The Widow & the Spinster Take a Bougie WBTA Cruise That Didn't Suck! - Day Two of Five Days at Sea 2/15

[franandaj]

Def not my cup of tea....er...martini!

I like my martini's fruity or chocolatey!

I like them almost any way! But y'all know my favorite!

The cost of the tastings and classes have gone up tremendously and aren't the greatest value anymore.

Yeah, they were a much better deal at $15-$20.

This was my favorite by far but I do like the creamier version the best.

I think I'm definitely having one of those with my Grand Marnier Souffle on the first night!

Nope, not a feet person. But the seaweed wrap is one of my favorite spa treatments...although trying to shower off all the seaweed is hard!

I haven't met anyone who is a foot person, but there was that crazy stalker guy who bought my dirty old shoes.

This was a travesty!

Another fun day!

 

[franandaj]

But isn’t that the issue with all these tastings? They used to be much more affordable!

I know! I used to love them when they were affordable!

I booked us quite a few for the upcoming cruise, but will certainly cancel most as I just don’t see the value.

Yeah, I get it. I like Mixology on the larger ships because you get to actually make the drinks. But I'm not doing any on the 3 night cruise.

I really liked the Tequila one we did on the Wonder, because we learned a lot and I usually wouldn’t order shots of Tequila.

Fran loved Tequila! I could always convince her to do one of those! We did tons of tequila tastings.

The dessert you had sounded amazing. I need to look out for that menu on our cruise. I know Michael will want to skip some dinners, but I will make him skip some of the ones we have had so many times already…

What do you do when you skip dinner? Starve?

 

[pkondz]

I haven't met anyone who is a foot person, but there was that crazy stalker guy who bought my dirty old shoes.

The what now?????

 

[franandaj]

True, but... I've had seconds of mediocre pizza. Even not-so-great pizza is still... pizza.
But bad pizza is gross.

That is the truth!

One does not gnaw on bones while dressed in one's finest.

That sounds interesting. I'd do that.

Like I said, it was better on the Wonder, but this was an entertaining hour or so, and glad I got to see a kids club.

Even better!
I do have a relationship with at least one shopkeeper, but not where they'd have something ready for me when I arrived. Such a nice touch.

It's the Disney magic. The CMs learn to know you on a cruise this long.

"Churro" waffles???

Yes! They are delicious. They are coated with a cinnamon sugar, and not exactly how the interior is different but they are AMAZING!

But still bacon. yum.

Not as good as some, maybe, but... bacon.

Yeah, I'm not going to turn down bacon of any kind.

How do you not think of that?? I'm not in the industry or a designer, but even I know that would be a really bad idea.

"Did you see that?"
"What?"
"Pink elephant."
"You're cut off."

Exactly!

How cool is that?
Why is this not an adult area????

I know! We need something like that to play in!

Fun shot. Look at your hair! (Like the shirt, too. )

Thanks!

She's (or he's) just a few pencils strokes from transitioning

Yup!

I don't think I follow that rule, but I do try to limit items at the head of the line.

I'm usually really good at looking at everything first. I think I was hungry that day. Or I just saw the German food a dug in.

And how was the mac?

Meh.

Same on my Alaska cruise. I meant to try it, but somehow forgot about it and never did.

I'm glad we did. I forgot to try it the last time Fran and I were on the Dream.

Not sure how I feel about this. Pineapple juice yes... paprika rim? Hmmm...

It was OK.

That you remember.

Oh this wasn't the one.... (foreshadowing)

I can't ignore it.
Individually, $10 doesn't sound bad, but... add them all up...

Yeah, the class was 50 buckeroos!

They probably knew the signatures would be illegible.

They just tapped your room card before. Now they just charge you directly.

Glad you (mostly) enjoyed the show. Sounds like some misses, but mostly hits.

It was an enjoyable evening.

Interesting. I see lots on there that I'd try.

It was a rather eclectic menu.

That was my first choice, too.

Tasty!

Much lower this time, from the last stats I saw.

Well I spent several hours sleeping in the Spa!

The what now?????

Check out this link here. Second paragraph in the post describes it.

 

[franandaj]

WOW!! Those mosaics! I'd go there JUST for those!

