dawnebeth | Entries tagged with disney

Last night on board--waaah!

For dinner on Thursday, Star Wars day, all the food had silly Star Wars themed names. I have to admit--it did cause me to dismiss clam chowder I probably would have enjoyed because it was named after Jarjar Binks (shudder.) So I had Padme Amidala cheese souffle which was very tasty! After that, I had a flatbread/pizza kind of thing, really good--with warm brie, spinach, pears, peaches and nuts on top. Then a macaron for desset. Yum. Demelz had mini ham sandwiches and pasta (of course) with scallops.

We talked some more with the same sex couple we share the table with. They are foodies and instead of celebrating Star Wars, they had a brunch in the fancy restaurant, a champagne tasting and then a special dessert tasting. They weren't very hungry when they got to dinner! They also are going on a second cruise next week--staying in the same room, and everything. Wow, I didn't even know you could do that! Then, in April, they're going on a third Disney cruise (that will be, if my count is correct--number eleven for them in the last few years.) Nice if you can manage it--they do have jobs!

Today we were on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Lovely, really hot and relaxing. neither Demelza or I are swimmers and the ocean was actually cool (I did go wading) so we lounged in lounge chairs until our glass bottom boat ride. We got to feed the fish oatmeal which made them jump out of the water. The ocean is so clear, you can easily see the fish over the side of the boat. Met a family similar to ours--caucasian parents, darling brown daughter and son. The little girl was sooooo cute.

After barbecue lunch on the island (with a far better hamburger than I had in one of the restaurants on board) we moseyed back to the ship, stopping for a dance party with Minnie and Goofy--Demelza was thrilled to dance right with them.

The musical theatre show tonight was fantastic--merging several familiar Disney songs into a story about a man learning to believe in magic. The actor who plays Genie in the Aladden show earlier this week and tonight is fantastic. There was a number from Princess and the Frog which made me want to jump up and dance too.

Dinner next and then we'll be getting ready for bed. sniff--the cruise ends at 6am tomorrow.
Tags: disney

Ah, what a day for a fangirl--the whole ship is on Star Wars mode. So many guests and crew members in costume, so many Star Wars themed activies--and even the food!

Our dinner last night at Palo was very elegant. I'd forgotten that it was a set price of thirty dollars each because the service, food and ambiance was so lovely I suspect we would have paid far more in a California restaurant. The hostess even changed the white napkins to black ones because we both had on black leggings! We started with antipasto the waiter just served up--no ordering. The pizza bread with parmesaen cheese was awesome. Then Demelza had her second plate of fried calamari for the day. (the first was at a restaurant on St. Thomas, but Palo's was fresher and less rubbery.) I had buffalo mozzerella cheese and tomatoes--tasty cheese, the tomatoes a little too hot house flavourless. (Demelza and I once visited the only farm in California that makes actual cheese from water buffalo.) There was even a teeny serving of lemon sorbet for a palate cleanser! Her main course was lobster on pasta, and I had grilled mushroom on spinach and polenta. Excellent, but we were both full by then! I did eat a bit more than she did for once. We'd both ordered chocolate souffle which was tasty although--for moi, I could use less of the multi-flavour thing so popular lately. Just the souffle was great, it didn't really need chocolate sauce, vanilla sauce and vanilla gelato. They gave us a lemon cordial thing at the end which was really sour, so we didn't drink much. Staggered to our stateroom, stuffed to the gills.

For Star Wars day, Demelza wore her stormtrooper costume. For those who don't know, she bears a striking resemblance to the actor who plays Finn--particularly in costume. One of the waiters even called her Finn! We had fun seeing all the costumes and t-shirts from tiny baby Yodas to adult Leias and Hans. Lots and lots of costumes. I felt proud that my t-shirt of Han and Chewie piloting the Millenium Falcon toward the Tardis was the only one on board. Although many had unusual t-shirts, just as many had bought the Star Wars Day at Sea shirt sold in the gift shop here.

We had our pictures taken with C3PO and R2D2, attended a fun history of Star Wars (which actually had a few facts I didn't know), met a family who had never seen any Star Wars movies. (quelle horrors!) and I ate a brownie with Darth vader in chocolate. My chai latte had the Rebel symbol on the foam in cinnamon.

We're going to see The Last Jedi again in about an hour.

Last night was Pirate night--and I was amazed how many people had elaborate pirate costumes. The cruise line did provide pirate bandanas which we wore to the restaurant. Arrgh!

I had a salad with lovely, tasty candied pecans and then another salad with pita and chicken. I'd assumed that chicken pita salad meant like what you have for lunch, chicken mixed with mayo. The chicken was overly spiced but I enjoyed the tomatoes, spinach and cucumbers with the pita. Afters--a wonderful chocolate sundae mixed with cookies. Demelza had shrimp and pasta--she's predictable.

