So This is What a Dream Tastes Like

[jenseib]

Great report so far Jen. The food looks so good!!!!

Thanks. I am working on my next update right now!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Thanks. I am working on my next update right now!

i can't wait for your TR, I bet you had a great time!!!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

I love the drink picture! Thanks for adding the kids menu for us to look at. Much better selections than WDW resort IMO. Can't wait to see more. I will say the people I have talked to at DCL are much friendlier than those you connect with on the WDW numbers. Sounds like it will be the same on the cruise itself!

 

[jenseib]

Dinner was at the Royal Palace tonight.

We had found if you wait to go to dinner about 10-15 minutes after your scheduled time you had little to no wait to be seated. About 10 minutes prior to dinner there were huge line ups and continued on for a good 7-10 minutes after they opened.

We were table 74 and so far at both restaurants we were seated very close to the main door. It didn’t bother us at all though.

This place was also beautiful and amazing. The light fixture had glass slippers hanging off of it.

The bread basket was a little coach. So cute!

The bread tonight was warm herb brioche with an Olive Spread and it was good! I love bread! Claire does too. We all ate a couple of pieces of this one and then I worried I would make myself full too fast.

Our drink orders were placed. Again, Mom got wine, Claire got a smoothie or something in a collectors cup with a light up Tinkerbelle. I ordered the usual diet with no ice for myself. When Srdjan came with the drinks he said something about a problem with my diet and said he would be back. I didn’t quite catch exactly what he said. He did have an accent and was also rushing. When he came back he gave me a few choices of drinks. I had noticed some fruity looking drinks going by on a tray he had earlier and he told me what they were. One was a non-alcoholic drink that looked and sounded good. It was a Princess Delight - Passion Fruit Juice, Mango Puree. It did NOT disappoint. It was very good, and I have to remember this drink for future trips.

A quick shot at the menu.

We made our dinner orders and Claire made the decision that she would not be going to the kids club after she ate tonight. We quickly caught on that she thought she would miss out on something we did without her. I had been talking about a sale on Dooneys. I had read it in the navigator and mom said she was going to go buy a wristlet for one of her employees who loves Disney. I think Claire did not want to miss out on another night at the shops.


A photographer also came over and took pictures of us. They did this on the first evening as well, and I used those pictures in our introduction.

While we waited for appetizers we played with Claire’s glowing Tink.

There were several items I wanted off this menu tonight….and I ordered them ALL!

Our appetizers arrived, along with Claire’s meal.

Claire had the Beef Tenderloin Medallion - topped with large shrimp and fries. We didn’t get her an appetizer this night, as nothing appealed to her.

Her steak was excellent. She didn’t like her shrimp. She’s more of a deep fried shrimp girl. I ate that, and it was kind of dry…needed a sauce, but otherwise OK. Fries were good and I think I had to make her take a bite of veggies. Not that they were bad, she just doesn’t really care for many veggies. Her favorite are lima beans! I know that’s weird, but that’s my favorite too. I get the frozen kind and cook them several times a week.

My first appetizer was Escargots Gratines - herb-marinated snails with finely chopped mushrooms, topped with garlic butter and breadstick. If you never had escargot, I highly recommend trying it on a cruise. After all if you don’t like it, then you don’t feel so bad to not eat it. I have had it a few times and really enjoy it. This was good in my opinion. The bread stick was more flakey and not really bread like. Hard to describe, but kind of had the texture of a rice cake. I only had a few bites, dipped in the butter. Not that great in my opinion.

My mom and I both got Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp - white and green asparagus, micro greens, and lemon-dill dressing with horseradish cream. Again, very good.

I did like the horseradish crème and wished there was a bit more. I like my seafood sauced up.

Mom and I also both got the Belle's French Onion Soup with gruyere cheese crouton. I found it to be pretty good. Mom did too, but she said it gave her a stomach later from the onions.

I had already started stirring it around when I remembered to take a picture.

