Part 3
We headed to the Atrium to watch the carolers and then we stayed for the tree lighting ceremony.
We were laughing at these people in the front row, sitting down eating chicken tenders.
Then we immediately were very jealous of them because we were all very hungry at this point.
The lights made it look quite blueish/purple but to the naked eye, it wasn't.
Pluto, Goofy, Mickey and the other one made an appearance.
Goofy ended up losing his hat at one point but he did a great job dealing with it.
And then it was time to light up the tree!
Santa and Mrs. Clause also made an appearance.
The stores were now open so we headed over there to check it out. Not sure who is designing the new merch but they should be fired.
Look at the hoodies, the "2" and the "4" can only be seen if you stretch your arms out in the air.
We were all really hungry now so I suggested we head down to O'Gill's to see if they were offering any snacks yet. They were indeed, however, we all agreed that we're pretty sure this food was all just leftovers from the day before.
It was now time for our first trivia! We are trivia lovers and most of our daily activities on a
Disney cruise consist of trivia.
I have to say though that this cruise was very weird when it came to trivia. Usually there's several trivias per day and often they would have the same trivia (let's say Disney Tunes Trivia) almost daily or at least a few times over the course of the cruise and they would just change up the questions. This was not the case.
On this particular cruise, we noticed there was an extreme lack of trivia. There was no Lion King trivia, no Aladdin trivia, no Mickey Mouse trivia (among others that I can't think of right now) and on our Cozumel day, there was only ONE trivia from 8-5pm and it was super early in the morning! You might be thinking that they offer less activities on a port day but there was 3 or 4 trivia events on our Progreso day during that same time frame, so had we done our excursion, we would have missed them all!
This was my first time experiencing the new(ish) KnowsMore Trivia version, which I really loved because they put all of the questions on the video screens, which was very helpful when it came to CM's who had a thick accent or those of us who are hard of hearing.
This first one was Disney Movie Quotes trivia and we came in second. This would be a familiar scene over the course of this cruise.
Kira went to the Vibe, so it was just the five of us.
After trivia, it was time for our late dinner at Animator's Palate. We had waitlisted for main dining because I loathe later dinners but it never came through, which is common on these packed Christmas cruises.
While our group waited in the ridiculous line for AP, I took a pit stop in the restroom just outside of the restaurant. I thought it was a nice touch that they offered free feminine products. Way to go, Disney.
Jen and I had both called
DCL before we left home to request Cristiano, the server that we had on the Magic last October on our back-to-back cruises out of New York. When we boarded the ship, after we ate, Jen and I had headed down to Soul Cat Lounge to double check that our request was granted and indeed, it was.
Jen and family had already sat down and my family were on there way to the table and as I was bringing up the rear, I felt someone come up behind me and gently put their arms around my shoulders and I knew it was Cris! As he sweetly guided me to the table, I yelled out "Jen, look who I found!"
He was happy to see us and we were thrilled to see him. Not only is he good at what he does, he has a great sense of humour and we were so glad he would be our server this cruise.
Not the best photo of him but the only one I got this night.
Rob and I were laughing about how far away we were from each other.
It may seem strange to some people but Rob and I are very affectionate with each other and always sit next to each other, even after 27 years together. So it feels very foreign when we are not next to each other.
I tried to take photos of all of our food this cruise. I think I did a pretty good job most of the time but Rob was so far away from me, so I asked him to take photos when I couldn't reach. We both started out great but there were times where I was like...meh, whatever!
I try to take all of the food photos because it is such a hassle when I am editing them to get them all in order when they are not all on my phone.
And sometimes I would get Jen, Claire or Skip's food and I don't have the patience to label everything so just enjoy what I give you, okay?
Dinner was great, service was great, food was delicious but most nights I skipped dessert in order to get some pool time in. We weren't done with dinner most nights until 10pm and the Quiet Cove pool closes promptly at 11pm so I had to make a decision, dessert or pool and pool will always win!
I felt bad as most nights I didn't get the chance to say thanks and goodnight to Cris but he eventually figured out why I suddenly disappeared just before 10pm and understood my quick and sudden exits.
Back to the room to change into my swimsuit! Kira went directly from dinner to Vibe and Rob would always follow me to the pool once he was done his dessert and had grabbed his jacket and/or book from the room.
As usual, the pool was relatively quiet most nights but the hot tubs were hopping every single night!
This evening, both Jen and Skip joined me. Skip even joined me in the pool, which was nice and warm that night.
Rob eventually joined me poolside and read his book. He also popped into Cove Cafe to take a photo of the goodies they offered. Same stuff as usual and I am sad to say I never even step foot in here to enjoy my caramel tart!
Guess I will have to go on another cruise.
Stay tuned for our first sea day.