From the Sea to the World - Completed!

[Flossbolna]

Nothing better than a leisurely morning to relax and prepare for the day.

I really liked to be around for the ship to become lively. Was a great start to the day!

Any place called Goofy's Galley has a be worth a visit!!!

However, I only ever got pictures there, nothing to eat. Even though the fruit looked tempting.

Ah yes.......would have been hard to drag me away from spending lots of time right there!!!

Yes, very nice place!!

Of course in that view picture it is easy to see how you were able to cover so much of the ship during your walking tours........

Of course, we would never know if it came from your notes or you were just making something up that goes with the picture.

I would never make stuff up!!!

These remind me of the movie Titanic when Rose and Jack were running through the areas of the ship passengers weren't usually allowed.

It felt weired the first time I went through there, as if I was somewhere that was not for everyone...

I do love all the pictures of the woodwork that you got around the ship!

That is one of the things I loved on the ship, too. There is a lot of teak on the decks and it just feels so classy!!

I can see where one could easily go through quite a bit of onboard credits with all of this merchandise!

Yes, and they try to tempt you with new offers every day!

Love the Route 66 tour. The theme is such a cool idea! The retro billboards and the Cadillac Lounge really add to the theming! Hope you got to spend more time there during the cruise!

There will be a return visit later in that day. And I am really happy that everyone seems to really like one of my favourite areas of the ship!

Hey Magdalene, after not having been online for weeks I am finally back for your wonderful trip report (only up to page 12 yet, but will catch up asap! ). I just wanted to comment on Dragan's knowledge of German - isn't he perfect? I was amazed! It is true what you said about his Austrian culture, too - I loved how he constantly used the word "Nachtessen" for "dinner", which feels totally Austrian to me.

I got to talk to Dragan a little bit more when we went back for brunch (coming up in the next update) and he told me about that he used to work in Switzerland. His German is really fluent! But now I am wondering whether Nachtessen might be Swiss - I never heard it mentioned in Austria. If Karin is still around, she might be able to tell us?

 

[Flossbolna]

Our Palo reservation was for 11:30 am. I had a hard time to decide on for which time we wanted to book it. Michael is not a morning person (you might have noticed that already…) and normally does not eat a lot for breakfast. So we did not want an early time. But then I was afraid that if we have a later time, we might end up with a half empty buffet!! So 11:30am was some kind of compromise. However, with the experience of the first brunch which had an unusually slow start, I think I would book 12pm next time.

So, once I had returned to the cabin, we both had to get ready. Michael reported that he had rather enjoyed the film the night before. He also really liked the 3D effects in the film.

Once we were ready we headed up to Palo. Where the manager of the restaurant, Dragan (you ought to remember him from our first meal at Palo), approached Michael very apologetic and asked him whether he would be able to change his blue jeans into something else as the dress code said no blue jeans. In our excitement about going there we had totally forgotten about the dress code. I knew that Michael made a point about not wearing shorts – but the “blue” issue we had totally forgotten about. In part it was my fault as the evening before we were wondering what the time for our reservation was and when we came to the room, we saw the light on the phone blinking. And it turned out to be a message from Dragan. I thought the message would tell us about the reservation time. But instead it was only about the dress code. So I did not pay attention to the dress code, as I was only waiting for other – for us far more important – information. So we were very confused when Dragan approached us with the question whether we had gotten his message. But once that was cleared up, it was no problem, Michael quickly headed back to the room to get another pair of trousers and I waited in the Palo entrance area. Michael was actually quite pleased in a way – if he does not forget about the dress code like in this instance, he actually takes dress codes very seriously and therefore was happy to see that they actually do enforce the dress code!

While I was waiting Dragan came over and chatted with me for a while in German. He said that this was the perfect opportunity to practice his German. He told me a little bit about his previous work in Switzerland. I mentioned that our head server Josip had commented on how we would eat “at the Croatians’” today for brunch. He told me me to tell Josip that Dragan might be older, but that he is more handsome than Josip. It appeared that these two had some good hearted rivalry going on between them!

Once Michael reappeared we were seated and reintroduced to Sasha who would again be our server.

