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

[Disneygrl36]

After relaxing in the room, we got ready for dinner but headed first to Skyline for a pre dinner drink. We enjoyed chatting with Alenka again & she spent quiet a bit of time talking with us. This was probably our favorite lounge area on the ship.

I had an Oh La La from Paris & Eric had an Ecotini from Rio.

Dinner was back in Animators Palate. Ali had given us the same table number 51 & we were back with Chris but our beverage server was Jonathan from the Phillipines. We wondered what had happened to Michal? Tonight was the "show" dinner again. We were in the same spot, so still didn't get to personally interact with Crush, but it was fun watching just the same.
Here are a few video snippets from dinner....





We were seated with 3 couples again. One were from California & were Diser's who have cruised alot. The other two were from Wisconsin I think & Orlando (via New Jersey) & he really was a rocket scientist for NASA...no kidding.

For appetizers, I had the mushroom risotto that Eric had the night before & he got the truffle pursettes that I had had!
For soup/salad, we tried something different the Creamy Butternut Squash Soup garnished with chives and drizzled with sour cream.

Eric had the beef tenderloin again, but I tried the Lemon-Thyme Marinated Organic Chicken Breast with sour cream mashed potatoes, roasted root vegetables and grain mustard jus but asked for the wasabi potatoes that come with the beef that I had tasted the night before & loved instead of the sour cream potatoes.

We chatted with our tablemates & no offense to them but it just wasn't the same without our friends from the 4 night cruise.
Fish are friends not food.

Desser for me was the Cookies and Cream Sundae - vanilla ice cream, chocolate wafer cookies, and whipped cream.

Eric tried the Crunchy Walnut Cake - dark chocolate mousse and raspberry coulis.

We rushed out of dinner pretty quick because we were finally going to try to get a picture with Captain Mickey who was in the atrium.

The line wasn't too bad & we got to see Goffy too.

After that we went up to Meridian. We went outside to sit & have a nice glass of wine.

Our server was Abie & he was so friendly & we really enjoyed chatting with him. It was a perfectly relaxing way to end our day.

Up next: Nassau again meh?

 

[Aburns8]

Great pics! It is really nice to see the areas of the ship that we were not able to check out. I really can't wait until our Fantasy cruise next year so I can compare the two ships.

 

[tommycruiser]

Good morning

Melanie you got to try raglon road in downtown disney the food is wonderful and next to it is a open air bar called the Hole in the wall I think you can't miss it. It's one of the few places at disney with a happy hour the other I know being the house of blues

http://www.raglanroad.com/

 

[A fat english gent]

Sorry am late darling,but am here now,loving the pics......

 

[oybolshoi]

Sorry am late darling,but am here now,loving the pics......

Oh sure ... he posts on Melanie's threads ...

How many spare American ladies do you have, AFEG? I'm running out of fingers to count on!!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Great pics! It is really nice to see the areas of the ship that we were not able to check out. I really can't wait until our Fantasy cruise next year so I can compare the two ships.

I wish we had a Fantasy cruise booked. I am sure it is going to be another amazing ship.

Good morning

Melanie you got to try raglon road in downtown disney the food is wonderful and next to it is a open air bar called the Hole in the wall I think you can't miss it. It's one of the few places at disney with a happy hour the other I know being the house of blues

http://www.raglanroad.com/

Hey Tom! We have eaten at RR once but have never been to the bar & we ate early so we missed the entertainment.

Sorry am late darling,but am here now,loving the pics......

Hey Chris I am so glad we got to chat on the phone that day! You really were missed!

Oh sure ... he posts on Melanie's threads ...

How many spare American ladies do you have, AFEG? I'm running out of fingers to count on!!

LOL Brenda............there is no telling. So I assume you have run across the international man of mystery on your Disney travels too then?

 

[Jennifer48]

Thanks for pics of the Dooney! I actually really like the yellow!

If its ok with you, I might borrow your idea of a Vinyl trip mascot. I love it!

I've always wondered about B2B cruises and if they make you get off the ship and what not. I'm glad that you got to go right back into the port building and you got #1 boarding! I'm sorry if I missed it, but did you get to leave all your luggage in your room or did you have to take it off with you?

I think DH & I are going to use Happy Limo to get from WDW->DCL->WDW. Its cheaper and we get to set our own times

How cool that you got to check out concierge! Those rooms are gorgeous!

