Escape from Real Life to Paradise: A New Trip with New Memories - Completed 4/3

[cstorm65]

Monday, June 23 - Part 4 - Who Knew Ducks Tasted So Good

When we finished our character meets we headed over to our dinner spot for the evening, Royal Palace. We showed up about 15 minutes late as we thought that might buy us a few more minutes with a 2 year old at the end of the meal. They don't seem to even really get things rolling until 10 minutes or so after you arrive anyways. On to dinner!

DW was happy with the bread service.

DS's meal came quickly and Palmer made him some Mickey shaped ketchup.

We also brought a few toys tonight to try and entertain DS during the long meal.

The appetizers were awesome here. DW got the Breaded and Deep Fried Brie with an Orange and Cranberry Chutney and she loved it. I tried a bite two and loved it as well. I really wish I had ordered two appetizers. Here it was:

I ordered the Duck Confit: Slow Cooked Duck Leg pulled and garnished with Dried Cranberries and Walnuts, which I had wrestled between that and the Brie, but am glad to say that my choice won. The Duck was awesome. I had never eaten duck before and it was great! DW didn't love it because it was served cold, but that certainly didn't bother me. Now I was wishing I had ordered 3 appetizers, the Brie and 2 orders of the duck!

I went ahead and ordered the French Onion Soup since it was offered and it was okay. Although, I'm not a huge French onion soup fan so I'm not the best judge.

For the main course I went with the Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak: Roasted Filet Steak, Crushed New Potatoes with Shallots, Buttered Green Beans, Red Wine Jus, and a Béarnaise sauce on the side.

It was good. Not quite as tender as I would have liked from a filet, but still enjoyable. The sides with this were unfortunately not all that great.

At some point in here DS turned the breadbasket into a basket for his toys!

I didn't get a picture of DW's meal but she had the Roasted Rack of Lamb Medium: with Dauphinose Potatoes, Buttered Brussel Sprouts, and a Claret Rosemary Sauce. She thought it was great and the bite I had was really good as well.

For dessert I had the signature Crème Brulee. It was fantastic for the most part. One corner was a little burned and had a strong burn flavor, but other than that it was great.

DW had the Strawberry Short Cake Sundae, which she said was good, but nothing extraordinary.

All in all we loved Royal Palace. The only negative was that this restaurant was so loud throughout the meal. Enchanted Garden had been so quiet the night before and this was completely different. Palmer did some great tricks for us after the meal tonight and DS really loved a couple of them. DS did much better overall at this meal due to the fact that we arrived a little later and brought some toys to entertain him. Now we were off to the nursery and to see what DW and I could find to do for a couple of hours.

Up Next: The Best Seat on the Ship​

 

[cstorm65]

Monday, June 23 – Part 5 – The Best Seat on the Ship

After a great dinner at Royal Palace we headed over to the nursery to check in DS for a little while. We dropped him off and he ran right in the door and went and grabbed the toy lawn mover out of the playroom and started mowing!

Before heading to Villain’s Tonight DW and I visited deck four and found a lounger. We were once again reminded about how this was by far the best seat on the ship; so relaxing. We sat for a few minutes and took a few pictures as the sun was setting that evening.

We headed inside about 15 minutes before the show and spent some time in the shops. We then headed in the theater and tried to get some good pictures but they didn’t turn out real well.

We sat on the main level tonight, instead of the balcony and decided we liked the balcony better. Villain’s Tonight was a good show, although some parts of it were a little corny. I know they were trying to keep it somewhat lighthearted for the kids so it was fine. It was pretty funny though and we definitely enjoyed it.

We got out of the show and picked up DS at 9:30 and he had played hard and was ready for bed.

When we got back to the room our stateroom host, Natha, had left some great things on our beds.

DS’s bed decorated with his toys.

A close up of the crab on our bed:

That is it for our first full day on the ship. It was a fantastic one. Tomorrow would be something we were really looking forward to…Castaway Cay!

