Pirates of the Tennessean - Dave and INC's Dream Cruise!

[mgsmom 9]

Ok, so I finally get caught up at work. I have 10 min left of lunch until my next class comes in... I sit down, crack my knuckles, pop open a Coke Zero and settle in for some TR reading... and then it happens... apparently our filtering system figured out FF.net... it is now blocked as a social interaction site... dang! Last year it was just "unknown" and I got to bypass the filter. Had to wait until tonight to catch up!

SO, enjoyed the frosty beverage pictures! The pics of Anna in the porthole are too cute too! I am going to steal your plan of riding Aquaduck when everyone else is going to the buffet - I'm on it!

I can't wait to see if you got on FunnelVision.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

She Ate WHAT?

After the Sailing Away party, we made our way back to our staterooms to relax for a few and get ready for dinner. We broke out the sangria and Red Stripe beer, and we enjoyed our FABULOUS, RAINHEAD, CEILING MOUNTED SHOWERS while getting ready. Sorry TCD...couldn't help myself.

Our assigned dinner rotation for the 4 nights was as follows:

Night 1: Royal Palace (cruise casual attire)

Night 2: Animators Palate (suggested dress-up night)

Night 3: Enchanted Garden (Pirate Night)

Night 4: Enchanted Garden (cruise casual)

Disney's suggestions for "cruise casual" attire is basically no shorts, swimwear or tank tops. For the dress up night they suggest a jacket for men and dresses or pantsuits for women. As this was a special trip for us, possibly once in a lifetime, I had asked the girls to pack dresses or nice clothes for each night. Why not dine in style? Most of our lives in America are ultra-casual these days. Do you remember when people used to dress up to fly on airplanes? These days you are lucky if they change out of their pajamas. But on a cruise ship, I wanted to take the opportunity to class it up a bit. And we weren't the only ones...I'd say the majority of diners were dressed nicely. There were, of course, some clods looking like they just left Walmart. (not that I have anything against Walmart....but we weren't cruising in a Walmart). In any case, we followed the DCL attire suggestions, although I did take the opportunity to wear some tropical print shirts I don't normally get to wear at home.

We made our way to Royal Palace about 5 minutes after our 5:45 dining time, per the suggestion of TCD. There was no line by this time, and since tables are assigned anyways there is no downside to this approach.

This is what we first noticed after being lead to our table.

Every night, the napkins were folded into a design.

The girls loved the fancy settings and the attentive servers.

First up, we ordered our appetizers. INC and one of the girls ordered the double baked spinach souffle.

I tried a bite of this and it wasn't really my thing. I don't think it was INC's favorite either, as half of it went uneaten.

Izzy ordered this melon boat. She liked it so much she ordered another one!

I ordered the Pomegranate Glazed Duck Breast With Gewürztraminer Gelée and Pomegranate Glaze. This was VERY tasty, and I ate every bite.

I wanted everyone to be able to try something they'd never had before, so I ordered one of the Escargots Gratinés; Herb-marinated Snails with Finely Chopped Mushrooms, topped with Garlic Butter and Breadstick.

INC and the two younger kids did not care to try it. I have had escargot before and enjoyed it, so I tried one and it was quite good. Emma and Gwen each tried one and thought it was ok. Izzy polished off the rest of them. She loved it! This kid surprised me on this trip. Between the crab legs, the snails, and a bunch of melon, she ate things I wouldn't have guessed she would try. Way to go Izzy!

For her entree, Stella chose the kids spaghetti and meatballs. This was a big deal for her, because 99% of the time she will order chicken and fries in a restaurant. She ate it all. (well, except for those veggies).

The servers even cut her food up for her! Look at her watching him...I think she was amazed by this.

Pretending. Not really sure what I think of this.

For the second course, INC and I both got the French Onion Soup, with Gruyere Cheese Crouton.

For our main courses, several of us were hungry for steak, so we ordered the Royal Palace Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Lobster Medallions Sautéed Snow Peas and Marquis Potatoes with a Cognac Reduction.

This was really the only meal of the trip I was truly disappointed in. The lobster wasn't very flavorful, and the steak was not a very good quality filet. It was certainly edible, but it wasn't the best. Fortunately the quality of the food improved from there...and I made sure not to order steak again. There were some interesting choices on each menu, and I should have tried the Wild Boar this night. I could have stopped eating the steak and ordered the Boar, but that would have been wasteful which isn't in my nature.

