Back to back Cruisin' with Peg Leg Mel & Eric the Rum Runner Oct 23-30,11 COMPLETED!!

[Disneygrl36]

I love all the photos! Yes, I know we picked up Eric's magnet off the floor at least once and stuck it back on the door, at the time I didn't even realize it was you guys Weird just noticed you had a blue blanket on your bed, we had a red blanket. I wish they sold that pillow in the gift shop, would be a great keepsake.

That is funny that you guys kept replacing our magnets. I know for next time not to use scrapbooking glue to try to hold the magnets on cause it wasn't strong enough for sure. I so wish they sold both the pillow & blanket in the shops but I bet Eric is glad they didn't.

Joining in for the fun. hope Peg Leg Mel is better now and the Ugly, fashionless boot is now a thing of the past (only if it should be!!)

! I am better, but still in the boot for a couple of weeks. I am supposed to let pain be my guide. It isn't so bad now that we're home & I'm not getting dressed up for dinner nightly.

Weird how we were both eating at Cabanas at the same time on that first day not even knowing that we would be tablemates. I wonder if we were sitting near each other. At 12:30 I was running up to Palo to sneak in before it was time to book my brunch. It worked!

Interesting that our throw on the bed was red and yours was blue. I wonder how many colors there are.

On our door we had the same sorcerer hat and badges with our names. Also, we had an Auburn magnet and I had a lime green one with my diser name.

This is getting scary!

Keep the report coming......I am enjoying recapping everything.

That's why I think trip reports from the same trip are fun to read because though we have similiar experiences the cruise is always different for everyone.
So you & Beth both had a red blanket...........hmmmm guess I will have to cruise alot more times until we figure out how many colors there are.
Great minds think alike apparently with the magnets.....I just loved that sorcerer hat as Sorcerer Mickey is probably my favorite! We are sisters from another mother for sure girl!

I'm in!!!

Tink!

 

[Disneygrl36]

So we left off with the door decorations, which I forgot to mention that while I was decorating the door I was being very quiet & a good wife because Eric had a head ache. So once we got in the room, he looked around a little, but then laid down on the bed to rest. I left him alone for about as long as I could before we needed to head to the Dis Meet at 3:30 which I told him we could skip. He said after his little nap, he was feeling better, so off to the D Lounge we went. When we got there there were people scattered around just kind of hanging out but we spotted a larger group on the other side of the room. I hobbled over & introduced myself. It was one family but I never did figure out who they were. They soon left as they had a restless child with them & we waited about 5 minutes or so & no one else showed up so we left. This was certainly a difference from the last time we cruised. We had a group of 30 to 40 Disers who had gotten to know each other really well over the course of a year & I think most everyone showed up at that meet. I guess these shorter cruises people just don't tend to bond as much.
The D Lounge was a cool looking place for families to hang out with some groovy looking chairs.

And Eric thought it would be funny to take a picture of me hobbling around.

It was getting close to muster drill time, so we decided to head on out to the promenade deck to find our station.

My perspective from the wheelchair.

Since I was in the wheelchair, we got to be at the very fartherest point of the line.
I felt so sorry for the CM's in those hot life jackets & was so glad that DCL has changed the drill & guests don't have to wear theirs.

As soon as they demonstrated how to put on the life vest, the leader of our station, let us go ahead & go so it would be easier for us to exit without a mass of people. We went to the aft elevators & were going to go up to Deck 12 to see about getting a spot to watch the Sail Away party. At that time, we had not yet figured out that the Deck 12 Aft elevators only go to Palo, Meridian & Remy. So, I decided this was the perfect time to check out Remy since we weren't going to be eating there & there were no CM's around at all because they were still at the drill.

Do you see someone you recognize on the back of the chair?

How about in the chandelier?

I think I would like to sit back there.

It is just gorgeous & such a lovely intimate space that has a lot of very tasteful nods to the movie Ratatouille. I was really glad we got a chance to poke around in there even though I felt slightly naughty.

After that we headed towards the Sail Away party, we had a bit of a challenge with me in the wheelchair deciding where to go & didn't go with our first instinct which was off to the right of the stage in the shade & when we came back there it was too crowded. So we ended up with a rail view to the side on Deck 12 after some kind CM found me a spot.

The characters were really cute doing song & dance numbers & getting the crowd pumped up.