And he served us some prosecco (Italian sparkling wine). So let’s finally start with the pictures in this update, here is my prosecco:

I also ordered some Earl Grey tea and was served this wonderful tea pot:

I had read that people were shown around the buffet by their servers so we waited for Sasha to show up for that. We were seated at an inconvenient time as he was busy with other tables, so we had a bit of a wait. But just when I started to wonder what was going on, he came and gave us a tour of the buffet. I took the following pictures a little later, but they fit here, so let me take you on a tour of the buffet and its various offerings:

And there was also a display where you could see the various warm dishes one could order from the servers.

While we were touring the buffet we heard a crashing noise and all three of us looked up – and realized that it came from our table. Another server had somehow crashed into our table, and all of our glasses (prosecco and water) had fallen down. Sasha was very cool and just said: let’s continue with our tour. By the time we are done here, they will have cleared your table. And indeed when we returned to our table, it was freshly set, we had new glasses and Sasha appeared one minute later with a new pot of tea for me. The bonus was that I had already had drunk quite a bit of my prosecco – and got a refilled new glass!

This here was Michael’s first plate:

And this is my first plate:

minus the little triangle of toast with caviar on top. I ate that before I remembered to take a picture. I was so excited to try real caviar for the first time! I really like the orange/pink stuff you get on inside-out sushi rolls, so I was expecting to like the “official” stuff as well. And it was indeed quite delicious!

Everything was really good and definitely high end quality products (like I had said about the antipasti for dinner, you can see I had some more of that). The only two things I found disappointing was the aubergines, they were rather tasteless and I have had much better. And the second was the cheese selection. I found it to be very “pedestrian”. Compared to how fancy the seafood selection was, I was surprised that there was nothing really exciting among the cheeses.

I did get some blue cheese and walnut bread though:

It is standing up in the picture. That was truly delicious!

And we ordered some pizza. They have several choices of pizza and we ordered one which was half sausage and half goat cheese and sundried tomato to share. This was my portion of the pizza:

It really was a tiny individual pizza – and I was glad that it was not bigger as there was so much more I wanted to try. My next course was the strawberry soup:

And after that I could not resist getting one of those sticky buns which were kept warm in a large container just behind our table and I kept seeing people getting them:

Very good!! In the meantime Michael had ordered the chicken parmesan since it was highly recommended not only by Sasha, but also by another server who passed our table with a serving and pointed out that this was their best dish.

It was served on a bed of risotto and Michael was quite in love with it. I am not a chicken fan, but I love poached eggs. So there was no question that I would get some egg benedict type of dish. They had three different versions, the classic, one with spinach and one with smoked salmon. I went with the spinach version – which normally comes with a cream sauce, but I asked for it to be served with the sauce hollandaise. It was truly excellent!!

By now we were pretty stuffed! But there was still a full area of the buffet which we had ignored so far: the desserts! So this is what Michael got from there:

And this is my choice:

After I had eaten that we sat there and I was thinking back to all those wonderful flavours I had so far – and then realized that I was not ready yet to say goodbye to them. So I got a repeat plate for my two favourite things: the tuna and the caviar:

And then it was finally time for us to end our meal. We were really sad that we just not able to eat any more food. Everything was so good. But there was a point when all our hopes of defying our tummies just were crushed and we had to give up!

When Sasha came with the bill we chatted with him for a little while and finally headed out of the restaurant as one of the last tables. It was after 1:30pm when we left Palo – and we both felt like we would never be able to eat anything again! But we had places to be as we had seen something on the Navigator that we thought would fit in perfectly with our day today…


Next: Dreaming!

 

[englishrose47]

That food looked amazing !!! I would have ordered the eggs benedict also!!! I have to admit Michael's Chicken looked very good too !!! I see a lot of strawberries in your dessert choices , and a good choice I might add !!!

 

[dizneeat]

But now I am wondering whether Nachtessen might be Swiss - I never heard it mentioned in Austria. If Karin is still around, she might be able to tell us?

I can assure you, Nachtessen is definitely NOT Austrian. It does sound pretty Swiss to me.
So sorry for not commenting much, but we are leaving for a "close to" 5 week trip and there are still SOOOOO many things to get ready.

