Princesses, Pirates and Pumpkins

[dolphingirl47]

All dolphins are trained in so called husbandry behaviours. They are all things that make medical examinations easier and include swallowing a tube for a gastric sample, sliding out on a scale, giving urine samples and presenting the tail fluke and holding still so that blood samples can be taken. Unless the behaviours that are used in interactions, the husbandry behaviours are not based on natural behaviours and therefore need to be practised regularly. It is also important that the dolphins are willing to do those for total strangers that know the signals just in case that there is an emergency and outside help needs to be sought. Therefore our first task of this session was to get Ko to roll over and present his tail fluke and stay there until we signalled that he was OK to turn over again. He had to do this for each of us. As his reward for co-operating, he then got some play time. We each got to choose a "toy" that he likes and had some quality time with him. I had chosen a ring that he caught out of the air when I threw it and then brought back to me to throw again. The other two had chosen a buoy, which worked in a similar way, but he actually threw this back, and a soft brush to brush him down with.

Our play time was ended when they had to move the dolphins around between two interactions. We headed to the office to look at the record keeping. They have a huge notice board in the office with photos of all the dolphins. Record keeping is even more important here as each dolphin has a dedicated trainer and the dolphin and the trainer have a one on one relationship. They only ever work with another trainer when the primary trainer is on days off, on leave or off sick. For that purpose, each trainer has a secondary dolphin that they also know pretty well and they will take over when the primary trainer is not around. This was a very different way of doing things. Because of this, they keep very extensive records. Apart from any medical observations, food intake and activities, they also include information like relationships with the other dolphins and any unusual behaviour. The records are still hand-written so a huge amount of time goes into this.

Next up was the fish house. On the way there, we passed the filtration plant. The water comes from the bay and has to be filtered and sanitized before it is fed into the pools. The fish house was much the same as the ones that I have come across at Seaworld and Discovery Cove. It consists of three areas: a walk in freezer, a walk in fridge and a preparation area with a huge dry wipe board that lists all the dolphins and the breakdown of the food they are getting every day. What was a new concept was that the dolphins get different kind of fish depending of the season. For instance they are only getting Mackerel during the winter months.

There was a little silliness in the fish house. One of the other trainers, who was cleaning the fish buckets, sprayed our trainer with the water hose. She retaliated by getting some ice from the ice machine and put it down the back of the other trainer.

Once this was settled, we got a quick lesson in food quality. I know that dolphins are fed restaurant quality fish and that any fish that are not whole are discarded. They are going one step further at Cabo. Any fish that has any blemishes gets discarded. We were told that infection can get in through even the smallest nicks and imperfections and that this could have a negative effect on the health of the dolphin.

After the photographer took some silly photos of us in the fish house, we headed back upstairs. We took the buckets for the next interaction with us and deposited them in the fridge near the pool.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Then we found out what we would do next. We were going to get another in water session with Ko, but this time it would be just us three. It also became obvious that our trainer would take more of a backseat during this interaction. We were each allowed to choose two low energy behaviours like kiss, vocalization, splash, etc. and one high energy behaviour like a backflip, tail walk or fast swim. I went with flipper shame, tickle and back flip. We were taught the relevant signals for each behaviour and then we were sent to get changed into our swimming gear again.

When we came back up, our trainer checked one last time that we all knew what behaviours we would ask Ko to do and the hand signals to go with them. This was a bit of a strange interaction as normal group interactions where going on at the same time. So we had to time everything we were doing so that it did not interfere with the other interactions. Initially we spent some time giving go some rub downs while the other groups got themselves organized. Then we started with the low energy behaviours. It was up to whoever's turn it was to get Ko's attention, give him the relevant signal and then reward him with some fish.

When the other groups started their belly rides and dorsal tows, Minerva told us that we would have a go at a foot push. I declined politely as this really hurts my feet. The other two were very enthusiastic about this. I got to do another belly ride instead.

