Mexican Riviera 03/27/11 Navigators, Menus, and Misc.

[DisneyHonu]

Hi CalDisfans! Good to hear from you!

Let's just say we ate our money's worth.

 

[DisneyHonu]

 

[Mindyjoy]

All this is making me very excited to get on the ship on Sunday!

 

[DisneyHonu]

You will have a great trip!

I do not recommend getting more than two of these.

They are larger than you think.

 

[CalDisfans]

I will tag on and add to DisneyHonu's trip report, we will "co-report" (ok DISers, we're not strangers, we've become good friends through all our obsessive planning, FEing, and food/trip reports/navigator OCDing!)

Well, we are HUGE Disney fans, and this being our first Disney cruise, we could hardly contain ourselves. 6 months out, we book, and start the exciting, roller coaster journey of planning a Disney cruise! We find the DIS board, and suddenly feel like family, like,.. normal! "You mean others chat about Mickeys outfits? food choices? room service?? What to wear, when, how and why??!!!" I thought to myself,...."I'm home, I've hit the Disney jackpot!" So obsessive/creativity kicked in, and our DCL journay began...

We quickly made friends on the cruise meet, and began to learn all the lingo... ressie, gty, FE, TR, KTTW, obc, and DH, DS, DD!! (Well, I still think they should mean DISNEY husband/son/daughter...) Man, I was really missing out all these years.

Cruise day approaches! We wait till the week before to tell our 4 kids. Their reaction was priceless. We like sneaky in that way. They were in shock, and I don't think they believed it for several days. So,.. the week before, it's pouring rain, massive, wind like a hurricane, raining sideways! , and we, having "Disney-itis", decide, "Hey, the Wonder is leaving today put of LA,.. LET"S go down there and see if we can see it off!" And a crazy pre-port-day long adventure unfolded. If any of you were on that cruise, yes, we were the nutty people out there in the downdour, our umbrellas turned up, holding onto our 6yr old as he blows away, waving & jumping up & down as she saled away in the downpour. It was totally worth it.

The next week came quicker than ever. I didn't know what to expect for embarkation, except for what I've read here. So we armed ourselves with games, snacks, and got there at 10:30am. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all. Hint: For those with kids, when they call out for the kids clubs line, that ends up wrapping around forever, DON"T get in it, don't have to! You can register your kids & get their bracelets ONBOARD! It was so easy onboard, and hardly any line. Infact, you can do it anytime that night, or even the next morning if you don't want your child to start till then! We headed to the back to sit down, and instantly recognized our FE group! Awesoome! It was so fun meeting everyone, and getting all excited, and goofing off. We had gotten group #8 for boarding, and it went really quick once they started calling boarding #'s. We just stood up, got our stuff together once they got to group #7, and waited off to the side by the boarding area, so when they called our #, we were first on in that group. A few more pics for our KTTW, and we were on!
Go right to Guest services if you are using gift cards on your acct, then we were off to lunch. We ate at BBB (There's another coded DCL term!) The :Beach Blanket Buffet", so we could sit outside and experience ship ambiance...After lunch we headed to Wavebands to change a ressie, and ask about early/late dining. We decided to keep late dining. For you again with kids, it wasn't too hard to have late dining, especially if you tell them you want your kids' meals out first so they can be picked up for clubs. They were sooo good about getting food out quick! Then we ate dessert as a couple!

Another food luxury we took advantage of was telling the waiters what we liked, and (what we didn't care for, favorite drinks,, how we liked our meats cooked, our DD13, asked if she could have fries with thousand island dressing with each of her dinners, and could she have spaghetti one night), the FIRST night. They remembered, and it was super luxurious to have your waitor always remember! We felt so pampered... Off to our room at 2 where our kids were amazed how our luggage magically appeared in the room before us! Pixie dust, kids, we're on a DISNEY cruise!! Next we meet our AWESOME Stateroom Host Gusti!! We shower him with hugs! (I'm a hugger, and wanted to dole out alot to the CM. Hey, they'd had a hard, sad previous few days, and we wanted to dole out the love! More on him later!
Thanks DisneyHonu for letting me hijack your TR!! LOL (he really did ask me to add..) More to add later!!