One of my favorite sections of the show-it's a video!

And video of the countdown to sailing away......woohoo!!!!! The people next to us were having a good time shaking that red thing.

We headed over to the railing so we could wave to the webcam at Fishlips. I had told my Mom to watch for us & we called her when we got back in the room & she saw us. I think this is us in this picture from the webcam archive. Eric had on a red shirt & I had on a blue one & we are toward the back of the picture.

After we waved to the people, we headed back to the room & watched us sail out into the ocean on the verandah.

Bye Florida!

Our luggage arrived while we were watching us sail away, so soon we were unpacking & getting organized. We had decided that we were not going to go to the Golden Mickeys as we have seen it several times before, so we had plenty of time to relax.

Soon we were getting ready for our first night out on the Disney Dream.

Up next.....Drinks & dinner & new friends oh my!

 

[Jennifer48]

How cute was Minnie & Daisy doing the Single Ladies dance?!

 

[Disneygrl36]

After we got all cleaned up & presentable, we headed to the District to have a pre-dinner drink. We decided to try the Skyline Lounge first.

This is the coolest lounge ever. It shows the sky line of a famous city & it changes about every 15-20 minutes or so to a new city until you rotate through 5 cities. When we arrived we were in Hong Kong & we found a cozy spot by the fireplace where the piece of art over the mantel changes with each city & is animated at times. It had a beautiful lantern on it when we sat down.

The menu lights up when you open it.....so cool & there are drinks themed around each city.

I had the stilleto manhattan from New York & Eric just had a vodka tonic. They brought us some nuts & we settle back & enjoyed our drinks while chatting a bit with Alenka our server.

We had a lovely relaxing time at Skyline & told Alenka we would be back to see her for sure & then headed off to our first dinner at Enchanted Garden.This is a beautiful restaurant which reminds me of a lovely & perfect English garden.

We were shown to Table 51 which would be our table for the whole cruise. Sitting there already were Beth & Tom from Minneapolis who were the Disers we had met the previous day at Fishlips. So we already had friends at the table. Our other table mates were Trent & Missy (who is also a Diser) from Alabama & Adam & Kim from Boston. We started chatting immediately & as would become the norm with this group, we felt like old friends right away.
The menu with Mickey of course.

Soon we met our server team for the cruise. Chris from Jamaica & Michal from Czechoslovakia. Michal was fascinated with Mickey from the beginning & looked for him each night. Chris told us what his role would be & made some menu recommendations & then we ordered.
Eric & I both had the North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli - with roasted garlic and sweet basil in a light tomato broth as our appetizer. I thought this was very tasty.

For the salad course, I had the Romaine Wedge - fresh crisp romaine topped with creamy Romano dressing and homemade spiced croutons.

Eric had the duck which I forgot to take a photo of uh oh.
For our entrees, I had the Pan-seared Sea Bass - with Saffron and fennel risotto with a sweet chili glaze. OMG this was melt in your mouth fish.

Eric had the Caramelized Sea Scallops - with roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and pearl pasta, garnished with caramelized leeks and veal jus reduction which he said was delicious.

For dessert, I had the Banana Foster Sundae - rum glazed bananas, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and caramel sauce & Eric had the Sacher Chocolate Torte - with apricot sauce.

Dinner was delicious & we had a great time getting to know our table mates. We told Chris that we were married in Jamaica & found out that he was from Ocho Rios where we got married, so he christened us his Jamericans for the trip.
We had a picture taken in front of the Mickey fountain on the way out.

I found a hidden Mickey on the gates to the restaurant on our way out.

This was where we encountered our first piece of enchanted art as well. The cutest Bambi & Thumper painting that came alive. So amazing. Wish I had gotten a video of this first time with the art, but didn't. This fuzzy picture will have to suffice.

We headed straight to Evolution in the District to watch Match Your Mate.

This place has a cool butterly vibe to it. They were having a DJ scratch instruction when we got there.

We ordered some drinks & settled in for the show to start. I had a pomegranate martini & Eric had a Jack & coke I think.

Match your Mate is a very funny show where they get 3 couples from the audience 1 that has been together only a short time, 1 that has been together a longer time & then the one that has been married the longest. It was funny to watch the different styles of the couples especially the ones that had been married 43 years. The middle couple ended up winning but I thought for sure the youngest one was going to win.