Up Next: Something is Biting Me!​

 

[cstorm65]

Tuesday, June 24 – Part 1 – “Something is Biting Me!”

We got up around 7:00 and started preparing for our day at Castaway Cay. We were already docked when we got up and our plan was to get on the island early so we could get some beach chairs and head back to the ship after lunch so DS could nap. We got ready and headed to Cabana’s for breakfast. We were all enjoying the view from the top part of the ship while eating.

I made myself some eggs benedict with the hollandaise sauce that was on the buffet and it was really good.

DS loved looking out the window while we were eating.

I also looked down and saw the crew doing some serious unloading of supplies before we were given the all ashore.

And finally, a beautiful sunrise over Castaway Cay:

We went back to the room to grab our beach bag. I took our mugs upstairs to fill them with ice water before leaving and met DW and DS in the atrium to wait for the All Ashore. I found DW And DS here:

They gave the All Ashore at 8:30 and we went straight to the tram and took it to the farthest family beach. We found some chairs to put our stuff by and got ready to get in the ocean. DS was ready to go in his Mickey Mouse life jacket.

We were in the water by 8:45 and stayed there for over an hour just enjoying the morning time, as it wasn’t too crowded yet. We got out at around 10:00 and DS played in the sand for a while.

While playing he decided he was going to bury my foot in the sand.

After playing for a while DS found out that the sand was fun to throw and he did not like it when we wouldn’t let him do that. We had a meltdown and I had to take him for a walk into the little shopping area.

While gone I got a virgin Piña Colada for DW and I to share and it came in a cool souvenir cup; it cost $9, but it is nice to have nonetheless.

It was close to 11 at this point so we thought we would try and get back in the water for a little while. After being in for not more than five minutes I told DW that something was biting me. I didn’t think much of it and nor did DW until DS started saying he had an ouchy and that he got bit. It turned out later that we were being bitten by sea lice, which had moved in later that morning. We didn’t make it too long this time because of them and headed out to clean up our stuff.

Before heading to lunch we stopped in the gift shop and decided our Christmas ornament for this trip would come from Castaway Cay and we picked this one:

I took a shot of the Dream from our chairs before heading to lunch. What a great morning it had been on Castaway Cay.

Up Next: And the Winner is…​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Fell a bit behind - though, for a good reason as we just got back from Disney World today.

That's really cute that your son was so into Daisy - though a little awkward you then had duck to eat at the next meal.

Sounds like a really nice meal - both your appetizers looked really good. Looked like a nice morning on Castaway Cay as well - other than the sea lice of course

 

[MEK]

Your apps at dinner sound delicious! Yum! Sounds like they were the best part of the meals.

Love the pics of you and DW. Her dress is so pretty!

Braxton is too funny with that bread basket.

Breakfast looks delish and it sounds like you had a wonderful time on CC. But what's up the the sea lice???? That's not good. Bugs love me. I hope they are long gone by next month.

Love your picture of the dream from CC.

Braxton's bathing suit is adorable and he looks like he is having a total blast!

 

[cstorm65]

Fell a bit behind - though, for a good reason as we just got back from Disney World today.

Welcome back, hope you had a great trip!

That's really cute that your son was so into Daisy - though a little awkward you then had duck to eat at the next meal.

I know, but the duck was so good!

Sounds like a really nice meal - both your appetizers looked really good. Looked like a nice morning on Castaway Cay as well - other than the sea lice of course

This was our favorite night of apps on the whole 4 night cruise. It was a great morning and we did get a good 60-90 minutes of swim time before the Sea Lice moved in!

Your apps at dinner sound delicious! Yum! Sounds like they were the best part of the meals.

This night the apps were definitely awesome. The best night of apps for sure!

Love the pics of you and DW. Her dress is so pretty!

She says thanks! She bought that just for the cruise.

Braxton is too funny with that bread basket.

He literally thought it was there to hold his toys...silly kid!

Breakfast looks delish and it sounds like you had a wonderful time on CC.

