From Atlantic to Pacific gee the traffic is..non-existent! We're Cruising!! - WBPC 2/24/19-3/10/19 - COMPLETED

[bcwife76]

Mmmmm.....Palo.......drooooolllll

Ok those prices are insane for a cruise to Alaska for two people!!!! And this is coming from someone who is about to take their 2nd Alaska cruise! lol Like.....holy price jump batman! Even with a placeholder discount of 10%......yikes.

How lovely of your server to surprise you with some indian food! One of our servers did that for us on our Fantasy cruise last Fall, it was delicious and SO MUCH FOOD We sailed with friends of ours that time so there were 9 of us but wow, still couldn't get through it all!

Oh dear, sorry to hear Scott is feeling a bit under the weather now, too. With so many people having sore throats and coughs, wonder if it's from a combination of going from such a humid climate in Panama and going in and out of a/c cooled rooms? I'm assuming it didn't really slow him down though, not that your sea days go at some huge pace as it is they really are the bees knees

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

Scott comes home tonight from working in Saudi Arabia. He's been gone for 6 1/2 weeks since the day after the cruise

It has got to be rough while Scott is away. How did you guys meet? Here in the states?

I can never eat as much as I want when dining a Palo. I would love to try the steak but I always end up ordering the chicken. Maybe next time...

 

[ukintheus]

Mmmmm.....Palo.......drooooolllll

Ok those prices are insane for a cruise to Alaska for two people!!!! And this is coming from someone who is about to take their 2nd Alaska cruise! lol Like.....holy price jump batman! Even with a placeholder discount of 10%......yikes.

How lovely of your server to surprise you with some indian food! One of our servers did that for us on our Fantasy cruise last Fall, it was delicious and SO MUCH FOOD We sailed with friends of ours that time so there were 9 of us but wow, still couldn't get through it all!

I still haven’t managed to wrap my mind around those prices. Add airfare and hotel plus all our excursion costs etc and it makes it beyond ridiculous. The Indian food is always a lovely treat but I wish they’d give you a bit of a heads up - it’s such a waste to put in a full meal order as well as there’s no way we can eat it all.

It has got to be rough while Scott is away. How did you guys meet? Here in the states?

Yes, we met here in Texas, 21 years ago! There is so much food in Palo to choose from, I love the artichoke ravioli that my sister got, and the lasagna my Mum got looked delicious too.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

Yes, we met here in Texas, 21 years ago! There is so much food in Palo to choose from, I love the artichoke ravioli that my sister got, and the lasagna my Mum got looked delicious too.

Next question, why did you come to the U.S. ? Did your siblings come first or the other way around? And to keep this on Disney, , did you honeymoon at WDW?

 

[ukintheus]

Next question, why did you come to the U.S. ? Did your siblings come first or the other way around? And to keep this on Disney, , did you honeymoon at WDW?

Both my siblings came over a long time before I did. I came for two years initially and then got my green card before the two years were up. I moved here in 1991.

Yes, we honeymooned in WDW It was our first trip there!

 

[Luv2Diz]

Enjoying your TR. We did the WBPC in 2018, so it’s fun reminiscing via your TR.

 

[ukintheus]

Enjoying your TR. We did the WBPC in 2018, so it’s fun reminiscing via your TR.

Thanks. I envy those that can do them all the time. 2 weeks was awesome!

 

[ukintheus]

Day 10 – Monday, March 4th – At Sea Day #4

It was a lazy start to the morning but we were up somewhat early given our early night last night. I had booked us to all go to the character breakfast this morning at 10 am. We haven’t been to one for a long time, and it seemed like a good idea to try it out again seeing as we had all these at sea days to fill. Thankfully it wasn’t Disney Jr. or I probably would have cancelled it.

The lighting in Animators can be really funky, none of the photos from here this morning turned out great.

Here’s a photo of Maggie - she's in the background, she was preparing other tables, and we had to laugh because it looked like she was just avoiding everyone…maybe she was!

The silly hats made an appearance.

