Valentine's Day Celebrity Cruise TR - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sorry you had to wait so long for the group - good for you though getting the group rate!
I mean, they didn't have my CC info so there wasn't much they could do. I didn't want to jip them any money, but I would have GLADLY paid the $50 per person for a private tour when we arrived, rather than waiting around. My time is precious!
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
What a fun excursion!!! And then to have a little Disney thrown in there!
It was much better than other Nassau excursions I've taken, and super easy!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you were able to save some money on the excursion! Great pictures!
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
The tour of the chocolate factory sounds like fun, except for waiting for the Disney group to arrive. I would have loved taking home a large box of chocolates.
It was sooo tasty! Organic dark chocolate. You could add coconut, chocolate chips, and nuts too so there was a nice variety!
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
I knew that chocolate tour was a good choice! Maybe the waiting around stunk, but well... chocolate.
Yep basically if chocolate is involved... I'll be there
Just catching up on the last two updates. Your day looked beautiful and for getting a late start, you sure fit a lot in. This fellow chocolate lover thinks the tour and chocolate making sounds like great fun and yum, yum! So glad they gave you the discount considering you were a part of the group and they made you wait for it. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day.
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Sounds like a great tour and taking home a box of chocolates is always a good thing!! Sorry you had to wait for the other group though.
I couldn't believe how much chocolate we walked out of there with!
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Nice time in Nassau. Bummer you had to wait so long for the tour but glad you enjoyed it.
I just wish I had known in advance, there wasn't a ton to do up there it was a bit out of the "downtown" area.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BelmontBelle
Just catching up on the last two updates. Your day looked beautiful and for getting a late start, you sure fit a lot in. This fellow chocolate lover thinks the tour and chocolate making sounds like great fun and yum, yum! So glad they gave you the discount considering you were a part of the group and they made you wait for it. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day.
We did manage a lot, and even more in the next update! Amazing how much you can really do if you want to
So after our snacks and a mini nap, it was time to get ready for Valentine’s Day at sea! It was also Formal Night so we got all done up. It worked out well because this was also our specialty dining night! This is one of a few Celebrity Ships with an Italian-themed Specialty Dining, so I was really looking forward to it because it’s probably my favorite cuisine! Tuscan Grille was an additional $35 per person and was part of my “plussing” the cruise for Cody’s Valentine’s Present
I made a point to stop and get our picture taken at the staircase, but they were having camera issues. They refused to take one with my camera, it isn’t allowed. Even though THERES WASN’T WORKING. I was a little peeved because I really wanted the nice picture BEFORE I was full of food, you know?
We made our way up to Deck 11 which is where the restaurant is located (was converted from a flower shop.) This tiny little place was so adorable, I loved it! They were turning people away at the podium for tomorrow night, but it was surprisingly peaceful in there for such a romantic day. It was pretty dark, so I wasn’t really able to get pictures of the actual space. We were sat at a table smack dab in the middle of the restaurant, which I normally hate, but the outside was all full of diners already so I kept my mouth shut.
We were quickly greeted by our service team who was PHENOMINAL. We loved them so much, it made our MDR team look awful by comparison (they weren’t, they just weren’t this amazing!)
We both decided our main courses pretty quickly but had a bit of trouble deciding on starters and salads. After recommendations from our server, we ordered apps and both settled on the salad with fried goat cheese and a filet mignon, with potatoes for Cody, and mac and cheese for me! With our orders placed, wine was brought to pair with our courses. I wish I remembered the wines we drank, they were all quite lovely.
Bread service was accompanied by fresh antipasto. They had their carving station right in the dining room for freshly sliced prosciutto. I do love me some fresh mozz balls,
We had to stop ourselves from eating too much of this wonderful stuff, because we had three courses coming! Appetizers were out quickly thankfully, because we both tend to just keep on eating bread (or chips if we are at a Mexican place) and we had no microwave to keep leftovers!
Primi Platti
Calamari Fritto Misto - with marinara sauce and lemon garlic aioli
Ravioli di carne di Manzo Brasata - Homemade braised beef ravioli with wild forest mushroom truffle sauce
These were both divine, and a great start for what was in store. Now I swear this salad was topped with fried goat cheese, because Cody isn’t a huge fan and I was surprised when he not only ordered it, but liked it! However the menu I’m finding online doesn’t list such a thing as existing!