It was good and a great morning.

But what's up the the sea lice???? That's not good. Bugs love me. I hope they are long gone by next month.

I researched it a little once we were back on the ship and I seem to remember saying they happen in the summer months. And I don't think they happen often, just once in a while. We just got a little unlucky. I don't think they move in until it gets hotter too. We were off the ship early and in the water from 8:45-10 and they didn't bother us at all then. Not until we got back in around 11:30 were they there.

Love your picture of the dream from CC.

Some great views from on the island.

Braxton's bathing suit is adorable and he looks like he is having a total blast!

He had a lot of fun, except when we told him he couldn't throw sand!

 

[cstorm65]

Tuesday, June 24 – Part 2 – And the Winner is…

After we got up from our spot I took some more pictures of the ship on the way to lunch.

We got to Cookies Too around noon and it was fairly crowded, but we didn’t have any trouble finding a spot to sit. I got a nice plate full of great food.

This lunch was honestly one of my favorite quick meals on the ship. The BBQ style food was prepared well and I LOVE German style potato salad. I think what we liked about this food was that it was different than a lot of quicker meal options, which was nice. DS was, of course, loving his hot dog.

We caught the tram back to the ship at around 12:30.

Before we got back onboard we got a few pics in the area. I’m not sure why this first one is so blurry.

We were back in our rom by 1:00 or so and we got showered and cleaned up and had DS to sleep pretty quickly. While DS and DW slept I went up to the top decks to take some pictures of Castaway Cay.

I even got to see them with a lifeboat in the water!

I headed back to the room about 2:00 as DW had an appointment at the Spa at 2:15 as she was getting the Fire and Ice Pedicure. She loved the treatment, but said they were a little pushy in trying to sell her stuff for her skin and things like that.

While she was gone I laid down and napped a little too and DS and I were asleep until 3:45. We then headed out to deliver the day’s fish extenders. At 4:30 we wanted to head to the DVC presentation as we were in the very early stages of seeing if the program was for us. We sat through the entire presentation and at the end they called DW’s name and she had won the $200 stateroom credit! So that was definitely worth sitting through the 45 minute talk! There were probably only five other couples there so our chanced were 1 in 6. By this time it was around 5:15 and dinner was happening soon and we had to get into our Pirate Outfits.

Up Next: “Arr…Matey!”​

 

[cstorm65]

Tuesday, June 24 – Part 3 – “Arr…Matey!”

We got all dressed in our Pirate outfits and were ready for a fun night! We got downstairs a little early so we hung out outside on deck four for a little while.

Here were some pictures of our Pirate outfits.

Our Pirate dinner tonight was in Royal Palace.

For DW’s appetizer she got The Buccaneers Sun Ripened Pineapple: Fresh Island Pineapple with a Coconut covered Banana and Orange Glaze. She loved it! This was the only thing she ate all week where she would not give up a bite to me!

I got the Pirate’s Golden Pot Stickers: Oriental Pork Dumplings deep fried and served with a Tamarind-Ginger Soy sauce and Pickled Vegetables.

The pot stickers were not ‘Ohana, but they were good. Both DW and I had the Jerk Chicken Salad: Jerked seasoned Chicken strips over fresh, crispy greens with Citrus dressing and Plantain Chips.

This was a pretty good salad. Not much too it other than the chicken and plantain chips. The dressing was pretty tasty though so that made it a nice option.

For DW’s entrée she chose Jack Sparrows BBQ Marinated Beef Short Ribs: rubbed beef short ribs with Tamarind BBQ sauce, served with Onion Red Bliss Mashed Potatoes and Plantain Chip.

She liked her entrée and said it was very tasty, but there wasn’t a whole lot of meat there as she had to pick off a lot of fat, which is probably why it was so tasty!

For my entrée I had Captain Hook’s Macadamia Nut Dusted Mahi Mahi: Jasmine Rice, sautéed pineapples on a mild Curry sauce.

