Trip Report: May 16, 2018 5 Night Pacific Coast Cruise – Day 2

You can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here.

Day 2: At Sea

I’m going to start off by saying that on this trip, I really slacked off on sea days in terms of both photos and notes, and it got worse as the trip went on.  I was having such a wonderful time with my family that I just wasn’t thinking about documenting everything.  So, I am going to be relying on my memory a lot for sea days on this trip report which is not a good thing.  Hopefully between the few photos that I did take and looking at the Navigators I can manage to somewhat accurately recall our activities, but will probably unintentionally leave out a few things or get the wrong order.  But, I guess you’ll never know, right?

First of all, you can see today’s Navigator by clicking here.

I woke up around 7:00 on my own.  I didn’t really sleep that well, which is unusual on a cruise as I typically sleep like a baby.  My husband and I went to the drink station on deck 9 to get some coffee and hot tea.  I don’t think I’ve ever had hot tea on a cruise before (even though I drink it all the time at home), but on this trip, with the cooler weather, I had it multiple times a day.  This is why having our room just 3 levels directly below the drink station was very convenient.

We got the girls up an took them to Cabanas for breakfast at about 8:30.  We didn’t eat though because we had our Palo brunch reservation a few hours later.  I didn’t often take photos of our food at Cabanas, but on this morning I did:

I am pretty strict about the girls’ sugar intake at home, but I let them splurge while on vacation.  I think one of their favorite things about cruising may very well be eating breakfasts like the one above.

After breakfast, my husband and I went to the room to get dressed for Palo brunch (you can read about the dress code here), while the girls decided they wanted to go watch A Goofy Movie on funnel vision.  We were ready early, so we stopped by the future cruise sales desk on deck 4 near the atrium and after waiting for just a few minutes, we booked a placeholder reservation.  while there, we saw that a princess gathering was happening below:

We still had a few minutes to spare, so we went up to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to see if we could get our 8 year old a reservation for the following week/cruise.  I love the stairs leading up to it!

For some reason, I hadn’t thought to reserve it online before the cruise, which is weird because as you can probably tell, I am an ultra-planner.  Somehow it just slipped through the cracks.  We were able to get her a reservation for the next cruise on the afternoon of formal night.

Sometime during all of this, the girls had sent us a message saying that it was too cold outside and they were going to the room.  I told them to stay out of Holesman’s way and that if he wanted to clean one of our rooms then to go hang out in the other one.

I also stopped by a restroom during this time and had to take these pictures so that I could share a funny story with you guys.  We always tease our middle daughter about her terrible sense of direction/navigation. Seriously, we don’t even let her go to the bathroom by herself in a restaurant because she gets lost every time.  Basically, she’s always off in her own little world while walking and doesn’t pay attention/remember which direction she came from in order to find her way back.  Well, last year on our cruise on the Wonder, she actually got lost inside of a single room – this bathroom – and we have been teasing her about it ever since.

After she washed her hands, she looked around and couldn’t figure out which door to go through to get out of the room.  Our oldest was with her (because, you know, we don’t let her go to the bathroom by herself) and just stood there watching it all unfold.  She didn’t help her either, she just let her try door after door until she found the one to the hallway.  I’m not completely sure, but I think it’s the door to the right of the counter in the photo above.

Okay, back to Palo.

I didn’t do a great job of taking photos at this brunch, but I have in the past which you can see here.  When we arrived, we asked if Susana (Portugal) could be our server because we had her twice on our last cruise and really enjoyed her.  But, her section was full, so we requested her for our next brunch the following week on the Alaska sailing.  We ended up being assigned Leo (India) whom we LOVED!  In fact, about half way through brunch, I had to fess up to him that we requested Susana before we had met him so that he wouldn’t see us next week with her and think that we had asked not to have him again (they always give you the same server in Palo if you visit more than once in a cruise).  We ended up seeing Leo and his lovely wife Alexandra (Ukraine, a main dining room server on our rotation) quite often during our 12 nights onboard and always had the nicest little chats with them.  They are so friendly and sincere.

In addition to the buffet, you can order these items from the kitchen:

But first, the buffet:

One of my very favorite things to eat here are the fig preserves with the boursin cheese (you can see them just behind the piece of bread on my plate above).  I used to put them both on a cracker, but now I just eat it with a spoon!  Just a little bit of each, in the same bite.  It’s heavenly!  Ironically, I once had a reader email me and ask if I knew which type of fig preserve they serve at Palo.  I didn’t, but promised to ask next time I was onboard.  So, I asked Leo and he brought me a jar so I could take a photo.

I came home and found it on Amazon!  I have also found it at Publix.

From the menu, we ended up ordering the parmesean-crusted chicken which was amazing:

As well as the artichoke ravioli, which I forgot to photograph before digging in.  Sorry!

I think we both made 1 or 2 more trips to the buffet, including the half-eaten desserts in the background below which I forgot to photograph.  Then, Leo surprised us with this chocolate lava cake which disappeared so fast I never got a photo, but took this one so I would remember to tell you about it:

After brunch, we went to the rooms to check on the girls.  They had gotten hungry for lunch and gone up to the pool deck for pizza and chicken tenders, and brought it back to the room since it was too windy to eat it outside.  My husband wanted to take a nap, and 2 of the girls wanted to go swimming even though it was only in the 60s, but sunny (the pools are heated). So, off to the pool we went.  This was their only time to swim on this trip.  It wasn’t very crowded:

I just relaxed, read my Alaska Cruise Handbook (which they sold in the onboard shop although I brought my own copy), made some notes and watched Pinnochio on funnel vision (which incidentally wasn’t listed on the Navigator) while drinking hot tea.

