Well, that didn't go just quite as planned ..... an Aug/Sept 17 Update 07/12

[MrsB1228]

I always enjoy your TR's and was very happy to discover this new one! Following along, thanks for sharing your adventures.

 

[dizneeat]

I always enjoy your TR's and was very happy to discover this new one! Following along, thanks for sharing your adventures.

I am glad you found this TR. There is a lot more fun to come ....

 

[buzzrelly]

Looks lik a fun day in the MK, the JK and PM are favorites of ours, as well

 

[dizneeat]

Looks lik a fun day in the MK, the JK and PM are favorites of ours, as well

It was! We really enjoyed having so much fun with our friends.

And I hope you are going to have a blast when you return in two days!

 

[buzzrelly]

And I hope you are going to have a blast when you return in two days!

Thanks! I can't wait!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 6, August 27

Savor, Sip and Sparkle - part 2

Once they were gone we made our way back to the Grand Floridian.

There was a lot of packing to still be done and we needed some more one dollar bills, so we went to the shop and bought a few things to get some small change. Once we paid and talked to the cast member, he just laughed and asked how many ones we needed. We exchanged another 20 dollars and with what we had at the room we felt that we had enough small bills for the cruise.

After doing some packing we had a bit of a break and Tom had some chips and salsa and an adult beverage, while I had some cupcakes and Diet Coke.

With most of our packing done, it was soon time to get ready to go to our evening event, Savor, Sip and Sparkle.

We quickly took showers, changed into our California Grill clothes and by 7.15pm we were on our way to the Monorail to ride over to the Contemporary Resort. We were glad we were pretty early as the Monorail had broken down again and we had to wait. We made it over to the Contemporary about 20 minutes early for our reservation. So we went straight to the check in desk and signed in and were taken up to the restaurant right away. There we joined a couple people who were waiting for the event to start as well.
Didn’t take long and we were taken to the two rooms that were set aside for this event. When we walked in we were handed a glass of bubbly

in a lightup glass and then were told to pick any table we wanted. We went with the smaller room, there was a nice table for two right at a window

and we put our glasses on the table and tried out the light up stars that were on the tables as well. We were in the room where the food was displayed and the bar was in the other room. Tom went to get us some drinks, we both had white wine

and when he came back to guard the table I went to take some photos of the food. Unfortunately I was too excited to actually look at the setting of my camera and most of the photos came out blurry, but at least the food was good.

There were several different flatbreads, an Heirloom Tomato one and the other one was one with meat and veggies, which I think were on the California Grill menu at that time, there were some steamed buns with roast beef and pickled cucumber, chicken sate in Thai Peanut Sauce, small lobster rolls and some handmade Sushi. There were small plates with pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce to go with as well. We both filled a plate and sat down to enjoy our small plates.

I loved the flatbread, which was really tasty and went back for seconds and thirds from most of the items offered.

Tom had some of their sushi too and was very pleased with it.

While we were munching away, a server came by asking, if we wanted some more drinks and I got another glass of white wine, while Tom went with a Whisky Sour. About 5 minutes before the fireworks started our Champagne glasses were refilled and we all headed outside to enjoy the fireworks.

To be continued ........​

 

[dizneeat]

Day 6, August 27

Savor, Sip and Sparkle - part 3

About 5 minutes before the fireworks started our Champagne glasses were refilled and we all headed outside to enjoy the fireworks.
The deck that is closest to Bay Lake was reserved for this event and it was pretty easy to find a good space to watch the fireworks. Tom took a gazillion photos of it, while I just enjoyed the fireworks and music.

After the fireworks we all returned to our respective tables and when we got to ours they had removed all the savoury food and stocked up on desserts.

There were fruit tarts, chocolate mousse domes, cheesecakes, Crème Brule tarts and chocolate cakes. When we had our desserts on the table the server was at hand again to ask for more drinks and Tom had another Whisky Sour,

while I opted for some

Earl Grey tea. Both were quickly delivered and we sat there for quite some time while enjoying our desserts and drinks.

People started to leave and we were within the last ones to leave and head to the elevator down to catch the Monorail back to the Grand Floridian. Since the main fireworks rush had settled down while we had still been in the restaurant, we had no trouble catching the next Monorail over to our resort. Once we got off, we still had to do the long walk back to our room, but it was still nice to see the resort all lit up at night.

We finally made it back to our room, changed into some more comfortable clothes and finished off packing before we called it a night.