It was good, especially the Macadamia nut crust, but the fish was just slightly overcooked. It was still a great dish though. For dessert nothing really looked all that good so I just ordered he sampler and a Mickey Bar. I ended up eating very little of the sampler and all of the Mickey Bar! Our waiter, Palmer, did some great tricks tonight and DS really got into it. He still wants to do a trick Palmer did for him with a straw wrapper every time we go to a restaurant here at home.

After dinner we decided to go down and just meet one on one with the DVC lady to see what it would look like for us. It didn’t take long to decide it wasn’t something we wanted to do at this point, as it would not have been a very smart financial decision. She was very nice though and we didn’t really feel all that pressured into anything. Oh well, maybe one day we will be owners, but it will not be during this cruise!

Up Next: Fireworks at Sea…Only on a Disney Cruise​

 

[cstorm65]

Tuesday, June 24 – Part 4 – Fireworks at Sea…Only on a Disney Cruise

After our discussion with the DVC lady we had a few minutes before we had to pick up DS so we spent some time on deck four and of course took some pictures.

We then picked up DS from his one hour play time at the nursery and were going to head up to the top deck for the party, but realized Goofy was meeting by Preludes in a few minutes so we headed down to get in line. It was Pirate Goofy and unfortunately I don’t know who took pictures or where those went, but I can’t find them on either of our phones or on the camera. We headed upstairs at around 9:00 for the party, but there was really not a lot going on yet so we just found a spot to sit on the steps next to the pool because DS wanted to play with all the other kids on the deck. We ended up buying him a light up sword to play with and it actually was a great purchase. He and I have played with it about every day since the trip until about a week ago it finally went dead! He enjoyed playing and running around for a while.

Around 9:45 things got a little more hectic as people started grabbing chairs and moving into position for the show. We were quite comfortable on the steps and DS was enjoying himself so we just stayed sitting there, and watched some pirate shows on the funnel vision as we neared show time.

DW was looking thrilled to be here…

That’s better, now she looks happier!

Now, I don’t know why they wait so long for the fireworks, but it was worth the wait. It was a show done as only Disney could do it. The show aspect was fun and the fireworks were awesome. When other cruise ships line up in the distance to watch what goes on you know you are on a great cruise line! DS made it through the whole show and enjoyed the fireworks, but he was definitely tired as we headed back.

Natha left us a towel animal for the night!

While DS and DW laid down for bed I went down to add a little bit to our gratuity envelopes, before heading up to check out the pirate night buffet. This buffet was pretty good. The tacos were good and I also really enjoyed the egg rolls they had out that were like a southwestern style egg roll. I headed back down for bed knowing we could sleep in a little in the morning, as it was our day at sea. I’ll leave you with DW’s picture collage for the day.

Up Next: Wake Up with Disney Junior​

 

[MEK]

The pictures on CC are just gorgeous. The water is simply amazing. What a beautiful blue, green color.

Yay for winning $200 at the DVC presentation. I’m glad you had the opportunity to explore it as an option. I hope someday it fits into your future plans.

Braxton’s pirate costume is just TOO cute! You can tell he really loves it.

Dinner looks delicious!

What a beautiful sunset!

I am really looking forward to those fireworks. I bet they are amazing! Can’t wait!

 

[cstorm65]

The pictures on CC are just gorgeous. The water is simply amazing. What a beautiful blue, green color.

It was an incredible place.

Yay for winning $200 at the DVC presentation. I’m glad you had the opportunity to explore it as an option. I hope someday it fits into your future plans.

It will at some point. We are still pretty young and just looking at getting rid of all of our debt before we create more in that way.

Braxton’s pirate costume is just TOO cute! You can tell he really loves it.

He loved it. He just kept saying, "I'm a Pirate...arr"...all night long!

Dinner looks delicious!

It was. I had heard mixed reviews of the pirate menu, but we actually liked it.

What a beautiful sunset!

Deck 4 is awesome!!!

I am really looking forward to those fireworks. I bet they are amazing! Can’t wait!

