Think of all the joy you’ll find …….. Update - January 06

[Teri1]

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Day 6, April 2

Kicking back and enjoying the day - Part 2

Then we headed towards the beach promenade.
We walked along the shop front, as we wanted to head down to Del Sol, but we soon crossed over to the other side of the street, as all those merchants pulling you into their shop really got to us. So we leisurely strolled down the promenade on the less busy side

and finally we made it to Del Sol.
Unfortunately there was nothing that really peeked our interest, so we decided to head back to the pier area.

On the way we spotted a Pandora shop and walked over to ask if they had any Cozumel specific beads and yes they had a pendant, which we had a look at and then finally bought. Within an hour we had made it back to the pier and we walked on a little as we knew there was a “Mega” store, a mall that had a large grocery store on the second floor. We walked through the store, remembering the last time we had been there, when we had been hunting for Nutella for our Palo server. This time we were not hunting for anything, we were just browsing through and picked up an item or two. We finally bought some Diet Coke and some Mexican chips to try and take back to our stateroom. Shopping done so far we walked back the short distance to the Pier Mall and Tom went to have a closer look at the Tequilas they had to sell. He finally found one he liked and I had picked up two bars of chocolate which were high on cocoa content and we headed towards the register. Got in line, waited for a bit and then it was our turn and luck was on our side, as the bottle of Tequila Tom had bought came with two souvenir shot glasses.
Everyone loves free gifts and so do we.
Loaded with bags we made our way back to the ship.

It was nice being greeted with a cold towel and a

cool drink at the gangway. And soon we were back in the air conditioned environment of the ship. We walked right to our stateroom, unpacked our new goods and had a shower.
Feeling refreshed, we headed to the Cove Café for an afternoon treat.
It was empty so we got a window table,

looked through the menu and soon our order was put in. Tom had decided to try the

Café Mocha, 1/3 Espresso and Chocolate, 2/3s Steamed Milk and topped with Whipped Cream. I had ordered my favourite, the

Frozen Cappuccino, 1/3 Espresso blended with Vanilla ice cream and topped with Whipped Cream.
Yummy.
We sat and talked about our cruise experience so far and how nice and quiet it was while most people were on excursions. It took us quite a while to finish our drinks but finally we were ready to head back to our stateroom.
When we arrived we found the light on the phone blinking, we had a message. So I picked up the receiver and learned that our galley tour had been cancelled. There were some sick people on the cruise and they did not want to run any risks. Well, we can live with that.
We sat on the veranda for a bit and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for a much earlier dinner tonight.


To be continued ..........​

I have yet to order a Cafe Mocha or the Frozen Cappuccino on the ship. They look so good too! We are booked on the Fantasy Western Caribbean for 2017, we are going to need some suggestions for excursions.

 

[franandaj]

You guys ordered all my favorites at lunch! We usually split the Cobb Salad and the steak from that menu.

You're killing me with your Palo dinners! My cruise on the Wonder is getting closer and we're starting to plan things so only a couple months until I get to go back!

On our cruise in 2012 they had some sort of outbreak on the previous cruise. At the embarkation buffet, CMs were serving all the plates. You would tell them what to put on your plate and they served it to you. They also had CMs filling the cups at the drink station, but they had tables set up and were ahead of the game. You just walked up to where they had the cokes, diet cokes and the other drinks and grabbed a cup or two.

 

[Buzzfanmom]

Oh Karin...you are making me very excited for our cruise on the Magic in a few weeks! One thing I am excited to try is lunch somewhere other than Cabana's. I wish I had read your TR's before our first cruise to learn all these tricks!
I think our teenagers might enjoy the grocery store in Cozumel you visited. I will be on the lookout for that!

 

[dizneeat]

I love Cozumel but every time I have gone I have done a nice excursion of some sort.

It is one of our less favourite ports. We have done the ruins (there were a gazillion mosquitos), have done a sightseeing tour and done some shopping. We would love to do the food tour, but on our next cruise the port time does not agree with the offered time, so I guess we'll just stay on board.

We are doing North Europe this year and Norway next. Maybe 2018 Karin!!

NICE! We looked at Norway too, just not with Disney. We would need to go during my holidays and Disney's prices are just too much for me.

We so enjoyed getting to spend time with you and Tom! Thank you so much! Hope we can do that again. Otto is still talking about the Monorail and the buses.

We really keep our fingers crossed for a time that all of us will be able to cruise together. That would be awesome.
Oh, and Otto is the cutest little man ever. Can't wait to hear about your trip with Lily.

I have yet to order a Cafe Mocha or the Frozen Cappuccino on the ship.