We had quite the excitement just as we were nodding off to sleep--the intercom came on "Bright star, bright star, stateroom 7531" I dimly thought that must be one or two doors from us, and then recalled hearing a panicked voice a short while earlier. This place is well soundproofed, it was the first time I'd heard voices in the corridor. Then there was bumping and hushed, hurried voices, plus a rattling as if someone were trying to open our door. I'd already sussed out that Bright Star might mean the same thing as a code blue in the hospital and peered out the door. Staff and medical people were trying to manuvere a stretcher out of the room directly across the hall. A man looked quite ill--and and AED or automated difibrillator was at work, the first time I have ever seen one in action. And I've done my required drill on an AED every year at work for ages!

This morning, we were docked in St. Thomas. I saw two women come out of 7531, and asked the housekeeper how the man was doing. She said he was still alive, Thank God.

We went out to Charlotte Aimlie, St. Thomas midmorning and wandered around, finally taking a taxi into the main shopping area. All very sunny, hot and pretty, but far too touristy with 900 shops selling diamonds and Rolex watches. How can the economy support so many jewelry shops? We had lunch and then went back to the t-shirt shop so Demelza could get an iguana shirt like the iguanas she saw in St. Maarten.

Later, on board, we went to the Irish Pub to play a TV tunes trivia game. I got 7 out of 15 correct but only because Demelza recognized the theme to Duck Tales. I didn't!

Tonight we have the adults only fancy restaurant, a switch from the dinner included with the cruise price at the three restaurants we are usually assigned to. Bon appetite!

We arrived on St. Maarten today--before we awoke, and yes, I did notice the ship wasn't moving when I got up.

We met Chewbacca! Yes, I wuved being hugged by him--he's quite tall and furry. I might have to give into my mental Han/Chewie stories.

Yesterday, took a half hour yoga class in the spa--more difficult than usual when the ship is pitching back and forth. About 45 minutes later, we had our pedicures looking out at the sunset over the sea. It was beautiful, and only the second time I have ever had a pedicure. I got purple toenails. Demelza got red nails on her right foot and mauve on her left. My one problem with the people at the spa are that they constantly try to get you to buy products. Both the yoga teacher did, and the nail ladies. The nail ladies were nice and fun to chat with until they brought out lotions and scrubs to sell. I said no with firm resolve.

We escaped with our beautious toes. We went to a restaurant that featured the fish, and turtles, from Finding Nemo. Crush the turtle would appear in the video screens near each table and talk to select people at the tables. Demelza was enchanted. She had a salad with apple slices and pasta bolonase--her favorite. I have a fantastic tomato-goat cheese tart, with much better crust than the mushroom-bacon tart on Saturday. Then a panko crusted pork chop. Honestly, I'm not much of a meat eater, so I mostly at a couple bites of pork and all the crust off the top. Tell my mom--she will never believe this--I ate almost all my asperagus! Then, the piece de resistance--a chocolate chip cookie sundae. That was awesome.

I'm still having a bit of trouble sleeping. I manage to fall asleep and then wake up in the middle of the night. Luckily, I do go back to sleep but I get totally sleepy midafternoon.

We went on a bus tour of St. Maarten, which was really interesting to hear about a small island with two sides. One side is primarily French speaking, the other is Dutch speaking. There are two of everything: police, electric company, schools, etc. The sad thing is that Hurricane Irma really damaged a lot of the place. Almost all the hotels on the French side are uninhabitable, and many, many houses. There are carcasses of cars and yachts half sunk in the ocean. I got sad, and then I could barely stay awake. We didn't buy anything except some sodas, and drank coconut water out of a real coconut.

Tomorrow is St. Thomas.

Another day at sea before we get to islands tomorrow. Demelza felt better by lunch time yesterday, and I've figured out the lights in the stateroom.

You can turn the lights off and on without removing the key card from the slot--plus, there is a "porthole" since our room is entirely interior. It's a round window with a little video of the sea. Every once in a while, a Disney character flies or swims past including the pegasus horses from Fantasia and the house from Up aloft on balloons.

Highlights of Sunday--we were going down to see the Aladdin show, dressed in our finery for formal night and who gets on the elevator with us? Princess Tiana! So we got a private meeting with her. Demelza was so thrilled. The Aladdin show was fantastic, and we've seen it any number of times at Disneyland.

Demelza had a hour and a half massage with hot rocks alone while I relaxed with a book, a brownie, and chai latte. Very nice!

For dinner, we were in the Royal Court restaurant with tile mosaics of royal princesses on the walls. Demelza indulged in her favorites: Lobster and shrimp, both in the appetizer and the main course, lobster pasta. What was funny was that one of our table mates had exactly the same thing. The other two are a nice couple, D and C. I had to laugh because When I noticed that we'd arrived at the table before they did, Demelza asked "the two brothers?" I said, "Honey, they are husbands." She knows at least three friends who have same sex parents, so it's not exactly a new concept to her. D, in particular, is quite chatty and we talked a lot of the dinner.

