A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 19 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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As usual, I am joining your trip report late but I am very happy I found it nonetheless
Great updates so far. I have to admit, I am constantly comparing every single thing you write about the ship to what it would be like on a Disney ship I don't even mean to but I just can't help myself! It is so so weird to see a casino, that's for sure, and the chaotic safety drill would've left me a bit worried, to say the least. The specialty restaurants look promising (from what I can tell from the photos) so I'm looking forward to your report on those. Hmm, did you say you booked an onboard tour for $150 per person? That better be one heck of a tour for that price... Looking forward to your report on that as well.
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Like others have said, strange to see a casino and the one armed bandits on board. Were they very popular? And it doesn't sound like you've really rested yet, either. Ok, getting off my "Momming" soapbox now.
As usual, I am joining your trip report late but I am very happy I found it nonetheless
Welcome aboard!
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Great updates so far. I have to admit, I am constantly comparing every single thing you write about the ship to what it would be like on a Disney ship I don't even mean to but I just can't help myself!
You and me both, trust me!
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It is so so weird to see a casino, that's for sure, and the chaotic safety drill would've left me a bit worried, to say the least.
While it worried me, the one thing we kept saying is that, in the event of an emergency, there would've been a lot of passengers who physically would find it hard to get from their room to the lifeboats a few decks below, as the elevators wouldn't be in use. Those in ECVs, wheelchairs or walking (some with great difficulty) with sticks would surely struggle and at least we are physically fit and could manage that...
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The specialty restaurants look promising (from what I can tell from the photos) so I'm looking forward to your report on those. Hmm, did you say you booked an onboard tour for $150 per person? That better be one heck of a tour for that price... Looking forward to your report on that as well.
Ah well, more to come on that eventually. The $150 price tag did include a lunch with wine pairings, which helps explains the cost, but towards the end of this trip report (probably some time off yet ) there will be more about that....
Like others have said, strange to see a casino and the one armed bandits on board. Were they very popular?
We never saw them busy on the rare occasions we walked past, but there were updates daily on how much people had won and it topped $40,000 if I remember right...
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And it doesn't sound like you've really rested yet, either. Ok, getting off my "Momming" soapbox now.
No, we didn't get much of a chance to rest that day, something to do with boarding so late. Normally we'd have been on board a lot earlier and would have had the chance to relax a bit, but it just didn't happen this day.
… and discovered all three suitcases had arrived, although there was a slight design problem with one of them, as you can see!
Seriously, like this, it was completely anchored up, and you had to turn it on its side to get it past the bed. We set about unpacking, and the most frustrating thing was the lack of drawer space, something we don’t usually have a problem with when we cruise with Disney. There was a lot more storage space in the bathroom, but that wasn’t overly useful, when it’s clothes space you really want. We ended up unpacking just two of the cases, as I figured we’d use that set of clothes first, put them in the dirty washing bags, and empty the drawers and then refill, but it wasn’t good, especially not for a 14 night cruise.
While trying to unpack, we were also leaving port, so I kept ducking outside to get some photos of our departure…
There goes the Hythe Ferry we took earlier on in the day!
It ended up being a real rush, with our dinner booking at 6:30pm. I just about managed to grab a shower, and we were about 10 minutes late leaving the room by the time we were done with the unpacking. It did feel a bit like it had been continuous stress from arriving at the port until now with so much to do.
Murano was beautiful inside, although we were surprised at how quiet it was. I said to Mark that I suspected a lot of the clientele on this cruise were people who didn’t want to spend extra money on things. That would account for why this place was so quiet, and why the spa had been so quiet as well.
They had a wine tasting menu, which was $89/person, which I thought was a lot, given you’re already paying a cover price. It’s usually $50/person, but as we’d bought a dining package in advance, it was heavily discounted from that price. We passed on that, and concentrated on the a la carte choices instead.
We did get a bottle of Riesling Spatlese and I was very pleased when the sommelier pronounced it the way I’ve always done. Every time I do, people look at me as if I have two heads, and I always thought perhaps I was getting it wrong, but apparently not. Yay me – I remembered some German!
I mentioned to our server, well one of many actually, as we didn’t just seem to have one, we seemed to have four or five, about my allergy to fruit. How apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, plums and apricots got translated into avocado, I do not know, but I knew something was amiss, when our amuse bouchee turned up, and mine was different. I had this:
Mark had this:
Hmmm… Mark told me his was a bit spicy, and mine was lovely, so I didn’t say anything. However, when my appetiser turned up, I knew something was wrong. It was supposed to be the smoked salmon and peektoe crab parfait, layered with avocado, salmon cavier, crème fraiche and petite greens, but the server said to me as I was allergic to avocado, they’d left it off. I immediately picked him up on that, explained I certainly wasn’t allergic, and he asked if I’d prefer it with, and I said so my first attempt was whisked away to be quickly replaced by this, and it was superb.
Mark went for the pork belly with parsnip puree, caramelised apples and calvados jus, and really enjoyed his.
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Hmm, that lack of storage place issue is a big deal to me. I always always always unpack all of our suitcases if at all possible.
Your dinner looks wonderful so far! Since you said you've got the "compare stuff to Disney" bug as well, Cheryl, I might as well go for it:
I love the way meals are set up on the Disney ships but the food quality and variety *could* indeed be better at times. Would you mind giving your opinion of how the food on your cruise was compared to Disney?
Maybe they thought your allergy applied to all fruit with a pit? Since other than apple, all those items do have a pit, as does an avocado?
Nice to find the restaurant quiet, as I find more often than not I'm overwhelmed by how loud most restaurants are.
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Your stateroom is lovely!
I don't even mean to but I just can't help myself! It is so so weird to see a casino, that's for sure, and the chaotic safety drill would've left me a bit worried, to say the least. The specialty restaurants look promising (from what I can tell from the photos) so I'm looking forward to your report on those. Hmm, did you say you booked an onboard tour for $150 per person? That better be one heck of a tour for that price... 
Looking forward to your report on that as well.
Murano's looks like it will be a nice dining experience. 
More coming up on that...
about my allergy to fruit. How apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, plums and apricots got translated into avocado, I do not know, but I knew something was amiss, when our amuse bouchee turned up, and mine was different. I had this: 
I immediately picked him up on that, explained I certainly wasn’t allergic, and he asked if I’d prefer it with, and I said 
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