We still had about 45 minutes before dinner at Animator’s Palate, and we saw that the line for Captain Mickey was fairly short a level above us. We decided to head up and get a picture with himwhhhoooooaaaahhhhh.
We were rockin’ and rollin’ a little bit on the ship.
#$&@#)!!* Florida Current!
I (stupidly) thought that Sheri perhaps didn’t notice the movement.
She had both hands on the handrail and was contemplating wrapping both legs around it, too, all the while glaring at me with this “I’m-going-to-kill-you-right-before-the-ship-sinks” look.
Honestly, I likened it to a little bit of turbulence on a smaller plane (akin to when I flew Cessnas on the Front Range in Colorado at the Air Force Academy). To me, it was like a slow roller coaster. I mentioned that to Sheri (even putting my hands in the air and going “Woohoooooooo” during a roll), and she contemplated taking off her wedding ring to throw at me.
While in line (it was only about 10-15 minutes), I looked out of the windows to see how rough the seas were. There were some noticeable swells, with an occasional white-cap, so it definitely wasn’t calm. Everyone will have a different perception; however, I didn’t think it was too bad at all. I knew that the seas could be a lot choppier, which would probably equate to a lot more motion. Still, I thought the rolling (which was definitely different from the shimmying we experienced on the first night) wasn’t too bad at all. Sheri, however…
About 5 minutes before we made it to the front of the line for Mickey, the Halloween Storytime began on Deck 3. We got to enjoy that while we waited.
Once we were done, we decided that we had time to look a bit at the pictures that they had for us. We scanned our card at a reader, and the system told us where our pictures were located. Since we hadn’t been in line for any characters (other than the one we were JUST in, and, if they had those pictures in there already, I was going to be REALLY impressed), our folio was really small. We decided to wait until the Mickey pics were in there to decide whether to but anything or not.
We headed back to the room for a brief moment, and Sheri decided to throw on a new scopolamine patch (I think she contemplated putting on an additional patch (or four) behind her other ear). I tried telling her to “go with the roll” instead of trying to keep “vertical”. It’s a trick that I learned when I first started flying: when you try to correct a roll or turbulence, you move in the opposite direction of the roll, and the ship/plane will eventually right itself, which will cause you to correct your initial movement. It doubles your movement, which can mess with your inner ears a lot more than if you just go with the roll. It took me a couple of flights where I had the controls (as well as a Lt. Colonel’s advice) for me to figure it out, but it has worked wonders for me. Your mileage may vary…
We also noticed that the airline check-in documents had arrived, just as Guest Services told us that it would. We tagged the checked bags and set them out for pick-up (hint: make sure you leave out clothes for your disembarkation).
About 5 minutes before our dining was scheduled, we went down to Deck 3 aft for Animator’s Palate. There actually are two separate entrances, and we went to the “back door” one by the aft stairwell (the hosts will direct you to the proper one for your table assignment). We were the first ones at our table, with Ernest and Tina soon joining us. Melissa arrived a couple of minutes later; Jamie decided to stay in the cabin for a little while.
Seriously, it's really a FUN place...lots of things to see.
Our servers gave recommendations, and we ordered our drinks; we decided to go with a cabernet for the meal, and our newly-found wine fan took our recommendation and ordered a glass for himself. I heard a number of people rave about the salmon appetizer, but, thanks to the Food Network’s special, we both ordered the black truffle pasta purseittes. For the soup/salad course, I surprised her and ordered the butternut squash soup. The main entrée didn’t quite match the wine we ordered, but we both went with an herb crusted pork chop.
All of us raved about Believe as well as the rocking and rolling we were experiencing (well, "raved" might not be the best way to describe the conversation). The purseittes were fantastic! One of our tablemates also ordered the salmon as an additional appetizer and also gave it a thumbs-up. Oh…there’s another hint for you: yes, you can order multiple dishes of any (or every) course. The soup…I’ll have to admit that we’re spoiled when it comes to this course. We occasionally are invited to a food- and wine-paired meal at a restaurant that we frequent, and the executive chef (Hi Manny!!!) always makes an absolutely awesome soup course. We’ve had a butternut squash soup before, and it makes any other similar soup pale in comparison. The soup on the Dream was good, but it just didn’t compare to what we get back home at Baxter’s Grille.
As the soup course came out, Animator’s Palate transformed into what it was known for…CRUSH! I’ll leave this part a little vague for those who don’t know what to expect. It was neat to watch, though!
The main course? That pork chop was much better than I expected! Sheri agreed. There was just a hint of mustard, but not enough to be off-putting. Oh, and the cabernet? While it wasn’t a perfect pairing, it worked pretty well. We topped off Ernest’s glass with some from our bottle and then polished off the rest of the wine. I could tell that Sheri (and others) were not the most comfortable with the swaying, but I don’t think anyone was turning a true green color.
