Disney Med. Cruise Sept 2013: A Disney Geek and her husband

[AngieBelle]

Well, I'm certainly way behind on writing a report for this trip!

To see this report with photos, go here:
http://angelastraveladventures.blogspot.com/2014/02/disney-mediterranean-cruise-sept-2013.html

Cast of characters

Me: Almost 32 at the time of this trip. I'm a long time Disney geek dating back to childhood, and I was a WDW CM for over 8 years. Currently working as a puppeteer at a local children's park.

Derek: Also 32, my husband of 2 years. Our anniversary was a few months after we got home. Not a Disney geek, but he humors me and does enjoy the films and the parks. He's a software engineer at a start-up, which is why we now live in Northern CA rather than FL.


Derek and I took a Disney Cruise all the way in Europe last year. I was so excited that Derek was willing to do Disney, even though I think he agreed mainly so he wouldn't have to hear me make comparisons throughout the whole trip like last time! I had been on one other Disney Cruise prior to this one, but this was Derek's first. Mini Stitch joined us again. I think he is a tradition now.

I had been to Europe one time before. My family took a trip to France when I was 14. I had forgotten what a big ordeal it was to fly there, and from here in California, it was even farther. Our flight was divided into several parts, and it felt like one long day because we easily went over 24 hours before we saw a bed again. My body completely lost it's sense of time!

Before we boarded, we waited with everyone else in a large room with seats until our number grouping was called. We really picked a great part of the ship for our state room- deck two right near The Edge for pre-teens. Yes, it got a little noisy at times, but the location was awesome. We were right near all the dining rooms and not far from the theater either. The only thing that was a bit of a journey to get to was the pool.

The safety drill was relatively painless, and we had some time to explore the ship...and nap off some of the insane jetlag!


If there's one thing I miss when I'm on the non-Disney ships, it's the Sail Away party. I love hearing them sound the horn while everyone cheers, waves, and dances. And, of course, I love the characters!


We chose the late seating so we'd have some downtown after returning from our daily outings, so we headed to the theater first that evening. Because we were leaving from Barcelona, a good chunk of our fellow cruisemates were Spanish. It was wildly amusing to hear our cruise director seamlessly switch between Spanish and English. But get this- his name tag said he was from Switzerland! Go figure!

This night would also introduce us to an issue that would plaque every performance we went to. The audiences were the worst I've ever experienced! I'm usually very easy going, and it takes a lot to bother me, but I couldn't believe what happened. The lights would dim, and the chatting didn't die down one iota! Everyone continued to talk the entire time the cruise director spoke to us as if he wasn't there. I was aghast. I don't remember that happening so badly on my last Disney cruise.

I still managed to enjoy the show, however. The Welcome Show is cheesy as ever, but the Disney geek in me couldn't resist it. The magician act was actually pretty cool- he did Houdini's famous straight jacket trick! You know, the one where he escapes while suspended high in the air? I'd never seen it performed in person before. It's quite a sight!

Our dinner that night was in Lumiere's- my favorite of the three dining rooms for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who knows me. They seated us at a table with two other couples- an upbeat middle aged couple with grown kids not present and a fun gay couple. We didn't become best buddies with them, but they were cool, and we enjoyed catching up with everyone at the end of the day.

My first meal was French onion soup (always loved it), crispy duck, and the sweet temptations dessert. Whoever thought of Sweet Temptations is genius! It's basically an offering of 3 mini versions of that night's selections, and it's what I chose almost every night. For someone like me who hates having to choose between yumminesses (yes, I just made up a word), it was a godsend!


We finished the evening at the Rockin' Bar D where they were playing "Match Your Mate," a game in which they ask questions to 3 different couples and see if both parties of each can guess how the other answered. ("When your husband wakes up in the morning, what's the first thing he touches?" etc.) We'd end up seeing the MC many times throughout our cruise. She was a lot of fun- high energy, upbeat, and funny. You could tell she loved being there. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down her name. One thing that Derek and I noticed about this ship verses the Royal Caribbean is that while Disney does have plenty of adult only activities, they are not nearly as well attended as they are on RC. For instance, RC's equivalent of this game is done in the main theater, not the lounge. RC's version was also quite a bit raunchier from what I remember!

