Day 11
We had set the wake up call so that we would be up in time for Walk A Mile. We got up and ready and headed up to deck 4. We enjoyed our walk and then headed to Triton's for some breakfast. Graham had his usual Fresh Fruit with Yoghurt and Granola followed by the Express. I had the Mango Mountain Hike followed by the Eggs Benedict with Tomato and Sausage. After breakfast, I went to see some characters. I went up to deck 4 to see Princess Sofia. She did not have a photographer with her that morning. Some people were quite disappointed and they took down names and cabin numbers and promised to call people to let them know the next time Sofia was out with a photographer. I was not bothered as I had plenty of photos with her already. I still said "hi" to her and then headed back down to deck 3 to see some more princesses. I met Cinderella with Suzy and Perla and then moved on to Rapunzel. The lines were actually surprisingly short for the princesses. As I knew that Jake would not have a photographer with him, I did not go upstairs to see him, but headed back to our cabin to pick up my book and joined Graham on deck 4. I read a chapter in my book before going back down to deck 3 to see some more princesses. This time round I managed to see Tiana and Ariel with very little wait.
I rejoined Graham and made myself comfortable with my book on one of the loungers. I read for a bit and then decided to head down to the Promenade Lounge for the Officers Hide and Seek. This sounded like a bit of fun. In the announcement they had said that if you did not have a team, they would find you one. I got lucky though. Pretty much as soon as I walked into the Promenade Lounge I met one of the people we had sat with during the open bar event the day before who was there with her granddaughter. I joined them and we had a ready-made team. Shortly after we got there, the officers arrived. They were introduced and we were warned that they would look somewhat different when we saw them again. The rules were explained and we were told how many points each of them would be worth. Then we were asked to register our teams while the officers went to hide. This process took a fair while. Eventually we were told we could get going.
We decided to start on deck 10 and made our way down. We did not manage to find any of the officers. I was a little disappointed by this as it turned out during the reveal that we must have walked past the HR Manager Cameron at least twice. This was especially irritating as he should have been fairly obvious as he is really tall and I also know him fairly well. He had changed into shorts, t-shirt and sunglasses and was just chilling out on a lounger on deck 10. He did not get captured until he was heading back to the Promenade Lounge. There were some great costume changes. The officers had swapped their normal dress whites for a yellow boiler suit, a Palo chef's costume and shorts and t-shirts. There was an amusing story about the officer wearing the Palo chef's outfit. He had actually gone and hidden inside Palo. He was surprised that nobody had been to look in there and then realized that people were being turned away because they did not conform to the dress code. The best disguise however was what Captain Fabian wore. He had put on one of the blue outfits that the serving teams wear when they are working on deck 9 and was carrying a box with cleaning equipment. He admitted that he knew that he had overdone it when some of his crew greeted him with "Hey Man" rather than the customary "Good Morning Captain". Even though we did not find anybody, this was a lot of fun. Once we had seen all the disguises and all the hiding places had been revealed, I had to rush off. I thanked my team and headed over to the Cadillac Lounge.
My next activity was a Champagne tasting. At $30, this was the most expensive of the tastings, but we got to try 5 different Champagnes and sparkling wines. Quite a few people seemed to be missing. The class was hosted by the sommelier from Palo. She explained that they are currently going through the process of training assistant servers as sommeliers. It was nice to hear that at a time when many cruise lines are eliminating this role;
DCL is going in the opposite direction.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. We learned a lot about how Champagne and sparkling wine is made, how you can tell whether what you are drinking is good quality and the grape varieties that are used. We then got to the tasting part. We tried a Moët et Chandon and a Taittinger neither do which was really my thing. We then had some of the Iron Horse Fairy Tale Cuvée, which I have always enjoyed. The next one was a bit of a surprise. This was served in wine glass rather than in a Champagne flute and over ice. Moët et Chandon are making a Champagne that is intended to be drunk with ice and is called Imperial Ice. This is absolutely gorgeous. It is very light and refreshing. I am normally absolutely useless in tasting the different notes in a wine, but I got a very strong hint of elderflower with this. The last one was an old favourite of mine, Rosa Regale. I enjoyed this, but I still much prefer the Imperial Ice.
After the tasting, I headed back up to deck 4 to catch up with Graham. We took our stuff back to the cabin and then went in the search of some food. We decided to head up to Beach Blanket Buffet. We had learned that it was very busy to start of with, but then really calmed down by about 13:00. It was past this by now and it was probably the quietest I had ever seen it. They had an Italian buffet that day. Graham got some Peel and Eat Shrimp so he was happy and then followed this with some fish and vegetables. I had some Anti Pasti followed by Polenta, Gnocchi and some Macaroni Cheese with Ham. They also had a Risotto station off to one side and I had some Sun-dried Tomato Risotto, which was absolutely delicious.