They were really good, especially considering where you are!

 

[cstorm65]

Wednesday, June 25 – Part 1 – Wake Up with Disney Junior

My day at sea started in quite a strange way. As soon as I got up I was on the computer getting reservations for our December trip to Walt Disney World as this was our 180 day mark. It was actually a fairly easy process and I got every reservation we wanted and I certainly didn’t start at 6:00 AM, it was closer to 7:15 by the time I woke up. Even then DW and DS were still sleeping so I headed upstairs and enjoyed the early morning sitting in a lounge chair on the top deck.

While I was out I started a load of laundry and was surprised with how good the laundry facilities were on the ship. They were pretty easy to use and the cost seemed a little less than what we would have paid once we got to Disney World. For less than $5 I got all of our clothes washed before the land portion of our trip. When DS and DW got up we ordered some donuts from room service as that is one of DS’s favorite foods.

After we ate we got ready and headed down to the Wake Up with Disney Junior show. It is basically a dance party for youngsters based on the music from Disney Junior shows. DS loves these shows so it was right up his alley.

DS was not quite as into it as we though. I think he was a little overwhelmed by the stage and all the other kids so he didn’t really join in the dancing at first, but he still watched and had fun. Goofy showed up and joined in the fun, so that was nice. Unfortunately, we don’t have any great pictures since DS spent the whole time sitting in our lap watching.

After the party we headed to the gift show to see if their were any souvenirs we wanted. I ended up with a Disney Dream pin for my lanyard.

At this point we headed back to the room to get ready for a special even for DW and I. Of course, DS wanted to play in the portholes on the way back.

Up Next: “Do we have to pack already?”​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

yeah for winning $200! And that is great that they weren't pushy - actually probably makes it more likely that you would buy from them if/when it does make financial sense.

You son makes for just about the cutest pirate ever!

I wonder if the other boats had itineraries that said "Evening entertainment: Watching some other boat's fireworks"

And congrats for getting all the ADRs you wanted for your upcoming trip

 

[MEK]

Somehow it just seems wrong to have to make ADRs while on vacation. A conflict of interest so to speak. Glad you got everything you wanted!

What is it about kids and portholes?

 

[cstorm65]

yeah for winning $200! And that is great that they weren't pushy - actually probably makes it more likely that you would buy from them if/when it does make financial sense.

Absolutely, it is not a bad program and hopefully it works out for us in the future.

You son makes for just about the cutest pirate ever!

We thought so too!

I wonder if the other boats had itineraries that said "Evening entertainment: Watching some other boat's fireworks"

I wouldn't put it past them! Ha!

And congrats for getting all the ADRs you wanted for your upcoming trip

It was a little crazy, but not all that bad on the ship to get them. We are just looking forward to our first Christmas time trip.

Somehow it just seems wrong to have to make ADRs while on vacation. A conflict of interest so to speak. Glad you got everything you wanted!

What is it about kids and portholes?

I know, I didn't really want it to work that way, but I was just glad we had another trip planned. And, I just did it when I woke up. I didn't have any reservations that I needed to get up at 6 am for!

And, I don't know...they just love to crawl in those big comfy portholes.

 

[cstorm65]

Wednesday, June 25 - Part 2 - “Do we have to pack already?”

After our fun and relaxing morning aboard the ship we headed back to the room because DW and I had to get ready for our splurge of the trip, a brunch reservation at Palo. We dropped DS off at the nursery and headed to Palo for our 10:30 reservation and were blown away by the atmosphere. The staff is so friendly and professional and will do whatever you need to enhance your experience. DW was enjoying it so far:

We were seated pretty close to the buffet and right by the window, so the view was spectacular.

Our waiter was from the Czech Republic and he did a great job. He was getting off of his six-month shift the week after our cruise so he was telling us about how he was going to travel back to Europe and see all of his family. The only thing he really did that rubbed me the wrong way was he gave us a little bit of a hard time when we didn't order any alcoholic drinks. I think he was mainly being playful and it may have come off wrong to us, but we don't drink and felt he was being a little pushy with the alcohol even after we told him we didn't drink. Overall he made it a great experience for us though.