To be continued ........​

 

[MrsB1228]

Great update! Looks like you thoroughly enjoyed the food/drink offerings and you can't beat that view of the fireworks.

 

[buzzrelly]

Looks like a wonderful event with yummy food and desserts. I'll have to look into doing this on an upcoming trip

 

[wdwnut61]

Kona is my favorite breakfast loved their pressed pot coffee though we haven’t tried the Wave
I’ve heard good things about their breakfast
Great pictures from the Safari
I had never seen Avatar till DD forced me too and I ended up really liking it
It does help make you appreciate Pandora better
Good call skipping ROL in the rain
Wow the Sip Savor and Sparkle looks amazing

 

[chunkymonkey]

Trying to catch up over the last few posts...

Ooh that breakfast at Kona looks great. I haven't been back since they changed the Tonga Toast but I do love loco moco which we often have in Hawaii so I will have to try that next time.
Fun times on the safari! You got some great pictures!
I am doing the ROL package at Tiffins in Sept although I'm a little unsure. We went to Tiffins 5x last year. For us it was a really great experience. Sorry yours wasn't the best, but it is a nice environment to chill and take a break in any case. I think I may want to try new restaurants though since we did get our fill of Tiffins last year, although that octopus appetizer keeps calling my name! I find the portions to be a bit small though.

The Wave breakfast is great! I did this for the first time last year. If we stay at the Contemporary again, I will be sure to eat there. It's so yummy and I like the small portioned out servings.

Fun day a MK!!
Was looking forward to your review of the Sip Savor Sparkle event. It looks like a really great time. Good idea to go early on the monorail as it keeps breaking down!
Did you get to keep the light up glass?
The food looks great! Would you recommend this experience?

 

[franandaj]

Been so crazy busy lately I've barely had time to catch up on everyone's TRs. I just caught up on your last two days with Pam and Jeanette and the day they left. Sounds like you had a lot of great meals in there. Sorry Tiffins wasn't as great as you would have hoped. Funny how you did the package and then didn't go to the show. We thought it was overrated as well, as you read on my TR. And yes, having seen the movie would have made the whole land more understandable, but we didn't think it was the greatest movie either.

That Sip, Savor thing looked awesome! I would have loved that one! Your room looked very nice! I hope to keep more caught up soon!

 

[Bambi-NY]

Hope your feeling better. The flu has been awful this year.
Sip, Savor & Sparkle looks wonderful. Will have to add this to my ever grown list of new things to try.
Such a fun trip report and great photo's, getting me excited for my Aug trip.

 

[Pinkocto]

Ahhh, The Wave breakfast and Vic-tor! One of the best servers ever! That was some fine feasting

That was such a fabulous day, we packed in the fun! When we were driving to pick up the boys the kennel lady called asking where we were. We arrived right at the cut off time to pick them up.

Your Sip, Savor, Sparkle event sounds fabulous.

Absolutely, let’s go to Olivia’s in August, their salmon salad was soooooo yummy. I’m hoping we can squeeze in a trip to Disney Springs for Blaze Pizza?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! I am finally all caught up! I have been so absent here lately. You always have the best time and meet up with so many friends! It is also so fun to see all of your food adventures! When we go with the kids, we don't do many of those types of meals, but I am hoping Jim and I can go adults only one of these days and try some of those fabulous meals again. We were planning on next year, but my mom is insisting on taking my Sisters and I to Isreal to celebrate her 80th birthday! If that happens, I will use up alot of my vacation days and I will need to save time to see my Texas kids again, since we will be moving back to Oregon in June.
So the Savor Sip and Sparkle? I haven't heard of that party. Funny, because I think I saw it from outside on a Vlog that I watch He showed the windows to those rooms lit up, with people standing around and sipping and said, "Well, this must be a private party. I didn't know those rooms existed." Where did you hear about it?

We had a great time on our trip in March. We went with our son Ryan and his family from Oregon, and our Anaheim family, Jim's Aunt and Uncle and cousin. We had a great time, lot of relaxing family time and pool time, and of course it went by way too fast. My only regret is that we went at such a busy time. Our fastpasses still had us waiting 30 to 40 minutes, which seemed bad until we saw the standby at 180 minutes! We had to skip alot of what we wanted to do because time just didn't allow for it with longer wait times and 9 of us touring together. But it was still a great time.
Interesting that you didn't really enjoy Pandora. We don't really care for the movie, but we loved that area! It was so beautiful at night, and I am just amazed at the Imagineeering! They do need to do something different with the food options, though We couldn't get breakfast like we planned because even though they have breakfast on the menu, the Santui canteen was not open when we were back there. I'm looking forward to more of your adventure!

