After my walk, I went to the Royal Garden to meet Masayo, Mark, and Janice for breakfast. I told them all about the amazing pineapple French toast stack the day before, so they decided they wanted to go for breakfast there as well. Our server recommended that we try the waffle sandwich. I had been debating about trying it, but I loved the pineapple French toast stack I really wanted it again. Everyone else was also a bit torn, so I suggested that we order the waffle sandwich for the table, and then order what we want for breakfast, which everyone thought was a good idea. Janice, Masayo, and I all ordered the pineapple French toast stack, and Mark ordered some kind of eggs.
Janice was very sweet, and concerned about my reaction to strawberries so she started to order hers without strawberries. I told her that it wasn’t necessary for hold the strawberries, as I only have the reaction to strawberries when I eat them. But it was very thoughtful of her to offer to skip them.
Shortly after ordering, our food was brought to our table. I cut the waffle sandwich into quarters, and everyone took a piece. I thought the waffle sandwich was very disappointing. It was basically just a waffle filled with whipped cream. It wasn’t even a good waffle. It seemed like it was just a toaster waffle. Everyone agreed that this wasn’t anything special. Once again, the French toast stack was amazing. Masayo and Janice seemed to enjoy the french toast as well.
After breakfast, Masayo and I went out to deck 4 to play some shuffleboard. Masayo had never played before, so I explained how to play to her. We took a practice round, and then started our battle. Masayo was having some beginners luck and won the first couple of rounds, but I came back and tied it 2 rounds to 2. So we started the fifth and deciding round. I won the round to become shuffleboard champion. Goofy would be so proud.
After the game, I headed up to my room to pack, as I would have to put my bags out that evening. I also had to get changed for our brunch at Palo. I had a bit of time before my brunch, so I decided to look for the puppies at the Mid-Ship Detective Agency. I had time to go to all of the mid-ship and forward locations before lunch. There were lots of people working on the mysteries, so I had to wait a bit at some locations. I really enjoyed playing this game on the cruise. It is a nice way to explore the ship and spend a half hour.
I met Masayo at Palo a few minutes before our reservation time, and we were seated right away. Once again Felice was our server. During our meal, Felice asked Masayo is she enjoyed something, and she said it was very good. Felice asked, “Not excellent?” Felice wants to make sure we think everything is excellent. We decided that when things are better than excellent, they are Felice.
Our brunch at Palo was excellent. They had a buffet set up in the private dining room that included lots of cold meats, seafood, vegetables, and cheeses. They also had delicious hot sticky buns. Felice also brought us mimosas, which were a lot stronger than the ones we had at the DVC event on our first day on the ship.
Masayo and I shared a spicy sausage pizza. The pizza was excellent, thought it was a bit too spicy for Masayo. I like spicy food, and some bites (not all) were a bit on the spicy side for me. But it was piping hot, with a thin tasty crust. I would definitely order it again. We dug into it so fast, I forgot to take a picture though.
For my entrée, I ordered the chicken parmesian, which was served with a creamy risotto. The chicken was fantastic--it was crisp and covered in a delicious tomato sauce. The risotto was one of my favorite items on the cruise. It was creamy, cheesy, and bursting with flavor.
Masayo ordered the veal saltimbocca, which I tasted. It was good, but a bit on the tough side (which is exactly how I remember it being when I had it on my cruise a few years ago).
They also had a dessert buffet set up with about a dozen different mini desserts to choose from. I tried a few different desserts. My favorites were the lemon meringue tart and the cream puff. The chocolate mousse I tried was good, but a bit too rich and thick for my taste.
After brunch, I continued to search for the puppies in the Mid-Ship Detective Agency adventure, visiting the locations in the aft of the ship. I successful found the puppies and caught the criminal!
I went up to deck 13 to spend some time in my favorite spot, and there were actually two people sitting in my blue chair! Can you believe it? Other people were using my private verandah! One of them was actually a DISer I met on the cruise--Roadweaver. I sat down and chatted with her for a while. She is a super nice person, and it was nice to get to know her a bit.
I then headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to go see the matinee performance of “Believe.” Masayo and I sat just a few rows from the stage on the side, and I’m glad we did. This show was fantastic! This show tells the story of a dad who doesn’t believe in magic, and with the help of his daughter, the Genie from Aladdin, and many Disney friends, he comes around. The show features one show-stopping number after another, and includes visits from Mary Poppins and Bert, Baloo, and everyone’s favorite Disney princesses. Some of my favorite scenes were Bert and his chimney sweep friends performing “Step In Time,” and Rafiki and friends singing “Circle of Life.” This was definitely the best show on the ship, and a must see.