We visited the buffet first and I had a few plates, most of which contained a lot of shrimp and crab. I could have sat and eaten the crab all day since the shells were already cracked. It was like getting to have my cake and eat it to!

We then ordered a couple of breakfast type entrees. DW ordered a frittata of some sort, I forgot to write down exactly what it was, but she loved it. I ordered the Eggs Benedict and it was incredible. The egg was cooked just perfectly and the Hollandaise Sauce was great.

After resting for a few minutes we decided the pizzas that were coming out looked so good we had to try one. Our waiter told us we could make it half of one type and half of another so we took him up on that offer. I got Spicy Italian on my half and DW got the Margherita. See for yourself:

Let me just say this pizza was fantastic. As full as we were I think we may have finished it all because it was that good. We took our time though because we needed to make room for what was still to come…the dessert buffet. I'm not a big time enough photographer so I didn't take a picture of the entire dessert buffet, but I did get one of our plates.

All of the desserts were good, although surprisingly the one I enjoyed the most was a fruit tart. It was incredible, light, but really tasty. The Tiramisu and cream puffs were really good too. Finally, while we were having dessert our waiter came over with something very special for us:

It was great and he seemed so genuinely happy to bring it by. I think this is actually when we got to talking about his home country and him getting to leave the ship for six months at the end of the next week. Palo, and our waiter, made this a very special meal for us on our first Disney Cruise. We had stuffed ourselves as full as we could and we headed out to walk some of it off. We went down to the gift shops to search for some souvenirs and found a nice Disney Cruise Line Nike polo shirt for me and a sweatshirt for DW. I will probably do a souvenir picture update at the end of the report, as I can't find the pictures at the moment.

We then went back to the room and got into our swimsuits and headed to the adults area and had about an hour of relaxation. It was hot and there weren't really any seats in the shade, but it was nice nonetheless. We also enjoyed the non-alcoholic drink of the day, which was really good! We picked up DS at 1:30 and headed back to the room for a nap and he slept until 5:00. After he was asleep DW looked at me and said, “Do we have to pack already? It seems like we just got on the ship.” Unfortunately we had to get started packing things away and it was a little sad. A four-night cruise is just to short! I do have the picture of the shirt we bought DS in the Bahamas that I found while we were packing.

After we got all packed up I headed upstairs to fill the drinks. Love the clocks in Cabanas.

After getting something to drink I dropped DW's off and found her passed out asleep with DS. I then went on down to read for a while on deck 4. It was as peaceful as always.

At about 5:00 this little guy woke up from his nap and we had to get dressed for one more dinner aboard the Disney Dream.

Up Next: One More 2-Hour Dinner​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That brunch looks great! What a variety of food - going from crab to eggs to pizza to dessert! So nice to have some time alone too, I am sure

It does seem like you just got on the boat! Oh well, a 4 day cruise is better than no cruise at all

Hope your last dinner was a winner!

 

[cstorm65]

That brunch looks great! What a variety of food - going from crab to eggs to pizza to dessert! So nice to have some time alone too, I am sure

It was fantastic. They do have a wide range from breakfast to lunch options, and it was all done so well.

It does seem like you just got on the boat! Oh well, a 4 day cruise is better than no cruise at all

Very true!

Hope your last dinner was a winner!

Only one restaurant we haven't been to yet!

 

[sommergirl25]

I can't believe your cruise is almost over! That Palo Brunch looked delicious. I think I have decided that I will most definitely be doing a week cruise when we do it.

 

[cstorm65]

I can't believe your cruise is almost over! That Palo Brunch looked delicious. I think I have decided that I will most definitely be doing a week cruise when we do it.

Palo was awesome. We would book it for multiple days during the cruise, but unfortunately it's only offered on sea day

A week would be great...4 nights seemed really short.