IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE YOUR MONEY - a Delightful Westbound Panama Canal Adventure for Kids of All Ages

[MickeyEarrings]

CELEBRATE THE THINGS YOU HAVE IN COMMON! – April 24, a day at sea

Today would be our first full day, and it was a day at sea. I love sea days! I love waking up when I want to, doing whatever I want, whenever I want… But today was a rather structured sea day!


Mark’s alarm went off at 6:30. I snoozed while he showered and I eventually got up around seven, because we had a breakfast date with Mickey and pals!! Mark went to the Cove Café for his cappuccino(s?) while I showered and dressed, then we made our way down to Animator’s Palate for our Mickey and Pals Character Breakfast. This is a ticketed event, and we signed up for it when we did our online check-in 105 days before sailing. We were meeting Fred and Kathy and their friends Susan & Tom. We were taken to a table for eight, and shortly thereafter two young ladies arrived to complete the table.



This is a limited breakfast menu, but you’re not really here for the food, are you? You’re here for the characters.






But I have to admit, it was kind of a love-‘em-and-shove-‘em kind of character experience. We were advised to have our cameras on and ready to go when the characters arrived, and while they did sign autographs the whole experience was kind of a letdown, compared to the awesome, random character interactions you have onboard. Mickey left our table so quickly Susan and Tom didn’t get autographs, so they had to have him brought back out! But we did get some cute pictures! – you’ll note Mark couldn’t stand his hat and he ditched it pretty quickly!



After breakfast I went back to the room to catch up my journal notes while Mark went walking. We agreed to meet in the Walt Disney Theater for Captain Ken Puckett’s 11:00 lecture on the Panama Canal. Cpt. Puckett is a retired Panama Canal pilot, and has taken almost 1500 ships through the Canal. (A ship’s captain relinquishes control of his vessel to a trained Canal pilot for the transit – the Canal pilot tells the ship’s captain what to do and he carries out those commands.) Today’s talk was about the Age of Exploration, and the need to have a shortcut through Central America to prevent ships having to go around the tip of South America to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Again, I’m not a history fan, but this background was important to understanding the bigger story behind the Canal, and I thought he did a great job trying to pack a lot of information into a forty-five minute presentation. He is also a very entertaining speaker, and I enjoyed all of his lectures, which were also shown on TV for those unable to see him live. He estimated that our fee to make the transit was in the five to six hundred thousand dollar range!



After Captain Puckett’s presentation it was time to eat again – really! Deb is an avid quilter and she had organized a fabric exchange. Eighteen of us signed up to exchange a “fat quarter” of batik fabric with a beach or ocean theme. We would then take those pieces home and make a special piece to remind us of our cruise. Lunch was at noon in Triton’s, and I was surprised to see the lunch menus now on a horizontal card, with small plate offerings. Maybe they finally realized we don’t all want a three-course lunch. Didn’t stop me, though…



Lunch was Mexican Tortilla Soup

Tomato Glazed Meatloaf (not near as good as MY meatloaf!)





And the Italian Style Ice Cream Sundae

Kathy was at the luncheon too, and she said our husbands were meeting up for lunch at Cabanas. Afterward, I took my fabric back to the room and took a good look at it; I think the colors all go great together!



There were so many fish extender gifts on the bed when I returned! I didn’t know if Mark or Agung brought them in, but my poor fish extender must have been bulging at the seams!!



I tied up a few more FE gifts (we gave a fabric grocery bag with the bow of the ship and the dates on the front – Mark designed it!) before heading upstairs to see Pixar Short Films on Funnel Vision at 2:45. But they never showed it! 2:45 came and went and they didn’t show it; after a while they showed a little cartoon with Pumbaa and Timon teaching pool safety. Bummer… Mark eventually caught up with me there, and we went up to deck ten to admire the ocean. We found two loungers in the shade and turned them around, toward the water. We had just commented that a drink would be nice when Bert the bar waiter walked by. Mark had a beer and I had the second-best Pina Colada I’ve ever had in my life!




Soon enough, it was time to dress for dinner – tonight was Formal Night and the Captain’s Welcome Reception!

I was still having big troubles with that darned blister, and my dress shoes were killing me, but we slowly made our way through the reception in the atrium on our way to Triton’s for dinner. The reception offers free cocktails, and Bert the waiter called me by name to offer me a drink. Now, I know I’m a pretty generous tipper, but I didn’t expect him to remember my name!

