Think of all the joy you’ll find …….. Update - January 06

[Poolrat]

I am so FULL!!!!!! Lots of yummy items at dinner. You had a full day at sea

The CM at the mojito tasting ...... that is so NOT the way to have a tasting experience. I am not sure I would have been able to hold my tongue especially after some of the mojitos.

You did a great job but so sorry about that experience. You go to learn about the drinks and the liquors not to get a lecture about eating and drinking the wrong things and how bad everything is for you.

Do you remember what the drink was at the DVC presentation? That looked yummy too!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Yummy food. Sad that your trip is winding down but looking forward to reading the new TR you just started.

Palo food is always so good! And yes, this trip was rapidly coming to an end, but as far as TRs go, there is still plenty to come.

The dog was probably a medical alert dog. For issues such as diabetes, a smaller, "carry-around" dog works better because it needs to smell the person to be aware of when their blood sugar is too high or too low. Also, small dogs are used as therapy dogs for issues such as post traumatic stress syndrome.

That might be it. It was just so strange to see the dog sit in her lap and she fed him with bits and pieces from the table.

Firstly, I can not believe the rudeness if that CM at your mojito tasting. You do not lecture guests on healthy diet choices unless they sign up for a class in the spa... Totally inappropriate. And then trying to pressure you into her beer tasting. No way!

She was something else. And the faces of most of the guests, when she was lamenting about how bad alcohol and sugars were while we were adding sugar and alcohol, were just fun to watch. And neither of us would have gone to the beer tasting, not even if she had paid me to.

Both Palo meals looked exquisite! I'm really looking forward to eating there again. We skipped it on the last two cruises and I'm ready to go back. I think I'm going to ask for a bowl of the lemon sorbet for dessert. I don't care for any of the dinner desserts. The brunch desserts are another matter entirely.

Palo is always a great meal, brunch and dinner. Can't wait for our next meal there. You don't care for desserts?? Not even the chocolate souffle? I envy you! I just LOVE desserts and it definitely shows.

Your food pictures are making me hungry!

Then this TR has served its purpose.

Both your meals looked really yummy, and top it off with Apple Strudel...........

You like apple strudel? Then come here to Austria where apple strudel is a regular dessert and it is YUMMY!! Much better than on the ship.

The return of the curse of the Magic??? How unbelievably rude! That would have probably been it for me......I would have gotten up and walked out on her and hoped everyone else in the room followed. It would have been definitely warranted.......

No return of the curse! She was just one bad apple in a whole crate of good ones.

I think I would have laughed in her face at that point......

Maybe we should have. I felt more like wringing her neck.

Your snack of wings, salad and Mickey bars looked really good, but after all that food that may have done me totally in and had to pass for my dinner..........

It sounds like a lot of food in a short matter of time, but keep in mind that dinner was only at 8.30 and the snack was had at around 3pm. So there is "some" time between meals.

However, what you both had at Lumiere's does look very tempting...........

All cruise food is pretty yummy. That's what cruises are for ..... eating too much.

I am so FULL!!!!!! Lots of yummy items at dinner. You had a full day at sea

So were we. Food is pretty tasty on board and there is something that tickles your fancy almost every dinner ... or lunch ... or breakfast.

The CM at the mojito tasting ...... that is so NOT the way to have a tasting experience. I am not sure I would have been able to hold my tongue especially after some of the mojitos.

I didn't! But the good thing is that we did it in German and no one was able to understand. Sometimes it has its advantages to be a foreigner.

Do you remember what the drink was at the DVC presentation? That looked yummy too!!!

Unfortunately I don't. All I remember is that it was really tasty and had a lot of alcohol.

 

[englishrose47]

Your breakfast at Palo's looked wonderful as always !! I cannot believe that CM and how rude she was . Did you hear anything after you complained about her ??? Your next supper looked awesome . Of couse I loved the shrimp appie , I grew up on oxtail soup and loved it !! Many years since I had it !!

 

[dizneeat]

Your breakfast at Palo's looked wonderful as always !! I cannot believe that CM and how rude she was . Did you hear anything after you complained about her ??? Your next supper looked awesome . Of couse I loved the shrimp appie , I grew up on oxtail soup and loved it !! Many years since I had it !!

Palo brunch is always a treat!
Never heard anything after we left a comment about how she acted that day. Is oxtail soup so common in Britain? I did not come across it often in all my travels to London.

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 8, April 4

And a visit to Disney’s private island … - Part 1

We were up by 6am. Today we were to visit Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, and we had not been there in quite some time.
When we peeked out on the veranda, the ship was already turning and then started to back into the harbour.

