Double Dip with a touch of drama - 11/29/19 from Galveston - COMPLETED

Thursday, December 5 – At Sea



I was determined to try and stay in bed a bit later this morning seeing as I had been up around 7 am every other day. 😆 I successfully made it until about 8 am before my nosiness got the better of me. Another beautiful day out on the seas. :love:





Today we had brunch in Palo scheduled for 10:00 am so we elected to not eat anything at all before we went up there. Judy from Barbados was our server. She’s one of the few “old timers” left up in Palo, and we enjoy seeing her. :goodvibes



We all took a look at the menu to see what we would eat after we had eaten. :laughing:



Scott got a good selection, his always looks delicious when I am looking at the photos afterwards. ::yes::



I got a smaller plate, hoping not to get too full before the “real” food arrives.



Mum wanted a tomato juice as they have the “good stuff” in Palo. :thumbsup2



Scott was complaining about how bright it was, even with the shades down, so he borrowed Paul’s sunglasses. Um. No. Just, no. :rotfl2:



Judy offered us all a special that the chef was serving today because he was excited about going on vacation. :laughing: I’m sure the part about going on vacation was true! I decided to get it and so did Belinda. It was a soft boiled egg, that had been breaded in panko bread crumbs and then fried with some kind of sauce with truffle oil. It was really good, but between the sauce and the fried egg it was really rich.



Scott had the tomato and onion omelet.



OK, so go back a couple of nights when we were in Cadillac Lounge on Scott’s birthday. :scratchin After everyone else had left, Scott and I saw someone on the table in front of us get a glass of Veuve Cliquot Rich. I had heard about it, it is the Veuve Cliquot answer to Moet Ice, but I hadn’t had a chance to find it or try it. I figured it you could get it in Cadillac Lounge, they could probably get it in Palo, so I asked Judy. No big surprise that they went out of their way to send someone to get a bottle for us all to share. And here it is all nicely presented in a glass. Deeeelicious! :drinking1



Hmmm, I’m not sure what Scott got for his main course (maybe the same as me) but I went with the red snapper. Judy said that today it was halibut instead of red snapper but honestly, I am no fish expert so it didn’t matter to me. I was torn between that and the Artichoke Ravioli, so Judy bought one for the table to share. Belinda and I were the only ones to attempt to eat it though. :blush:





We rolled on to dessert. Mum said she didn’t want anything, but she agreed to try the tiramisu and the panna cotta that I got. The panna cotta is by far my favorite thing on the dessert buffet but the tiramisu is pretty good as well.



Scott got a few things, but by now we were all stuffed to the brim.



Judy brought Scott a Happy Birthday plate…evidently he has been under an assumed alias the entire cruise. :rotfl: But it was actually a really nice surprise because we had all completely forgotten about it being his birthday anyway!



We had been in Palo for a couple of hours by now so we said goodbye to everyone and wobbled our way back to the cabin. Jude had very rudely left our eviction notice while we were gone. :cool: But, we were going to get an extra hour of sleep tonight with the clocks going back an hour. :banana:



We were all too exhausted to make it to Movie Tunes Trivia at 1:15 pm :laughing: but we did rally to get to Movie Quotes Trivia at 2:30 pm.





We got 14 out of 20 which was pretty good considering we looked at each other with blank expressions for most of them! :rolleyes: :confused:



Scott and Paul had another game of backgammon or three.



Eventually we had to tear them away so that we could go back to the cabins to pack. :sad: Scott and I managed to get packed pretty quickly and we put on a movie to chill out for a while. I have no idea what the movie was, looks like The Rock was in it. :confused3



Packed and ready to put them outside. :worried:



Continued in next post.
 
It was a promising sky tonight and we wanted to make the most of the verandah while we could so we went out to watch the day fade away. :cloud9:



Scott got some good photos of Mum and I. :lovestruc







But the sun was playing peekaboo with the clouds and the sunset wasn’t as pretty as it had been yesterday.



A couple more photos just while we were out there.