I know! I'd go back and stay on the island.

Of course you did.

That's so I could come back!

I"ll have to look up what that even is. But you had me at powdered sugar.

They're little custard tarts. Costco sells a version, not quite like the ones in Lisbon. They have a filo crust whereas the ones in Lisbon had a pastry crust.

Looks like it'll be a really nice new space.

They've been working on it since before Covid.

YES, yes, YES!!

Ok, that's just odd.

Jackie says they've put them in where she lives as well.

WAIT, hold the phone. You got the option of that gnocchi?! Sigh... Imma have to go there for dinner. However, I will say, had my wild mushroom ravioli been done correctly, it'd been delicious!

I'm going to get them again on my trip in May. Can't wait.

I took that tour as well and loved it. We didn't go into the kids' areas though. Love the Star Wars theme there.

I'm so glad we got to go in there!

Oopsies!

Yeah, lessons learned.

 

[franandaj]

Day 13

We had been turning back our clocks an hour nearly every sea day. We were going to sleep pretty early every night, just because we were so tired after dinner. As a result both of us would wake up in the middle of the night. It was a challenge to fall back asleep. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't. Usually if I made it until 6AM it was time that I might as well get up. I think I slept all the way to 6:30AM on this day.

Here’s a look at our progress across the Atlantic.

We had planned to go to the Rainforest Room first thing this morning, so I didn't go get coffee or breakfast. We were up in the Rainforest Room by about 8:10AM just after it opened. Both hot tubs were occupied, and we were lucky to secure two loungers each at opposite sides of the room. One of the hot tubs had just one woman in it, and we both noticed her getting out and jumped up from our loungers to snag it.

After about 20 minutes in the hot tub, we went back to the loungers. About half of them had been vacated and we had our choice of side by side chairs. We spent another 20 or so minutes soaking in the heat. Eventually I just get too warm and had had enough. When we hit that point we got changed and stopped by the Vista cafe for our respective hot beverages and pastries.

Then it was back to the room for about an hour or so. Ducky was giving another talk in the Walt Disney Theater, this time he was telling the story of how he got his job at WDW.

It was quite a tale of persistence! At the end of the show they raffled off 21 drawings that he had done onstage before the show began. For the last drawing Jill was one number away from winning a picture of Captain Hook!

One of the reasons we had such a light breakfast of pastries, was that we had planned to have Lunch in Royal Palace after Ducky’s presentation. I used to love having sit down lunch when Fran and I cruised. The menu here changes daily, except for the burger. It's always a solid choice on the menu.

We ended up ordering the burger and the penne pasta and splitting both.

This is the plate I ended up with. The burger was the clear winner of the two dishes, but the penne was a nice side dish alongside the burger and fries.

For my dessert I had the raspberry Crème Brûlée. It was surprisingly tasty! The top was very crispy and had the crackle you want when you break it.

Jill got the Cherry Crepes. They didn't have any sauce on the outside and looked kind of dry. She didn't eat a lot of them, I'm pretty sure they weren't very good.

After lunch we went back to the room, I copied pictures from Jill's phone to my travel computer. I also copied the pictures from my big camera, and my own phone. I even started to select some pictures for the first post of this trip report. Maybe I'll get started on that one on the plane flight home. But first I need to wrap up my Germany TR!

We also called Room Service and ordered our Platinum gift of Prosecco. I made a joke with Jill that I bet Room service would get here before the stateroom hostess arrived to clean the room. She said it was a sucker's bet.

Then the hostess arrived to clean the room. We were both shocked!

Then our Prosecco arrived. I really liked the clear plastic ice bucket and took it home with me!

I took some more photopass pictures. First one was with Goofy & Max.

Then I met up with Daisy. She liked my Bougie Shirt!

And finally Stitch. The internet sucked. I was trying to upload a post to Instagram for about an hour.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]



After those character pics I went back to the room for some adult beverages. At 4:15 we went to the District Lounge to play Disney Food Trivia. We got 15 out of 20. Jill is still mad about the question “what sauce comes with a churro at Disneyland?” Because no sauce “comes” with the churro. You have to pay extra.

