We wrapped up things at the meet, said goodbye to Meg as she flew by us on the way to the teen club, dropped off Maddie at the Oceaneer’s Lab, and headed to Palo, the ship’s adult-only restaurant, for a mouthwatering brunch. Palo is located on the top deck aft of the ship and features a 270 degree wraparound view of the ocean. But the view takes second fiddle to the food here. We have had dinner at Palo previously, and were duly impressed, but were trying brunch as part of a group—and from strong recommendations by—14 of our new DIS board friends. We weren’t disappointed. There are too many delicious items on the brunch menu to list, but it included a wide selection of fresh fish (including caviar, which I tried and liked), hand-tossed pizzas with creamy, local cheeses and meats, and a whole table of French pastries and desserts. Wow! I’m glad we came. Angie was still a little off her game from the big waves, which were white capping in huge swells, so she went back to the room for a nap. But she made it through brunch like a trooper. I went to check on a few things at the guest services desk, including the right time for the afternoon Wine Tasting seminar, which we had signed up for the previous day. I meandered around the ship for a while, taking in a cool art auction at sea. A Picasso was on the block and will be auctioned off the last night of the cruise. I think the high bid right now is nearing $100,000. Um, that’s just a bit beyond my wallet, thank you. I then headed up to the top deck to check out a game called Sound Waves being held by the pool on the top deck. Key words from songs—like “baby”, “wild”, and “love”—were displayed on the ship’s huge funnel-mounted jumbotron and guests had to sing lyrics that matched. It was fun. I ran into Meg and some of her teen friends hanging out in the hot tub. I offered to join them, but got the evil-eye from Meg. So I moved on. It was now 3pm and time to wake Angie for our wine tasting. The event, which was held in the upscale Lumiere’s restaurant, was hosted by four of the ships 65 someliers from around the world. Today’s tasting featured six wines from throughout Italy. I learned a lot, but the main takeaway was something I already knew—Angie like red wine and I prefer whites. The event ran long, causing Angie and Maddie to miss their appointment to have high tea with one of the characters. I don’t think they minded too much. Afterwards, Angie and myself picked up Maddie at the Oceaneer’s Lab and we got the rundown of her morning—fun sports on deck and a lesson in Disney animation. She said she learned the secret to drawing Mickey and couldn’t reveal it. But that she could draw the famous mouse for us, which she did. We went back to the cabin and got our bathing suits on for a quick bite at the always-open Pluto’s Doghouse. Maddie had a taco, while Angie and I had a cheeseburger and fish sandwich, accordingly. We then had a dip in the family pool and finished things off with a soft-serve ice cream.
We headed back downstairs to prepare for the evening’s mainstage show, The Golden Mickeys. Tonight was formal night and we didn’t waste the affair. The three of us donned our fancy outfits (I miracously remembered how to tie a bow tie) and we headed to the theater. We were greeted by Red Carpet treatment, including popparazi, and made our way to our seats. The show was good, featuring song and dance to some of the classic songs from past Disney movies. Afterwards, we swung by the cabin to pick up Meg, who was now dressed, and made our way up to the atrium on Deck 3 for pictures with the ship’s captain. We received several compliments on our excellent dress. The girls looked stunning. And I was impressed by the sheer number of guests in tuxedos and formal dresses. It was quite an impressive site. We made our way along the outside deck to our dining location for the evening—Animator’s Palate, stopping along the rail for a few photo ops with the brilliant orange sun setting against the backdrop of the ocean. Once in line we ran into our table mates from Belgium. The ocean swells were still very apparent. The proof was the side-to-side sway as we made our way to our table near the back of the restaurant (and back of the ship). The girls noticed the water in our glasses moving up and down. Yes, the swells were big. Then all at once the motion—and the ship’s engines—stopped. Soon after, Cruise Director Brent made an all-ship announcement that we had to make an emergency change in direction back to a port in Sardinia (which we had passed sometime in the day) to evacuate an ill passenger. We assumed they had to make a quick bee-line to the port, which helped to explain the big swells we were encountering. Once the passenger was off the ship we headed out again, but to much calmer waters. After the entrees were delivered at dinner, the girls whoofed them down and excused themselves to go back to their appropriate clubs. We finished our meals, enjoying the new company of our friends from Belgium, and headed to the kids’ club to pick up Maddie. Her and I dropped in to Studio Sea, the ship’s working television studio, to catch the last of Family Karaoke, while Angie went to the cabin to prepare for bed. Another announcement said our jaunt back to Sicily would create a delay of two hours for our arrival in port in Palermo Monday. That seemed fine to us as we had been scheduled to leave the ship for our excursion at 7:45am. That was now pushed to 9am. Megan went to bed and I headed upstairs for this trip report. I’m hoping that Meg will be home when I get back. Well, that’s all for now. Tomorrow we do “A Day on the Farm” in Palermo via a DCL excursion. Yes, we have many farms at home. But the excursion promises the kids the opportunity to make Italian bread and mozzarella cheese on a working Italian farm. And then enjoy the fruits of our labor in a traditional Italian lunch. How could we say no! I’m sure it will be another great day on the Med.
No comments:
Post a Comment