 

[dizneeat]

Thank you all for being so patient!

Great update! Looks like you thoroughly enjoyed the food/drink offerings and you can't beat that view of the fireworks.

Thank you. Yes, we really enjoyed the event. It was super relaxed, lots of food that got refilled before you could even turn around. And then out on the roof of the Contemporary with a glass of bubbly in hand to watch the fireworks - what else can you want.

Looks like a wonderful event with yummy food and desserts. I'll have to look into doing this on an upcoming trip

It was! We really enjoyed the event. So relaxing just snacking on all the yummy things and small enough portions so you can taste everything and go back for seconds, thirds ..........
I am waiting for them to open booking on it again for our summer trip. We REALLY want to do it again.

Kona is my favorite breakfast loved their pressed pot coffee though we haven’t tried the Wave
I’ve heard good things about their breakfast

We had not been to Kona in a long time - mainly because we rarely stay at a resort so close to it and if we are at BLT, then the Wave is always our breakfast of choice. But we were really happy with the food and the overall feel of it all. So fun. The Wave is really worth trying. It is the only buffet we really like to go to.

Good call skipping ROL in the rain

We saw it lateron in the trip and were not too impressed with it all. So it was the best decision for that day, to just leave and have a relaxed evening.

Wow the Sip Savor and Sparkle looks amazing

It was really awesome! We enjoyed it so much. Great food, relaxed atmosphere, good service and fireworks from the CG rooftop. What else could we want.

Trying to catch up over the last few posts...

Trying to catch up - has become my middle name.

The Wave breakfast is great! I did this for the first time last year. If we stay at the Contemporary again, I will be sure to eat there. It's so yummy and I like the small portioned out servings.

We really love it there. All their food is good - we very often have dinner there. It's not your usual theme park food and we love to walk around the Contemporary. Nice shopping there too. Breakfast is really yummy - that is one buffet we happily go to.

Was looking forward to your review of the Sip Savor Sparkle event. It looks like a really great time.

We had a blast and I cannot wait for them to open up booking for August. We also did the Monorail Dine around (Highway in the sky dine around) lateron in the trip and we loved it so much, we are repeating it this summer. Hopefully this time I won't have a horrible cold when we go it.

Did you get to keep the light up glass?

Yes, you get to keep the glasses and the light up "star" that was on the table. It's displayed in our living room.

The food looks great! Would you recommend this experience?

The food was really good and I would definitely recommend it. We cannot wait to go back.

 

[dizneeat]

I just caught up on your last two days with Pam and Jeanette and the day they left. Sounds like you had a lot of great meals in there.

We had a really great time with Pamela and Jeanette. There was a lot of laughter to be heard. And apart from Tiffins everything was picture perfect.

Sorry Tiffins wasn't as great as you would have hoped. Funny how you did the package and then didn't go to the show.

I don't know - I had read so many GREAT reviews on Tiffins, I guess I just expected something different. And the rain didn't help it either, . And we would have had to kill quite some time until Rivers of Light, so we all agreed that it was best to call it a day.

That Sip, Savor thing looked awesome! I would have loved that one!

We actually talked about you and Fran and that we were sure you would like that too. The food was really nice, the drinks were very good and watching the fireworks from the Contemporary gets me every time.

Hope your feeling better. The flu has been awful this year.

Thank you! Yes, I felt a lot better until last weekend, when I came down with another cold. I am done with them for this year - don't need any more sneezing anc coughing.

Sip, Savor & Sparkle looks wonderful. Will have to add this to my ever grown list of new things to try.

It was a great event and so worth the money. We are going to do it again this summer - unfortunately they haven't opened booking yet. I am checking every day.

Such a fun trip report and great photo's, getting me excited for my Aug trip.

Us too! See you in August!

Ahhh, The Wave breakfast and Vic-tor! One of the best servers ever! That was some fine feasting

I knew you would remember his name. He was awesome and so was the breakfast. I often remember the moment when he brought out that bowl of cheese grits for JJ.

That was such a fabulous day, we packed in the fun! When we were driving to pick up the boys the kennel lady called asking where we were. We arrived right at the cut off time to pick them up.

It was a great day, event though sad, as we had to say goodbye. No wonder you were just in time as we would not let you go until the very last second.

