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

Love the pic of you on the ship going through the locks. Nice that they had a photographer out there!!

I don't know if they were the actual ship's photographers, sent out there on a boat, or if they were contracted, but I'm trilled to have them there for photos, too!
 
ONE STINKIN’ DOLPHIN – a day at sea – Sunday, April 30



With the excitement of the Canal transit behind us, I was thrilled to be able to sleep until nine o’clock. It was very rainy while Mark was out walking this morning, and as I neared the porthole to take a look, I could feel that the glass was warm to the touch – today would be another scorcher. Mark returned as I was dressing for the day, and we made our way to Cabanas for what we hoped would be a substantial breakfast; we had Chocolate & Liquor Tasting today at 12:15. As we were finishing our meal the cruise director came on the public address system to announce that there had been sightings of dolphins on the starboard side for the past twenty to thirty minutes. He was quick to note that he hesitates to say things like that, because they could be gone by now, but all along Mark had been saying how much he wanted to see a dolphin – “just one stinkin’ dolphin!” And as Darren announced there were sightings I looked across the breakfast table at my husband and said one word: “Go.” And we were up like our chairs were on fire.

We didn’t see anything from deck nine, so we went down to four, thinking we would see them better if they were really close to the ship. Nothing. Not one stinkin’ dolphin.


We went up to the Buena Vista Theater to hear Captain Puckett’s 10:30 talk on the Operation of the Panama Canal. He said he had heard from a buddy of his in Panama that the weather there today was so bad that if we were crossing today we wouldn’t be able to see the locks in front of us because of the heavy rain. We felt so fortunate that we were able to fully enjoy such a unique experience!





Afterward, we went back to deck four to look for dolphins again. Again, there were none. After a while I went up to the room to journal and prep for some recipe- and Fish Extender deliveries.

Shortly after noon we headed out for the Cadillac Lounge. We had a pretty large group, and were seated in groups of four. In front of each person were cups and plates of different chocolates, parmesan cheese to cleanse the palate, and four glasses: pink champagne, red wine, port, and scotch.














But these were no three-buck Chucks! – the champagne was Tattinger, the red was from John Lasseter’s family winery, and the Scotch was Glenmorangie!













The exercise was to first learn what you could about the wine by using your eyes and your nose – what do you smell? -Smoke? Caramel? Cherry?... After this initial assessment we took a small sip to note what flavors were on our palate. Then we took a bite or a sip of the chocolate the sommelier recommended, to see how its coating our mouths would change the taste of the wine. I found I really enjoyed the champagne so much more after the white chocolate, and I enjoyed the red with a bit of caramel sauce. The port I felt was best with the dark chocolate. And then it was time for the scotch. We were warned to take a tiny little sip, and when I did a tiny little fire broke out in my mouth and traveled up my nose!! I bravely took a few more sips with the liquid chocolate in this beautiful Mickey Mouse demitasse cup, but I believe I gave most of my scotch to someone else. I kept the chocolate, though…I’m not crazy!




Now, I’m not much of a wine drinker, mainly because I really haven’t found many that I really like. But that Lasseter wine was amazing! The sommelier said it can only be purchased with some kind of Disney connection, and they sold it in Palo, for $77 a bottle. Leave it to me to like a $77 wine! This was a great activity, which I felt was well worth the $20 fee, plus tip. This, too, had been arranged by one of our cruise group friends.


After all that liquor we needed lunch; there were lots of people from our tasting group in Cabanas with us! After lunch we grabbed chocolate ice cream cones for dessert on our way back to deck four to look for…you know…

We didn’t see any, but there were lots of sea birds.















I went up to get drinks and popcorn for the movie; Mark met me at the Buena Vista Theater for the “classic” movie offering: Raiders of the Lost Ark. I officially felt old, because this movie was released the year we were married! While I was getting the snacks he finally got to see a dolphin! – actually, he saw a whole pod, and got a nice photo!





Soon it was time for dinner, back in Triton’s. Tim and Deb would be in Palo tonight, but we were surprised to see Fred missing! Kathy said he had rolled his ankle standing at the rail on the promenade deck, and was in bed with an ice pack on it. They had looked at tonight’s menu on the DCL app (the Taste of California menu) and Kathy would order Fred’s dinner to take back to the room with her. When she asked for his food our head server Levent told her not to worry about it – he would have it delivered to their room. What amazing service!