I had yummy, yummy fried brie and a bowl of sauted veggies with seared ahi. The vegetables were tasty but seared ahi isn't my favorite. Ah well, live and learn. Two desserts, since I ordered an apple tart, and also got a chocolate thing (not sure what, it wasn't cake) when the waiters sang Happy Birthday to me.

This morning, we got big (and I mean BIG) hugs from Chewbacca! And I went in the hot tub while Demelza watched Lion King on a huge screen. She will watch any Disney movie over and over again, quite happy.

This is day three of our big adventure. Friday, Demelza and I flew out of San Francisco and winged across the continental US to Florida, landing in Orlando.

There's a Hyatt hotel right inside the airport! You don't even have to take a shuttle, just walk through the airport to a very nice hotel and check in. We arrived 9:30 Florida time, which is only 6:30 to our brains, but we were sleepy and went to bed by 10:30. Except, as usual, I had hotel-sleepitis, where I don't sleep well or at all the first night. Even with Benedryl, it took a long time to drop off, which is so strange for me lately because ever since the surgery in April, I can sleep at the drop of a hat! But eventually, I did--and woke up moments before the timer on my phone played Morning Glow from Pippin.

I had a free Chai latte for my birthday from Starbucks, plus a chocolate croissant. Yum. Then we found the Disney bus connection, also at the airport. Very convenient. Since we were going on the cruise, we didn't even have to carry our luggage. Just tagged it with the special Disney luggage tags and left it in our hotel room. They sent the suitcases on a truck to the boat!

After about an hour bus ride, and another hour in the waiting room at the cruise line, we got on the Disney Fantasy about noon. Wow, what an enormous ship, and very beautiful with lots of elegant designs on the walls, chandeliers and floors, hidden Mickeys and fun things to see. Ate lunch on the 11th deck while waiting for our room to be ready. I had salmon and salad, Demelza ate chicken strips, shrimp and pizza, which I thought was too much but turns to be basically what she had for the whole day, in the end.

We saw Mickey, Cinderella and Belle right away, so Demelza was over the moon, while I enjoyed a tiny chocolate cupcake. It was my birthday, after all, and national chocolate cake day. Then into our room. It's tiny. My bedroom at home is probably bigger. At first, I thought we'd have to sleep in the same double bed for a week (comparing to the gigantic King size in the Hyatt, which we did sleep together in but never even got near one another.) However, whew, the couch does turn into a bed. Disney also has an innovative but slightly irritating advancement on the room key--it also powers the lights and heater. So once you come in, you slide your key card into a slot and the lights come on. Except, as far as I can tell, you can't just have one light on by the bed to read or anything. It's either the main overhead light on or nothin'. The lamps turn on and off but only if the main one is powered.

There was a sail away party as the ship left port, with an alcoholic strawberry smoothie for me and a virgin for Demelza. We danced around to some of our favorite tunes and then toured the spa. The lady kept pressuring me to buy more packages when I'd already booked a massage and pedicures. Nope, expensive enough. The food on the ship is mostly included in the cruise price, but other stuff such as the spa, are not.

We saw a fun musical show in the theatre about a family on their first cruise--the daughter and day enthusiastic, the mom just wanting alone time and the son grumpy. Of course, they all succumbed to Disney charm. One thing I really liked about the family was that the parents were caucasian but the daughter was black. Just like us. There was also a really funny magician act--just a taste of his full length show. I want to see his whole routine, now!

We have late seating, so had to wait until after 8 to get into the restaurant. Demelza was drooping but I thought she was just tired and hungry. I'd taken a long nap after lunch, but she had not. It was a far fancier place than we usually eat, with huge portions. I chose a small wedge of romaine with tomato slices and a nice little mushroom/bacon tart. Demelza was beginning to look sickish, but I crossed my fingers that she was just exhausted. Nope. She managed to eat some of the largest piece of prime rib I've ever seen before bolting for the bathroom. She came back and gamely tried a bit of her potato but we finally had to say our goodbyes to the nice guys who share our table, and return to our room. Demelza gave back her dinner (as we nurses like to say) and fell into bed. Free dramamine from the front desk. I did watch a little of my new show, Good Karma Hospital with the help of my new DVD drive. I love it! Plugs into the computer for my viewing pleasure.

I had high hopes that Demelza would feel better this morning, but she vomited even before breakfast. She did eat some toast and OJ, and is back asleep from the dramamine. She didn't have this problem the last cruise we went on eleven years ago!

Well, I'd hoped for a quiet, relaxing cruise with some time to write, which I may get now. lol. Demelza has a fancy-schmantzy massage complete with hot rocks booked for this afternoon. Maybe that will help.

Or more dramamine.