Month: May 2013

We were up at 9:30 and as we got ready we started watching a film that was a complete remake of “My Fair Lady”. Only in this one it was modern day Boston and Professor Hanna Higgins, an aloof politician, bets she can get a beer delivery guy, Elliott Doolittle, to be able to stand for state senate. We were out of the room by 10:40 so never got to see the end but I think we could figure it out. We had decided yesterday that we would go to Lumiere’s for brunch. Partly because we are eating too much and it means one less meal a day, partly because they serve later and party because I wanted the eggs benedict. All good enough reasons so in we went. We were asked if we wanted a table alone or one to share, we said we’d prefer alone but were led to a large table laid with 8 place settings. There were other tables laid for 2 so we figured our answer may have been misunderstood. The servers asked if we were waiting to be joined and we explained that no, we’d requested just us so they brought menus. We never did get anyone join us.

We started with fresh pastries then I had eggs benedict (of course) and Paul had a fry up (well, the American version anyway). We had some juice and tea and Paul then asked if he could get a donut. The server said yes and off he went. He came back with some kind of chocolate tart. Paul said, no I didn’t order that I asked for a donut, a chocolate donut. He was then asked if he meant a brownie. He tried to make a round shape with this hands to indicate donut and the server asked where it was on the menu. Paul said it wasn’t on the menu but just wanted to see if it was available. After about 10 minutes the server came back and said no, they don’t have any but would do tomorrow if we went back. Paul said that he was surprised as he could go and get one in Topsiders and that we get them delivered to our room each morning. The server then said ‘ok let me try’ and off he went again. This time he asked a supervisor who came over and asked want we wanted. By now 15 minutes must have gone but this guy went off and in seconds did come back with 2 chocolate donuts. Our Columbian server was very apologetic so we asked if Columbians spoke Portuguese or Spanish, he answered Spanish so we asked him what the word was in Spanish. I kid you not that he answered ‘chocolata donut’. Incredible. Also, is it just me who wondered what on earth he would have served us if we had taken his offer to go back the next day as at the point he offered this he still had no clue what we were asking for!!

We left Lumiere’s about 11:20 as I had a salon appt for a manicure repaint and I was just starting to chip. I had a very nice manicurist from New Zealand and this was her first contract on board. She was very chatty and friendly and I set her a small challenge; To paint the Mickey symbol on my ring finger nail. She was a little unsure, so asked a colleague, who said she wouldn’t have time. I said not to worry, but my helpful manicurists insisted she’d have a go and set about practicing on cotton wool and her own nails. She was determined to deliver a good service. She painted my nails beautifully and I got my Mickey symbol. I came out and went back to the cabin to meet Paul. On the TV was the “My Fair Lady” film, so as my nails dried we watched the predictable ending.

It was after 2:30 and some of the DIS ladies were at “Champagne Girls” in Sessions bar. So we went along to say Hi. The room was full of about 40 women, wearing pink feather boas, paper crowns with umpteen empty Champagne glasses around them. It is fair to say, that at $30 each for unlimited champagne in an hour, some had got their monies worth and were a little worse for wear. Four of the hubbies were Cabana boys, serving Champagne in their Hawaiian shirts. We took a few pics, then wondered around to Diversions for a Pub Quiz. Apparently, some of the die hards were about to start a pub crawl, so it wasn’t long before Diversions became a rowdy room full of revellers (check that alliteration).

We sat in a booth, got our paper and an American man asked to join us. We welcomed him, knowing how American centric the questions tend to be. We did actually know a fair amount ourselves, but he definitely gave us two or three we wouldn’t have got. Our total score ended up being only 1 away from the winning score. So close but no prize.

We made our way back to our cabin and managed some more blogging ahead of getting ready for dinner. It was back to Parrot Cay for a slightly odd menu entitled “Master Chef”. I started with tomato and mozzarella, followed by chicken consommé. Paul had cooked shrimp with feta cheese, then Lima bean soup. For main course Paul stuck with the sirloin steak, whilst I had the unusual pheasant. For dessert I had the sticky toffee pudding but Paul was gutted as it contained dates so he consoled himself with a Mickey ice cream bar.