We had a lovely dinner at Triton’s. The roving photographers took our photographs, but frankly the ones on our camera were just as good.




Some of my food photos from tonight were a little fuzzy. I had to borrow the menu photos from the Disney Cruise Line Blog.






We both started with the Breaded and Deep-Fried Brie



And while he had the Potage Parmentier (leek and potato soup)…



I had the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp as my second course.



My entrée was the Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak



And Mark had the Conchiglie Pasta (with roasted lobster)



He chose the Classic Opera Gateau for dessert, which didn’t seem to wow him.



I chose my favorite dish from Triton’s: the Grand Marnier Souffle!



We had asked our service team to speed up dinner a little bit tonight, because one of our prearrange group activities was a group photo in front of Triton’s at 7:30. We left dinner with ten minutes to spare, and taking the photo was a hoot! We had one person in the line as our placeholder and the rest of us were milling around in the atrium. When she got to the front of the line the rest of us ran up, fanning out around the steps and halfway up the stairs! It’s a wonderful way to remember the group – and look at the poor entertainers in the back left! They probably wondered what the heck was going on!



As the group broke up after the photo, we were walking back toward our room when another member of the group walked up to us and asked “Isn’t there supposed to be a photo tonight?”…. Oh no!! - You literally just missed it!

Tomorrow we would be in Cozumel and we had an excursion planned, so despite the Cruise Director’s promise that the comedy show tonight was not to be missed I decided my sore feet and I needed to stay in this evening. Mark took some gift cards and rewards points to Guest Services to put on our account, and I had asked him to increase the gratuities for our service team. He said they couldn’t do it yet; it wasn’t in the system yet. That seems like a very un-Disney thing. The answer is always yes! And how unlike them to refuse to take our money… Anyway, I watched the last half of Beauty and the Beast on TV, and the beginning of Toy Story 3. Bart texted me to arrange to meet in the morning to share a cab for our excursion. Mr. Turtle was our towelie tonight, and he reminded us to turn our clocks back before we turned in.



Ah!...extra sleep! I set a timer for X amount of hours, in addition to turning back the clocks on our phones. Mark tried to turn back the room clock but decided it was impossible. The ship’s gentle rocking lulled us off to sleep.

 

[princessmommyx3]

Ha ha! We couldn't figure out how to change the clocks either! We thought ours was broken until our room host did it for us. What was up with those???

 

[WldWcnWmn☆]

Dinner ran late for us, a fiasco of dinning room events, followed us; that cruise.
Love the TR! ♡

 

[ohMom]

Great start! Can't wait for more

We had the same rotation as you, but late dining. That couscous salad on the first night was wonderful! I'm glad you have a pic of the menu because I'm going to try to recreate it at home !

Love your Doxie towel animal!I'm

On your next cruise check and see if the first night show is Be our Guest. We went as it was our friends first cruise, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the show was different and the usual Welcome Aboard family didn't make any appearances thankfully they maybe have learned their way around the ship!

 

[Shoshie]

Love the report - takes me back. So sorry we missed the group photo -- we were always at C&F at 7:30 kicking booty in trivia. And we ended up unplugging the room clock because it kept going off at strange times.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

We have 5022 booked on the our Mediterranean cruise next year....... Did you enjoy the location?...

I realized I neglected to answer the question about the location

I loved being on deck five! It was four flights straight up to the Cove Cafe, a quick flight down to those nice blue loungers on deck four, and close to the Walt Disney theater, shops, Triton's and the atrium. Going to Cabanas or to Palo, we usually walked straight back on deck five. Because we were so far forward, the rooms are on either side of the forward elevators and a crew area. So our hall was pretty quiet, with maybe twenty rooms. It wasn't at all like walking down a never-ending hallway like you would on the other passenger decks.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

On your next cruise check and see if the first night show is Be our Guest. We went as it was our friends first cruise, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the show was different and the usual Welcome Aboard family didn't make any appearances thankfully they maybe have learned their way around the ship!

...and that it's cool for teens to go to Edge? LOL!

 

[BartmanLA]

Ha ha! We couldn't figure out how to change the clocks either! We thought ours was broken until our room host did it for us. What was up with those???

