Where are Danny and Ryan (Final Exam)

Name these beaches...

Time: Throughout the trip
Difficulty: Very Hard. 2 points per beach for naming the beach exactly, 1 point for the locale without the beach name (such as the town), 1/2 point for the country the beach is in. Not all beaches may have exact names, so 1 point each would be the maximum for those.

With this many points on the line, it's still anyone's game!

1 - Plage St. Francois / Citadel Beach, Corsica	2 - Barcelona, Spain	3 - Monkey Beach, Thailand
4	5	6 - Bondi Beach, Australia
7 - Ipanema Beach, Brazil	8 - Cathedral Cove, New Zealand	9 - (New Zealand)
10	11 - Fossil Shell Beach, Thailand	12 - Punta Tombo, Argentina
13	14	15 - (Torres del Paine Park)

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Cruise Day 12: Disembarkation

Here we are in our last hours of the cruise. It's a short day, since we disembark right after breakfast and we've said as many goodbyes last night already as we hoped to do. Our bags are packed and set out, collected already, except one backpack and our laptops. We stayed out late dancing, then stayed up later packing up the few tidbits that tend to wait until the last minute, and now we're off to our final breakfast.
May 26, 2010

Here we are in our last hours of the cruise. It's a short day, since we disembark right after breakfast and we've said as many goodbyes last night already as we hoped to do. Our bags are packed and set out, collected already, except one backpack and our laptops. We stayed out late dancing, then stayed up later packing up the few tidbits that tend to wait until the last minute, and now we're off to our final breakfast.

We're at Lumiere's again, though that doesn't really make a difference since each night the menu is the same at all restaurants except on the three specific theme days early in the cruise, and it's certainly the case the everyone's getting the same breakfast this morning. Since we have the late dinner, we get the late breakfast, at 8:00 am. Early diners have to be at breakfast by 6:45 and then out in an hour so they can clean up for our arrival.

I ordered more granola and yogurt with fruit. It's taken me this long but I'm finally able to get near enough to what I want without being calculatingly difficult. Ryan has an omlette. We both have grapefruit juice.

We say goodbye to our dinner mates and our servers, and our neighbors, Mike and Michelle and Collin and Shane, and Tracy, their tablemate with her husband and their son Hunter. We wave to Evan and his sister Jennah (with an h, then? I've been spelling it without), and her boyfriend Chris, and their parents. We don't see anyone else that we know, I think. Not Daniel or Peter, who have the late seating with us but in a different restaurant, nor Kia and her family, who also have a different rotation of the late seating.

Our table 12, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Mike and Michelle's table, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Evan, Jennah, and Chris, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Breakfast is over and we're getting our bags and walking off the cruise. It's easy to disembark, even though we toyed briefly with the idea of finding room on the next one, because it was so much fun, even though it would be different with different people and no longer a new experience, and being a 10-day cruise without the extra middle day at sea. But we never know when our next adventure is going to turn out to be fun or a disaster, because of weather, or cost, or some other unexpected factor. In the end, though, there was no room, and it would probably have been too expensive (more than the discounted rate we'd gotten on this one), and anyway, the point for this world trip is to keep trying out new things, so we're happy to stick to our plan.

I can say that the next place we've gone to, along the southern coast of France, has turned out to be as much fun as the cruise. We're at a campsite with a beautiful river and all sorts of fun and friendly people around, and we're already thinking in our heads how next year we need to have a whole month off in May and June so we can take another cruise and go camping in the south of France again, right after. Anyway, so we're having a good time.

After this, I'm hoping we'll jump back in time again to Christmas Eve, 2009, in Sydney, Australia. We were expecting warm, summery weather (it's mid-summer there at that time), but instead when we arrive, we're greeted with cold rain and grey skies. It does get better, for a bit, but rain will be the theme for the next several months, pretty much up until this cruise. I hope I can pick out the better parts to write about, since there were some, interspersed with the plague of rain that made for a chilly, disappointing (weather-wise, at least) summer.
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Cruise Day 11: At Sea

Today was our last full day on the ship, and a day at sea, so we intended for it to be relaxing. We started out with a trip to the gym, to continue working off some of the rich food we'd been eating. After that, we headed to the Topsider Buffet for a light brunch.

May 25
Today was our last full day on the ship, and a day at sea, so we intended for it to be relaxing. We started out with a trip to the gym, to continue working off some of the rich food we'd been eating. After that, we headed to the Topsider Buffet for a light brunch. The salad, cocktail shrimp, and crab claws made me happy, but Danny wasn't initially as enthusiastic.

Top deck, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

The main event for the day was packing. We had to have our bags packed and outside our stateroom door between 8 and 10pm that evening. So, we had to separate out what we needed for tonight and tomorrow morning and make sure that could fit into something we could easily carry to breakfast and then off the ship.

