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Old 8 Apr 20, 08:42 PM  
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Scruffette
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O Can-aska - Day 10 - Day at Sea

O Can-aska - Day 10

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Sunday 8th September 2019 - Day at Sea

Whenever I write about a sea day, I pretty much write that we eat and drink all day. Today will be no different!

I was super excited for our Palo brunch reservation today, which almost distracted me from realising it was the last day of the cruise.

But first, we had tickets for the Princess gathering at 9.30am in the Atrium. This is such an easy way to meet 4 princesses in quick succession, today we met Belle, Ariel, Tiana and Cinderella. We booked tickets online in advance. There were plenty of adult parties there without kids, so we didn’t feel awkward!



The more modern princesses are always the most fun to meet. Tiana is always really engaging, I told her I was looking forward to trying her beignets tonight in her restaurant. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a conversation with Cinderella that wasn’t awkward…

I noticed that Minnie was appearing on deck 4 shortly with almost no line. I was so happy to see that she was in her Captain’s outfit – her promotion was announced just before the trip, but I hadn’t seen her in her Captain’s attire yet.

Our Palo brunch reservation was at 10.30am. We checked in early around 10.15am expecting a wait, but were seated really quickly.







Our table was the first table you came to when walking into the restaurant, which was a shame, as it felt lacking in atmosphere a bit and very close to the waiting area.

View from our table –





We were offered a drink, and both chose a prosecco. It may not even be 10.30am, but having brunch means this is acceptable!



We’ve eaten at Palo on all 4 ships now, this was our third brunch and we’ve done three dinners. I’ve always commented on how exceptional the service has been at Palo, and on each cruise we’ve specifically mentioned our Palo server on our feedback form at the end of the cruise. Our server today was fine, but wasn’t up to the normal standard we’re used to at Palo. No real conversation, no menu recommendations. She was quite chatty with another table who had eaten dinner at Palo earlier in the cruise, so maybe it was just us.

We started our visit to Palo with a savoury plate. I know lots of people start with a pastry plate, but I try not to fill up too much on bread items to begin with. Palo brunch is a marathon, not a sprint!

My plate –



They had a lot of different cheeses out, more than I’ve ever seen previously. All were suitably aged, with fancy sounding names. I love the opportunity to try little bits of lots of different things that I don’t normally have – prosciutto, smoked salmon, tuna etc. I was also a fan of the saffron arancini balls and the walnut and blue cheese bread was delicious (only one piece of bread – trying to follow my own rule!)

The mozzarella on the caprese wasn’t as good as the mozzarella I had the year before on the Fantasy – I did claim that was the best mozerella I’d ever eaten.

Ollie’s plate –



Ollie chose a hot dish next, and went for the Heirloom tomato and basil soup – served with grape tomatoes and virgin olive oil



This was a really simple dish, but executed really well.

While he was having this, I couldn’t resist one of the warm sticky buns! I also went for a cinnamon muffin (I think it had apple as well?)



I went for something different to my usual chicken parmesan for my main dish, and instead chose the Rollatini Melanze – lightly breaded baked eggplant filled with prosciutto, sweet ricotta and smoked mozzarella, served on Toscana sauce and drizzled with aged balsamic modena



To be honest, it was quite similar to the chicken parmesan dish, just with eggplant and prosciutto instead of chicken! This was delicious, with a really good amount of cheese!

Ollie went for the lasagna bolognaise. Whilst this was nice, it didn’t quite live up to the life changing lasagna from the Fantasy last year. Our server last year credited this to the veal/pork mince combo used in the lasagna, our server this year didn’t know what went in this one.



Our server also appeared with a surprise dish – I don’t know what its fancy name was, but it was a breaded soft boiled egg with a truffle cream sauce. Not something we’d normally chose off the menu, but still very nice!



Ollie and I are having a debate about whether we ordered a pizza to share to try. I don’t have photographic evidence, but I have a vague memory. Maybe we just discussed it? If one had featured, we would have gone half spicy Italian sausage and half goat cheese and sundried tomato.

Our proseccos were long gone by this point, so we ordered two bellinis. At $4.50 each, I thought these were great value (if you’re going for two drinks – get the prosecco first as your included drink, and then pay oop for the bellinis as they’re a bit cheaper)



Onto dessert, and the menu featured a warm chocolate melting pudding. There was a good shine on this one! You probably know by now that I love a chocolate pudding! It maybe could’ve just done with a scoop of ice cream to go with it. This was lovely, but not as good as the magical chocolate soufflé they serve at dinner.



My dessert plate –



Highlights included the chocolate hazelnut (ie Nutella) burger shaped dessert in the front left and the meringue topped panacotta. The champagne jelly didn’t really taste of anything, which was a shame (last time I had this it was quite alcoholic!)