Actually the clocks are set by the room hosts, to accommodate the time zone changes, at least ours was changed every night we had a zone change when we got back to our room, I believe they use some kind of remote control to keep them all on the same time and synchronized ship wide. There is the ability to set an alarm on them but that's the only setting a passenger can do. Of course placing a wake up call through guest services is the best way to make sure you're up on time for any special event or excursion.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Actually the clocks are set by the room hosts, to accommodate the time zone changes, at least ours was changed every night we had a zone change when we got back to our room, I believe they use some kind of remote control to keep them all on the same time and synchronized ship wide. There is the ability to set an alarm on them but that's the only setting a passenger can do. Of course placing a wake up call through guest services is the best way to make sure you're up on time for any special event or excursion.

Now you tell me!

 

[princessmommyx3]

Actually the clocks are set by the room hosts, to accommodate the time zone changes, at least ours was changed every night we had a zone change when we got back to our room, I believe they use some kind of remote control to keep them all on the same time and synchronized ship wide. There is the ability to set an alarm on them but that's the only setting a passenger can do. Of course placing a wake up call through guest services is the best way to make sure you're up on time for any special event or excursion.

Thank you for explaining that! Now I don't feel like such an idiot. Our host did change them during turn down the second 2 times, but he must have forgotten the first time. He did do it the next morning though.

 

[Aby]

Thank you so much for your thoughts about 5022! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Aby

 

[wilma-bride]

Great updates Linda. We seem to have eaten many of the same things about dinner so I am interested on your take on the food. I actually loved the new menus for Tritons lunches, although I was disappointed to see a couple of my favourites weren't on the menu at least not on any of the occasions we had lunch there. The lunch food was definitely mostly good though.

Loved your dachshund on the first night - I have to say that our towel animals, while not disappointing (because everybody loves a towel animal right) were of the same old, same old 'had them on every Disney cruise so far' variety. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that the better room hosts are assigned to the higher category staterooms and the cheapskates like me get stuck with the hosts who basically just 'do the job'.

Thanks for posting the group picture - although I do have a copy too, thanks to Chris - it really was a great picture.

 

[tch121]

Love all the food pics!

 

[MickeyEarrings]

REHYDRATE YOUR SOUL! April 25, Cozumel





Darren, our Cruise Director, mentioned last night the “gift” we were being given – an extra hour of sleep. You’ll recall in addition to setting the clock back on my phone, I had set a timer as well; I do it at home when the time changes, so I’m not late for work. Well, even with that double-check in place, I still got it wrong! I woke up when my alarm went off at seven and Mark asked if I was okay.

“Well, of course I’m okay… Why?”

“Because it’s six o’clock.”

I may have told him he was crazy because I was so shocked my timer backup had failed me. I ended up sheepishly calling Guest Services, who confirmed the ship’s time to be 6:08a.m. It’s worth noting that the time on the Bridge Report on TV, which I’m sharing every day, was wrong as well. I’m blaming the whole debacle on my phone being in airplane mode, where Mark had purchased the internet package and GPS told his phone the correct time zone.

Anyway, once I’m up, I’m up, so we showered and dressed and went to the Cove Café for coffees and pastries – triple shot cappuccino for him, and a soy mocha for me.





I had to take a picture of their funky cold brew machine to show our younger son.





We had a chat with our new Canadian friends Rick and Sandra; we seemed to bump into them quite often. (Sandra told me when I met her at the meet & greet on the first day that I gave great hugs! – thanks Sandra!) Anyway, the pastries in the Cove used to be self-serve but there is clearly a sign informing you that staff is happy to serve you. Because of that, I chose according to the names on the cards, rather than opening the case and seeing them well. As we were chatting I noticed that my strawberry cake had some little orange fruit on it, and fearing I was about to get “mangoed” I gave it to Mark. I wasn’t going to risk being red and blotchy all day, away from the ship.


After coffee we went to Cabanas so I could get some protein…and a few carbs. It’s not a cruise without those chocolate Krispy Kremes!





We found a great table outdoors on the stern, and after breakfast we walked up to deck 10 to watch us dock. We stood on the port side, forward, by the basketball court, where Queen’s “We Are the Champions” was blaring as we pulled in next to the Norwegian Jade. How appropriate!





