MickeyEarrings
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2012
GLUTTONY, REVISITED – a day at sea – May 6
Today was the last full day of our fabulous two-week cruise, and it was another day at sea. I woke up at 6:30 and started thinking about packing, so when Mark’s alarm went off at seven I got up too. The glassware from Cabo was proving to be a packing nightmare, along with a very fragile sand castle ornament Deb had given us. My hard-sided Mickey Mouse carry-on would house all the fragile souvenirs, and I wrapped the glassware in the fabric from the fat quarter exchange! With one rolling garment bag already stuffed to the gills, I knew Mark’s soft-sided carry-on would need to house all the things we needed to wear on Monday morning for the drive home from the airport hotel, as well as our pajamas and toilet kit. That meant everything else had to fit in the remaining garment bag; it would be tight, but I was pretty confident it was doable. I started packing it, but would need to wait to finish until this afternoon or this evening – we had big plans for the day!
Mark took down the Fish Extender and door magnets for me and I sent him upstairs for his coffee. As he opened the door to leave there were more FE gifts, hanging from the door knob! There were some very generous people on this cruise! While I worked I wanted to watch the live broadcast of Captain Puckett’s 9:15 talk on the Japanese Plans to Destroy the Canal, but it wasn’t on.
Showered and dressed (and caffeinated, in Mark’s case), we returned to Palo for another brunch at ten o’clock, again with Hristo as our server. We vowed after our group brunch last week that we would only eat from the buffet this time, and not order from the menu, thinking it would prevent that miserable feeling our full tummies had given us. Hristo, of course, offered us the menu anyway, asking if we were sure there wasn’t something we might like…and I remembered the rum raisin pancakes they have since taken off the menu. It didn’t hurt to ask if the chef could make them (just a half order, please), and Mark decided to have Eggs Benedict as well. The pancakes were as delicious as I remembered.
Here are my pancakes, and my plates from the buffet.
I had asked Hristo about buying a bottle of the Lasseter wine we had tasted in the chocolate and liquor tasting; he set a bottle aside for me and sent the sommelier over to answer my questions about how to buy more. We bought it as a thank-you gift for our younger son and his wonderful fiance who kept the house together, the lawn mowed and the dog happy while we were gone. They both loved it, and I’m thinking of getting some for their wedding. I cradled that $77 bottle of wine (plus 15% autogratuity!) like a baby, carrying it back to the room! They even bubble wrapped and boxed it for us!
Some of our new friends were at the next table and when we got up to leave they were shocked to see we were leaving so soon – we explained how Hristo fed us too well last time, so we were showing restraint today.
We left Palo at 11:30, and as we walked forward on deck five toward our room we saw the Buena Vista Theater would be showing Guardians 2 in fifteen minutes. Mark wanted to see it again, since he had slept through part of it, but a few minutes later as we were changing our clothes Darren came on the overhead speaker to announce that once again, we had wonderful conditions for spotting sea life, and dolphins and whales had already been spotted. Naturally, Mark quickly changed his mind about the movie, and set out for deck four to read and look for critters. I watched more Pixar movies and worked on packing – the wine presented a new and very critical problem. The artwork from Disney Springs could no longer go where I had put it, so I opened yesterday’s fully-packed bag to remove it and snuggle the wine into the garment bag’s plastic pouch, in case the unthinkable happened. (My younger nephew works for the airlines, and refers to baggage handlers as “throwers.”) I was using my late mother’s Vera Bradley backpack as my purse; the main body of it would contain only my travel wallet and our toilet kit, as I had no other place to put it!
We have a tradition of wearing home on the airplane the same clothes we wear to dinner on the last night (it makes packing easier, and they’re only worn for a few hours on the last evening), so with those items set aside the packing was done by 1:45. I had a flaming headache from the effort, so I laid down to rest for a few minutes before Martini Tasting at two o’clock.
Mark had decided not to go to Martini class, but whether it was because of a full stomach, whale watching or the thought of more alcohol, I don’t recall. But I went to Martini class alone, and sat with a group of three young ladies from Michigan. Now, I went to this class to learn more about martinis and broaden my horizons; some people were apparently just there to get five martinis for twenty bucks. I actually *tasted* mine…
We learned that James Bond took his martinis “shaken, not stirred” because he was on the clock – shaking the martini with ice waters the drink down. Thrifty martini drinkers should order their ‘tinis stirred, with a glass of ice water on the side; it gives you more booze for your buck. We tasted five different drinks: a gin and raspberry martini (I’m the only person in the group who admitted to liking gin), a Cosmopolitan, a Washington Apple, a Chocolatini with amaretto that was very yummy, and a mint martini. I got the giggles when the college-age girl next to me told me that in shot form this is called a Dirty Girl Scout. After the fifth drink, the crowd was pretty noisy, and someone told me they had an open bar event in a few hours; both of these events were organized in our Facebook group.
