gisco Posted December 2, 2012 Posted December 2, 2012 On your first day out, Lisa's dessert trio looks like seabass!
jenseib Posted December 3, 2012 Author Posted December 3, 2012 On your first day out, Lisa's dessert trio looks like seabass! Oh shoot. let me fix that. LOL
cfc Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 On your first day out, Lisa's dessert trio looks like seabass! Seabass ala mode?
jenseib Posted December 3, 2012 Author Posted December 3, 2012 On your first day out, Lisa's dessert trio looks like seabass! Seabass ala mode? LOL
JRHcoasterki Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 I love all the detail you put into your trip reports! It's awesome! Can't wait to read the rest!
Ed Farmer Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 I thought this was going to be a thread about NickelBack.
BeemerBoy Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 ^ I almost wish it was. And by the way, Post of the Year.
PKI Jizzman Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 I always love cruise trip reports. Great photos, reviews, and opinions! Us Ohioans love to get out of the state and really appreciate it when we do!
jenseib Posted December 7, 2012 Author Posted December 7, 2012 I love all the detail you put into your trip reports! It's awesome! Can't wait to read the rest! Thanks. I have a lot written up, I just need to time to post it.
jenseib Posted December 7, 2012 Author Posted December 7, 2012 I thought this was going to be a thread about NickelBack. OK, I am clueless. I don't know much about nickelback at all...is this a song of theirs?
jenseib Posted December 7, 2012 Author Posted December 7, 2012 I always love cruise trip reports. Great photos, reviews, and opinions! Us Ohioans love to get out of the state and really appreciate it when we do! You are so right there. I swear Ohio is just such a boring state. Where I live we are completely flat lands too, so not much in the way of scenery. I love getting away.
jenseib Posted December 7, 2012 Author Posted December 7, 2012 We decided to get lunch and I think we ran into Brook right as we were about to walk inside to go to Topsiders. If I remember right, we had to wait a few minutes for the restaurant to officially open. Luis, our assistant server was working the door area and we chatted with him a few minutes and then I decided to take a potty break before we ate. When I came out, Topsiders was now open. I looked up and didn’t see Brook and Lisa, so I went directly towards the buffet. Luis asked me if I was just going to leave my friends. LOL! I said no, they must’ve went in, and he points to them standing right where I left them. I guess hunger had made me blind. Luis is hilarious. He has a very serious, dry humor, and you have to watch his eyes, because he can make a lot of expressions with them. We just loved him so much. We got in line, and I am not sure why, but I recorded video of part of the buffet, and not very good video at that. I think today was a pasta or Italian type buffet. We found plenty to keep us happy. Our view while eating. Such a nice, relaxing lunch. We found we really loved sitting out on the back deck while eating, even if it was really hot. I had to get some dessert. VERY good. You can never go wrong with the chocolate chip cookie. I think Carolyn might’ve eventually joined us too. Brook and Carolyn both had gone to a DVC member meet earlier that day and were planning on attending the one open to the public after lunch. Lisa and I both thought we would like to go to. After all, there is a chance you could win some onboard credit! I think we headed that way right after lunch. It was in Studio Sea. We had a good time, but I really didn’t learn anything I hadn’t known already. This was all new to Lisa though. Susan was really good with the questions and won some prizes. Finally the moment we had all been waiting for. The drawing for the $300 onboard credit. And guess who won? Not me! But shelly did. I was so happy for her. After the DVC meet, we were going to head back to our room. We wanted to change and get ready for a meet and greet we had scheduled with facebook friends at 3 PM. It was called the Beauty and Beast champagne party. We had an open bar scheduled for an hour. The cost was really great too. I think it was only $13.25 per person. Brook had an informal meet and greet planned as well that some of us could drop by at in the Promenade Lounge from 1-3, I believe. We walked through there and only saw 2 others there, 1 being Mary. I took a few pictures before we headed back to the room. We said goodbyes and headed back to change and freshen up a bit. We made our way back to the room to get changed. We debated on ordering a snack from room service. I wanted to get the cheese plate and a Mickey bar. Lisa said she wanted one too. And then she asked, what’s a Mickey Bar?” LOL! She is not a huge ice cream fan, but she said she would probably enjoy it. We called and asked how long it would take to get delivered and they must’ve been busy, because it was going to be at least 45 minutes to an hour. That would cut it too close to our meet, so we just decided not to get anything for now. We still had some time to kill though, so we headed out once again. This bathroom was right down the hall from us. We stopped and took a look at where were we. And took a quick walk through the shops to see if there was something we couldn’t live without. We made our way up then and peeked in the arcade. And all the way up top then. I thought it would be fun to go to the front of the ship. This was actually kind of scary. The wind at the front is VERY strong and Lisa was worried we would blow off, so she quickly went behind the glass. I braved a few seconds and took a couple of pictures. We walked down to deck 9 and stood near the front but to the side. This was in the window to the gym. I just found it kind of funny being there. They had this set up near the adult pool, I assume to advertise their services, along with a few Cast Members. We still have 15 minutes before the meet. These were just outside the spa if I remember right. And we started making our way toward the meet and greet.
