Two Germans Dine Disney in Europe ... FINISHED!

[annichan]

Corsica Day

Today saw us in Corsica, a port I had very much been looking forward to as it brought back good memories of a vacation with my father when I was six years old. As it turned out, I did not recognize anything from back then – but we still had an absolutely wonderful day, doing an all-day sightseeing tour by bus, with lots of stops along the way. We also had lunch at a pretty little restaurant, but I somehow failed to take any pictures of the food – the picture above shows the outside of the restaurant, at least.


We returned to the ship at about 5.00 or 6.00 pm, and since we were on the late dining seating and therefore still had to wait a few hours until dinner, we once again headed to Topsiders …

… for some fresh fruit and salad out on deck.


Tonight's theme was "Captain's Gala", which meant that "semi-formal" clothes were in order (not required, though – so don't worry if you are planning a Disney cruise and not wanting to dress up; one can always get by just wearing jeans and t-shirts, unless when dining at Palo):

A pre-dinner cocktail outside Cove Café, cozily wrapped in blankets because the evening was a little bit chilly.


A gentleman, all dressed up for the festive occasion:

The Captain's Gala Dinner menu:

My favourite part about the Captain’s Gala menu is that they have oysters – I love, love, love oysters!
And this being a Disney cruise, it is perfectly okay to order several entrées, or appetizers, or whatever your heart desires off the menu . I had never done it before, but this was definitely the right occasion to start ordering double portions:

Two portions of Oysters Rockefeller on the half shell – stuffed with Spinach, Onions, and Butter. Mmmh … absolutely delicious!


DH, less of a glutton than me, only had this one portion :

Garlic and Herb-Sautéed Shrimp on Spaghetti Vegetables drizzled with Garlic Butter …


… followed by a light salad:

Garden Fresh Salad with Tomato Chips and Balsamic Dressing.


Meanwhile, I thought it was time for a nice little bowl of soup:

Wild Forest Mushroom Soup, swirled with White Truffle Oil.
Again, not a very pretty sight due to the lighting, the bowl and, well, obviously the ingredients … but it actually tasted very nice!


On to our main courses – my choice was pretty obvious for those who know my undying love of tuna:

Sesame Seared Tuna Loin on Lemon Grass infused Bok Choy, Daikon, and Carrots with Wasabi and Ginger Drizzle.
Quite nice, though a bit too well done. (I realize how it is a health hazard serving almost-rare fish, as well as a logistic problem of getting all those (potentially hundreds of) portions done to the perfect degree at more or less the same time – but I have seen them do better than this.


DH had these:

Pan-Seared Venison Medallions with Marinated Red Cabbage, Potato Croquettes, and a Port Wine and Juniper Reduction.


To make up for my double appetizer, and because he can never pass up a good crème brulée, DH ordered himself a dessert:

Banana Crème Brulée. Possibly the least photogenic dish of them all in this report, but he liked it!


Coming up next: Day 10, with Flavors of the Mediterranean Dinner …

 

[Linda67]

I'm still here honest

I seem to have missed quite a few updates (I'm spending too long on the cruise boards )

Wonderful photos and the food looks really yummy; as you probably already know, the drinks of the day and desserts particularly appeal to me

Love it, keep it coming

 

[Booknut]

Oh my goodness what a FABULOUS TR, i'm just drooling all over the place, am really enjoying it! Have made my husband read it with me too

 

[annichan]

Hi dear readers, if any of you are still here - you have probably all given up on me long since, and I cannot blame you as I haven't posted anything in ages . I am still here to finish this dining report, though: second-to-last installment coming up in a minute, and hoping to get the final installment also posted somethime this decade !

I'm still here honest

I seem to have missed quite a few updates (I'm spending too long on the cruise boards )

Wonderful photos and the food looks really yummy; as you probably already know, the drinks of the day and desserts particularly appeal to me

Love it, keep it coming

I know what you mean, I'm also spending most of my time on the cruise boards these days, with our next cruise only 85 days away.
I have both drinks and dessert pictures coming up for you in a moment!