Ollie’s plate (you can tell it’s his as it includes fruit that isn’t on top of a dessert!) –



A few buffet snaps –













We settled up our bill and noticed our server had overcharged us for our bellinis. She tried to tell us this was right, as only one drink was included in the brunch price. We knew this, but were disputing that she’s charged us $8 each rather than $4.50 listed on the menu. We had to ask her to bring over a menu to prove it to her!

I know I’ve done a few comparisons to our brunch last year on the Fantasy. We still really enjoy Palo brunch, it just wasn’t quite as special as last time, which was an exceptional meal. We’d cut back this trip and only did Palo brunch and not dinner, due to the price increases for both. I’d still pick brunch out of the two, and probably still do brunch next time, regardless of ship.

We waddled out of our two hour brunch very full with happy tummies!

We stopped quickly in our stateroom to pick up the Christmas ornament we bought a few days ago, and then headed down to the gift shop where the Captain was signing.

There wasn’t too long a queue, we were able to get our ornament signed and a photo. I felt a bit cheeky asking the Captain to use a particular colour on the ornament – we shouldn’t be telling the captain what to do!

On our way back to the stateroom to change into more forgiving clothing for our full stomachs, we noticed an Alaska naturalist presentation was about to start in the Buena Vista Theatre. That changed our plans and we stopped in to watch, as we’d really enjoyed these so far. We now had a different naturalist on board – they swap on Juneau day.



After the presentation, we did finally make it back to the stateroom for a very quick change, before our mojito tasting class at 2pm in the Cadillac Lounge.



Andy was leading the class again – there is no denying how knowledgeable he is about his drinks.

This was our set up of 4 drinks in front of us (in previous sailings we’ve had 5 drinks to make) –



Throughout the class we muddled a mojito, pineapple mojito, a spiced rum/ginger beer drink and a caipirinha.



We were disappointed that fresh pineapple wasn’t used for the pineapple mojito. I particularly enjoyed the spiced rum drink, even if it was in no way an authentic mojito!





The price is $23 per person (compared to $20 when we’ve done this previously). The last two trips we’ve done both mixology and mojito tasting. With ever increasing prices, I think we’ve decided that we’ll only do one class next time.

I prefer the style of the classes on the newer ships, which are more interactive (even if this does lead to more potent cocktails!) My biggest complaint about the classes this time was the scheduling, as with our mixology class, as soon as the class was finished we were being ushered out the door to make way for the next class.

I left the class with two of my mojitos – no drink gets left behind!

We took our remaining drinks up to the pool deck and sat enjoying the view whilst we finished them. It still looked lovely and sunny out at sea



After a few drinks, we thought it would be sensible to have a little snack – we shared some chicken tenders and Ollie had some chilli.



We were sat near Daisy De-lites – I assume this picture I took means we had a chicken ceaser wrap as well!



It was then time for the unenviable task of packing. This was relatively painless fortunately, as we weren’t flying for another week we didn’t have to worry about weighing cases. Rather than leave our cases outside our room this evening to be taken off the ship, we decided to keep them with us for the morning, which made the whole things less stressful.

Tonight’s show was Disney Dreams : An Enchanted Classic, featuring songs from Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin etc.

A really enjoyable show, as always. Although a very similar concept, I do prefer Believe which is shown on some of the other ships – the Genie makes a much better host than Peter Pan.

After the show, we said a quick hello to Captain Mickey in the atrium.



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Old 8 Apr 20, 08:47 PM  
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Scruffette
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We had a bit of a debate where to head to next. Ollie suggested Disney Tunes Trivia, but I thought it might be a repeat of the quiz from earlier in the cruise. We still hadn’t managed to try trivia where the tunes were played on the piano.

Instead, we ended up in 00s music trivia, led by Jo in the Crown and Fin pub. There were clearly a lot of regulars in here who had been to music trivia each night so far. This was more my thing than Ollie’s and I actually knew a fair amount of the answers. We only dropped a few points, but one team had a full house.

We also spent some time before dinner admiring the view outside –





Seriously, every time we looked outside is was beautiful.

Dinner tonight was back in Tiana’s Place, which was by far my favourite restaurant - I just loved the theming. It was mardi gras tonight, so the restaurant was in high spirits.







To start, we both had the Sautéed Gulf Shrimp and Grits - with Andouille Sausage, Grilled Green Onions and a Smoked Barbecue Sauce



I’ve had mixed experiences of grits in the past, but fortunately these were smooth and not lumpy. I enjoyed the smoky flavour of the barbecue sauce with the shrimp.

Instead of a soup or salad, we both went for the Boudin Sausage Fritters - minced Pork and Boudin Sausage, Breaded and Fried, served with a Bourbon Aioli



We did a lot of ordering two appetisers instead of a soup or salad this trip! The sausage fritters didn’t look at all like I imagined. Fortunately, they tasted nicer than they looked. However, the shrimp and grits won out the two appetisers for me.

