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.