Sea Day Dover to Newcastle

Well, it is our first day at sea (June 6^th).  Sunrise was at 4:32 a.m and sunset will be at 9:29 p.m.

Lots of activities going on the ship today including Character Breakfast, Princess and Frozen meet n’ greets, two informative talks on Newcastle, England and Scotland and the Orkney Islands.  The guest speaker is Captain Richard Hayman.

Had an emergency evacuation at 2 a.m. last night with the Coast Guard.  A guest was sick and needed immediate attention.  We were close enough to shore, however there was no dock, nor was there a safe place Captain Andy could take the ship to in order to bring a rescue boat out so the Coast Guard was called.  We are on the starboard side of the ship, never heard anything, but I guess from the port side, the light was shining brightly on the ship and the coast guard helicopter hovered for over 15 minutes and they brought a rescuer down, had the basket and ended up taking two people off.  I assume the sick person and the spouse.  I was told tonight that the good news is the person would be okay.  (Of course, no idea what happened due to FMLA laws).

It is a beautiful day out.  Seas are calm.  We are cruising about 5-8 knots, not in any hurry to get anywhere that’s for sure.  Even though the sun is out, the temperature is cool about 58 degrees.  Not a lot of activity outside.  Those by the pool have blankets and/or sweaters.  There are kids in the pool, not very many though.

The Anyone Can Cook series features Lobster Ravioli.  I’ve been taught to cook Lobster Ravioli about 3 or 4 times now, so did not go.

Our featured artist onboard is Jeff Granito.  He is a graphic artist and has designed some specific limited edition artwork for this cruise.  There will be a silent auction on 7 of his pieces, including a piece that he is finishing onboard, a limited edition size of one, called I am Merida.  It is a beautiful piece.  Can’t wait to see what the canvas piece goes for.  I will try to get pictures once the pieces are out for the auction.  In the meantime got pictures with Jeff and he was signing pieces.  However, merchandise only brought 4 pieces of each item on, so Jeff will sign them back in California before being shipped to my home after the cruise.

Finding Dory merchandise is out in Mickey’s Mainsail.  Clayton announces today that we need to start practicing “Whale” because we will be having a Talk Like a Whale day on the ship.

Michael and I head to Spa Bingo at 3:45 p.m., then it is time to get ready for the Captain’s Reception which is at 5:30 and 7:45 p.m.

The show is “Walt Disney, the Dream Goes on”.  I love this show as it goes through the history of Walt Disney and the company with an emotional finale which Jeanna sings from the Main Stage cast.  Love that girl, she is so talented.

After that, we have reservations for dinner at Palo.  There is a new menu.  It is excellent.  I have the White Bean Soup (new recipe), the Butternut Ravioli (4 ravioli’s) and the Rosemary Lemon Chicken.  There is a new dessert menu also.  Along with the Chocolate Souffle there is an Ameretto Souffle and a Lemon Tart.  We were all pleased with the whole menu and desserts.

My friend Silvio, was the head chef in Palo, however, he has been promoted to Assistant Food Manager.  He paid us a visit during our time in Palo and had a great conversation and Silvio introduced us to the new Palo head chef Mateo.

Alberto, Claudia and Daniel.  Daniel will go on vacation at end of this cruise and Alberto will take over for Daniel.

After Palo we went to Match Your Mate in Fathoms.  The club host (sorry can’t remember his name) is good and he is English so there are lots of jokes and all the guests are having a good time.  The couples were funny too.  It runs late and doesn’t finish until about 11:30 though.

We are tired and a big day tomorrow so head back to the stateroom, work on the blog and complete it, however the internet is so slow with downloading pictures, so I’ll try again in the morning before my excursion to see if I can get free internet at the port and have any better luck.

Goodnight from the Disney Magic!