She said it wouldn't be boring!-WONDER WB Caribbean cruise - Bonus Posts Wrap up

[franandaj]

Interesting that your mixology had pre made drinks! Every Mixology I've ever done, you either make your own drink or a few people make them for everyone per round.

My last Mixology we made a Mojito in our chairs, and got to put the top layer on a three layered sweet drink, Bailey's, Kaulua and something else. But all the other drinks were premade. I think it would be great fun to do one of those where people in the class make all the drinks!

Well there's always the PC Repo cruises. I'm planning on the Westbound in 2016. I'd love to meet you and Fran in person.

Someday we're going to do a PC Cruise!

The drinks look yummy and so does that ice cream! Looks like a fun afternoon.

Let me know when you consider a longer cruise....I'm in.

Jill in CO

It was a lot of fun. We have to finish moving and get our properties rented before we can think about big vacations again. We keep leaving town and never getting anything done! Plus the DIS eats a lot of time...

I made your trip report. I am making the last drink in the dress! The mixology class was alot of fun and the "jellyfish" shot was amazing!

Yes you did! I added that picture back into the report once I saw that you had signed on!

I would have loved to see the chandelier on the Magic. I think the Winder's is simply stunning.


I really don't think you'll need it at first. Promise we won't go nuts.


Aren't you so cute shaking that drink! Loved our Mixology class too. We were pretty buzzed after. I think that's where my room service steak sandwich came into play. Delicious!

The one on the Magic was similar,



We were pretty buzzed too, I took a bite of her Brat, but I was saving myself.

Look at you Cha Cha Cha-ing!

That's a GREAT picture.

Thanks!

Well, that is a no brainer. Sign me up. I did a couple of mixology seminars at F&W but there was no audience participation. Too bad.

The audience participation was the best part!

Ok, a few updates behind. Anyway, I'm glad to see that Fran was ready to go and try new things right from the start. I'm sure you both enjoyed your spa time, even if it meant missing out on unpacking and napping when you normally would.

All of your extra activities look fun. And delicious. I'd really enjoy one of the mixology classes.

And you can never go wrong with a good burger. Even after all the talk of fine cuisine, drinks and chocolate, that burger is what had my mouth watering.

It was fun having her back to wanting to have fun. The drink classes were really fun, just wait until the last sea day!

That's what is so great about cruising, everyone can have what they want, fancy dining and burgers! It's all good!

 

[franandaj]

I'll just have a beer. Thanks.

They have tastings for those too!

How many do you have to have before it grows on you?



Priorities!

By about midway through the drink, it was growing on us!

Booze, then ice cream, then a brat. I would need major Tums after this!

We have daily pills to take to handle all this intake!

Now I have caught back up on your latest updates.

The chandelier on Wonder is very nice.

That was neat that you were able to do the culinary demo and they look very appetizing.

Triton's lunch meal looks great.

Even though I don't like to drink but it was fun to read your mixology report.

I really hope that they don't take the Wonder's chandelier out.

I try to hit as many of the demos that they offer on the ships, I think this was the only one, though I heard they planned another for the day at sea. Triton's is a great lunch place!

Mixology is a lot of fun!

I got to do one of the cooking demos on the Wonder and it was fun to be able to taste it and get some free wine too! Looks good.

You did great with the FE gifts! I wouldn't mind having some of those booze chocolates right now

I love the idea that Karin and Tom gave about handing out candy to the CM's. Glad they turned out to be a hit for you guys as well.

Wow soooo many drinks at the Mixology tasting! That shot looks similar to a 'Brain Hemorrhage' shot I used to do back in the day. Good stuff!

You look like a natural making drinks up there!

You are pretty amazing to have all those drinks AND still get the drink of the day!

We had some of those chocolates left over and I enjoyed them on the ship! The Mixology drinks are all small so it's OK!

And I even had some with dinner too!

Just catching up. That culinary demo looks great and how nice you get samples! An added bonus over watching it live versus a cookery show on TV! Up close and personal and with food

Oh I do like the sound of that version of long island iced tea. I love blue curacao and malibu

Yum re angus burger!