And a silly husband was taking selfies (with perfect lighting I might add! ) I still can't fathom out how we get home and I had no clue these photos existed - I was sitting 6 inches away from him!!

I got the grapefruit and muesli, Mum got oatmeal and an egg dish (although I don’t remember exactly what) and Scott and Maureen got eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast.

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto were the characters this morning. It was the usual whirlwind of photo taking as they came around to the tables. Something that was different this time was that they didn’t have anybody with them to help take photos, so no photos of the four of together. That was a mild inconvenience for us, but the couple next to us were really struggling to get good photos. And because we are so bad at taking photos, and it was so rushed, none of us could figure out which camera we should be looking at!!

So, just for fun, here are the photos and I'm going to keep score.

Pluto is looking at the camera....Maureen? Nope! 1 for 2

Neither of them! 1 for 4

Yay, both of them. 3 for 6

Minnie, Scott and I, all paying attention. 6 for 9

Ugg...8 for 12

10 for 15

Nope...10 for 17

Better...marginally! 11 for 19

#fail 11 for 21

Ding, ding, ding - we have a winner! 14 for 24

Scott and I batting 100. 17 for 27

Sigh....18 for 30

Yay! 21 for 33

Ugg...Mickey!!! Ruined our perfect run we had going on. Final score - 23 for 35

OK, so that was a lot of silly photos and it was a fun way to kick off our day. We were out of there by 11 am and went back to our cabins. We passed them getting ready for the Pixar Pals party in the atrium.

Scott and I had a spa appointment at 12 noon so we got ready, hung out on the verandah for a bit and then headed up there. I had contemplated cancelling this as it is such a pricey luxury, but it was so relaxing and the massages were great, so I'm glad I kept it. Scott got the bamboo massage and I got the hot stone. That's the second time he's got the bamboo, and he says the hot stone is definitely better.

 

[ukintheus]

We got back at about 3 pm and Mum and Maureen had been busy, but had just settled down to watch the last of the Capt Puckett lectures that we had missed and so the lazy afternoon continued. Scott got some good photos of the birds that were flying alongside us as we sailed up the coast.

The next three photos were of one of the birds diving into the water and then coming out again, they were very busy fishing! Good photos from Scott (and his new camera.)

We all chilled in our cabins until it was time to get ready for the show and dinner. Tonight it was The Beverly Belles who were a singing act with songs from the 50s, in the Walt Disney Theater.

Popcorn – it is so addicting!

The Belles were probably my least favorite so far, it was a weird combination of story line via video and them performing songs, but it got us out of our cabins. Then we went to 90s music trivia in Azure, which was hilarious as always.

Yummy drinks! Chocolate martinis for Mum and Maureen, but I don't remember what my fruity drink was, it might have been a Bahama Mama.

We did reasonably well at the trivia, but there are so many people that get them all and we aren’t THAT good!

Dinner tonight was in Animators Palate and the restaurant was full again, so strange. I wonder where everyone went yesterday?!! .

I had the Spring Roll and Scott had the empanada and we split them.

Scott, Maureen and Mum all got soup. There were two different soups, one was split pea, the other one I didn't make a note of but it looks like butternut squash.

For entrees Scott and I both got the shrimp curry, Mum had the Cod and Maureen had the Prime Rib.

Charlie’s contribution to our fun this evening was this one. I know we have had this one before, and looking at it now I know the answer, but I don’t think we solved it!

A photo of the dessert menu. The dessert menus seemed to be the ones that had the night's theme on them. Glad to see they spelled Flavour correctly.

We ordered Cheesecake, Guinness Pudding and Creme Brûlée for dessert and shared them around.

Scott’s was feeling pretty cruddy by now despite the Tylenol we had taken earlier so it was another early night for us and we missed the photographers in the atrium again. I’m beginning to realize that was probably just a tactic on behalf of the family to miss getting photos done! This little guy was hanging around to make him feel better though!

