Thursday, July 06, 2006

Disney Cruise, 2006 (continued)

As the ship slowly pulled out of Port Canaveral, we stood on deck ten looking forward. Pelicans were the dominant animal species at the mouth of the harbor. We watched them dive for fish, glide effortlessly a few feet above the surface, and congregate in large numbers on the fringes of the man-made and natural worlds.

Our stateroom on deck six, aft was spacious and accommodating. It had a bed with night tables and lamps, a couch, table, ample storage space and closet space, a TV, a safe, a refrigerator and several mirrors. The bathroom was larger than I had expected. There was a small step up to get into the bathroom, and I stubbed my toes a few times before I was finally conditioned to bring my foot up higher when entering. The bathtub was nicely sized, considering that I had expected there only to be a shower stall. It was actually larger than the bathing facilities at the hotel that I stayed at for Jeremy's wedding. The room was nicely decorated as well, with nautical Disney themed bedspread, lamps that looked like maps, drapes between the bed area and the couch area, a propeller clock, and (I assume reproduction) concept art for the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland, drawn by Mark Davis circa 1965.

Original Artwork by Marc Davis, 1965
Original Artwork by Marc Davis, 1965

An interested question formed in my head while exploring the room. The Gideons bible, in every hotel room that I have ever known, always says on the cover that it was placed by the Gideons. I like to think that this means the Gideons have literally stayed in every hotel room or at least personally visited each room to place the bible. And so I wondered - "Do the Gideons take cruises?" Surely enough, they do.

A question I posed.

We got dressed up and went to see Hercules at one of the theaters. It was a stage shoe based on the movie (that I have never seen). It was funny and they often broke the fourth wall, but it felt rushed.

That evening, we were scheduled to eat dinner at Parrot Cay. There are three restaurants on the ship and you are automatically scheduled to eat in a certain place at a certain time. Your table number remains the same from place to place and you have the same wait-staff (the hardest working of which is the assistant waiter, in my opinion). There are other dinning options. You can go to one of the quick service places on deck nine for pizza, hot dogs and the like. You can also go the the buffet or get room service. On our first night at sea, we choose another option, which was to go to the fourth restaurant onboard, Palos. Palos is a fancy (I wore my suit) Italian restaurant. You have to make reservations and no children are allowed. It happens to be the best food on the ship. Or the best food I have eaten all year for that matter. Unfortunately, they only had the same run-of-the-mill beers that they have everywhere on the ship, but that's okay, because the food was amazing. After some this and that, it was time for the main course. I order filet mignon, and it was the best piece of red meat I have ever eaten. It must have been some prize-winning livestock, and it was perfectly cooked. It was also quite large for filet mignon, I couldn't even finish it, which seemed like a crime at the time and still does now. When it came time for dessert, we ordered a number of things. The chocolate soufflé was highly praised by everyone in sight, but it didn't live up to the hype. I ordered tiramisu, which completely encase in chocolate and kind of hard to eat. At this point, we were so stuffed that dessert might not have made the impression that it would have otherwise.

Exhausted and overly full, we went to bed early.

More to come later.

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