Mean while, Claire would smile whenever Srdjan would come over. She thought he was so wonderful and of course he kept calling her Princess. She had talked about it all day. It’s little things like this that make for a special trip for some of us.

After the feast of appetizers, Claire did officially decide she was not going to leave for the kids clubs and we told her she would have to be good then while we ate.

Our food and Claire’s dessert arrived promptly and we began to dig in!

Claire decided on the Banana Split - vanilla ice cream and raspberry drizzle. She really loved that it had a chocolate Mickey head on it and did what any of us would do….bit an ear off!

Mom and I again, ordered the same thing for dinner, Royal Palace Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Lobster Medallions - sauteed snow peas and marquis potatoes with a cognac reduction.

This too was very good. We really enjoyed the steaks onboard. If you are steak eater, I highly recommend them.

 

[Tinkermom76]

was there a few choices that were not seafood? I would love to do a cruise but I am scared I won't find many things to eat since I don't like seafood

 

[jenseib]

was there a few choices that were not seafood? I would love to do a cruise but I am scared I won't find many things to eat since I don't like seafood

Yes. There were many options. Here is a link to the Royal Palaces menu.

http://allears.net/cruise/ships/dream/dining/menus/royalpalace.htm

There was alway a steak on the menu too. I think chicken too.

i can't wait for your TR, I bet you had a great time!!!

I can't wait to relive it all!

I love the drink picture! Thanks for adding the kids menu for us to look at. Much better selections than WDW resort IMO. Can't wait to see more. I will say the people I have talked to at DCL are much friendlier than those you connect with on the WDW numbers. Sounds like it will be the same on the cruise itself!

That was a really good drink. It was pretty and tasted good as well! Gotta love that. The DCL staff for the most part was great. I really saw a difference when we went top the parks after.

 

[TyTysMommy]

I am dieting right now and your food pictures are making me droooool.

The Royal Palace looks beautiful. I love that chandelier.

 

[BellaBaby]

If you two love lima beans, you need to read the children's book "A Bad Case of Stripes" about a little girl and lima beans. We've read it several times. Cute book.

 

[jenseib]

I am dieting right now and your food pictures are making me droooool.

The Royal Palace looks beautiful. I love that chandelier.

I am supposed to be dieting again now that I am home, and these pictures aren't helping me either!

If you two love lima beans, you need to read the children's book "A Bad Case of Stripes" about a little girl and lima beans. We've read it several times. Cute book.

I'll have to look for that book. Thanks

 

[Reiana]

Can't wait to read and see more.
Sadly a cruise is not exactly what hubby want's for his vacation.

So I'm in of course

 

[jenseib]

Can't wait to read and see more.
Sadly a cruise is not exactly what hubby want's for his vacation.

So I'm in of course

It took a long time to convince my DH too. We went on one for our honeymoon and he liked it, but he found the sea day boring. We sailed NCL that time. I have been trying for about 4 years or so to get him on DCL, and finally he kind of comes up with it on his own, and then sadly he couldn't come. So I do hope he will still want to give it a try. I have been talking about it nonstop since I got back, so he is either going to love it and want to try or be sick of it.

 

[Caretames1]

I am a big seafood person, and it all looks very good! I love cocktail sauce with peel n eat chilled shrimp, not on cooked warm shrimp.

 

[jenseib]

I am a big seafood person, and it all looks very good! I love cocktail sauce with peel n eat chilled shrimp, not on cooked warm shrimp.

I like it on both. But the sauces they had were different and VERY good. I just wanted more. I never did ask, but I suppose I could've gotten more if I had asked.

 

[jenseib]

The dessert menus arrived next. They were like Royal invitations. Very cute!
You can see my Princess Delight drink to the right of this picture.

While waiting to order I took a quick shot of Brent.

There were LOTs of choices I wanted for dessert…oh how I wish I had an extra stomach.