Be sure to remind them to make the Frozen Cappuccino with vanilla ice-cream. Sometimes they are very inconsistant and don't follow the recipe! But the one with vanilla ice-cream is to die for.

We are booked on the Fantasy Western Caribbean for 2017, we are going to need some suggestions for excursions.

What ports, Teresa? If you are going to Grand Cayman I can really recommend the "Taste of Georgetown" tour. Alison was so knowledgeable and so much fun to listen to. And the food was pretty tasty too!

 

[dizneeat]

You guys ordered all my favorites at lunch! We usually split the Cobb Salad and the steak from that menu.

Guess we would get along well on a cruise as well. Only thing - I would not share my salad (yum - blue cheese) and Tom would not try one bite (eek - blue cheese)

You're killing me with your Palo dinners! My cruise on the Wonder is getting closer and we're starting to plan things so only a couple months until I get to go back!

Our online check in and Palo reservations open tomorrow at 6am (our time) - only 120 days for us. And the fun thing is that we are in double digits until we leave! Yeah - vacation! But who do I tell - I am talking to the queen of vacations.

On our cruise in 2012 they had some sort of outbreak on the previous cruise. At the embarkation buffet, CMs were serving all the plates. You would tell them what to put on your plate and they served it to you.

That is exactly what the did for the Palo brunch the next day. It was unusual to just say - a bit of this and a bit of that, but it worked out fine.

They also had CMs filling the cups at the drink station, but they had tables set up and were ahead of the game. You just walked up to where they had the cokes, diet cokes and the other drinks and grabbed a cup or two.

They never did on our cruise! We had talked about preparing some drinks, but we never saw that. But at least they had more CM preparing drinks from times to time.

Oh Karin...you are making me very excited for our cruise on the Magic in a few weeks! One thing I am excited to try is lunch somewhere other than Cabana's.

Guess what, we have NEVER had lunch at Cabana's! My motto is - you are on vacation, let someone serve you. And the TS restaurants usually have really nice lunches and breakfasts as well.

I wish I had read your TR's before our first cruise to learn all these tricks!

There's another reason for more cruises - find new tricks and try them on your next cruise!

I think our teenagers might enjoy the grocery store in Cozumel you visited. I will be on the lookout for that!

It is easy to find. Once you get off the ship go along the street on the right (ship is behind you) and it is about a 5 minute walk to the "Mega". It is HUGE!!

 

[dizneeat]

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Day 7, April 3

Days at sea are never long enough - Part 1

We had decided to sleep in a bit but nevertheless we both woke up around 7am, but tried to just doze a bit more.

Around 8am we were up and about

and after having a shower Tom walked up to the drinks station to get himself some coffee. It took very long for him to come back and he told me that there had been a really long line and that the station had been roped off again and there were now two crew members serving people in line. Hm, very strange.
But we did not give it much thought and Tom sipped his coffee on the balcony.
Around 10am we got ready for brunch at Palo. In the hall we met our stateroom host and we stroke up a conversation and he mentioned something that made clear why there were crew members manning the drinks station. He told us that several guests and crew members on board were sick and quarantined in their staterooms. But everything was done so other passengers would not fall ill too. That put a completely different light on the roped off drinks stations. We wondered how they would handle the Palo buffet and soon we found out.
When we arrived, we were greeted with a smile and told that our server was already waiting for us. We were taken to a nice table at the side and the minute we had sat down our server, Ritesh, that we had had for dinner, was over to greet us, take our order for drinks and then took us for a walk around the buffet.

We had never seen so many servers at Palo as they had a lot of extras, as this time you were not allowed to serve yourself at the buffet, but a CM with gloves would pick up the food for you and put it on your plate. We made our way around all of the buffet following our server who kept explaining every station and pointed out his personal favourites. After we had been taken to every station he planted plates in our hands and sent us off to get a first course. Tom got some

muesli and

some chocolate swirled puff pastry sticks and I went for a

sticky bun. Well, the server put on a small muffin as well. Started out well.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 7, April 3

Days at sea are never long enough - Part 2

Well, the server put on a small muffin as well. Started out well. When we returned to our table, our glasses were filled with water and we had been served some

Prosecco as well. We sat down, took a sip of the bubbly and started to taste our food. Everything was as wonderful as it always is at Palo. Being slow eaters it took us a bit of time to finish even the small starter plate, but finally we made our way back to the buffet again. I got some of my favourite things like the yummy

blue cheese and walnut bread, salmon, salmon mousse, artichokes, seared tuna, asparagus and cheese, while Tom got himself some

some tuna, pizzabread, cheese, asparagus, grilled veggies, a small shrimp cocktail and a shrimp Bloody Mary shooter. Again, we took our sweet time enjoying the food and watched while the servers were already turning over the tables for the next load of guests.