Your Sip, Savor, Sparkle event sounds fabulous.

It was awesome. We so enjoyed it and it was the perfect ending to that first part of our vacation. So much fun!

Absolutely, let’s go to Olivia’s in August, their salmon salad was soooooo yummy. I’m hoping we can squeeze in a trip to Disney Springs for Blaze Pizza?

Pretty sure we can manage all of that and a little more ..........

 

[dizneeat]

You always have the best time and meet up with so many friends!

Yes, we always have a good time, I think the lenght of our trips is one of the factors why that is so. No need to hurry and pack it all into a short amount of time. And the friends ..... well, I have to thank the DISboards for them.

It is also so fun to see all of your food adventures! When we go with the kids, we don't do many of those types of meals, but I am hoping Jim and I can go adults only one of these days and try some of those fabulous meals again.

Keeping my fingers crossed you can squeeze in an adults only trip rather sooner than later ....

We were planning on next year, but my mom is insisting on taking my Sisters and I to Isreal to celebrate her 80th birthday!

That sounds like an awesome trip! How fun to travel with your sisters and your mom and Israel is a most interesting country to go to.

If that happens, I will use up alot of my vacation days and I will need to save time to see my Texas kids again, since we will be moving back to Oregon in June.

Wow! I had no idea you were moving back to Oregon. I thought you had moved to Texas for good.

So the Savor Sip and Sparkle? I haven't heard of that party. Funny, because I think I saw it from outside on a Vlog that I watch He showed the windows to those rooms lit up, with people standing around and sipping and said, "Well, this must be a private party. I didn't know those rooms existed." Where did you hear about it?

Disney introduced it last year (I think) and it sounded so fun. Tom and I always want to do something new on vacation and this was great. How fun the Vlogger thought it was a private party. It felt special though as it is only offered on weekends.
And since you asked - I think I first read on the Disney Parks Blog about it.

They do need to do something different with the food options, though We couldn't get breakfast like we planned because even though they have breakfast on the menu, the Santui canteen was not open when we were back there. I'm looking forward to more of your adventure!

We have not been to Satu Li canteen yet, as the menu didn't appeal to me too much, so I didn't even know they served breakfast. And as you have read we were not huge fans of Tiffins either.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, August 28

Let’s sail away …. - part 1


We were up early, because we were on the way to our short 4 day cruise.
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So after taking showers we got into our sail away clothes and headed over to the Grand Floridian Café for breakfast. I had made an ADR and we were within the first people for breakfast there. We were seated at a small table at the window and the server left us with a menu to study. When she returned with some coffee and hot tea we placed our order and were told it would just be a few minutes.
But before our food was delivered we were served some
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warm biscuits, butter and marmalade. We both had one and they were absolutely delicious, warm and soft. Didn’t take long for our breakfast to be served and soon Tom was tucking into

The Floridian Breakfast two fried eggs, whole wheat toast, bacon and cheesy hash brown casserole, while I was looking forward to the

French Toast, brioche French toast with Madagascar vanilla bean-butter, and bacon. Both were so good, I really loved the French Toast and it was just what I needed to start our cruise day.
Bill paid we strolled back to our room, checked everywhere for forgotten items, enjoyed the balcony and view for a few more minutes and finally at around 10am we called bell services for help with our luggage.
Within 10 minutes the same cast member who had brought us to our room was there to help us move our stuff back to our car. We loaded everything on his cart, then he drove us over to self-parking and he even helped with loading the car. We now had one more piece of luggage as we still had our Owner’s Locker Box to bring along. So some of our luggage had to go in the back seat, but we did not mind too much, as we were only driving to Port Canaveral.


When we first hit the highway there was pretty heavy traffic, but once we had left the airport behind us it was pretty smooth sailing

and within an hour we caught sight of the Dream for the first time.