I had spotted in the Navigator that the spa staff were holding a pamper party in the Outlook Cafe and I quite fancied this. They had offered something similar in the spa on our Hawaii cruise and although I was the only person there, this had been a lot of fun. I had asked Graham if he wanted to come along. Initially he was not too convinced, but then he decided he may as well come and have a coffee. This time the turn out was quite good. We ended up sitting with two people from our Facebook group. Graham had an Americano and I had a Mocha. I thoroughly enjoyed the pamper party. They talked us through a skincare routine and then we were able to try out the various products. They use Elemis products, which I also use at home. So I was pretty familiar with most of them and actually have most of them at home apart from an eye treatment that we applied. Once our faces were cleansed, exfoliated, toned and moisturized, they came around to apply some Sun Glow bronzing powder. In between the various stages, we enjoyed our coffee and talked to the people we were sitting with.
When the pamper party was finished, Graham asked if there was any trivia on offer. I thought I had seen something and went to check the Navigator. There was some 70s Music Trivia about to start in Diversions. We decided to give it a go. Well, we were spectacularly bad at it. I was only born in the mid seventies and Graham has never really been interested in music. To make life even more difficult, some of the snippets they played were incredibly short. We were meant to guess the song title and the artist. I had set us a target to get into double figures as far as our score is concerned and we just about managed this. Still, it was a bit of fun and we found out something useful. The club host confirmed that the airline tail trivia would definitely go ahead and would take place the next day.
This evening was semi-formal night and this meant I got another chance to wear a gown. We headed back to the cabin so that I could have a shower and Graham could tie me into my gown. Then I put on my make up and jewellery. The jewellery that I was wearing today was designed so that it goes with both gowns that I had left for the rest of the cruise. Somebody I know had been inspired by my jewellery had commissioned a very similar set, but with more neutral colours. I loved that this combined silver and rose gold and loved the idea to have a set with this in bolder colours. (Photos courtesy of
www.wyrdingstudios.com)
Once I was ready, we headed up to deck 4. Graham wanted to do Walk A Mile and Chip and Dale were due to be out at Preludes. So I went up with him and sat down waiting for Chip and Dale. Graham's "walking buddy" was again DJ Wendell. They headed out. About 8 minutes later, DJ Wendell came past again seriously out of breath. I asked him if they were already done and he said that they had run all the way. Graham told me later on that DJ Wendell had challenged him to run the mile, but I don't think that he had anticipated just how quick Graham could cover this kind of distance. He runs most days and has done a 10K race in the past. I don't think he expected this. I was more than a little amused by this.
I did not have much longer to wait for Chip and Dale after this and I was at the front of the line. They look so precious in their tuxedos. I then headed down to see Minnie and Daisy. I loved the gowns they were wearing. They had a serious line. Quite often on formal and semi-formal nights they specify one set of photos per family or stateroom, which keeps the lines flowing. This time they had no such restriction and because people wanted photos in various groupings, the lines moved very slowly. I did get a chance to get some photos with Mickey and Donald, but missed out on Pluto and Goofy.
After this character set, I headed back to the cabin to read my book for a bit. Graham returned at some stage and got ready for dinner. After the experience earlier, it decided to head up to the atrium about 20 minutes ahead of the next character set. Graham had no other plans and came with me. I was just about to get in line for another photo with Minnie and Daisy when Drew came up to me. He told me that they had something rather special that evening. Captain Mickey and Captain Fabian would be out to together. On the Navigator, it had just said Mickey. This set was due to start 15 minutes after the others, but I knew that this would draw serious lines once word got out. So I headed straight over there and I was sixth in line. Mickey arrived a little early and once Captain Fabian arrived, Graham joined me. I asked Graham which Captain he wanted to stand next to and his reaction was "not the rodent". I was quite happy with that arrangement. Once we had our photos, Graham went back to his seat and I headed up to deck 4 to see Pluto. His formal outfit was very understated. He just wore a black collar with some bling.
At some stage Graham joined me on deck 4. As dinner that evening was at Animator's Palate, we could head straight there once I finished with Pluto. The menu that night was Taste of California. I had really enjoyed this menu on the previous two occasions when we had this, but this time it did not seem as nice. Graham had Handmade California Roll garnished with Pickled Ginger, Wasabi and Soy Sauce for his starter. This was the first time he had come across Wasabi and he had not anticipated how hot it is. There was the odd tear in his eyes. I had Potato Croquettes stuffed with Basil and Italian Cheese on a light White Wine Cream Sauce with Candied Walnuts for my starter. We then both had the Roasted Vegetable and Coriander Soup with Chipotle Cream. Graham had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin covered with Shrimp, Garlic, Tomatoes and crumbled Feta Cheese, Red Bliss Potatoes and Baby Spinach for his main course. He also had a side of Portobello Mushroom Ravioli sautéed in Truffled Sage Brown Butter. I had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin covered with Shrimp, Garlic, Tomatoes and crumbled Feta Cheese, but had them with the sides from another item in the menu, which came with Port Wine Glazed Shallots, whole roasted sweet Carrots and Green Asparagus over Wild Rice. This could have done with some sauce. We both passed on dessert again and headed off to get some photos.
I was in photo heaven that evening. I was hoping to catch some more characters, but the lines were very long. However, there were plenty of other photo opportunities that evening. They still had a photographer at the blue backdrop where they had done the two Captains photos earlier. They also had the moon backdrop up and the black backdrop. To round the offerings off, they also took photos on the stairs. Graham had acquired a crown, which provided some interesting photos. What a shame that I was not wearing my tiara that night.
as does the champagne tasting 