Fran liking ice cream before her lunch I had mine on the same plate lol. Mix it up real good! Your FE gifts looked great.

I'm always jealous of the folks in the audience on The Chew, they get to taste all the good stuff that they make.

I can't do sweet before savory, I have my priorities!

What a fun tasting I'm glad Jenny suggested I go to ours. I didn't drink all of them but I did try them all.

You are too cute up there making your drink

Now I want some ice cream

Most of the people in the class didn't finish their drinks, but I figure where's the value in that?

Those drinks look awesome! I definitely want to do Mixology, how often do they run on Wonder? Do you remember the cost?

They usually run once for each class, there was also wine, champagne, tequila, Martinis, Cognac and Chocolate and liquor.

3 updates behind!

Amazing sunrise pictures, what a perfect start to the day.

Love the A&E meet but yes it does look like quite the serious conversation!

Culinary demo looks fun and yummy and I'm glad Fran had her feet worked on!!!

Mixology looks like fun. I enjoyed ours but we were disappointed that none of us got to make any of the drinks. I guess because it was a larger private group? I have no idea but all of ours were pre-made which meant some were watery.

Boo on watery drinks!

That was a great way to start the day, we weren't facing the sunrise on any other days, so I'm glad I caught that one. I think we talking about global warming in the Kingdom of Disneyland!

I think the private groups, they do less of the individual missing. Boo on watery drinks.

I'm not Alison but the tastings/classes are generally $15 although the chocolate tasting (if its offered) is $25. You can sign up at Guest Services although sometimes the Cruise Meet or FB groups arrange private classes.

Jill in CO

The Chocolate tasting on our cruise was $30, but still worth it!

Great, thank you!! Definitely signing myself up for both!!

Sign up for all them! Great fun!

Alison, great update and look how busy you were.

I have not used the wave phone do you think you would try again? Did you really benefit from it?

The treatment Fran got sounds divine, I love getting my pedicures, but a treatment sounds so much better...

The lunch looks good

The culinary demo the risotto, sounds and looks very creamy. It seems like a very involved process would you make it at home?

The drinks, I could not do everything, I am allergic to pineapple, do they replace that drink if you cant have it, or do you just lose out on a drink?

The wave phone comes in handy if you split up, as long as you know how to work it!

I'm not sure if they would give you something else, maybe just two of one of the other drinks.

 

[franandaj]

Before we resume our usual programming, just a quick life update. Spolier alert: When we came back from the trip, Fran wasn’t feeling at the top of her game. When she saw the Rhuematologist, it turns out that her liver readings were elevated (this is something they monitor constantly because of the Arthritis drugs). In the past, this has been cause for her to cease taking a particular drug and need to find a new one. This is particularly frustrating because she is usually on the most cutting edge medicines. The arthritis drugs you see advertised on TV, Remicade, Enbrel, Humira, she was taking all those 15 years ago, and they either stopped working or caused her liver readings to become elevated.

We fly to Seattle in three days and while the weather there is nothing like Buffalo, it is still the coldest weather that she has experienced since the arthritis hit. She had to skip her infusion this month, have an ultrasound and yesterday a CAT Scan. We won’t even find out the results of the scan until we come back.

So wish us luck on our first trip into cold weather in many many many years.





Our Big Night Out




We had a 7:00PM reservation at Palo and we were refreshed from our afternoon of resting in the room. We were staying on deck 7 and there were a number of folks in our FEE that were on Deck 6, so we decided to distribute the FE gifts on this deck. We had 10 families in our group, and we knocked out seven groups just by hitting Deck 6. Then we headed up to Deck 10.



We were seated near a window and given the menus.











I was trying my best NOT to over eat tonight. I had a little agenda going, while I was having dinner in the most fabulous restaurant on the ship, I didn’t want to eat too much because I wanted to eat some more once leaving Palo. Crazy huh?

We started off with the Antipasto plate and the bread service.