 

[DisneyHonu]

Thank you CalDisfans.

I did. I'm all about sugar, sugar, sugar...and not fiber, fiber, fiber. (Morning Glory was one of the 5 movies I saw in the cabin 10 times over.)

 

[CalDisfans]

Ok, how did I miss THIS dessert?? Mmmmm, that looks fabulous!! Where was this one at??

 

[CalDisfans]

That lobster tail was the bomb! (bomb in a GOOD way, it was yummy), and NOT kidding, that thing was HUGE!!

 

[DisneyHonu]

That's the Grand Marnier Souffle.

 

[cidymom]

That Grand Marnier Souffle looks delish! My system can't handle alcohol so do you actually taste the alcohol? Thanks.

 

[DisneyHonu]

If I take a sip of alcohol, my face would turn really red. It didn't when I ate that dessert.

Then there's the standard cruise response...go ahead and order all the desserts!

 

[hoppin62]

You will have a great trip!

I do not recommend getting more than two of these.

They are larger than you think.

 

[DisneyHonu]

 

[LKFan]

If I take a sip of alcohol, my face would turn really red.

You and my husband.

 

[DisneyHonu]

Pirate Golden "Pot Stickers"

Pearls of the Caribbean

Treasures-of-the-Seas

Sunken Vegetable Treasure

Captain Hook's Mahi Mahi

Tiger Lilies Savory Pancakes

Fruit Cobbler

Banana-Chocolate Crepe

Angel Food Cake

 

[deseriemilburn]

Hello,

I have a few questions to ask if you can offer some advice.

1. How is the weather on board and in Mexico? I leave on the April 17th cruise to MR.
2. In the restaurants and theatre is it cold? Should I bring a sweater or jacket?
3. How did you get copies of the menus? I'd like to do that also. Did you just take pics with a nice quality camera?
4. Any other tips you have would be much appreciated!

Thank you,
Deserie

 

[cmwade77]

Hi all, DW and I were the ones that were dining with DisneyHonu and he has asked me to add on as well. Like CalDisFans we met on the board and have become friends as well. I am working on my own trip report, I normally post my reports on my website, so I will post a link when I get it up, but I though I would answer the questions of the PP.

DW and I usually run hot, so please keep that in mind, but the weather was very warm until we started heading back and then it was extremely windy and cold.

I think the restaurants and the theaters started off ok, but got a little warm towards the end of each show, but not too uncomfortable.

As for the menus, I wil let DisneyHonu answer that..

My biggest tip is never accept "free maps" from any person in any of the ports, if they are just sitting there and say free, that is fine, but if someone is handing them out say no thank you and pass by them quickly. You will find ouut why in my trip report.

 

[DisneyHonu]

Mahalo cmwade77!


deseriemilburn,

The wait staff actually has to account for all the menus after service, so if you are interested in using them for souvenirs or fan web sites, talk to the head server on the first night.

Oh, I just have a point-and-click Lumix. My suggestion to get the most crisp web pictures, use graphics software to re-size to the final size and not rely on the picture sharing app to re-size it for you.

And one big thing I realized after I got home was that I should have used a clean napkin to resolve some of the plating/transport mistakes like a stray risotto or sauce splash.

Thanks to these guys for my images (server, head server, assistant server)...

 

[DisneyHonu]

Jamaican-marinated Chicken Tenderloins

Baked Crab Dip Martinique

Parrot Cay Salad

Island-spiced Grilled Rib-Eye of Beef

Mixed Grill

French Toast Banana Bread

 

[smb6]

It all looks so delish! Can't wait to be eating next month!