Since this was our last evening on the ship, the table talked about plans for the evening. We were going to say goodbye to our friends in Skyline before turning in as well as order pictures. Ernest and Tina had not yet been to Skyline, so we agreed to try meeting up after dinner for a nightcap or three. While we talked, the dessert menu was presented, and I went with the cookies and cream Mickey Sundae, since I kept forgetting to order a Mickey Bar from Room Service (yes, they have them on the ship!). Sheri opted for the “Make-Your-Own Pie”.
The sundae? Just as you would expect.
Sheri’s home-made pie? A bit on the weird side. We had fun playing “guess what sweet was in the side dish”…we seriously weren’t quite sure what all was on the plate. It wasn’t bad…just…well…weird.
There was also a birthday at our table (I won’t divulge who *coughTINAcough*), and they presented the unknown person *coughcoughTINA* with a special dessert to celebrate.
After everything was finished, we thanked our servers and headed out for a couple of minutes. We jumped up to the District; no, it wasn’t for a drink (yet). We wanted to get to Shutters to buy a couple of pictures. As we made our way through the District Lounge, we met up with Olga (the violinist who played before Believe). She had just finished up a set in the Lounge. She talked to us for a minute as we walked together towards the atrium area. When she heard that Sheri was a bit queasy her suggestion to counter motion sickness was to have a drink or two.
Hey, she’s on the ship a lot more than us…who are we to argue with the expert? :)
We purchased our pictures, took them back to our room, and then skipped down to the District. Once again we were the only ones in there when we arrived. We decided to mix things up a bit. I turned in my man card and ordered an Eco-tini (Acai, triple sec, agave nectar, ginger, and lime juice). It even came with a fashionable acai seed bracelet (which I promptly gave to wifey). Sheri had….ummmmmmm…..errrrr….neither of us can remember. For grins, we’ll say she had the New Yorker. They were both awesome drinks!
As we enjoyed the ambiance, we realized that a number of others had arrived. Don told us that all of them were the “regulars” who were doing the same thing as us…saying goodbye to the bar.
Tina and Ernest came in and found us. I applied what I had learned from Don when Ernest asked me what to order. I asked him if he was a fan of Jack Daniels, to which he readily agreed. The Blues was the drink then! We talked Tina into a coco Cadillac, which (we think) was another good choice. We enjoyed the company and wanted it to continue; however, we knew that the next day was going to be a long one. Even though gratuities are already included in the price, we always added a bit more to every tab for them. Since this was our last one, we slipped in one final tip for them without them seeing it. It was well worth it.
Skyline was really hopping at this time…it was near capacity. Ernest and Tina wanted to tour the District a little more, so we said our goodbyes with he hopes of catching breakfast together the next morning. They headed towards Evolution, while we snuck out the other door and walked into Pink one last time to get some of the ambiance.
We were the only ones in there…
…except for Myrna, from the Cove area bar the previous day.
I have absolutely no idea how they do it, but their recollection of faces and/or names is downright scary! She remembered us from the previous day and struck up a conversation. We stopped and bellied up to the bar, with no intention of ordering anything.
Yeah, that lasted about ten seconds.
As we talked, Sheri and I did our nonverbal talking to each other, and either we both agreed to have one final drink or we both agreed to recreate the scene from Titanic where the lead characters run all around the ship trying to avoid Rose’s butler. Since she didn’t run out the door flipping some random older guy off, I felt safe that we agreed on the drink. We put our faith in Don at Skyline and reaped the rewards, so we decided to do the same with Myrna. We simply told her that we’d trust her recommendation. She paused for a second and then said she was going to pull out the stops and give us a glass of Moet and Chandon Ice Imperial Champagne. She started peeling an orange and putting the peel in the glass, followed by some mint and then some ice.
Wait…ice? ICE?! IN CHAMPAGNE?!
Yes, folks, Moet makes a champagne on the rocks. It was their Imperial Ice.
AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!
I didn’t even want to look at the price of that one, once I heard the names Moet and Chandon associated with the drink LOL. In all honesty, it didn’t cost as much as I had expected.
Unlike Skyline, Pink remained quiet; we were the only ones in there for the entire stay. Pink ranks second for us, behind our beloved Skyline. We never thought that, on a ship with 4,000 people on it, we could find a place that just the two of us could have “to ourselves”. We did…multiple times, too.
After we settled up, we called it a night and headed back to our stateroom to officially call it a night.
No…the trip can’t be over tomorrow! NOOOOOOOooooooooooooozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………..