We left Triton’s through the rear entrance and walked back toward the Promenade Lounge, only to see Sulley and Boo coming down the stairs for the Pixar Pals party in the atrium! I was so excited – I had never seen Boo before!





We went up to Shutters to get a refund for the photo book we no longer wanted. We were pleased that it was no problem, and the refund would be on our credit card statement within a few weeks. We looked through our photos again, and as I had predicted, the ones in front of the green screen were terrible. Walking forward on deck four, I wanted to get a peek at the Pixar Party, but people were lined up four deep, and the music was overwhelming, so we walked right on by. We stopped at the gift shops to look for a shirt for Mark, but he didn’t see anything he liked. He did get a “ship’s funnel” coffee mug for a coworker, though.

I had lost the desire to be in anymore crowds, and went to the room to call it a day. Mary Poppins was our movie choice tonight.
 


It was you?! I was convinced Joh had done it, since they were in my FE at the same time as some things from her!

I still laugh over those!!!!

Guilty! Honestly I wasn't going to toot my horn, but you never made mention of it in the group, or the few times I was fortunate to have bumped into you. So I truly wanted to make sure you go them :teeth:

I love the pic of Boo!
 
Thank you so much for the report and photos. Does anyone know if this 5022 is the same as the Magic 5022? I'm having difficulty fining photos of it.
 


Thank you so much for the report and photos. Does anyone know if this 5022 is the same as the Magic 5022? I'm having difficulty fining photos of it.

Well, the Magic and Wonder are sisters, so the room layout and numbering should be the same - especially in this little part of the ships.

I've seen photos and videos of other secret porthole rooms, some on the Magic, and the two ships are similar.

My broken sofa would not be in the Magic, though.
 
Well, the Magic and Wonder are sisters, so the room layout and numbering should be the same - especially in this little part of the ships.

I've seen photos and videos of other secret porthole rooms, some on the Magic, and the two ships are similar.

My broken sofa would not be in the Magic, though.

I hope not! My kids are going to be so shocked and I really hope they like it. They keep going on about how much they loved our tiny inside room last year. The split bathrooms are going to be a huge treat and I'm hoping they don't hate the porthole! I love the idea of the location as I plan to take the stairs whenever my body allows and being mid-ship (top-to-bottom) makes sense for that. I just love the idea of sitting next to the porthole with my mimosa and watching my cares melt away with the ocean.
 
AT LONG LAST, A MICKEY BAR – a day at sea – May 1


Today was another glorious day at sea!! I began it in one of my favorite ways – sleeping late! I wanted to sleep a little later than I actually did, but at 8:45 the music and conversation from the connecting room woke me up. I showered and dressed, and when Mark returned from his morning walk we made a plan for the day. We would make some deliveries this morning, and read until lunchtime. I sent Joh a note to see if we would still be taking a second group photo tonight, as we had previously planned. There was to be an Officers’ Ball at 7:30 in the atrium, so I was sure there would be photographers available.

It was slightly overcast this morning, and the sea was calm, which makes walking the halls of the passenger decks much more pleasant! We made our deliveries but had two people we couldn’t find: one was the family of Barnaby the service dog, for whom we had a bag of treats. The other was someone in our FE group who didn’t have a fish extender outside their room. We stopped at Guest Services to ask for room numbers and learned that they cannot give you someone’s number, but if you tell them the number you have they can tell you if it’s right or wrong. Well, I obviously had the wrong number for my FE mate… Joh wrote back about the photo, and I asked her if she knew either of the two room numbers, and she had one! Hooray! I can’t recall how I got the other number, but everyone got their gifts, and Barnaby's dad later shared with the group the single cutest cruise photo I’ve ever seen!




We read in the upper level of the Cove Café until just before noon; in fact, the noon Mickey whistle blasted just as I opened the door to the the outside to go down to lunch. So much for a quiet reading room…! We had been invited to lunch by our friends Bart and Hym, and we met them outside Triton's. We had so much fun chatting that I didn’t remember to take a single photo!