Once we were done with the foot pushes and the belly ride, we just stayed in the water and Ko was swimming in between us looking for rub downs. We were happy to oblige. When the other interactions were winding up, we did the high energy behaviours. We also were given a huge ring target to hold up and Ko jumped through it. Once they were done, we fed Ko the rest of the fish and then we said goodbye to him for the last time.

We were sent to get changed. Once we came out of the changing rooms, Minerva was waiting for us with our certificates and a DVD of the interactions. I have to say that I still have not watched that. We were taken to a different building to look at the photos. One free photo was included in the package and there were various options to buy more. I decided to get all my photos on CD. This was the one thing that was not very well organised. We were directed to a photo kiosk where we could look at the photos. They explained what packages are available. Once I told them that I wanted to go with the CD, they highlighted all the photos and placed them in a folder. I was then given an order form and was sent to the gift shop at the entrance to pay. Once I came back, they burned the CD and printed out my complimentary photo. They realised that they had forgotten to add the photos from the play session and the fish house so I got a separate CD with those.

 

[dolphingirl47]

By the time I was back on the tender, it was 18:15. I had been told on the ship that I would be back between 16:00 and 16:30. I had a wonderful day, but because I was back so late, I missed the Pirate Trivia that I had been looking forward to. Graham had gone to this and teamed up with our team mates from the second sea day. I also missed all the photo opportunities. I had bought a new pirate costume especially for this cruise and now I did not even get the chance to wear it. When I got back to the cabin, I just had enough time to unpack my stuff, hang up my wet swimming costume, have a quick shower and get changed into my evening gown before we had to head up to Palo for our 19:00 dinner reservation.

When we got up to Palo, we were welcomed by Nikola, who told us that he would be our server again that night. He escorted us to our table and brought us the menu and the wine list. We decided to have a bottle of Rosa Regale to celebrate Graham's birthday. We had a look at the menu and this had changed quite dramatically since January. A lot of the dishes have changed. Unfortunately my favourite pasta dish, which I had been looking forward to was no longer on the menu.

The next surprise was the Anti Pasti. On all previous visits to Palo, a selection of cold cuts, olives, marinated garlic and Parmesan cheese had come pre-plated and was served with a basket with various breads and a trio of dips. We still got the bread basket, but it now came with a Tarragon butter instead of the dips. The Anti Pasti is now served from a trolley and you just choose what you want. All the things that were previously on the plate were still available, but they also added sundried tomatoes. They also had Tapenade on the trolley, which had previously been part of the trio of dips. Unfortunately there was no sign of the other two, Aioli and Roasted Red Pepper dip. Still, this was probably a blessing in disguise. I love those dips so much that I tend to fill up with bread and dips and then struggle with the rest of the meal. We had a little taste of everything.

When he had served the Anti Pasti, Nikola asked if we were ready to order the rest of our meal. Graham asked for recommendations and went with those. He had marinated shrimp and calamari for his starter followed by the Rack of Lamb. I had my favourite starter which is Polenta with grilled Portobello mushroom and a gorgeous Shallot sauce. I had made up my mind as soon as I had booked dinner that I did not fancy the fillet steak this time. So I decided to go with the Osso Bucco with Risotto. It was very tender and full of flavour. I was happy with my choice. Nikola also brought us a small dish of Beef Ravioli to share, which were also very nice.

Before we served our main course, we were presented with the dessert menu. This is the part of the meal that I always dread. The reason why this is presented so early is the famous Chocolate Soufflé, which takes about 30 minutes to prepare. It always feels like they are expecting everybody to have this. Graham can't have it as he is allergic to chocolate and I simply don't like it. It is way too sweet for my taste. Nikola was a little surprised but accepted it. When dessert time arrived, I was torn between the Tiramisu that I had before and really enjoyed or a pistachio and chocolate cake that was new on the menu. I normally love anything with pistachio. I mentioned this to Nikola and he advised against the cake as this is even sweeter than the soufflé. So I went with the Tiramisu. Graham had the Panna Cotta. Nikola also brought us another new addition to the menu: zabaione. We shared this and it was out of this world. It was served with stewed berries. I think next time round I will have this as my dessert.

