Planes, Trains & Antitussives, Alaksan Wonder Cruise - All done! Complete 11/21

[mvf-m11c]

Tough that Fran had to miss out on Palo which all the food look great.

 

[ACDSNY]

That's so sad Fran missed out on brunch.

You're making me drool. I can't wait to go to Palo in November.

 

[dgbg100106]

I wouldn't use the word "free", "all-inclusive" (for food items as far as the main dining rooms go) might be a better way to put it. The price of the cruise is pretty hefty, double that of a lot of other lines. However you're not limited to one item per section. The waiters would be more than happy to bring you one of each item on the menu if they thought it would please you! I've heard stories of servers who bring one of each dessert to folks who are not able to choose! I've ordered two entrées once when I couldn't make up my mind.

The one of every dessert was me on my first cruise, I could not make up my mind so every night he just brought them all. I loved it, everyone is so friendly.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I am sorry that Fran missed out on Palo brunch. I hope she makes it to dinner. I love those sticky buns also. The food looks great! I just love Palo's!

Thank you of the explanation of the drinks and not having a martini glass. Plus as a olive hater seeing one in my drink like an eyeball no thanks... After a long wait! Wait! I can see why you opted for the option you did.

People say that at Palo brunch now the servers will not allow you to help yourself did you find this to be true?

 

[cruisehopeful]

I went to hear him talk and it was slightly amusing, but I wasn't sad to be leaving. It was mostly stories about his buddies and family that related to hunting and fishing experiences.

Bummer. I thought the naturalist on my cruise wasn't very good and expected a better one to come on board after that cruise. Sounds like they are doing piecemeal with whoever they can get. The guy I had in 2012 was excellent. I guess he was a tough act to follow.

I hope Fran was able to enjoy some of the cruise. I know when people are as sick as that, they often can't remember stuff later because they are so exhausted at the time. At least you take lots of pictures that she can look back at. Is she okay with just being sick in the room? I usually think it doesn't matter if I am sick in a room on vacation or sick at home. I'm basically doing the same thing.

 

[elphie101]

How awful Fran felt so unwell! I hope the extra rest did her good and that she feels better in future updates.

I have to say I'm quite excited for Palo brunch on the Wonder (we're booked for NYE 2017!) as every TR I've seen it looks better than the spread we had on the Fantasy. My jaw dropped at mushroom arancini especially!

 

[dgbg100106]

Day 5


I woke up on the first morning of the cruise at 4AM, I was coughing up a storm. I was saving all the coughing pearls for Fran so I just took another cough drop and put on Cars 2 after it had already started. I tried to sleep, but with the sun already up, I just gave up. I checked the Navigator and made a final plan for the day. Then I caught up on my trip journal in my phone. I was behind from Day 2 our day at Stanley Park. When Cars 2 ended, the Incredibles came on the TV. By this time it was 6:30. I thought about going to the Cove Café for a cup of coffee, but instead laid back down and went back to sleep for about an hour plus. Then about 8AM I threw on some comfy clothes and went up to the Cove Café to get a cup of Cappuccino, a croissant and then to Goofy’s for some watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple. Sorry, no pictures. I took these pictures off our verandah. It looked like we might be in for a gloomy day.

I hate to hear that both of you are under the weather, it makes being away from home difficult.

Last night the Port Adventures people left a message on our phone that they needed to talk to us regarding excursions as we were booked in a handicapped stateroom, so I went down to talk to them. Fran took it as an affront to her abilities and got a little bit defensive, she started saying we might as well cancel since she wasn't really feeling good anyways, and blah, blah, blah. However, it turned out to be one of those policy sort of things. A) You're in an accessible stateroom B) you booked an excursion C) they have to call and check in with you.

While she may not be up to going because she feels icky, we've passed the cancellation period and either she goes or we forfeit the tour cost. I told her if she doesn't want to go on the tours she doesn't have to.

This is good to know, I think my Dad is getting an accessible cabin next time I will let him know.

As promised Hristo was our server.

All the food looks so good. The risotto Arancini is something that I would enjoy! I am sorry to hear that Fran did not feel like going too, that must of been hard.

 

[jedijill]

Ugh, sorry that Fran missed Palo brunch! I'm glad you got the chicken parm...its sooooo good! Everything looks amazing especially when I'm starving!


Jill in CO

 

[rentayenta]

Whew, finally caught up. By 11 pm tonight, I will have worked 73 hours in 6 days. I decided to catch up on your report during my 2nd wind.

Palo looks fabulous. I am sorry Fran wasn't feeling well but glad you got to enjoy it with your folks.

 

[rndmr2]

Great update, so sorry you guys are sick and that Fran missed Palo. Everything looked great, I really want to try that one someday. I looked through your pics and picked out everything I would order/try, LOL. Glad you were able to get your favorite server.

