Seven Fantastic Nights, Some Stormy Weather, and the first Star Wars Day At Sea! Updated 2/14 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sorry for the lack of pics on this one - longer post with pictures coming!
After our stint in the Rainforest Room we decided to head back to the room and get ready for dinner. We had opted for the earlier seating this time - the last cruise we had done the late seating and the timing felt a bit awkward for us, as we wanted more time after dinner to do things. We hoped the earlier seating would alleviate that!
We were seated with 4 other people - another father/son pair and an aunt/niece pair - in the Enchanted Garden. On our last cruise, our table mates hadn't been the most engaging. In fact, all of them were on their phones during dinner and barely spoke a word to one another, let alone us. This time, however, it was completely different! Our table mates were all super engaging and quite funny - we were seated with another father/son pair (who were on their fourteenth cruise in 5 years!!!) and an aunt/niece pair (first cruise) . I can't seem to find in my notes what exactly I had the first night... obviously it was some sort of chicken dish.
Food photography is definitely not my area of expertise
After dinner we headed off to the show - which was A Fantasy Come True. We both enjoyed it and thought it was a fun introduction to the cruise - but it was definitely not our favorite show of the trip. After the show I stopped in the gift shop to check out the limited edition Star Wars Day at Sea merchandise and ended up buying a postcard; Dad stopped at guest services to make sure the non-canceled card was the one on our account. Before heading back to the room we stopped in the Vista Gallery where I took a few pics of some cool art.
By the time we got back to the room, we were both pretty tired, and sleep soon followed!
I noticed on this cruise that the room stewards seemed to use the blankets a lot more than the towels to form their creations. Your shark is much cooler than our cobra (I think that's what it was! )
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I love how Disney seems to put some thought into the table seatings and match ups. When my DD and I sailed alone a few years back, we were matched with similar people. A little forethought in the planning can help a lot in change requests after sailing.
I noticed on this cruise that the room stewards seemed to use the blankets a lot more than the towels to form their creations. Your shark is much cooler than our cobra (I think that's what it was! )
We only had one/two actual towel animals over the course of the cruise - most nights it was the blanket!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
So glad your table mates were a lot more engaging on this cruise - oh and I love your towel animal, that's one I've never seen before!
Us too - it made a world of difference!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
What a cool towel creation to come back to! So glad your table mates were enjoyable, they can really make or break dinners
So True!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
I love how Disney seems to put some thought into the table seatings and match ups. When my DD and I sailed alone a few years back, we were matched with similar people. A little forethought in the planning can help a lot in change requests after sailing.
Yes - it really is smart the way they do it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lmf713
Will you please post your Navigator when you return? We are taking that cruise March.
Yes - I just have to find them (that could take a while ) and scan them!
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Dad got up the next morning around 6:45 as he wanted to check out the "Fab Abs" class which was happening at the gym at 7:15 and I got up around 7:30. I had placed a room service order the night before for a couple of bowls of fruit (didn't use room service at all for breakfast on our last cruise) and was quite pleased - the room service morning fruit quickly became a part of my morning routine!
View from the Verandah
Around 8:30, I headed up to Deck 11 to meet Dad at Cabanas - where he informed me that he had looked at the abs class and felt like that was enough participation for him Instead he found himself a spot on Deck 12 where he people watched and read
I grabbed a croissant, smoked salmon, a piece of french toast, and some grilled tomato - which was by far one of my favorite foods of the cruise. Dad grabbed some sort of sausage dish and granola.
Since today was our first full day on the ship - and our first day at sea - we spent breakfast looking over the Navigator, trying to decide what events we wanted to attend. We both agreed that we wanted to do the "Art of the Theme Ship Tour" at 9:30 and that later if we felt like it we might see a movie. We also of course planned a visit to the Rainforest Room .
By the time we finished breakfast it was almost time for the tour, so we headed up to the Meridian Bar on Deck 12 and got some great shots out on the Aft Deck - definitely a view looking "back" from the ship.
View from the back
We were quite impressed with the tour - there were probably about 10 of us in total and our guide was extremely excited (I think it was one of his first ones ever) and very informative! He took us mainly through the aft of the ship - stopping in Palo and Remy and then The District (all of the Nightclubs), taking us through each one and giving us background information on how they were created and some of the "Disney Touches." It was such a cool tour and we both wished that it covered even more of the ship.
After the tour we stopped back up on Deck 11 to fill up our water bottles and then went back to the stateroom to chill out and catch up on uploading photos/notes/etc. I also ordered a Tomato Basil Panini and the Key Lime Pie from Room Service - the panini was decent but not as good as I remembered it and the Key Lime Pie was solidly good - but nothing incredible! Definitely prefer Room Service for their breakfast options
Key Lime Pie
By that point I was getting a bit restless so I decided to head to the gym where I ran a couple of miles and did some interval training - I was surprised by how quiet it was - then again I don't think many people's main priority on the first full day of vacation is working out After working out I rinsed off and then spent some time in the tile loungers and showers in the Rainforest Room - which, unlike the gym, was definitely crowded! When a group of about 12 people entered I decided that it was probably time for me to leave and headed down to Deck 11 where I sat outside the Cove Cafe and read.
My Spot (when I first sat down)
We passed by a Carnival ship...
Besides the easy access to the desserts in the Cove Cafe - the spot I found was awesome because it was behind glass, which proved to be quite nice when an intense rain shower and storm decided to descend on the ship! The view was also pretty cool, as we were passing by Cuba and we could see outlines of the villages along the coastline!
My Spot - during the storm - you can kind of see a vague outline of Cuba.
A Very Empty Deck 11
I then headed back up to the room where I met Dad and we got changed and headed down to Royal Court for dinner. I had the farmhouse salad, oven baked salmon, and cauliflower puree - which I was not the biggest fan of … every time I bit into it I had in my hand that it was gonna taste like mashed potatoes and then it didn't - probably would have liked it better otherwise ! I had the "dessert sampler" which also was not my favorite - 2 of the 3 desserts were "sugar free" and just didn't live up to their descriptions
View from our table
Farmhouse Salad (still working on that food photography)
Oven Baked Salmon
Dessert Sampler
After dinner we spent some time wandering around the ship before going back to the room to change and head to that night's show - Aladdin. We were both impressed - although our seats were not the best as we got there kind of late and were stuck right in the middle of a large family with lots of small kids … and while the kids were awesome - their respective guardians were quite loud and spent most of the show talking about how much they didn't like it! At one point somebody from the row behind us even asked them to stop talking or leave!
Random Photo - this is the Star Wars Display they had set up all cruise.
We were both pretty tired after the show and so we headed back to the room and just spent the rest of the night hanging out (with a few runs up to Deck 11 to refill our water bottles).
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. I can't seem to find in my notes what exactly I had the first night... obviously it was some sort of chicken dish. 
)
and I got up around 7:30. I had placed a room service order the night before for a couple of bowls of fruit (didn't use room service at all for breakfast on our last cruise) and was quite pleased 
I decided that it was probably time for me to leave and headed down to Deck 11 where I sat outside the Cove Cafe and read. 
! I had the "dessert sampler" which also was not my favorite - 2 of the 3 desserts were "sugar free" and just didn't live up to their descriptions 
and spent most of the show talking about how much they didn't like it! At one point somebody from the row behind us even asked them to stop talking or leave!
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