For dessert, a few of the ladies tried the Sweet Temptations, a trio of Peanut Butter Mousse, Mango Cheesecake, and Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée. I heard no complaints, although the Creme Brulee was the star of this show. The mango cheesecake was the weakest.

.

Stella had her first of MANY Mickey bars.

Anna got a bowl of ice cream with sprinkles. Every time I said I wanted to get a picture of her food, she would lift her dish up in the cutest way. Ya think she's lived with me for a while?

One of the girls ordered the Peanut Butter Mousse.

I wanted to try the Grand Marnier Soufflé Infused with fresh Orange Zest and served with Crème Anglaise. This was a beautifully presented dessert, and was quite good, although I still think I'd give first place to the creme brulee.

After we all had our desserts and INC and I enjoyed some coffee, the head server came out with a special dessert for INC and all the waiters sang Happy Birthday.

And they presented her with an official Birthday Button!

And that my Fiends was our first dinner on board the Disney Dream! We were off to a great start! After dinner, we walked around the ship for a bit, and then made our way to the Walt Disney Theater at 8:30 for a presentation of The Golden Mickeys. This was the first of 3 Broadway-style shows that were presented on the ship. We enjoyed it very much...but no photography of any kind is allowed in the theater so I have no pics to share. But in true Disney fashion, the shows were top notch in my opinion and we enjoyed each one thoroughly.

After the show, we slowly made our way back to our staterooms to settle in for the night. Well, we got the kids settled in. If my memory serves me correctly, INC and I went out for a stroll later in the evening by ourselves to enjoy the night air on the decks. But I don't think we were out late, as we were tired from the long day.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

The look on Stella's face is priceless as the waiter cut her food.

Anna is just darling.

Go Izzy! I'd not try the snails.

Happy Birthday INC!!!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Wow, I missed a day and I learned you can't get behind on a TR from Dave!

What can I say, I loved it all! Your family is adorable!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Looks like WONDERFUL choices for dinner! I had the escargot myself. YUMMY!!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I love the way Anna holds her plate for you to take a picture of her food. :heartsmiley:

Jessica has now gotten to the point of reminding me or simply taking the camera from me to take the pictures in case I forget. :rofl3:

Steve and Drew would be all over the escargot. The girls and I are not fans.

[kampfirekim 260]

Kudos for dressing nicely for dinner. :heart: Y'all looked great!

PJ's in public is not ok. Ever. JMO

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

That escargot has my mouth watering! My first experience with it was on a Disney cruise. I was not disappointed!

:bravo: Izzy for trying new foods, you never know what you will like till you try it!

My new favorite picture!

[caveat lector 181]

Alright.....if you are going to reference the family from 1313 mockingbird lane........this is now one of my favorite TR.s

Nice work!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

We ended up buying the professional photographer pics from the cruise....first cruise ever, and they did get some nice shots, so we went and did it. We rationalize by figuring we have Christmas gifts for the grandparents done now, and have our Christmas card photo too. :rofl3:

Anyways, here are a few follow up pics from the first night.

[SCTigerCock 171]

Awesome pics!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Good stuff, Dave.

It makes me want to take another cruise.

I really enjoyed eating together as a family in the restaurants. It is fun to be able to order so many courses and such a variety of things.

That was a great decision for you to buy the professional photographs. After dropping a small fortune on this on some of our previous cruises, I have refused to buy them or even to look at them on our last couple of cruises. But, you have some great family photos there. Worth every penny. And I'm sure it was a lot of pennies.

Next up is Nassau day. Can't wait to hear about all the fun you had on the ship.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Dave not to repeat what everyone else has said but you have a beautiful family.

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Wow, all of that food looks GREAT!!!!

You can tell how much fun the girls are having from all of the pics!!

Ready for more!!!

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

I suddenly had a vision of TCD, stark naked, trying to figure out the shower controls. I may never recover.

I'm still enjoying your report Dave, but I would appreciate it if you would not use the term "squatty" again. :nyd:

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Stef...I really do love you! :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I need to get caught up on some replies!

You have a beautiful family

Thank you so much! I've always been thankful my kids take their looks from INC.

Nice job on the door decorations, Dave!

We sailed on the Disney Magic a bunch of years ago and were amazed at the size of the regular staterooms then. Throw in the split bath and it was bigger than a couple of apartments I've lived in.

I had some fun with the decorations.

Never having cruised before I don't know how the Disney staterooms compare to others, but I've heard they are larger than average. And having two of them was quite a luxury!

I loved Gwen's video! She really did a great job!

I also loved the picture of Anna in the window getting "sprayed" by water from outside. Very cute!