While getting dressed for the evening, I got this picture of the sunset off our verandah.

I took some more pictures with the backgrounds. It was semi formal night so I got another chance to wear my silver dress.

Then we went to Skyline. I had spied another bottle of Belvedere at the Vista Cafe since they used up their last bottle on my drink the other night. The bartender ran to get the bottle and they made me another Vesper.

We went to dinner at Enchanted garden after that.

I had the Double Baked Gruyère Cheese Soufflé. It was pretty good, it had that nice fluffy Soufflé texture.

Jill had the celery soup. She enjoyed it.

We both had the romaine wedge. It had almost ZERO dressing. I would have liked more dressing, but didn't want to wait while they hunted for it in the kitchen.

I had the Roasted Venison Loin. It was good, and pretty tender, but a large portion.

Jill had the Center Cut Beef Tenderloin and Lobster Medallions. The Tenderloin was good, but the lobster medallions were rubber discs just like mine with the shrimp and lobster the other night.

For Dessert I had the Banana Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream and it was delicious!

My stats!

 

[jedijill]

We were going to sleep pretty early every night, just because we were so tired after dinner. As a result both of us would wake up in the middle of the night. It was a challenge to fall back asleep. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't.

Being lazy on a cruise is exhausting!

One of the hot tubs had just one woman in it, and we both noticed her getting out and jumped up from our loungers to snag it.

Gotta be quick! Mostly adults on the cruise since it was during the school year so the Rainforest Room got busy.

When we hit that point we got changed and stopped by the Vista cafe for our respective hot beverages and pastries.

I love that the pastries are included! The drinks are tasty too. I think I got my usual Chai latte.

Then it was back to the room for about an hour or so. Ducky was giving another talk in the Walt Disney Theater, this time he was telling the story of how he got his job at WDW.

His story was so fascinating and he's a great storyteller. If you ever get the chance to see him, do it!

For the last drawing Jill was one number away from winning a picture of Captain Hook!

Story of my life....one away!

We ended up ordering the burger and the penne pasta and splitting both.

Sharing really works for us! The burger was great!

ill got the Cherry Crepes. They didn't have any sauce on the outside and looked kind of dry. She didn't eat a lot of them, I'm pretty sure they weren't very good.

It was very dry and need way more sauce and filling.

Then our Prosecco arrived. I really liked the clear plastic ice bucket and took it home with me!

Who doesn't like free bubbly?!?!?! (I mean we only had to take 10+ cruises to get it...)

After those character pics I went back to the room for some adult beverages. At 4:15 we went to the District Lounge to play Disney Food Trivia. We got 15 out of 20. Jill is still mad about the question “what sauce comes with a churro at Disneyland?” Because no sauce “comes” with the churro. You have to pay extra.

I'm STILL steamed!

Jill had the celery soup. She enjoyed it.

And it didn't taste like baby food!

We both had the romaine wedge. It had almost ZERO dressing. I would have liked more dressing, but didn't want to wait while they hunted for it in the kitchen.

DCL either drowns it in dressing or puts two drops on...there is no happy medium.

Jill had the Center Cut Beef Tenderloin and Lobster Medallions. The Tenderloin was good, but the lobster medallions were rubber discs just like mine with the shrimp and lobster the other night.

The steak was delicious but the lobster was so rubbery we could have used them as spare tires!

Another fun day at sea!

Jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

glad I got to see a kids club.

I want to stay in that kids club!

It's the Disney magic. The CMs learn to know you on a cruise this long.

Yes! They are delicious. They are coated with a cinnamon sugar, and not exactly how the interior is different but they are AMAZING!

I know! We need something like that to play in!

This needs to be a priority.
Wait... they made an entire park section of that.

I'm usually really good at looking at everything first. I think I was hungry that day. Or I just saw the German food a dug in.

German food... yup.
"Ooohhh... bratwurst... and potato salad... and schnitzel!... and spaetzle.... and... ooooooohhhh... <burp>

Meh.

Ah well.

Oh this wasn't the one.... (foreshadowing)

Standing by for (mis)adventure!

Well I spent several hours sleeping in the Spa!

Check out this link here. Second paragraph in the post describes it.