Here are the martinis:
I couldn’t help but notice that one of the women I sat with was eating a soft pretzel – I had not seen these yet on the cruise, and they brought them out on the last day?! She said they were at Pinocchio’s Pizza, and that they may have run out already because people were getting more than one. Mark sent me a text about then to see what my plans were, and I asked him to grab us some pretzels on his way down to the room.
Back in the room where I was writing some additional comments to include with the comment card we would receive that night, Mark arrived with one pretzel, telling me “you got the last pretzel on the ship.”
Actually, he had gotten the last TWO pretzels, but as the girl at the counter handed them to Mark, a woman came up to order one and was of course disappointed to hear there were no more. So Mark gave her one of his. That’s my hubster…! This led to us discussing how tired we were of seeing people waste food, especially at the buffet where you control how much food you take. It was especially hard, knowing that the food we saw wasted was very much needed in some of the countries the ship’s staff come from.
At 3:45 Mark wanted to go see the afternoon showing of Guardians 2, but when I checked the Navigator we saw it had actually started at 3:15. I told him to go anyway, because he had stayed awake through at least the first half hour last night. I continued writing my comments as I tried to watch Pinocchio (I’ve never seen it…and still haven’t. I hated it. The poor little puppet gets to become a real boy and the first thing Geppetto does is send him to school…). Thankfully, Captain Puckett’s talk was just beginning on another channel! I really enjoyed the way he ended his presentation, with his farewell wish for us:
From our window I could see the seas beginning to pick up a little.
In the meantime, Mark was down in the gift shops looking for the plaques we had exchanged with the Panamanian officials on Canal day. They're in a small glass display at the end of an aisle, facing the cashiers.
Our dinner rotation took us back to Triton’s tonight, for the Land and Sea menu.
Duran greeted us, saying “We’re beginning to see Alaska weather.” By now the seas were really picking up!
My starter tonight was the Serrano Ham, Spicy Tomato and Kalamata Olive Bruschetta, which had good flavor but was hard as a rock!
It was followed by the Beefsteak Tomatoes and Sliced Mozzarella. Why do they use so much arugula?! It’s bitter – that’s going on the comment card!!
I chose a dinner salad as my entrée tonight: the Cobb Salad, from the Lighter Offerings menu
Mark started with the Double Baked Gruyere Souffle
This is Tim’s Marinated Shrimp (with feta cheese, cilantro and tomato)
Mark’s entrée was the Pan-Seared Scallop and Asparagus Linguine
For dessert I chose the Triple Chocolate Terrine, which I loved.
After giving our service team their gratuity envelopes and our sincere thanks for an amazing cruise, we took some group photos and made arrangements with our head server to be seated at the late breakfast tomorrow, since we had an afternoon flight (no point in waking up earlier than needed!) We had to leave Triton’s through the rear door because there was a special concert in the atrium – it was a complete zoo, and I couldn’t stand the noise or the number of people! I wanted to get back to the room, but we ran into Joh and Gary (who we were never able to get together with for dinner) just long enough to say goodbye. Perhaps we will sail together again – many of the people in our Facebook group had done this same cruise together in 2015, and planned this reunion cruise together. There are already rumblings of sailing together in 2019...
Back in the room, we found Agung had brought more things for me to pack! – he left a beautiful commemorative lithograph, which I tucked safely in with the other artwork. This little guy held our comment card.
I was happy to see were setting the clocks back one more time tonight - I can always use some extra sleep! Mark completed the comment card and wrote a couple of extra pages himself. I tidied up and sorted out what would go in Mark’s messenger bag tomorrow and what would stay with me in the limited room I still had in my backpack. We emptied the safe, being certain to leave the drawer open as requested. We put the luggage tags Agung had left us on our three bags and had them in the hall at 9:30; I was shocked to see we weren’t the first ones. Technically, I was ready in the afternoon, but I didn’t want to show off. Or get a bag stolen…
I thought I might like some ice cream before bed, but just standing up in the room was difficult because of the strong seas; I decided it was safer to just stay put because we were really in the thick of it now! Later, in bed, we would feel the ship’s movement not only side-to-side, but pitching forward and aft as well. We would be in San Diego soon.