We showered and by 7am we were ready for breakfast, which was delivered to our room 5 past 7.
We took the tray out onto the veranda,

I poured myself some tea, using the tea I had brought and the huge DVC

mug we had received and Tom got himself some coffee, before digging into our other goodies. We had ordered

toast, a bagel and some cream cheese, croissants and a Danish pastry, a fruit bowl and some orange juice and now enjoyed those goodies while the captain maneuvered the ship into position. After we had finished breakfast we finished off the sparkling wine

that we still had, toasting the beautiful day that was to come. By 9am we were allowed to get off the ship and we got our things together, cleaned up the room a bit and put on our Cabana bracelets and off we went. It took a bit of time to scan everyone off the ship, but soon we set foot on the island.

Usually we walk to the first shops to look around, but this time a tram was just sitting there and there were several empty rows, so we got on and enjoyed our ride.

When we arrived at Pelican Point we decided to head over to the shop and have a look, but for once we did not find anything new that we liked, so we headed back and boarded a tram to Serenity Bay.

A few minutes later we got off and the Cabana Host was coming our way to greet us. We climbed into the Golf cart and off we went to our home for the day, Cabana 24.

And after being shown around, we made ourselves comfortable and sat outside to suck in the sun and atmosphere.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 8, April 4

And a visit to Disney’s private island … - Part 2

And after being shown around,

we made ourselves comfortable and sat outside to suck in the sun and atmosphere.
We had a drink out of the fridge and a piece of fruit and then we decided to dare the ocean.
It was nice and warm outside, but would the ocean be cold?
Yes, it was, the first few steps were like stepping into ice water, but the further your body went in the less cold it felt. And soon we were swimming and drifting. We soon came onto a bank and shallower water and discovered that there were quite a lot of Conchs in the water and a lot of starfish, big and small.

We explored for quite some time, then swam a bit more before heading back to the Cabana

to towel off and warm up. We sat outside on the loungers again enjoying the sun, had some chips and more drinks out of the fridge.

To be continued ..........​

 

[jedijill]

The cabanas are so nice! I've never seen the starfish and conch at CC but I'm never brave enough to go into the water.

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

The cabanas are so nice! I've never seen the starfish and conch at CC but I'm never brave enough to go into the water.

Jill in CO

You really should brave the waters of Castaway Cay. It is an awesome beach and there are plenty of starfish, conch and rays in there.

 

[jedijill]

You really should brave the waters of Castaway Cay. It is an awesome beach and there are plenty of starfish, conch and rays in there.

I definitely will if I can ever afford DCL again.

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

I definitely will if I can ever afford DCL again.

Jill in CO

Now that is a problem I can fully understand.

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 8, April 4

And a visit to Disney’s private island … - Part 3

We sat outside on the loungers again enjoying the sun, had some chips and more drinks out of the fridge.
And about 40 minutes later we headed back in the water. Again, cold at first, but we knew it would be cold and it didn’t matter all that much any more. This time the bank was in even shallower water and we waded out and sat there for quite some time,

enjoying the view of the beach and the warm sun. We watched people picking up conchs

and taking photos of them and sliding them back into the water, same went on with small and larger starfish. After a while, my eyes started to hurt a bit and we could feel the sun burning our backs, so we waded back to the beach,

had a quick shower and got changed into another bathing suit. Again, we sat in the sun for a few minutes and then headed towards the barbeque station. It did not make sense to us to call the host, so we just walked down the few steps.
They were again handing out wipes and there were Cast Members serving from the buffet, but by now we knew that it was all because of some people being sick on the ship. We were just about to get in line, when we saw a familiar face, Lloyd. He struck up a conversation, then spotted Tom’s shirt and then asked where he had bought that.
It was a home made one and Lloyd wanted to know if he could take a photo, as he loved what was written on the shirt. Sure he could have the photo and then we had some photos of all of us together taken.

And after having been a spectacle for some of the other grown up guests, we finally got in line and had our plates filled. I just love their salads, so I had a huge helping of

Greek Salad, Coleslaw and Potato Salad and a piece of grilled snapper and a piece of chicken. Tom had the same and opted for an additional piece of steak as well.

We quickly found a table,

there were many open ones,

Tom went to get some drinks and we started to enjoy our lunch. It had already gotten late and when we were about finished a Cast Member came up and told us to come and get seconds before they would pack up.
We were full, so declined, but we picked up some

cookies as no visit to Castaway Cay is complete without a cholate chip cookie. On the way out we ran into our Palo server again

and stopped and chatted with him for a while. Our Cabana host was chatting to the girls at the massage huts and so we were able to sneak over to the beach bar,

where we checked the menu and then walked along the beach back to our cabana.

We needed a bit of a break, so Tom put the hammock to good use,

while I made myself comfortable on one of the loungers. After a while we rang the bell in the cabana and asked our host if he could get us two

Konk Coolers. It took him quite some time until he returned and even though it was tasty it was a bit too much on the sweet side. After we had consumed most of our drink we decided it was time to head back into the ocean one more time.

To be continued ..........​

 

[Leshaface]

Playing catch up!