Up next: At sea day # 5

 

[ukintheus]

Day 11 – Tuesday, March 5th – At Sea Day #5

Scott and I had a rough night with stuffy noses and tickling coughs. We were awake off and on all night, or at least it seemed like it! I got up at about 8:15 am and went and sat outside on the veranda and got caught up on my trip report. The weather was a beautiful temperature but it was windy.

The seas had some good spray action going on at the front of the ship though. I love watching the spray!

Scott got up at about 9:30 am, and by then we were all ready for breakfast so we went to Cabanas. We met Alvito who was our server 3 or 4 years ago and had a good chat with him. The guys from Junnk were also sitting at the next table - so there was a lot of nosiness going on! We also apparently were snap happy with the camera as we got photos of all the breakfasts this morning. It's so easy to figure out who got what. Scott got the taco-bonanza, I love eggs benedict, Mum loves avocado and Maureen loves sausages!

I snapped a photo of this door on our way back down. I love the sign.

We got back to our cabins and FINALLY, FINALLY saw this!! Seriously....all this time we had been on Eastern time!! I had such a hard time wrapping my brain around this. Trust me. I had begun to question geography 101.

After hanging out between the cabin and the veranda for a little while we decided to see what the line was like for Mickey and Friends in the lobby.

The line was all the way down through the Promenade Lounge so we didn’t bother staying. We ventured up to deck 9 instead, it was such a gorgeous day.

And you can't go up to deck 9 without getting a drink (or an icecream for that matter ), that would just be ridiculous!

We found a spot in the shade to sit for a while and enjoy our beverages. By now the seas had calmed down and it was turning out to be another beautiful day of doing nothing.

I wanted to see how long the lines were for Capt. Hook and Mr Smee who were around by the Funnelvision gazebo. They weren’t that long but they weren’t moving so we kept on going and went down to deck 4 midship to see what the Chip It Golf was all about.

It was another very well attended activity. All these adults with no kids leaves everyone very busy doing activities!

After watching a couple of people we decided that it was nowhere near as fun as watching the diaper dash, and we headed back to our cabins. We had this waiting for us as a gift from room service! Both cabins had the same desserts. All I could think was that this came from Onika, who we met many cruises ago as our server in the main dining room and who was now room service manager on this cruise.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching tv or out on the veranda and just enjoying another lovely day at sea. Ahhhh....sea and sun - the perfect way to relax.

The seas were so perfectly blue today, and there was barely a wave in sight, just ripples, it was beautiful.

So after a bone-relaxing afternoon we went to see Junnk in the WDT at 6 pm. As we got into the elevator, one of them was in there with a hot drink - I commented that he was running a little late!!

I have read that they are a very popular act, but we've never seen them before. All of us thought they were good except for Mum who thought they were too loud.

Scott was feeling his cold tonight so instead of going to TV tunes trivia (remember we are horrible at it ) we went back to the cabin after a quick run to get more cough drops from the gift shop. Scott tried to get a quick power nap and I sat outside. The beautiful weather was still continuing - what a great day! For dinner tonight we were in Tianas and it was pirate night. We didn’t dress up but lots of people did.

Judy saw us come in and grabbed Mum to take her to our table.

Tonight the main menu was themed as well. Presumably because it's one they use so often.

We didn't have pirate gear, but we did get some beads for Mardi Gras, which was today, from a lady on our way into the restaurant.

The menu for tonight used to be my least favorite, and we always skipped the dining room and went to Palo. They've changed it a lot though and now it's one of my favorites! Tonight Scott, Maureen and I all went with the Samosa for starters.

Maureen and I both got the Lamb Shank for our entrees. Scott had the Jerk Chicken and Mum had the Beef Short Rib salad from the lighter fare menu.
The lamb was really good and Mum said her salad was really good too.

 

[ukintheus]

I don't have anything in my notes or a photo of a crayon trick from Charlie tonight! Must have been the pirate limbo going on that threw him off! The DCL photographers came around though and we got a couple of pics.

Mum and Scott had the Macadamia cheesecake for dessert and I had the sundae.