As soon as Match your Mate was over, they started the Road House dance party. Now, we love to dance & would normally have been up to boogie on down but with my injury that would have been a little hard, so we watched the first part of the show & then left.
Here's a snippet of video of the dancers.

On past cruises, we have spent quite a bit of time in the night club type areas dancing until late, but that was not to be this time & this actually ended up being our only evening in Evolution. We stopped in the area where they had snacks out each night which was great for Eric as he always likes a little nibble a few hours after dinner.

We just kind of meandered around & found a few neat things.

Loved this little area outside the District.

Favorite elevators on the way back to the room.

Our crabby friend was waiting on us back in our room.

We had enjoyed a wonderful first day of our cruise & couldn't wait for more!

Up next: Happy Birthday to Eric & Ah Nassau who cares?

 

[Disneygrl36]

How cute was Minnie & Daisy doing the Single Ladies dance?!

I know it was my favorite video clip of all the ones I did! So stinkin' cute!

 

[tommycruiser]

Love the report so far mel I really hope we get to cruise together again we had a great group. If not a cruise maybe meet at disney

 

[TwinsFan]

I think Tom and I were eating in Cabanas the same time too. That's really the only time I ate in Cabanas, Tom would get a plate of breakfast stuff each morning and bring it down to the room and I ate lunch at Flo's after that. I know we said 'hi' to Erice when he got your drinks from the Quiet Cove Pool Bar, Tom was sitting there with the bags while I would venture out and about to take photos around up top.

 

[tommycruiser]

What was that one bar we found maybe the sunset bar?? that was a cool bar

 

[Disneygrl36]

Love the report so far mel I really hope we get to cruise together again we had a great group. If not a cruise maybe meet at disney

Tommy! Glad to have you along. We will have to plan something sometime for sure!

I think Tom and I were eating in Cabanas the same time too. That's really the only time I ate in Cabanas, Tom would get a plate of breakfast stuff each morning and bring it down to the room and I ate lunch at Flo's after that. I know we said 'hi' to Erice when he got your drinks from the Quiet Cove Pool Bar, Tom was sitting there with the bags while I would venture out and about to take photos around up top.

I remember Eric telling me he saw you guys at the bar at the pool that day. We ate lunch at Cabanas one more time I think.

What was that one bar we found maybe the sunset bar?? that was a cool bar

It was the Outlook bar Tom!

 

[tommycruiser]

That was it almost missed that one never made it to pink I think it's the only one I missed

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

really enjoying it, havent seen any pictures let alone reports on the new boat.

i think a cruise would be a great spot for me to try some of those fish dishes, as i wouldn twant to pay for them in a restraunt and not like them. so i would for sure try some new ones on a cruise along with a main course i knew that i liked.

Dan.....I remember last time I cruised my trip report had you all talked in to cruising. I hope this one will help you seal the deal.

you def. have me wanting to do one, we just have to wait a little bit, either till the kids are old enough to be able to be left in the kid areas on there own, or old enough we can leave them with someone and enjoy it as an adult only cruise.

maybe for our ten year we can do it.

only four more short years.

 

[Disneygrl36]

That was it almost missed that one never made it to pink I think it's the only one I missed

We went to Pink on Day 2....so that will be coming up. You did pretty good at hitting them all in 4 days!

really enjoying it, havent seen any pictures let alone reports on the new boat.

i think a cruise would be a great spot for me to try some of those fish dishes, as i wouldn twant to pay for them in a restraunt and not like them. so i would for sure try some new ones on a cruise along with a main course i knew that i liked.

you def. have me wanting to do one, we just have to wait a little bit, either till the kids are old enough to be able to be left in the kid areas on there own, or old enough we can leave them with someone and enjoy it as an adult only cruise.

maybe for our ten year we can do it.

only four more short years.

A cruise is a great place to try food you aren't sure about since you can always get something else if you don't like it. I see what you mean about having to wait until the kids are a bit older. PS Congrats on the newest member of your family! Glad you are enjoying so far.

I am uploading the next set of pictures & should post another update tomorrow. Being off work with this foot has some advantages for sure.

 

[Jennifer48]

I can't wait to visit all those new lounges on both ships! Skyline looks awesome! And the menu lights up?! So cool!