Ok, Palo brunch.
Sweet memories coming back, as you had some of my favourite things. Isn't that Walnut bread so amazing. I really love that and you are absolutely right about the cheeses. Not really much that stands out.

I am so with you on the Eggs Florentine. They are absolutely yummy! Did I misread, or did they originally come with a different sauce? I have always had them with Hollandaise.

Oh, and those chocolate strawberries are yummy too!

 

[Flossbolna]

That food looked amazing !!! I would have ordered the eggs benedict also!!! I have to admit Michael's Chicken looked very good too !!! I see a lot of strawberries in your dessert choices , and a good choice I might add !!!

Truly, the food was amazing. So much to choose from and a number of things I just did not get to try..

I can assure you, Nachtessen is definitely NOT Austrian. It does sound pretty Swiss to me.

Ah, thanks for the info - but then for a German it might be an easy mistake to make. All those peculiar words you use - like Paradeiser.

So sorry for not commenting much, but we are leaving for a "close to" 5 week trip and there are still SOOOOO many things to get ready.

Oh, I totally get that!! Hope you have a fantastic trip!! I am sure it will include a cruise or two?

Ok, Palo brunch.
Sweet memories coming back, as you had some of my favourite things. Isn't that Walnut bread so amazing. I really love that and you are absolutely right about the cheeses. Not really much that stands out.

I am so with you on the Eggs Florentine. They are absolutely yummy! Did I misread, or did they originally come with a different sauce? I have always had them with Hollandaise.

Oh, and those chocolate strawberries are yummy too!

I think we Europeans are more into cheese than Americans.

On the display it was quite obvious that the other two versions of the eggs had a yellow sauce, the Florentine had a white sauce and Sasha told us that it was a cream sauce. It looked very good, but I just love the Hollandaise. I noticed since our cruise that when I look at Palo pictures from other ships that there are slight differences between the different offerings. I guess the respective head chefs at the different Palos have a little freedom in how they do things?

 

[dizneeat]

Ah, thanks for the info - but then for a German it might be an easy mistake to make. All those peculiar words you use - like Paradeiser.

Oh, I totally get that!! Hope you have a fantastic trip!! I am sure it will include a cruise or two?

I think we Europeans are more into cheese than Americans.

On the display it was quite obvious that the other two versions of the eggs had a yellow sauce, the Florentine had a white sauce and Sasha told us that it was a cream sauce. It looked very good, but I just love the Hollandaise. I noticed since our cruise that when I look at Palo pictures from other ships that there are slight differences between the different offerings. I guess the respective head chefs at the different Palos have a little freedom in how they do things?

Peculiar words? Hm, you mean all those strange words you Germans use, like Quark for our lovely Topfen.
You know, I just love the Austrian versus German German. Something to torture my pupils with.

How did you guess that our summer vacation might include a cruise? Well, actually we are doing a back to back on the Fantasy, Eastern and Western Caribbean. Can't wait, plus a little over two weeks to spend in Florida. This should be FUN!

You would love the cheese trolley at Remy. They have really awesome cheeses, but if I remember correctly, they were mostly European ones.

Thanks for letting me know about the sauce. I love my poached eggs with Hollandaise. I will pay close attention when we will have our brunches at Palo.

 

[annichan]

Hi, it's me again commenting on things that happened many pages ago But I'm slowly catching up!

Somehow margaritas are not so popular cocktails here in Germany it seems, but a few years ago I figured out that I really like them.

I know, they are really not that common in Germany! Dare I mention that I tried the first-ever margarita of my life on a DCL cruise?

We cruised along the coast line for a bit until we arrived at the beach. The tour company has their own private beach and they stop the catamaran at the beach, you walk down some steps and then you need to walk through the water towards the beach.

This whole part of your excursion sounds really nice! I wish I could go snorkeling too because I used to love it when I was in my teens, but my eyesight is so bad now (and I obstinately refuse to wear contacts because I am such a coward about anything touching my eyeballs ) that it would all be a blur. When we were in Cozumel in '09, we did the Tulum Ruins excursion by the way - it was really nice and absolutely worth it, but you are right, it was a very long day with lots of travel time (plus the inevitable and time-consuming shopping stop on the way, of course ).