Early in the cruise, I'd heard about a behind-the-scenes tour that you could take that would show you backstage of the theater, including some of the mechanics that make it work. Around Day 8, I'd seen no mention of this in our personal navigators, so I asked guest services. They said it was called the keychain tour, and it happened on the last sea day, but we needed a free reservation. We selected a time slot and got tickets. Later I looked more closely at the tickets and saw that it said "Galley Tour". Puzzled, I called guest services and asked if the different time slots were different tours, but they said they were all the same. It did end up being a tour of the galley, and while it was kind of interesting, and we got a hot cookie, it wasn't what we'd been looking for. We assume that different tours happened on the earlier sea days, but we never asked to find out.

The galley tour led us through the kitchens for Lumiere's and Parrot Cay. They're quite large, and have the all stainless steel look (even the ceiling) that you might expect in a naval kitchen. It didn't look all that different from what I'd seen on a battle ship or aircraft carrier. Some tidbits I remember: They start out preparing the main courses twenty at a time. At the end of the serving, they typically have about 5 left over. The cast galley, on another level, operates around the clock and serves a wide variety of foods from many different countries to satisfy the needs of the crew. I presume this is where the indian food came from that the head server ordered for us that night.

Galley tour, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

After the galley tour, we had a martini tasting. This went much better than the rum tasting, although the introduction for it made Danny nervous about it - it was another sheet of paper that had the drinks listed, and only 1 was an actual martini, and a vodka one at that (instead of gin, which is what makes a true martini). The other three drinks were a Washington Apple (made with Crown Royal instead of the expected vodka), Ivory Keys (a coconut, melon, and pineapple drink), and Chocolate Wrap (a chocolate and vanilla martini). All 3 tasted good, and the Washington Apple was the biggest surprise. Additionally, we discussed shaken vs. stirred martinis: a shaken one will be colder, initially cloudy, and weaker because it will contain more water. Additionally, shaking a gin martini will cause the flavor of the gin to become very strong, which could be good or bad, depending on your taste, but is called "bruising" the gin. So the explanation for the James Bond request is that he wanted to drink, but would become slightly less intoxicated with a shaken martini. Either that, or he liked it very cold or with a strong flavor.

Tonight's entertainment was the biggest show yet, one which has won awards for the best cruise ship show. It harvests all the best musical numbers from various Disney movies, and has a staggering amount of costumes. Very impressive and a lot of fun.

Arabian scene, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Rooftop scene, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Big finale, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Then it was back to packing, since we had to finish and set our things out before dinner. Our final dinner was at Lumiere's, and we took the camera to get some photos of our table, and the other people we'd gotten to know. In some ways, the closed environment of a cruise ship reminds me of a college dorm. One of the reasons we'd decided on the cruise was to do something that was more social, so we could meet some people for an extended period of time, and we accomplished that.

For dinner, together we had lamb sirloin, lentil filo pies, lobster bisque, chicken stay, and tuna sashimi. Dessert was chocolate decadence and a baked Alaska that was previewed was a musical march by the waiters, complete with fire.

Since tonight was the last night, we wanted to shut down Rockin' Bar D with a bang. Danny requested a hula hoop from one of the cast members, which they were able to find in one of the children's areas, and I brought my poi (not the flaming ones, the practice ones with the long tails). When the night got late and the dance floor was empty, we brought out the toys and made ourselves the object of a bunch of photos. Both of us had to be careful not to hit the dance floor lights, since the ceiling was low. Although I don't have another cruise to compare it to, I suspect that a Disney cruise is more lighthearted and fun loving than others. Not just the way the cast and crew behave, but how the children and adult guests feel and act too.
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Cruise Day 10: Villefranche

At the beginning of the cruise, when we were planning what to do and when, we didn't have any good ideas for the last port stop in Villefranche, on the southern coast of France between Nice and Monaco. We knew the port would be tendered, so that's a hassle, and looking at the official cruise excursions didn't give us any ideas (visit a fancy car museum/collection in Monte Carlo, taste wine and cheese in Nice, etc.) so we decided it would be played "by ear." This gave us the option of staying on the ship if we were tired, or if the on-board activities were more fun than we were expecting. We elected to take this option, and started off a beautiful day in the bay of Villefranche with a late brunch at the Topsider Buffet, which was featuring a special menu: A Taste of Provence.

May 24, 2010

At the beginning of the cruise, when we were planning what to do and when, we didn't have any good ideas for the last port stop in Villefranche, on the southern coast of France between Nice and Monaco. We knew the port would be tendered, so that's a hassle, and looking at the official cruise excursions didn't give us any ideas (visit a fancy car museum/collection in Monte Carlo, taste wine and cheese in Nice, etc.) so we decided it would be played "by ear." This gave us the option of staying on the ship if we were tired, or if the on-board activities were more fun than we were expecting. We elected to take this option, and started off a beautiful day in the bay of Villefranche with a late brunch at the Topsider Buffet, which was featuring a special menu: A Taste of Provence.

