Fjords and Kilts and Hot Springs, Day 10 -- At Sea

Day 10 -- At Sea Overcast, High 45

We had very rough seas overnight. I got up early as usual and worked out, but I didn't feel great. I don't usually feel motion sickness, but I think that's what was bothering me. I skipped breakfast, because we were scheduled to have brunch at Palo. Instead, I took my book into Cove Cafe on Deck 9 because it was too cold to sit on deck.

Kathryn went to another session of "Anyone Can Cook", which was promoted as a "Battle of the Chefs". But the chefs were Natalie, our Cruise Director, and her assistant. They didn't actually even really cook. They each had a chef to "assist" them and they just acted goofy while the chefs cooked. Kath said it was kind of unorganized. They didn't tell the audience what ingredients they had to use or even what they were cooking. But it wasn't supposed to be a serious demonstration. Just goofy and a chance for all of them to be funny on-stage.

There was also a late morning lecture on the history of Kirkwall, which I really would have liked to attend, but we were getting ready for brunch.

We had a noon seating, but waited maybe 10 minutes just to be greeted, and then had another wait before our "tour" of the buffet. For those of you who haven't had the chance to enjoy Palo brunch, it has two parts. The first part is a buffet and the second part is a menu. The buffet portion was exactly the way I remembered it: breads on one side; desserts on the other; cheeses, shrimp, crab legs, and meats in the middle.

From the menu, we ordered the Gorgonzola with grape pizza, which had green grapes for the first time. (Every time I've gotten this in the past, it's had red grapes on it.) It was delicious, as always. You might think it's an odd combination, but I highly suggest you try it. It's always very good. I ordered the veal with mushroom sauce, which sadly was terrible. It was so over-cooked that it was practically shoe-leather. I hate to say it, but it was just awful. Molly ordered the same thing and hers was better than mine: sliced thinner and not as over-cooked. But I didn't even bother to try to eat mine. I hate to say things like this on a Disney cruise, but it's hard to sugar-coat that dish. Not good. Kathryn ordered the oysters with hollandaise sauce and loved it. I ordered the chicken parmesan to replace my veal and it was very good, and much better than the last time I ordered it on the Fantasy.

The menu also always has egg options, since it's brunch, but none of us ordered them this time. The desserts were really nice. I had a chocolate-dipped strawberry and a walnut cake that was delicious!

Our pizza -- always delicious:

My terrible veal:

Kathryn's oysters:

The chicken parm:

Dessert portion of the buffet:

This odd mask decorated part of the buffet:

Right after lunch, we had to go through British customs. That's right, we had to report to British customs officials with all the members of our traveling party while still at sea. Disney had brought them aboard in Akureyri and we cleared customs in the Walt Disney Theater. We also received our passports back at this point, after they'd been stamped by the British agents.

Unfortunately, I felt steadily worse throughout the afternoon. I took a nap after brunch and decided to skip dinner, I have no information to share about our dinner at sea that night. But I didn't want to miss the evening's show, so I rested up for a few hours in the afternoon. The reason I didn't want to miss the show is that it was "Walt Disney: the Dream Goes On", which I'd seen and loved during our Northern Capitals cruise in 2010. This show uses stage action plus video clips to dramatize certain portions of Walt's life, interspersed with Disney songs performed by the cast. They used "No Strings on Me", "Step in Time", "Walking Right Down the Middle of Main St. USA", and "I Wanna Be Like You", among others, including a couple original songs written just for this show. I really like this show a lot. The song choices are great because there aren't a lot of Mary Poppins songs in DCL shows (although they do a HUGE Mary Poppins segment in Disney's "Believe" on the Dream and Fantasy) and I just have a soft spot for "Main St., USA". It's corny, but I love seeing this performed in the Magic Kingdom and to have it included in this show is special to me.

After the show, I was definitely feeling better, but didn't want to push it. So it was a quiet night of hanging out in a lounge, then back to the room to watch Emperor's New Groove.

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