We both wanted the Caprese salad, but Fran told me that she wasn’t sharing so if I wanted any, I had to get my own. Fine. Here it is as it comes from the kitchen.



Then they will drizzle Balsamic Vinegar over it for you.



I enjoyed a Sancerre with the entire meal. Palo is the only restaurant that has the Sancerre. I would have ordered that in the MDRs, but they don’t offer it. Next I had the white bean soup (which was incredibly filling, even sharing some with Fran). We had this on our last trip to Palo and really liked it. Now that it’s getting cold (relatively) we have a white bean soup recipe that we like to make with a ham bone, I’ll have to put that on the dinner rotation!



She had the Wild Mushroom Risotto. This was totally different than the Risotto that I had in the morning, it was better.



Then we were served a palate cleanser. It’s a lemon sorbet. I just love this about this restaurant.



I sort of made my own entrée. They didn’t have the lobster ravioli in mascarpone sauce on the regular menu, but it was on the Chef’s tasting menu. I asked if I could have a portion of this for my dinner. I had this on the Magic, but it was not nearly as good as it was on the Wonder. It didn’t disappoint. These ravioli are so delicate, the pasta shell is very thin and light and the sauce is so subtle. These are just little bites of heaven and they were just enough.



Fran had the Osso Buco. I’m not exactly sure how she was able to eat something this hearty, I was getting pretty full.



Then we had the piece de resistance, the Palo Chocolate Souffle.





The have another drink that they serve at the end of the evening which is a digestive aid. It has Limoncello in it and some other things, but it is supposed to help calm your stomach and help you out when you have just stuffed yourself silly.



Fran paid the bill and we left Palo, here’s where the crazy plan kicks in….

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

I’ve been reading Cruise TRs for a while now, and one thing that everyone raves about are the cheese filled truffle pursettes. I have been waiting to try these, they weren’t on the Wonder or the Magic on my last cruises, but now the Wonder has them. The problem? They were serving them on the menu at Animator’s Palate where we WEREN’T having dinner that night.

Well no one says that you can’t have two dinners!





Since there wasn’t a photographer in Palo that night, we took our own.





The only thing that I wanted was the truffle pursettes. Both of us ordered them and Fran didn’t want more than one, so I actually finished both portions.





We got to dinner pretty late and most of the people were on their dessert courses. Fran couldn’t resist the Chocolate Oreo sundae



We knew that the “show” was coming up as all the waiters were trying to finish up serving. I wanted some pictures of us in our formal attire so we hightailed it out of the dining room and off to the atrium for some photos.

Of the characters, only Goofy was still out in his formal wear.





Then we got a few shots in front of the various backgrounds.







Earlier in the evening, the “Pumpkin Tree” had some sort of ceremony, but we were at Dinner. I’m not sure when they decorated it, but now it was filled with pumpkins and remained that way for the rest of the cruise.



After that we headed back to the room to find that our steward had a tiny bit more flair with the towel animal and Lucifer, but not a lot.



We perused the Navigator for our day in Grand Cayman and then drifted off to sleep as the ship rocked us gently to sleep.

 

[ACDSNY]

Lovely formal night pics. Palo looked yummy especially my favorite soufflé.

 

[jedijill]

Holy cow! How were you able to have any room for second dinner?!?!?!?!!?

I love your formal pictures! You and Fran make a fine looking couple.

Jill in CO

 

[franandaj]

Lovely formal night pics. Palo looked yummy especially my favorite soufflé.

Thanks! Palo was incredibly good!

Holy cow! How were you able to have any room for second dinner?!?!?!?!!?

I love your formal pictures! You and Fran make a fine looking couple.

Jill in CO

Well all I ate was the truffle pursettes, and I paced myself, remember I didn't have anything since lunch!

Thank you very much! I really liked the pictures and how they came out!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Two dinners???

Not that I'm complaining. The food porn has me drooling over here. That souffle....and both the pasta dishes. YUM!


You both look great in the formal attire. You look fantastic in that dress!