I needed to put on some sunscreen before we went into town, and as we returned to the room I got a text from Kathy saying she wasn’t feeling well so they would be staying onboard. (We had all arranged our ride-sharing through Facebook before we left home.) We found Bart and Hym at the Promenade Lounge and explained there would only be the four of us today, so we made our way down to deck one and quickly scanned ourselves off the ship. As in every port, we had to walk past the shops and hawkers to get out to the street, but Cozumel has a MUCH larger shopping area than I’ve ever had to walk through! Thankfully, it was covered, and cool. We had a little bit of an issue getting a cab, but once settled in we had a good trip to the Mr. Sanchos resort, for $18US plus tip, each way, for the four of us. Mark even noted that the roads were in better shape than the ones at home!







When we were planning our excursions, Mark and I decided to do something different in each port: a day boating, a food adventure, an architectural –type city tour, and a day at the beach. I need to see the ocean every few years or so; I once told Mark I need sea water to rehydrate my soul… being at the beach is just good for me. We chose Mr. Sanchos because they had good reviews on Trip Advisor, and because Mark writes so many reviews for them we were offered a $5 discount on our all-inclusive tickets. We turned in our voucher, got our wristbands, and were led down to the beach. The sand was very loose, and difficult to walk in – I wonder how those waiters can carry a tray without dropping it?! We found four loungers together and settled in. Our waiter Eduardo brought us cold bottles of water (seals intact! – yes, I checked!) and menus, telling us to let him know if we needed anything at all.














Bart and Hym headed down to the water while Mark and I read a bit. It didn’t take long for us all to decide we needed to rent umbrellas - $12 plus a $10 deposit. We went into the water shortly after the guys came out. There were several wave runners out, and lots of people wading in the clear blue water. But that darned loose sand was even harder to walk in when it was wet, and I fell trying to get out of the water. I was okay (I was actually laughing about it), but since I was there on my rear end I decided I would stay there a while. Mark went out a little further in the water and found a piece of coral that had a heart shape in it.


After my extrication from the sand, we returned to our loungers and our books, and ordered drinks – beer for Mark and a Pina Colada for me. Bart and Hym moved to a vacant table and we joined them there a while later to order lunch. Mark had the mixed seafood ceviche…





…but his Spicy Caribbean fries were plain old American fries. I had a shrimp cocktail…




…and chips & guacamole. I’m ashamed to admit it wasn’t as good as Qdoba’s.

It was also during lunch that the woman in front of us on the beach came over to strike up a conversation with us. Now, I can talk to anyone about anything, but this was so random. She thought Bart and I were brother and sister, and she thought Mark was a doctor. No, but he could design you a nice hospital! I have to wonder how many pina coladas she had had by that point. The usual hawkers were there – hair braiders with their creepy plastic heads, the mariachi band, take-your-picture-with-a-parrot, and this guy, carrying an iguana in a Pampers on his shoulder for photos. I’ve officially seen everything.



All-aboard was at 5:15, but we weren’t planning on staying late. We left around two, after tipping Eduardo and buying a piece of art from a potter on our way out. I should mention that Kathy was feeling better so they did eventually come out as well; she found us at lunch. They were seated by the bar and she said the college-aged girls in the pool were acting drunk and stupid (my words, not hers); parents may want to consider this. Also, our new friends Elaine & Jim had rented a cabana with Daniel & Adam; the cabanas looked nice but I have no idea what the extra cost was.

On returning to the ship we were greeted with the usual cold water and icy washcloths under a sunshade. With few people in line, we were soon on the ship and upstairs trying to get the sand off our feet (and other places) before we showered and dressed. We wanted to be sure to be on deck four at all-aboard time to watch the runners, trying to get to the ship before we leave without them.

Down on deck four we ran into Adam and Shonna, the young couple we met in the lobby of POFQ on embarkation day. We weren’t disappointed – there were lots of runners! But they were all from a DCL excursion that was late returning. We watched the untying process and enjoyed that beautiful, clear blue water again during sail away. I swear we could see the bottom of the harbor!


Dinner was at 5:45 in Animator’s Palate, also on deck four, so we arrived right on time. Tonight was the Drawn to Magic show, featuring Sorcerer Mickey. The screens on the walls show the initial pencil sketches from the movies, which are then inked, then painted before becoming animated.