For mains, we both went for the Cajun Spiced Sea Bass - on Shrimp Jambalaya with crisp Fennel Salad and Rémoulade



The sea bass was really light, but I couldn’t really pick out the Cajun flavour that much. The shrimp jambalaya was a hit though – even more shrimp for me!

We also ordered the Big Daddy’s Roasted Prime-Rib of Beef - with a double Baked Potato, Broccolini, sweet Roasted Carrots and a Red Wine Veal Sauce – on the side to share (it was the last night after all!).



I had a bite and the prime rib was delicious. Although it does look quite fatty in the photo, the actual meat part really melted in your mouth. I went back for another bite later in the meal and found that Ollie had finished it all. I was not impressed – but he clearly enjoyed it too!

Our server mentioned to us about filling in our feedback cards when we were chatting throughout dinner. I really liked that there was no hard sell from the servers this time about putting ‘excellent’, he knew we had all cruised before and just asked us to make sure we filled them in. We gave our serving team an ‘excellent’ anyway – they had been great throughout our cruise.

For dessert, our server Alex told us he was bringing us all beignets, regardless of what we ordered! He said we all had to pick another dessert as well – I liked this advice!

We both went for Mama Odie’s Whte Chocolate Bread Pudding - with Praline Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream



I love a bread pudding, and this one did not disappoint.

Of course we had Tiana’s Buttermilk Beignets - dusted with Powdered Sugar and served with Chocolate Espresso Dipping Sauce



But I had mine without the espresso sauce, as I can’t stand coffee. I enjoyed these, but they weren’t as good as the Port Orleans French Quarter beignets in my opinion. They were more like a doughnuts – the French Quarter beignets are more like pillows with a hollow centre.

At the end of the meal, when the band were playing, we ended up dancing around the restaurant, led by our servers, which was great fun. A really enjoyable, memorable meal for the final night.







After dinner, we headed to watch the adult evening entertainment with our table mates. Before the show, we took part in a giant game of rock, paper, scissors, with little success.

The show tonight was the Physical Comedy of Michael Holly. Again, I think I preferred his jokes to the physical comedy.

We’re always a bit reluctant to go to sleep on the last night of a cruise, and can often be found wandering the ship a bit aimlessly.

















I have a print of this picture, which reminds me of our honeymoon –



Tonight, we decided to give a game of shuffleboard a go. Let’s just say, it’s not a natural talent of mine…







Tonight’s towel animal –



I decided that the evening wouldn’t be complete without another Mickey premium bar. Tonight, we also ordered some chocolate milk to go with them. Room service was really quick and only took around 10 minutes to arrive.



Shortly after we were off to sleep, sad that the cruise was almost over, but excited about the rest of our trip.

Day 11 - Disembarkation, Travel to Vancouver Island, Victoria

Edited at 04:59 PM.
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Old 21 Apr 20, 01:02 AM  
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walt4it
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Have to admit , I am not big into spending more time on a ship than I need to , but your days aboard the Disney Wonder have really been something else. Great food, loads to do and so many amazing photos. You are selling the whole thing to me ( just don't tell my family)

A great final day aboard and I am already ahead of myself as your visit to Victoria is what made me go back and catch up from the start

Loving your trip and looking forward to reading about Vancouver Island and your road to Whistler
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

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Old 28 Apr 20, 07:33 PM  
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Scruffette
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Originally Posted by walt4it View Post
Have to admit , I am not big into spending more time on a ship than I need to , but your days aboard the Disney Wonder have really been something else. Great food, loads to do and so many amazing photos. You are selling the whole thing to me ( just don't tell my family)

A great final day aboard and I am already ahead of myself as your visit to Victoria is what made me go back and catch up from the start

Loving your trip and looking forward to reading about Vancouver Island and your road to Whistler
I do my best to convert people to cruising Our sea days are mainly eating and drinking, but it works for me! Nice to have more of a chilled day before the exploring continues. Thanks for reading
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Old 28 Apr 20, 09:20 PM  
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walt4it
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Originally Posted by Scruffette View Post
I do my best to convert people to cruising Our sea days are mainly eating and drinking, but it works for me! Nice to have more of a chilled day before the exploring continues. Thanks for reading
Thoroughly enjoyed it It would work for me too
These day of lockdown are good practice
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

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Old 7 Apr 21, 08:17 AM  
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flo-tinka
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Just read thru your cruise as I’ve again lifted and shifted our Med summer 2019 (then 2020) RC cruise to Alaska 2021 so need some research doing before then. Where better to start than the DIBB? Thanks for sharing all that yummy food and amazing views, can’t wait to see some of it for ourselves next year (kids don’t know we going yet).
Btw that last evening wandering onboard is us too 👍
Off to read rest of your report thanks again
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