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

[Disneygrl36]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhh I just lost a whole post. Frustrated. BBL!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Eric got up & went to work out while I hunkered back down in the bed & went back to sleep. I slept until nearly 9am.
This was the view from the verandah when I got up.

We got ready & headed up to Palo to brunch at 10:00.

Missy & Trent had brunch at the same time, so we asked to be seated together & they were able to accommodate us.

Our waiter was Soffett (not sure if I spelled that right at all) & he was very charming & helpful. He brought us some mimosas & then took us on a tour of the buffet to explain the offerings & then left us to fill our plates.
My plate....the most delicious sticky bun ever in the middle & the clockwise to the left, stolen bread, fruit, cheese assortment with crackers, bloody mary shooter (omg such a burst of flavor), shrimp, asparagus with proscutto & hollandaise & berries.

We also ordered a ½ & ½ pizza- ½ grape & gorgonzola & ½ sausage. So yummy!

When the buffet line died down, I went back & took some pictures.
The Palo room where the buffet was set up.

Breads, cheeses & fruit

Antipasta area

Details

Looking back at our table from the buffet area

Dessert station

At some point, Soffett brought us another round of mimosas because he thought we needed them & he didn’t charge us for them. He took such good care of us.
We ordered off the menu next except Missy who wanted more off the buffet. I had eggs benedict which were creamy, eggy goodness.

Both the boys had chicken parmesean which they devoured.
My dessert plate….I loved the chocolate covered strawberries & fruit. The other custardy thing was not very tasty though.

All the rest of the group had coffee to finsh up with sticky buns (why didn’t I get another one of those? I wish I had one now!) but I don’t drink coffee so I had some hot tea.

Soffett made up a plate of desserts to take to go & Missy & Trent took them so as not to hurt his feelings.
We had a lovely brunch together.

I love this piece of art in the stairwell close to Remy & Palo.

Full & happy we headed back to the room to change & then poked around the ship a little more.
Dark but cool photo of us in a porthole.

We went to Shutters to check out our pictures. I love the new way they are doing Shutters. It is like a library now & your pictures are in a section in their own little book. Ours were in Pluto.

We had some pretty good ones & I don’t usually like photos of myself at all. Eric said we could get 2 but there were at least 4 really good ones. We negotiated & got 4 but would get none the next cruise. After all that hard work, it was time to head to Pink for our wine tasting.

Pink was just the meeting point. We went up to Meridian for the actual wine tasting.

Gonzalo, the head sommelier, is originally from Portugal & grew up on a family winery there, so he had been drinking wine practically his whole life. He knows his stuff. He talked about tasting wine from the aroma, to the bouquet, to the appearance, to the legs which indicate alcohol content, to the taste & finally the finish.

I quiet enjoyed listening to him share his knowledge of wine with us but what stuck in my head the most was his comment to “drink what you liked.” He’s not a wine snob at all!
We tasted a moscato, a sauvignon blanc, a beajoulais & a cabarnet sauvignon.

We finished up with a Tattinger brut champagne.
Cont. in next post due to photo restrictions.

 

[Disneygrl36]

He took us next door to show us the Remy wine cellar.

It has some very expensive bottles of wine including the famous 1947 Cheval Blanc which is mentioned in Ratatouille. It is $25,000 a bottle.

A few more shots of the beautiful Remy.

I’d like this table please.

The back room…

Close up of the mural which is the kitchen from the movie.

Beautiful roses & the port hole that overlooks the outdoor area of Meridian bar.

We really enjoyed our wine tasting. It was a very pleasant way to spend the early afternoon.
Area outside Palo & Remy

And to finish it all up, the beautiful & fancy restrooms in that area.

Up next…..Do you believe?

 

[Disneygrl36]

After wine tasting, we wanted to go to the matinee performance of Believe at 3:00 so we could relax before dinner instead of having to get ready to go to the show.
I’ll add here again that all my show photos were taken without a flash & with the viewfinder up to my eye not with the display screen so as not to be a distraction to others.
We found seat but our buddies Missy & Trent & sat back to enjoy the show in the beautiful Walt Disney Theater.

Believe is about a father who is too tied up with his work to notice that his daughter wants him to play with her & that she is growing up all too fast.

All she really wants is for her father to Believe in magic. She tries casting spells but to no avail. He is still the same old Dad, until he picks up her magic lamp & out pops the Genie.

Next thing the father knows all sorts of people are coming to teach him about Magic, Dreams & Imagination.

Merlin doesn’t some higgitus piggitus

My favorite, Mary Poppins flies in to teach him a thing or too (my favorite part!)