Our first full day would be an at sea day. Lazy days are good when you just crossed an ocean!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in. I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

 

[AngieBelle]

First full day!

Go here to here to read this with photos:
http://angelastraveladventures.blogspot.com/2014/03/disney-mediterranean-cruise-1st-full-day.html

We were so exhausted on our first full day at sea that we stayed in bed until nearly noon. We went for a late brunch at Parrot Cay, although we weren't too impressed with the breakfast offerings at the buffet. Derek pointed out repeatedly throughout our trip that although the other meals were very good, the ship didn't have the best selection for breakfast.

Our first activity for the day was Disney's Art of Entertaining. I really like that they do this. It takes place in Studio Sea where they set up a full stove. They then demonstrate not only how they cook a dish but how to display it in an appealing configuration. The best part is that they bring a little plate of it to everyone for tasting for no extra charge. They bring out wine too, but I rarely finish a glass of wine. I never developed a taste for alcohol. Today's course was lamb- something I'm normally not too fond off, but it wasn't too bad at all due to the seasonings they used.

Next, we decided to catch a showing in the Buena Vista Theater of the new Disney movie, Planes. I was surprised to learn that this Cars spin off was not done by Pixar! The theater is very nice, and they handed us 3-D glasses. The film itself was entertaining but nothing to write home about. It was very predictable in it's use of the classic underdog story.

The day's Navigator mentioned Disney tunes trivia which I knew I had to give a whirl as I am quite well versed in Disney songs- pun not intended! I won it easily- although another family gave us a run for our money. I had an almost perfect score...the only question I didn't know was what state Song of the South takes place in. I also wrote down Phil Harris instead of Phil Collins as the composer for Tarzan- oops! (In case you don't know, Phil Harris was the voice of Baloo!) I won us each a set of nice Disney Cruise earbuds.

Next on our agenda was the Art of the Theme Show Tour. This was a lot of fun! We got to the meeting spot a bit late and were about to give up when we discovered they had stepped into Palo. Our guide was a perky blonde young woman from England whom we'd run into quite a lot throughout the rest of our trip- I'm sorry, I forgot to write down her name! We enjoyed her very much though. She led us throughout the ship and told us fun stories like how short sited the designers had been when they first opened the ship without an infant nursery. Or how the Magic has a seam where the two halves of the ship were sealed together, but the seam on the Wonder is fake because it was made in one piece.

Afterwards, it was time for an ice cream break. I love that you can get a softserve cone whenever the mood strikes you. We caught a little of Toy Story playing on the screen over the pool.

In the evening, it was formal night. I was excited for my choice of dress. I'm a huge fan of the tv show Once Upon a Time which is about a bunch of fairytales living in the real world in a town called Storybrooke, and I had chosen a dress very reminiscent of a dress Belle wears in town along with homemade "chipped cup" earrings.



I was very excited for this night's performance, Twice Charmed. I saw it on my previous Disney cruise several years before, but it is one of my very favorites. I have the cd of the music and listen to it all the time. I only wish I could say the behavior of the audience improved, but it did not. People jabbered throughout the whole performance. Oh well- at least it was as fantastic a show as before.

We went down to the Captain's cocktail hour after the show, had our picture taken in front of one of the fancy backdrops, and sampled some drinks. As usual, I preferred the non alcoholic one. I think Derek had one of each.

I loved that dinner was princess themed, and we were lucky enough to be in Lumiere's again that night. My meal choices consisted of Belle's palenta cakes, Beast's potato and sausage soup, and ravioli with sweet sensations for dessert...tirimisu, cheesecake, and chocolate souffle.. mmmm.

I really wanted to get a picture with Belle since I was wearing a dress that represented her and because she is my all time favorite. My husband humored me, and we got in line with all the little girls in their princess dresses.

We finished the night with family karaoke in Studio Sea. I love to sing, but sometimes I have trouble getting myself to spontaneously go up on the stage. There is an advantage to being on a Disney cruise though...the songbook is guaranteed to have Disney songs to choose from! I hemmed and hawed for a while to the point that Derek didn't think I was going to do it, but I finally picked "A Spoonful of Sugar." A teenager did a beautiful Spanish rendition of "I Won't Say" from Hercules and some young kids got up and sang several times too.

Our next stop? Ville-Franceche!