Oh the Places We Go, The People We See ...Dream Trip Report

[jenseib]

I will admit we weren’t rushing back to the ship. The island was so beautiful and we soaked up the views.

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But all good things must come to an end so we headed back to the ship.

 

 

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We got showered and ready for the night. It was Pirate night, so more fun to come. We did take a look out on the verandah to get a few last pictures and watch us sail away.

Here are a few of Geoff’s pictures. There are still people on the island in them, so it was close to the end of the day.

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It was finally time to set sail. We watched as we pulled out. Last time the Captain played all the different horns as we left, this time he only played the one. I did get it on video, but it’s so bad that when I watched it I felt REALLY sick and the wind was loud and you can barely hear it anyways.

I did take this video as we left and it’s not so bad.

[jenseib]

I'll be heading off this afternoon for our next adventure. When I return I'll be working on the pirate night and the fun surprise we had! ;)

[jenseib]

We made it home yesterday. We had a good time. The trip for 4 turned into a trip for 5. Dad decided he wanted to come along last minute and drove about 11 hours each way. He had a good time though.

I still like Disney better, but it was nice to go here and see some new things.

I didn't take near as many pictures as I usually take, but still quite a few.

Now to get back to reality and the life of cleaning and cooking. Yuck!

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Yes we are all feeling the post DCL cruise blues...:(

[jenseib]

Yes we are all feeling the post DCL cruise blues...:(

 

I know the feeling

[jenseib]

It was now time for Pirate night!!!!

I was running a bit late. Turning myself into a pirate took a bit longer than I had planned. Well actually I didn’t get myself started early enough and played around. And my hair was not drying fast from the shower, so I gave up. It was going in a ponytail anyways and then a hat…Oh you know how good that looked by the end of the night!

I was excited to see who dressed up tonight or how much they did. I knew Gail’s family would be dressing up and that Katie had brought along a few things like eye patches and bandanas. Some were resisting though. Aunt Mary and Geoff said there was no way they would dress up. We kind of started giving Geoff a hard time about it in the months prior to the cruise. Just joking of course, but Katie would tell him he had no worries as she had stuff for him, etc. All in good fun.

So Claire and I rushed down to Animators Palate for dinner. We weren’t the last to arrive, so all was good.

It was nice to see that most of us did have at least a little touch of the pirate look to us. Dad went wild with the bandana around his neck.

Geoff and Mary still had not arrived, but it wasn’t unusual for someone in our family to be late. We dug into the bread while we looked the menus over.

[jenseib]

Rob giving me his pirate look.

 

 

Aunt Mary finally arrived and let us know the Geoff had had too much sun on the island today and just was not feeling well. Oh man. I felt bad, because he seemed to have such a good time today too and I really didn’t want him to feel sick. She did say that he may try to make it by dessert after a little rest. Ok, well nothing we can do about it, but I was hoping this would be cured with a little rest and wouldn’t spoil the rest of the trip for him.

 

 

We made our orders and chatted with each other. All of a sudden we noticed some commotion at the end of our table. I noticed Aunt Mary had her iPad out and was taking pictures with it. That was unusual, because she doesn’t take many pictures, and usually Geoff does with his camera. I guess since he was ill, she was taking some. But what really stunned me was that she was taking pictures of a pirate at the end of our table. I glanced at him and I wasn’t sure if he was a Cast Member or just some guy dressed up really well and talking to people. It still seemed odd that Aunt Mary would take his picture. And then I heard the whispers …..I think that’s Geoff. What? Geoff is sick!

 

Nope, Geoff was dressing up as a pirate and made a Grand Entrance!

 

 

See, even in this picture, Claire hasn’t realized its Geoff.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

We were in total shock. I couldn’t believe he dressed up and not only dressed up, but went all out!

Abby wanted to know who the heck that creepy pirate was.

It took her a while to realize it was Geoff and warm up to him.

I just have to add that Aunt Mary and Geoff (I never call him Uncle Geoff, but all of our kids do, because they didn’t even get married till 1987, and I was out of high school at that point and had known him for 10 years already), are the best Aunt and Uncle EVER! They do so much for our kids, over and above what needs to be done by any Aunt and Uncle. They don’t have kids, nor did they want any of their own, but they treat our kids as if they are their own.

And Geoff is just like a playmate. He does so many fun things with the kids that I think they forget sometimes that he is an adult. LOL

We then heard the story about how Alexis kept going in Aunt Mary and Geoff’s room before dinner. They had the divider curtain up and Geoff was getting ready on the other side. Alexis wanted to see him, but Aunt Mary told her he was sick. Well that didn’t matter, she still wanted to see him, so Aunt Mary told her he was in his undies. You know that will make a kid run away fast. Nope, it wasn’t working. She still wanted to check on him. So Geoff popped his head out and told her he felt awful. Gail said Alexis came back to the room telling her that Geoff was really sick and even had dark circles under his eyes. LOL Well he had started putting his pirate makeup on and that’s what she saw.

Geoff had gotten a late start at dressing, so that was why he was late for dinner.

So after the shock, appetizers were being served and we all dug in.