 

[skier_pete]

Sorry to hear about you and Fran both not feeling well...that and your thread title leaves me with a bad feeling about this trip. I hope I am wrong...

 

[franandaj]

Ah heavenly, delectable, delightful, delicious Palo brunch....still dream about it from our first cruise.....

I am so sorry to hear Fran had to miss out on it

Palo brunch is so heavenly. I wonder if it is nearly as good on the Fantasy. There are two more sea days left!

Tough that Fran had to miss out on Palo which all the food look great.

It was too bad she had to miss out.

That's so sad Fran missed out on brunch.

You're making me drool. I can't wait to go to Palo in November.

I'm sorry she missed it too. I have to wait until February. I need to check the whole itinerary for our Fantasy cruise. We want to to do Remy dinner, Remy brunch/lunch and they do a dessert thing as well. Plus I want to do Palo for Brunch and dinner. I now know that I can skip some of the MDRs, but I have to figure out what the rotations are and which to skip.

The one of every dessert was me on my first cruise, I could not make up my mind so every night he just brought them all. I loved it, everyone is so friendly.

It's like they are trying to fatten you up!

I am sorry that Fran missed out on Palo brunch. I hope she makes it to dinner. I love those sticky buns also. The food looks great! I just love Palo's!

Me too! I will be sad that we don't have our beloved Hristo on the next cruise.

Thank you of the explanation of the drinks and not having a martini glass. Plus as a olive hater seeing one in my drink like an eyeball no thanks... After a long wait! Wait! I can see why you opted for the option you did.

It was a much better drink than I would have gotten in the MDR.

People say that at Palo brunch now the servers will not allow you to help yourself did you find this to be true?

They might have had an outbreak. I found on my 2012 cruise that CMs did the serving the first two days.

Bummer. I thought the naturalist on my cruise wasn't very good and expected a better one to come on board after that cruise. Sounds like they are doing piecemeal with whoever they can get. The guy I had in 2012 was excellent. I guess he was a tough act to follow.

I'm sure this guy knew his stuff, he just wasn't really my cup of tea. Too much on hunting anecdotes and not enough on actual wildlife.

I hope Fran was able to enjoy some of the cruise. I know when people are as sick as that, they often can't remember stuff later because they are so exhausted at the time. At least you take lots of pictures that she can look back at. Is she okay with just being sick in the room? I usually think it doesn't matter if I am sick in a room on vacation or sick at home. I'm basically doing the same thing.

Well the sad part is that she often spends a lot of time in the room sleeping regardless of the trip so it wasn't all that different from other trips. I'm hoping that once we get our pool fixed, I get her to start swimming again since there isn't anyone for her to be embarrassed about and she will feel better.

 

[Flossbolna]

People say that at Palo brunch now the servers will not allow you to help yourself did you find this to be true?

As far as I can tell there are two reasons for this happening:

1) an outbreak like Allison said
2) On Dream and Fantasy they often seem to use this as a way to make the experience more "upscale". I have not done Palo brunch on Dream nor Fantasy, so this is only what I have read.

I have been to a few buffet meals for rather formal functions where exactly that happened. There it was also so that each table would stay seated until the head server came to your table to accompany the whole table to the buffet and then you told the servers what you wanted on your plate. After the initial round you could go back to the buffet whenever you wanted, but it was still plated for you. I actually really liked being served at the buffet because the servers took great care of plating the food so that it looked good on the plate and that is something that matters to me. I am also not shy to tell the server specifically that I want one of this but 7 of that and to place the sauce on top of this but next to that and so on. Oh, and with the servers doing the serving I knew that the previous guests did not grab in with their dirty fingers!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

As far as I can tell there are two reasons for this happening:

1) an outbreak like Allison said
2) On Dream and Fantasy they often seem to use this as a way to make the experience more "upscale". I have not done Palo brunch on Dream nor Fantasy, so this is only what I have read.

I have been to a few buffet meals for rather formal functions where exactly that happened. There it was also so that each table would stay seated until the head server came to your table to accompany the whole table to the buffet and then you told the servers what you wanted on your plate. After the initial round you could go back to the buffet whenever you wanted, but it was still plated for you. I actually really liked being served at the buffet because the servers took great care of plating the food so that it looked good on the plate and that is something that matters to me. I am also not shy to tell the server specifically that I want one of this but 7 of that and to place the sauce on top of this but next to that and so on. Oh, and with the servers doing the serving I knew that the previous guests did not grab in with their dirty fingers!

Thank you for information. This is actually music to my ears also. As a person who is disabled a buffet is difficult. Hold a plate, wheelchair, mmmm that is not snap! Well it might be my plate. Well Jo ends up doing the buffet gettin for me. So I did not actually like the idea of a buffet at a place like Palo. Plus like you say those dirty fingers!

I look forward to this improvement myself. Like you I am not shy in saying... More sticky buns please...

