Finally got some downtime so I thought I'd go over our trip thread and pick up any leftover questions that I could. Our cruise was over a week ago but I'm still on vacation in Southern California. Did Universal Studios and
Disneyland this past week. The Disneyland 50th anniversary fireworks show is awesome. Disney shoots off expensive stuff.
challada- I took your advice and leaned toward the seafood choice if there was any indecision. I was quite happy going that way. The only time I went with beef was when I knew the cut of beef was good and they would have a hard time messing it up. Prime rib and tenderloin based dishes were good. The chipotle sirloin was disappointing and slightly tough from being overcooked (eeyorefan thought so too). Interestingly, our server tended to recommend the seafood dishes like your server.
Note: On each menu, there is a section called "Chef's Recommendations". One would think that this would list the best dishes on the menu. However, our server's recommendations were often not on this list. I ended up pretty much disregarding the Chef's Recommendation's after a couple of nights and weighing our server's suggestions more heavily.
Hollyster2- I saw the grouper on the Parrot Cay menu but and wanted to try it on your suggestion. But they had the prime rib on the same menu and I couldn't pass that up.
neneermom- Haven't got all the photos from others in our group yet. One may have a menu shot that would list the ingredients in the True Colors drink.
alohatee- The Pirate's night buffet is on deck 9 and is opened as the main Pirate Nights show is winding down. There is enough food for a complete meal. They had turkey legs so you could eat "pirate style" and a lot of desserts including crepes. I didn't get anything because I was still full from our regular dinner.
lwilliam- I thought we got the least value for our money on the Puerto Vallarta Paradise Beach Adventure. It's not that it was bad. The resort pool was fine and they gave us some drinks. It's just that all you are really paying for is transportation too and from the resort. The zoo was disappointing. You can do the exact same thing with El Cid in Mazatlan buy paying a taxi to take you to and from the hotel.
Tour with Frank- We did the City and Beach tour with Frank in Mazatlan. debogan is actually the one who selected it. We just went along. Over lunch, Frank checked with his buddies on the jellyfish situation and recommended going to El Cid for swimming. Outside of myself, no on in my party brought their swimwear and they wanted to go shopping. So Frank took us to the Golden Zone and dropped us off for shopping. That is one of the advantages having a private tour guide like Frank. If there is something specific that you want to do or see, he can arrange for it. Franked picked us up at a pre-arranged time and then picked up debogan and her family after they were done swimming at El Cid. Got us back to the ship on time for departure.
After comparing notes with others in our party who took the walking tour, we got good value for our money with Frank. We saw more than they did and had a much better lunch. Plus being driven around in 90+ degree heat beats walking around in it. Frank's van is air conditioned but you're hopping in and out of the van all the time so the air conditioning doesn't have a chance to do much cooling.
winotracy- I didn't see anyone supporting the Internet cafe. I asked about wireless access at one of the Navigator presentations. They said it is being considered for the drydock in fall but wouldn't commit to it. My reading between the words is that it is one of the "bubble" features that could get cut if they can't fit it in the time they have alloted for drydock.
Time to go back to real life for me. I probably will fade away from the DIS boards until I have another occasion to give my money to Disney. Thanks everyone for their help and I hope I've been able to help those that will follow after me.
Cliff
We are a picky bunch, but we never stumped the kitchen, and always left the dinning room full and happy.