Today was the last full day of our fabulous two-week cruise, and it was another day at sea. I woke up at 6:30 and started thinking about packing, so when Mark’s alarm went off at seven I got up too. The glassware from Cabo was proving to be a packing nightmare, along with a very fragile sand castle ornament Deb had given us. My hard-sided Mickey Mouse carry-on would house all the fragile souvenirs, and I wrapped the glassware in the fabric from the fat quarter exchange! With one rolling garment bag already stuffed to the gills, I knew Mark’s soft-sided carry-on would need to house all the things we needed to wear on Monday morning for the drive home from the airport hotel, as well as our pajamas and toilet kit. That meant everything else had to fit in the remaining garment bag; it would be tight, but I was pretty confident it was doable. I started packing it, but would need to wait to finish until this afternoon or this evening – we had big plans for the day!
Mark took down the Fish Extender and door magnets for me and I sent him upstairs for his coffee. As he opened the door to leave there were more FE gifts, hanging from the door knob! There were some very generous people on this cruise! While I worked I wanted to watch the live broadcast of Captain Puckett’s 9:15 talk on the Japanese Plans to Destroy the Canal, but it wasn’t on.
Showered and dressed (and caffeinated, in Mark’s case), we returned to Palo for another brunch at ten o’clock, again with Hristo as our server. We vowed after our group brunch last week that we would only eat from the buffet this time, and not order from the menu, thinking it would prevent that miserable feeling our full tummies had given us. Hristo, of course, offered us the menu anyway, asking if we were sure there wasn’t something we might like…and I remembered the rum raisin pancakes they have since taken off the menu. It didn’t hurt to ask if the chef could make them (just a half order, please), and Mark decided to have Eggs Benedict as well. The pancakes were as delicious as I remembered.
Here are my pancakes, and my plates from the buffet.
I had asked Hristo about buying a bottle of the Lasseter wine we had tasted in the chocolate and liquor tasting; he set a bottle aside for me and sent the sommelier over to answer my questions about how to buy more. We bought it as a thank-you gift for our younger son and his wonderful fiance who kept the house together, the lawn mowed and the dog happy while we were gone. They both loved it, and I’m thinking of getting some for their wedding. I cradled that $77 bottle of wine (plus 15% autogratuity!) like a baby, carrying it back to the room! They even bubble wrapped and boxed it for us!
Some of our new friends were at the next table and when we got up to leave they were shocked to see we were leaving so soon – we explained how Hristo fed us too well last time, so we were showing restraint today.
We left Palo at 11:30, and as we walked forward on deck five toward our room we saw the Buena Vista Theater would be showing Guardians 2 in fifteen minutes. Mark wanted to see it again, since he had slept through part of it, but a few minutes later as we were changing our clothes Darren came on the overhead speaker to announce that once again, we had wonderful conditions for spotting sea life, and dolphins and whales had already been spotted. Naturally, Mark quickly changed his mind about the movie, and set out for deck four to read and look for critters. I watched more Pixar movies and worked on packing – the wine presented a new and very critical problem. The artwork from Disney Springs could no longer go where I had put it, so I opened yesterday’s fully-packed bag to remove it and snuggle the wine into the garment bag’s plastic pouch, in case the unthinkable happened. (My younger nephew works for the airlines, and refers to baggage handlers as “throwers.”) I was using my late mother’s Vera Bradley backpack as my purse; the main body of it would contain only my travel wallet and our toilet kit, as I had no other place to put it!
We have a tradition of wearing home on the airplane the same clothes we wear to dinner on the last night (it makes packing easier, and they’re only worn for a few hours on the last evening), so with those items set aside the packing was done by 1:45. I had a flaming headache from the effort, so I laid down to rest for a few minutes before Martini Tasting at two o’clock.
Mark had decided not to go to Martini class, but whether it was because of a full stomach, whale watching or the thought of more alcohol, I don’t recall. But I went to Martini class alone, and sat with a group of three young ladies from Michigan. Now, I went to this class to learn more about martinis and broaden my horizons; some people were apparently just there to get five martinis for twenty bucks. I actually *tasted* mine…
We learned that James Bond took his martinis “shaken, not stirred” because he was on the clock – shaking the martini with ice waters the drink down. Thrifty martini drinkers should order their ‘tinis stirred, with a glass of ice water on the side; it gives you more booze for your buck. We tasted five different drinks: a gin and raspberry martini (I’m the only person in the group who admitted to liking gin), a Cosmopolitan, a Washington Apple, a Chocolatini with amaretto that was very yummy, and a mint martini. I got the giggles when the college-age girl next to me told me that in shot form this is called a Dirty Girl Scout. After the fifth drink, the crowd was pretty noisy, and someone told me they had an open bar event in a few hours; both of these events were organized in our Facebook group.