Suppe e Insalate
Insalata di Arugula - Fried bocconcini mozarella, toasted pine nuts, crisp shallots, sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and balsamic syrup
Okay this is where we started running into problems… I was getting full and I still had my entree coming! That wasn’t going to stop me from trying though! But first, some information on the guests we found ourselves dining with.
First, behind us was a couple with a child clearly unhappy to be there. Celebrity doesn’t offer as extensive child programs as Disney does so we could see why they would have chosen to have their kid with them on Valentine’s Day. Well, when it was clear the kid was just not having it, they nicely left and took the kid out with them, returning 20 minutes later childless to a wonderful meal! I just thought it was so nice that they were able to do that with no hassle or fear of losing their table etc and personally was happy to not hear a whiney child all night.
Second, the table next to us. This was just the weirdest thing. The details are a bit fuzzy now, but the couple was just very strange to begin with. Asking very weird questions and kind of being quite rude to the server. They maybe had the bread/antipasto but seemed to pick at it and didn’t like it. They were also wearing jeans, which I find disrespectful in a “signature” place AND on Formal Night. Anyway they decided they wanted to leave about 2 bites into their entree. We never found out why but the server kept asking if they were sure and offered to keep their food warm for them. They left for the majority of our meal, and returned to again only eat a few bites of food and leave? There was just no reason for it and it really made us somewhat uncomfortable throughout the meal with their attitude and surprise return.
Okay on to the good stuff! Again, I could have sworn we had the option to pick our meat and choice of sides, but the menu doesn’t seem to reflect that. Either way, my mac and cheese… THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF. I loved it, creamy and tangy and cheesy and just oh my gosh. Can I go back and get more yet? The filet was also melt-in-your-mouth good and unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish mine
Bistecche
Filetto Mignon Rustico - Horseradish mashed potatoes, porcini mushrooms, arugula and barolo sauce; also a side of veggies?
Baked pecorino "mac & cheese"
After leaving ½ of my filet (since we had no microwave and a fridge full of chocolate) I decided we still needed dessert...
Dolce
Assorted Gelato served in Waffle Tuile
Toffee Panna Cotta (which was more like a sampler, yum candied strawberry!)
This is where Cody learned he liked Port. Our sommelier suggested it and he tried it and was hooked! I personally went straight for my Disney-favorite, Regali Rosé! We had these drinks with dessert, but somehow mine didn’t get pictured. A rose was also brought to the table for the holiday, aww what a romantic touch
On our way out we asked the manager to take our photo. He was just kind of hanging out at the podium and actually took quite a few for us! Unfortunately, silly me didn’t realize I’d need a flash, so they are all kind of dark
By the wine cooler!
At the entrance.
On our way down to the theater, we did stop for our official Formal Night Pictures. I ended up biting the bullet and buying the printed set, $30! My scanner isn’t currently working but it’s a pretty nice 8x10 with some wallet-sized as well. Still looking for a frame to hang it
Before this evening’s entertainment was the Captain’s Toast. We had the pleasure of being on the ship of the youngest captain in Celebrity’s history. All the girls were hootin and hollering for him. This is also when they honored two guests who had been cruising with Celebrity for something crazy like… 128 CONSECUTIVE days. The exact number escapes me, but they essentially have their own Captain’s Club tier they sail so much.
The show itself was… bad. Like, embarrassingly bad. There was really no storyline that I could tell and they were just going through various movie genres and singing and dancing to them. The talent was good, I was impresed by the skill. What was bad was just the general composition and plot, and oh my gosh the costumes. I WISH photography was allowed so you could see just how bad this was. We stayed until the end, and left disappointed. We had high hopes after hearing how good the entertainment (not show) was the night before.
It was now getting pretty late so we headed back to our cabin for a restful night’s sleep.
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Pixie Dust
*Melissa
Deb
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
My scanner isn’t currently working but it’s a pretty nice 8x10 with some wallet-sized as well. Still looking for a frame to hang it 
The rose was a sweet touch on Valentine's Day. 
PassPorter Guide Author
and the fact they wouldn't take a photo with your camera - not great customer service there! 
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