Villefrance-sur-Mer, from Cruise 2010 - Ports

I suppose we felt like we had stumbled on some well-kept secret, that the buffet has better food on the port days, but this was the first day we didn't have anything particular planned so we could have the opportunity to find this out. Anyhow, we enjoyed some aubergine salad, asparagus in truffle jus, Spanish-style pinxtos (little bruchettas) with fresh mozzarella and tomato, a fair attempt at a coq au vin, and sliced baguette to pair with our French cheeses with Corsican confiture du chataigne, and the muscato from La Spezia. Oh, what a splendid banquet, and the clear blue sky, and the steep hills of Villefranche just across the water. It was an awesome brunch.

Tapas at the lunch buffet, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Banquet on deck, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Though we woke late, I still managed to visit the gym and rainforest room at the spa before breakfast, and I was feeling very refreshed, with the good workout, relaxing steam and lush mid-morning feast. Ryan's been wanting to play shuffleboard on the ship, I think since we started considering the cruise, so we went and played a couple games of that and then spent more time exploring the ship. (There's a pool we can see but can't figure out how to get to. Our best deduction was that it was reserved for some top-end stateroom suites, but even then we couldn't find the logical door. Several times when we thought we were on the right track, we were blocked by a Staff Only door. Later someone confirmed that it's a staff pool, which I suppose makes more sense.)

Shuffleboard, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Now we're tired, so we headed to our room for a little reading, but then decided what we needed was a good beer. We'd seen some Murphy's Stout on tap at several of the bars, so at 4:00 (a perfectly respectable drinking hour, I'd say, especially for an afternoon beer), we went in search of our Stouts. The first bar we tried was closed and there was nothing going on there. We wandered to another bar and found it closed, too, but then we ran into Lola (a girl I met earlier on the ship when I was rescuing a drowning dragonfly) and she had just begun a game of Wheel of Fortune as a pass-time. We joined her team and ended up winning the game. One of the other teams was an older couple who had done two back-to-back cruises aboard the Magic and had now been at sea nearly 20 days! And they'd played Wheel of Fortune on the ship before, and despite having seen several of the questions in earlier games, they still managed to get a final score of zero. Sigh. Our main competition was the third team, which gave us a good run for our (fake) money. We had just reversed the lead for the third or fourth time when the round ended with us in first place. The woman running the game decided that some prizes were in order, so she returned with little plastic balls of lip balm for each contestant. Mine was pineapple scented.

Promenade lounge, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Then we went to the last bar where we hoped to find our beers, and we did find them there, and tried to play a trivia game with Lola on our team again, but we didn't do as well. But the beer was good.

Tonight's entertainment was a crew talent show, which was fun, but again not as spectacular as the big production shows. We heard some amazing vocals from several cast members, but then there were also a couple hokey numbers that could have been skipped. So it goes. It was a shorter show that started late, so we came dressed for dinner already, which for us tonight will be at the exclusive restaurant (requiring reservations), Palo's.

Oh, what we ate: four cheese pizza to start with (shared between us), with gorgonzola and soft white cheeses on a delectably crisp crust; my grilled shrimp salad which was terrific, though Ryan's calamari wasn't as spectacular as the reviews from other people predicted. I had room for a marché salad before the main course. For mains, Ryan had lamb, which was delicious, and I dared a halibut with ginger-orange sauce, but shouldn't have (the sauce was too sweet and not nearly bold enough for me, and I found the fish soft and weak instead of robust; sigh, again). We ordered the obligatory chocolate soufflé for dessert, broken with a spoon and filled with dark chocolate sauce; and shared a tiramisu, too, with a shot of espresso poured across the top. We drank a bottle of wine with the meal and staggered out happy.

Dressed up for Palo, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Yummy lamb at Palo, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

We made a quick change at the room before heading off to Rockin' Bar D again for socializing and dancing and had another good night that ran long past bedtime. Lola and her friends were there, and I think Evan and his gang, too. Michelle may have joined us, and several of our Table 12 mates. This is how the last several evenings were, so on any night this may be true. We talked and danced and stopped for a breath when the music went to hip hop, and then requested new songs and got up and danced again. By the end, DJ Matt was tossing in our choices without waiting for us to pester him, and we had so much fun I sweated in all my shirts and never got more than 5 hours of sleep before we had to get up and do it all over again.
Tomorrow's our last full day, a sea day, and then we'll be back in Barcelona for disembarkation. Wah.

Sunset, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

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