Lunch was over at 1:30 and Mark went down to the Crown & Fin for a Disney Imagineering presentation on the Top Ten Theme Park Innovations. I walked all of deck eight thinking I had seen the person from my last FE room get off the elevator on that floor, but I was wrong. I returned to the room and called Room Service for a Mickey Bar, as it was day number nine and I still hadn’t had one yet! I would be seeing Cinderella and the mice at 2:30, so I read a bit while I waited for my treat. Monsters University was on TV, so I watched a little and read a little. Finally there was a knock on the door, and this little beauty arrived.



I opened the package very carefully so I could save it for a craft project I had seen, and when I lifted the bar off the wrapper the stick came straight out of it! *sigh* It was still delicious, though.

After making sure my face wasn’t covered in chocolate and ice cream I ran downstairs to the character meet and greet, outside the Walt Disney Theater. I asked Cinderella if she was wearing her glass slippers on these slick floors, and she lifted her gown to show me her shoes! They matched her gown beautifully, and I appreciate how the little details aren’t overlooked.





After a lazy afternoon we dressed for our formal evening. My blisters were still killing me but I put my dress shoes on and limped to Animators Palate. Tonight was the Frozen menu, and the screens on the wall were covered in Frozen scenes.




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I’ve lost some of my photos, but I must tell you that “Elsa’s Coronation Scallops” were amazing! It’s like a pot pie, with both small bay scallops and larger sea scallops in sauce, with a puff pastry crust covering it. Yum…








We loved almost all the dessert offerings and again wished the Sweet Temptations tasting plates were available. But since they weren’t, we had to order three desserts for the two of us. So did Kathy and Fred, who was on crutches tonight. The Norwegian Pancake was a clear winner here!











Walking forward on deck four toward our room, we could see the Officers’ Ball in full swing in the atrium; there was no room for another group photo. Mickey and Minnie had their own private dance floor in the alcove between the elevators.





We had other plans, though. Despite “Frozen” being the show in the Walt theater tonight, Mark was off to the Buena Vista Theater to see the movie “Arrival” and I was off to see Wall-E on FunnelVision. The picture was remarkably clear, and the weather was mild – I really enjoyed myself.




A chocolate ice cream cone capped off my evening, and I watched Toy Story as I fell asleep. I had plans to be up early in the morning.
 
CALM SEAS AND EXCITED PEOPLE – a sea day – May 2





Today was another sea day, and we were still making our way up the coast toward our next port, Puerto Vallarta. Mark was already up and ready to visit his friend Leyston the barista when I crawled out of bed. We had changed our minds about attending the Princess meet and greet this morning, since we had already seen them all out and about (which is code for “I knew he would hate it”), so I gave him our tickets to turn in to Guest Services. Maybe there were some sad little girls without tickets on a waiting list and we made their day.

Soon, I got a text from Mark saying he was up on deck nine, port side. I found him chatting with some of our cruise group friends. We went to Cabanas for a quick breakfast, then to the Buena Vista Theater for Captain Puckett’s 9:15 talk on The Expansion of the Panama Canal. He told lots of “sea stories” today, and I really enjoyed this presentation, making a mental note to mention him in the survey at the end of the cruise.



Afterward, we walked down one deck to Shutters to see our photos. There was nothing of note in our portfolio, but people were swarming around the sales desk. We waited for our turn to see what they were looking at, and saw they were photos of our ship taken during our Canal crossing. We bought two 8x10s and headed up to the room with them before we got a chance to bend them somehow.


I grabbed my book and we went up to the pool deck to read. We weren’t planning a big lunch today, because we were having dinner at Palo tonight; we always go to Palo on Pirate Night, since Mark hates that menu. As soon as we got up to deck ten, Darren made an announcement to say that Captain Robert said today was our best chance yet to see sea life. We immediately saw a small pod of dolphins!






We decided to move down to deck four for a chance to see them better. We saw a few solitary sea turtles, but no more dolphins. I took my book to a nearby lounge chair as Mark kept his vigil at the rail.







Every now and then he would say “Oh! Babe! Come here!” and the people next to me got up to go look too. Once he called us over and there was absolutely nothing to see; I turned to the girl next to me and said “I think he needs to clean his glasses…” We even had a princess looking!