Before the show we did our usual wonder to find some character picture stops. We found Cinderella with her mice Suzy and Perla, so I took the opportunity for a picture of Cinders with Cinders. I have developed a dumb habit of looking at Paul’s camera for all pictures, so when the professional ones are printed, I am gazing off into the distance (even when reminded not to do this, I still did in further pictures. D’Oh).

In our daily shop walk, I treated myself to a Disney watch. So we both now proudly display Mickey on our wrists in a stylish adult understated way.

It was now into the show, which was called “Walt Disney: The Show Goes On”. We sat at the front near the signers and the show was a historical walk through Walt Disney’s life and the Disney corporation up to present day. There were clips of animated and live action movies, as well as recreated scenes on stage, with corresponding musical numbers. It was a really good show, very interesting, but personally I’d liked to have seen more familiar musical numbers; the classics and everyone’s faves were missing. The show was performed by the Magic’s newest and latest entertainment troop, known as “Magic 30”. We saw their first performance to a live audience, before their Mediterranean itinerary.

We came out of the theatre and went to the Promenade Lounge. We thought for a change that we would try our hand at trivia :). We joined forces with Noel and John from DIS boards. A nice couple from California who are BIG Disney fans. Despite this we still didn’t do well.

It was now back to the cabin to add on yet another hour and get some sleep, though we do get a lie in tomorrow ahead of Palo brunch.

It was back to breakfast in our cabin, although we did choose the latest delivery slot of 9am. It is Saturday after all so I should get my weekend lie in. Before we went out we we’re watching a movie on tv called Big Miracle. It was about Californian grey whales who got trapped in the ice in Alaska and apparently is based on a true story. It was really good although the part where the baby whale died was a real tear jerker moment. The two adults did get freed though.

We then went down to Disney tunes trivia. We saw the lady we’d painted with and knowing she was travelling alone we invited her to join us. We also say Tracey who was on her own so she joined us too. Between us we still struggled and ended up with a score of 15 out of 30. The winning score was by some kids with full marks. They should ban kids from these things :-).

Since it was Monaco qualifying we tried to find somewhere to watch it, we tried sports bars and the sport channels in our cabin but to no avail. We were disappointed so instead sat up on deck and I Blogged some more. That’s why you’ve ended up getting about 3 days posted in quick succession. So, we may have lost out on qualies but you gained on blogs.

With no qualies we went to lunch. We selected Topsiders buffet again as they had pitta breads with fajita style chicken and fillings. It was really nice. I was supposed to have a light lunch as we had dinner at Palo but that seemed to fall by the wayside. they had a full BBQ out on the back deck of the restaurant, but as we already had a plate of food we had to skip it. We are still eating loads and regularly, major diet coming when we get home.

After lunch we made our way to the Cinema to see Iron Man 3. We sat at the back and got a good view. The film was a good as the others and we both really liked it. We couldn’t work out the big twist that everyone has talked about but debate a few small twists!

Spending 2 hours in the cinema and not dong much else is probably gong to make todays blog really short – sorry. Anyway, we then went back to don our glad rags for Palo. Paul was looking good in his navy suit and I co-ordinated with trousers and blue patterned silk top. Our reservation was at 6 and since the restaurant is at the top and the back it was straight up in the aft elevators. We arrived about 5 minutes early to see a line of people waiting to get in. They opened up pretty much on 6 and we were led to our table by Lazslo, our Hungarian server. We got a nice table for 2 right by the window and after everyone telling is how cold Palo was we had quite the opposite as the sun blazed through the glass. It was a beautiful evening and sadly we had to draw the blinds slightly as the sun did get in our eyes. We didn’t shut out all the glorious sun though. That would have been a travesty. We started as usual with the antipasti to share. A mix of cured meats, Parmesan, peppers and artichoke. All drizzled in balsamic and chilli oil. Warm breads are also brought to the table. I indulged in a glass of red wine but Paul stuck to diet coke.
Starters were then mozzarella and tomato for me and portobello mushroom with polenta for Paul. He had that last time and I told him his verdict was ‘just ok’ and his verdict this time didn’t change. My mozzarella was good but they could do with serving more, there is less cheese than tomato by a long way. Before main course as an amuse bouche of lemon sorbet to clear the palette. Main course was the pasta penne ariabiatta for Paul which he really loves and says is cooked to perfection. For me it was the rack of lamb which even well done was juicy, succulent and really tasty. We both followed with the famous Palo chocolate soufflé. The final serving is a small frozen drink of lemon sorbet, sparkling wine and apple brandy. Very nice. The whole meal was great, very enjoyable.