And soon we had made it to the ship and drove to the drop off for the luggage. Now, while everyone was told to just turn left, we were directed straight on. It took a while until someone came to take our luggage, but finally we had handed it over and were on our way to parking. I had not pre-paid for parking, so we went in the cash lane, just to find out that they did not service that lane and we had to drive around to the credit card lane. There was an employee who took our cash and off we went.
We found a parking spot close to the bridge that connects the parking structure with the terminal and we loaded all the extra items, which we did not want to bring along into the boot, then headed down to the bridge, signed in and had our passports checked and walked over to security. There was quite the line but it moved constantly and we soon were able to have our luggage scanned and go through the metal detector. And then we were in the terminal, where we were greeted by the DVC rep and handed some lanyards.
Then it was time to fill in the health form and with that in hand we headed towards the Concierge desk, where Platinum Castaway Club members are supposed to check in. But no, there was an employee who would not let us go past her and we had to join the regular line which was pretty long. I was not a happy bunny, but she told us that we would be told where to go a bit further up. A bit further up we were told to stay in that line, it was the only one we could check in and I was dead wrong to think that we were to check in at the concierge desk.
So we stayed in line and waited for quite some time until we finally got to an agent to check us in. There I asked when they had changed the platinum check in and her answer was,
“Well, my desk should be good enough for you to check in.”
I had to bite my tongue not to give her a good answer, but I then started being a bit slow.
Yes, a little bit of revenge.
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Once we were all done I asked for lanyards and she told us that she didn’t have any platinum there, she could give us gold ones or we could pick them up at the Concierge desk. Well, if your desk is good enough for me to check in there, I am picking up the correct lanyard there too.
So she had to go backstage to pick up a handful of platinum lanyards. Since Platinum Castaway Club members can board whenever they want, we headed to the entrance which was completely blocked by all the waiting guests, but we somehow managed to get through and have our cards checked.
We then skipped the photo op and headed towards the ship. And finally we heard our names announced and were back home on the Dream.
By that time we were ready to have lunch and headed right to the Enchanted Garden, where they now serve a table service lunch, no more buffet. We went to sign in and were told that it would be a few minutes, but within 2 minutes we were seated in one of the round booths.
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Funnily enough as we later found out the booth just next to us was occupied by another family from Austria. There was an assistant server right there to take our drinks order and ask about our other cruises and handed us the menu, explaining that they no longer offered a buffet, but had a fixed menu. We thanked him, ordered our Diet Cokes and off he went. I had looked at the menus at home and was pretty sure what I wanted to try. But it never hurts to give it a second look and once the server came by we placed our orders. And while we waited for our starters to be brought out we indulged in the nice
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fresh rolls and butter that had been placed on our table.
We didn’t get to eat much bread as our starters were delivered quickly. Tom had ordered the
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Seafood and Chicken Gumbo with Cornbread, which looked a lot like Tomato Soup to me, but Tom enjoyed it a lot. I had thought to start off with something lighter, well, that was until I saw the size of the plate. I had ordered the
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Mixed Salad, with Iceberg, Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Red Onions and Carrots with Italian Vinaigrette. It was a huge serving and I was only able to eat about half of it. For his main course Tom had ordered the

Muffuletta Sandwich, Olive Salad, Genoa Salami, Mortadella and Provolone Cheese on Muffuletta Bread, served with a side of Chips. It was a decent size and looked really nice and he was very happy with it. I had thought about ordering the pasta dish, but then decided against it and ordered the
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Sliced Roasted Beef Sirloin, served with Double Baked Potato, Green Beans and a Thyme Red Wine Jus. Again, I was shocked by the portion size as it was huge again. It was very good, but it was hard even making a dent into it. There was way too much food for me on that plate. I ate as much as I could, but we had ordered dessert as well and I needed to leave room for that. Tom had ordered the
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Welcome Aboard Sunday, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Pecan Caramel Cupcake Bites, Butterscotch Sauce and Whipped Cream. It looked really yummy when they brought it out and he loved it. When I had first read the menu I was sure what I wanted for dessert, the
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Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese. And it was the perfect size and absolutely delicious. Once we had finished our meal, we tipped our servers and then made our way over to the Royal Palace to check if our request for a table for two had been granted and it had. Score! It’s not that we don’t like company for dinner, but with English not being our first language, it can be tricky. And when we left the Royal Palace staterooms had already been opened and we were able to check it out. We had been in that stateroom several times before, so we knew what to expect and felt right at home.
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And after inspecting it all we made ourselves right at home. A little time later the first two of our suitcases had arrived and we took them inside, but there was no time to unpack as we wanted to go to the DVC presentation.
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So we headed down to the D-Lounge, picked up a drink and found a table.

To be continued ........​

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, August 28

Let’s sail away …. - part 2


So we headed down to the D-Lounge, picked up a drink and found a table.

The presentations are about the same every time, they are trying to sell more points, but sometimes the reps are pretty fun and you hear a new fact or two. This time we were stunned by the reps voice. It sounded so familiar, but we just could not place it.

