Molly Goes North: Part 4 (First Sea Day)

(Previously: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Tuesday, August 22

It was our first morning on board, and our first full day at sea. Before the cruise, I'd signed us up to attend the Character Breakfast this morning. This event is only offered a few times on these cruises. On this sailing, you could do it day 2, 3, or 6. Day 6 was already full, day 3 we'd be doing Palo brunch, and so... day 2 for the win!

The CB was in Animator's Palate. We were seated at a large table, and soon joined by a family of 6. Waiters came by with trays of pastries, took drink orders, and brought us menus. The menu had all the usual breakfast items -- pancakes, waffles, eggs, toast, etc. I ordered an omelet and toast, and my omelet came with hash browns.

 They also made napkin hats for everyone.

I got a bow...

Of course, the main reason most people probably go to the CB is to meet Mickey & friends, who come around and take photos with you. It's actually a super convenient way to get characters' pics. You don't even have to stand in line! Plus, food! Clearly, a great concept.

After breakfast, Heather and I started on the scavenger hunt, Anna's Chocolate Chase. A sheet of clues had been left in our stateroom the night before. We had to figure out where on the ship the picture clues were, find them, and write down what the picture was at each location. Once completed, we could leave the paper in our stateroom for our hostess, and she would (we hoped!) bring us chocolate.

Anything for chocolate!

Speaking of goodies, this was the day we received most of our FE gifts. It seemed like every time we checked our FE, there was something new in the pockets!

Random mop in the corner, there.

At 10 am, I went to the first of several presentations put on by a naturalist/Alaska expert. Although I really enjoyed hearing his talk, and would go to another one later in the week, the darkened theater and the man's voice brought me thisclose to sleepytime. Maybe a cup of coffee wouldn't be a bad idea for these presentations.

Heather and I met up again after this, and went to Cabanas, catching the end of "breakfast" and the beginning of official "lunch." 

Today was Taco Tuesday (or Mexican food day), but all I cared about was the goodies...

Okay, and eggs.

And cheesecake.

After brunch, we made our way to Crown & Fin for trivia, passing by the atrium, where the princesses were out...

First up we had TV Tunes Trivia. The Guys (our tablemates) were already at the pub, and we agreed to be a team. It turned out the tunes could be from any TV show, for any demographic, from any era. They were all shows I'd heard of, but not necessarily seen. And they would only play a few-seconds-long clip. It was tough! We did get a few right, though. 

After trivia, I went off to a presentation in D Lounge called Innovations in Animation.

It was a nice history of Disney's technological achievements, namely having to do with their animated films.

Then I watched people (mostly kids) play "Chip-It Golf" in the atrium...

I had considered playing, but after watching it I was glad I didn't. I would have just embarrassed myself, and probably hit someone as well.

Then I headed back to the pub for Movie Quotes Trivia. I had planned to see Heather there, but she wasn't there yet, so I sat with a couple. Heather arrived shortly thereafter, but didn't see me initially, and so sat with The Guys. I did okay by myself on the trivia. There was one quote from Raiders Of The Lost Ark that seemed to stump a lot of people. But I got stumped on many others.

After trivia, Heather and I went up to deck 9 for snacks. It was raining so badly the deck was getting flooded.

We got some snacks from Daisy's...

Heather wanted to watch the movie on the Funnel Vision (I think it was Princess & The Frog) but it was hard to find a place where we could sit AND see the movie AND stay dry.

Look, a waterfall!

It was so rainy and cold on deck, we soon abandoned the movie and headed toward the Cove Cafe...

... where I ordered a Mocha and got one of their free treats.

We sat outside the cafe for a while, taking in the semi-foggy views. 

After a while, we headed back to our stateroom and watched a bit o' TV/Disney movies. I should mention that any time we had downtime and no scheduled events, we were probably in the stateroom watching Disney movies.

Around 6, I headed up to that night's show, The Golden Mickeys.

It seems like people are divided over this show. I thought the overarchng plot was a bit contrived/cliche/annoying, but the musical numbers were great, so... on the whole, I enjoyed it.

By the time the show ended, the weather had cleared up a bit! We were able to go out on deck and watch the sun set.

Is that... blue sky??

Prior to the cruise, I'd looked at the weather forecasts for our trip, and "rain" seemed to be the order of the week. Yes, precipitation was forecast for all three ports of call. But what could we do? Bring a rain jacket and hope for the best, of course! That said, when the sun came out this evening, I was very happy. I hoped the clear weather would hold on for the next day, when we'd (hopefully) have our most scenic views of the cruise.

Dinner at Triton's! 

 For my appetizer I had the Farmhouse Salad ("Baby spinach, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and fingerling potatoes served with a goat cheese crostini and an olive vinaigrette").

For my entree, I ordered Mini Potato Dumplings ("in a thyme-rosemary cream sauce with toasted pine nuts.") This was my favorite entree of the week! Mmmm!

For dessert, Heather ordered the Strawberry Shortcake Sundae and the Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee.

I got the Duo Chocolate Slice ("layers of brownie and truffle mousse with a berry creme.") 

...And vanilla ice cream...

After dinner, we went to Azure, where we played a game called Majority Rules. The MC asked six questions. We had to write our answers on a slip of paper, trying to pick answers that we thought the majority of other people would also choose. Heather and I worked as a team. We ended up getting 4 out of 6. The winner got 5 out of 6, so we were close....

We then went to the D Lounge, where Heather sang some karaoke and I cheered her on.

Tonight's towel animal, a bear, was on Heather's bed tonight, along with a note reminding us of the 1-hour-back time change for that night. 

Tomorrow: Palo Brunch and Endicott Arm!