Treasures in Winter Sun

Second port day. Started out with quite a bit of cloud, and pulling into St Thomas there were rain showers around. The sun still tried to break through making for an interesting contrast between cloud and sun at sunrise.

We were up early (for us) as we had an early meeting time for our snorkel trip. Confusingly, all the low level exit lighting was on, which I've never seen before (and thankfully didn't last long - guess they must have been testing it early before most guests were up.

By the time we met for the snorkel trip, and got outside the clouds had mostly gone and it was mostly blue skies. Boat trip to Buck Island for snorkeling was mich smoother than yesterday, but still quite a few people got wet from the waves. The snorkel location was more open than yesterday, but there were fish and turtles, so we'll worth the time. Mind, I am getting a little queasy from saltwater, either getting in my mouth or just too much salt on lips and skin.after getting out.

After snorkeling, there was short hop to a beach, where we had time to do what we wanted. We chose to snorkel a little in the hope if seeing turtles, who were supposed to hang out there in the shallows. Sadly, none were there, but it was a nice swim in shallower and warmer waters, plus time just bobbing around. Getting to and from the beach and boat was a painful experience- the water edge was super stony. Think a floor covered in lego pieces with no gaps. Going back to the boat I ended up just floating across the stones as soon as it was deep enough to allow for floating.

We then took a leisurely sail back to the harbour and more of a good look at the outside of the Treasure. She looks so similar to the older ships but is massive!

Back on the boat with time for a shower before caching the very end of lunch. Soup and salad out on deck. You may notice a theme of us eating outside a lot. We try and eat out on deck as much as possible on a cruise, simply because it's nice to make the most of the nice weather and actually being able to eat outside.

After a lot of swimming and walking the last couple of days we were tired, so went to the room to read a little and to nap.

It was an early all aboard time, so we set sail soon after 4pm, it's a long way to the next port the day after tomorrow. Sitting outside reading as we sailed and the sun goes down is possibly one of the most peaceful times you can imagine. Additional we were blessed with fluffy clouds to do some anthropomorphising of. I see Pluto (Mickey Mouse's dog), Hesth could see a dragon. What do you see in the picture?

Eventually, we had to get ready for dinner. This night we were heading to Palo Steakhouse, the other fancy, but less fancy than Enchanté, adult restaurant. He host for Palo is Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, and yes u know he's French. The 2 fancy restaurants are in an adults only area, themed on Beauty and the Beast. The bar is called The Rose, and both Enchanté and Palo are the focal points of this area.

Palo is Italian food with a steak focus. Antonio our server was from Sardinia, but had lived in Manchester for 15 or so years. He got very excited when he heard we were from the UK.

Palo is an old favourite from all the other ships, so we have some particular faves on the menu. The shrimp and calamari starter is one of my all-time favourite dishes in any restaurant. They make the calamari so tender, no element of a rubbery texture at all. Heath had Ciuppin soup - full of seafood. The bread selection is also awesome.

We both chose the Japanese Wagyu for main course. This was excellent, and well worth the price. Sides were fried potatoes - or jenga potatoes depending on how you want to look at it; and asparagus with parmigiana cheese, lemon and olive oil.

The piece de resistance to any Palo meal is the Chocolate Souffle, and in the desperation to e joy it's scrumminess, 8 forgot to take a picture. Sorry!

But trust me, it's the best. I've had probably 25 dinners in Palo (across all the ships) and i have definately had that every single time.

Anyone is welcome to join me on a Disney Cruise just to go eat my favourite foods in Palo.

After dinner, we headed back to the room to change out proper clothes and back into shorts and t-shirts, and found our next towel animal. A squirrel. Adorable. We've never had a towel squirrel before.

Although feeling pretty tired, we had arranged to meet Eugene at Haunted Mansion Parlor later in the evening so we forced ourselves to stay out of bed, past our normal tendency to collapse in a heap straight after dinner (for context late seating dinner usually finishes around 10pm).

Super lovely time chatting with Eugene and closing out the bar, then it really was time for bed.Weiterlesen