Because of all those colored pictures on the walls, it was hard to take good photos of the menus.






I started with the Black Truffle Pasta Pursiettes, a favorite of mine which were unfortunately not very hot this night.



Then the Creamy Butternut Squash Soup



Tim got chicken most every night, and I would normally have gotten the Lemon-Thyme Marinated All-Natural Chicken Breast like he did, but something made me decide to broaden my horizons and order the Herb-Crusted Pork Chop instead, with a baked potato instead of the tomato risotto, which sounded like it would taste like Spaghettios. I once watched someone make this on the Food Network, so it must be good! There was just one little problem – I COULDN’T CUT IT! I mean, I literally could not cut through it.




Duran, our server, was very apologetic and asked if I wanted something different but I’m not one to cause a fuss, and I still had plenty to eat. But I did want them to know that they had an obvious product problem that they needed to address. No more was mentioned until we were ready to leave and a chef came out to talk to me about it. Oh my gosh! You didn’t need to send a chef!! But he appreciated the information and seemed genuinely concerned that I had not enjoyed my meal. The topper to the meal was when Mark grabbed the underside of his chair to scoot away from the table and he pricked his finger on an upholstery tack! Maybe we shouldn’t have laughed at the runners…


After dinner we went up to the room to drop off the camera and grab some movie snacks. There was a magician in the Walt Disney Theater tonight, which we didn’t care to see, so we went to see The Wizard of Oz on the big screen in the Buena Vista Theater. I wanted to sit in the front row so I could stretch my legs and not have to chew on my artificial knees, and on the way down the steps I pinched my finger on one of the handholds. It immediately started bleeding. Mark had a tissue and I thought that would control it, but I bled through it. He alerted a cast member in the back of the theater to the wobbly rail, and he got me a bandaid and taped the rail together, letting me know he would have maintenance look at it in the morning. After the movie we walked through the shops; I wanted to get some flip flops to give my blistered heel a break, but I didn’t see anything I liked. Mark went up to walk deck 10 and I went back to the room to catch up on my journal. I watched Ratatouille with our towelie, Mr. Ray.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

FOOD BRINGS “INVISIBLE FRIENDS” TOGETHER – sea day, April 26

Today was another day at sea, as we traveled toward Cartagena. Mark was up to go walking at 6:30, as usual. Unfortunately, the bathroom light was bright enough to wake his sleeping princess but I was able to snooze until about 7:30. The wound on my finger from the hand hold in the theater was really deep, so I had to keep putting new bandaids on it as I washed my hands; my supply would not last long at this rate, and I feared I would need to shop for more at some point. I found some more sand when I showered (where had that been hiding?!) and when Mark returned around 8:30 I was dressed and ready to start the day. We had a 9:00 meet and greet with the Frozen characters, and I was pretty sure he didn’t want to go, so I offered him the opportunity to cancel, and he did. We called Guest Services to let them give our tickets to someone on the wait list. There was no breakfast this morning for us, since we were having brunch at Palo at ten, so we ran a few errands to kill some time: the internet package Mark bought wasn’t working so we stopped at the Connect at Sea desk to get that straightened out. I know that poor guy does one thing, and one thing only, all day every day, but I never saw him smile and frankly, he always acted kind of surly. Very un-Disney! From there we walked up to Shutters to see the photos we’d had taken so far. I had pre-purchased a twenty-photo photobook, and if the first three days were any indication, we were going to have lots of trouble finding twenty good photos. With calm seas, bright sun, and a gentle breeze we walked along deck four for a bit before heading up to Palo. We were attending the first of four group brunches arranged in our Facebook group, which Bart was kind enough to organize.

There were thirteen of us, and we became fast friends pretty quickly. I was especially thrilled to have Mike and Thea in our group; Thea had recently lost her mother as well, and had contemplated cancelling the trip. I’m so glad she didn’t – and she admitted that she was too! We hugged like old friends, even though we were meeting face-to-face for the first time.