As we were finishing our dessert, a photographer approached. I had said to Graham earlier that I was surprised that there was no photographer about. Once we had our photo taken, Nikola brought us one of my favourite things as far as dinner at Palo was concerned: Sgroppino. This is a gorgeous cocktail made from lemon sorbet, vodka and sparkling wine. We enjoyed this and then paid our bill and said goodbye to Nikola.

Next up was another first for us: the Pirate Party. This was our 7th Disney cruise, but for on reason or another, we never made it to the Pirate Party. So this time, we were determined to go. We walked along deck 10 and positioned ourselves near the door to the midship elevator lobby. The character manager was standing nearby so I figured this was as good a place as any. I have to say, I found the actual deck party bit tedious with it essentially being a combination of huge crowds, bad music and hyperactive cruise staff. Having said that, I am not a big friend of the whole deck party concept anyway. I have only attended the sail away party once and this was once too many. I have to say, I managed to get us a nice spot though. The characters went in and out through the door next to us and were waiting for their turn to join into the festivities just feet away from where I was standing. I did not like at all that Stitch was cast as one of the villains. I know that he is mischievous and can be a bit naughty, but I don't think it is fair to portrait him as a villain.

I was just about getting ready to give up when I realised that something was about to happen. The character manager was in an animated conversation with one of the technicians. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Mickey was flying across the deck. I was in the perfect spot to fully appreciate it. Once Mickey had landed, the fireworks started. I was in awe of the whole concept, but Graham thought they were mediocre. Looking back, I am glad that I finally attended the Pirate Party purely to get it out of my system, but I doubt that I will do this again in future.

Once the fireworks were over, we headed back to our cabin. We would have a very early start the next morning and it was past our bedtime. When we got back, we realised that our stateroom host had left us two towel animals: a stingray on the bed and a monkey hanging from the curtain rail. I took some photos and then we went to bed.

 

[strawberry blonde]

What a fantastic day Corinna. You look so happy on all the dolphin photos

Thankyou for this great trip report

 

[tiggrbaby]

Great update! I love your bling t-shirt. But how did you make out with your sunburn that night?

 

[dolphingirl47]

Great update! I love your bling t-shirt. But how did you make out with your sunburn that night?

I got the t shirt on our very first Disney cruise. I found it on the sales rack on the last night. As we were pretty much getting straight back on the next cruise, I figured it would be handy for Pirate Night. I never got to wear it for that as we ended up eating at Palo on Pirate Night, which has become a bit of a tradition.

The sun burn looks a lot worse than it really was. It felt a bit hot that night, but did not hurt at all and by the next morning the heat had gone out of it and it only mildly complained when I went into the hot tub.

Corinna

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Love the photos with the dolphins....I can't wait to one day do this. Hey I know you have to wear biodegradable sunscreen....do you know anywhere to get that? We have decided to cancel our sea lion encursion and if available when we get onboard we will see. The only time available is 8am...not only is this way early but the water will be way to cold for me.....do wet suits REALLY keep you warm???? They said we can wear them but I don't fancy 60 degree water temps. I love the Mexican outfits of the characters. I got us some mexican duds too and Del a sombrero....can't wait to get that pic!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

At Cabo Dolphin Centre they did not allow any sunscreen, not even the biodegradable kind. At Discovery Cove, they use Panama Jack brand: http://www.panamajack.com/detail.aspx?ID=567

It is a shame that you ended up cancelling the sea lion interaction, but I hope that you are able to rebook a better time once you get on the ship. As to the temperature, most dolphin facilities keep the water at a constant 60 degrees. Wetsuits do really make a difference and do keep you warm. We spent nearly two hours in water that was probably less than 60 degrees. Without the wetsuit I don't think I would have lasted 10 minutes.