We went down to Crown and Fin for the last trivia session. It was 2000’s music trivia, which Paul and Belinda are pretty good at, but Scott and I are awful at. Needless to say, we didn’t win. :rotfl:



Mum and I took a slow walk to Tritons while the other three caught up. Belinda got a good photo of the boys by the Christmas tree. :rotfl2: Too bad we didn’t think to get one of all of us though! :cool:



Mum and I had made it to Triton’s and sat down by the time they all arrived. Apparently, I had sat down in the wrong place and Scott pouted that he and Paul were going to be separated. :rolleyes2 I gave in and moved. Here they are – back together again. Ugg…boys!! :laughing:





We had used the last of Paul’s wine package last night so tonight we elected to buy a single bottle. Paul picked this one, and then, because I gave them my card to pay for it, he bought another one and paid for it himself – so we ended up with two bottles. We drank them…don’t worry. :drinking1



It was Captain’s Gala night in Triton’s tonight, which was somewhat strange on the last night, but it’s a menu we enjoy, so no complaints. Scott got the Aged Prosciutto and lobster and I got the chicken fettucini.







He ordered apple pie for dessert and I got the crème brulee. Yummy!





And now I have a trip report mystery, because I also have this photograph of Belinda with the Mickey Ice Cream bar…again. :scratchin:scratchin:scratchin So, I’m going to say it was tonight she ordered it. :mickeybar Who the heck knows…you get what you pay for on the trip report front. :rotfl2:



We were done with dinner just before 10 am and decided to hang about and watch the Til We Meet again show.



I thought we’d get a better view, and it would be less crowded a bit further up, so we ended up on deck 5.





Scott was still downstairs busy with his camera. You can just make him out in this one…aww…bless him. :o



Here’s some of the photos he got of the gingerbread house.





This was how they had decorated with a panel for each of the princess this year.



And one of the tree on his way back.



I had forgotten that they have a break after the characters arrive to do character meet and greets so the wait seemed pretty long for the actual show.



The show was cute, they add a twist with carols and the children all get an LED candle to hold while sitting on the steps to sing, which is a nice touch for the Merrytime cruises.





We all got to say goodbye to the gang before they headed back up the stairs. :wave2::wave2:





We got back to the cabin at just before 11 pm and found this peacock, although he was a little drunk looking! :rotfl: Ugg…final night of being lazy and having everything taken care of for you. Sigh.



Coming up: Debarkation
 
Friday, December 6 – Debarkation (aka – get out!)



The inevitable day rolled around and before we knew it we were back in the Galveston ship channel. I was awake early but we had docked even before I woke up. Belinda said they had docked about 4 am. It was a coolish morning in Galveston but at least there was no rain.



The fueling barge was just pulling alongside at 6:30 am.



We got ourselves ready and packed all the final few things into our roll on bag. I checked on Mum and she was ready as well. Scott got the scooter from behind the elevators and we moved it into Mum's cabin to leave it for pick up. The rental from Scootaround was really easy, I'd recommend them for sure. :thumbsup2 It was now daylight and the day wasn’t looking half bad for our journey home.





It seems a weird place to fish for shrimp, but there are often shrimp boats in the channel. :scratchin :fish:



We elected to go back to Triton’s for breakfast. It’s become our last morning tradition and it’s becoming less and less hectic as more people are either opting for Cabanas or just doing Express walk off. :goodvibes



I got the Eggs for the Road with bacon. I think just about all of us got the same thing.



They called our luggage tags at about 8:50 am and we were done with breakfast so we got ourselves moving. We said goodbye to Maggie and some of the other servers that we know and headed off the ship. :sad: We had one suitcase missing, but were directed to an area where they keep all the bags that have lost their tags and sure enough ours was there. It was an easy trip through immigration as we had already been cleared in Florida, but they still wanted to see your ID. :magnify: We were in the shuttle by 9:10 am, so it was a quick and easy walk off the ship. :thumbsup2



Bye Disney Wonder. :wave2:



One more photograph of her. And you can see by now that the fog had started to roll in so we got lucky that we missed it, and I wondered (pun intended :rotfl:) if that’s why we had docked so early.