After dinner we didn’t want to attend the magician show so we browsed the shops, looked at our character pics, and put by some more with Hook and Jack Sparrow, and also stopped by the DVC stand to hear about how we get the freebies. It transpires they call the cabin and leave a trivia question, if you then head on down with the correct answer you’ll get the freebie. The guy made sure we were on the list for the future so we await tomorrow’s question.

We planned to attend the late adult only show of John Charles at 10:15 so I took another opportunity to blog some more. I managed to get another day completed for Paul to post just before we needed to go out. We were actually both quit disappointed with the show. We expected it to be funnier. He spent the first 40 mins or so asking folks where they were on then playing an appropriate song (like Galveston, Louisiana and others that were state related). For the Brits he played a US tune about us being defeated in their fight for independence. He then also did several requests including Phantom, Les Mis, and some country stuff. He ended with Hallelujah, which Paul hates then encored with a “Horse with no Name by America”, stopping to point put the nonsensical lyrics. He got a standing ovation so we clearly missed something and we didn’t get out of there until after 11:30.

Paul managed to post the blog and we went to bed. I did watch the port shopping guide tour on tv before bed and this plus the added hour meant we didn’t go to sleep until 2am.

This day started very early for Paul as he chose this as his night to get up at 3am and do his night tour of the ship taking pics. I heard him get up and go but I’ll be honest I never heard him come back. Apparently, he was out for 2 hours. We both needed to be up and ready for 10am as we had Cabin Cruisers. This was organised by Jacquie in the DIS Boards group and was basically a tour of different types of cabins from inside, to porthole to navigator to a one bedroom suite. All were occupied by people in the group and volunteered up for viewing. We too offered ours up so people can see the extended verandah and view at the back. The one bed suite was beautiful, I can’t wait ’til next September when we have one of these. The whole tour took about an hour and a half so after all the stairs we needed a sit down and headed up to quiet cove. We saw Lilo and Stitch on deck some went over and got our picture taken with them.

It was now time to eat again so for a change we chose Top Siders buffet. It is way smaller than Cabanas and the food is not as good either be we managed to find things we could eat; sandwiches, salad, chicken, corn dogs and roast potatoes. We sat outside and despite the wind it was a nice day. We also spotted a school of dolphins off in the distance.

At 1:30 we went to our DVC appt and after a few signatures we became owned of real estate at Grand Floridian. We’ve already decided to try and book a Fantasy cruise next May so we think we may stay 2 or 3 days there beforehand.

Since the hours keep changing and Paul had done his nighttime tour we were both tired so decided to get more sleep – we actually slept all afternoon.

It was Pirate Night so we put on our pirate t shirts and went down for dinner. We we’re back in Lumieres and it was the familiar Mickey pirates menu so Paul started with his beloved pot stickers whilst I had fresh pineapple. I then had chilled watermelon soup followed by beef ribs whilst Paul opted for the sirloin steak with baked potato. I followed all this with an ice cream sundae containing my favourite rum and raisin ice cream. Paul had the rum soaked chocolate cake.

After dinner we went to shutters to look at some of our character pics from yesterday. Some were really good so we put them by so we can choose our favourite 10 at the end and buy the CD. We also got more character pics with Captain Hook and Mr Smee as well as Captain Jack Sparrow.

It was now time for tonights meander through the shops ahead of the show. Purchases were made and I got a cool lip gloss and mirror from the new Disney beauty range. The show itself was a British hypnotist and was pretty poor. We ended up leaving about 10 minutes before the end and making our way on deck ahead of the fireworks show. We stopped first for a cuppa and I also got a blanket as it was rather chilly on deck.

At 10:30 we found a good viewing and photography spot and Paul set up his Tripod. He got some good wide angle shots of the funnel and the fireworks (10 second exposure). We ended the evening very typically with blogging then bed.