Oh my goodness what a FABULOUS TR, i'm just drooling all over the place, am really enjoying it! Have made my husband read it with me too

Thank you! I really envy you for your husband who reads along - mine doesn't ever read them, even though he stars in them!

 

[annichan]

Villefranche Day

Today we visited our last port of call: Villefranche, the port that was to be our gateway to the cities of Monaco (as pictured in the photo) and Nice, the picturesque medieval village of Eze, and the port of Antibes where the billionaires park those yachts that are too big to fit at Monaco harbor eek.

Yes, not only was this a long sentence, but today was also a really long, interesting and exhausting day. We had booked this full-day excursion privately, or rather, shared in the excursion which some other Disers had booked and still had free seats on. It was wonderful - I never thought it was even possible to see so much in just one day!


We didn't get back to the ship until evening – but since it was still two hours until dinner and we had skipped our lunch break in order to be able to make the unscheduled stop at Antibes, we hit the quick service dining places for some fruit, wraps and fries, a slice of pizza and a beer, and settled down at the adult pool to consume all these good things.

As you may have noticed in the previous picture, there was only one bottle of beer on our table and that was meant for DH – so for me, it was Drink of the Day time instead! (hi Linda67!!! ):

This was called a Déja Vu, and quite obviously contained some Blue Curacao, but I'm afraid I cannot remember what else was in it. I do remember that I liked it, though!


All this tidied us over nicely until our dinnertime finally came.
Tonight's dinner theme was "Flavours of the Mediterranean":

As you may have guessed, neither of us was extremely hungry as we had just eaten less than two hours ago (isn't this always the case on a Disney cruise? ), so we opted for a light dinner with only two courses each and no dessert.

This was DH's appetizer:

Lemon-Herb Shrimps on a bed of Artichokes, Baby Carrots, Fava Beans, and Lemon Dressing. Very nice, and also very light!

I felt like having a nice bowl of soup – and nice it definitely was, even though it looks a bit awful :

Egyptian Green Soup – Spinach Soup with Garlic and Coriander. Definitely tasty and garlicky, if a bit light on the coriander for my taste.


For my main course, I simply had to try this:

Preserved Lemon and Rosemary Rubbed Lamb Sirloin, served with Eggplant Caviar, Toasted Israeli Couscous, Lamb Jus, and Red Bell Pepper Drizzle.
This was by far the most appealing dish on tonight's menu for me, as I am a big fan both of lamb and of couscous, cannot live without rosemary, and I really like eggplant too. So nothing much could go wrong with this dish!

It really did not disappoint in the least – instead, it was one of my absolute favourite meals if the whole cruise. The lamb was soft and tender, the couscous well-seasoned, everything just perfect!

What DH had meanwhile? I have no idea – I'm sorry. I cannot even find out whether this is meat, fish or something different altogether . Suggestions, anyone?

After dinner we repaired to Rockin Bar D for some evening entertainment and another cocktail, both the name and the ingredients of which remain forgotten to posterity:

Still later this evening, there was a "special event" scheduled: A late-night dessert buffet in Lumières restaurant. There was absolutely no way we could have any more food tonight, but I nevertheless went there to take some pictures for my dear DIS friends:

Boring stuff first: The "No sugar added" selection .

More calories over here …

… not that much left here …

… yet more sweets …

... and colorful cakes.


Like I said, we did not manage to try any of this – DH even felt too full to accompany me to take pictures!
I shall definitely have to plan for this on our next cruise and leave some room for a plate of desserts (or two, or five, ...)


Coming up next: The last day, with Palo Brunch and Till We Meet Again dinner …

 

[annichan]

Sea Day

Sadly, today was the last day of the cruise, and thus of our wonderful vacation. I hate last days! As today was a sea day, though, there was lots of time visit all our favourite places on the ship once more, to relax – and to pack our suitcases .