Corinna

 

[stephensmum]

I have loved seeing your beautiful dresses, tonight's one looks great, I wondered if you hd a full length shot of it? Sounds like a wonderful day with Ko. Really enjoying reading about your trip, thanks for sharing.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I have loved seeing your beautiful dresses, tonight's one looks great, I wondered if you hd a full length shot of it? Sounds like a wonderful day with Ko. Really enjoying reading about your trip, thanks for sharing.

I do not have a full length shot of this dress, but I have the same dress in blue, which I wore for semi-formal night, which just so happens to be the next installment. I might post this later today or if not, definitely within the next couple of days.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 13

We had an early start this morning. We were due to arrive in Cabo at 7:30 in the morning. We wanted to be on one of the first tenders. We expected it to be really busy as we only had a half day in Cabo. So we were up bright and early and headed to deck five to the Buena Vista theatre. They were really surprised when we got there and there was nobody else around. The crew told us that there was a tender ready for us and that we had a Fastpass this morning. We were taken down straight away to the tender lobby on deck one. When we got to the tender, we waited about 10 minutes, but nobody else came. So we had the tender all to ourselves.

Our plan for the day was to charter a glass bottom boat and take a trip out to Los Archos. As soon as we left the tender dock, we were offered a glass bottom boat trip. The price was fair at $8 per person for an hour so we decided to go ahead. We could probably have got an even better price by going a bit further away or even bargaining, but this seemed like to much like hard work for the amount quoted. Our captain was very knowledgeable and full of stories. He initially took us out to Pelican Beach and Seal Rock where we got a good look at the respective animals. He told us a story that KFC had opened a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas a few years ago, which the locals did not really want there. The locals then proceeded to tell tourists that KFC used Mexican chicken in their restaurant and then gleefully pointed to the pelicans and proceeded to tell the tourist that they are Mexican chicken. The KFC restaurant went out of business within a matter of months.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Once we had passed Seal Rock, our captain stopped the boat and got some Tortillas out to feed the fish. We suddenly saw all kinds of fish in the glass window at the bottom of the boat. Once the fish had been fed, we headed off again towards Lover's Beach and Los Archos. Lover's Beach is normally one of the drop off points for those boat trips. The boat then comes back a couple of hours later to pick up the guests. However, the water was very rough that day and there was no way it would have been safe to swim in the sea that day. Even in the boat it was very rough at times. We continued on to Los Archos and Land's End where the Pacific is on one end and the Sea of Cortez on the other. Once we had a look at this, we returned back to port. Some of the return journey was again very bumpy, but I still managed to get some nice photos.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Once we were safely back on dry land, I wanted to find an internet café. The disembarkation day was going to be quite a complex proposition as this was the day of the vow renewal. My photographer would come and collect me from the port as early as possible and friends of ours would collect Graham later. I could not find out about the early debarkation arrangements until I got on the ship so I promised my photographer that I would email her from one of the ports with the details. I also wanted to email our friends to make sure that they had not forgotten. This was quickly done and I even got a reply back from my photographer straight away.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Once I had sorted out everything that I needed to get done, we decided to head back to the ship. We had a short wait for a tender, but when a tender arrived, there were only us and another couple heading back to the ship. We dropped our stuff off in the cabin and then headed up to deck 9 to have a swim. The ship looked deserted. The water was a little bit to refreshing for my taste, but I swam a few length before retreating to the hot tub. I came out when the hot water became a little too uncomfortable on my sunburned skin. I decided to sit on the side of the pool and dangle my feet in the water. Graham tried to convince me to join him in the pool. In the end I decided to brave the cold water and swam a few more lengths. By then Graham was ready to get into the hot tub as well.

I always wanted to sit in the hot tub sipping a drink, but never have got around to this even though we have done 3 long cruises and two of them had plenty of sea days, but I still had not managed it. So I decided that this was overdue. Graham liked the idea of this as well. He had a Virgin Pina Colada and I had a Lava Smoothie (Virgin Pina Colada with Raspberry puree). We felt rather posh. Once we had finished our drinks, we decided that we had enough water for one day. We drip dried and then headed back to the cabin to get changed.