Well, to each their own!

 

[pkondz]

We had been turning back our clocks an hour nearly every sea day. We were going to sleep pretty early every night, just because we were so tired after dinner. As a result both of us would wake up in the middle of the night.

Hadn't thought of that, but of course it makes sense. Tough on the internal clock, though.
But overall, was it easier to gradually change or suddenly (as on a flight)?

here’s a look at our progress across the Atlantic.

Right smack-dab in the middle.

Both hot tubs were occupied, and we were lucky to secure two loungers each at opposite sides of the room.

Makes it a bit harder to talk.
I envision you yelling over everyone.

One of the hot tubs had just one woman in it, and we both noticed her getting out and jumped up from our loungers to snag it.

I see this...

After about 20 minutes in the hot tub, we went back to the loungers.

Were you both suitably pruney?

About half of them had been vacated and we had our choice of side by side chairs.

No more yelling.

Ducky was giving another talk in the Walt Disney Theater, this time he was telling the story of how he got his job at WDW.

That would be interesting!

At the end of the show they raffled off 21 drawings that he had done onstage before the show began.

Nice

For the last drawing Jill was one number away from winning a picture of Captain Hook!

So close!

Butter wrapped. Huh. Wouldn't have expected that. Not that it's a big deal.

That burger does look good!

the penne was a nice side dish alongside the burger and fries.

I'd eat that.

For my dessert I had the raspberry Crème Brûlée. It was surprisingly tasty!

Interesting! Never heard of a raspberry one.

The top was very crispy and had the crackle you want when you break it.

After lunch we went back to the room, I copied pictures from Jill's phone to my travel computer. I also copied the pictures from my big camera, and my own phone. I even started to select some pictures for the first post of this trip report.

Industrious.

I made a joke with Jill that I bet Room service would get here before the stateroom hostess arrived to clean the room. She said it was a sucker's bet.

Then the hostess arrived to clean the room. We were both shocked!

She probably was embarrassed from the day before.

I really liked the clear plastic ice bucket and took it home with me!

Thief!

Next time you board a Disney ship they'll throw you in the brig.

Then I met up with Daisy. She liked my Bougie Shirt!

The internet sucked. I was trying to upload a post to Instagram for about an hour.

At first I thought "That's terrible"... but then I remembered where you were. It's actually kind of a miracle that you could have internet at all, there. I'm thinking it wouldn't be very long ago where it wouldn't be possible at all.

At 4:15 we went to the District Lounge to play Disney Food Trivia. We got 15 out of 20.

Pretty good. Don't think I'd do nearly as well.

Jill is still mad about the question “what sauce comes with a churro at Disneyland?” Because no sauce “comes” with the churro. You have to pay extra.

Good point! I agree with Jill.
"What comes with churros?"
"Nothing!"

While getting dressed for the evening, I got this picture of the sunset off our verandah.

Nice clouds.

It was semi formal night so I got another chance to wear my silver dress.

You're rocking that dress.

I had the Double Baked Gruyère Cheese Soufflé. It was pretty good, it had that nice fluffy Soufflé texture.

My first pick too.

Jill had the celery soup. She enjoyed it.

I did eye that, but...

We both had the romaine wedge. It had almost ZERO dressing. I would have liked more dressing, but didn't want to wait while they hunted for it in the kitchen.

I thought of the wedge for a second, but would have gone with the tomatoes and mozza (with balsamic).

Very nice photo of you two.

I had the Roasted Venison Loin. It was good, and pretty tender, but a large portion.

That was my second choice.
I never do chicken in restaurants (well... except for one place here in town that has the best fried chicken), but for some reason, this one appealed to me.

the lobster medallions were rubber discs just like mine with the shrimp and lobster the other night.

Yuck. Just... no.

For Dessert I had the Banana Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream and it was delicious!

My pick too! Saw that and thought "I don't need to look any further."

Numbers going down. Despite the sprint and dive into the hot tub.

 

[pkondz]

Being lazy on a cruise is exhausting!

Mostly adults on the cruise since it was during the school year

<makes mental note...>

Who doesn't like free bubbly?!?!?! (I mean we only had to take 10+ cruises to get it...)