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get to ride the Aquaduck. You'll just have to rebook soon!

 

[A fat english gent]

Oh sure ... he posts on Melanie's threads ...

How many spare American ladies do you have, AFEG? I'm running out of fingers to count on!!

But Brenda Darling you'll have me all to yourself in London in January.....

Without sounding like some soft sugar puff the making of life long friends when we cross the pond is what makes us keep coming back year after year,yes even the nutty Americans ones....

 

[Disneygrl36]

Thanks for pics of the Dooney! I actually really like the yellow!

If its ok with you, I might borrow your idea of a Vinyl trip mascot. I love it!

I've always wondered about B2B cruises and if they make you get off the ship and what not. I'm glad that you got to go right back into the port building and you got #1 boarding! I'm sorry if I missed it, but did you get to leave all your luggage in your room or did you have to take it off with you?

I think DH & I are going to use Happy Limo to get from WDW->DCL->WDW. Its cheaper and we get to set our own times

How cool that you got to check out concierge! Those rooms are gorgeous!

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get to ride the Aquaduck. You'll just have to rebook soon!

The vinylmation proved to be a great mascot....they are much sturdier than the things I have used in the past & there are so many great one to choose from.
Since we were staying in the same state room, we were able to leave everything in the room which was great. I should have included in the report how nice it was not to have to worry about packing that night while everyone else was scampering around to get their bags ready.
Yes I agree........we have to rebook so I can ride the AquaDuck. It looks so fun!

But Brenda Darling you'll have me all to yourself in London in January.....

Without sounding like some soft sugar puff the making of life long friends when we cross the pond is what makes us keep coming back year after year,yes even the nutty Americans ones....

Awwww Chris! See that's why I love ya.....all soft & mushy on the inside! I have got to talk Eric into a trip to England soon so you can show us the sights.

PS Photobucket was limiting my photos & they weren't showing up but that should be fixed!

 

[Disneygrl36]

I have the photos uploaded for the next part but I have some stuff to do today so I should have another update up tomorrow!

 

[minnieluvzmickey]

whew! I'm finally all caught up. Reading this and seeing the pics really makes me miss our fun time on the cruise. One thing though....remind me never to wear that dress that I wore to Palo AGAIN! It looks like it should be 70's curtains or something......

Those Roy and Walt Suites were awesome! I'm glad you got in.

I think we all need to go on a fantasy cruise together....and then I still need to go to Disneyland......work is really getting in my way.

 

[cdotla]

Hey Mel...really enjoying your report so far. Making me good and excited for our first cruise quite some time away in 2013.

So tell me....what is the connection with Eric's Canada shirt? You guys must have had Canadian cruisers coming up to you asking where in Canada you were from, right? Perhaps until they heard your southern accents. And not an "eh" to be heard.

Please tell me I am misunderstanding and you did not see a grown woman strip off into her underwear on the pool deck?!! Is that what you actually saw? What a way to bring the class and pageantry of a majestic cruise to a grindling halt.

Can't believe you managed to snaggle your way into the Conceirge suites, let alone the Roy and Walt Suites!!! They look gorgeous...although I wouldn't want to hazzard a guess at how much they must cost!

Sounds like you had a great time on cruise #1, despite the bust-up Dismeet, the boot, and lack of Aquaduck. Can't wait to hear how the 2nd leg goes.

 

[Disneygrl36]

whew! I'm finally all caught up. Reading this and seeing the pics really makes me miss our fun time on the cruise. One thing though....remind me never to wear that dress that I wore to Palo AGAIN! It looks like it should be 70's curtains or something......

Those Roy and Walt Suites were awesome! I'm glad you got in.

I think we all need to go on a fantasy cruise together....and then I still need to go to Disneyland......work is really getting in my way.

That is one fun thing about doing a trip report-getting to relive the trip. You are cracking me up about your dress....I like it!
Those suites were beautiful but not exactly what I expected.
Another cruise with you guys would be awesome! You do need to get to Disneyland for sure...it is after all the motherland.

Hey Mel...really enjoying your report so far. Making me good and excited for our first cruise quite some time away in 2013.