By then it was fortunately lunch time as we had not eaten anything yet that day. We came back up to deck 9 to have some lunch at Beach Blanket Buffet. They had a Mexican buffet that day. I feasted on Tortilla Soup, Mexican Rice, Beef Patties with Onion Rings and a Beef Burrito. Graham had some salad, some fish and we also both had some chicken. I have to say that I burst out laughing when I saw the label saying "Mexican Chicken". I did get a few funny looks and I resisted the temptation to explain to people what I was finding so funny.

After lunch, I still had a spare 30 minutes before I had to go to the Promenade Lounge to score the Scavenger Hunt that I had organized for the group. We decided to get a coffee in the Cove Café. Once it was time for me to head down to the Promenade Lounge, Graham decided to come with me to keep me company. There was a two hour slot where people could come by to have their Scavenger Hunt scored. I had given out about 20 packs, but only 3 families actually returned them. Still, we had a great time sitting by one of the big portholes in the Promenade Lounge and watched the world go by. We had a couple of Margaritas each and chatted to a couple of the bartenders. The families that did return them did very well and seemed to have had a lot of fun doing it.

Once the time to have the Scavenger Hunt scored was up, I decided to two my second Fish Extender run. Graham again came with me. I had made Pirate themed zip pulls for the boys, Hidden Mickey Glass Tile Magnets for the men, Hidden Mickey Glass Tile Pendants for the teenage girls, Mickey and Friends Bottle Cap Pendants for the girls up to the age of 6, Glass Tile Pendants with either Tinkerbell or Ariel for the girls aged 6 to 12 and larger Glass Tile Pendants with Tinkerbell for the woman. This time round it was a lot quicker as I only had the Fish Extender gifts to give out and I also knew roughly where the cabins were.

When we passed the atrium on deck 5, we saw that they had the backdrop with the moon up on deck 4. There was nobody waiting to have their photos taken. So we headed down there to get some photos taken.

Once the photos were taken, we headed back to the cabin to get our stuff for the Rainforest Room. I decided to take my evening gown upstairs so that I could get showered and ready in the spa. When the person manning the spa reception saw my dress, she offered to hang it up in the office. I took her up on the kind offer. Once I had enough of the heated tile loungers and the dry sauna and was well and truly relaxed and chilled out, I retrieved my dress and then got changed. I had a nice surprise. They had changed the dispensers for shower gel, shampoo and conditioner from wall-mounted dispensers with generic products to bottles of Elemis products. I left Graham up at the spa and arranged to meet him back at the cabin.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I quickly went back to the cabin to drop off my clothes that I had changed out off and then headed to the atrium to make the rounds of the photo opportunities. I had some mores photo taken with the moon backdrop and also had some photos taken with a backdrop of the ship against a sunset. I was also lucky enough to catch Goofy in his formal outfit.

I went back to the cabin and waited for Graham. I had ordered a bottle of Fairy Tale Cuvee for the stateroom before we left, but we had been so busy during the cruise that we never managed to open it. So we decided to take it to dinner that evening. Normally they enforce quite a steep corkage fee for any wine brought to dinner, but this does not apply to wine purchased on the ship. This caused a bit of excitement. The assistant servers are really good at opening sparkling wine without even a pop. However, something went wrong with this bottle. When she opened the bottle, the cork went flying. We were in Triton's again that evening and they have stained glass decorations on the ceilings. All over sudden every head server in the vicinity showed up. One even had a torch and examined the stained glass. I kept rather quite. I knew full well that the cork at not hit the ceiling. The reason I knew this is that it had hit me on my upper arm instead. I sported a nice bruise there later in the evening. However, I had not really come to any harm and I know that there would be a lot of fuss if I explained where the cork had gone and how I knew. I am not even sure if Disney Cruise Line would not consider this to be a sackable offence.