 

[pierresgirl]

All that food looked fabulous! I'm a salad and dessert theneatoffeveryoneelsesplate kind of girl myself so I'm well impressed! I hope Fran feels better!
Great formal pic & I LOVE the Lucifer stuffed animal!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Sorry to hear of Fran's liver readings :-( good luck with ultrasound scan results. You probably didn't have fun reading about my liver biopsy gone wrong this week then! Mine are evalated too. Thus the biopsy.

Good idea re Palo and MDR. I want to try that! We enjoyed Palo brunch and Palo dinner same day

I love that balsamic vinegar. Must be a nice aged one. Oh that lemon sorbet. When there is nothing for on the dessert menu I ask for this sorbet instead.

Yum re ravioli but I am jumping on Fran's choice! Yum yum Occo Bucco. I love that they ask you if you are having the souffle at the start of the meal. Anything that takes 20 mins to prepare must be good!

Those pursettes sure look good. Jo would adore those.

Those photos are just lovely. I like your outfits. Is Fran's wonderful 3 piece suit tailor made? It sure is the bomb. What is the pin? I can't quite see. Your dress is very well cut and suits you very well. Now again I am with Fran with the oreo sundae! What I call WAM food ( worth a migraine ) . You know 2 Halloween cruises and each time we missed that Pumpkin tree ceremony lol. Always wonder through just as it is finishing ...

 

[skier_pete]

Actually, I love that you went and got a 2nd bite at Animator's Pallette! Though how you could eat anymore. We were so full at Palo, but DW did order the Risotto as a third meal that we split, so that certainly didn't help our cause!

Wonderful "formal" pictures of the two of you.

Sorry to hear that Fran is having problems with her arthritis. That has to be awful! The dampness of Seattle may give her extra trouble. Even for all our snow here, the air is still super dry - that's why all the snow comes from - it gets sucked up into the dry air and then drops out again when it gets over land.

 

[rentayenta]

That Lucifer with the towel animal is just darling! Love when the CM's get creative.

Dinner, both, look fabulous though I don't think an order of pursuits and a sundae constitutes a full dinner. I like to think of it as an after dinner snack.

You two look wonderful all gussied up for the evening. Love the photos.

The Halloween tree is pretty cool. I like all the pumpkins. How fun for the kids!

Sending good vibes for a cleat CAT scan. I know it must be hard waiting so ling for the results.

 

[perfectmatch300]

I have finally made my was back here and now I'm all caught up. It really is a shame when the rest of my life gets in the way of me keeping up with reading TR's.

You and Fran sure packed a lot into your first day on the ship. I can't wait to see how the rest of your trip goes.

 

[Pinkocto]

Great pictures of you both in your formal attire I especially love the one with you back to back and holding hands, that is very cute!


Dinner looks scrumptious I think the Animator's portion was just an extension of dinner, not a full two dinners. And I might be the only one on here that would rather have the oreo sundae than the chocolate souffle. How did you rate the truffle pursettes?


I'm sorry Fran hasn't been feeling well. That's got to be stressful not knowing the results of the scan until getting back. Not good that she wasn't able to get her infusion

 

[afwdwfan]

2 dinners???? If I ever go on a cruise I will strive to accomplish such a lofty goal!

Both dinners look great. Fran's Oreo sundae looks like the perfect finishing touch on an evening of food, food and more food!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Spolier alert: When we came back from the trip, Fran wasn’t feeling at the top of her game. When she saw the Rhuematologist, it turns out that her liver readings were elevated (this is something they monitor constantly because of the Arthritis drugs). In the past, this has been cause for her to cease taking a particular drug and need to find a new one.
We fly to Seattle in three days and while the weather there is nothing like Buffalo, it is still the coldest weather that she has experienced since the arthritis hit.

Sorry to hear that. I can imagine that fall/winter in Seattle is not a great climate for arthritis. Hope everything goes well!

We were seated near a window and given the menus.

for window seat!