Thanks! It was hilarious seeing Anna's reaction to the water spray. The workers were having fun with it as well.

Ok, so I finally get caught up at work. I have 10 min left of lunch until my next class comes in... I sit down, crack my knuckles, pop open a Coke Zero and settle in for some TR reading... and then it happens... apparently our filtering system figured out FF.net... it is now blocked as a social interaction site... dang! Last year it was just "unknown" and I got to bypass the filter. Had to wait until tonight to catch up!

SO, enjoyed the frosty beverage pictures! The pics of Anna in the porthole are too cute too! I am going to steal your plan of riding Aquaduck when everyone else is going to the buffet - I'm on it!

I can't wait to see if you got on FunnelVision.

Those darn Corporate internet filters!!! :banghead:

You'll have to stay tuned on the Funnelvision....

The look on Stella's face is priceless as the waiter cut her food.

Anna is just darling.

Go Izzy! I'd not try the snails.

Happy Birthday INC!!!

I love that pic of Stella. And I think you should definitely try escargot once in your life. If you like garlic, you'd like these. Not a strong snail flavor at all.

Wow, I missed a day and I learned you can't get behind on a TR from Dave!

What can I say, I loved it all! Your family is adorable!

Ya gotta keep up Rita!!! :clint:

Looks like WONDERFUL choices for dinner! I had the escargot myself. YUMMY!!!

Yeah, and the dinners only got better from here...although my kids liked this one the best because it was all so new and fancy.

I love the way Anna holds her plate for you to take a picture of her food. :heartsmiley:

Jessica has now gotten to the point of reminding me or simply taking the camera from me to take the pictures in case I forget. :rofl3:

Steve and Drew would be all over the escargot. The girls and I are not fans.

Anna is certainly a ham and has learned well from the other girls.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Kudos for dressing nicely for dinner. :heart: Y'all looked great!

PJ's in public is not ok. Ever. JMO

I know, right?? Unless it's the little kids going out for ice cream after their bath...but adults? No way.

That escargot has my mouth watering! My first experience with it was on a Disney cruise. I was not disappointed!

:bravo: Izzy for trying new foods, you never know what you will like till you try it!

My new favorite picture!

Thanks Doodle! And if I remember correctly she ate the entire bowl of ice cream.

Alright.....if you are going to reference the family from 1313 mockingbird lane........this is now one of my favorite TR.s

Nice work!

Thank you! And looking back at the Grampa Muenster picture, there is another guy photobombing on the other side. He looks kinda like PeeWee Herman.

Awesome pics!

Thanks Genia!

Good stuff, Dave.

It makes me want to take another cruise.

I really enjoyed eating together as a family in the restaurants. It is fun to be able to order so many courses and such a variety of things.

That was a great decision for you to buy the professional photographs. After dropping a small fortune on this on some of our previous cruises, I have refused to buy them or even to look at them on our last couple of cruises. But, you have some great family photos there. Worth every penny. And I'm sure it was a lot of pennies.

Next up is Nassau day. Can't wait to hear about all the fun you had on the ship.

TCD

We did get a lot of good photos, and we also made a point of stopping whenever there were photographers available...so we got a LOT of pictures!

Dave not to repeat what everyone else has said but you have a beautiful family.

Thanks Nicki!

Wow, all of that food looks GREAT!!!!

You can tell how much fun the girls are having from all of the pics!!

Ready for more!!!

I will try to work on an update soon!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Stef...I really do love you! :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

I agree! :rofl2: Funny stuff....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We did get a lot of good photos, and we also made a point of stopping whenever there were photographers available...so we got a LOT of pictures!

It might be helpful to others (and to me for future reference) for you to describe a bit more on how the professional photos work.

On previous cruises, they would be around everywhere taking photos. Then they would print the photos, whether you asked them to or not, and put them on display in the photo area (Shutters). It was up to you to search for your photos and decide which ones to purchase. They would typically print the photos on 8 X 10 paper, and ask for about $20 per photo. To make you feel better, they would offer a package like six photos for $100. But, that adds up to a lot of money.

I noticed on our last cruise that they now use facial recognition software, and your photos are gathered for you in little boxes that look like books on a bookshelf. A huge improvement from the old way. But, as I said, I stayed away from all of that. On past cruises, we would easily drop a couple of hundred bucks on these photos, and then they just sit in a photo album that no one looks at.

However, I now see that it would be nice to have some professional photos of the family, so I would like to hear a little about how the pricing works now. I think I heard something about an unlimited package that you can get on a CD or something.

Tell us some more about the professional photos!