Enchanted Garden looks so whimsical!

I love to just wonder around the ships. You find so many "secret" treasures!

 

[BackRow]

This is so fun to read, you two are just too cute!

 

[Disneygrl36]

I can't wait to visit all those new lounges on both ships! Skyline looks awesome! And the menu lights up?! So cool!

Enchanted Garden looks so whimsical!

I love to just wonder around the ships. You find so many "secret" treasures!

I think the District is much better than Route 66 or Beat Street. There are really cool spaces....just wait I have more to show you.
Enchanted Garden took the place of Parrot Cay & I think that was a great improvement. The space is beautiful & the food was really good.
My wandering was a little hampered by being in the wheelchair most of the time, but I think we managed to get most places.

This is so fun to read, you two are just too cute!

Back Row. Glad you are enjoying & thanks! Hey we are coming to DC on vacation in May maybe you could recommend some places to eat etc.....

 

[tommycruiser]

wish I was going to the animal kingdom villas in one month and 25 days

 

[Disneygrl36]

wish I was going to the animal kingdom villas in one month and 25 days

I wish you guys were gonna be there too. Eric & I were discussing last night my options for the 1/2 marathon. With 2 more weeks of light activity & wearing the boot there is just no way I can get myself back up to speed by January. BUT we were saying what's to stop me from starting & then stopping when I get tired or say once I get to walk through Cinderella's Castle? Would that be bad? I mean I paid my money & know there is no way I can do the whole 13.1 miles, but at least maybe I could do part of it.

 

[tommycruiser]

I agree I'd do what I can I say go for it

Do you guys think you'd do another cruise line? We will definitely do another disney some day but we have 5 booked with other lines and was going to send you the list to see if your interested?

 

[Disneygrl36]

After our first full day on the Dream, we slept like a couple of logs that first night & woke up around 8am. Today happened to be Eric's birthday so the first order of business was me singing to him of course. Then we went out on the verandah & watched us pull into Nassau.

I had brought him a card & some of his favorite chocolates for his very small gift. We usually take trips & go on adventures as presents to each other now for birthdays & holidays but I still like to do something small.

Soon our stomachs were grumbling, so we got dressed & headed to Enchanted Garden for breakfast. Since we were not getting off the ship, we were in no hurry & figured it would be more relaxed in there than at Cabanas.
One of my favorite things they have on the Disney ships that I practically never eat any other time is Krispy Kreme jelly doughnuts, so I endulged myself at breakfast with one along with some other stuff. Really my only complaint about food this trip was the scrambled eggs & they were especially runny on this morning.

After breakfast, we basically just milled around on the ship for awhile. We saw the Princesses out in the atrium doing a meet & greet.
My favorite Princess is Snow White.

We also saw Goofy hanging around in his jammies.....so cute!

We decided to take a turn around Deck 4 to look at Nassau. I got a little bit of excercise propelling myself around the deck for a change since there were so few people out there-when I tried to do it in other areas it made me nervous & seemed better for Eric just to push me.
We took a turn through the art gallery. These were my 2 favorite pieces.

Then we went back to the room to relax. Eric had meant to get a haircut before we left home but ran out of time, so he called & got an appointment & went to the salon to get one. While he did that I did some journaling & then just all around taking it easy with my foot up. I think he also went to work out & I took my book out on the verandah & read some.

Our original plan for the day had been a morning Dolphin encounter at Blue Lagoon which we had to cancel once I got the stress fracture because it would have required standing for awhile on a slippery platform. I remember breifly thinking about it that morning, but for the most part I enjoyed my relaxing morning so I don't think I was too bummed about it.
Soon, we headed up to Cabanas for lunch. The mural from Finding Nemo in there is absolutely stunning. It is so colorful & intricate.

My lunch plate.

I got alot of shrimp again! I had to try the mac & cheese because Tom had said how good it was. He was right. I also remember the meat loaf being pretty tasty.
I took a few more detail pictures in Cabanas-which had great theming I thought. Much more Disneyfied than Beach Blanket Bingo or Topsiders.
Mine, mine, mine.....we decided amongst ourselves with our tablemates that they should have made one of these guys heads move occasionally just to keep you guessing.

Love Jacques!

Sand castles

Detail above the pods

And of course Nigel!