Anyway, after taking our drink orders our amazing server Hristo, from Bulgaria, walked us through the buffet line, then returned us to our private dining room to explain the menu. He told us over and over again to ask him for absolutely anything we might need. Some of us who have cruised before asked if one of the items they had taken off the menu – the grape and gorgonzola pizza - could be specially made for us. Hristo promised to ask the chef, and he delivered! I think he ended up bringing three different pizzas for the table; we had so much food we had to remove the flower arrangement! I ordered a calzone and was shocked it almost filled the plate! I don’t recall what Mark had, but I will never forget that Hym ordered the sea bass, because when Hristo asked if he wanted pepper on it, Jackie, sitting next to him, said “He doesn’t have room for pepper!” We were all so stuffed, but so happy…what a wonderful way to meet my “invisible friends” from the internet! Food always brings people together, and we were there for over two hours!

The cheese table:

Seafood:

Meats, fruits and veggies:

Breads and pastries:

And desserts:

Hristo took a group photo for us, and as we left Mark and booked another brunch for late the next week. Here we are, stuffed and happy: Jim & Diane, Tyler & Panda, Mark & I, Bart & Hym, behind Thea & Mike, Sandra, Kris & her mother Jackie.





We waddled back to our room to change into more casual (stretchy) clothes, then went up to deck 9 because I needed to get Pluto’s autograph for another “invisible friend.” My internet friend Sunny Blue is a Golden Retriever who is training to be a therapy dog. He is part of a pack of six Goldens who are helping him learn the ropes, because Blue was born with no eyes. Mark and I lost our Golden, Reno, in 2013 and he was totally blind the last few years of his life, so I’ve been able to offer Blue’s mommy some hints. We’ve never met in person, but I totally love this dog. I asked his mommy if there was something Pluto could autograph for Blue, and Pluto gladly autographed two photos.



Check out more adorable photos on Blue’s FB page: Sunny Blue Blind and Blessed.




This is a great time to talk about the “mystery lady.” There was a beautiful Oriental woman, thirty-ish, with an older woman I assume was her mother. Mystery Lady had very elaborate clothing to match the characters’ clothes, and we watched her having pictures made with Stitch after Pluto left. She literally had at least five pictures on his left side, then went to his right side, then they held their arms differently, THEN they used her camera! Of course, they repeated this with Mom, and then had to take the same photos together! Later in the trip, when I saw her in line for a character meet, I just kept walking. Ain’t nobody got time for that…


Believe it or not, pretty soon we had to eat again…


We had a group Tea scheduled for 4pm. It’s not something the cruise line normally does, but we expressed an interest in the group and Disney made it happen! Back in the room around 3:30, Mark had what we call in the Midwest a come-to-Jesus moment and decided he had no business putting anything else in his mouth right now, so I went to Tea in the Crown & Fin without him. I sat with a nice couple from Washington State, by a porthole so we could see the sea. There was a drinks station with coffee and teas, and a buffet table with tiny cakes and sandwiches. Unfortunately, the room is just not configured to accommodate two long lines of people, and it was a bit of a zoo with almost ninety people, and a very slow process.



Fred and Kathy were there with Susan & Tom, and I believe I told them then that we would not be at dinner. Outside the C&F, I walked through the small Sea Treasures gift shop, which focused mainly on Star Wars themed items. I saw a nice t-shirt for my brother-in-law but I wasn’t sure what size to get so I made a mental note to come back later with Mark. You can’t take the stairs from deck three to deck five without stopping at the shops on four, can you? I can’t. I got a DCL Panama Canal crossing postcard for my invisible friend Joanna who had to cancel her trip to have lung surgery. I also got her the commemorative pin, and some for my family as well.

Back in the room, we watched Captain Puckett’s lecture from this morning on TV. We later decided we could tolerate a light dinner (a sandwich or salad) and went up to the pool deck to see what our options were. Unfortunately, Daisy’s Delites was closed, meaning the only food available at the time was pizza or fried food. Mark decided we should try Cabanas, which offers a menu service at dinner.



The menu is limited, and when you order you request your entire meal, including dessert, which is different than in the main dining rooms. On this particular night, several of the menu items were things we had had the night before. Cabanas uses the dinner service to train new staff for the dining room, and our server Carlos was obviously nervous, but he was very sweet. Of course, we had to walk past the self-serve ice cream machines on the way to buy that t-shirt, so we had to check out the flavor of the day – banana! Yum! Two, please!