The picture above shows one of these favourite places of mine, by the way: Deck 4, where there's lots of nice shade, comfy chairs, a wonderful view of the water and usually not very many people. (Just be aware that one of the sides is a smoking area – I cannot remember which, but I almost always went out there first and then turned straight around to head for the other side instead. My sense of direction somehow failed to develop properly .)


Anyway, back to the food:
As most of you will know, Palo – the Northern Italian fine-dining venue on the Magic – offers not only dinner, but also a wonderful champagne brunch … and we had managed to secure a table for it. The date was today!

So we found ourselves at a lovely table on a glorious sunny day at sea, with lots of great food that was ours for the taking:

My first plate – the contents speak for themselves, really, except that I don't quite remember what that was on the spoon. Hazarding a guess, I would say salmon mousse.
Everything was delicious, especially the tuna! I must say that I found the crab legs a bit boring, though. Not bad at all, just not particularly flavourful. I have heard many people positively raving about them, so I'm not sure whether these crabs were having a bad day, or if I'm just generally weird and unlike all the other people .


DH's first plate was a bit more on the carb-heavy side (as if these considerations ever matter when you're at Palo ) but otherwise not unlike mine …

… except that my beloved tuna looks even better in this shot!


And he seems to have really liked the bread …

… because he had one with prosciutto, feta cheese and mushrooms next.


My second helping from the cold buffet:

Being more of a cheese person, I had to try some of those. The blue cheese bread was particularly good!


Of course, Palo has so much more to offer than "just" antipasti, bread and cold seafood – they also offer a pretty wide selection of warm dishes that you can order from to your heart's content.

Like their famous strawberry soup, for example:

To be honest, this is not really a warm dish, even though it is part of that selection. Rather, it is cold, sweet yet fresh, fruity, and could just as well be served in a glass to drink. One of the things where the simple word "yummy!" really fits.


I was pretty full by this stage and did want to leave some room for desert, but (as regular readers of my foodie reports may already know) there is one thing I can never pass up on:

Oysters!! Love them, love them, love them!
(Actually, my fiendish plan for our next cruise is to order two servings wherever oysters are being offered. And I don't even feel overly gluttonous since they are so little )


DH had been talking about ordering the chicken parmigiana again which he had enjoyed during our last Palo brunch a year ago, but then something different caught his eye:

The frittata, which he liked so much he didn't even leave any for me to try.
By the way, when I say it "caught his eye" I really mean it literally:
Palo has a table with one portion of each dish that is available to order. Agreed, it is a bit of a waste of food, but it is really helpful for deciding what you want - especially as you can see this before you even start loading your plate with the cold food, so you know what to leave room for. They have lots of other nice things as well, such as eggs benedict and different pizzas.


Anyway, like I said, I had definitely left some room for dessert:

(from left to right) Fruit jelly with cream and a cute not-so-hidden Mickey, a chocolate-covered strawberry, and some tiramisù (which to me was best of the bunch!).


And then, on my last bit of an appetite, …

… I got myself some fresh berries and cream. They were all so ripe and sweet and wonderful, I wish I had noticed them earlier and could have eaten even more of them.



Well, that was brunch … Let us jump ahead to dinner but with a brief stop at a lazy afternoon spent by the adult pool and bar:

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but the wonderful Konk Kooler cocktail is not only available on Castaway Cay – the bartender will be happy to make them on the ship as well!

 

[annichan]

The dinner theme tonight was Till We Meet Again, aptly named as this was our last night on board :

I know, I'm smiling in the picture, but I was just putting on a brave face – didn’t want to leave the ship at all! Hate vacations ending. The only good thing about that is how you can finally start planning the next one.


I decided to have a cocktail with dinner:

While I am not positively sure which one it was, I do think it was probably the Eclipse – Cuervo Tequila, Triple Sec, Lime Juice, Sugar Syrup, and Orange Juice. Small yet strong!


For my final appetizer of the cruise – what can I say? It just had to be tuna.

Sesame-Crusted Tuna Sashimi, Wakame Salad, and American Caviar with Pickled Ginger Wasabi and Soy Sauce. Wonderful!