Love how all the sweeps are moving with Mary in the middle

Shaking hands for good luck.

Baloo tries to teach him about the bear necessities

Rafiki tries to explain things to him too

2nd favorite part was the Princess & the Frog section
Goin’ down the bayou

Charlotte

Dig a little deeper with Mama Odie

A little bit of princess/prince action to show him how quickly she will be grown up into a lady.

Be Our Guest

And the finale where he has finally realized the power of Magic & knows he should value his relationship & spend time with his daughter.

It was pure Disney magic at it’s best. I had a few sniffly moments as the story line hit a bit close to home for me as I don’t really have a great relationship with my biological father or my step father.

Next up Shopping & Dinner with Dudes

 

[Disneygrl36]

After the show, we headed to the shops to browse since they had hardly been open up to this point. I wanted a DCL inspired Dooney & Bourke wristlet. I love the big bags, but I am just a small purse kind of girl. I did not like the Dream wristlet so I ended up picking out a yellow regular DCL one with pretty good placement. Browsed around abit & got a Christmas ornament & the Dream & Castaway Cay vinylmation. No tshirts were bought quite yet as we had decided we wanted CC ones.
With that accomplished, we were a little hungry as brunch had been about 6 hours ago & we still had 4 hours til dinner. We headed up to Flo’s for a bite.

Then went back & relaxed on the verandah with some drinkies. It was so relaxing out there & we were just barely putting along.

On the way to dinner, we stopped off for a picture in the big royal chairs.

Dinner tonight was back in Animator’s Palate but tonight would be the “show” dinner where characters come around & chat with the diners.

Crush on the screens

Guess the shape fish?

For appetizers, I had the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes - pasta purse filled with trufflec scented cheese and coated with a delicate champagne sauce. OMG good!

Eric had the Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist - served with Parmigiano-Reggiano which was also really tasty.

We both had the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup with bacon bits and chives.

For entrees, I had the Grilled Pacific Black Cod with sauteed morel mushrooms on a yellow split pea puree. Delicious.

Eric had the Marinated Angus Beef Tenderloin carved to order on wasabi mashed potatoes with bok choy and a tamarind-barbecue reduction which he must have really liked because he got it again the next night.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/Disneygrl36/cruise%202011/IMG_1817.jpg[/IMG
Chris taking dessert orders. Love the shirts they wear in here.
[IMG]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/Disneygrl36/cruise%202011/IMG_1819.jpg
For some reason Chris decided I needed something on my head, perhaps because Missy had on her Minnie Mouse ears.

Eric had to wear it too!

My dessert was the Pineapple Financier - almond cake served with whipped cream.

Eric had the Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake with whipped cream and raspberry coulis.

Tonight I got the happy birthday treatment…..my birthday is Halloween (the day after we got off the ship) but I guess they decided to celebrate it tonight. Fine with me!

A few Nemo art pieces around the restaurant on the screens.

One of our favorite Pixar movies is UP so we loved this picture of Russell. Adventure is out there!

Floor at Animators

Continued in next post due to photo limitations.

 

[Disneygrl36]

We headed up as a group to Meridian. It was a beautiful night so we sat outside & had that whole area to ourselves. I had a Le Grand Bleu - Grey Goose Vodka, Grand Marnier, Blue Curacao Liqueur, Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice, Taittinger Champagne
& Eric had a glass of wine.

We stayed up there & chatted for awhile & then took a stroll back through the lobby which was mostly empty at that hour.

Missy took this photo for us.

More of the gorgeous lobby.

Time for bed knowing we had our last breakfast with our new friends in the morning.

Up next....Now it's time to say goodbye NOT!

 

[Jennifer48]

Totally should not have read this installment until after I ate dinner, I'm so hungry looking at all this wonderful food!

I love the table decor at Animators Palate from the table number to the butter knife!

You did so many things on this cruise, drawing class, mixology class, wine tasting...did you leave anything for the 2nd one?! Although all those were wonderful enough I'm sure you'd take them again!

Can we see a pic of your new Dooney wristlet? I'm hoping to get a DCL Dooney bag on ours also. Oooh and the vinyls too. Pics please!

 

[jenandjuice]

Can we see a pic of your new Dooney wristlet? I'm hoping to get a DCL Dooney bag on ours also. Oooh and the vinyls too. Pics please!

I second this.