I decided on Sweet Temptations - trio of peanut butter mousse, mango cheesecake and Tahitian vanilla creme brulee. This had a lot of things that appealed to me. And I might add, I enjoyed each and every one of them.

Mom got Strawberry Short Cake Sundae - strawberries, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and Angel Food cake. She said it was really good as well.

I also wanted to try the Grand Marnier Souffle infused with fresh orange zest and served with creme Anglaise. I have never had soufflé before and wanted to give it ago. Mom agreed we should order it and share it…..OK, I ate most of it. It was very good, but a little too rich and sweet. But I would definitely order it again.

Claire was getting a little antsy during dessert. She was ready to go, but we again reminded her that we weren’t done and she would have to wait. Srdjan then appeared and did some tricks for Claire. That just put him up a notch higher in her eyes.

How he made this work, I have no clue. It looked impossible. There is a toothpick balancing on a toothpick with forks on the one toothpick???????

Then he got another child’s menu and made a square and started folding. He ended up with this flower.

This meal was fabulous. You basically had to roll me out of there! We left with happy full bellies….well maybe a bit too full. But still happy!

And here is the childs menu from Royal Palace.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'm here Jen!!! It all looks so great! I really enjoyed the Enchanted Garden food pics because that was the night DH and I ate at Palo, so we really didn't order food when we took the girls there later for dinner.

I did notice a lot of the same foods I ordered, but I feel robbed! I didn't get any free wine!!!

I love when the servers do those tricks. We didn't have any this time, but our kids mostly left dinner early to go play. The Royal Palace was about the most beautiful place wasn't it? Your DD eats like mine. Kid food mostly.
Lima beans - my kids don't eat them, but we LOVE that book - A Bad Case of Stripes!! I think we ordered it from a scholastic book order a while back.

I thought the same thing about gaining weight - we did do a lot of walking (it's a big ship) and after the cruise and 5 nights at WDW, I might have gained 5 pounds. Maybe.

The drink picture is so cool!! We missed that party, or I probably would have wanted to try one. We don't drink much either, but that saves a lot of money! I think I paid $7 for a bud light lime. I could buy a 6 pack for that at home!! Drinks and pictures are what make it get so pricey!

 

[jenseib]

I'm here Jen!!! It all looks so great! I really enjoyed the Enchanted Garden food pics because that was the night DH and I ate at Palo, so we really didn't order food when we took the girls there later for dinner.

I did notice a lot of the same foods I ordered, but I feel robbed! I didn't get any free wine!!!

I love when the servers do those tricks. We didn't have any this time, but our kids mostly left dinner early to go play. The Royal Palace was about the most beautiful place wasn't it? Your DD eats like mine. Kid food mostly.
Lima beans - my kids don't eat them, but we LOVE that book - A Bad Case of Stripes!! I think we ordered it from a scholastic book order a while back.

I thought the same thing about gaining weight - we did do a lot of walking (it's a big ship) and after the cruise and 5 nights at WDW, I might have gained 5 pounds. Maybe.

The drink picture is so cool!! We missed that party, or I probably would have wanted to try one. We don't drink much either, but that saves a lot of money! I think I paid $7 for a bud light lime. I could buy a 6 pack for that at home!! Drinks and pictures are what make it get so pricey!

Drinks are very pricey. Even the non-alchoholic ones.
Mom said she read at the bottom of the menu that the first drink was complimentry. I never looked or saw it, but I don't drink wine. But they never charged me for my Princess delight either. Maybe we just had great servers?
I'll have to look for that book. You all have me curious now.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

that meal looks the best so far - still can't get over the fact you can try more than one dish - that really would turn me into a more adventurous eater - if you don't like the first you can get the other

 

[eagles]

hey you are bringing back memories! we ordered the same thing at your first restaurant. same entrees. hehehe
the steak was good, but not those pearl thingies on the scallop dish.

i agree about cabana's. we thought that was fantastic. just wished we could have had more days to eat there.

looking forward to reading more.