Here are the martinis:
I couldn’t help but notice that one of the women I sat with was eating a soft pretzel – I had not seen these yet on the cruise, and they brought them out on the last day?! She said they were at Pinocchio’s Pizza, and that they may have run out already because people were getting more than one. Mark sent me a text about then to see what my plans were, and I asked him to grab us some pretzels on his way down to the room.
Back in the room where I was writing some additional comments to include with the comment card we would receive that night, Mark arrived with one pretzel, telling me “you got the last pretzel on the ship.”
Actually, he had gotten the last TWO pretzels, but as the girl at the counter handed them to Mark, a woman came up to order one and was of course disappointed to hear there were no more. So Mark gave her one of his. That’s my hubster…! This led to us discussing how tired we were of seeing people waste food, especially at the buffet where you control how much food you take. It was especially hard, knowing that the food we saw wasted was very much needed in some of the countries the ship’s staff come from.
At 3:45 Mark wanted to go see the afternoon showing of Guardians 2, but when I checked the Navigator we saw it had actually started at 3:15. I told him to go anyway, because he had stayed awake through at least the first half hour last night. I continued writing my comments as I tried to watch Pinocchio (I’ve never seen it…and still haven’t. I hated it. The poor little puppet gets to become a real boy and the first thing Geppetto does is send him to school…). Thankfully, Captain Puckett’s talk was just beginning on another channel! I really enjoyed the way he ended his presentation, with his farewell wish for us:
From our window I could see the seas beginning to pick up a little.
In the meantime, Mark was down in the gift shops looking for the plaques we had exchanged with the Panamanian officials on Canal day. They're in a small glass display at the end of an aisle, facing the cashiers.
Our dinner rotation took us back to Triton’s tonight, for the Land and Sea menu.
Duran greeted us, saying “We’re beginning to see Alaska weather.” By now the seas were really picking up!
My starter tonight was the Serrano Ham, Spicy Tomato and Kalamata Olive Bruschetta, which had good flavor but was hard as a rock!
It was followed by the Beefsteak Tomatoes and Sliced Mozzarella. Why do they use so much arugula?! It’s bitter – that’s going on the comment card!!
I chose a dinner salad as my entrée tonight: the Cobb Salad, from the Lighter Offerings menu
Mark started with the Double Baked Gruyere Souffle
This is Tim’s Marinated Shrimp (with feta cheese, cilantro and tomato)
Mark’s entrée was the Pan-Seared Scallop and Asparagus Linguine
For dessert I chose the Triple Chocolate Terrine, which I loved.
After giving our service team their gratuity envelopes and our sincere thanks for an amazing cruise, we took some group photos and made arrangements with our head server to be seated at the late breakfast tomorrow, since we had an afternoon flight (no point in waking up earlier than needed!) We had to leave Triton’s through the rear door because there was a special concert in the atrium – it was a complete zoo, and I couldn’t stand the noise or the number of people! I wanted to get back to the room, but we ran into Joh and Gary (who we were never able to get together with for dinner) just long enough to say goodbye. Perhaps we will sail together again – many of the people in our Facebook group had done this same cruise together in 2015, and planned this reunion cruise together. There are already rumblings of sailing together in 2019...
Back in the room, we found Agung had brought more things for me to pack! – he left a beautiful commemorative lithograph, which I tucked safely in with the other artwork. This little guy held our comment card.
I was happy to see were setting the clocks back one more time tonight - I can always use some extra sleep! Mark completed the comment card and wrote a couple of extra pages himself. I tidied up and sorted out what would go in Mark’s messenger bag tomorrow and what would stay with me in the limited room I still had in my backpack. We emptied the safe, being certain to leave the drawer open as requested. We put the luggage tags Agung had left us on our three bags and had them in the hall at 9:30; I was shocked to see we weren’t the first ones. Technically, I was ready in the afternoon, but I didn’t want to show off. Or get a bag stolen…
I thought I might like some ice cream before bed, but just standing up in the room was difficult because of the strong seas; I decided it was safer to just stay put because we were really in the thick of it now! Later, in bed, we would feel the ship’s movement not only side-to-side, but pitching forward and aft as well. We would be in San Diego soon.
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