Our great servers doing their pirate thing. I think this is the first photo of our Head Server, Faisal.

We were done with dinner fairly early again but this time the photographers were in the atrium.

We decided to go and see how crazy it was on deck 10 for the pirate party. It took forever to get an elevator as they were holding 2 of the midship elevators for the castmembers that were part of the show. Eventually Mum and I squeeeeeeeeezed into one going down so that we could go up but Maureen and Scott huffed it up the stairs. It was crowded up on deck 10 and so we stood closer to the concierge staircase on the railing and waited.

It was a lot of standing about so Mum and Maureen decided to go back to the cabin and see if they could see the fireworks from the veranda, while Scott and I stayed to watch Mickey save the day. I love that part!

We watched the fireworks and then immediately headed for the forward elevators to go back to our cabin.

We pretty much went straight to bed. I can't remember us ever hitting up the buffet on pirate night except for our very first cruise but I think that has a lot to do with us being on late seating. Our very own pirate was waiting for us in the room, and, (like I mentioned before) we were FINALLY back on Central time for tomorrow.

Coming up: At sea day #6. Yup, 6 at sea days.

 

[bcwife76]

Two glorious sea days in a row (minus the sickness, of course).

Haha, so looking at your photos from pirate night, not only did we have Charlie as our asst server in March, Faisal was our Head Server! Too funny.

 

[lilsonicfan]

the character breakfast pics and count were hilarious

 

[ironz]

I loved all the sea days! (still haven't even started my report)

We had a mixed crowd up where we were watching our entry into the locks at the Canal. DH and I got up there just before 6 a.m., and the front part was mostly full, so we were on the front/side about where the wall that separates the area with foosball tables is. There were some people (including us) who wouldn't mind stepping aside for someone to take a photo, though we were going to maintain our position at the same time. And some people who just wanted to cram in, in front of people who had been there all day. The worst was when one of the latter came up there, one of the men who had been there a while really talked ugly to the person trying to cram in. (not curse words, just rude) I told him in no uncertain terms that he had to "BE NICE!" I understood his frustration (just like at WDW waiting for a parade-- you don't want to get a spot on the front row and hold it for an hour and then have someone sneak in front of you), but you can just explain nicely that you were there for multiple hours and didn't care to give up a spot.
(which now reminds me-- my husband had his gopro up there and our computer kept crashing trying to load the video-- we need to try again on his computer, now that we've been home (for almost 2 months...lol)

I'm sure I must have seen y'all around the ship. Your mom is adorable! I hope she has a fabulous Mother's Day!

And, just wow on those Alaska prices. We didn't pay anywhere near that 2 years ago, even without onboard discount. Though we went in May, when the prices are better.

 

[ukintheus]

Haha, so looking at your photos from pirate night, not only did we have Charlie as our asst server in March, Faisal was our Head Server! Too funny.

Ha! That's what I get for not posting a photo earlier!

the character breakfast pics and count were hilarious

It was ridiculous! Lesson learned - one camera per side!!

We had a mixed crowd up where we were watching our entry into the locks at the Canal. DH and I got up there just before 6 a.m., and the front part was mostly full, so we were on the front/side about where the wall that separates the area with foosball tables is. There were some people (including us) who wouldn't mind stepping aside for someone to take a photo, though we were going to maintain our position at the same time. And some people who just wanted to cram in, in front of people who had been there all day. The worst was when one of the latter came up there, one of the men who had been there a while really talked ugly to the person trying to cram in. (not curse words, just rude) I told him in no uncertain terms that he had to "BE NICE!" I understood his frustration (just like at WDW waiting for a parade-- you don't want to get a spot on the front row and hold it for an hour and then have someone sneak in front of you), but you can just explain nicely that you were there for multiple hours and didn't care to give up a spot.
(which now reminds me-- my husband had his gopro up there and our computer kept crashing trying to load the video-- we need to try again on his computer, now that we've been home (for almost 2 months...lol).

