a week each time. They took questions from the audience, which ranged from if she went to a "real school" (she does, but also gets tutored, and prefers the tutoring) to if she had a vocal coach (she doesn't). They also did an audience participation thing where people came up to read the script. One of the girls chosed to read the Lilo part was very good watch out Daveigh!!
We left the theatre and wandered around the ship, then headed back to our cabin to wake the sleeping lump. I had to put the Murphy bed up into the wall to keep him from crawling back into it. It was pretty hilarious, DH and I trying to figure out how to "make this thing work"! We actually took the legs right out, and left them on the floor in front of it. DH and I headed up to Topsiders for lunch, while Mark took a shower and got dressed. As mentioned previously, I had food allergies, and figured out very quickly that Topsiders was going to be very difficult to navigate in order to not have a problem. It was Italian day, and there are a lot of Pignolas in Italian food (Pine nuts). I took a piece of bread, some butter, and then went in search of anything else I could eat. Ultimately I had pasta with some marinara sauce and parmesean cheese. I never did have dessert there it was a cross-contamination nightmare to anyone with food allergies.
At 2:00pm I headed down to Sessions for the Stem to Stern wine tasting. There were about half a dozen members of the ships Sommelier team present, including their wine master. The sommeliers were noticably not from countries known for their wine connesieurs such as France, Italy, and the USA. Rather they were from India, Croatia, and others. The reason for this was explained in a way that made quite a bit of sense. Rather than hiring on people who would have a predetermined agenda on which countries wines are the best, they hire people from non-wine producing countries who will make independent judgements on selections.
Each table was set with six glasses of wine, a glass of water, and some bread. There was also an empty champagne flute. As a single, I sat with a gentleman who was also there alone. I am a fairly experienced wine drinker, and more than anything I was hoping to sample some wines that I had not had before. We started with a very light Reisling from Germany, which although very sweet for my tastes was a decent wine. We then sampled the Fess Parker Chardonnay. I've had this before, and dont particularly care for it. While we were sampling the wines, we were told about old world v. new world wines, the differences between them, how to read the labels, and some wine history. They also explained what to look for in the various types of wines, how to hold the glass, and the possible characteristics of different wines. We got to the reds and I immediately recognized the color, aroma, and clarity of the wine in the glass. It was the Louis Jadot Boujolais Villages, which has been an extremely popular wine for years, although is much to tannic for my tastes. Next we went to a pinot noir, and then to a merlot. The finale was the wine master showing us how to open a champagne bottle with a glass. The trick is to look for the seam in the side. The pressure in the bottle will force the seam to break at its weakest spot, towards the top of the bottle where it meets the neck. After he showed us this trick twice, everyone got a glass of champagne.
I went back to the room and put some CD's into the CD payer (it was a multidisc player, I can't recall if it held five or six discs), and opened my book. I had been hoping to read two, possibly even three books, but only got about 3/4 of the way through one (albeit it was over 1000 pages long).
I decided that the sea air was making me hungry, and I'd never make it to dinner, so I ordered some cheese and crackers. They told me that the plate was meant for one. So I ordered three, one for each of us. Well, one plate would have fed all three. About ten minutes after this deluge of cheese and crackers arrived, we got a knock on teh door. The concierge team had sent another plate of cheese and crakers!
Soon enough DH and DS were back in the room, and it was time to get dressed for formal night. DS and DH both wore tuxes with matching Mickey Mouse bow ties, and I had a gown with a beaded top and long chiffon skirt.
About 6:45 we went downstairs and got in line for the formal portraits. The lines were very long, and we had to make choices as to which backgrounds we wanted, otherwise we would have had to miss dinner. At 7:45 we went to Animators Palette where we were dining that night. Ivana impressed me by bringing me a menu that had been highlighted with the foods I couldn't eat because of my allergies.
After dinner DS went off to Common Grounds and DH and I went to Rockin' Bar D to watch Match Your Mate. Our dining companions were one of the couples selected to participate, which made it all the more hilarious. The ironic part was that the newlywed couple won!
DH and I decided to call it a night shortly after, and went back to the cabin and to bed.
More to come...