Then we spotted a sea turtle swimming in the water:

Cool! On our recent WBTA, we actually saw a bird circling above the water hunting fish, then landing on a turtle! He looked way cool standing there on the water watching us pass him by, I wish I had a picture of him

I used this visit to the Outlook Café to take a few more pictures as I liked the space so much:

I know, isn't it just the best place on the Wonder? I so wish they would add it to the Magic during her drydock, but after not seeing that mentioned anywhere, I am fairly positive that they won't.

I love how you are always finding these cool little details everywhere!

Toy Story - the Musical was ... Let's say interesting. It lacked something a musical needs: engaging music. It was a technically very well done show and the actor portraying Woody was excellent. But that's about it. If I will be on a ship with this show again, I will enjoy other things while this is showing. If you have never seen it, I would still recommend it though. Your taste might be different from mine and it was not really bad, just a bit flat.

I wasn't totally impressed with the Toy Story Musical either, but I really liked the costumes!

 

[lovealldisney]

Once again a lovely update Magdalene! Everything looks so yummy.


And I don't know about Americans not liking cheese as much as Europeans...Well at least here in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is known for there cheese... we aren't called the "Dairy State" for nothing Plus I LOVE cheese. So count me in as a cheese lover..

 

[annichan]

Surprisingly we werent really very hungry after that late lunch. Which did not prevent us from ordering a full meal though

Yeah, funnily that has never prevented us either!

This was served not with a spread, but with a bean salad:

This, I think, is my very least favourite item of food on DCL ...

Very shortly after I had told our server about the beef problem our head server was at our table concerned that there was something wrong with the beef. I told him that the beef was fine, it was just a question of taste. He was very nice about it and I was impressed that as soon as he was aware of a problem we got his attention.

Interesting to hear how they handled that - what a nice touch (even if slightly over-the-top in my opinion ) that even the head waiter came over to find out what the problem was. I have never been in the situation yet, but then I have never had anything that I disliked as much as you did those ribs.

Michael got the fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream:

Mmmh - I love this! I hardly ever have dessert on our cruises (I know, I know, a sacrilege ) but I have to have this whenever it is available. On our WBTA, I actually even told our servers pretty early on that we wouldn't be having desserts and would not even be wanting to see the dessert menus unless we ask for them, but that I would very much appreciate if they always let me know when there was fruit cobbler on the menu!

And then it was finally time for the fireworks. We had picked the right side of the ship, so we could see them on our side directly over the water. And I must say that they by far exceeded my expectations. For it being on a cruise ship, it was a really nice show!

I am glad you loved the fireworks, even though you weren't too impressed with the "party" preceding it. I am the same, I could give or take the party but I love the fireworks, as well as the event immediately preceding them Twice so far, we have watched the fireworks from our balcony instead, sitting there quietly with a glass of wine in hand, and liked that even better than being up on deck. That said, I did miss being able to hear Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero"! That song is so totally 1980s, but I have come to associate it so much with the fireworks that they somehow weren't the same without it

Hey - I can see my handbag in this photo! (Well probably not really, because I bought it on the Magic not the Wonder )

... and my Christmas ornament ...

... and my swimsuit coverup! Did I mention I love DCL merchandise?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Once we were ready we headed up to Palo. Where the manager of the restaurant, Dragan (you ought to remember him from our first meal at Palo), approached Michael very apologetic and asked him whether he would be able to change his blue jeans into something else as the dress code said no blue jeans.

Sure! I have some flourescent-orange Bermuda shorts that will do the trick.

While we were touring the buffet we heard a crashing noise and all three of us looked up – and realized that it came from our table. Another server had somehow crashed into our table, and all of our glasses (prosecco and water) had fallen down.

Uh oh. Sampling a little too much of their own prosecco?

And after that I could not resist getting one of those sticky buns which were kept warm in a large container just behind our table and I kept seeing people getting them:

I wouldn't be able to resist that, either.

In the meantime Michael had ordered the chicken parmesan since it was highly recommended not only by Sasha, but also by another server who passed our table with a serving and pointed out that this was their best dish.