So tell me....what is the connection with Eric's Canada shirt? You guys must have had Canadian cruisers coming up to you asking where in Canada you were from, right? Perhaps until they heard your southern accents. And not an "eh" to be heard.

Please tell me I am misunderstanding and you did not see a grown woman strip off into her underwear on the pool deck?!! Is that what you actually saw? What a way to bring the class and pageantry of a majestic cruise to a grindling halt.

Can't believe you managed to snaggle your way into the Conceirge suites, let alone the Roy and Walt Suites!!! They look gorgeous...although I wouldn't want to hazzard a guess at how much they must cost!

Sounds like you had a great time on cruise #1, despite the bust-up Dismeet, the boot, and lack of Aquaduck. Can't wait to hear how the 2nd leg goes.

& Trish!
I am glad you are enjoying my trip report so far.
Eric got that shirt at Target of all places & yes, we did have a fair number of Canadians asking where we were from.
We were pretty sneaky getting into the Conceirge area....but then again while they were cleaning them between cruises was the perfect time to try to get in there to sneak a peak. I cannot even imagine how much they cost & Eric & I decided if we paid that much money for our room, we would feel obligated to spend all our time in there & then you would miss out on all the great stuff going on around the ship.
We had a great time regardless of everything.........the 2nd leg was pretty good too!

 

[Disneygrl36]

So we woke up as we were starting to pull into Nassau again. We again had no intention of getting off. We just wanted to spend more time exploring the ship.

Loved all the colors of blue in these shots.

The lighthouse

Mine, mine, mine

We headed up to Cabanas for breakfast, but it was loud, crowded & crazy, so we then went down to Enchanted Garden.

I got the cute kiddie plate.

Chris was there & he got to take care of us 1 on 1 so that was really nice.
We got a chance to really chat with him & he asked us about our table mates from the first cruise. He had assumed we were all friends before & had planned to eat together. He said he had almost never seen a group that didn't know each other blend together & seem like such friends like we did. Awwww, isn't that sweet?
I wandered around a little bit & caught some of the details.

Eric & I both got up at different times & look what Chris did to the table cloth.

We had a lovely, quiet & relaxed breakfast.

On the way out I spotted some hidden fairies in the murals.

On the way through the lobby, the Princesses were out.

We had a mission of getting a picture with Miss Mouse today. She was the only other character I had to get.
The character handler took this.....so cute!

I saw Jiminy Cricket down below. I have always wanted a picture with him & he had next to no line so down we went.

Saw they had added a little Halloween touch at Bon Voyage bar.

Cont in next post due to photos

 

[Disneygrl36]

Our next stop was Animator's Palate. They do not serve breakfast or lunch routinely in there, so we were hoping to poke around & look at some of the detail.

There were some CM's in there, but they didn't mind us looking around.

Love this drawing of Linguini

Carl grows up & old

Me........

I need this carpet

Eric....

Each server station has a character....ours was Jiminy.

We had a great time exploring all the great art in AP!
We always love looking at all the different art in the stairwells as well. This time because of my injury we had not done alot of that, so we decide to look at the art on the aft stairs.

Animated art...these 2 interact...it's a short video.

Loved this Mary Blair concept art from Alice in Wonderland.

Next up......To catch a thief

 

[Aburns8]

Great pics Melanie! I need to do a back to back just to be able to do all of the exploring you got to do. I never noticed the fairies in the murals in the Enchanted Garden. We couldn't even take any pictures with any characters because the lines were so long. I can't wait to go another cruise.

 

[Disneygrl36]

Great pics Melanie! I need to do a back to back just to be able to do all of the exploring you got to do. I never noticed the fairies in the murals in the Enchanted Garden. We couldn't even take any pictures with any characters because the lines were so long. I can't wait to go another cruise.

There is no way on a 4 or 3 day cruise you can see the ship for sure! My injury really did force us to slow down & relax alot more than we would normally do so that was a good thing. We did no character pictures except Captain Jack on the the 4 day. Every time we came upon a line they were so long. On the 3 day, the lines didn't seem as long or we just encountered them at the right time.
P.S. I saw your post on your trippie & need to say Congratulations! I'm excited for you!

 

[Disneygrl36]

After exploring the artwork in the stairwell, we decided to do the Midship Detective Agency. This was alot of fun & took us all over the ship to explore more art.

It is very innovative & I loved how the art would change as soon as you flashed your card.