jenseib Posted December 7, 2012 Author Posted December 7, 2012 We made our way towards Sessions. They handed us glasses of champagne as we walked in. I do like champagne! I am not big on wine, but champagne always tastes so good. Carolyn and girls hadn’t arrived yet, but Brook and Mary were there. Mary’s friends didn’t come to this event. You could bring a pink feather boa, but I didn’t, mostly because I was lacking space and the one I could’ve brought that was Claire’s just sheds something awful. We sat and chatted a bit. We really didn’t move around the room much at all. I ordered an amaretto sour and Lisa got a bloody Mary. I didn’t get a picture of my drink though. Mine was darn good! I had thought Brook took my camera and took some random pictures, but I don’t have many, so maybe she didn’t. I went up to the bar and ordered a strawberry daiquiri and while I waited for that, I grabbed another glass of champagne …..yeah I was going to get my money’s worth in that hour. LOL Here is my daiquiri. And Lisa’s drink. They had some sort of Beauties contest. And some trivia and you would win prizes, which were magnets. I think Lisa got 1, and she gave it to me, but I think I left it there on accident. After 4 drinks I was a bit happy. They also had a beer drinking contest. Susan went up with a couple of guys. We were laughing so hard. She didn’t even come close to winning, but it was fun and we all had fun cheering her on. We then went for a group picture. I have no clue how I took this picture of Lisa, because I thought she had my camera, but maybe she has Brooks and then I handed her off mine after I took this. There is just no way to get a good group shot like this. We all kept talking and moving and being goofy. I am in the back row towards the left side. After our hour was up, people started clearing out and many went down to the atrium to get a group shot, but we didn’t feel like going there. I took one last shot before we left. One of the gals had a banner made for the event. It was really a fun time, but I drank too much. I was actually surprised how well I was doing. I rarely drink anymore and I had had 4 drinks in an hours’ time. I should’ve been falling over, and at most I was just giggly. We headed out and I made a stop in the bathroom there in Beat Street. This is a BEAUTIFUL bathroom. After that drinking, we had to get a snack. I think I got a Panini at Goofys. I did not take a picture of it, and it really wasn’t that great. It did fill the void, but it wasn’t tasty to me. I think it was the kind I got rather than just a really bad sandwich. Lisa got some fruit. While eating, I looked over the back of the ship and took some pictures of the “secret” aft decks. After our little snack we headed back to the room to get ready for the show. We also wanted to take our dose of bonine for the day. After we were showered and dressed we headed off to the theatre. Guess who was out to greet guests? Sadly, I took about 8 pictures and all of them are pretty blurry. We found some seats and I took a look back to see if we saw the other girls, which we did not, but I did take a picture. The show tonight was Twiced Charm. I was excited to see it. I had heard about it for many years and never thought I would get the opportunity to see it myself. I really enjoyed it. The costumes were AMAZING! The only downfall for me was there is that they never had a real catchy tune that you wanted to sing for the rest of the night. Other than that flaw, I loved the show. Lisa loved it too. She wished we could take pictures just because she loved the costumes so much. After we left the show, we did some roaming. I wanted to find the door to the deck 7 secret deck. I think this is actually the deck 8 door here. Lisa was worried we would get in trouble for being back there, but I assured her we would be fine. We headed down to deck 7 then. And I opened the door and got 2 quick shots. It was a major wind tunnel when I opened that door. WOW!! And then we headed back to our room again.