I was trying my best NOT to over eat tonight. I had a little agenda going, while I was having dinner in the most fabulous restaurant on the ship, I didn’t want to eat too much because I wanted to eat some more once leaving Palo. Crazy huh?

Crazy like a fox!

Fran had the Osso Buco.

I'm glad you took pictures of this stuff, because I didn't know what half of it was just from reading the menu.

Then we had the piece de resistance, the Palo Chocolate Souffle.

Well no one says that you can’t have two dinners!

Genius! Especially when the food is already paid for.

 

[dgbg100106]

So sorry to hear about Fran's liver enzymes.

Looking forward to hearing the results, prayers they are positive.

The food all looks amazing, I would have needed several glass of the Lemoncello, if it really helps your tummy....

Your formal pictures are beautiful.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Happy Thanksgiving, Alison and Fran.

 

[franandaj]

Two dinners???

Not that I'm complaining. The food porn has me drooling over here. That souffle....and both the pasta dishes. YUM!


You both look great in the formal attire. You look fantastic in that dress!

Well technically the second one was more of a snack...

Thanks! I was pleased with those photos!

All that food looked fabulous! I'm a salad and dessert theneatoffeveryoneelsesplate kind of girl myself so I'm well impressed! I hope Fran feels better!
Great formal pic & I LOVE the Lucifer stuffed animal!

I'm more of an all about the entrée, but I always share.

Sorry to hear of Fran's liver readings :-( good luck with ultrasound scan results. You probably didn't have fun reading about my liver biopsy gone wrong this week then! Mine are evalated too. Thus the biopsy.

Good idea re Palo and MDR. I want to try that! We enjoyed Palo brunch and Palo dinner same day

I love that balsamic vinegar. Must be a nice aged one. Oh that lemon sorbet. When there is nothing for on the dessert menu I ask for this sorbet instead.

Yum re ravioli but I am jumping on Fran's choice! Yum yum Occo Bucco. I love that they ask you if you are having the souffle at the start of the meal. Anything that takes 20 mins to prepare must be good!

Those pursettes sure look good. Jo would adore those.

Those photos are just lovely. I like your outfits. Is Fran's wonderful 3 piece suit tailor made? It sure is the bomb. What is the pin? I can't quite see. Your dress is very well cut and suits you very well. Now again I am with Fran with the oreo sundae! What I call WAM food ( worth a migraine ) . You know 2 Halloween cruises and each time we missed that Pumpkin tree ceremony lol. Always wonder through just as it is finishing ...

I saw on FB that you were in the hospital, sorry about the biopsy, I hope things worked out good. I don't think we could have done Palo Brunch and Dinner in the same day! They had the pursettes on the Dream, I'm surprised that Jo hasn't had them yet.

Fran's tux is not tailor made, it's right off the rack. The Sundaes on this cruise were really good!

Actually, I love that you went and got a 2nd bite at Animator's Pallette! Though how you could eat anymore. We were so full at Palo, but DW did order the Risotto as a third meal that we split, so that certainly didn't help our cause!

Wonderful "formal" pictures of the two of you.

Sorry to hear that Fran is having problems with her arthritis. That has to be awful! The dampness of Seattle may give her extra trouble. Even for all our snow here, the air is still super dry - that's why all the snow comes from - it gets sucked up into the dry air and then drops out again when it gets over land.

I don't know how I had extra room either! I was happy with the way the formal pictures came out.

She's always having problems with her arthritis, it's just whether or not she's having a flare up. So far the other medication wearing off has not affected her too badly. Seattle doesn't seem to be affecting her adversely yet, but we've barely been here for 36 hours.

That Lucifer with the towel animal is just darling! Love when the CM's get creative.

Dinner, both, look fabulous though I don't think an order of pursuits and a sundae constitutes a full dinner. I like to think of it as an after dinner snack.

You two look wonderful all gussied up for the evening. Love the photos.

The Halloween tree is pretty cool. I like all the pumpkins. How fun for the kids!

Sending good vibes for a cleat CAT scan. I know it must be hard waiting so ling for the results.

