Part 1
I woke up to a lovely view this morning.
I showered and got ready while watching Good Morning Disney Magic, which has been revamped with new graphics. I highly suggest everyone watch this 5-minute video that plays every morning until noon because the cruise director and assistant cruise director talk about everything that is important for the day and sometimes even the next day.
Peter was our cruise director on this sailing, which is the 4th or 5th time we've had him and he is amazing. He's not too over the top, he's got just the right kind of energy and you can easily understand him, which really helps.
Jen and Claire said they have had Peter as a cruise director 7 or 8 times now.
I watch this every single day when I cruise, it is very informative. All you have to do is turn on the tv, press the Watch TV button and then it automatically plays on that start-up channel. I often will catch it in the middle but then I just watch until I get to the same part as it just plays on repeat.
Once I was done watching the whole round of GMDM, I put it on the map and watched as it scrolled through more interesting information. I love knowing where we are and how fast we're going. Is it just me?
Just before noon, we headed up to Palo. Kira was lounging in bed but made it to Vibe shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, none of the Vibe activities start until around noon, even on a sea day. I wish Disney would figure out that not all teenagers sleep until noon.
We checked in but opted not to sit down until Jen, Claire and Skip were here. We admired the gorgeous tile work until then.
When Jen and I were on the Magic last year, we went to Palo and had an amazing server name Srdjan. We found out later on Facebook that Srdjan was really good friends with our server Cris!
So, while we were making sure we had Cris as a server yesterday, we also checked to make sure we got Srdjan for our Palo Brunch.
Jen and I are FB friends with both Cris and Srdjan, so we had let them know we were coming and that we would be requesting them. They had both brushed up on our FB posts because they knew that Jen and I had just been on the NCL Viva together and asked us about it. Now that's going above and beyond, total class act!
He came to greet us about half-way to the table and gave us hugs and welcomed us back. We sat down at our table and then I handed him my phone and asked him to take a selfie of us with him in it. I guess I wasn't very clear because he took this selfie.
And then he took a photo of us.
So, we gave him clearer instructions and got what we wanted.
Menu hasn't changed since last year, still has all the good stuff we love.
Everyone ordered an almond croissant except for me, I ordered a regular one but we all agreed that they were probably the best croissants we've ever had!
Everyone but me enjoyed the seafood platter. I almost barfed when Srdjan placed it directly in front of me though and got a waft of the smell. I don't do seafood.
He brought out a bread basket as well.
I got my delicious celery soup, as did Claire.
Rob got his tomato soup.
Srdjan brought us a calzone to share. I don't think I have ever had this before but after sampling a small bite, I will 100% be ordering this on my next visit! Yum!
He also brought us a spicy sausage pizza to share.
Rob got the blueberry pancakes.
Jen and I shared the lasagna, which was amazing, as usual.
Claire got the steak.
I ordered the chicken parm and shared with both Rob and Jen.
Both Rob and Skip ordered the wild mushroom ravioli.
Jen and I asked for extra risotto that comes with the chicken parm and he did not disappoint us.
Time for dessert!
He brought us double Panna Cotta but we only managed to eat one.
Jen had the chocolate fondant.
Rob had the lemon citrus cake.
I think he brought the raspberry tart to share.
He also surprised us with the sticky bun, which we all ended up loving.
And I ordered the zabaglione.
He then brought out this beautiful plate to celebrate Claire's 19th birthday.
It was now 2pm and we were all quite full and Rob and Skip were standing up and ready to leave but we hadn't signed the bill yet so we told the boys that they could go but we still weren't done and they seemed a bit inpatient so we were like, "Okay, bye!" I don't think they realized that we had not taken care of the bill yet and that we couldn't leave until that was done.
So Rob and Skip left and then Srdjan grabbed our room keys and brought us the bill to sign. We tipped him extra, he was amazing!
As we were leaving, we took a peek at the private dining area (ahh, memories
) and then Srdjan called someone over and asked him to take a pic of us.
Srdjan then led us to the exit and patiently waited for us to sign the book and then bid us a fond farewell with another hug.
If you go to Palo on the Magic and want an amazing server, be sure to request Srdjan and tell him Jen & Cass say hello!
I headed back to the room to get into comfy clothes and then one of us may have taken a nap.
