Cruising on The Dream - 4 Nights to the Bahamas - Jan 5-9th, 2014. TR complete 1/31/2014 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Even though it was too windy and rainy for fireworks last night, I don't remember much rolling around during the night (don't take that the wrong way - I'm talking about the ocean).
I was up and out just after 6am to get some tasty Nescafe and grab some photos. Silly me, I even took my tripod, knowing the decks would be fairly empty of people. There were no people, because it was so windy out you could barely stand, let alone use a tripod. They were closing off most of Deck 13 due to the wind, but the CM let me take a few photos:
That was fun, but I decided to head down to lower ground with less risk of being blown overboard. The main pool was was still covered up from the night before. I wondered if the kids would get to go on the AquaDuck and swim today?
And, a couple of photos from the adult area. The Cove Cafe was just opening:
Today was Palo Brunch, so the adults grabbed snacks and coffees in the lounge while the girls went to Cabanas. They loved being able to wander around the ship by themselves - and were really looking forward to all of the adult supervision being captive in Palo for a couple of hours.
Probably should have titled this TR, "Dining in the Clouds," since I've mostly shared photos of clouds and food ... As always, Palo was wonderful. We had a nice table in the upper section, and you can see it wasn't crowded in the restaurant at all (same at Remy, and at Palo for dinner):
Just a small sampling of the buffet:
Our group got their fill of seafood and other good stuff. I was only interested in ... Pizza! It had been quite some time since we've had good pizza, and I love their sausage pizza, as well as the one with grapes.
We did save room for a hot entrée - Marco (the same server we had at dinner), brought out some of the chicken parmesan for us to sample - now I know why people rave about this dish - subtle flavors, melt in your mouth goodness:
And, a few tasty treats to finish off the meal:
That finishes up the first half of our Day at Sea - the main event on our schedule tonight is a birthday celebration - someone is turning 11 on The Dream
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So glad I found this trip report. Your photography is incredible as always. I love your DGD's sand turtle-it is easy to see where she gets her artistic/creative talents.
And thak you for the picture of the dog. Cute as can be and seems to be enjoying the snow. Mine love it and always act as though they have never encountered it before, although both have too many times.
Ok Laurie, here you go. In this picture you can somewhat see the tables and booths in the back (right side of pic) are a bit higher than the ones closer to the front (left side of pic).
Thank you, Cindy! It looks wonderful. From the photos I've seen, Palo is just beautiful on all the ships. A bit different on all of them, but the same general feel. Elegant but not stuffy, and very comfortable.
Nice to give the girls some alone time to explore while the adults enjoyed "adult" time!!!
What time were you ion the deck? Those clouds look scary! But love the lighting on the deck!
The girls enjoyed their periods of freedom, but also liked having people watch them enjoying the pool and AquaDuck. I was out starting at 6:30am - hoping to catch sunrise - which may have occurred, but was hidden by the clouds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iloverags2
The dark clouds and the colorful lights up on deck make for great photo ops!
It did make for nice photos, but would have been easier to shoot if it was less windy. Thanks, Cindy, for explaining the Palo levels and for the pic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
I can't believe how deserted the decks were! Another great meal
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I've noticed people,don't wander the decks until after 7:30am, even in good weather.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I love the dramatic skies, but hope the girls were able to get some AquaDuck dunks. Palo on the Dream and Fantasy has two levels?
Laurie - I don't have much suspense in this report, so we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see how the day went . Cindy answered the question on the tiered levels at Palo. I think you actually step down to go to the tables by the window, and there may be a step or two up to go to the level we were on. This helps give everyone get a view of the water (or clouds, as was the case for us).
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
That sausage pizza looks so good!!! I'll definitely make sure to have pizza at my next Palo brunch.
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Definitely order a pizza - it makes a good appetizer for the table. I had to smack their grubby little hands so I could get my share
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntermom
So glad I found this trip report. Your photography is incredible as always. I love your DGD's sand turtle-it is easy to see where she gets her artistic/creative talents.
And thak you for the picture of the dog. Cute as can be and seems to be enjoying the snow. Mine love it and always act as though they have never encountered it before, although both have too many times.
Thanks for the kind words. DGD was pleased, because a girl about her age saw her turtle and told her it was "just genius."
It is funny how dogs react to snow - but better they like it than refuse to go out in it! I have respect for those of you who deal with it all winter long.
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We caught up with the girls after brunch, and they had enjoyed their free time. They spent a while in the shops, trying to make the most of their Disney Gift Card we gave them for Christmas. They were, of course, ready to go for a swim and some AquaDuck time. Even though it was raining off and on, it never rained really hard. They had a great time in the pool, and got many more runs on the AquaDuck:
Interesting side story here - the lifeguard in the photo asked the girls to join him on his break for a round of mini-golf. I wasn't sure how appropriate this was, but then I heard that he invited Dad too - they all had a good time.
We did a tour of the shops, and I made a purchase:
The plan was to go to BELIEVE at 5:45pm, but the girls were still having such a good time in the pool and on the slide, we decided we'd just save this experience for a future cruise. You can see it was still a cloudy, cloudy afternoon:
We found a surprise in the kid's cabin - it seemed the Birthday Fairy had delivered a few gifts and treats. This was a hit.
We were also crossing our fingers - if the wind and rain calmed down, they were going to try for the Fireworks show again at 7:45pm. I took a practice photo from our balcony:
They request that you not stand on the balcony for the fireworks, so we hustled outside to Deck 12. I went up to Deck 13, and set up the tripod in front of Currents (the outside bar), even though we never really knew for sure if the fireworks were going to happen until the last minute. Did we see fireworks? Check it out:
It's a short show, but it adds to the festivities, and there is something special about seeing them while you're on a ship. The new time worked well for families too, because the younger kids didn't have to stay up so late.
We had just a few minutes to get ready for dinner, as we were all headed to our last evening's meal at The Enchanted Garden. We enjoyed a nice dinner, and the CMs provided a little birthday magic.
The hit for the evening was the roasted prime rib (or something like that - "grilled prime rib?"):
OKAY - that is way too rare for me, but this made the carnivores in our family quite happy.
As always, someone has to get a boring ol' cheeseburger:
That someone was me this time - LOL. After Palo brunch, I just wanted a simple meal. The steak fries were great with my Mickey ketchup, and the burger was just right. They even brought it out before everyone else's meal, so I could eat up and head off to the clubs
The youngest in our group decided to go for the beef as well - she enjoyed it, and we were happy to see her tastes branching out on meal choices. The slab of meat looks almost as big as the plate -
Apologies to the non mean-eaters reading along. Here's something you'll find more appealing:
Another good day, surprisingly so, given the weather. We all returned to our rooms to make sure the bags were packed and out the door by 10:30pm. One thing I totally forgot to do was check out the ship's photos. All I had to do was stop in the Concierge Lounge to go through the folder, but it slipped my mind. We had enough family photos, but I generally like to get the boarding photo as a souvenir. I hope Disney eventually coordinates ship photos with the whole Photopass/MagicMemories system.
Great day! The lifeguards looked a little chilly in the pool picture! That first piece of prime rib was definitely too rare for me too! The second piece looked more up my alley.
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. Cindy answered the question on the tiered levels at Palo. I think you actually step down to go to the tables by the window, and there may be a step or two up to go to the level we were on. This helps give everyone get a view of the water (or clouds, as was the case for us).
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