I followed it up with a tasty little bowl of soup:

Potato Leek Soup, garnished with Sour Cream, Chives, and Caviar.


Meanwhile, DH was not feeling as hungry as me (probably he hadn't quite realized that our dining room days would be over tomorrow and there would only be ME doing the cooking ) and therefore only had a salad for starters:

Romaine Leaves with Artichoke Chips, a Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Date and Caesar Dressing. Ever so healthy!


Neither of us had to think long about which entrée to take – this was the obvious choice for both of us:

Yachtsman Steakhouse Center Cut Grilled Beef Tenderloin served with William Potatoes, Asparagus Spears, Baby Vegetables, and Bearnaise Sauce
A wonderful piece of meat, very tasty vegetables and (if my memory serves me right) perfectly pear-shaped potato croquettes …? Intriguing. I looked these up on the internet just now, and it seems that they are actually very elaborately prepared and it takes lots of steps to make them. I now feel bad for not having paid more attention to them. Oh, well.


As you may know, Till We Meet Again night is when the servers parade through the restaurant, carrying nit only flags but also a quite spectacularly flambéed dessert I had never heard of before:

Baked Alaska.
Apparently it is mainly ice cream and sponge cake, and after this dazzling presentation, it went without saying that I had to try a slice. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my high expectations, as I found it rather boring. Ah well, looks can be deceiving after all …


DH's choice of dessert (yes, he really did order one for a change! Maybe THIS was when he finally realized I would do the cooking from tomorrow night …?) was much nicer:

Cappuccino Mousse – not too sweet but very coffee-y, he liked it very much.


Well, this was our final evening onboard – all that was left for us to do tonight was get our hand luggage ready (all the rest we had already packed and put outside), walk around and say goodbye to a few of our favourite spots onboard, and then head to our cabin to grab some sleep, as we had an early start and a long day ahead of us.




The final breakfast

The next morning, we did not take many pictures anymore, least of all of our food, as we were in a bit of a hurry to be done with breakfast and head to the airport.

This was me at breakfast:

Thank you Captain Mickey for saying "See ya real soon!", but I am afraid it will take a year or so … (Actually, it would be closer to 15 months, as we are finally sailing again in ten week's time ).


Some breakfast:

Bacon, hash browns and either scrambled or poached eggs – not sure now what they were -, some fruit and a glass of water that looks suspiciously like sparkling wine in this picture, but I assure you it wasn't!


And now for the final picture of this food report which it has taken me almost seven months to finish:
(Drumroll)

Scrambled eggs with bacon and parsley!

I know, I know, I should have saved some more dramatic picture for last … But you (probably) all know what these last mornings on board are like. A bit sad, usually quite frantic, and even the best of food critics forget how to deliver good work .



So, yeah – this was it. Our sixteen happy days of Dining Disney in Europe, partly at Disneyland Paris and partly on a Disney cruise ship in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. I hope you have enjoyed reading along, and once again, forgive me for taking so unspeakably long to finish the thing!

If you liked this report, you will find my signature pointing to a couple older ones I wrote in 2009 and '10 … and of course, I hope to do another one when we return from
13 days of dining Disney on the Disney Magic in New York City, the Bahamas and Canada!


Thank you for reading along,

Annichan

 

[Bellamouse]

Wun.Der.Schoen!!

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. It is so much work to put that all together - I appreciate it and love taking your trip vicariously with you!!

Ihr beide seid so suess. I hope I run into you in WDW someday.....

 

[annichan]

Wun.Der.Schoen!!

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. It is so much work to put that all together - I appreciate it and love taking your trip vicariously with you!!

Ihr beide seid so suess. I hope I run into you in WDW someday.....

What a wonderful and friendly comment - thanks so much, having such readers is what makes writing these reports so enjoyable!

And if you (or for that matter, any of you who have read and enjoyed this report) run into us in the Disney parks or on one of the ships - please do come over and say Hi!