We thought and guessed and then it came up in the presentation ……. the rep itself mentioned it. He was the one you hear on the Monorail ……. “Stand clear of the doors.”
There was quite a lot of chatter about it and it was the stand out news of that presentation.
After the presentation we headed back to our room, took in the rest of our luggage and started to unpack part of it.
But there again was not much time until we had to head out again for the lifeboat drill. It was outside and this time we had not forgotten to bring sunglasses, as you stand there for quite a few minutes and looking into the sun is not the fun it sounds like. After the lifeboat drill we took our sweet time to get to the back elevator, but it was still very crowded and we decided to climb the stairs. Six floors was quite a hike up. But we finally had made it back and enjoyed our view from the balcony. We unpacked a little more, the stateroom host peeked in and asked for a signature for the Castaway Club gift and when we got back out onto the balcony we noticed that we were already moving.
So we grabbed our Keycards and headed up to deck 12 to watch the ship sail out.

Only when we up there did I notice that I had not brought my camera with me and we only had the phone to take photos with.
Oh, well, we have been sailing out from here several times, it did not hurt us too much. We stood on deck and watched the port area slide by and waved to the people in Jetty Park. It did not take too long and we were out at sea and Tom and I decided that it was time to walk the ship a bit.
The shops were already open and we had seen Castaway Club merchandise online and were now looking for it, but there was nothing on sale and there were not many things that we really either needed or wanted, so checking out the stores was easy. We looked through the art shop and then finally ended up at 687, the sports bar.
They had just opened up and it was nice and quiet, so we ordered some drinks, Tom had a

687 and I had a glass of

Pinot Grigio, and just sat there and chatted about our vacation so far and what was still to come. Little did we know that there were a lot of unexpected things to come. After some time more people came in and it became more lively, but it was still nice to sit there and enjoy. When we got back to our room we had some time left until we had to go dinner. So we unpacked the rest of our stuff,

took a beverage out of the fridge and sat outside on the balcony. Around 8am we got ready to head out to dinner. They had just started letting people in when we arrived and so we joined the line, were given our wipes and finally were asked for our table number and a server took us there. We had a nice table for two and after we had sat down it didn’t take long at all until the assistant server was welcoming us, handing us the menu and asked about what we wanted to drink. We ordered some Diet Coke, which arrived pretty quickly, together with the bread service,

Multi Grain and Country Currant Rolls with some

Chickpea-Garlic Purée. Knowing the menu it did not take us all too long to decide on what we wanted to order, so we soon were snacking on the bread and spread. By then our server had arrived, introduced himself and took our order and a little time later we were served our starters. Tom had ordered the

Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi Dressing, which is kind of one of his favourites, while I had an old favourite, the

North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli with Roasted Garlic and Sweet Basil in a Tomato Broth. We both enjoyed our starters very much, even though the noise level in the restaurant was pretty high. And as soon as we had finished our starters, the plates were taken away and our soup course was put in front of us. We both had ordered the

Heirloom Tomato Soup with Sour Cream, Croutons, and Basil, which was really yummy. When we had ordered we had mentioned that we both are kind of slow eaters and would they pace our meal a bit and it did not seem to be a problem, so we were really positively surprised when there was a little break in between the soup and the next course. We were about the last ones that were served by our servers and it was really very much appreciated. Tom was then served the

Slow Roasted Prime Rib, carved and served with Thyme-roasted Vegetables, Double-Baked Potato, Natural Jus, and Horseradish, which was a good serving, about as big as the serving I had had for lunch. I had ordered the

Seared Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Rosti Potatoes, Collard Greens and a Morel Cognac Sour Cream Sauce, which was really nice and hit the spot. We sat there enjoying our dinner and by then we discovered that the first tables started to get up and leave the restaurant. We still had our dessert to come and once our main course plates had been cleared, it only took a minute or two for the dessert to be placed in front of us. I had ordered the

Chocolate Garden Torte with coffee creme and caramel soil and Tom had gotten the

Southern Style Pecan Tart with Bourbon Caramel Sauce. We both were pretty stuffed when we finally left the restaurant after saying goodbye to our servers. We strolled through the ship

and then took the elevator up to our room. When we arrived we had the Fish Extender full of gifts, which we took all inside. We had originally planned of handing out our gifts at this time, but we were way too tired, so we just took photos of the towel/blanket animal

and then after a few minutes out on the balcony, staring at the ocean we just went to bed.


To be continued ........

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