After “Believe,” Masayo and I went to meet Janice and Mark to play in the final Bingo game of the cruise. I wound up getting the $40 package, which included about 30 cards on an electronic console, and three paper cards. Unfortunately, none of us won.
We had a bit of time before dinner, so we decided to do a quick tour of each other’s rooms. Masayo was in an inside cabin with a split bathroom on deck 8. We were all looking forward to seeing her virtual porthole. I was a bit disappointed to hear that the characters only show up on the screen a couple of times an hour. I thought they would run through at least every few minutes. We did luck out and see Jiminy Cricket as we were getting ready to leave her room. Masayo’s room was very nice, and seemed to be in a quiet location. The bed was against the back wall in the room, the couch and closet were on the left, and the bathroom was on the right. There wasn’t very much floor space in the room.
We then made our way to Janice and Mark’s room on deck nine. They had a room with a verandah on the starboard side of the ship. There room seemed even tighter than the inside stateroom. There was very little floor space--only a couple of feet between the bed and the wall. One nice touch in their room that I wish my room had was a chest of drawers. We spent a few minutes on the verandah looking out at the open sea.
We then went down to my room. Masayo, Janice, and Mark were all shocked by how big my room was. There was a lot more room to move around when compared to their rooms.
We then made our way down to the Royal Palace for dinner. The menu at this location was the least appealing to me on the ship, as it is heavy on things I don’t eat like seafood and escargot. None of the appetizers appealed to me, so I wound up ordering two entrees. I started off with the Grilled Farm-Raised Organic Chicken Breast Salad, which was basically a chicken ceasar salad. My server Sutas brought this out with everyone else’s first course. The salad was excellent. The dressing was very tasty, and the chicken was moist and warm.
I also ordered the Royal Palace Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin, which was served with Marquis Potatoes in a cognac reduction sauce. This is normally served with lobster medallions, but since I don’t eat lobster, I asked them to hold that. The beef was excellent--very tender and flavorful. The potatoes were very disappointing. It was a very dry, thick potato pancake with very little flavor.
For dessert, I ordered the Grand Marnier Souffle and the Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brulee. Crème Brulee is one of my favorite desserts, but this one was very disappointing. In fact, it was the worst crème brulee I have ever eaten. I only took a couple of bites of it. It just didn’t taste right to me.
The Grand Marnier souffle, on the other hand, was out of this world--even better than the chocolate soufflé I had at Palo. It was light, and had a nice mild orange flavor too it. It was served with a tasty vanilla sauce to pour in. It was so good that I ordered a second one, and Janice wound up ordering on as well.
Our servers on the cruise were very good, but I didn't love them. I did remember to take pictures of them the last night, though.
Our head server Dagmar
Our head server Sutas and our assistant server Lydor
After dessert, I ran back to my room to put my luggage out, and headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to watch “Believe” again. I decided to sit up in the balcony to get a different view of the stage. I wound up sitting in the front row of the balcony. A really nice family from Wisconsin sat next to me, and I enjoyed talking to the daughter. It was fun watching the kids react to everything on the stage.
I then headed to one of the upper decks of the atrium to watch the “See You Real Soon” character goodbye. They show started with a crew member introducing each of the characters one by one, and then a 20 minute photo opportunity. It was kind of interesting to watch the organized chaos as everyone rushed to get a final picture with some of the characters. They only let each family take one picture when they got to the character, and it was funny to watch the character pose for 3-5 pictures a minute.
When the photo session ended, the characters gathered at the bottom of the staircase to say goodbye to the guests. It was a cute little presentation, but not as good as I remember the one on the Wonder being. It also was kind of annoying to have to wait 20 minutes for the conclusion of the goodbye while the characters posed for pictures. I wish that they had done the whole show at the beginning and then let people take pictures.
Masayo and I then headed over to Evolution, where we caught the tail end of the 80’s Music Challenge, which was hosted by Max. It was basically the same as 80’s music Name that Tune with some of the songs changed.
We were able to move to a table up from to see the cast goodbye, featuring the hysterical “If I Were Not Upon the Sea.” This is definitely a must see on the cruise, as the skit is just hysterical. I would describe it, but really, the skip speaks for itself, so I’m going to say just watch the video below.
I then said good night to Masayo. I took a quick trip up to my favorite spot. I only stayed out there a few minutes, though. As the ship was getting closer to Florida, it was colder and windier, so it wasn’t really comfortable to sit out there.
I then headed to bed, a bit sad knowing that I would be leaving the ship in about 8 hours, but also excited for the five nights of fun at Disney World with my Disney family that was waiting for me on dry land.
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