9:29 am and we were in the car and ready to head home. Paul and Belinda had Mum with them so that they could drop her off back at my brothers. They had a few hours before their plane left to go back to London that night at 8:50 pm so they were going to visit. Scott and I went to go and pick up Charlie from the vet and we were home by 11:30 am.




So that’s all folks!!! Another great cruise in the books with a fun family group and we had a good time even though we ended up one short on this one. Ah well, we'll never let her forget it! ;) :rotfl2:Thanks for following along, and .... see you around the ship! :wave2::wave2::wave2::wave2:
 
Look at you bangin' out the second half of your trip report in 2 days! Going to have to go with bullet points so I can try and remember all my comments :rotfl2:

-first, what a great birthday for Scott!! No better place to celebrate than on a Disney cruise :thumbsup2
-why did they say his name was James on his birthday plate at Palo?
-speaking of Palo, I NEED THAT DRINK IN MY LIFE!!!
-also speaking of Palo, that looks like a fancy Scotch Egg (minus the sausage of course haha)
- uh, no bars open on CC day? WHAT??? Glad you were able to track down some bevvies!
-Jenny was wrong.....:rotfl2::rotfl2:I must admit I laughed too hard at this, sorry :rolleyes1
-how cool the Brace Boys performed in Cadilac lounge! Sad to hear they've moved on.
-Paul and Scott have quite the bromance don't they :love:
-taking photos for people in front (or behind) at Southpoint is a very civilized way to do it and I'm sorry you didn't get that this time. Last time we were at Castaway we did this for some people as well and they returned the favour at Mt Rustmore, I think we were there for at least 10-15 minutes with all the photos for us and other people :rotfl2:
-how could you NOT get key lime pie, I mean COME ON :cake: (no pie emoji so that will have to do)
-I travel with kids but we LOVE trivia and no, kids do NOT belong in the trivia games when it's adults only! :headache:

Ok....phew....I'm sure I had more comments but that's all I can remember off the top of my head lol
 


Look at you bangin' out the second half of your trip report in 2 days! Going to have to go with bullet points so I can try and remember all my comments :rotfl2:

-first, what a great birthday for Scott!! No better place to celebrate than on a Disney cruise :thumbsup2
-why did they say his name was James on his birthday plate at Palo?
-speaking of Palo, I NEED THAT DRINK IN MY LIFE!!!
-also speaking of Palo, that looks like a fancy Scotch Egg (minus the sausage of course haha)
- uh, no bars open on CC day? WHAT??? Glad you were able to track down some bevvies!
-Jenny was wrong.....:rotfl2::rotfl2:I must admit I laughed too hard at this, sorry :rolleyes1
-how cool the Brace Boys performed in Cadilac lounge! Sad to hear they've moved on.
-Paul and Scott have quite the bromance don't they :love:
-taking photos for people in front (or behind) at Southpoint is a very civilized way to do it and I'm sorry you didn't get that this time. Last time we were at Castaway we did this for some people as well and they returned the favour at Mt Rustmore, I think we were there for at least 10-15 minutes with all the photos for us and other people :rotfl2:
-how could you NOT get key lime pie, I mean COME ON :cake: (no pie emoji so that will have to do)
-I travel with kids but we LOVE trivia and no, kids do NOT belong in the trivia games when it's adults only! :headache:

Ok....phew....I'm sure I had more comments but that's all I can remember off the top of my head lol

I was determined to get this one wrapped up as I’d let too much time slip by already!! And now forcing you to keep up with it all and try and remember what you want to say. :crazy2: The champagne on ice in Cadillac Lounge is offered three different ways and by the glass so if you want to try it that’s definitely the way to go! Yum!

OK. I will comment more later. My phone isn't loading the page properly and I keep losing what I’m typing!!
 


I’m going to go off on a random topic here that may not be too popular, but it’s my opinion.
Um, I see no reason why this should be unpopular. I know we were playing board games in there one time and a trivia was starting. No one said anything, but I made DD put the game away and we left.