The show tonight was the Golden Mickeys, which I hate, but the new live action Beauty and the Beast movie was showing at the same time. Unfortunately, dinner made us late for it, so I went back to the room for the evening while Mark walked the decks. I found myself having to admit that I was bored…which isn’t supposed to happen on a cruise ship! But without our usual meal time we were off-schedule for all the other entertainment. I watched Ratatouille (again) and Mark went to the Buena Vista Theater to see Dr Strange at 10:45. My evening ended with the discovery of a blister on the other heel. The jackelope and I fell asleep pretty quickly.

 

[WldWcnWmn☆]

I'm so happy, that we managed to sail after all. I wish we had hung out more. We had second seating on the "boo-hoo cruise." It messed me up; we missed the shows and totally skipped Tiana's. 3 day cruise, 3 mdr restraunts... seems like a no-brainer. Going to the show before dinner, was weird and wrong.
We changed to main seating, for the "honeymoon cruise." It was much better and children were a non-issue.
I hope we find ourselves, on the same Disney cruise, in the future. Mickey bars, will be on me! ♡

 

[MickeyEarrings]

...
I hope we find ourselves, on the same Disney cruise, in the future. Mickey bars, will be on me! ♡

I hope I can take you up on that one day!!

 

[MickeyEarrings]

FEELING SMALL IN THE BIG OL’ BLUE – a day at sea, April 27




Today was another day to enjoy at sea. Mark was up to go walking at 6:30, but I woke up with my right hip hurting terribly, so after finding a relatively comfortable position I slept another hour, then took a quick shower. I watched one of my favorite movies, “UP,” while waiting for Mark to return, and saw another visitor on our verandah. I had researched the secret porthole rooms and knew there would be workmen outside while we were in port, but I never expected to see one while we were at sea! He wasn’t wearing a harness or a life vest, and the Bridge Report channel at the time said the sea was almost two miles deep at that point! I was stunned…


Mark finally returned and we left for breakfast. We had decided last night to have breakfast in Triton’s, but when we got there they were closed – I guessed we should have read that little post-it note sized Navigator Agung left us last night! But we had a nice breakfast at Cabanas anyway. Mmm…POG juice… POG is short for Passion fruit, orange and guava, and I can’t find it here at home, so it’s a real treat on the ships. The dispenser says “Orchard’s Best,” which is the brand name.




We sat indoors, because it was already so hot outside, and with Triton’s closed, it was packed! After breakfast Mark did a little reading and I delivered some gifts for the Fish Extender and Recipe exchanges. I broke my deliveries into six or seven zones (far forward, far aft, midship-to-aft…) so I wasn’t walking all over the ship every time I made a delivery. It worked really well for me, and I’m glad I put the time into organizing it that way. I collected Mark to hear Captain Puckett speak again at eleven; Panama Fever was building! Today’s talk was on “Piloting a Ship Through the Panama Canal.” As usual, he had lots of funny “sea stories” and great photos. He also explained to us how the fee for the transit is calculated. He had earlier told us he would guess our fee was in the five to six hundred thousand dollar range, but today he showed us these figures: first, the fee just for the ship, with the extra 10% fee for priority passage (which bought us an early time slot, instead of randomly waiting to pass).





Then he explained that there is a fee for each passenger, as well as each empty bed…PLUS the ten percent priority fee, again.





So, if I heard him right, we would pay the total of these two slides, or almost $900,000. I haven’t been able to find the total amount anywhere on line, but if someone has, I would really like to know!


We had been planning to see the newly released Disney Nature movie “Born in China” at one o’clock in the Buena Vista Theater, but that would have us eating lunch at 2:30 when the film ended, and you can’t do that when you have dinner at 5:45. Hmm…I was starting to rethink this early dining thing. We checked Triton’s lunch menu outside their door and decided it was too fussy for us today. We walked down to deck 2 aft to deliver some gifts, then went up to Cabana’s where I stepped up to the hand washing sink and tried to scrub up to the elbows like I was at work – ha ha! The buffet seemed to have the same old, same old items today, with an Indian food bar on the end; we decided on burgers on the pool deck instead – a cheeseburger for me, and a fish burger for Mark. It was so windy today I had to stab my knife through my burger to keep the top bun from flying off!