And while we were still eating our server started to ask about what hot food we would like to try. Tom decided on

veal tenderloin over roasted root veggies and potatoes, while I stuck with an

Egg Florentine, poached egg over spinach on an English muffin and topped with Hollandaise Sauce. And while we were still munching on it, our next treat was brought to our table, pizza! We had asked if they could make a half and half and they did and so we received one that was

half goat’s cheese and sun dried tomatoes and the other half was blue cheese and grapes, my favourite! We were already getting pretty full, but did our best to finish the yummy pizza.
There was just the dessert buffet to tackle next, so we thought we were in the clear.
Plates cleared away we headed for the dessert buffet and we both got a

few treats and returned to the table. We had just started tasting them, when our server returned with another small glass with another dessert, which we had to try. It was not really what I liked, some exotic fruit dessert, so I just had some of the fruit on top of it and concentrated on my choices again.
This is when our server made another appearance, this time with the only hot dessert in hand.
He had put in an order for us as he wanted us to try it. It was a

souffleed baked peach. And it was really nice. So some of my Tiramisu stayed in the glass and I was filling my sweet tooth with the peach. Finally, finally we were ready to say goodbye, but our server told us to wait for a minute as someone wanted to speak to us.
And a minute later the chef came out and we had a little talk. He was Italian and had lived and worked in Austria for a while. So we chatted away, took some photos

and far too soon it was time to say goodbye to the chef and our server.

We wobbled back to our room, got changed and rested for some time.
I think we had a little nap and around 2pm we went out again, this time we went to another DVC presentation, which we had been invited to. Soon we were sitting at a table with a glass in front of us

and listening to the sales presentation. No new information there and we were not interested in buying more points anyway. After the presentation we went around the ship a bit, the weather was fine so we walked around the ship on deck 4, before returning to our stateroom. Tom got himself a beer out of the fridge and poured me a glass of Prosecco and we sat out on the veranda watching the world go by.

But then we had to get ready for our next appointment.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

I started the trip report for our Flower and Garden trip. Would love it if some of you are joining us over there.


Here's the link:
The most fantastic, magical things can happen ........​

 

[linetbo]

That's me on the orange blouse

 

[linetbo]

That's me on the orange blouse.

 

[dizneeat]

That's me on the orange blouse.

I was actually looking through the pictures to see if you were in one and I missed this one.

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 7, April 3

Days at sea are never long enough - Part 3

But then we had to get ready for our next appointment.
So we left a bit early and headed to Keys for the Mojito tasting. We were a bit early and while for other tastings they never had minded people already being seated, this time we were rudely told that this was a tasting and we had to wait until they were ready.
We were not the only ones who were taken aback by it. When they finally were ready we found a table for two and sat down. Soon after the tasting began and it started with telling everyone that we had to work ourselves, she (the CM in charge) would be eyeing everyone and set us straight if we did something wrong.
Now that did not sit well with me. I don’t mind trying to do something myself, but the way she came across was just not nice at all.
So we started to make our drinks

and she just rushed through it all and while we were to taste the drinks she would ramble about how alcohol was bad for you and that we all ate too much sugar and that diabetes was a horrible disease. To be honest she got me more and more worked up and had we not been through most of the drinks already I might have just gotten up and left.
Finally she came to an end and invited everyone to her beer tasting the next day. We just looked at each other when she mentioned some brands and had most of the origins wrong. After she had officially ended the tasting she went around to chat and stopped us on our way out the door. And during that time she asked where we were from and didn’t we want to come to her beer tasting the next day. Tom told her that he knew most of the brands and that they were very common where we lived and that some of them were not what she had called them. She started to let us know that she was SURE she had gotten it right and we must have gotten it wrong, she would prove it to us the next day at the presentation.
We left after that, shaking our heads as we had never come across a CM like her before. And for sure we were not going to her beer tasting. Since we were just opposite O’Gill’s

we popped over to pay Nuna a visit.
They had a pub quiz or something going on

and she was busy but told us to sit at the far end of the pub, where there was an unoccupied table. She took only Tom’s order and told me that she had something for me. No need to order. It only took a few minutes and she returned with the

white wine Tom had ordered and a huge glass of Moet Ice, which made all of us smile. We sat, enjoyed our drinks and watched the quiz on the TV screen and when the quiz ended and people left O’Gill’s,

Nuna had a little time to chat.