 

[wonderlandwego]

I'm tuned in! Only thru 2 pages as of now, can't wait to read the rest!

 

[franandaj]

How awful Fran felt so unwell! I hope the extra rest did her good and that she feels better in future updates.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, but it's a long tunnel!

I have to say I'm quite excited for Palo brunch on the Wonder (we're booked for NYE 2017!) as every TR I've seen it looks better than the spread we had on the Fantasy. My jaw dropped at mushroom arancini especially!

That's sad to know. My next chance at Palo will be on the Fantasy.

I hate to hear that both of you are under the weather, it makes being away from home difficult.

Mine wasn't nearly as bad as hers. I just had the annoying cough.

This is good to know, I think my Dad is getting an accessible cabin next time I will let him know.

I don't know if all cruises do this or just Disney, but most tour providers dont offer anything for handicapped folks.

All the food looks so good. The risotto Arancini is something that I would enjoy! I am sorry to hear that Fran did not feel like going too, that must of been hard.

What made it especially hard was that I didn't have anyone to split my plated dishes with!

Ugh, sorry that Fran missed Palo brunch! I'm glad you got the chicken parm...its sooooo good! Everything looks amazing especially when I'm starving!


Jill in CO

I love that Chicken Parm, so tender but yet so crispy!

Whew, finally caught up. By 11 pm tonight, I will have worked 73 hours in 6 days. I decided to catch up on your report during my 2nd wind.

Palo looks fabulous. I am sorry Fran wasn't feeling well but glad you got to enjoy it with your folks.

Girl, you need to take a break!

Sorry to hear about you and Fran both not feeling well...that and your thread title leaves me with a bad feeling about this trip. I hope I am wrong...

Well it wasn't our best trip, but we didn't end up regretting it.

 

[rentayenta]

I am at work right now but I am off this weekend. Tomorrow is Joshua's birthday and then Sunday is our 23rd wedding anniversary!

 

[franandaj]

Great update, so sorry you guys are sick and that Fran missed Palo. Everything looked great, I really want to try that one someday. I looked through your pics and picked out everything I would order/try, LOL. Glad you were able to get your favorite server.

There is definitely a lot to choose from there! I can't wait to go back again.

As far as I can tell there are two reasons for this happening:

1) an outbreak like Alison said
2) On Dream and Fantasy they often seem to use this as a way to make the experience more "upscale". I have not done Palo brunch on Dream nor Fantasy, so this is only what I have read.

I hope that this is not always done on the Fantasy. I prefer to gather my own food. I'm good at keeping my fingers out of the plates.

I have been to a few buffet meals for rather formal functions where exactly that happened. There it was also so that each table would stay seated until the head server came to your table to accompany the whole table to the buffet and then you told the servers what you wanted on your pl

I've been to those sorts of buffets as well. Normally there is a person standing behind the serving dish and they dish up your food for you. A certain high class establishment that no longer serves food buffet style used to offer their hot food items served by restaurant staff.

After the initial round you could go back to the buffet whenever you wanted, but it was still plated for you. I actually really liked being served at the buffet because the servers took great care of plating the food so that it looked good on the plate and that is something that matters to me. I am also not shy to tell the server specifically that I want one of this but 7 of that and to place the sauce on top of this but next to that and so on. Oh, and with the servers doing the serving I knew that the previous guests did not grab in with their dirty fingers!

As lots of people here know, I don't like my food touching and servers don't tend to get that. They tend to like to pile things on the plate willy nilly.

Thank you for information. This is actually music to my ears also. As a person who is disabled a buffet is difficult. Hold a plate, wheelchair, mmmm that is not snap! Well it might be my plate. Well Jo ends up doing the buffet gettin for me. So I did not actually like the idea of a buffet at a place like Palo. Plus like you say those dirty fingers!

I don't mind doing this for Fran, and often times once she has done her first plate, she will ask me to fetch things for her. At Palo on the Wonder, Hristo tends to follow her around and take her plate when she gets it too full for her to carry.

I look forward to this improvement myself. Like you I am not shy in saying... More sticky buns please...

In my case, they usually give me twice as much of every item than I really want. I feel guilty when I can't eat all my food.

I'm tuned in! Only thru 2 pages as of now, can't wait to read the rest!

I hope that it doesn't get too boring!

 

[franandaj]

After brunch I started a load of laundry and then delivered the last of my FEs to Deck 2. I also took some shots of the inside passage from the verandah.











Before mixology I changed the load over to the dryer, but I wasn't going to have time to take it out. This was the most subdued mixology class that I've ever been to. He practically had to pry people out of their seats to make the larger versions of the drink.

When we sat down they had only three drinks on the table. The first two were martini style and the last was a shot. They didn’t want to serve us the other two drinks as they had ice in them and they would get watery sitting on the table with us waiting to drink them.