Looks good! I'm a sucker for a good chicken parmesan.

By now we were pretty stuffed! But there was still a full area of the buffet which we had ignored so far: the desserts!

You can't pass up dessert!

After I had eaten that we sat there and I was thinking back to all those wonderful flavours I had so far – and then realized that I was not ready yet to say goodbye to them. So I got a repeat plate for my two favourite things: the tuna and the caviar:

Unless it's caviar for dessert.

 

[Flossbolna]

Peculiar words? Hm, you mean all those strange words you Germans use, like Quark for our lovely Topfen.
You know, I just love the Austrian versus German German. Something to torture my pupils with.

Living in Bavaria, I think I am little more used to the Austrian German than Northerners... I really like it! My mother used to have an Austrian cookbook which she used a lot of baking and I got horribly confused because all the measurements are in dekagram.

How did you guess that our summer vacation might include a cruise? Well, actually we are doing a back to back on the Fantasy, Eastern and Western Caribbean. Can't wait, plus a little over two weeks to spend in Florida. This should be FUN!

Wow, two weeks on a ship sound fabulous!!

You would love the cheese trolley at Remy. They have really awesome cheeses, but if I remember correctly, they were mostly European ones.

Yes, I would adore the cheese trolley!!! I have the most wonderful memories of a vacation in France where every evening we would get to choose cheeses from the cheese board (or trolley)!

Thanks for letting me know about the sauce. I love my poached eggs with Hollandaise. I will pay close attention when we will have our brunches at Palo.

Hope you have great brunches!

Hi, it's me again commenting on things that happened many pages ago But I'm slowly catching up!

Take your time!! And I love getting comment on stuff a few pages back!

I know, they are really not that common in Germany! Dare I mention that I tried the first-ever margarita of my life on a DCL cruise?

That sounds right to me! I think I had my first margarita at WDW.

This whole part of your excursion sounds really nice! I wish I could go snorkeling too because I used to love it when I was in my teens, but my eyesight is so bad now (and I obstinately refuse to wear contacts because I am such a coward about anything touching my eyeballs ) that it would all be a blur. When we were in Cozumel in '09, we did the Tulum Ruins excursion by the way - it was really nice and absolutely worth it, but you are right, it was a very long day with lots of travel time (plus the inevitable and time-consuming shopping stop on the way, of course ).

You do know that you can get snorkeling masks which have prescription lenses? They might not be cheap, but if you think you would like to go snorkeling now and then, it might be worth the money? And otherwise I am sure that I would not be the first person who tells you that once you get used to it, touching your eyeballs is not as horrible as it sounds. I wear contacts myself. But I also have a sister who is equally stubborn as you!

So, would you recommend Tulum if I ever return to Cozumel?

Cool! On our recent WBTA, we actually saw a bird circling above the water hunting fish, then landing on a turtle! He looked way cool standing there on the water watching us pass him by, I wish I had a picture of him

Didn't you say you were planning on going on the WBTA next year? But the bird with the turtle sounds really cool!

I know, isn't it just the best place on the Wonder? I so wish they would add it to the Magic during her drydock, but after not seeing that mentioned anywhere, I am fairly positive that they won't.

From what I have heard, they can't have it on the Magic due to structural problems as she was built in two halves and then welded together.

I love how you are always finding these cool little details everywhere!

This one truly was a lucky find and I am very happy about it!! Did not see it in anyone's picture ever before!

I wasn't totally impressed with the Toy Story Musical either, but I really liked the costumes!

Hmmm, I don't remember the costumes very much... But I thought it looked good as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

Once again a lovely update Magdalene! Everything looks so yummy.


And I don't know about Americans not liking cheese as much as Europeans...Well at least here in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is known for there cheese... we aren't called the "Dairy State" for nothing Plus I LOVE cheese. So count me in as a cheese lover..

Glad you enjoyed the update!

I know that there is a lot of cheese around in the US - and even some great artisan cheese makers. I had some wonderful cheeses at California Grill at WDW that were from the US. But I do think that the French love of cheeses and their variety (you would be amazed at the amount of variety of cheese you can buy in a French supermarket) has influenced a lot of Europe. And with that comes a love of stinky, melty soft cheeses that I have never encountered in the US! I am sure they can be found. But they appear less of a standard as compared to Europe. Part of that might be that a number of these cheeses can only be made with raw milk and as far as I know that is not allowed to be used in the US?

