Cruise Day 16: Day at Sea

Well...day 16 of our cruise had arrived and began a string of sea days for us.  I should note that the next several posts, for the sea days, will likely be shorter and have fewer images because these days at sea are much more laid back...but that doesn't mean we're not having a great time!!!   In fact, I mentioned in our last post that we'd seen land for the last time in several days....and we couldn't be happier!!  This was the first of 5 consecutive sea days for us...and it was these sea days we'd been looking forward to for the past 2 years.  We booked this amazing vacation back in the fall of 2008----and we did so because we'd already done a TransAtlantic cruise back in 2007 and with the fond memory of the amazing and relaxing days at sea from that trip still fresh in our minds....so while we had thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of our trip up until this point...we also knew that these days at sea would be amazing.

It's worth noting that the last time we sailed across the Atlantic, we did so starting in Florida and ending in Barcelona....and doing the journey that way, we lost an hour of sleep every night for 6 nights of the trip because we had to move our clocks forward to adjust to the new time zones.  An hour may not sound like much...but believe me...IT SUCKS!!!  So doing the cruise in this direction this time would allow us to actually GAIN 6 hours back by turning our clocks BACK each sea night----HALLELUJAH!!!

So these days at sea promised to be even MORE restful than last time...especially if the weather held up for us.....

Which, thankfully, it absolutely did!  Here is a picture of what we woke up to on our first sea day crossing the Atlantic ocean:

Can you imagine anything more amazing or beautiful?!  

We decided to start the day off in the most relaxing way possible:  The RainForest Room.  For those of you who have never sailed on a Disney ship before, there is a wonderful spa on board that offers massages and other spa services...but they also have a room called the rainforest room that combines soothing sounds and music with an assortment of unique showers, steam rooms, saunas, heated tile lounge seats, aromatherapy, etc.  It's a wonderful, relaxing retreat onboard----but on busy port days you don't really have enough time to enjoy it AND experience the ship...so Jason and I rarely indulge.  On this trip, however, we knew we'd have all these sea days so we decided to buy a couples' 7-day pass to the rainforest and to start our day there.  MMMMMMMMM-----so wonderful and a lovely start to the day!!  (Obviously, it wouldn't be appropriate to take a camera into this room...but I'm including a stock photo from the internet so people can get a sense of it

After we left the spa, we grabbed some breakfast and got cleaned up for our day.  The first activity of the day was an onboard preview screening of a new ABC television show called "No Ordinary Family" (the premise of the show being that a dysfunctional family get in a chance plane accident and, as a result, all end up with super powers----so it's a bit like a live action "Incredibles").  They screened the pilot episode on the ship for adults 18+ and then we filled out a survey about the show and about ABC programming...so it was kind of like being a TV focus group.  It was fun and the show was cute at least....I imagine that we'll give it a chance and watch a few episodes (supposed to premier on television in the states in late September, I believe).

Following that we went up pool-side and played one of our favorite games, Bananagrams, with Kimberly.  it was great fun and a great way to kill some time before we needed to get back to the cabin to change into clothes for "high tea" at Palo (the adults only "fancy" restaurant onboard).  Palo serves dinner nightly but on sea days also offers brunch (we've done before and it's very seafood heavy so we weren't interested in it again) and high tea (light sandwiches and desserts and tea).  Trisha and Ben had suggested that tea was a neat experience and we should try it...so we did....and we liked it.  it felt very cosmopolitan (or at least European) to take high tea in the late afternoon!  Here are a few pictures:

We also took a number of character photos during the day.  We're still involved in "PhotoQuest' against Kimberly and Johanna...although we're losing miserably!! LOL  Kimberly is just TOO GOOD at getting photographs....we've definitely resolved ourselves to coming in a distant second to her....but we're getting great pictures out of the process....and, like I said before, it's a total hoot to hang out with her in lines for photos all the time! :)  Here are some of the photos we took this day:

Then it was time to get ready for dinner and to head to the show.  The show this evening was one I have never seen before since it is new to the ship this year.  It is called "Villains Tonight"----and it's a musical stage show that features many of the villains from Disney animated films like Cruella DeVille (101 Dalmations), Hades, Pain & Panic (Hercules), Scar (Lion King), Jafar (Aladdin), Yzma & Krunk (The Emperor's New Groove) and Ursula (The Little Mermaid).  This show replaced one of my favorite Disney Cruise Line shows, "The Golden Mickeys."  Although the new show has some really great moments (the Scar number, "Be Prepared," is an absolute highlight and the costumes and staging of the show are really great), I have to admit that I miss "The Golden Mickeys"-----and I'll leave it at that! *wink*

One fun addition in connection to the villains show, however, is a big masquerade ball in the atrium of the ship.  They provide opportunities to make your own masks on the ship during the day for the ball...but being the Disney lunatics that we are, Jason and I knew about the ball so we came prepared!  So this evening we not only had villain ties:

...we also had fancy masquerade masks to show off...

...the masks were a big hit and we were even recruited to be a part of the "masquerade fashion show" emceed by Cruella herself and we got to sashay my way down the main lobby stairs of the ship in front of everyone-----the cast members told me to go last in line and to "really work it" and to "camp it up"....and so you know what? I did!! LOL  Johanna took a video of it which still has us all laughing and people were making remarks about it for a couple days afterwards...so if nothing else I guess I made a lasting impression! LOL

Following dinner and the ball we went back to the Lab (kid's club area) where they were doing a "lava flow" project with "Dr. Schnitzel" again----this amounted to building volcanoes out of baking soda and vinegar and watching them explode and make a huge mess....but it was good messy fun!

(Just a note about the one picture....those are our other table-mates, Jim & Michelle, who took the lead on creating our landscape and little people out of foam to get destroyed by baking soda lava! LOL)

That event went until late in the evening and although we had no reason to get up the next day (another sea day), we were tired...so we went back to our room and hit the hay!!  Here is the towel animal that awaited our return.....