So, totally worth it!

I'm STILL steamed!

 

[DnA2010]

We found the Mickey Churro waffles and they were certainly delicious

See I didn't love these, but I don't remember them being hot, so maybe that was it

This size bowl is much more manageable than the larger one.

That's a nice sized bowl for oatmeal when you are having other things

supposed to look like you're inside a champagne bottle.

I can see it with these lightbulbs for sure!

There was a big interactive dance floor in the middle

Makenna loved all the games and stuff they played on this floor

Look who you guys found on the ship!!

We chose the Muppet Version. It was very cute.

That's the one we did too, so cute!

to visit Pepe’s Stateroom Door.

Makenna was quite disappointed she didn't get to go through this door lol

I saw macaroni and cheese. And so I had to go back to the buffet for this course to satisfy the palate of a seven year old.

Other than mine she doesn't like mac and cheese, she's not a big cheese person in general

so it didn't look that bad, at least to me!

Looks good to me!

I'm especially glad I did when I realized the cost of this seminar! Each of these drinks was $10!

We ended up doing a bourbon tasting on the Fantasy which was pretty good, the martini and mixology were all full

“And the Award Goes To…” This was a celebration of award winning Disney Songs. Some worked better than others. “I've got a Dream” was great!

Sounds like a fun show!

Tonight's menu was a little odd.

I guess on the longer cruises there are some more menus added?

Looks like a tasty lunch indeed!

For my dessert I had the raspberry Crème Brûlée. It was surprisingly tasty! The top was very crispy and had the crackle you want when you break it.

Sounds like a well executed Brulee, nice!

I really liked the clear plastic ice bucket and took it home with me!

That looks handy indeed, although looks like regular wine glasses?

Jill is still mad about the question “what sauce comes with a churro at Disneyland?” Because no sauce “comes” with the churro. You have to pay extra.

100%! there is no sauce that comes standard, there are loads are varieties, but no standard!

Aww cute! Is this one coming out in May?

We both had the romaine wedge. It had almost ZERO dressing. I would have liked more dressing, but didn't want to wait while they hunted for it in the kitchen.

that looks very blah indeed

but the lobster medallions were rubber discs just like mine with the shrimp and lobster the other night.

Pretty sure ours were the same!



Well didn't I get behind, yikes!

 

[Flossbolna]

Yeah, I get it. I like Mixology on the larger ships because you get to actually make the drinks. But I'm not doing any on the 3 night cruise

I thought I had read somewhere that since Covid only a couple of people get to make drinks, even on the Dream and the Fantasy. Did you do it on this cruise?

Fran loved Tequila! I could always convince her to do one of those! We did tons of tequila tastings.

So, since you are the tasting expert: We have loads booked, but will most likely only keep one. Do you have any favourite besides Mixology? We have currently: Rum; Mixology; World of Gin; Mojito & Caipirinha (did that with my sister in 2015 and we were not impressed as they made us use agave syrup instead of cane sugar for the caipirinha). Bourbon is not an option with Michael, neither of us is interested in the beer, cognac and wine tastings. Champagne and the one with chocolate are crazy expensive. Any recommendation as to which one to focus on?

What do you do when you skip dinner? Starve?

Haha! You know us, one skipped dinner would not lead to starvation for either of us. We got something from the pool deck or room service. There are also the nibbles at Cove Cafe. And the late night snacks in the bar area. Often we would do this if we had brunch at Palo or Remy or we would have a more substantial late lunch. Since we love hanging out in the pools, dinner time is the best time for it, so empty and blissful!

The menu here changes daily, except for the burger. It's always a solid choice on the menu.

I have had many sit down lunches on the ships, never chose the burger, but it does look delicious. Might have to go for it on our TA!

We also called Room Service and ordered our Platinum gift of Prosecco.

I am sooooo excited that we will get this for the first time! I just hope the Prosecco isn't too sweet.

This dress is so lovely. You look amazing in it!

It had almost ZERO dressing

My biggest pet peeve about DCL dining: Their skimpiness with dressings! On our last cruise we had this amazing server who always brought extra dressing in a small bowl with every salad we ordered. I need to remember to just ask for it when I order a salad.