jenseib Posted December 7, 2012 Author Posted December 7, 2012 We got back to the room to find a new friend waiting for us! And a nice little gift for being on the Galveston Maiden Voyage. We then decided we needed some pictures of us dressed up. I took Lisa first. We kept laughing because she had some strange facial expressions. And she wasn’t sure what to do with her arms. Then it was my turn. Yuck, I look too fat, make me look skinnier! Let’s have a fun expression! And now for sexy! Then we laughed at that one because my hand on the bed looks totally contorted. We then turned on the TV till it was time to go. They did have some awesome movies playing every day and we got to see bits and pieces of some of them. We started talking about the movies playing at the Buena Vista and which we would like to try and see. Lisa has always been famous for crying at Disney movies and I told her as I have gotten older, I now start to get teary eyed at them too. So I told her about Brave a bit, and I got slightly teary. Then we started talking about Toy Story 3 and I tried to tell her about the movie and the emotional part where they are all about to get burned up and I just start crying telling her it and she is getting tears in her eyes too. Then we start laughing that we can’t even talk about the movies without crying. So we blot our eyes and get ready for dinner. We start the walk to Animators Palate and we see Aurora walk by all by herself. I took a quick shot, but it’s blurry. Then we see Belle all by herself making her way towards us. I was amazed that they didn’t have any type of escorts. I must say though, on the ship, people don’t tend to chase the characters down like they would at the parks if they were alone. Belle went down the stairs and we kind of hung back a few minutes so she didn’t think we were stalking her. We made our way to Animators Palate and were directed to our seats. Mary, Julie, Erin, and Chris were already there. Brook, Carolyn, Susan, and Shelly had decided they did not feel like dressing up this night and were just going to get some fast service food and hang out. When we told Raphael and Luis this, they told us they would be sure to make those girls regret not coming. We made our orders. It was really hard to decide. There was a fish on the menu, but no one had ever heard of it and no one ended up ordering it because we just weren’t too sure how it would be. Again, I got some terrible shots of the menu. Bread was served. Fig and Date Ciabatta Roll with minted yogurt dip The show was not going to happen tonight since it was the Prince and Princess menu. I still took a few pictures of the room. For an appetizer I got Roasted Roma Tomatoes and Herb Flavored Goat Cheese on mixed greens with aged balsamic vinegar dressing. This was VERY good. I could’ve had a 2nd plate. I also got The Beast's Potato and Sausage Casserole Soup, a hearty recipe with a touch of paprika. Lisa got this too. From the description, we were expecting a potato soup. This was much more like a bean soup in taste and you had to really hunt to find anything that resembled a potato. Lisa is very picky and she was really surprised how much she liked it. I on the other hand didn’t care for it much, nor did many at our table. It was Ok, but not what we expected and I would not order it again. Then our entrées started coming out. Lisa got the oven baked fillet of salmon and potato. I think this one of those things on the basic every day menu. I got the Peppercorn Crusted New York Strip. But Raphael also brought out a few other main course dishes to try as well. This is the fish. Baked Fillet of Turbot, Garlic smashed potatoes, sauteed fennel, and a light dill foam. This was soooooo good. Many of us wished we had ordered it. We also sampled a few other items and they were all really good. But I was kicking myself for not getting that fish. Soon it was time to order dessert. Or so we thought. Raphael refused to let us order and said he was just going to bring us out something ….OK, I was worried, as I am picky with my dessert, and there was only one thing I really was eyeing on the menu. He ended up bringing everyone out a Sweet Temptations trio. Miniature tasting of Cinderella's Lemon Cheesecake, Chilled Chocolate Souffle and Tiramisu. Of those 3 items, I only liked the Chilled Chocolate Souffle. I really loved that, and could’ve asked for another one, but honestly, I didn’t have much room left anyways. Chris has allergies, so she was limited to what she could eat. He brought her out a full sized one and she swore she wouldn’t like it. Well she did and not only licked the plate clean but had a second one as well. LOL. He also brought out many other items to sample. Princess Jasmine Banana Bread Pudding. Brioche bread pudding, caramel sauce and toasted macadamia nuts. I have never had bread pudding before, so this was new to me. I actually liked it. Not my favorite thing, but it was still pretty darn good. He also brought out Princess Aurora Sundae. Rocky Road ice cream, topped with cookie crumbs, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I didn’t even try this. I don’t like chocolate ice cream nor do I like rocky road. I don’t even know if anyone had a bite. I think we just had too many other options and we were getting pretty full. We had a fabulous time this evening. We really got to know Mary’s friends well this night. It was again like we had been old friends for a long time. We sat and talked and I think it was actually close to 10 when we left the dining room. I was pretty tired today. I think we just pretty much chilled out in the room and went to bed. I guess I needed another picture of the lamp. I think we both went out pretty fast this night.