Your review is my favorite so far, I'm loving it and hoping my cruise on the Magic will be half as wonderful as what you are showing here

 

[Aburns8]

Boy! I am so behind. Didn't you want to steal one of those bread knives from animators? I did. I even told our waitstaff that if one went missing it would be my fault. I am glad that you had a good time at Castaway. We really enjoyed just sitting on the beach for an afternoon. It was the first time we actually relaxed. We ended up renting bikes and taking a bike ride around. I should just do a TR so you can see what we ate at dinner! I am hoping in the future we can do the brunch and a wine tasting.

 

[DuchessOnWheels]

I've been trying to gather information about cruising DCL in a wheelchair and this TR came up in my search. LOVE IT!

I'm thinking if I can just get my chair through the cabin door, it's all good. BTW, did you have an accessible cabin?

 

[Disneygrl36]

Totally should not have read this installment until after I ate dinner, I'm so hungry looking at all this wonderful food!

I love the table decor at Animators Palate from the table number to the butter knife!

You did so many things on this cruise, drawing class, mixology class, wine tasting...did you leave anything for the 2nd one?! Although all those were wonderful enough I'm sure you'd take them again!

Can we see a pic of your new Dooney wristlet? I'm hoping to get a DCL Dooney bag on ours also. Oooh and the vinyls too. Pics please!

They sold a large dinner plate from AP in the shops & I wanted to get 2 of them, but Eric talked me out of it worrying about how to get them home in one piece.
We did do alot on the 1st cruise, but there was still more to do on the 2nd.
Pictures coming right up for you.

I second this.

Your review is my favorite so far, I'm loving it and hoping my cruise on the Magic will be half as wonderful as what you are showing here

Awww thanks. I have cruised on the Magic a few times & you are in store for a treat. The last time we sailed the Magic was 4 years ago....you can read about it here if you want.
Pumpkins, Pirates & Poppins: A Magical Halloween Cruise

Boy! I am so behind. Didn't you want to steal one of those bread knives from animators? I did. I even told our waitstaff that if one went missing it would be my fault. I am glad that you had a good time at Castaway. We really enjoyed just sitting on the beach for an afternoon. It was the first time we actually relaxed. We ended up renting bikes and taking a bike ride around. I should just do a TR so you can see what we ate at dinner! I am hoping in the future we can do the brunch and a wine tasting.

We talked every night at dinner about things we wanted to steal. I am hoping in the future we can cruise together.

I've been trying to gather information about cruising DCL in a wheelchair and this TR came up in my search. LOVE IT!

I'm thinking if I can just get my chair through the cabin door, it's all good. BTW, did you have an accessible cabin?

I usually got out of my chair to get into the cabin since I could walk a little on my boot...those regular cabin door are pretty narrow. The HC accessible rooms probably have wider doors. When all this happened with my foot, I called to see if we could upgrade to a HC cabin as I thought it would be easier but it was going to be almost $1,000 to do so as all they had left HC accessible was suites, so we just stuck with what we had.
I found most places to be pretty accessible & the staff are very helpful too!

Pictures as requested
I went through every navy & yellow wristlet & this was the best placement I could find.
Front of D&B & vinylmations

Back of D&B & vinylmations

Also the Shutters Pictures--it's hard to get a clear picture of a glossy picture.
CC

Captain Jack Sparrow

Pirate night dinner

Night time backdrop

 

[Disneygrl36]

We had 2nd seating dinner so we had the 8am breakfast thank goodness. That last morning 6:30 breakfast seating alone is enough to make me not want 1st seating dinner. We headed to Animators Palate for breakfast.

The only reason we went to breakfast in the dining room was to say goodbye to our new found friends. We wanted to spend a few more minutes with them before we all had to part ways.

Always in the past the last morning breakfast has seemed like utter chaos, but this morning it really didn’t. I don’t know if it was because we weren’t leaving or if it just ran a lot smoother. They came around with a tray of pastries & I got a jelly doughnut-my weakness.

I had fruit & oatmeal for breakfast.

Before too long, we were heading off the ship & saying our final goodbyes with hugs all around to our new friends. We would really miss them at dinner & in the evenings when we had all taken to hanging out. We wished them safe travels & headed through customs & were back in the DCL terminal in about 10 minutes at about 9:15 or so.

They were not really ready to check us back to backers back in yet so we basically just found a spot & sat around waiting.
I wandered around taking some photos & Eric remarked he had never really noticed all the stuff on the floor before since the terminal is always so crowded.

From the outside observation area.

And back in the nearly empty terminal.