 

[annichan]

Living in Bavaria, I think I am little more used to the Austrian German than Northerners...

Yes, I realize I was totally off with thinking "Nachtessen" was Austrian ... sorry about that, but how is a "Nordlicht" like me supposed to know any better!

Take your time!! And I love getting comment on stuff a few pages back!

Actually all caught up now!

You do know that you can get snorkeling masks which have prescription lenses? They might not be cheap, but if you think you would like to go snorkeling now and then, it might be worth the money? And otherwise I am sure that I would not be the first person who tells you that once you get used to it, touching your eyeballs is not as horrible as it sounds. I wear contacts myself. But I also have a sister who is equally stubborn as you!

So, would you recommend Tulum if I ever return to Cozumel?

Yeah I know about the masks with prescription lenses (learned it from the DIS - where else? ) and may look into it. Good to hear that I am in good company about not wanting to wear contacts (hi nodnol! ). I actually had them and tried it for six months, but then gave up on it.

Oh, and about Tulum - I do recommend it for the beautiful combination of ruins, palm trees and the ocean, but make sure that it is safe to go there. We didn't have any problems in '09, but from what I have heard the area of Mexico you are transferring through to get to Tulum may not be considered totally safe anymore.

Didn't you say you were planning on going on the WBTA next year? But the bird with the turtle sounds really cool!

You are so right - how embarrassing that my Dis friends know my vacation plans better than I do!
I was meaning to say "on our recent WPBC". Seriously, my brain is slowly turning to mush in this heat. I want air-conditioning!

 

[glennbo123]

Oh my gosh, that Palo brunch looked so good. I'm drooling.

And I can't think of a better tour to take while on vacation, than a tour of the buffet!

 

[Flossbolna]

Yeah, funnily that has never prevented us either!

I think if I go on a longer cruise, I really need to come up with some daily sports program, otherwise I will end up with far too many additional pounds...

This, I think, is my very least favourite item of food on DCL ...

I can understand that. There just seemed to be no point to it.

Interesting to hear how they handled that - what a nice touch (even if slightly over-the-top in my opinion ) that even the head waiter came over to find out what the problem was. I have never been in the situation yet, but then I have never had anything that I disliked as much as you did those ribs.

I think there might have been some miscommunication going on about the reason of me sending it back. If there would have been something wrong with the dish, I thought it was good that the head servers was taken care of getting exact information to give it back to the kitchen.

Mmmh - I love this! I hardly ever have dessert on our cruises (I know, I know, a sacrilege ) but I have to have this whenever it is available. On our WBTA, I actually even told our servers pretty early on that we wouldn't be having desserts and would not even be wanting to see the dessert menus unless we ask for them, but that I would very much appreciate if they always let me know when there was fruit cobbler on the menu!

I think if I go on a longer cruise, I would find it easier to not have dessert. I am more a salty than a sweet person, too. So I think that was a smart strategy!! I think my favourite dining room dessert was the Grand Marnier soufflee at Tritons, which I had on the first night. The others were ok, but not so memorable.

I am glad you loved the fireworks, even though you weren't too impressed with the "party" preceding it. I am the same, I could give or take the party but I love the fireworks, as well as the event immediately preceding them Twice so far, we have watched the fireworks from our balcony instead, sitting there quietly with a glass of wine in hand, and liked that even better than being up on deck. That said, I did miss being able to hear Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero"! That song is so totally 1980s, but I have come to associate it so much with the fireworks that they somehow weren't the same without it

If one has a veranda, that sounds like a great option for the fireworks, too!

Hey - I can see my handbag in this photo! (Well probably not really, because I bought it on the Magic not the Wonder )

... and my Christmas ornament ...

... and my swimsuit coverup! Did I mention I love DCL merchandise?

And if you bought that on your Panama Canal cruise, it might very well be that I took a picture of the item that you bought. After our cruise there was only one more 4-nighter before the Wonder left for the West Coast.