Great report as always. Thanks for sharing.
 
-why did they say his name was James on his birthday plate at Palo?
-Jenny was wrong.....:rotfl2::rotfl2:I must admit I laughed too hard at this, sorry :rolleyes1
-Paul and Scott have quite the bromance don't they :love:
-how could you NOT get key lime pie, I mean COME ON :cake: (no pie emoji so that will have to do)
-I travel with kids but we LOVE trivia and no, kids do NOT belong in the trivia games when it's adults only!

Back to my comments and addressing the stuff above. :goodvibes

James is his real name. :rotfl:He‘s one of those people whose parents chose to name his something other than the name they wanted to call him. I’ll never understand that! 🤣

I had to laugh at the “Jenny was wrong” on the answer sheet. Who does that?!? :rotfl2:

The boys bromance by the end was ridiculous,I guess they felt outnumbered by estrogen - can you imagine if my sister had been there! 😛

I know none of us were hungry for key lime pie but come on! Ha ha. We already had skipped key lime margaritas for heavens sake! :eek:

The kids in trivia was annoying, and we’ve never experienced it like that before. At one of them a little boy had one of those super bouncy balls and was bouncing it around all over the place and it was going under people’s feet and tables. Just strange they didn’t do anything about it. :confused3
 
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Um, I see no reason why this should be unpopular. I know we were playing board games in there one time and a trivia was starting. No one said anything, but I made DD put the game away and we left.

Great report as always. Thanks for sharing.

Than you!

I guess I feel like we are in the minority with no kids, but, yes, it was a bit annoying. But, on the 4 night we just did with just us girls there were no kids in trivia, so I guess it’s either been addressed or it was just the crowd on that sailing. I do get it that those areas are open to kids at the times trivia was on, so I don’t know I if that was the problem. :confused3
 
What an awesome trip report. I would love to do a double dip and a Key West stop, some day. Love all the pictures of the sunrises and sunsets
 
What an awesome trip report. I would love to do a double dip and a Key West stop, some day. Love all the pictures of the sunrises and sunsets

Thanks, this was a great itinerary! We loved it. But then again, we love them all. :rotfl: :lovestruc
 
Great trip report! Really enjoyed it as I dream of getting back to cruising. We're booked on a similar cruise but with just one Castaway Cay stop over Christmas. I can't wait!!
 
Can't believe I only just found this trip report. I also have an Aussie Mickey head for our cabin doors! Sorry that your sister missed out this time around.
 

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Can't believe I only just found this trip report. I also have an Aussie Mickey head for our cabin doors! Sorry that your sister missed out this time around.

Thanks for chiming in - this cruise seems like so long ago now. :crazy2: I love the Mickey Heads with the different flags! :lovestruc With all this time on our hands and no cruises I'm sure I should be getting creative, but I'm too lazy! Ha ha.
 
Just found this report :cool1:

Sounds like a great cruise! So sorry about your sister not getting on the ship. I have nightmares about this! Showing up at the airport or the cruise terminal without our passports! :scared1:


You had some amazing sunsets on this sailing, so gorgeous, especially that second day at CC! :love:

I used to brag about DCL being the only cruise line to really enforce their adult only areas and events but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Huge pet peeve! :headache:

Sad that the Brace Boys won't be on there anymore, it just won't be the same! That was a great shot of them in the porthole, they have a FB page, you should post it there ;)

We like to play the trivia too but I wish they would switch it up a bit. They always have the same ones and they often have the same songs, movies and tv shows! They could do Walt Disney World trivia, or Disneyland trivia, Walt Disney history trivia or a million others that smarter people than I could think up! :lmao:

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us, it was highly entertaining! Now I gotta go read some more of yours! :woohoo:
 
Just found this report :cool1: Thanks for sharing your cruise with us, it was highly entertaining! Now I gotta go read some more of yours! :woohoo:

Thanks for reading! I am still going to try and get a Galveston Christmas cruise scheduled at some point - I read your TRs and always think what a fun time it looks. :lovestruc Maybe next year. :goodvibes
 

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