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Our first night was not a good one.

I hadn't slept at all the night before in the hotel, and I was looking forward to a very good night's sleep on the ship. I fell asleep quickly, but was awoken during the night by some pretty intense vibration of the ship. It was enough that it also woke INC up. We layed there for hours as the ship made the most annoying vibrations. If I wanted a vibrating bed I would have booked my vacation at the Holiday Inn and brought my quarters. I was literally laying there thinking this was the worst mistake ever to book this cruise.

At some point around 5am I think the vibrating stopped, and we did get a bit of sleep. I had read online about some people complaining about vibrations on the Dream and the Fantasy in aft staterooms. We were definitely toward the back of the boat, so I completely sypathize with people that have had problems with this. Fortunately, we did not experience any other issues with vibrations the rest of the cruise. I don't know whether it was due to traveling through the Gulf Stream on the first night at a high speed to reach Nassau, or what the issue was. But the rest of the nights we slept unbelievably well. And any feelings I had during the night about this being a mistake disappeared after I ordered some room service coffee and sat by our porthole to enjoy it while viewing this.

That was our sign that this was going to be a good day. And it was!

For breakfast on our first full day we decided to head to Enchanted Garden to check out their buffet.

We were seated toward the back of the restaurant, about 5 kilometers from the buffet line.

And who was thinking I didn't do the 5k on this cruise??

Here's my first plate. That stuff in the middle is corned beef hash, and it was GOOD.

Mickey Waffle Time!

The buffet had a nice selection of meats and cheeses...it reminded me of the breakfasts in Russia.

And a fair number of pastries.

The hot stuff!

This breakfast buffet wasn't nearly as extensive as the one at Cabanas, and you are pretty much in an enclosed space without the nice ocean views. The only benefit is that a server will bring your drinks...but at Cabanas they have drink stations spread throughout the restaurant so it is easy to get your own. We did not dine at Enchanted Garden again other than our dinners, as we preferred Cabanas.

After breakfast, we wandered up to the Atrium where a Princess meet and greet was going on. They had scheduled two of them on Nassau day...one at 9am and one at 3pm. The one at 9am was crowded with folks that seemed to be doing this before heading off the ship to go into Nassau for the day. As our plan was to stay on the ship today, we did not stick around to see the Princesses.

Do you see that one on the far right?

Is this clearer??

I didn't realize she was going to be on the ship. In the middle of the ocean. With no where to escape to.

I needed to place a quick ship to shore call to check on something.

I needed to find out the date that the restraining order expires. I had lost track. So I called my attorney.

More on that later.

Tiana wasn't afraid of me and gave a nice wave.

As did that sweet Belle. We are dining with her in January.

While the Princesses were holding court on Deck 3, look who was up on Deck 4 where we were?

Daisy is a sweetheart. She signed Stella's autograph book, which was new for her on this trip. She really enjoyed getting the character autographs, and will look forward to collecting more at WDW at Christmas time.

Here is what the ship photographer came up with for this encounter.

After this, we decided to try Anna in the Oceaneers Club, and then we went back to the cabins to change into our swimsuits to go enjoy the Aquaduck some more and do some swimming while a lot of people were off the ship. We took our new Nikon underwater camera with us to the pool, and I placed it with my shirt and other items on a table while I rode the AD. I got in a couple of AD rides, and then went back to the table to check the onboard phones to make sure there wasn't a text from the kids club. Well...there was one. It seems Anna had had an accident and I needed to go get here. I grabbed my shirt, which the camera was rolled up in, and took off. While I went to get Anna, INC and the girls headed back to the cabin where we all met. I asked if they had grabbed the camera. No one had seen it. In my rush I couldn't remember where I had put it. I thought maybe I had placed it inside INC's bag. She checked the bag and it wasn't in there. I checked the bag too, and sure enough it wasn't there.

I took off to go back to Deck 11 and check around the table. Nothing. I went to lost and found. Nothing. I figure some kid might have taken off with it. This was brand new for this trip...an expensive Nikon underwater camera. And it was gone. I was beside myself.

We all met back up at Cabanas for lunch. But I wasn't hungry. And that's a first.

On that note, I'll leave off for now.

[SCTigerCock 171]

Did you check the shirt?

[DaveInTN 3,247]

It might be helpful to others (and to me for future reference) for you to describe a bit more on how the professional photos work.