WFChris Posted December 8, 2012 Posted December 8, 2012 I have a question, at the restaurants you seem to always have trouble figuring out what to order. Why not order both? As I understand it, this is one of the major perks of cruising! Were you on some kind of pay-per-meal plan or was food included? Perhaps you aren't aware that you can just order as many dishes as you want?
jenseib Posted December 8, 2012 Author Posted December 8, 2012 I have a question, at the restaurants you seem to always have trouble figuring out what to order. Why not order both? As I understand it, this is one of the major perks of cruising! Were you on some kind of pay-per-meal plan or was food included? Perhaps you aren't aware that you can just order as many dishes as you want? I guess I was more worried about being wasteful. Somethings I knew I would only take 1or 2 bites of and I knew they would bring me a whole plate of it. I had even asked for half portions and they never did, it was always the full meal. I did get a few extra things here and there though. It's amazing how fast you get full. Some nights the servers would bring us a few extra plates of some things and we would all try it.
jenseib Posted December 8, 2012 Author Posted December 8, 2012 Sept. 24, 2012, Day 4 Navigators of the day. Today we woke up and decided we would do a load of laundry. Between the 2 of us we had a few items we wanted to wash and as sweaty as we had been over the past few days, it might be nice to have some extra back up clothing. While we gathered our things I took a few pictures around the room again. We liked to track where we were at each day. We got our load started and headed up for a quick something to eat. We had a character breakfast today, but our rumbling stomachs were not going to make it till then. We chatted and enjoyed the view once again. We then went back down to put the laundry in the dryer. It was soon time to head to our character breakfast, something I did NOT want to miss. I thought the menus were cute. Brook, Carolyn and gang were there, but Mary and her gang did not show up. I don’t think we ever asked them why. We weren’t seated too long and the characters had already arrived. And Chip made a mad dash right for our table. He was a fast devil, but we all managed to get pictures with him. While we waited for our next character we looked over our menus and got ourselves ordered. Goofy was next and Carolyn had a Goofy tee on, so he stopped to read it. And then the Big Cheese himself arrived. And evidently he was in a big hurry because he totally skipped Lisa and Carolyn. While we waited …I looked up. And then Dale come over. He was having a hard time looking in the right direction. Hey Dale, look over here! Hunh? Over here! No! This way! Much better! And then it was time to look extremely goofy! Lisa looks so thrilled. Probably because the food came and she is waiting to eat. LOL Speaking of food, here is what I got. I also got a hash brown, but must’ve not taken a picture of it.