I had the Pirates Golden "Pot Stickers" ~Oriental Pork "Dumplings" deep fried and served with a Tamarind-Ginger soy sauce and Pickled Vegetables.

And I believe this was Claire’s soup, but not sure what it was.

I don’t know who had this, but I took a picture.

[jenseib]

They had specialty cups this evening and we got one for each of the girls.

Dad had The Buccaneer’s Sun Ripened Pineapple~ Fresh Island Pineapple with a Coconut covered Banana and Orange Glaze. This was pretty “wild” for him, but I think he enjoyed the pineapple.

A few pictures of our pirates.

[jenseib]

 

 

I guess Luke was getting fussy, so Thad left with him. Let’s just say their idea of fussy isn’t bad at all. LOL! He was so quiet, I never even heard him, but Katie said for him this was very fussy.

 

 

We also had a photographer come around and take a few pictures.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Rob makes a good pirate.

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The second round of appetizers arrived.

 

This time I got the Caribbean-style Conch Chowder with sherry, sweet peppers, onions, tomatoes, thyme, and garnished with diced potatoes and crispy bacon bits.

 

 

I had enjoyed both my appetizers.

 

Dad got the Mr Smee’s Bib Lettuce Salad With Bibb Lettuce, Baby Greens, Chicory, Tomatoes, Toasted Pine Nuts, and Raspberry Vinaigrette.

 

 

Claire’s main course arrived then as well. You guessed it. Chicken strips.

 

[jenseib]

Our main dishes arrived next. I am not a big fan of the pirate menu for the most part. I did enjoy everything I had, but I felt that the options that I would like were limited, which makes me get the same thing every time now that I have found things I like. That being said, one of my favorite dishes now on the whole cruise is the Treasure-of-the-Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops served on strings of pasta and fresh creamy tomato sauce. I discovered this on the Magic, which was my first pirate night menu I have had on DCL. (The 3 night cruises, which I took last on the Dream does not offer a pirate menu). This dish is just really good and I could go for a helping of it right now.

[jenseib]

I am pretty sure Gail got this dish.

Jack Sparrow’s Barbecue Marinated Beef Short Ribs Rubbed beef short ribs with tamarind-barbecue sauce served with onion red bliss mashed potatoes and plantain chip.

 

 

The meal was delicious. We also enjoyed the changing pirate scenes.

 

 

I think Rob is the one who discovered that the pictures kept changing. I thought that was a nice touch here.

 

The desserts offered on this menu just don’t do much for me. I was so stuffed from eating so much (and I had vowed tonight I would try to eat lighter…..yeah right) that I thought I would skip dessert. Abby was getting tired of being there and I offered to take her for a walk so Gail and Rob could enjoy the dinner. Rob quickly said he would take her. I told him it would be no problem as I was skipping dessert, but I knew he didn’t want to burden anyone. But I seriously didn’t mind. He did leave with Abby though and I ended up ordering a Mickey Bar. After all it’s just ice cream and it will slide right into all the holes left in my stomach ….right?

 

 

Benjamin also came over and did a trick for the kids.

 

 

Alexis was always trying to figure out how he did what he did and she would try it over and over and see if she could get it. I did get this one figured out and I shared the secret with Claire.

 

 

Claire also made the same choice as I and went with the Mickey bar.

 

[jenseib]

We enjoyed the meal and waited for the drink bills to come once again ……and once again they just didn’t appear.

We basically gave up because we had a pirate party to attend to.

[jenseib]

While we were having dessert, Rob took Abby for a few pictures. Aren’t they so cute?

[jenseib]

A side note..... See Abby's cute pirate outfit? It matches her parents ...but was not bought with theirs. They actually bought theirs several years ago for a halloween party. Abby's dress is from Claire. I had bought this about 5 years ago anticipating my 40th b-day. I wanted to sail on the Wonder that year and bought the dress for pirate night for Claire. Well Skip chickened out and we never did sail the wonder and ended up going to WDW that year. And it was still a fabulous trip. Claire wore the dress for Halloween though and made an excellent pirate. I am glad the dress finally has made it to a Disney ship for a pirate party!

[jenseib]

We left the dining room and some of us split up. I believe Geoff and Aunt Mary went off to their room and I think Gail went off to find Rob and Abby.

Some pictures Geoff took of their rooms.

Most of the rest of us headed to the pirate show that is shown between dining times. We were running a bit late, but not too bad.

[jenseib]

We could not see the stage from where we were, so we watched it on the screen.

A couple of pirates getting their groove on.

We had learned the ways of being a pirate. Soon Captain Hook’s men starting invading our ship.

But we know the ways of the pirates and we were going to win the challenge he had set forth.

[jenseib]

We won our ship back and had such a fun time doing so.

Claire and I needed a few pirate pictures together.

We then headed back to Geoff and Aunt Mary’s room to find the rest of them.

Geoff was still dressed, which was good, as we wanted to go get some pictures taken all together.

[jenseib]

Abby was obsessed with the parrot.

 

 

Rob had changed to shorts and tee and Gail made him get dressed back up again.

 

 

A look at the bunk beds in their room.

 

 

We all then headed off to the atrium for pictures.