 

[Flossbolna]

Sure! I have some flourescent-orange Bermuda shorts that will do the trick.

Actually I think Dragan phrased it in such a way that it was clear that shorts were not ok either. But that's the strange thing about the dress code. While really high end blue jeans were not acceptable, fluorescent orange long pants would have been...

Uh oh. Sampling a little too much of their own prosecco?

Really not sure what happened, but Palo is one of the spots on the ship where you notice the movement the most, so maybe it was just the ship? But then we had really calm seas for all of our days...

I wouldn't be able to resist that, either.

Doesn't it look delicious? It was very nice!!!

Looks good! I'm a sucker for a good chicken parmesan.

I have only ever read good things about it here on the DIS. Seems to be a true hit!

You can't pass up dessert!

Unless it's caviar for dessert.

I did have some dessert! And that sticky bun certainly had enough sugar to count as dessert, too!

And no one would ever force you to eat caviar there!

Oh my gosh, that Palo brunch looked so good. I'm drooling.

And I can't think of a better tour to take while on vacation, than a tour of the buffet!

I think a tour of a buffet (in person, not in pictures) and then not being able to eat there would be not such a nice tour... Luckily in this case we got lots of time to enjoy all the lovely food!

 

[Flossbolna]

Yes, I realize I was totally off with thinking "Nachtessen" was Austrian ... sorry about that, but how is a "Nordlicht" like me supposed to know any better!

How could you??? At least you learned something now!

Actually all caught up now!

Great, so I guess I need to post a new update?

Yeah I know about the masks with prescription lenses (learned it from the DIS - where else? ) and may look into it. Good to hear that I am in good company about not wanting to wear contacts (hi nodnol! ). I actually had them and tried it for six months, but then gave up on it.

They are rather pricey, but if you think you would enjoy snorkelling it might be worth it. I am quite hooked on it and am sure that any future cruises to warmer climates will have to include some snorkelling excursion.

Oh, and about Tulum - I do recommend it for the beautiful combination of ruins, palm trees and the ocean, but make sure that it is safe to go there. We didn't have any problems in '09, but from what I have heard the area of Mexico you are transferring through to get to Tulum may not be considered totally safe anymore.

Well, my boss is going to travel around that area this summer, so it can't be too bad. At least I hope so. We need him back after his 4 weeks in Mexico! He actually knows the country quite well, they own a timeshare on the mainland coast opposite Cozumel.

Still, I think if I return to Cozumel, I would still have the problem of not really wanting to travel for such a long time just to see some ruins...

You are so right - how embarrassing that my Dis friends know my vacation plans better than I do!
I was meaning to say "on our recent WPBC". Seriously, my brain is slowly turning to mush in this heat. I want air-conditioning!

I am glad I could help you out there! But I understand the brain-heat-mush issue. It isn't much better here. Am slowly melting away. If this thunderstorm that is brewing out there would start already!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

We had seen the evening before that they were showing Disney Dreams, this nights show, not only at the usual times, but there was also a 2pm afternoon show. We had talked about it and decided that it would be worth it to go there during the afternoon when the pools were crowded and then enjoy the pool while everyone was at the show or dinner in the early evening.

Disney Dreams was quite a lovely show. We both liked it best. It had a backstory which then broke out into separate songs. But to me it seemed a much more natural flow than the Golden Mickeys and the backstory  while once again a bit cheesy  seemed much less forced. All in all it was a lovely show and I would make a point of seeing it again.

After the show my notes have some blank lines. When I wrote the events of that day down, I had no idea what I did next. But now I think that that must have been the time when I went for a run! I had brought my running gear in order to get some exercise while on vacation. And I guess all that food at Palo made me want to get some exercise. Michael headed up to the pool and I went for a run on deck 4. It was pretty warm, but there was a slight breeze. I did run for half an hour. Unfortunately I lost track how many laps I ran. There were a few other runners and walkers out. And a family playing shuffle board and taking up all space. I think they were annoyed with the runners who wanted to pass them all the time. But I can tell you that at least this runners was rather annoyed with them as well&

After the show Michael and I had talked about that neither of us felt like facing a full dinner in the dining room tonight. We still could not imagine to ever be hungry again. So, after my run, I got changed (and I am pretty sure that even though I was going to head to the pool, I took a quick shower as I was so sticky from my run) and then went to check out the menu for Parrot Cay. We were supposed to eat there that evening. All the restaurants have a display for the evenings menu outside which is convenient. Somehow on that day the menu did not really look appealing to me at all.

