A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 115 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Quite the relaxing day! Ugh, your rough start with your sinuses though. Not fun!
Not at all and sadly it led to worse, that's all I'll say at this stage...
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As you're explaining your time in the spa/hot tub/stone chairs, I remembered back to the beginning of your cruise about the gentleman who was snoring there!
Oh my goodness, not funny at the time, but now I look back, it was hilarious!
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We had some pretty bad pitching on the last night of our Disney cruise years ago as well, coming from Castaway Cay. It can be scary indeed, but I guess the crew does get used to such things.
We had that in 2012, sailing back from Castaway Cay on the Fantasy. We'd had a storm hit while we were there and we were trying to dodge it on the way back - sort of successfully, sort of not!
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Great deal on the shirts and sweatshirt! Despite the crowding, it's worth it for those prices!
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Good deals in the shops! It is funny to see end of the season sales, with offerings for places you didn't even see. Our last cruise (Northern Spain & France) had a fair number of Med & Caribbean shirts!
A bit surreal...
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To comment on something you said yesterday about vodka & gin not having much flavor, only a burn, that's the way they're supposed to be. We learned in our mixology class that spirits (vodka & gin) are flavorless. Drinks made with them get their taste from the other things you mix in.
Oh Ok - that makes more sense. I guess I just haven't had a decently mixed drink involving either then....
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Too bad you weren't feeling well in the morning, but glad to hear that needed spa time seemed to work for you! Some nice purchases with the sales and glad you were able to get some sushi. It looks like standard choices, but I'm sure it was good!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
We did a little more packing, throwing a few more things into the suitcase that we knew we wouldn’t be using again, as we’d both agreed we were going to stay put in the room until we went up to the Sky Lounge to meet Jay, Stephanie and Ethan at 5:00pm. It had been a really relaxing day, doing really nothing, but as Mark said, that’s what we probably needed, especially as we knew tomorrow would be busier, with disembarkation, then driving home, and the endless loads of laundry we’d need to do when we got there.
However, the weather really was all over the place. At one point, the fog came in and we could barely see anything outside…
We headed up to the Sky Lounge just before 5:00pm, and at least had a better view from up there…
We kept trying to spot the wind farm just off the British coast where I used to work, but didn’t see it. We would later find out that was because we were nowhere near it, we were quite a lot further up the coast than we thought. It was still murky out there, and we couldn’t be that close to land, as neither of us were picking up mobile phone signals from the UK yet. We did keep checking!
We spent the next hour with Jay, Stephanie and Ethan just chatting away, and then we headed down to Murano just after 6:00pm for our dinner there. We were seated here, which I thought was really cool, as I’d admired this table when we’d first visited the restaurant, and thought how neat it would be to eat here.
Considering the maitre d struggled so much last night to squeeze in a table of five, neither of us could really understand it, looking at how many empty tables they had in here. We counted at least six or seven that weren’t being used, and at least two or three of those were for bigger parties. Ok, so there were some more people coming in as we left, but I didn’t think there were enough people arriving even at that point to fill the place up. And they had a waiting list as well? All very odd… It certainly wasn’t that they didn’t have enough staff, as they had loads.
Our amuse bouchee was different to our last two visits. This time it was a cantaloupe melon soup, which was very pleasant. Ethan kept asking if he could swig it out of the glass, but his parents told him he couldn’t. I couldn’t blame him, as it made sense to me!
For appetiser, I decided to go for something else, different to our previous two visits. I had the warm goat cheese soufflé with smoked tomato coulis, parmesan cream and basil pesto. I personally thought it was cheesier than I expected, given this was goat cheese. It tasted more to me as if it had been made with hard cheese, the taste was so strong. To me, the smoked tomato coulis went with it Ok, although the basil pesto complemented it beautifully. I could’ve done with more of that.
Mark had the pork belly with parsnip puree, caramelized apples, and a Calvados jus, and he seemed to really enjoy it.
For entrée, I stuck to the promise I made to myself to go back and have the lobster again, having enjoyed it so much the first time we ate here. The Murano lobster is cognac flambéed warm water lobster tail, with fresh basil, and Dijon-cream (no Applewood smoked bacon for me). Of course, that meant a table side preparation, which I just love seeing. I don’t think I’d ever grow tired of viewing this…
When we put our order in, they must’ve thought we were a nightmare table. Jay and Ethan went for the Chateaubriand for two, and that involved tableside presentation too…
… as did Stephanie’s Dover sole Veronique…
We all said timing of these entrees must have been a complete nightmare for them.
Mark had the five-spice crusted cervena venison loin with celery root fondant, wilted spinach, red cabbage marmalade, and lingonberry sauce. The kitchen must’ve breathed a sigh of relief when he ordered that one, as it was the only dish of the five of us not to need any tableside preparation…
For dessert, Mark’s description of the crepe ballon rouge with the balsamic strawberries cooked tableside (we did not make this meal easy for them ), vanilla ice cream and chambertin sauce prompted Jay to try it as well, so our server had to make two at the same time:
I was a bit more traditional and went for the assorted gelato and sorbet degustation, but stuck with just the mango and strawberry sorbet, and passed on the chocolate and pistachio ice cream, as I wanted to leave some space for the cheese trolley.
When that arrived, I got a very big serving of that blue cheese I really liked last time!
Before we headed out, we got the sommelier to get a photo of all of us.
Dinner and a show! Heck, you pay an extra fee for restaurant right? So no worries as to what you order there! It all did look delicious though. What a great memory for your last night aboard.
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Tanya
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Ugh, your rough start with your sinuses though. Not fun!
Despite the crowding, it's worth it for those prices!
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Some nice purchases with the sales and glad you were able to get some sushi. 
We would later find out that was because we were nowhere near it, we were quite a lot further up the coast than we thought. It was still murky out there, and we couldn’t be that close to land, as neither of us were picking up mobile phone signals from the UK yet. We did keep checking! 
We counted at least six or seven that weren’t being used, and at least two or three of those were for bigger parties. Ok, so there were some more people coming in as we left, but I didn’t think there were enough people arriving even at that point to fill the place up. And they had a waiting list as well? All very odd… It certainly wasn’t that they didn’t have enough staff, as they had loads. 
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