I get it on the waiting at the front of the ship and we knew it would be like that. My thought was that it would be nice for DCL to have a spot that is designated as a "snap and walk" spot (and they would have to police it of course). I get that people stood for hours to be at the front of the ship, but then you have people like my 90 year old Mum that physically can't do that, it would just be nice for everyone to get the opportunity to at least see it briefly in person without having to (literally) fight for a quick view of it! You need to get busy on your trip report (they are so much work though!).

 

[ironz]

I get it on the waiting at the front of the ship and we knew it would be like that. My thought was that it would be nice for DCL to have a spot that is designated as a "snap and walk" spot (and they would have to police it of course). I get that people stood for hours to be at the front of the ship, but then you have people like my 90 year old Mum that physically can't do that, it would just be nice for everyone to get the opportunity to at least see it briefly in person without having to (literally) fight for a quick view of it! You need to get busy on your trip report (they are so much work though!).

We totally would have let your mom in!! Yeah, I don't know if there is a good option for a quick look because it would be so hard to manage people in and out. Like I said, we were sort of to the side, as it was, and that was getting there 2 hours before we entered the first lock!
(also, check your PMs)

 

[TestingH2O]

I could really use a day at sea right now. Thanks for letting me live through you.

 

[ukintheus]

I could really use a day at sea right now. Thanks for letting me live through you.

No kidding! I'm definitely ready for another cruise, and doing this trip report isn't helping matters! I'm beginning to think Mum is right and we DO need to see the PC going the other way.

 

[ukintheus]

Day 12 – Wednesday, March 6th – At Sea Day #6

We had another rough night with lots of hacking and coughing from Scott. We both woke up at about 8 am and lay around until about 8:30 when the call for coffee got too hard to resist. Another gorgeous day outside - we got so lucky on the weather.

I ordered coffee and bagels for us from room service but Mum and Maureen were already up and were planning on going to Cabanas. We sat out on the verandah with the coffee and listened to the waves. I got caught up on my trip report and I have to pat myself on the back for keeping up with it because I would have been totally lost in putting this together without the notes! We read our books and just enjoyed relaxing and then when Mum and Maureen got back we all went to the Anyone Can Cook presentation in D Lounge.

We weren't super early - I think we got there about 10 minutes before it started and the place was packed.

We couldn't really see very well but the TV helped out.

The recipe was for Lemon Posset, and it was delicious! The chef was from the Magic Kingdom I think - I have a vague note about it but I don't have his name. I didn't get a photograph of the dessert (boo ) or the wine that they served with it, but it looked fairly easy to make. Maureen said she was going to try it at home. Haha...time will tell on that one!

After it was over we wandered over to Shutters to take a look at the photographs we had so far, and then went out onto Deck 4 for a brief walk.

It was a pretty busy place! Lots of people looking for loungers in the shade.

We could see the Mexican coastline in the distance and it was a very pleasant walk but we didn't stay long - no point in doing anything too strenuous!

We went back to the cabins very briefly but decided to go and see what the oil and vinegar seminar in Animator's Palate was all about. We were a bit early, so Scott went and got in line and we sat in the portholes and waited. Captain Hook and Mr. Smee whisked past us while we were waiting. I wasn't quick enough to get one of them coming....so here they are going. Captain Hook came right up to me as well, but I didn't have my phone ready...trip report fail.

Here were the oil and vinegar selections. If you've ever done any cooking at all they were pretty well known.

It was well attended though. We waited for it to fill up a bit more as we were there early.

It was pretty good, although a bit basic. We got a plate of french bread to dip into each one. Ashley, who has worked in Palo before on the flat breads was one of the presenters, you could tell he was a bit nervous, but it was good to see him out and about and doing something new. Scott and I decided to go to Cabanas for lunch and I don't have it in my notes that Mum and Maureen came with us, so they must have skipped it seeing as they had had breakfast, dessert and bread dipped in oil and vinegar already.

Scott and I found more curry and some other yummy things.

Ice cream happened on the way back.

