You might think that we slept in this morning, in light of Nick’s late night. We didn’t. I was still awake fairly early, although this morning was probably closer to 7, rather than 6.
I spent a bit of time on the balcony relaxing and just enjoying listening to the water. It was obvious that it had rained at some point overnight, but it wasn’t actively raining right then.
Pretty soon I woke Nick up, because we were meeting Kim for breakfast relatively early. Like 8:15, I think.
Prior to the cruise I had seen the breakfast menu for the sit down restaurant. I had also seen a picture of the item that had caught my eye on the menu, the pineapple stack. It’s French toast and pineapple, in a stack, with strawberry sauce. What’s not to like about that idea? I knew I needed to try it, and Nick was, no pun intended, on board with that concept too.
Nick and I had decided this would be a good morning to have a plated breakfast, because we were doing brunch at Palo at noon. Kim and I had tickets to meet some princesses at 9:15, so an early breakfast today just made sense.
We met Kim outside her room. John was still sleeping on the couch. Side note, John has a CPAP. Despite suggestions to either ask his stateroom host for an extension cord, or to turn down the couch bed, John just slept on the couch, as a couch. He said it was comfortable, so I guess that’s ok. I’d hate to think about what he would have done about distilled water if I hadn’t called DCL and requested it for him. Side note, if you use a CPAP, Disney will have a gallon of distilled water waiting in your stateroom for you. You just have to call them.
So...anyway. We met up with Kim, and headed for Lumiere’s for breakfast. We were seated immediately. The restaurant was pretty quiet at this point. Shortly after we ordered our beverages, we heard “morning guys, anyone want to mix some beverages?”. It was one of the people that had been seated near us at mixology the day before. We all chuckled, and he rejoined his family.
Breakfast in Lumiere’s was the polar opposite of breakfast in Cabanas. The food was still fantastic, and the service was still great, but that’s where the similarities ended. Breakfast at Cabanas at this point in the day is hectic. Lumiere’s was anything but. It was quiet and peaceful. I really enjoyed it. And, as an added bonus, we were seated in a location where we could watch Nassau coming closer into view. That’s always fun to watch an island go from a dark spot onto the horizon to something recognizeable.
We all ordered the pineapple stack. While waiting for our meals to come out, a server came by with a plate of danishes, muffins, and other pastries, for us to select from. We all got some pastry or another. Of particularly interesting note, the server held two forks as tongs to serve them with. From there on out, Kim tried to figure out how to replicate that move to serve food. I believe she’s still trying.
The pastries were really tasty, and quickly enough our meals arrived. The pineapple stack was delicious! Nick thought it was a bit small, but since we were going to Palo in a few hours, that was ok. I thought it was perfectly sized.
Prior to the cruise I had seen the breakfast menu for the sit down restaurant. I had also seen a picture of the item that had caught my eye on the menu, the pineapple stack. It’s French toast and pineapple, in a stack, with strawberry sauce. What’s not to like about that idea? I knew I needed to try it, and Nick was, no pun intended, on board with that concept too.
Nick and I had decided this would be a good morning to have a plated breakfast, because we were doing brunch at Palo at noon. Kim and I had tickets to meet some princesses at 9:15, so an early breakfast today just made sense.
We met Kim outside her room. John was still sleeping on the couch. Side note, John has a CPAP. Despite suggestions to either ask his stateroom host for an extension cord, or to turn down the couch bed, John just slept on the couch, as a couch. He said it was comfortable, so I guess that’s ok. I’d hate to think about what he would have done about distilled water if I hadn’t called DCL and requested it for him. Side note, if you use a CPAP, Disney will have a gallon of distilled water waiting in your stateroom for you. You just have to call them.
So...anyway. We met up with Kim, and headed for Lumiere’s for breakfast. We were seated immediately. The restaurant was pretty quiet at this point. Shortly after we ordered our beverages, we heard “morning guys, anyone want to mix some beverages?”. It was one of the people that had been seated near us at mixology the day before. We all chuckled, and he rejoined his family.
Breakfast in Lumiere’s was the polar opposite of breakfast in Cabanas. The food was still fantastic, and the service was still great, but that’s where the similarities ended. Breakfast at Cabanas at this point in the day is hectic. Lumiere’s was anything but. It was quiet and peaceful. I really enjoyed it. And, as an added bonus, we were seated in a location where we could watch Nassau coming closer into view. That’s always fun to watch an island go from a dark spot onto the horizon to something recognizeable.