It was almost one o’clock, and our tummies were talking, so we made our way up to deck nine to check out our lunch options. Pete’s was all fried food – nope. Daisy’s looked good: fruit and that wonderful tomato, brie and bacon sandwich. We went into Cabanas to scope out our options there and decided we wanted Daisy’s after all. I told Mark I would grab a table and get our drinks if he got our food, since he wasn’t quite sure what he would want. He put his book down on a table in the corner as he left, in one of those “pods” that bump out from the side of the ship. As I sat down with our drinks and looked around I could see about a dozen dolphins breaking the surface of the water – and Mark was missing it!


Everyone in that part of Cabanas was ooh-ing and ahh-ing! The servers were gathering around us to see them. Shortly after Mark returned with our food we saw a huge pod of about fifty coming under the ship from the port side in small groups, over to us on the starboard. They were leaping and racing, and gave us a great show! Please forgive the reflection of our clothing on the windows.


















We heard a rumor that someone even spotted a whale!

After lunch I grabbed a banana ice cream cone and went back to the room to nap. Mark stayed up topside to read…and look for more dolphins, I’m sure! He was back in the room at three to join me for the 3:15 showing of the new live-action Beauty & the Beast movie. As we got to the front row (for knee room) we saw a slew of our cruise friends already there! We sat beside Joh and Gary, and as we waited for the movie to start I realized I didn’t have a Kleenex. Now, I can cry over a cute dog food commercial, so I knew I had to have a tissue for this! Joh was kind enough to offer one, and while I had three sniffy moments I only cried once. Strangely, it was when Lumiere and Cogsworth said goodbye. I don’t know why that hit me so hard…

Back in the room after the movie, I sorted laundry for another early-morning run to the launderette. Mark went for another walk – he was determined not to gain weight on this cruise! He came back to the room with time enough for a quick shower before we went up to Palo for our seven o’clock dinner.







We were seated in the large private room where we had our group brunch, now set with four small tables. The amazing Hristo would be our server again tonight. Mark ordered the Palo Martini, which he declared to be delicious, and offered me a sip. I have to agree – it was everything I enjoy in an alcoholic beverage: sweet, fruity, and not overly “boozy.” But it quickly snuck up on him, so if you try one, be sure to sip it slowly!

After the antipasta course we shared the Papardelle pasta with lobster.



When we had lunch with Bart and Hym, they told us about the Dover Sole Hym enjoyed at their Palo dinner, describing the painstaking way the fish is carved for service at the tableside. Mark ordered the Sole tonight, and we enjoyed watching Hristo masterfully removing the capers and other aromatics from the fish, then removing one half of the top of the flesh, then the other side of the flesh. He then lifted the bones of the fish off in one piece, replaced the two top filets onto the bottom filet, scattered the aromatics over it all, and plated it. It was a beautiful presentation, and Mark said it was delicious. Hristo said the Sole is the single most expensive item they use.




I had my usual Palo Tenderloin, done a perfect medium. For dessert we had both soufflés on the menu:

Chocolate for me…





…and amaretto for Mark.





Our seven o’clock dinner was over at ten, just in time for the pirate night fireworks. As we left Palo, there was a kids’ club Cast Member blocking the door out to deck ten, so we had to go down to deck nine and walk forward into the sea of Pirate Night partiers before we could walk upstairs to deck ten again.






We walked indoors from the port side to starboard, standing just above the stage. It was quickly way too crowded and far too noisy for me, and I bailed. I took my shoes off my sore feet at the elevator lobby and headed for the serenity of my own little corner and my own little chair. Mark returned shortly after and found me in bed with my “boyfriend.”


 
HERE WE (MAN)GO AGAIN – a day at sea – May 3


This morning would be our second laundry day. I was up and dressed at five o’clock, heading back to the launderette on deck six. As I walked down the hall toward the laundry, a woman came out of her room holding a large gift shop bag in her hand. As she walked in front of me toward the laundry room I was willing her not to go into the laundry.

“Don’t turn right. Don’t turn right. Awwww, she turned right!”

But the machines were all empty, and she only needed one washer, so I was able to do my three loads with no problem. I stayed in the launderette to read but once I put the clothes into the dryer I went up to deck nine for a cup of hot chocolate, which I must say was pretty good. Mark was already up when I returned with the laundry, so while he went to get his morning cappuccino I got showered and dressed. He got a few nice photos, too!







We met for breakfast at Cabanas at 8:15. POG juice…yum!

After breakfast we returned the camera and his book to the room, since Mark was going walking. I went to the character meet and greets in the atrium, since I couldn’t see anybody at the Pixar Party. I showed Russell the Mickey head Ellie Badge that Wendy had given me, and his handler told him he needed to work hard to earn his assisting-the-elderly badge. In light of the large number of older folks (and walkers and canes) on this cruise, I pointed out to him that he shouldn’t have a problem with that!







My next meeting was up on deck four with Remy and Emile.





I had seen Ratatouille so many times on this cruise that it seemed wrong not to meet them! But first, this guy needed to vacate the space.







While I was waiting in line for them I saw a character downstairs in an outfit I hadn’t seen before – it was Goofy, in his jammies!





He was even wearing Goofy slippers! Do you see the Mystery Lady, with her polka dot bow?


I stopped back at the room for a quick pit stop before going up to see Big Hero Six on the Funnel at ten, but as I was preparing to leave I felt a small wave of nausea come over me. Without being too graphic, the small wave became a tsunami and I was sick. I decided I needed to stay in the room for the day.

After a while Mark returned, and I told him to go out and have fun today without me. I got a wet washcloth to wipe my face and noticed my face was red and blotchy – I had had an allergic reaction to something at breakfast! Either someone put the papaya spoon into the pineapple I ate, or the passion fruit and/or guava in the juice got me. Knowing I can never have POG juice again made it a very sad morning. Needless to say, I’m considering all tropical fruits to be off the menu for me.

Having crawled out of bed at five, I needed more sleep anyway, so I put the pillows on the sofa and settled in to watch movies all day – I loved that all-Pixar channel on TV! Mark took one of our ship photos and a map of the Canal from one of my books to Captain Puckett’s 11:45 autograph session.





When he returned to the room we discussed lunch. I was voting for chicken soup from room service, but there isn’t much on that menu for a vegetarian and Mark couldn’t find anything e wanted. So he left to bring me a ginger ale from the drinks station and some bread and soup from Cabanas. He came back with cream of asparagus, which did not sound good to me at all, but was surprisingly pleasant. It was like someone waved a piece of asparagus through a creamy chicken soup. He went back to Cabanas for his own lunch and, finding fish on the main line and a taco bar as the specialty, made fish tacos.

At some point in the afternoon I became more blotchy, and my face, head and arms were itchy. I took some benedryl and napped. At one point I woke up to see a “visitor” out on the “verandah” but I was too tired to care what he thought, if he even saw me. I don’t know what he was doing, but he was banging around an awful lot, and on the one day when I really needed some sleep!

Mark shot me a text around four, asking if I needed anything. I requested a banana ice cream, which he promptly delivered. Why were the special flavors still banana and blueberry?! How often do they change them out?... We discussed our dinner options, since my stomach was fine. A look at the menu for Triton’s ruled that out – nothing appealed to us, and they seemed to be repeating dishes we had already had. We would get dinner on the pool deck tonight. Without our 5:45 dinner to dress for, Mark went back out, as I watched – you guessed it – Ratatouille again. My rash was getting worse as the day went on.

Captain Robert had a signing event in the White Caps shop at 7:30, so Mark took our other ship photo for him to autograph.


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Afterward, we went up to Pete’s for chicken strips and a veggie burger.






We checked our photos at Shutters again – still nothing great. Back in the room, I packed our day bag for our excursion in Puerto Vallarta in the morning, grateful that this nasty reaction happened on a sea day, instead of ruining a port day. I wrote a few postcards and took some more benedryl so I could sleep. Mark took some nice photos in the atrium.





 
Barnaby is Dee's dog right? I met her on the five night San Diego to Vancouver cruise last month!
We'll be sailing with her again on the next Panama Canal cruise in October.
 
So sorry you had to get sick on the cruise. As you said at least it was a sea day. I hope by the next day you were feeling much better.
 
If you look straight up from the flag on your autographed photo, you will see Susan in the "pinkish" shirt and I'm to her right in the navy!

Ahem.......you left out Mark hanging with us and playing Uno and drinking Long Island port wine the day you were sick. :(
 

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