Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:29 pm
Day 19 – 11 September 2015 (At Sea)
Here we are still out at sea and enjoying every minute of it! A glorious sunny morning greeted us and the temperature was already 24 by 7am, so we were definitely moving into warmer tropical weather at last. We had noticed it getting warmer each day, but it was especially noticeable this morning. We had ordered a room service breakfast for 8:30am before venturing out to Shutters to have a look at our photo collection.
At 10:30am, we went to the Walt Disney Theatre to join a behind the scenes look at the venue. It was a great tour taking us firstly into the control booth, then on to the audio booth, then down to the stage to see how the lighting, smoke and pyro worked. Next up, we went on stage to ride on the risers that take performers up and down off the stage during the shows. We then went backstage to look at the sets and visited with the costumer, before going further backstage to see the props department. After props, we met with the stage manager before being lead out the back door and into Diversions. It was a terrific tour and well worth doing if you happen to be on board a Disney ship.
After the tour, we headed up on deck to grab some lunch and watch the Tiharti dancers. It was such a nice day outside – sunshine, a breeze across the deck, Hawaiian music in the background. Della suggested we just book the return cruise onboard and keep sailing!
After lunch, we went to the Buena Vista Theatre to listen to Bob Zalk – an Imagineer who has worked on many projects including the cruise ships. Bob has been making presentations all week but this was the first we’d made it to. He was talking today about the cruise ships themselves and showed a lot of concept art from DCL before they settled on the current classic look. It was really interesting and tomorrow he is running a Q and A session with raffle prizes (I’ll be there!).
Following the Imagineering talk, we lined up again for Pirate Mickey, Captain Hook, Mr Smee and Pirate Minnie. It is Pirate Night tonight including the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party and fireworks display. After the characters, we went back to the room to get ready for the evening before heading to the Walt Disney Theatre for tonight’s variety act. When we got to our room, we found a plate of chocolate coated strawberries on our table from our friend Victoria in Guest Services! Tonight the variety act was Michael Harrison again with his ventriloquist act – and it was totally different from the adult night earlier in the week but just as funny.
After the show, we headed down to Wavebands for the 1990’s music trivia where we teamed up again with James and Michelle from North Carolina. We didn’t win tonight, but came second by just 1 point but we were beaten by the team we beat the previous evening, so all is fair in the end!
Dinner was next in Triton’s and tonight was the Pirate Menu. I had the Jack Sparrow spare ribs which were delicious. After dinner of course was the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. We got there just as it began and found a spot on deck 10 looking down on the dance floor. We prefer the high point as we want to watch the fireworks. The show was the same as the when we were on the Fantasy, including Mickey ziplining in to save the day! The fireworks were excellent and I should make mention of the amazing costumes people were wearing – there were all sorts of pirates and wenches on board. We hit the pool deck dance floor for about an hour after the fireworks before heading to bed. Tomorrow is our last at sea day of the cruise!
Keith
Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015