The rest of the dinner was eventless and the sparkling wine was gorgeous. Graham was relieved that he did not have to choose his own dinner that evening. He ended up with Herb-Sautéed Shrimp on spaghetti vegetables drizzled with garlic butter, Wild Forest Mushroom Soup swirled with white truffle oil and Baked Lobster Tail served in the shell with lemon butter, green beans and oven-baked rice. For his dessert, he had chosen Apple Pie A La Mode. I had Herb-Sautéed Shrimp on spaghetti vegetables drizzled with garlic butter, Beef and Sun-Dried Tomato Consommé with Parmesan polenta dumpling and Panko-Breaded Pork Envelope filled with ham and Gruyere cheese served with snow peas and pan-seared potatoes in a lemon-parsley butter. I did not really have room for dessert, but went with the Mango Flavoured Sundae served with mango sorbet, a coconut macaroon and coconut rum cream.

They had the photographers in the dining room that night and our server made us some swans out of napkins. I was quite surprised when Graham admitted to our server that it had been his birthday the previous day. He had already made a comment at the character breakfast the previous morning, but our server was so flustered by the unexpected additions to our table that he did not pick up on this. I was really surprised about this as he made me add a note to our reservation when we cruised over his birthday in 2009 that this is not to be acknowledged in any way. We had also told our server about our vow renewal at the beginning of the cruise and for some reason they had got it in their heads that it was our anniversary. So we ended up with two different birthday badges for Graham, a Happy Anniversary for each of us, singing servers and two individual Chocolate Mousses. Graham can't have chocolate and I was too full, but they covered them for us so that I could take them back to the room. Unfortunately I had totally forgotten about them and they were still in the beverage cooler when we left the ship.

 

[dolphingirl47]

They were in a bit of a rush to get us out of the dining room that evening as they had to set up for the dessert buffet. We found Minnie in her formal dress just outside the dining room so we had a photo taken with her. We also had photos taken against the moon backdrop and the ship with sunset backdrop. Once we had done the rounds of the photo opportunities, we briefly went back to the cabin where we found a towel turtle.

This was very much a cruise of firsts and another thing that I have always wanted to do, but never got around to was having a look at the dessert buffet. I had no room to try anything and I am usually less than impressed with their dessert offerings anyway. The buffet opened at 11:00 and there was a huge line that snaked from the main entrance of Triton's all the way down to the Promenade Lounge. We still decided to join the line and it was moving mercifully quickly. I think it took us less than 10 minutes to get to the front of the line. It was well worth it to persist. They had some great ice sculptures and sugar sculptures as well as desserts with elaborate decorations and even swan-shaped profiteroles. I took some photos and then we headed back to the cabin and went to bed.

 

[stephensmum]

What a wonderful time you are having, so enjoying reliving it with you. Can't decide if I prefer the red or blue, think both are equally beautiful. Love the photo's with the blue background. You and Graham look so happy together, i like the way you are both content to do separate things.

 

[stephensmum]

Lovely gifts, did you say you made them?

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a wonderful time you are having, so enjoying reliving it with you. Can't decide if I prefer the red or blue, think both are equally beautiful. Love the photo's with the blue background. You and Graham look so happy together, i like the way you are both content to do separate things.

That is why cruising is such a perfect holiday for us. I like to be pretty much on the go most of the day and Graham just wants to chill out an relax. We usually have breakfast together and may or may not meet up for lunch and then we meet up again around dinner time. There may be things during the day that we may do together, but more often than not, we both do our own thing.

Lovely gifts, did you say you made them?

Yes, I make jewellery as a hobby and I made all the gifts. Now I just have to decide what I am going to do for our Hawaii cruise. I have an idea or two. I just need to see if I can pull it off.

Corinna

 

[ScottishDisMam]

Hi Corrina, my daughter and I love your trip reports and enjoy reading each new installment. It's especially exciting now we have our countdown for this year! Keep them coming as they brighten our dreary January days!

Lisa x