jenseib Posted December 8, 2012 Author Posted December 8, 2012 And then Pluto arrived! I believe this was a big highlight for Susan because I think she has a dog at home named Pluto. We started to eat and I noticed Mickey walk by on his way out. He had already made it through the whole room, probably because he was skipping half the tables. LOL. I quick told a CM walking by that Mickey had skipped half our table and they grabbed him and brought him back to get a picture with Lisa and Carolyn. And not long after that, Minnie arrived. We then worked on our meals while Luis did his best to make us all look like fools with our napkin hats. He asked me if I had a preference and I told him “I want to be rich, do you got a hat for that?” And he gave me Minnie ears/bow because he said she was the richest lady he knew of. We talked about plans for the day and I had decided I wanted to hit the 2nd animators drawing class. Lisa was going to go and get our laundry and I would meet up with her later. I made a bathroom stop in Beat Street and I guess I really was admiring the floor. I went into Diversions and looked for a seat. There were actually quite a few people in there. I wanted to be able to see well and the only table that was in a good spot had someone’s drawing from the class right before. I asked some others if that person was coming back and no one knew, but said she had been gone for quite a while now. They told me to just sit there and I could share the table if she came back. She did come back eventually and seemed surprised to find me there. Then a little bit later more family members came in and she waved at them. We were at a VERY small table, so they really couldn’t join us and went to a table in the back. I kind of felt bad, but there was no way they all would’ve fit at this table even if I did move. Our instructor was so nice. She was one of the dancers from the sail away party and she chatted a lot with us and told us how hot this weather was compared to being in NY just a week prior. She also told us that she was NOT an artist at all. She said another girl usually does the classes and a few weeks back had gotten sick, so Disney asked her if she could draw and she promptly told them no, and they said “Great, here are some books to look at and you can teach the class will be tomorrow.” LOL! She said she really does enjoy this now and her and the other girl take turns teaching now. If you haven’t guessed yet, we drew Pluto. And here is my version of Pluto. I was actually pretty proud of it, as I have no artist skills at all. My table partner offered to take a picture of me and my masterpiece. And Sheree’s Pluto, which is MUCH better.
TBpony414 Posted December 9, 2012 Posted December 9, 2012 I have stalked all your past trip reports and finally decided I need to start commenting because I really enjoy your updates! I love the photos and abundance of details. What in the world is in the picture of the bathroom in your room on the left hand side of the sink? It looks like a white vacuum hose thing on the wall.
jenseib Posted December 9, 2012 Author Posted December 9, 2012 After my drawing class I went in search of Lisa and found her sun bathing. I showed her my picture and told her I was going to head back to the room and put it away. I think I barely walked about 15 steps away and it started raining. There was a mad rush of people jumping out of the pools to a dry spot, which I found kind of funny. They were wet and now they are avoiding getting wet. You can kind of see the rain in this picture. I headed back to the room and found these cups. I guess someone from the fish extender group left them and Lisa had brought them in. We were not part of the official exchange, but signed up to get any extras since many people said they had made too many items. I was shocked at how much stuff we actually received and I am thankful to all those kind hearted people. While in the room I decided to get a few more pictures of different things in there. And I went out to the veranda to admire how beautiful and peaceful the ocean was. While hanging in the room, Lisa arrived. She said it rained pretty hard for a few minutes and she just decided to get out of there. We flipped on the TV. I think I decided I needed a short nap and told Lisa to wake me in ½ hour if I fell asleep. Before I knew it I heard my name and was told to get up. I had totally conked out. Lisa said I had even started to snore. I could see why too. I had my head on high pillows and the position I was in made me bend at the neck putting my chin almost on my chest….so basically I was cutting off my air supply. We decided it was time to get some lunch. These aren’t the best pictures because I took them with my point and shoot. They had a lot to choose from today too. After lunch we had planned to see Brave in the Buena Vista Theatre. Brook had told us to save her a spot as she wanted to see it too. We headed off for a potty break first. We were lucky and had grabbed sweatshirts before going. That theatre is VERY cold. It also got packed very fast. We watched for Brook and never saw her. It got to be standing room only and we gave up looking. I was shocked at how cold it was in there, but others must’ve been there before because many people brought in blankets and curled up together under them. The movie was good. This was Lisa’s first time seeing it and she enjoyed it. We used to go to Disney movies a lot together as I would take my other 2 kids and she would come along to see them. I used to make fun of her because she would cry in almost every movie. I seemed to have softened a bit because I now tear up as well. When the lights came up we quickly dried our eyes and headed out. We stopped off in the room to drop off our sweatshirts and I took a picture of some of the treats we had received so far. We went up on deck and sat for a few minutes and saw a plane. My guess is that we were near Cuba. We ran into Brook and she wanted to go to the Quiet Cove to get a coffee drink and so did Lisa. We ran into this guy on our way. Brook had said that they had tried to come to the movie but it was so packed that they just walked by and gave up. Inside the Quiet Cove Café I took pictures while the girls made their orders. (I don’t drink coffee). They had one named for Toledo, which I thought was odd. Toledo isn’t really known for its coffee that I know of.