On previous cruises, they would be around everywhere taking photos. Then they would print the photos, whether you asked them to or not, and put them on display in the photo area (Shutters). It was up to you to search for your photos and decide which ones to purchase. They would typically print the photos on 8 X 10 paper, and ask for about $20 per photo. To make you feel better, they would offer a package like six photos for $100. But, that adds up to a lot of money.

I noticed on our last cruise that they now use facial recognition software, and your photos are gathered for you in little boxes that look like books on a bookshelf. A huge improvement from the old way. But, as I said, I stayed away from all of that. On past cruises, we would easily drop a couple of hundred bucks on these photos, and then they just sit in a photo album that no one looks at.

However, I now see that it would be nice to have some professional photos of the family, so I would like to hear a little about how the pricing works now. I think I heard something about an unlimited package that you can get on a CD or something.

Tell us some more about the professional photos!

TCD

Yes, it does sound like things are run differently now.

There are professional photographers at most character greetings opportunities, as well as stationed in the evenings in the atrium with pretty backgrounds. They also visit most of the dinners at the main dining rooms to take photos. They do use facial recognition software that matches your face to the picture they take when you board the ship. But that is just used as a backup plan, as they will take your KTTW card before each photo shoot to match to your account.

At the Shutters location on deck 4, they have bookshelves and kiosks. Every photo is printed and placed inside binders, and you can find your binder with a number that you get from the kiosk. You can also just view each photo on the kiosks.

You have the option to buy individual prints, or a group of prints. Alternatively, you can buy pictures on a CD, or you can buy every photo from your cruise on a CD, and the price is based upon how many nights your cruise is. For a 4 night cruise, the price is $229. You can also choose to add to that every printed photo for another $50. That is a lot of money. But we were planning on going to a photographer for a family photo this autumn, and there are no guarantees. We were very pleased with several of the family photos from the ship, plus a bunch of the individual ones were great. So we opted to buy the CD with all photos, but did not buy the printed ones. We got 76 pictures! We can print pictures at my office for free, or at Walgreens quite inexpensively on nice photo paper.

When I think about it, we will give framed prints to each set of grandparents for Christmas, and we now have our family photos so will not have to visit a photographer this fall. Plus we will use one of the pics for our Christmas cards. So this wasn't a terrible deal for us.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Did you check the shirt?

Yeah, it was just a tshirt. not in there.

[stefa70 205]

I'm with TCD on the picture thing. I've dropped countless $ on the ship pictures, but finally learned my lesson. For you on the other hand, it was well worth it. The kids grow so fast and with this being your first family cruise, it's worth that arm & leg that you paid.

It looks like Anna is wondering where Daisy left her pants in the picture above.

Bummer about your camera. If you can't trust people on a Disney cruise, where can you? Hoodlums!! :argh:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Ok...this will be a VERY quick update to resolve the Great Camera Mystery of 2012.

When we last left off, our new Nikon underwater camera was missing.

I was beside myself. I had bought the camera for this trip. We had wanted one for a while, and Costco had a pretty good price on it. And the Nikon gets great reviews.

Plus, the picture quality on dry land is so good we left our regular camera home.

Yes, that's right. The Nikon was our only camera on the trip.

So how did we get all the photos that I've been sharing? Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we found the camera. (Actually, it must take an accountant...cause Genia PM'd me that if Gwen was able to produce an underwater planking video, we must have located the camera.) Very intuitive, Genia! Us accountants are pretty bright, aren't we? :rofl3:

So where was the camera? You remember INC's bag, that she checked without success, and that I ALSO checked without success? Well, while sitting in Cabanas, one of the girls suggested we check it one more time. And there it was.

And amazingly, after doing a happy dance right in the middle of Cabanas, my hunger came back.

Shocking, isn't it?

So I ate this....some prime rib and steak fries with gravy! What, did I not mention that they have steak fries at practically EVERY MEAL in Cabanas?? :jumpforjoy

And after polishing off that plate, Emma thought I needed some dessert, so she went and got me some warm apple crisp with Coconut Pineapple ice cream. OMG....this ice cream was.......wait for it.......

TO DIE FOR!!!!!

(z snap!)

That and a cup of joe and I was a happy man again.

Camera mystery solved. On with the cruise....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm with TCD on the picture thing. I've dropped countless $ on the ship pictures, but finally learned my lesson. For you on the other hand, it was well worth it. The kids grow so fast and with this being your first family cruise, it's worth that arm & leg that you paid.

It looks like Anna is wondering where Daisy left her pants in the picture above.

Bummer about your camera. If you can't trust people on a Disney cruise, where can you? Hoodlums!! :argh:

As it turns out, the people you can't trust the most our yourselves. :rofl2: