Oh the Places We Go, The People We See Updated 11/03/2013 - Page 20 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The deck party looks like so much fun! Love the pictures of the pool area and large screen. Looking forward to more!
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Disney Trips: BLT & Poly Bungalow 2016, VGF 2015, Fantasy 2015, Saratoga Springs Resort 2014, Grand Villa at VGF 2013, Fantasy 2013, BWV and Kidani Village 2011, BWV and Kidani Village 2010, BWV and Saratoga Springs Resort 2008,Beach Club Villas 2008,Villas at Wilderness Lodge 2006, BWV 2006, BCV 2005, HHI 2004,Polynesian 2003,Grand Floridian 2000/concierge, Honeymoon at Polynesian 1994,Polynesian 1980,Polynesian 1978
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Sue
Great sailaway party! And it's great that everyone doesn't feel the need to stick together all the time. The "older" crowd can do their own thing, and relax more than the younger folks!
It was nice that we didn't feel the need to be with each other at every moment. That would've made it a bit more tense.
when we were together, we had fun, but we had fun on our own too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Glad you made it to the party and that it didn't rain this time. Looks like a gorgeous day!
I was so happy for a nice sunny day
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinderbrella
The deck party looks like so much fun! Love the pictures of the pool area and large screen. Looking forward to more!
It was a nice party. I like that Disney sets the mood for sailing like that.
nice party. It is interesting to see how shallow the pool is, it is small to begin with but then most of it only looks like it is few inches deep. I noticed that when we were on the Magic. you really can't swim in it.
nice party. It is interesting to see how shallow the pool is, it is small to begin with but then most of it only looks like it is few inches deep. I noticed that when we were on the Magic. you really can't swim in it.
No the micky pool is very shallow, but the other one was a bit deeper.
Geoff played with some settings on his camera and got some neat sun pictures.
Claire and I made it back to our room and we took some pictures from the balcony. Evidently Geoff and I have the same likes, because many of our pictures are very similar.
The sky was just gorgeous!
Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. I will tell up right now, I do NOT like early dinner. I much prefer to go to the show first and then eat. We often eat late at home too, so I am used to eating later. Another disadvantage with early dinner is that they do not offer dine and play. If that had been offered for this meal, I think I wouldn’t have minded it so much. But our kids got a little jumpy before we all finished. They brought the kids food out fast and then they were bored waiting on us. Some nights, some got a little more feisty than other nights.
So Claire and I made our way to the dining room. We had the same rotation as we did last cruise. Our first night was Enchanted Garden, which I think is such a pretty restaurant.
They had the table set up, but they had all the kids at one end. This doesn’t work well for our family, and probably most others. Kids like to be by each other, but we do need an adult in the mix to help them out. And in the case of little ones like Abby and Jude, you just have to have an adult near them.
I took these before I sat down.
Soon the family all arrived and we settled into our spots and looked over the menu. Rolls were brought out right away.
And we met our servers!
Benjamin was our server and Rasheeta was our assistant. Of the 3 DCL cruises I have taken, they were my least favorite servers. They weren’t horrid, just not as good. And Rasheeta was SLOW. She was REALLY nice, but she was not very fast with anything. She seemed to take a liking to me right away and I felt bad because she was just so nice, but service wise, this did not seem to be her calling.
Our Menu for this evening.
Cheers Geoff!
We made our orders and soon the appetizers arrived. It was funny, because Pete was just impressed that you could order more than one thing if you wanted to. Rob was all for this as well. I took several pictures of the foods brought out tonight. As the cruise went on, I usually only took mostly my food, and sometimes another picture of something else here and there.
I had the North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli with roasted garlic and sweet basil in a light tomato broth.
I have no clue what this is, but I think Pete ordered it.
I believe this is mine and I think it’s the Thyme and Garlic Brioche filled with chanterelle, hedgehog and black trumpet mushrooms and leek stew in a light buttermilk cream.
I am not sure who ordered this, probably Pete, as he sat across from me and let me take pictures of his food.
Romaine Wedge; Fresh crisp romaine topped with a creamy Romano dressing and homemade spiced croutons.
And these are all from family members around me as well.
The menus online don’t appear to have all the same items, so I am thinking the menu has changed slightly since the last time it was updated online.
The kid’s meals came out right away. This is nice if you have late dining and the kids can leave for the kids clubs after they eat. For early dining, it just makes for a lot of extra time the kids have to wait for the parents to finish up.
Claire went with her trusty chicken strips.
Jude was adventurous tonight. Katie asked him what he wanted and he said fish. She said he never eats fish and wasn’t sure if he knew what it even was, but he was insistent that he wanted fish.
I ordered 2 entrees this evening.
First was the Caramelized Sea Scallops with roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and pearl pasta, garnished with caramelized leeks and veal jus reduction. I don’t care for the pearl pasta at all, but I like the scallops.
I think both Rob and I had the Grilled NY Strip Steak; Thyme roasted vegetables, double-baked potato topped with handmade herb butter. I took pictures of both. Mine being the one that is rarer.