He told us that several guests and crew members on board were sick and quarantined in their staterooms.

I've always wondered if they quarantined sick folks on cruises. That would stink having to spend the rest or majority of the cruise stuck in your stateroom.

We had never seen so many servers at Palo as they had a lot of extras, as this time you were not allowed to serve yourself at the buffet, but a CM with gloves would pick up the food for you and put it on your plate. We made our way around all of the buffet following our server who kept explaining every station and pointed out his personal favourites.

That would feel so weird having someone serve me from a buffet although I understand why. And wow that is a ton of servers!

souffleed baked peach. And it was really nice.

Ooh that sounds tasty!

Soon after the tasting began and it started with telling everyone that we had to work ourselves, she (the CM in charge) would be eyeing everyone and set us straight if we did something wrong.

and she just rushed through it all and while we were to taste the drinks she would ramble about how alcohol was bad for you and that we all ate too much sugar and that diabetes was a horrible disease.

And during that time she asked where we were from and didn’t we want to come to her beer tasting the next day. Tom told her that he knew most of the brands and that they were very common where we lived and that some of them were not what she had called them. She started to let us know that she was SURE she had gotten it right and we must have gotten it wrong, she would prove it to us the next day at the presentation.

Oh my GOSH! Please tell me you made a report on her! That is absolutely rude, especially telling guests what NOT to eat and drink

Aw cute selfie!

Tom pointed out that there was a guest with her dog in the dining room and the dog was waited on as well.

The dog was waited on too?! Disney gives the best service!

That is huge!!!

Oh my, so crystal clear and gorgeous.

His shirt is AMAZING! He is so talented!

 

[englishrose47]

My one time at Castaway Cay was awesome , I can still picture a couple of the guys with their chairs sitting in the shllow water , they loved it !!We also had a visitor Capt Jack himself !! The buffet was awesome !!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! I didn't realize that I was so far behind. We liked Cozumel and would like to go back. I don't remember the beach promonade. Looks a lot like Puerta Vallarta.

Of course Palo looks as good as ever. Such a beautiful sunset dyringbyourvdinber. is so fun how the crew and serves get to know you. Too bad about the "Mojito b****" trying to ruin your fun. Who wants to hear what not to eat while on vacation?

 

[GoofyFan1515]

We were up by 6am. Today we were to visit Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, and we had not been there in quite some time.

I have GOT to get there one day............soon!

This has to be the most extensive report about Castaway Cay I have ever seen posted! Such wonderful pictures you got, and what an absolutely fantastic way to spend a day! The sights, and the food, all look amazing!!!

 

[Teri1]

Love all the beautiful beach and water pictures. I have over a year to see it again, but something to look forward to. We have to plan a cruise together again!

 

[dizneeat]

I am going to do replies and an update to the trip report when we get back home, but here are a few (foody) impressions of our short relaxing trip to Italy.

We left around 6am on Saturday morning and the weather was dreadful, grey, rainy and pretty cold. It took us about 3 hours (and several tunnels crossing the Alps) to get to some nicer weather.

and then the GPS reported a big traffic jam because of an accident. We followed its advice, got off the motorway and made good progress.

Later we got back onto the motorway and soon we crossed the border into Italy.

And another hour and a half we reached our destination, went shopping and arrived at the hotel around 2pm.

And here's a word of warning!!! There are TONS of food pics, so you better fill your belly before going on. Since we always spend those short vacations in the same town and same aparthotel there are just a few pics of the town and things.

When we arrived, we got everything up to our room (got upgraded to a two bedroom instead of the one bedroom I had booked!!) and had a very late lunch.

We had found this chocolate spread and it was delicious! Not as sweet as Nutella and very creamy! Yum!

After lunch we unpacked what was necessary to unpack, then went for a walk around town, just to find out that there were LOADS of young people celebrating the holidays with a lot of alcohol. Very noisy indeed, but we did our best to get out of their way.

Dinner looked a lot like lunch.

We did a little evening walk, doing some window shopping, but since we had been up very early that day, we had to make it an early night too.​

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Deja vu all over again?

 

[Flossbolna]

Deja vu all over again?

Yes, I was wondering why the thread kept coming up as unread again and again... Well, then it finally dawned that it was three threads and one update!

 

[Pinkocto]

Palo is always a great meal, brunch and dinner. Can't wait for our next meal there. You don't care for desserts?? Not even the chocolate souffle? I envy you! I just LOVE desserts and it definitely shows.

I must have worded it wrong, I also love desserts, just not the ones in Palo. I think I'm the only one who doesn't like the soufflé


Your CC day is just amazing! The weather looks gorgeous, and how fun to have a cabana. I'm sad we won't be going there on the PC cruise, CC is always the highlight for us. Tom's shirt is awesome.

Your Italy vacation looks like a delicious start! love that the GPS helps avoid traffic.