After a wonderful day at sea, dusk began to fall, and it was time to get gussied up for Formal night. The theme this evening is now Prince and Princess, with a special dinner menu and the Twice Charmed show in the Walt Disney Theater.
We did not see Twice Charmed on our last cruise and did not want to miss it this time. We made it down to the very packed theater with only a few minutes to spare, and were lucky to get seats off to the side. The show was wonderful, billed as a retelling of the Cinderella story. I thought I might be a bit bored with it, but being Disney, I should have known better. It was really very entertaining and I am happy to report I did not doze off at all. (Something about that theater, I swear its the cure for insomnia!)
I lost many pictures and video from this evening due to memory card failure, so here are some stock pictures of the show from the Disney site:
Right after the show, we exited into a rather large line of folks waiting for formal pictures with Mickey. AS much as Sarah loves Mickey, how could we resist?
After our photo shoot, we made our way to the Atrium, where the Captains Welcome Reception Cocktail Party was winding down. As we passed the rebooking desk up on Deck 5, we noticed it was not busy at all, with no line and only one couple being served. We hovered in the area, waiting to be the next ones to rebook and go ahead and get that out of the way. It gets very busy around the rebooking desk as the cruise goes on, and there is usually only one CM staffing it, and the hours are limited. So my advice is to take care of your rebooking business as early as possible in the cruise.
I was offered a cocktail as I waited but I did not realize it was complimentary and passed on it..bad me! Then Ron walked up with one (he had been strolling around people watching while we waited). It was actually a pretty good cocktail, a fruity boat drink!
What? Wheres our free drinks?
We had to wait a bit for our turn at the desk (we are always behind the people rebooking who have no clue what they are doing, or what they want and have a million questions). But once it was finally our turn we completed the rebooking process very quickly. We were only rebooking a dummy date so it was quick and painless.
By the time we were finished rebooking, it was time to head into dinner. As we passed through the Atrium on Deck 3, the photo lines were still crazy, except for poor Captain Thord. He had no wait! Geez, and he bought the drinks, KWIM?
Dinner tonight for us was in the very-appropriate-for-formal-night Lumieres. We were led to our table which was in the very back corner of the room near the back door and behind a serving station. It wasnt a very glamorous location, but it did give us easy escape when needed.
This is our first experience with the Prince and Princess menu. Ill admit I wasnt too thrilled with it when I looked it over prior to our cruise, but it would end up having one of my most favorite entrees of the entire cruise.
Everything started off well in the crazy baby department, but the clock is ticking
(the clock is always ticking!)
To start things off with appetizers, Ron chose the Belles Scallops Au Gratin. They were very good.
The appetizers and soup/salad menu did not entice me much, so all I had was the Roasted Roma Tomatoes and Goat Cheese over Mixed Greens. This was alright. As you can see from the picture it is one roasted tomato and a nugget of goat cheese with some greens. The basalmic dressing was very tasty, and even though this salad didnt go far, it was very rich.
The bread this evening- and all cruise long- was extra good. It reads on the menu as a Fig and Date Ciabatta roll, but we also received French rolls in our basket. Both breads were very good with the killer creamy mint dip that accompanied them. It was only a hint of mint in a tangy spread. So good. I loves me some carbs.
The kids meals were out promptly between the soup/salad course and the entrees- perfectly timed. Sarah had the usual- chicken strips. Brendan had pork chops, which he devoured, and Savannah had the good old standby Minnies Mini Burger with a side of Mickeyhead ketchup!
Our entrees quickly followed and once again Ron and I had made the same selection: the Parma-Ham Wrapped Chicken Breast stuffed with Mozzarella and Roma Tomatoes served with Fingerling Potatoes drizzled with Spinach Pesto.
This right here was delicious!!! I could have eaten two or three of these bad boys. The chicken was moist and tender, stuffed with tangy Roma Tomatoes and gooey mozzarella. The Parma Ham was salty, tender and richly flavorful. Two thumbs up from us!
Heres where things started to drag a bit. Sarah became bored and irritable, and there must have been a hangup of some sort from the kitchen because the dessert course was just not coming. I had to make a run to our stateroom to retrieve something for Sarah and the aft elevators were not working at all. After I stood there forever waiting for the Mickey hands to move, eventually realizing that something was up when they moved to point at 3 but the doors never opened. Then a trip to the restroom revealed a problem with the sinks. A poor CM was stationed inside with wipes because the plumbing was not working in there at all (mens or ladies). Thankfully the toilets were flushing, it was just the sinks that werent operational. That would be a stinky job to have to do (bad pun intended).
In any event, Im not sure if the water situation was affecting the kitchen, but we waited for-ev-er for dessert. And looking at the dessert menu, we dont even recall having dessert that evening. I think I would have remembered eating Prince Charmings Chilled Chocolate Souffle, which I am sure I did not have.
So if not dessert, what were we waiting for, you ask? Well, this was the evening we had chosen to do Brendans birthday celebration. And apparently everyone else with a birthday this cruise had also chosen this night as we heard the Happy Birthday serenade time and time again as we impatiently waited for Brendans turn.
Finally Gabor, Mahendra, and Passayu approached with the big fluffy strawberry filled cake for Brendan, along with a few other servers who serenaded him for his birthday. I had videotaped them singing to him and presenting him with his cake, but sadly that is among the pictures and videos from that day I lost due to my faulty memory card.
We did get some shots of him displaying his cake back in the room, however:
This evening lovely swans graced the beds in both rooms:
Sarah was beside herself so I tried to get her calmly to sleep as quickly and quietly as possible. Thank goodness for the Disney Classic Cartoon channel, she loved it. I only wished there had been more cartoons on that loop, as we got tired of the 10 or so they were showing pretty quickly, especially the "Who's on First" baseball one.
Meanwhile Ron and the kids were up for another round of Karaoke, after which Brendan headed off to another late night at the Edge.
And just like that, we are already almost halfway done with the cruise!
Up Next: 70 Disers and one boat
to no UFOs on this cruise! 
Guess a beer tasting will not be on my to-do list next cruise! 
If you don't like it to begin with... What makes someone think they have to teach themselves to like something that is supposed to be for pleasure????
And to think they drink it room temp in Europe...
Oh well... I'm sure Europeans are looking at me and thinking how can he drink that ice cold Bud Light?
). Although I do like Guiness, go figure!! And I REALLY like Blue Moon- that probably is the one I pick when I'm havin more than one....or even just one....
We'll see!!!!
but a fab experience all the same. Changing places at the tea table was a fun game - crazy but fun.