We read at a table in the Quiet Cove for a while, chatting with Fred and Kathy. At one point I glanced up and noticed something out in the water. After a bit this “something” got bigger and I realized it was another ship, and it was coming toward us! Now, earlier in the day I had remarked how incredibly small I felt out here on the ocean; literally just a speck on a dot in the middle of the big ol’ blue, and here’s another ship so close I was worried he might hit us! But he passed behind us in our wake without incident. Here’s a photo of the container ship, straight out of camera, not a telephoto. Too close for my comfort!





Around 2:30 we got drinks from the drinks station and went back to the room for some air-conditioned rest before the 4:30 Gold and Platinum Castaway Club Reception, my first ever! I’ve read that these events are usually held in one of the bars or lounges, but because there were so many of us on this voyage, it would be held at the Goofy pool. While we rested we were entertained by yet another “visitor,” this one properly restrained (times two!), scrubbing away with a tiny little brush on the end of a very long pole.
















We arrived to the reception ten minutes early, thinking we would get a good seat, only to find the place already packed and the free drinks flowing.






We stood on the sidelines for a bit, then Sandra and Rick offered us a seat at their table. We stayed until about 5:15, then ran back to the room to freshen up for dinner and stash these little beauties!




Dinner tonight was back in Triton’s, where we would enjoy the World of Flavour menu.









Mark started with the Vietnamese Spring Rolls, which he seemed to like.


And I had the Argentinian Empanada, which I enjoyed.




The soup and salad offerings must have been lame, because I don’t have photographs of them. The bread service was interesting, though, as tonight featured pretzel rolls and a liverwurst spread. Regretfully, as was the case every night, there were only a couple pieces of the featured bread, and the rest of us ate the hard white rolls. Come on, Disney – give us more special bread! We paid for it, didn’t we?





I got brave and tried the pork again, this time as the Swiss Pork Medallions with Spatzle, which I enjoyed very much.





Mark undoubtedly had the Cod, but I have no pictures; we all know what cod looks like…

Dessert was one of the best ones yet – Passion Fruit Creme Brulee with a Raspberry Macaroon.





We dropped our camera off in the room and after grabbing some candy we had received in our fish extender, we walked down the hall to the Buena Vista Theater to see “Zootopia.” Mark walked the decks again, which I think he does for photography opportunities as well as exercise, and I sorted laundry – tomorrow I would be up at 6a.m. to hit the launderette, while Mark would be up early for his 8:30 walking tour of Cartagena. Ever the party animal, I fell asleep early. Our towelie tonight was…um…a crab? A frog? A conundrum!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I am so loving your trip report. Of course the title got me as I used to read "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" to my kids all the time when they were little.

 

[cmph]

This is a great time to talk about the “mystery lady.” There was a beautiful Oriental woman, thirty-ish, with an older woman I assume was her mother. Mystery Lady had very elaborate clothing to match the characters’ clothes, and we watched her having pictures made with Stitch after Pluto left. She literally had at least five pictures on his left side, then went to his right side, then they held their arms differently, THEN they used her camera! Of course, they repeated this with Mom, and then had to take the same photos together! Later in the trip, when I saw her in line for a character meet, I just kept walking. Ain’t nobody got time for that…

I just started reading your report last night b/c I have to live vicariously through the longer-length cruise trip reports. I'm really enjoying it!

And then I just about snorted my coffee at the part about the elaborately dressed lady!! Unless there are a bunch of ladies who do this, she was on our 7-day Wonder cruise over this past New Year's! We couldn't get over how she matched Minnie (always Minnie), whether it was an exact replica she'd had custom made or very closely mimicked similar dress. Every.single.outfit. My parents were beyond fascinated by her and her mom, partially b/c of the outfit thing and how her mom followed her around accommodating it all, and partially b/c those 2 little Japanese ladies could put it away in the buffet. They would some times see them there and first remark on the height of the food on the plates, and then add "well, I guess we know what Minnie is wearing today!" I was just telling DH what you wrote, and he said they must be loaded to go on all these cruises and pay for all these outfits. My dad jokingly asked me a while back if I thought the Japanese lady and her mom would be on our Alaskan cruise next summer... and maybe they will be!! It's something we'll never forget, that's for sure. Now I wonder if she's some well-known Japanese Disney blogger or something. That or a Super-Fan, that's for sure!