 

[jenseib]

April 2nd~Saturday

I started my morning off early again. I don’t sleep much on vacation. I wandered around and took many pictures and then headed off to Cabanas for breakfast. I told them I didn’t needed to be seated because I was taking it to my room. I got a few things on my plate and then decided to stay. I wasn’t sure if mom and Claire were still sleeping and the plan was to let them sleep in. So I asked to be seated and they just told me to grab any table.
I got some basics. Sausage gravy and biscuit, pancake, hash brown and a sausage link and milk to drink. I like pancakes just about anywhere. I don’t like syrup, I just eat them with butter. I thought that this pancake was good, but I have heard of others saying they are awful. I thought it was tasty and it wasn’t hard. The biscuit and gravy was fine, but not great. Nothing compares to Bob Evans Biscuits and gravy though, in my opinion.
The sausage and hash brown were again good. I would’ve liked ketchup though for the hash brown. I didn’t see any. I didn’t look too hard though and never asked.

I think Mom and Claire went up on their own to breakfast and I think they just got basics too. I never asked.

Lunch was at Cookies too BBQ.

We got in line. They were putting plates and silverware on trays. I asked for 2 so I could fill Claire’s plate as well. The girl working was a little slow, but she was working on it. The line moved to the right, but there was a fruit area to my left. This lady standing at the fruit just took the plate off of my tray while I was waiting for the 2nd plate. I looked at her and said…”uh no! that’s my plate and I’m waiting for a 2nd one” and I took it out of her hands. I’m not sure why the heck she did that. She could wait like the rest of us in my opinion. So she then says “well can you hand me a plate then”. Again, I guess she was special and didn’t have to wait. So I reached over and grabbed a plate for her. I’m not sure if we are supposed to grab our own off the stack. After all, the CM’s had been loading each tray themselves. But I just knew if I didn’t get her away from me, I might get a bit rude myself.

As we walked through the line, I just kept lifting my camera and taking random shots. This is back in the cooking area.

And those wonderful cookies!

I guess I didn’t take a picture of our plates….I MIGHT’VE, and if I did it must be on the lost SD card. I can’t remember exactly what we had, but I know mom and I had burgers. Claire had a hotdog. Each of us had a bag of chips. There were several salads to choose from, and I know we tried some of that too. And of course cookies!

There were drink stations outside of Cookies. I went up to get Claire and I a drink. There were no lids for drinks. Not sure if this is the norm, or if they were out. I hate drinks like this with no lids, but we survived. Also there was a kid who just stood in front of all the drinks and took his cup and tried each one. Parents….don’t let your kids do this. It’s annoying for one, because he was in the way for many others who were trying to get drinks, and two…not very sanitary.

After we ate we got some ice cream at another outdoor station. There were a couple of choices there too. I believe there was vanilla or strawberry or a twist of the two. Lemon or vanilla or a twist of the two and I think there was chocolate and a twist of that as well.
Again that same kid was there at the ice cream station. And this time was grosser. He was taking ONE cone and trying each flavor out. I told him this time he needed to step aside so others could get cones, and he did.
Claire got the strawberry, and I think I got the strawberry twist. I think mom had the lemon twist.

I would say this was my least favorite meal of the cruise. The food was very basic, and I didn’t think the burgers were anything great. It was just so-so food. Something to eat, but nothing to rave about.

 

[jenseib]

that meal looks the best so far - still can't get over the fact you can try more than one dish - that really would turn me into a more adventurous eater - if you don't like the first you can get the other

Exactly. You don't ever have to leave hungry.

hey you are bringing back memories! we ordered the same thing at your first restaurant. same entrees. hehehe
the steak was good, but not those pearl thingies on the scallop dish.

i agree about cabana's. we thought that was fantastic. just wished we could have had more days to eat there.

looking forward to reading more.

I wish we had more time too. We really didn't get to eat lunch there because we were on the go so much. Plust I wanted to try so much more and just didn't have the time or the room. You did the 3 night one too...right?