Seeing as I'm all about the soft serve ice cream...it would be remiss of me to forget to let you know that they might be coming out with a counter top single serve ice cream machine, kind of like a Keurig! It's a prototype right now. Put it on your Christmas list. Scott - make an note of it. #justkidding #notreally

We sat and enjoyed the view from the veranda for a while. There was some great coastline to look at.

We were all booked to go to the Tequila and Margarita tasting in Cadillac Lounge at 2 pm, so about 5 minutes before we headed down there.

They got us all checked in pretty quickly. They don't have tickets any more, its all done with just a list. They had some tequila set out in front of us along with some lime, orange, cinnamon and salt.

Patiently waiting to be able to drink!

They were featuring a tequila from Cabo San Lucas called Codigo and had a representative there to tell us all about it.

They also made three different cocktails from the tequila and brought those around. I didn't get a picture though. I guess drinking took precedence over photography.

This is a photo of one of the staves from the barrels they use. They were either red wine or sherry - I can't remember which - maybe neither!

And this was their menu from their restaurant if you're ever in Cabo and looking for something to do (that involves drinking tequila ).

Having learned all that there was to know about Codigo tequila, including that George Strait has invested in them and has a song about them we went back to our cabins.

There was another surprise waiting for us when we got back from room service. Some yummy olives and nuts for snacking on.

It was such a beautiful afternoon that we parked ourselves outside and sat and watched the world float by.

 

[ukintheus]

It was about wine-thirty so time to wash those olives and nuts down with something cold and refreshing from the fridge. I could do this all day long. A glass of wine, a beautiful blue sea and the breeze as you sail along.

Photo isn't great, but I'm throwing it in anyway.

Here's where we were in relation to the real world. Apparently it was pretty close!

We all had a chat about what we wanted to do this evening and we decided we weren’t interested in the show in the theater tonight, which was Josh Strickland the original Tarzan from Broadway. I'm sure he was good, he just wasn't floating our boat tonight. Trivia tonight was 2000's music, which we are horrible at so we decided to skip that as well. Seeing as we really didn't have a lot on the agenda we decided to switch it up and and go to Cabanas. I know!! Total rebels tonight!!

We got up there at 6:30 as soon as it opened and it was pretty busy.

We were originally seated in the "hot section" as we called it and Mum had the sun directly in her face, so they moved us to a different table.

For some reason Scott and I had decided to bicker with each other, I'm sure it was about something really important that I can't remember now but it took two photographs to get this one of us, I remember that!

I had the wedge salad and the biriyani.

Scott had the sesame crusted tuna and the chicken.

I think Mum and Maureen both had the steak, but I didn't write it down, so maybe it was just Mum. Nice finger in the photo here but you can still see the steak at least.

Service was a little slow and so we skipped dessert but it was 8 pm before we were finished. Onika was one of the managers up there that evening and you could see they were frustrated and hustling trying to get food out, I'm not sure where the issue was. Scott and I popped down to Tritons to tell our servers we wouldn’t be coming for dinner and they told us they only had 1 table with people tonight. Those servers know how to make you feel guilty! It makes me laugh because you would think they would be happy to catch a break! The reality is that it makes the evening go slowly for them I think. It's not like they get to go and have an early night or anything.

Seeing as we had a pretty early evening, Maureen decided to take a dip in the pool and Scott and I went to Cove cafe to get a drink. It was pretty windy and cool by now but she was determined to say that she had been in the pool - no way would I get in with the weather that cool! After lots of humming and hahing about what we would drink, we ended up with the Macallan flight and split it between us. It was really good.

Maureen’s dip in the pool was short due to the wind and the cool weather, and so she left us in Cove and went back to go to bed.

Here's a shot of the whiskey's that were on the flight. It was worth it just for the black.

I think the clocks went back an hour tonight, but I don't have a photo, so don't quote me on it. We had a really early evening this evening and were back in our cabin by about 9:30 pm. We watched a bit of TV and called it a night.

Coming up: Land Ahoy - finally!! Puerto Vallarta.