We all ordered the pineapple stack. While waiting for our meals to come out, a server came by with a plate of danishes, muffins, and other pastries, for us to select from. We all got some pastry or another. Of particularly interesting note, the server held two forks as tongs to serve them with. From there on out, Kim tried to figure out how to replicate that move to serve food. I believe she’s still trying.
The pastries were really tasty, and quickly enough our meals arrived. The pineapple stack was delicious! Nick thought it was a bit small, but since we were going to Palo in a few hours, that was ok. I thought it was perfectly sized.
We finished breakfast earlier than we had expected, so we went back to the rooms for a few minutes. By now, we had entered the ship channel in Nassau, so I headed straight to the balcony to watch docking.
While I was taking pictures, a stateroom host emerged on the balcony next to ours. I said hi, and he quickly introduced himself. Turns out he was our stateroom host, Fermin, and had been hoping to meet us since arrival day, but hadn’t crossed paths with us yet. We chatted for a couple minutes, and he instantly reminded me of Sentana, our stateroom host on the Wonder. This is a good thing.
Pretty soon, it was time to go get Kim for the princess meet and greet. When I emerged from my room, Fermin was in the hallway. He greeted me by name, and asked where Nicholas was. I told him he was napping, because he’d been at the movie the previous night. Fermin’s eyes lit up, and he immediately said “yes, very late night. I was there too”. He asked how Nick had liked the movie, and then I was off and running.
Kim and I headed to the atrium, where we joined a line of about 15 people to meet the princesses. This was mostly for Kim’s benefit, so I told her I’d snap a picture of her on my phone, and then jump in for a picture of the two of us with each princess. While waiting, we enjoyed the music, which I noticed was being played by one of last night’s Tangled Thugs.
Pretty soon it was our turn. First up? Cinderella. When I joined Kim with her, she promptly complimented me on the color of my “gown”, and then asked if I was going to a royal ball. When I said “no, just Palo”, she didn’t miss a beat, and responded that “Palo is just as good as going to a royal ball”. NICE!
Next princess was Tiana. From the looks of the pictures, she and Kim had quite the interaction. I was once again complimented on the color of my “gown”. I’m sensing a trend here!
The 3rd princess was hands down, the best character interaction Kim or I have ever witnessed or been part of. Belle was terrific. In hindsight, she should have been mentioned on my comment card at the end of the cruise. She and Kim chatted for a few minutes, and then when I walked over, she chatted with me too. Again, a compliment on the color of my “gown”, but she also asked me about what book I was reading, and asked me about it, making it clear she’d had a similar conversation with Kim, and staying very much in character. She also encouraged a picture with just me.
Last up was Rapunzel. She and Kim seemed to have a good chat, and proving that the princesses receive consistent training, I heard about my “gown” again.
Soon enough we were back on deck 7. As Kim and I parted ways, Fermin noticed. He was a bit confused, because he was the stateroom host for both of our rooms (no wonder both rooms are getting the same bed runner creations each night!), but, hadn’t yet discovered that we were traveling together. Once it was all clarified, we got a big grin and “nice!”.
I returned to the room where Nick was out cold. I decided to be a good wife and let him sleep and went wandering to do some picture taking. This was easier said than done, as part of the deck 4 outdoor deck was closed for what appeared to be resurfacing.
After a fair amount of wandering, I went back to the room, where Nick was still sleeping. I hung out on the balcony, reading, and watching the action on the pier and on the Carnival ship next to us. I couldn’t help but notice that Disney had set out tables of bug repellant goop and sanitizer. Carnival? Not so much. Disney was also doing constant maintenance: resurfacing, pressure washing, work on lifeboats, etc. The Carnival maintenance guys were noticed every time I was on the balcony sitting on deck staring at our ship. Now I’m more willing to eventually explore other cruise lines for very particular ships that look like they have enough to keep me occupied than Nick is, but Carnival is not on that very short list.
Eventually it was time to wake Nick up to go to Palo. We were very much looking forward to the full Palo brunch experience, as two years ago, all buffets were on lockdown, thanks to a norovirus outbreak, so, while we loved the brunch, we didn’t have the full experience. So far, the buffets were not on lockdown, so Palo should be a “normal” experience this time!
I think I can count on one hand the # of times I've seen pictures of you in a dress, and one of those occasions was your wedding. :) The princesses are right, it is a good colour on you.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, dresses are a rarity for me...although...becoming ever so slightly more common. The big reason I was wearing one that day was we were going to Palo.
Delete