Then I headed up to the pool area to meet up with Michael. When I got there it was still rather crowded, at least all the deck chairs were taken. But I headed into the water anyway. I remember that this day the pool was clearer than the previous sea day. After a while it emptied out as people were heading back to their rooms to get ready for dinner or show. I was then able to get one of the nice deck chairs on the adult pool deck and read for quite some time. I seem to remember getting some drink& Michael was really keen to get into the hot tub, but both were filled up with people all the time. In the one hot tub was a group of people who seemed to be a party crowd. Two of the women would dance around  holding an ipod in their hand and sharing the headphones. I was really scared that they would drop the ipod into the hot tub.

After some time the other hot tub became emptier and we headed in there. We chatted with a nice couple for some time who was going to eat at Palo this evening and then later a second couple came in as well  they were on their first cruise. It was really nice to hear about other peoples experiences on the ship. And all of us agreed that we were amazed how this one lady in the other hot tub was still dancing around. She must have been doing this for well over an hour!

Michael and I were still not really hungry. Michael came up with the idea of eating at the buffet Beach Blanket. From all of my DIS knowledge I knew that it was not a buffet for dinner, but a casual sit down restaurant. Michael thought that sounded great to him.

So, we headed down to the room for a quick shower. When we got down to our room, we found the bed already made up for the night. Our stateroom host often did that already before our dinner time, I did not care for that. I think for my next cruise I would ask the stateroom host to wait to do it until we were at dinner. Most of the days I changed before dinner and it would be nice to get the room tidied after having the evening-get-the-pool-water-away shower. Anyway, here is a picture of the bed and our daily towel animal:

I also used this time to try to get some good pictures of our porthole  I did not really succeed, these are the two best:

And a close up of the water:

We decided to make a quick stop at the Cove Café to try some of their appetizers. We sat in the wonderful evening sun and had some olives (very good, they tasted very much like the ones we had at Palo):

After sitting there for a bit, we decided to head over to dinner. We checked in at Beach Blanket Buffet and it was really not crowded at all! We arrived at around 7:45 pm, they were open until 8:30pm. The restaurant as two equal sides, but only one was open and we were given a table at the window. Which was just beautiful! The restaurant is on the top deck (just below Palo) and has large windows. We were seated just in time to have a lovely view of the sun setting over the sea.

This was the menu:

It really is rather restricted, but that was ok. We werent that hungry&

We both got a salad from the salad bar as a starter. The salad bar was ok, everything was fresh, but there was not a lot to choose from.

This is my salad  I did get a little much of the Ranch dressing&

And this is Michaels version:

We also got a bread basket:

Remember how we chose to go there because we did not feel like a full big meal? Well, once Michael looked at the menu, he saw that there was a rib eye steak and he just could not resist ordering it. So his meal really wasnt that light after all&

But he was very happy with his steak and did not regret his choice at all!

I chose some mushroom stuffed pasta in a tomato broth. It was a small portion, but that suited me just fine. It was ok, but I think it was not memorable at all.

We did not get any dessert and were done with dinner a little after 8:30 or so. Just before we were ready to leave, I noticed a couple being seated. That was just before 8:30pm. So it appears if they say they are open until 8:30 it means that they will seat you until that time.

Next: Dreaming!
Walking off Some Calories Part 1

 

[Poolrat]

I can see where you would be just overwhelmed with food after a while.

Great idea going to the matinee show of the evening and then relaxing at the pool.

Dancing in a hot tub with an ipod...... yup I would have been waiting for her to drop it.


Dinner looks good and I can see my "light " dinner turning into a ribeye and baked potato.

 

[glennbo123]

Yeah, after that big lunch at Palo, I understand not being hungry. But I've also done with Michael did, and somehow find an appetite anyway! And I can see why, that steak looked good.