After we had said our goodbyes we strolled through the stores and finally made our way back to our stateroom. By then it was already 5pm and we decided to order a snack to hold us over until dinner at 8.
We ordered room service and about 15 minutes later there was a knock on the door and our snacks

were delivered. We started with dessert, yummy

Mickey Bars. Then we moved on to

Barbequed chicken wings, served with celery and carrot sticks and some

Caesar Salad and it was all very good. Snack done, we grabbed a drink and enjoyed some time outside on the veranda after emptying the Fish Extender again.

Later we started to do some packing to not leave it all for the very last day.

To be continued ..........​

 

[franandaj]

What a rude CM at the tasting! I hope you gave her what she deserved on the comment card! How nice on the Moet Ice! I should see if I can find some of that for our Villa!

 

[Flossbolna]

Wow!! This was really the cruise where everything happened!! I can't believe how it all went wrong!! At least Palo did not disappoint!!

I think Katharina and I met Nuna on our Norway cruise, she does look very familiar! We had so many lovely bar tenders on our Norway cruise. And we did the Mojito tasting, too! I think she got the memo wrong, because the one thing they were talking about a lot in our tasting was how they were using Agave sirup on DCL exclusively, never real sugar sirup or sugar. Supposedly because that is healthier for you... So, maybe that part in the script got her on the diabetes track??? But it just seems really strange. We once had a server at lunch who started to discuss healthy food with us, however, we had started the topic. But it made me wonder what these people think of all the gluttony that takes place on those ships. If you come from a country where many people have problems feeding their family properly, it might be difficult to stomach. However, one would think that part of working on the cruise ship is also people skills and it sounds like the lady in your tasting lacked those...

 

[dizneeat]

What a rude CM at the tasting! I hope you gave her what she deserved on the comment card! How nice on the Moet Ice! I should see if I can find some of that for our Villa!

We were just stunned, as we had never ever before encountered someone else, just like her. And yes, we did mention her to guest services. Nuna was always very "generous" with her pouring of the Moet Ice! She knew I had missed it on the Med cruise, so she kind of tried to make it up for me!

I think Katharina and I met Nuna on our Norway cruise, she does look very familiar! We had so many lovely bar tenders on our Norway cruise. And we did the Mojito tasting, too! I think she got the memo wrong, because the one thing they were talking about a lot in our tasting was how they were using Agave sirup on DCL exclusively, never real sugar sirup or sugar. Supposedly because that is healthier for you... So, maybe that part in the script got her on the diabetes track??? But it just seems really strange.

Nuna is just such a sweetheart. There were a few nice bar tenders, but since we knew her, we would always come back to her.
I don't mind making the drink myself, it can be fun, but not so much with that drill sergeant. And the moment we had prepared one, there was no time to try and taste in peace and quiet, it was more like - now down with it, as she was already of to the next one.
And her health lectures were something else. Many of us just looked at each other and we did not know what to make from it.

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 7, April 3

Days at sea are never long enough - Part 4

Later we started to do some packing to not leave it all for the very last day.
At 8pm we headed to Lumiere’s for dinner. Didn’t take long and we had drinks on the table and a menu in hand. Soon our order was placed and we started to snack on the

Sour Dough Bread, dipped into the

Roasted Red Pepper Dip. It did not take our servers long to bring our starters to the table. Tom had ordered the

Marinated Tiger Shrimp with Celery Hearts and Remoulade. My choice for the night had been the

Aged Prosciutto which was served with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Parmesan Cheese and Roasted Garlic. Both starters were very tasty and so was Tom’s second course, the

Braised Oxtail Soup with Spinach and Roasted Garlic Tortelloni. And while we waited for our mains, Tom pointed out that there was a guest with her dog in the dining room and the dog was waited on as well. I did not want to turn around and speculated that it might be a service dog, but Tom made sure that this dog was far too small to be a service dog, it needed to be carried around.
We had a good laugh and speculated some more that it might be a celebrity, but she did not look familiar to us.
And while we were still laughing about the dog our main courses were delivered. I had ordered an old favourite, the

Oven-Roasted Pork Tenderloin over Creamy Cheese Polenta with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms and Merlot Reduction, while Tom had ordered the

Pan-Seared Venison Medallions with Marinated Red Cabbage and Potato Croquettes and a Port Wine and Juniper Reduction. Again, both dishes were very nice and hit the spot. The servers brought over the dessert menu after we had finished, but we both had to decline, we were too full. We made our way back to our room, did a little more packing and got things ready for the next day before we fell into bed.