Dessert time!!!! Most of the kids got Mickey bars!
I believe I got strawberry cheesecake.
A few of the other desserts ordered tonight.
Katie’s birthday was on Halloween and I had it noted to celebrate it on her reservation. She was totally shocked they knew. They brought out a cake for her and though she seemed happy, I think she was a bit embarrassed too, more because she didn’t know.
Jude was VERY happy with his choice of the Mickey bar.
Yes, those shots of the sunset and sky as you departed are beautiful! Dinner looked delicious, sorry the service wasn't as good as you've had in the past. I was on the fence about changing our dining time to the later seating for our cruise this August, and I think after reading about your experience with the kids and having to wait, I'm going to switch from the early seating! I think the kids will enjoy going to the kids club while DH and I finish up dinner.
Late dinner seating works better for my family, too. We are not early eaters. One question... did Jude actually EAT the fish that he insisted on ordering?
I love the sunset shots - beautiful colours. Sorry your servers weren't quite as good as previous cruises.
They actually seemed to get worse as the cruise went on too. They weren't horrible, but they sure weren;t what I was used to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Yes, those shots of the sunset and sky as you departed are beautiful! Dinner looked delicious, sorry the service wasn't as good as you've had in the past. I was on the fence about changing our dining time to the later seating for our cruise this August, and I think after reading about your experience with the kids and having to wait, I'm going to switch from the early seating! I think the kids will enjoy going to the kids club while DH and I finish up dinner.
The sky was so beautiful and it's even better seeing it from a ship!
We really like late dining. If we ever do a family trip again I am going to try to persuade the rest to do late as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Late dinner seating works better for my family, too. We are not early eaters. One question... did Jude actually EAT the fish that he insisted on ordering?
After we all finished up with dinner, I took a few more pictures around the dining room. This is when we found that Rasheeta was extra slow. Our drinks did take quite a while to arrive with our meals, and those who had ordered specialty drinks had to wait for the bill. Many nights she just would tell us she would give it to us the next night as it wasn’t ready, and many nights the bills never showed up. Gail ended up going over hers with a fine tooth comb one night from the ship account and found several that were charged to her that she didn’t actually get.
We tried to get a picture of the girls in front of the fountain. Claire of course never looks at the camera.
We needed to get Abby in there.
Abby has a different idea on how to pose! She was lifting her dress up for all the world to see that she wears undies! Gail quickly ran over and told her she can’t do that here.
One more try.
We gave up. 3 squirmy kids does not make for a nice picture.
After dinner, we headed out to get the kids their bands for the kids club. We had to go to the Fantasy Convention room to do so. And boy the line was LONG!
We finally got up there and the computers kept going down so it even took longer, but we did get them all officially signed and ready for the clubs.
A quick stop off in the bathrooms and it was time to head to the show. I just love the different bathrooms on the Dream. This is one area where they are better than the Magic. Each area seems to have a different theme.
Golden Mickeys was the show tonight. This one is my favorite I think of all the shows I have seen so far. As you can see, Claire’s dress was themed for this night’s show.
It was Gail and I and our girls. Mom and Dad mentioned that they would be coming and we did see them walk in with Geoff, but they were on the other side and made their way to different seats.
The show was great. The girls did have a few moments of being scared, but they did fine. I had tears in my eyes at the end when Abby just gasped. It was so precious.
After the show, we headed out and found Donald. Mom, Dad and Geoff met up with us as well.
Abby was not scared one bit.
She also did not want to leave.
We walked around a bit and spotted Chip and Dale.
Abby took a seat to watch them while we waited in line.
The line was kind of long, so Geoff and Gail took Abby and headed up to see Mickey while we waited.
While I waited, I took a picture of the light fixture. You can never have too many of those!
Geoff took a couple of us while we were waiting.
We were getting close and they were done, so we waved to them to hurry so Abby could be in with the 2 older girls.
She made it just in time. Chip had walked off with the family in front of us. It was the girl’s birthday and I think he was giving her some extra attention, so for a while we only had Dale.
See the pen in Abby’s hand. Well that was my pen. For some reason she wanted a blue pen. Blue is her favorite color. Gail had given her a pen with blue ink and she threw a fit. We realized that she saw our blue colored pen so I handed it off to her. We had an extra pen or two and no need to fight that battle right now.
UH OH!!! We have a rebel passing the characters and trying to go up the stairs. Not allowed during character meets!
BUSTED!
Chips back, but no one seems to notice.
Since He was going unnoticed, I guess he decided to eat Claire.
Wow, your drinks server was pretty bad! I had one who wasn't up to par on the Alaska cruise, but she was no where near as bad as yours! Adorable photos with the characters and I love Claire's Golden Mickey dress. That's my favorite show as well. I on photo of Abby and Mickey I think she's got her hand inside his jacket!
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Sorry your servers weren't quite as good as previous cruises. 
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