I pretty much had the place to myself:

One thing I forgot to mention: the newest DCL itineraries (late 2019) had been released this day and while we were at the future cruise sales desk earlier, I had grabbed the list which I perused at this time:

Just as the girls were ready to go back to the room, the lifeguard closed the pool at about 1:50.  I didn’t ask why since we were leaving anyway.  We went back to the room to catch up with the others and let the girls shower.

Next, we went to Disney Tunes Trivia in the D Lounge at 3:00.

Tonight was pirate night, and we were all wearing our Captain Hook leggings!  The lighting was really bad so this is the best I got:

Trivia was fun and although we did really well, we didn’t win.  Had we remembered that Donnie Osmand sings “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” and than Minnie Driver is the voice of Jane in Tarzan (both of which I knew but my mind went blank under the pressure), we may have won.

After trivia and a stop at the drink station for more tea, we went back to the room for a while to relax.  During this time, I talked to the girls about going to the princess gathering and Frozen meet & greet on the next sea day, which I had reserved online.  They said they just weren’t interested in meeting any characters (sob!), especially the princesses (gasp!).  So, I sadly walked down to the port adventures desk to turn in my tickets in case there was a waiting list.  The guy seemed happy that I was turning them in, so at least someone was happy.

It was also during this time in our rooms that something else strange happened.  One of the girls and I were standing in the door to the hallway with the door propped open (I think she had knocked and I was letting her in the room), and a very young boy, definitely younger than 2, walked right into our room and put his arms up like he wanted me to pick him up.  I figured a parent was right outside the door, so I didn’t pick him up, but turned him around and tried to steer him out into the hallway.  He didn’t really want to leave the room, but I coaxed him out.  Once in the hallway, there was not a person in sight.  I had no idea where he had come from.  I tried asking him if he knew where his mom was or which direction he had come from, but he wouldn’t talk.  I thought about calling guest services, but then decided to just pick a direction and walk down the hallway knocking on doors.  Just as I started walking, a door a few doors down opened and a man popped his head out to place some dishes in the hallway.  He glanced at me and smiled, not noticing the boy.  Then I asked him if the child belonged to him, and he looked down, saw the child, and his eyes got really big and said yes.  It was clear that he had no idea that the child had left the room. Oops!

We all got ready for pirate night and headed to dinner.  We took some pictures on the way, and also went to check out the action in the atrium.

FYI, my daughter’s skull cardigan can be found here, and it runs really small.  She is 5′-6″ and weighs 110 lbs and is wearing the US Large.  Her leggings can be found here.  They don’t get great reviews, but are holding up just fine for us as she only wears them once a year on a cruise.  My shirt below can be found here and it runs true to size.

All of the characters were decked out in their pirate gear.

We were in Tiana’s Place for dinner.  I take a photo of her like this on every cruise, wearing the kid’s menu as a hat:

The cornbread is always a big hit at our table:

This was the Master Gibbs “1/4 Pint of Shrimp” Cocktail which was very good.  The presentation was unique – I ended up pouring the sauce (which was amazing) into the mug and mixing it up like a salad.

Tia Dalma’s Jerk Chicken:

Cilantro Marinated Caribbean Grouper Filet (excellent):

I don’t remember if it was Faisal or Lito, but we were given 2 crayon puzzles and we solved both of them.

We either skipped dessert this night (unlikely) or I completely forgot to photograph it (likely). They had the pirate parade through this dining room as usual, and I have some video of it on Instagram under the “Cali Coast” highlights.

After dinner, the older 2 decided that they wanted to go watch Muppet Treasure Island on funnel vision.  The rest of us wandered through the shops for a bit.  We all met up at the Walt Disney Theater for the evening show, “The Ventriloquism and Comedy of Michael Harrison”.

We had seen him several years ago and I remembered that the girls thought he was hilarious, but they were too young to remember it so it was like they were seeing it for the first time.  He was just as funny as I remembered and they LOVED it!  My 8 year old kept turning to me and saying that she didn’t want it to end!  I definitely think that kids find him funnier than adults, but I still thought it was an enjoyable show.

After the show, it was time for the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party, but first we had to go back to the room and get our coats because it was cold outside!  Well, colder than usual and definitely our coldest pirate party to date.  I think it was in the 50s, but we’re from Texas so that’s cold for us, plus it was really windy.  Here we are waiting for it to begin:

Before the party, kids from the Edge and Vibe did a flash mob on the stage which was cute:

Our girls only went to Edge once or twice throughout our 12 nights onboard.  They don’t dislike it, but just prefer to participate in other activities onboard like trivia, crafts, game shows and karaoke.

Finally the show got started and was pretty much the same as I remember it from last year, except it was too windy for Mickey to make his grand entrance like normal (I won’t give away the surprise to those of you who haven’t seen it).  Once again, you can see video of the party and fireworks on my Instagram highlights.

This is the part where they get some dads on stage:

After the party, it was off to bed.

Up Next: Day 3 – San Francisco

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