Day 7 started very differently to others. We went to Parrot Cay for breakfast as today was Character breakfast. We had to be up early, 7:15 to be there for 8 as our early seating for dinner means we have to take the early seating for breakfast too. Paul indulged in a fry up whilst I had pancakes with syrup, choc sauce and cream! As we ate we saw Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto making there way around the room. They came to every table and a cast member took our camera and took pics. Our serving assistant also made funny hats from napkins. I got a Minnie bow and Paul got Goofy ears. We got the full set of pics before we left. We saw many people arriving an hour late, clearly having forgotten to add the hour on. Goodness only know how as it is plastered everywhere and you can’t even get into bed without moving the ‘put clocks forward’ sign.

After breakfast we needed some routine so made our way to trivia. It was Cruisin’ for trivia the multiple choice general knowledge one. We seemed to be doing well and when the scores were tallied we had a 4 way tie, each with 24 out of 25. One member from each team had to go up for a tie break so I sent Paul up. The first question started with ‘in what port in Spain…’ then the guy paused waiting for hands to go up and guess Barcelona. No one bit so he carried on with ‘…will Magic go into dry dock?’. I was shouting come on Paul and as no hands went up he took a guess. And what a guess it was NOT. The word that came out of his mouth….. Venice! I couldn’t help but yell ‘that’s in Italy you div head’. The audience laughed. No one else guessed right so there was a second tie break question. This time the question was ‘what character was originally cast to play sorcerers apprentice before Micky?’. We’d had this question in a previous trivia so I shouted ‘you know this’. Paul immediately raised his hand and redeemed himself in style with the correct answer of Dopey. I cheered and we won more damn key chains. I could start a shop!

It was onto another very different event now. We’d heard about this at the end of last night’s show. Disney were producing a huge mural to go on the wall in a hospital in Barcelona, to be given them on our arrival in Barcelona, and we could go along and take part. It was in Animator’s Palette and as we arrived the tables were all laid out with sections of canvas. Each one had the black outlines all drawn and the other areas marked with a dab of colour (kind of like painting by numbers). The whole project was part of the Disney VoluntEARS initiative where cast members give up their own time to do these kind of things to help others and give back. The added bonus this time was that Don ‘Ducky’ Williams the famous Disney artist was there. We arrived about 10 mins early yet still many seats had been taken. We searched around looking for a piece of the mural we could identify and eventually found a canvas with Flounders face on it so opted for that. The whole mural was a Little Mermaid scene. We sat next to a very nice lady who was a retired school teacher who now liked to travel. She had a very intricate piece of canvas with lots of different coloured sections of Flounder. We were given special honorary Disney VoluntEARS bibs to wear and warned that if the paint dried on our clothes then it would not wash out.

The paint was delivered to our tables in small pots with fine brushes. The lady with us asked our cast member helper what she usually did on the ship and she answered she was in entertainment. We instantly knew that meant she was a character so I joked that I needed to look at her height to guess who. She answered with the fact that we would see her face so that meant she had to be Princess Tiana, which was pretty much confirmed the first time a camera was pointed at her, striking a distinctly royal pose!

We began painting, I had only yellow, although had many intricate lines to work around and Paul had two expanses of sea; blue and green. Paul’s first green coat was very patchy but we were told it needed at least 2 if not 3 coats. I worked my yellow carefully around the lines. As we moved up the canvas we realised that starting from the bottom was very dumb as we now got our wrists and even my bracelet in the paint. We patiently completed out section and waited for it to dry. Paul offered help to the lady next to us and she reluctantly accepted, I think she really wanted to do the whole canvas herself. There was a line forming of people coming in so everyone was asked if they would mind giving up their spot for others to complete coat 2. We decided to be honourable and did so. I asked the girl taking over to look after my Flounder face. Lots of people had run to their cabins to get the Don Williams’ commemorative lithographs we’d been given on day 1. Instead of doing this we decided to get our bibs signed. So now we have signed bibs from the painting WE competed with THE Don Williams.

It was now after 11 so we relaxed on deck for a while before an early lunch. Lunch was also a change for us as we had Pinnochio’s Pizza. The daily special was barbecue chicken which was so yummy we went back for seconds. We’d taken early lunch as we had a DVC members meeting at 12:30. We got the usual folio and hats and were entered into the prize drawer. We also knew the special offer was the first day release of the new Grand Floridian Resort. I had to leave after 20 mins for my spa appt so left Paul with the thought that we could afford 50 points there if he wanted.
I headed up to the spa and was directed to the changing rooms. I had a facial, eye treatment and shoulder massage booked so donned my robe. I sat in the waiting area and waited, and waited. Five past one went by, ten past one went by and I was planning to go and complain at 1:15. At twelve minutes past my therapist finally arrived with no recognition at all for being late. She led me to the salon area where I sat with my feet up and head back. She began with my shoulder massage and she didn’t hold back. For a small therapist she sure had some strength as she pounded my shoulders. She could obviously feel my tension and knots and was on a mission to roll them out. It bordered on extremely painful but was also strangely good. This followed with a great facial and eye collagen treatment. The whole session lasted about an hour. I was then recommended umpteen expensive Elemis products but did actually buy the eye treatment as it was on offer and cheaper than at home.

Before I continue I just wanted to see if you think not locking the toilet door is weird. Yep, an odd question and interlude I admit but the reason I ask is that it seems to be really common and I have twice walked in on someone and witnessed others do the same. Each time, the occupant is horrified and yet it’s them who have not locked the door. One time I apologised and the lady in line behind me yelled, it’s not your fault, she should’ve locked the door.

Anyway, fresh faced from the spa I headed back to the cabin to meet Paul. It transpires he had won nothing in the DVC prize draws but did make a 7:30 appt for us to buy the Grand Floridian points. I showered and applied some makeup, being without it all morning felt weird and when the pictures and videos of the painting are posted on Facebook I hope I look OK. We wanted to make the 4pm trivia but were running late so arrived at question 11. Weirdly, Shaili and Apurva arrived right after us. We joined forces but with only half the questions answered we stood no chance. After the quiz we all played a scrabble like game that Shaili had. Basically you took 15 random letters and had to make a crossword. If you got stuck you could either “drop”, where you put back 1 letter and took 3 or “peel”, where every player had to take 1 letter. This was if you saw an opponent nearly complete to stop them but everyone was concentrating so much on their own words it was not really used. Once all letters were used up in a legitimate crossword you shouted bananas. Each round only took a few minutes and we each won some rounds.

It was time to get ready for diner so we did so and made our way to Parrot Cay for this evening’s gastronomic delights. Starter for me was mozzarella and grilled vegetables and Paul had the Cajun chicken. He followed this with a mixed grill whilst I had roast chicken. I did take his lamb chop and asparagus as well. This was followed by an ice cream sundae for Paul and baked cheesecake for me.

After dinner we went straight to our DVC appt. We knew were buying the 50 GF points so the guy got an easy sale. We paid the deposit and agreed a 1:30 appt the following day to sign the closing papers. After this we went down to the atrium where there were lots of character photo spots so we got in line for all of them. We got Sorcerer Micky, Donald and Minnie. A usual meander through the shops resulted in Paul getting a bargain DCL polo shirt for just $9.99.

The show this evening was Vita Voca, a kind of poor mans Il Divo. They consisted of 3 Brits (one being a scouser) and a guy who described himself as Swedish and British. They were ok. They did a couple of James Bond tracks and some well know tunes such as Unchained Melody and My Way but each were sung in Italian. The crowd seemed to love them giving them a standing ovation.

We went back to our cabin again afterwards as Paul was running out of clothes so took a trip to the laundry. Boy, American machines wash quick. He did both loads, coloureds and whites whilst I was falling asleep. I think I barely remember him getting into bed himself.

The day started much as any other with breakfast delivered and devoured. The day continued as others too with Disney Trivia. We joined forces with Tracey and Dex (UK couple from DIS Boards) and they had an amazing knowledge of Disney films. They seemed to have watched dozens in their cabin. Despite our joint efforts we were beaten by a solo player who only got one question wrong. Later we discovered she had sailed on 42 Disney cruises. Now since they only started in 1998, you do the math.

The day continued as others with lunch on deck. Sandwiches and chips and a little relaxation time. So, given our days go food, trivia, food, trivia you’d think more trivia is next but today we had a special event in the afternoon; our mixology class. It started at 2pm and was in Sessions bar. Each table was already laid out with a shot of clear liquor (which turned out to be rum) a glass with mint and lime in it (so we figured e’d be making a mojito), a wooden muddler, a stirrer, cans of sprite and club soda and an already mixed cocktail. We took our seat and our teacher/host was a Jamaican bar tender called Anne Marie. She began by getting us to drink the first cocktail which was a watermelon cooler. As we drank she showed us how to make it and got a member of the group to go up and help. It turned out to be southern comfort based with the fruit liqueur and a splash of club soda. It was piled with ice and very refreshing. All our cocktails were in tiny glasses but the helper ended up getting the full sized one she made. You can imagine after this first one that there were plenty of volunteers for all the others. We also had a gin based, mango margarita and a passion fruit martini all of which were really nice. It was then time for us to make the mojito. We muddled our lime, trying to extract the juice and not crush the mint. We added crushed ice, the rum shot and topped up with sprite. The sprite produced a sweeter version than adding the club soda. As everyone sipped away you could her the bunch getting louder and merrier. We finished the session with what they call a B54, although in my day I swear it was a B52. It is kaluha, layered with amaretto and Baileys to produce a layered dessert type drink. By this time we were still ok but there we definitely some tipsy folk.

Immediately after the mixology was another trivia. We got a table and joined forces with Mandy and Curt from DIS Boards. Mandy herself was deffo tipsy, especially as half way through there was a movie quote question and she said it must be Notting Hill as he said it in an English accent. We did try to point out he actually was English and had asked every question so far in an English accent but I’m not sure it went in. As the quiz progressed more and more people from mixology arrived. DJ Matt who was quiz master seemed to spot them so easily. The swaggering and volume was a dead give way. They were a tad rowdy but we thought it highly amusing. Paul himself got a coffee sensibly.

After trivia, which we didn’t win, we went for a walk around deck. It was very windy and Paul took a few pics. We then got ready early as we had heard about drinks on the hidden deck 7 with the DIS Boards crew so we went along for 30mins or so. We then headed into dinner, back in Animator’s Palette. It is different to Dream as the tech is a few years older. Basically, it is all black and white (walls, chairs, tables decor the lot) and then the show is all the artwork becoming coloured and some Disney video clips. The huge paint brushes that are ceiling pillars also light up. We were both pretty full (hardly surprising when you eat loads and burn no calories) but since it was baked potato soup on the menu Paul still had two bowls. We followed this with beef tenderloin with wasabi mash. The meat is so succulent.

The evenings entertainment began with trivia (we figured it would be a change ;-)) followed by the show which was an entertainer called John Charles. He played Disney songs with the lyrics changed to become funny. He did a great one about the cabin attendants with lyrics such as “if I don’t answer the second you call, you just go and steal it from my cart in the hall”. It was actually really amusing and I am looking forward to the adult show later in the week.

Sticking to form we went back the cabin to blog for a while before adding on yet another hour and going to bed.

Today we get to see land, a rarity on this trip, as Today is Castaway Cay day.

After breakfast we returned to our original room and were pleased to find the toilet fixed. We got ready and disembarked at about 10am.

On the walk to the beach we stopped to get pictures with Pluto (on the beach) and Minnie (at Mount Rustmore). At each one the cruise staff loved my Snow White Villains top with the apple and old hag.

Paul had jet biking booked for 11, so we found a spot on the beach for me to settle into whilst he went. I sat and listened to music in the heat. It was overcast but still really hot and humid. I looked up at one point to see a Disney ship out at sea. Confused, I looked to port and thankfully Magic was still there, so what was this Disney Ship out at sea? I grabbed the camera and headed down the beach. Taking a few pics and zooming in I saw it was the Disney Dream. She came all the way to port and we had our very own battle of the horns. Magic with her one and only “When you wish upon a star” and Dream with her full repertoire. It was a little hard to hear as the wind carried the sound, but still great to witness. Dream stayed only a few minutes before heading back out to sea. As I listened to some more Les Miserables soundtrack on my iPod, I tried to drown out the crab racing noise of folks yelling and the cruise staff shouting over the mic. I still seemed to hear that “King Crab” won.

Paul returned from jet biking and after 30mins or so relaxing we went to get some lunch. Being on Magic, and it not being full, the island and BBQ seemed really quiet. We went to Cookies in the family area and got the usual fare. As we sat at our signature table (one on its own tucked away in the foliage) we saw a huge seagull frenzy after folks had left some food behind. It was ferocious and loud! As we sat there we heard more crab racing and would you know “King Crab” won again. I reckon he’s sussed the deal – smart crab.

After lunch we walked around to “Heads Up” Bar, our usual afternoon stop. We took a quick stop to watch Pelican Plunge then sat at the bar and watched the snorkelers. I sipped on my usual Piña Colada whilst Paul had a cold Bud. We were leaving port at 3:30, quite early, but needed to get across the Atlantic apparently. After a quick look in the shops we got the tram back to the ship at just after 2:30.

After last nights debacle we had a meeting with Alex the Guest Services Manager when we got back on board. He met us at Guest Services and was very apologetic, in agreement that our treatment was not what was to be expected of a Disney Cruise and said he was still investigating what happened and there would be action taken. His customer service was superb it has to be said and after firstly offering us our Palo visits on the house he eventually gave us some onboard credit to compensate for our inconvenience. He offered his services 24 x 7 and has indeed called us since then to check all is ok.

After the eventful night we were a little sleep deprived so decided to take an afternoon nap ahead of dinner. Dinner was back in Lumieres. I’m afraid I actually can’t remember the starters ( I think it’s old age setting in) but I do know we had sirloin steak with walk the plank butter for main course, which was flavoured and spiced butter that Paul loved and had extras of x three! For dessert I had the Maleficant creme brûlée and Paul had a chocolate cake.

After dinner we went to the shops where Paul’s top, the black and white equivalent of what I’d worn in the day, was equally as popular. We also discovered after chatting to the staff that many people were asking for the transatlantic polos and hoodies. When the shop said to didn’t sell such items guests were insisting they’d seen people wearing them. Of course what they had seen was Paul’s shirts as distributed on day 1. Oops. Paul bought a really stylish Disney watch and I have got some t shirts, a ring, another Disney bead for my bracelet and a silver ship charm to wear as a pendant (so far :-)). Oh yeah, we’ve also bought a Vinylmation and some pins along the way, not sure if I’ve mentioned those.

Since it was villains night and we’ve seen that show a few times we decided to skip it. Instead we went to sessions bar to listen to David, a scouse singer and guitar player. After playing Cat Stevens we ribbed him for playing BoyZone (since the song was Father and Son) and he kept having to control his giggles during his set.

Still tired from the day and constant hours we have to add on each night we turned in. I blogged for a while meaning we were still up until after midnight.

True to form the day started with room service brecky at half 8. No order issues this time and the same chap delivering so he now chats with us. We were out by 10am and off to our first trivia of the day; Disney theme tunes. After about 5 questions we felt really smug thinking we were doing so well. Even with our debate about what movie the song reflections was from, which Paul insisted was Pocahontas but I knew was Mulan, we figured we were well in it to win it. We were so wrong. As they were scored we had got so many wrong and ended up with an appalling score. Still, we met some new friends, an older American couple who were travelling with their pink haired daughter who we getting married. Straight after the tunes trivia was another Cruisin’ for Trivia. Our Chicago friends Shaila and Apurva joined us some had some reasonably intelligent and knowledgable folk between us. We stormed the science questions about chemical names and bones of the body and again thought we must be in with a shot at winning. This time we were close, second I think, but second is not winning.

It was now time to go eat (all we do is quiz, eat and sleep). We opted for the Cabanas equivalent buffet, Top Siders but the choice was poor so again ended up with pool deck hot dogs and fries. We chilled out for a while on sun loungers (I completed your first 3 days blog for posting) then I headed off to the spa. I had a manicure and pedicure which was as good as always. Paul met me afterwards telling me he’d actually won some trivia on his own. It was general knowledge and despite only getting 11 out of 25 the others were clearly not very knowledgable as this was the winning score. Another damn keychain added to the collection.

We headed back to our cabin for my feet and hands to totally dry ahead of getting ready for dinner. Tonight our Boston table mates were at Palo so there were just the four of us. The restaurant was Parrot Cay which is a dreadful tacky mix of a Mexican restaurant and the Tiki room at Magic Kingdom. It’s being changed as part of the refurb as apparently no one liked it. To start I had pulled pork on a pizza bread base, followed by a chilled pineapple and coconut soup. Paul had a shrimp salad, eating all of the shrimp but leaving every shed of salad. For mains we both had the rib steak which was very tasty and tender.

After dinner guess what we did? Yep, trivia. We’d arranged to meet Shaila and Apurva again as we were reigning champs but when we got there it was trivia with a difference. The room was divided into 2 halves with each half being a team. Each team then nominated a runner to represent the team and run up with the answer. We nominated Apurva who did a great job hurling himself at the buzzer in the middle, flying across the room and sliding along the floor. Sadly though, the other team knew more answers so yet again we lost.

It was now show time and tonight was a comedic juggling act. He was a really good juggler and got a lot of audience members on stage making fun of them to provide the amusement and comedy value. It was an OK show. Afterwards we took a walk on deck 10. We were actually anchored at Freeport as we’d stopped for fuel. We could see loads of tankers around us and the lights of a Carnival ship in port. We did a complete circuit of the ship with Paul taking a few pics along the way. After this we decided to turn in and go to bed. Now you’d think this would be the end of the days blog but actually it’s not. Sadly there was some late night drama for us. It happened about 2:30 am with Paul waking me up to tell me the toilet was broken. The flush wouldn’t work and the bowl was full of water. An inch or so away from flooding. We called guest services who sent a housekeeping guy. He obviously could not fix it and told us we would need a plumber the next morning and in the meantime use the public toilets a deck down! Not finding this acceptable Paul got back on the phone to guest services. About 15 minutes later an engineer arrived. He was in a small technical room next to our cabin for about 10 minutes before he too announced he couldn’t fix it. Paul was back on the phone again, by now on first name terms with Elanor at tho the end. He explained it wasn’t good enough but all we could be offered was another cabin. So, at about 3:30 am we trudged along the ship and up a deck to another room (me in my pjs I might add). We did manage to get some sleep and use the toilet :-). We had breakfast on order as ever so Paul rang Elanor one more time to ensure it came to our new room. It turned up on time with our resident sever.

Breakfast arrived as ordered at 8:30. To begin with it was the wrong order but he very quickly swapped it. Toast, cereal, bagels, croissants, donuts, juice and tea. Yum. We headed out just before 10am and went to our first trivia. This was cruisin’ for trivia, a multiple choice general knowledge quiz. Despite the multiple choice we still did pretty badly so moved on. After a quick wander around the bar area it was time for trivia number 2; television theme tunes. We spotted a couple from Paul’s online group; Shaila and her husband. A really nice young couple from Chicago. They’d had t shirts from us the day before. Together we made a formidable team and won, my LA Law answer being the clincher. Feeling victorious we decided to get some lunch. We opted for the deck fast food with hot dogs and chips again. We sat in the quiet cove area to eat once more. Afterwards we both had ice creams and sat in the sun at the back of the boat. This time I applied sun cream! After this we headed back to the room where I blogged from the balcony and Paul took a siesta on the bed.

Before dinner we thought we’d try one more trivia which as Disney trivia in the Diversions bar. We were on our own for this one and with no help reverted to our previous form of doing badly. Now dejected we went back to our cabin to get dolled up for formal night.

We were first to arrive at dinner this time but were quickly joined. There were just the 6 of us again and the chap from El Paso was in full Scottish regalia, kilt, sporran, the lot. Dinner was a princess menu, another new one to us. Starters were duck quesadilla for me and sausage and potato casserole soup for Paul. I then had a Caesar salad. Mains were steak for Paul and lamb medallions for me. The lamb was really nice. Desserts were chilled chocolate soufflé for Paul and banana bread and butter pudding for me. With these full 3 meals a day I figure I’m gonna gain a few pound to trip 🙁

After dinner we went to a piano bar to listen to a guy playing movie and show themes and you had to guess them (in a very informal non competitive way). After his 45 minute set it was off the the theatre for tonight’s show. We forgot about the signers and sat at the back again. This was a full Disney production called “Twice Charmed”. It was a play on the Cinderella story and was really good. As ever, the characters were running up and down the aisles so we got to see both Cinders and Prince Charming up close.

After the show we turned in again. We start to add an hour on each evening now so it will help us stay up later and get used to eastbound jet lag gradually. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we also booked next years cruise; a 14 night Westbound transatlantic in September. We are going to then take a week in Orlando making it a 3 week trip. It’s kind of for our 10 year anniversary (although we know that’s this year). We’ve also asked for a concierge suite to make it special but are waiting for availability.