While we were waiting, we decided to check on what it would cost to get a town car to pick us up & take us back to WDW as we were really not feeling going back to that Thrifty office to get the rental car that we had reserved. When we had dropped off the car it just seemed like chaos & there were 4 ships back in that day so we were scared that we would be sitting there forever waiting on a car. We were able to arrange it with Tiffany Towncar (whom we had used in the past) & it was probably about twice the cost of the rental car, but it made our getting from the ship to Bay Lake Towers so much quicker & less of a hassle. We were able to call DVC & arrange Magical Express pick up for free to get us back to MCO so it all worked out well.

Also, while we were sitting there patiently waiting to reboard, a man came over to me holding a cell phone asking if I was Melanie. It was my friend Chris from England that was supposed to be cruising with us on the phone with his friend Jeff (who was a fellow back to back cruiser) & Chris had told him to go looking for me so we could chat. Guess I wasn’t too hard to find with that stinkin’ boot on which was a good thing. I enjoyed a lovely chat with Chris & told him he was missed & thanked Jeff for finding me.

I went to the bathroom at one point & when I returned they had opened up the check-in line & Eric was over there to recheck us in.

They started letting us back on the ship around 10:30. When we got back on there was no introductions etc as there were not CM’s there waiting to welcome us. But Jeff made his own welcome & we clapped as we were getting back on! And we were off to see what we could see in the time before we were joined by the next group of cruisers.

Up next…..Did we peek into some cool places? Oh yes we did!

 

[jenandjuice]

Just finished your Magic trip report, it was awesome, thank you so much for sharing!!

Also, I love love love the wristlet I might have to end up with one of those.

Lastly, if you don't mind I might steal your mascot idea gives me an excuse to find a super cute Belle figurine

 

[BackRow]

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.....

Absolutely! The DC Chophouse is one of our favorites when we go downtown. http://www.districtchophouse.com/ Another fun one if you like tapas is Jaleo. http://www.jaleo.com/ Founding Farmers is also delish: http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/ And of course no DC trip is complete without a stop at Ben's Chili Bowl! http://www.benschilibowl.com/ordereze/default.aspx May is a great time to visit DC, not too crowded yet with summer tourists and usually good weather. Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[annabug]

I am enjoying reading your report! Such a cute and funloving couple! I am traveling in June with my DH and 2 children. It is nice to see all of your experiences as a couple. I would like to do the wine tasting with my DH, maybe when kids go to kiddy area...not sure yet.

Also, I love your choce of little gifts for yourself, funny how I would have chosen the same things....and I would have to control myself not to OCD over the placement on the Dooney wristlet, i think you picked a good one!Did they have many wristles to choose from??
Looking foward to the second half!!
annabug

 

[TwinsFan]

Hi Melanie, I'm still reading! Now I get to find out what you did after we got off the ship

 

[Disneygrl36]

Just finished your Magic trip report, it was awesome, thank you so much for sharing!!

Also, I love love love the wristlet I might have to end up with one of those.

Lastly, if you don't mind I might steal your mascot idea gives me an excuse to find a super cute Belle figurine

I am glad you liked the Magic trippie.
I am certainly not the first one to have a mascot. I just like the idea, so steal away!

Absolutely! The DC Chophouse is one of our favorites when we go downtown. http://www.districtchophouse.com/ Another fun one if you like tapas is Jaleo. http://www.jaleo.com/ Founding Farmers is also delish: http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/ And of course no DC trip is complete without a stop at Ben's Chili Bowl! http://www.benschilibowl.com/ordereze/default.aspx May is a great time to visit DC, not too crowded yet with summer tourists and usually good weather. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Oh Wow, thanks for the suggestions. I am keeping a folder on the computer of stuff I find. Anything touristy or non-touritsty besides all the ordinary stuff like the monuments etc. that is not to be missed? We love doing afternoon tea. Do you know a great place for that?

I am enjoying reading your report! Such a cute and funloving couple! I am traveling in June with my DH and 2 children. It is nice to see all of your experiences as a couple. I would like to do the wine tasting with my DH, maybe when kids go to kiddy area...not sure yet.

Also, I love your choce of little gifts for yourself, funny how I would have chosen the same things....and I would have to control myself not to OCD over the placement on the Dooney wristlet, i think you picked a good one!Did they have many wristles to choose from??
Looking foward to the second half!!
annabug

Most kids seem to love the kids areas. I have some pictures of them coming up as we wandered through during the open house. There were alot of wristlets, I found a white one with better placement but I already have the white sketch one so I wanted a different color.

Hi Melanie, I'm still reading! Now I get to find out what you did after we got off the ship

Hi Beth I am uploading pictures for the next part now & should have a few new post up tomorrow. Today I took a break & Eric & I were lazy all day.