We did the Case of the Missing Paintings & it was fun going from place to place to try to figure it out.

We did manage to catch the criminal too!

Here's also some video of another enchanted art piece & the mural from the midship elevator-not sure why these are turned sideways.



With all our exploring, we were starting to get a little hungry. We decided we would head back to the room & order room service & watch some Classic Disney cartoons. Room service was very efficient & we had our food in about 15 minutes.

We each had a Caesar Salad - crisp Romaine salad tossed in a creamy parmesan dressing.

We split the Four Cheese Pizza - Mozzarella, mascarpone, gorgonzola and parmesian with a rich tomato sauce.

We also split the All Hands on Deck - selection of international cheeses with crackers.

We finished lunch off with a Big Island Cookie - Extra Large Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Then, we decided it was a perfect time for a nap. When we woke up, Eric went to the gym & I hung out on the verandah & read awhile.
I had an appointment in the salon at 5:30 to get my hair done, so he was back in time, to take me up there. I ended up with the same girl, Katie from England, who had cut Eric's hair earlier. She was fun to chat with & did a good job of fixing my hair for me. The salon was beautiful with a great view. I cannot believe that this was the only time I went in the spa area. We had intended to make it at least to the rain forest area once, but never did. I didn't take the camera but took a few photos with my iphone.

Once my appointment was over, we went back to get ready for our dinner at Palo.
Funny foot picture in the hallway.

We waited for a few minutes in Meridian for our table to be ready. We chatted with Abie again & he asked about our plans for after dinner. We told him we weren't sure, but thought we might go watch the Captain Jack portion of the pirate party since we didn't get to see it very well before. He urged us to come back & experience the fireworks from the out door area of Meridian as the perfect way to cap off our night.

Then, we were shown to our lovely table.

Our server was Nicole from Australia & she was excellent.
She came around with the anit-pasta cart.

She made us a nice plate with a little bit of everything. Eric really liked the cured beef.

For our appetizer, we both had the trio of appetizer which included calamari with a fried cherry pepper, Sicilian Pesto Marinated Grilled Shrimp
on a Mussel, Crab and Cherry Tomato Ragu & Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Polenta with a roasted shallot sauce and a parmesan chip. All 3 were delicious.

Palate cleanser

We both decided to have the Beef Tenderloin "Palo" served with Palo signature Barolo red wine sauce or gorgonzola sauce of which Nicole brought us both. We also got small plates of the Risotta di Mare-Saffron Risotto served with Fried Zucchini, Shrimp, Mussels and Clams & the Gnocchi di patate con Gorgonzola e Aspargi-Potato gnocchi served with gorgonzola sauce with asparagus.

I hate to say it, but the steak was not that great for the first time ever in Palo. It was just ok & a bit dry. My steak at Royal Palace earlier in the week was better. The risotto & gnocchi were wonderful & we both wish we had tried something else for our entree.
For dessert, we both had the Chocolate Souffle with Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Sauces which was to die for just as I remembered!

Dinner was finished off with the lovely refreshing limencello shot.

Dinner was lovely. It was all that a meal at Palo should be...relaxing, luxurious & romantic.

Up next...Pirate Night grown up style.

 

[Disneygrl36]

After our lovely dinner, we made our way down to the lobby to take a few photos since we were all dressed up.

We headed back to the room & found a cute monkey waiting for us.

We changed our clothes & chatted a little bit about what we wanted to do. We ended up deciding to take Abie's advice & just go enjoy a nice, quiet evening & watch the fireworks from Meridian & forgo the craziness up on deck.

It was a lovely evening out & we had great perspective for the fireworks. I have a friend who works for Norwegian Cruise Line & she is always attending travel fairs. She got me the cutest pair of ears to wear & this was the night for them because they have fireworks on them & light up which you can kind of see here.

Fireworks.........this was a great place to watch them.

And a little video....

As soon as the fireworks were over, everyone else pretty much left. We stayed & had another drink & talked some more to Abie.
Here you can see my ears better.

It had been a great, relaxing day & we were pooped, so we headed to bed dreaming of another great day on Castaway Cay.

Up next: Castaway Cay & a massage for 2

 

[Aburns8]

Boy you were living large on your cruise! You got to get your hair done and go to Palo for dinner! I am a little jealous over here.