Honestly that was his BEST towel animal scene. I preferred our steward on the Wonder when we sailed Concierge, he did things like this:



I only took a bite of the Sundae, and mostly ate the pursettes. I consider that an after dinner snack too!

Next update, results or at least consequences of results.

I have finally made my was back here and now I'm all caught up. It really is a shame when the rest of my life gets in the way of me keeping up with reading TR's.

You and Fran sure packed a lot into your first day on the ship. I can't wait to see how the rest of your trip goes.

I know what you mean! I'm hoping while we are up here in hotel rooms, I'll have some down time where Fran is sleeping that I can catch up on writing mine and read any from those who update this weekend.

This was so different from our other days on cruises, but I think we end up slowing back down towards the end!

Great pictures of you both in your formal attire I especially love the one with you back to back and holding hands, that is very cute!

I'm actually thinking of getting a print of that one made and putting it on a wall in the new house where I put pictures of us and pictures from vacation.

Dinner looks scrumptious I think the Animator's portion was just an extension of dinner, not a full two dinners. And I might be the only one on here that would rather have the oreo sundae than the chocolate souffle. How did you rate the truffle pursettes?

Another vote for After dinner Snack! They weren't as good as the lobster mascarpone ravioli, but one of the top MDR appetizers for sure!

I'm sorry Fran hasn't been feeling well. That's got to be stressful not knowing the results of the scan until getting back. Not good that she wasn't able to get her infusion

It's almost worse that we got the results!

2 dinners???? If I ever go on a cruise I will strive to accomplish such a lofty goal!

You could even do it another way, depending on your dining rotation time, you could have a burger from Pluto's with fries and a slice of pizza at Pinnochio's before dinner if you have the 8:15 seating like we do. If you have the 5:45 seating, I'm not sure if Pluto's and Pinnochio's are open after dinner to get a burger/brat/chicken sandwich or pizza from Pinnochio's. You can have breakfast, second breakfast, 11sies from room service, lunch at Triton's, second lunch at Beach Blanket Buffet and so on...Cruise lines are known for over eating!

Both dinners look great. Fran's Oreo sundae looks like the perfect finishing touch on an evening of food, food and more food!

The Oreo Sundae was a great finish for the evening, while I love my Souffles, sometimes they put me out into a massive Food Coma. Somehow this overtime eating kind of pulled me back from said coma and I was able to push on for the pictures.

Sorry to hear that. I can imagine that fall/winter in Seattle is not a great climate for arthritis. Hope everything goes well!

So far it hasn't been cold, just drizzly (or what us folks in LA call "raining") it's weird because the sun doesn't seem to come out and dry up all the rain, so the itsy bitsy spider doesn't get to crawl up the wall again. No wonder we have so many freakin spiders around the new house!

for windoas wow seat!!

It was a nice view, and even if we couldn't see the Sunset where we were, it wonderful and calming to watch the sea as we had dinner.

Crazy like a fox!

I'm glad you took pictures of this stuff, because I didn't know what half of it was just from reading the menu. !

That's funny! I used to not know what the stuff was, but I've learned over time what most of it was. However, that's one of the things I like about menus and new places, if they use stuff that I have no idea what it is, as long as it isn't brains, intestines or something I know I don't like, I'll try it once.

!

Glad I could get the Homer seal of approval!

Genius! Especially when the food is already paid for.

Well, Duh! (To quote you earlier today!)

 

[franandaj]

So sorry to hear about Fran's liver enzymes.

Looking forward to hearing the results, prayers they are positive.

The food all looks amazing, I would have needed several glass of the Lemoncello, if it really helps your tummy....

Your formal pictures are beautiful.

I will post about the results, it's nothing monumental, but it is what it is.

I'm not really sure how much it exactly helped, but they mix in more than Limoncello. Thanks! I liked the formal pictures too.

Happy Thanksgiving, Alison and Fran.

Thank you very much! And I'm so flattered that you remember and wish us a happy Thanksgiving even though you live in a country that doesn't even celebrate it!