jenseib Posted December 9, 2012 Author Posted December 9, 2012 I have stalked all your past trip reports and finally decided I need to start commenting because I really enjoy your updates! I love the photos and abundance of details. What in the world is in the picture of the bathroom in your room on the left hand side of the sink? It looks like a white vacuum hose thing on the wall. Thanks for reading along. That thing is the hairdryer if you can believe it. I never used it, so I can't really say how well it works. But I have heard complaints over the years, so I just brought my own to be on the safe side. The 2 new ships do not have that kind of dryer. Theirs are more normal, like a travel sized hair dryer.
TBpony414 Posted December 9, 2012 Posted December 9, 2012 A hair dryer?! Interesting! Looks kind of like a jetpack thing. Thanks for the details.
jenseib Posted December 10, 2012 Author Posted December 10, 2012 A hair dryer?! Interesting! Looks kind of like a jetpack thing. Thanks for the details. I know, it's very strange looking
jenseib Posted December 10, 2012 Author Posted December 10, 2012 After the coffee purchase by Lisa and Brook we headed out and roamed a bit. I took more pictures. I think we separated from Brook at some point in time. We found a seat in the adult area and saw this helicopter go around. I wondered if Cuba was monitoring us. Lisa said I shouldn’t have taken the picture. And then a few minutes later it circled again and she swore they were coming to get me. I have since heard that Cuba was in fact watching us. Not sure why really, but I guess the Big Disney boat looked intimidating. We walked around a bit more. I think we ran into Brook again and she was going to the Cove Café for a snack so we followed her in again. (Or I could have my memory wrong and we went in the 1st time by ourselves and the 2nd with her…I can’t be for sure. LOL) A better picture of the sign. A little more roaming after. Signs of life out in the big ocean. We headed back to the room and started to get ready for dinner and just laze around a bit. We both showered and watched one of the movies playing on TV as we got ready. Tonight dinner was at Parrot Cay. I believe bread was Warm Banana Bread with banana butter dip. While we made our selections I took a few random pictures. For an appetizer I chose the Baked Crab Dip Martinique, Jumbo Lump Crab Baked in Creamy Cheese Sauce served with colorful Tortilla and Plantain Chips. Lisa got the Cream of Green Asparagus, With Crabmeat and Asparagus. One of us, or maybe both of us had this salad. It’s so sad, but I can’t remember for sure, but I am pretty sure we both had it. Parrot Cay Salad, Fresh tender Spinach tossed with sliced Red Onions, Mushrooms and a Warm Bacon Dressing topped with Crisp Bacon and Chopped Egg. For my Entrée I got Mixed Grill, Grilled Beef Tenderloin Steak, Lamb Chop, Bacon Wrapped Sausage and Jumbo Shrimp on Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus and Grilled Tomato with a Cabernet Mushroom Sauce. I don’t have a picture of Lisa’s plate, so my guess is that we got the same thing, or I just wasn’t feeling like taking another picture. LOL Dessert! Lisa got the Parrot Cay`s Sweet Temptations, A Trio of Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Pie and Chocolate S`More Vanilla Cake. I got the Ice-Cream Sundae, Cookies and Cream ice cream, served with a fudge brownie bar, Whipped Cream and Chocolate sauce. Yum Yum Yum!!!!! I didn’t have any complaints about dinner at all, though I think a few got something that they weren’t too happy with. Julie had tried the crab dip too. I know she had said something about it not being her thing, but she wanted the chips. Well she loved it and I am pretty sure she ate the plate clean. After dinner I took a few random shots as we left. And then back to our room. Where we found this guy waiting for us. Some of the girls were going to go to David Williamson’s adult show tonight. I wanted to go, but I made the mistake of going back to the room. It was just so comfy there and before I knew it, I threw that idea out the window and just got ready for bed. We had an early excursion tomorrow, so I decided sleep was best for now. I did leave out the room service tag for us. I just checked all sorts of things off. If it sounded good, I checked it. LOL I think this ended up being my earliest bedtime during the trip.
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