We decided to bypass the dessert station & go get some ice cream instead.

Eric had chocolate & I had strawberry. This was just ok. It didn't have alot of flavor in my opinion so this was my only time eating some.
We milled around the ship a little more killing time until the 2pm Animation Class that we wanted to attend.
Had to have a picture with Walt!

In the lobby, they had the characters out in their tropical attire & they were shaking their tail feathers to music. So cute!

Now by this point, we had not done 1 character picture. I love getting my picture taken with the characters, but the lines were so long. If we had decided to do one at this point though this would have been a great one to do as you waited in one line & got a lot of characters at once.
We headed to Evolution for Animation class.

It was lead by a Cruise Staff member, I think her name was Jess. Now, I like to doodle around & draw & love to do Disney characters, so that is why we were there.

I am by no means an expert, but Jess said she didn't really know how to draw before she started doing these classes....unfortunately it showed a bit, but she still gave good basic instructions & we drew Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck. I might have also been spoiled in the past as our last cruise we had an animation class with Disney artist Don "Ducky" Williams!

It was fun & I always love how Eric's drawing come out looking like Picasso disneyfied!

Up next......Mixin' it up, Villians run amok & dinner in the Palace

 

[Disneygrl36]

Up next on the agenda was a mixology class in Skyline at 3:30. We had always intended to do one of these organized tastings before but had never done one. So, on embarkation day we went to the Guest Services desk before dinner & picked out the 2 we wanted to do.
We were happy to be back in Skyline as it is such a cool place.

Eric in Rio.

I do not remember the name of the bartender that hosted this but he was very knowledgeable & passionate about his job! And he would show us how to make a drink, then have members of the class come behind the bar with him & make drinks for everyone. Pretty cool.
The first drink was a gin martini. We had a lady in there who was a little tipsy from her trip to the casino in Nassau & she was quite entertaining talking about martinis & how her husband needed to pay attention. Most of us are used to vodka martinis but he told us the original martinis were done with gin & that a good martini should be stirred not shaken which is the opposite to what James Bond would have us believe. The most interesting part to me was that he splashed a little vermouth in with the ice & then poured it out to give the drink just a hint of vermouth.
This was the result--Pine Sol in a cute little glass.....I am not a fan of gin so this was my least favorite.

Next up was a caipirinha which is muddled lime, agave nectar & a brazilian rum. This was super tasty & refreshing.

Then we learned how to make a B52 shot....kailua, baileys & Grand Mariner. It was so cool how he taught us to use the little hole on the spout to layer the drink. Eric did pretty good too! I didn't get behind the bar with my stupid boot on, so Eric made mine too.

A great looking shot!

He finished up with a classic lime daquiri. He talked quite abit about how the daquiri had been messed up by too much fruit, shaking, freezing etc, by Caribbean bartenders & then made us a simple & refreshing version that was nothing like what you have had before.

This class was alot of fun & we really enjoyed learning more about cocktails. I would recommend it for sure.
When we walked into the tasting I recognized the couple on the end of the bar from excellent foodie trip reports around the DIS, so I went up & introduced myself & we chatted for awhile! Nice folks DISers!
Feeling pretty happy & content, we headed back to the room to rest for a little while before it was time to get ready for the show. I was anxious to see Villians tonight as we have never seen it before. We got there about 20 minutes early & I slowly walked down the steps & found a good aisle seat.
I will preface these pictures with the statement that they were all taken without a flash holding the viewfinder to my eye & not using the display screen on my camera so as not to distract the people around me!

Pain & Panic out in the audience

The premise of the show is that Hades has lost his Villian mojo & needs help from other Villians & their evilness to fill back up the Evilometer. He send out Pain & Panic on a mission to recruit these other villians & hilarity ensues. It was very entertaining & had a lot of funny current jokes.

They weren't kidding when they called me a witch

Checking on Pain & Panic

Be Prepared

Keep your arms & legs inside the vehicle at all times

Evil Queen

Malificient

Hook & Cruella

Project Cruella.....a take off on one of my favorite shows Project Runway.

Cronk & Iago on Hot Talk

The Fates going on a cruise because the Evilometer got filled back up

The finale......

It was such a great show. I just love Disney entertainment & these casts do such a great job!

Up next...........Inside a Champagne Bubble & Dinner in the Palace