I headed up to the Outlook Cafe and most of the people participating in the workshop were already there. This time round, we even had a man. One of the people participating had problems with her vision so she brought her husband to help her. Most people finished within the hour, but one person needed a little longer. As I was in a mad rush that day, I asked her to drop in at the workshop the following day to finish off her bracelet.
Next up was lunch. Graham had actually come up to the Outlook Cafe to collect me and we headed to Triton's together. Graham had Chicken Consommé with Leeks, Carrots and Pistachios followed by Sirloin Steak with Grilled Tomato and French Fries. I had Basil and Tomato Bruschetta and Chilled Tangerine Soup with a Lemon and Thyme. None of the adult main courses appealed to me that day so I went with Corn Dogs with French Fries, Beans and Carrots from the kid's menu. We had a bit of a surprise at lunch. Our head server spotted us and came over for a chat. I had come around to the way of thinking that we was about as much use as a chocolate tea pot as we had not really seen anything of him apart from a quick fly by on the first evening. However, it turned out that he was just very sociable and the reason we had not seen much of him is that he simply had run out of time before he got to our table. We had a lovely chat.
We did not have time for dessert that day and there was nothing anyway that appealed to us. I really wanted a photo with Stitch. One of the entertainment staff had told me that this cruise was the very first time that Stitch in his Elvis costume was out for photos and that they needed special permission to make this happen. This was the second session that they offered, but the line was huge. Graham came with me. I tend to get supervised when Stitch is around. Eventually it was my turn and we had our photo taken with Stitch. Stardom had obviously gone to Stitch's head and he was not his usual cheeky self.
Things kind of went downhill from there. I checked my iPad for the meeting place for the stateroom tour and realised with horror that I was late. I was absolutely convinced that we would meet at 13:30, but it was actually 13:00, which made me late. I legged it down to meeting point, but everybody had left. I was hoping that the organiser had the Wave Phone on her, so that I could find out where they were, but I was out of luck. I would have given up at this stage, but I had volunteered to open our stateroom. I knew that our stateroom was the last one. I decided to see if I could find them. I eventually caught up with the group on deck 6. I had seen most of the stateroom types before, but we had one of the Secret Porthole cabins that was new to me and we also had a chance to have a look at the Roy O. Disney Suite. I have to say, I did not actually like it. It had a lot of dark wood and I just found it oppressive. I heard the colouring of the Walt E. Disney is much lighter. The veranda was lovely though.
Once everybody who had wanted to had been to see our cabin, I headed back up to deck 4. I had decided to have my twin pearls set into earrings. They were quite busy. While I was waiting for my turn, I watched other people picking their oysters. It was amazing. She asked everybody what colours they were hoping for and then picked a number of oysters for people to choose from. While I was there, she got it right 100% of the time. Somebody asked her how she was doing this. She replied that she had been doing this for about 20 years and she can usually tell from the markings on the shell what colour pearl is inside. When it was my turn, I had my pearls set into a pair of earrings. She only had one pair left. Apparently they had been selling very well.
Once I had my earrings done, I decided to head up to the Outlook Cafe for the Acupuncture seminar. Graham was already there. In the end it was not the seminar that was listed in the Navigator, but a general introduction to Acupuncture. I have been told more than once that I would benefit from Acupuncture, but it has never appealed to me to have needles stuck into me. After a brief introduction, she asked who thought that Acupuncture is painful. My hand was definitely up at this as where a couple of others. She then asked if one of the people who thought it was painful would be willing to come forward to try it out. I still don't know what possessed me, but I volunteered. I sat down on a chair facing the audience and she talked about the needles that are used. I turned my head to look at her to see what she was doing and realized that I had a needle stuck in my arm. I had not felt a thing. I think my face was a picture. She removed the needle and send me back to my seat. She proceeded to talk about the history of Acupuncture, how it works and which conditions it can treat. At the end she offered 4 free 15 minute consultations for the next day. Graham nudged me and suggested I should go for it. I agreed and put my hand up. She gave me a form to fill out and bring to the consultation.
After the seminar, we stayed behind for a little bit chatting with a couple of people. I suddenly realised in horror that it was nearly 16:00. That was the time that we had arranged to meet in the atrium for a group photo with our Hawaiian shirts that we had custom made for this cruise. I quickly went to our cabin to get my shirt and then headed to the atrium. Everybody was there and in position, but they were waiting for the photography manager who was taking the photo. So I had time to put the shirt on over my dress and sneak in.
Once the photo had been taken, a lot of us hung around and chatted. The photography staff were setting up for another special photo opportunity. It was listed on the Navigator as " The Gang" and they actually had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale out for a group shot. They were all wearing their Hawaiian outfits and looked adorable. Once the line was open, a lot of us got in the line for this. As we were all chatting with each other the time spent in line passed very quickly.
"did not get enough" indicates that they got some!! We heard others complain that it was only a 4 day cruise, not a "real" one. They did not supervise their own children either so those kids had to come to the adult pool to find the parents and often stayed in the area adding to the congestion. (The adult pool area on the DREAM is smaller than the other ships and is the only way to get to the forward open deck (14?) which is not age restricted.)