 

[Disneygrl36]

As we got back on the ship for the 2nd time, I noticed this which I had not noticed the first time we boarded.

Our first stop was the kids clubs to see if they were open & we could poke around in there to see what they looked like. They were all closed up but I had asked at the terminal & they said they would be open after 12 for anyone that wanted to have a look around.
We headed up to Deck 12 as we knew we wanted to do some poking around there. It felt like we had the ship practically to ourselves.

As we wandered around, we found out that the conceirge area was open, so in we went.
A conceirge suite room.

Very cool door to their lounge area.

Look what we found...........the Roy Suite.

As we were in here looking around, in popped Gonzalo the head sommelier who was showing some crew where he liked to have parties. LOL!

Look at this verandah........WOW

Bedroom & bath

Details

There were people in the room, but no one in there seemed to mind us looking around. I asked the girl in the bar/kitchen area if the suites were usually full & she said yes almost always.
There was a long skinny room between the Roy suite & then we hit the mother load.

There seemed to be more people milling around in here & they tolerated us looking around but I could tell they were anxious for us to be out.

Details

While the suites were beautiful, I was left feeling like there was no connection to Roy or Walt. I know on the classic ships, there are photos of the family in the suites & I wondered why they left out that detail here.

A one bedroom suite.

We left the concierge area having accomplished our mission of getting a look at those suites without having to pay the ridiculous prices it costs to stay in them.

We explored the deck area some & I loved getting pictures without a ton of people in them.

Cont in next post due to photo limitations....

 

[Disneygrl36]

We didn't get to ride the Aquaduck this time because of my foot & all the stairs. I encouraged Eric to ride without me, but he just never did.

Saw them walking the tube......pretty weird.

I sort of tested my stair walking ability to get up to the sports deck & have a look around because we couldn't find another way up there. I decided trying to walk up the Aqua Duck stairs without my boot was not going to happen after that.

The cutest mini golf area..........we never did get back there to play.

Do you see a hidden Mickey?

The time........

We wandered around Flo's area without the crowds...

And Nemo's reef which was always packed with kids any other time we went by it.

We decided at this point, to head back to our room and change into our swimsuits to enjoy the pool before it got crowded. Since we were back to back, Nigel our room steward had told us he would do our room first & that we could come back whenever we wanted. I left the camera in the room as we planned to just relax. We got back down to the Quiet Cove area & we had it mostly to ourselves. We got a comfy round lounger by the hot tub. We got in the hot tub & were all alone enjoying the relaxing warm water. We also got in the pool & there was one other couple in there. It seems to take awhile for this area to get crowded which was wonderful for us. It was so quiet & peaceful. We just lounged around & enjoyed the time spent together chatting about the first part of the trip. We decided to get a quick bite from Flo's & avoid the crowded buffets. We had salads & bacon, tomato & cheese panini's which were quite good. As our post lunch treat, we went to the Cove Cafe & each got a Coffee Toledo - Baileys, Kahlua, Espresso, Hershey's Chocolate sauce, Whipped Cream-oh my it was tasty. We also picked a few treats out of the case to go with our coffees. What a wonderful treat. We vowed to come back to the Quiet Cove when we weren't in wet bathing suits & enjoy the area & wondered why didn't we come in here the first cruise? It was starting to get more crowded & we decided to head back to the room. We just relaxed & spent some time out on the verandah.

Up next.....Why can't we play & a low key sail away

 

[Disneygrl36]

So later we decided to go check out the kids club areas while they were open for open house.
These are the really cool hand washing stations. You just put your hands in & then wait!

The areas are all really inviting for the kids.
A cool animation area for drawing.

Cute kiddie size bathrooms.

Pixie hollow area

Nemo submarine area

Cool ceiling detail

Monsters Inc area

Andy's room

We chatted with one of the counselors telling him we'd like to have an adult play day in there. He said sometimes they will do some special hours where they have family play time where the parents can join in. I say they do an adult only play time so we can all go play & make flubber & do the fun stuff the kids get to do.

We also checked out the nursery because it has an It's a Small World theme & pays homage to one of my favorite Disney artists Mary Blair.

Soon, it was time for our 2nd muster drill.

Just like the previous one, we were placed at the far end & after we were accounted for they basically released us since we had heard the spiel before. Yeah us!
We headed back to the room as we had decided to watch the sail away from the verandah this time.
A little video of our plan....

We had a lovely time just relaxing & watching us slip away from Port Canaveral.

Up next....Drinks with old friends & dinner with new