Our host began to talk to us about making drinks, he had a pretty good formula as a “take away” from the class, but if every drink that I drank was made from these ingredients, I would get sick of them pretty quick. However I see how folks that like sweetened drinks could use this formula to throw a cocktail party. This is the Premise: Base liquor 2 parts (Rum, Gin, Vodka, Tequila, etc), triple sec 1 part, sweet & sour 1 part, agave syrup a dash. Then you add whatever "flavoring" you want, ie Cranberry Juice, Orange Juice, or whatever you like.



The first drink was a Cucumber Martini with Gin, I volunteered to make this. Why do I always end up making the drinks with Gin? Essentially we muddled cucumber in the glass and then added the ingredients above according to the formula.







I didn’t show my mom how to use the zoom on my point and shoot before I ran up there!

The next drink was a Ginger Martini, same concept as before except that they muddled the Ginger before adding the vodka, triple sec and sweet and sour.

The next drink was something with pineapple juice, orange juice, and sweet and sour. Rum as a base spirit and add banana liqueur. He used dark and Malibu rum so it had a coconut taste to it. I didn't like it. You can also see my big drink in the background.



I didn’t get a picture of the fourth one which was a Double Crown. It was made with Whisky, Royal Crown, sweet and sour, cranberry and agave syrup. It was pretty good, but I was starting to reach my limit.

The last was a shot, a B52, it had Kahlua, Bailey's, and Grand Mariner. Mom gave me hers!

When we left the class, I actually left part of my big drink on the table as well as the Double Crown.

I checked on my laundry and it still wasn't dry so I put it in for another cycle. I gathered my evening clothes and started off to the spa, but halfway down the hallway I ran into the guy delivering the pressed laundry. Since we had the Do Not Disturb sign out I took the laundry back to the room, otherwise he would not have been able to enter the room and would have had to take it back to the laundry place.

Then I got started on my spa time. If you have been following along for a while, you’ll know that I love to do the “Alone Time” treatment on the Wonder. First was a soak in the jacuzzi tub. This was by far my best view during an Alone Time treatment. We sailed past rich forests and snow capped mountain peaks. Then it was time to dry off and settle in on the massage table for a full body Swedish massage.

Then it was back out to the tub room to rest on the chaise lounge while my spa attendant brought me chamomile tea and fruit skewers. After a nice rest, I showered and got ready for dinner. On my way to pick up the laundry I ran into our stateroom hostess from our B2B cruise. She was very nice and remembered me. After a short chat I headed to the laundry room for my finally dry load of clothes.

Fran was feeling better enough to go for dinner and pictures, so we got her showered and dressed and we all headed down for pictures.





My Dad complained a little more when we got in line for the second picture, so that was as far as we pushed it.





After the two photo ops we headed off to dinner where we were seated fairly quickly. Our drink server couldn’t wait to see us. She had checked with the Head Server and received a special dispensation that the wine could be placed directly on our table. She was very excited to share this news.

We were in Triton's tonight with their rotational menu. For the most part it was the same as usual, also I wasn't feeling all that great so I didn't take a picture. I think it was a combination of eating a lot at Palo Brunch, drinking a bunch of different liquors at Mixology and then having a massage to release all those toxins into my body. Fran on the other hand was starving. She hadn't eaten anything all day, except for the fruit and croissant I picked up at breakfast. She had me order the cucumber and dill salad for her.



Plus she got the Perogie, of which I don’t seem to have a picture. And the French Onion Soup.



Mom and Dad both got the Escargot.



Dad got the onion soup too. And for my entree I got the onion soup. As the meal went on and I drank more water and by the time my soup arrived I was starting to feel quite a bit better.

Fran got the salmon.



Mom got the wild mushroom filled Ravioli.



Dad got the Chateaubriand. He said it was excellent, but by the end of dinner, he was starting to feel yucky and didn't finish his entrée.



I was feeling better by dessert, so I did take pictures of this menu.





Fran got a Mickey Bar for dessert.



Many of you probably know the reason I was pacing myself. The thing of beauty, the Grand Marnier souffle. This was by far my best "first souffle" ever.





I was a little concerned with the way that I was feeling that I would only be able to eat one, but I ordered the second as soon as the first one arrived. This was again superior to first which was a little crispy and overdone. This one was a little underdone, but I will take that over fallen or overdone.





We went back to the room, and found our towel animal.



Fran had me set up her computer which she didn't use. And we went to bed. We set our clocks back an hour so we got extra sleep that night.

 

[bcwife76]

Oh that spa treatment sounds heavenly! What a nice way to end the afternoon!

Our mixology class on the Wonder last September was a hoot - you'd think we were a bunch of rowdy drunk teenagers! *hiccup*

So glad Fran was feeling better and able to join in on formal night and dinner. Oh the souffle.....so worth it, isn't it? Oh my goodness!