To be continued ..........​

 

[kid-at-heart]

Yummy food. Sad that your trip is winding down but looking forward to reading the new TR you just started.

The dog was probably a medical alert dog. For issues such as diabetes, a smaller, "carry-around" dog works better because it needs to smell the person to be aware of when their blood sugar is too high or too low. Also, small dogs are used as therapy dogs for issues such as post traumatic stress syndrome.

Kate

 

[Pinkocto]

I was way behind, so sorry.

Firstly, I can not believe the rudeness if that CM at your mojito tasting. You do not lecture guests on healthy diet choices unless they sign up for a class in the spa... Totally inappropriate. And then trying to pressure you into her beer tasting. No way!

Both Palo meals looked exquisite! I'm really looking forward to eating there again. We skipped it on the last two cruises and I'm ready to go back. I think I'm going to ask for a bowl of the lemon sorbet for dessert. I don't care for any of the dinner desserts. The brunch desserts are another matter entirely.

The water at Cozumel makes me want to jump right in, it's just so pretty.

Great couple days

 

[Teri1]

Your food pictures are making me hungry!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Breakfast done we walked right back to the laundry room and waited for about 2 minutes until it was done, then reloaded the laundry into a drier, stuck in the drier sheets and turned it on. And back to our room we went. Our stateroom host was busily working in one of the rooms but told us that our room was ready – and it really was.
He was just an awesome stateroom host and got rewarded daily with sweet treats.

It appears the Magic has returned!

Once we had finished our starters we were quickly served our main courses. Tom had ordered the

Steak Frites, a grain fed Sirloin Steak, served with a grilled tomato, French Fries and herbed butter. I had ordered the

Captain’s Cobb Salad, which was not finely diced but everything was cut into rather big pieces and the server poured the dressing onto it. Both main courses were very nice.
We both had decided on the same dessert, the

Apple Strudel, which we had watched being made the day before. This time the Apple Strudel was served with custard and vanilla ice cream.

Both your meals looked really yummy, and top it off with Apple Strudel...........

Once we were done with everything we asked Ritesh for our bill, but he said that we could not leave just yet. He returned with another plate, which thankfully did not have any food on it, but it was a great birthday wish from the Palo team.

Sounds like Ritesh was adding to the return of the Magic...........and what a special recognition for Tom's

Once we had left the restaurant we headed back to our stateroom where our stateroom host had already turned down the beds and left us another fun towel animal.

So much better than when your room wasn't attended to on your other cruise.

It took very long for him to come back and he told me that there had been a really long line and that the station had been roped off again and there were now two crew members serving people in line. Hm, very strange.
But we did not give it much thought and Tom sipped his coffee on the balcony.

Okay, well, I'm starting to at least give it some thought............

In the hall we met our stateroom host and we stroke up a conversation and he mentioned something that made clear why there were crew members manning the drinks station. He told us that several guests and crew members on board were sick and quarantined in their staterooms. But everything was done so other passengers would not fall ill too. That put a completely different light on the roped off drinks stations.

Mystery solved..........sounds like they made a very smart decision!

So we left a bit early and headed to Keys for the Mojito tasting. We were a bit early and while for other tastings they never had minded people already being seated, this time we were rudely told that this was a tasting and we had to wait until they were ready.
We were not the only ones who were taken aback by it. When they finally were ready we found a table for two and sat down. Soon after the tasting began and it started with telling everyone that we had to work ourselves, she (the CM in charge) would be eyeing everyone and set us straight if we did something wrong.
Now that did not sit well with me. I don’t mind trying to do something myself, but the way she came across was just not nice at all.

The return of the curse of the Magic??? How unbelievably rude! That would have probably been it for me......I would have gotten up and walked out on her and hoped everyone else in the room followed. It would have been definitely warranted.......

Finally she came to an end and invited everyone to her beer tasting the next day. We just looked at each other when she mentioned some brands and had most of the origins wrong. After she had officially ended the tasting she went around to chat and stopped us on our way out the door. And during that time she asked where we were from and didn’t we want to come to her beer tasting the next day. Tom told her that he knew most of the brands and that they were very common where we lived and that some of them were not what she had called them. She started to let us know that she was SURE she had gotten it right and we must have gotten it wrong, she would prove it to us the next day at the presentation.
We left after that, shaking our heads as we had never come across a CM like her before. And for sure we were not going to her beer tasting.

I think I would have laughed in her face at that point......

Your snack of wings, salad and Mickey bars looked really good, but after all that food that may have done me totally in and had to pass for my dinner..........

However, what you both had at Lumiere's does look very tempting...........