When last we left our geeks, one was gloating over her alleged winning of a card game that never actually ended. Thats because even a hardcore gamer has to set priorities. And mine is tea!
I am a tea junkie. Ask anyone who has ever been to my home and either (a) looked at the living room walls, three of which have at least one teapot sitting somewhere or (b) opened my tea cabinet. Yep. I have a tea cabinet. Which has three more teapots. AND, a wide variety of leaves from which to choose.
Im not really sure when I became such a junkie. In fact, there used to be a time when I opted for Lipton, and considered a Twinnings Earl Grey teabag to be fancy. My taste got a little bit better when I lived abroad for three years in Edinburgh, Scotland. I quickly learned that a visitor to your home should get tea and biscuits, unless you are hoping they dont stay long enough to sit. In fact, when I did an internship with a community therapy team, I regularly consumed 8-10 cups of tea in a four hour period, just by visiting people in their homes.
I learned something in Scotland: that little old ladies make the best tea ever.
Back home, I stuck with tea instead of coffee because it felt right. And then one day, someone took me to a tea shop, where I relived the joy of scones with clotted cream and jam. And something fantastic happened there: I discovered that there was a world beyond the teabag. Today if you look in my cabinet, you will find several varieties of loose leaf black tea, a few flavors, some green and even an oolong or two. If you are lucky, I will make you a cup. If you are very lucky, I might have a snack to give you with your tea. And if you are very VERY lucky, I wont bore you with all of my tedious tea knowledge.
That being said, I have tea whenever I can. Proper tea. With treats.
I know there are mixed reviews of the tea at Palo, but I am a fan. You cant beat it for $5 per person, thats for sure. You get to hang out in Palo, you get wonderful service, and you get great delicious treats. If you go expecting a brunch spread, you will be disappointed. No doubt about that. Plus, it has a set menu. The only thing you choose is your tea. The rest comes to you whether you ask for it or not. So just keep that in mind, and you will have a wonderful time. And don't be fooled: the spread may seem small, but you will be full by the the end!
Alas, I have no photos of high tea, because I left my camera in the room. Doh! Some trip reporter I am. I also forgot to bring it to dinner, and thus we only have one photo of us all decked out in formal wear. More on that later.
We had Laura as our server, and she was very lovely except for one thing: she refused to believe that we had previously done high tea on the Wonder.
Laura: you must mean the Magic.
Us: no, it was the Wonder.
Laura: they dont do it on the Wonder, only the Magic.
Us: I know, but they did a trial of it right before the 10-day sailings on the Wonder two years ago.
Laura: you must mean the Magic.
Us: *sigh*
The only complaint I have about the whole tea thing is that they put all of the tea in your teapot, and you strain it when it goes into the cup. This is fine if you are a tea slugger. We, on the other hand, being the civilized people that we are, SIP. So by your second cup, your tea is almost too bitter to drink. Other than that, it rocks.
We had lovely sandwiches, little tarts, scones with cream and jam
.and when I say scones, I mean PROPER scones. The round kind. With raisins, or sultans if you are so inclined. Granted, I like a Starbucks scone as much as the next American girl, but it is a scone in name only. Proper scones are not triangular, nor are they coated with crystallized sugar, nor do they contain exotic ingredients like pumpkin spice. Know what I mean?
And ladies
the lemon tiramisu was to die for. I know a few people miss the trifle, but I was never a fan of that gelatinous monstrosity. If you doubt that, read the original geeks on a boat. This stuff was moist, delicate and SINFUL. Now THAT is a high tea!
For the first time ever, I am ashamed to say that I left Palo sober. Who knew it was possible? Back at the cabin, I surveyed our swag before calling Mat and Sarah to arrange game time. We had about a million FE gifts, plus this from our Secret Mickey!
How can you not love a glass wearing a grass skirt?
I started laughing as soon as I saw it, and it still makes me chuckle even at home. Lionel looked at the glass, at me, at the shot glass necklaces, and back to me.
You have quite the reputation, missy.
Indeed I do.
Just as we were arranging all of our loot, I looked over at the phone, which was suddenly indicating that we had a message. Had I been so excited by the coconut bra drinking glass that I hadnt heard the phone ring? Who could it have been?
It seems, ladies and gentleman, that the Grand Cayman beach excursion I had researched agonized over and finally planned and gotten excited about
..had been CANCELLED.
Hold on. Let me pull myself together here.
FULL BLOWN PANIC!!!!!! Do you know how to torture an over-planner? Cancel her beach excursion at the last minute, leaving her hanging. I was excursion-less. Where was that DOTD????
We opted for Diversions this time, since it was rather un-crowded and the sky was looking rather angry. I called the waiter as soon as we sat down.
Forboding sky tells of cancelled excursions ahead.....
DISers, I cannot hide how disappointed I was after hearing of the cancellation. Between turns and sips of my DOTD (a High Tide, which tasted much like a non-frozen pina colada, two thumbs up from this libations fan) I frantically flipped through the Passporter (always bring your Passporter! It is like a security blanket in times of crisis!) looking for something to fill the void. Rum cakes can only go so far
..
I dont know if it was the gloomy day, the bad service in the bar (seriously my DOTD could not have been in a smaller glass, nor could our waiter have possibly smiled any less) or the fact that I was not winning the game, but I was seriously bummed out. I had really been looking forward to the excursion, because I knew that Rum Point was one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. I didnt want to do 7-mile, because EVERYONE goes there and I really dont do well in crowds. I didnt want to do the stingrays, because Im not crazy about the idea of being on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. Been there, done that, GIANT MUTANT SHARK, remember? And I had no interest in turtle farms. Seemed like every excursion in the book had one of those three things in it.
BAH.
I would have ordered another DOTD, but it would have been too hard to drag our waiter away from the television over at the bar. It was hard enough getting him to bring us some napkins when I almost knocked over Lionels coffee. And even then? He just handed them to us. No oh, let me get that for you sir, oh no. Clearly, we were ruining his social hour. The nerve of us.
After losing the game badly from a failed military strategy, I decided that walking around the shopping area on Grand Cayman would suffice. Why pay lots of money for something I didnt want to do anyhow? If I was going to have a mediocre day, it might as well be free.
(we did end up having a great time, which you will read about soon.)
Still reeling in disappointment over the cancelled excursion compounded by my serious lack of tipsiness from the tiniest drink in the world, I had to resort to extreme measures to cheer myself up.
Yes, it was time to go to the gift shop.
I consoled myself with a few
DCL exclusive pins, and a travel coffee mug. Lionel got a ceramic mug for work. We bought a magnet. AND THAT WAS ALL. Even with the $100 refund from our cancelled excursion burning a hold in my pocket, I could not bring myself to buy a shirt or a hoodie. This probably had something to do with all of the free gifts we got from DCL for returning cruisers and for the REAS package. Plus, we were getting all kinds of loot in our FE every day. Did we really need more stuff? I had rum cakes to save room for.
Hello, priorities?
And while it may sound like we had kind of a stinky day, the opposite is true. Yes, I spent some time bummed out over our cancellation. But, after being mopey for a bit I remembered, what was the worst case scenario? We spend more time on the Magic? How could that be bad?
Up next: dinner, second dinner, and the drunkest grandpa in the whole world.
so just curious... btw does the REAS still come with the voucher for the picture from shutters? 
That is awesome.
another great installment 
Feels like I am right there with you!! 
Her best friend from boarding school was working at St. Andrews at the time- and she was kind enough to treat us to High Tea, because I really, really wanted to see what a traditional and proper English High Tea was all about-
BUT....your trip report helped put a little sunshine into the day. 
