The Royal Treatment ~ R is for Reflections

So we climbed the stairs back up to the Oceaneer Club, dropping off Kylee just in time for the end of Friendship Rocks! practice. (We figured she could wing it, as she's done this same show twice already.)
Heading off to the Walt Disney Theatre, as we watched the kids trot down the stairs onto the stage we received a text (via the wavephone) that our child opted out of the Friendship Rocks! program...problem being we didn't know if it referred to both of our children or only Chris. We waited to see if Kylee would appear.

Trust me, she's down there to Minnie Mouse's left. Next time I'm putting her in red pants or something.

It's a little tricky to tell because we picked the back of the auditorium, but Kylee did show up. After the brief stage show celebrating the new friendships and adventures from the Oceaneer Club and Lab, we went to retrieve Chris and Kylee for grandma's room service evening with the children. Ben and I dressed up for our "just us" dinner at Palo.




After finishing touches on my hair, I popped out onto our verandah (keep in mind it's still quite windy) to check out the amazing twilight. Then fixed my hair again.

Windy, Cold, Salty, Rocking and GORGEOUS.

We let in the waiter with the other's dinners as they settled in for some cartoons and visiting.

Climbing up to the tenth deck we passed the painting of the gondolier. Is it just me, or is he a little creep-tastic? Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about? Take a look:

It's the Phantom of the Gondola!

Yeah.
Anyway, we took our selfie outside our favorite restaurant.

Palo Time!

The trick is taking it super fast before the restaurant staff try to come out and help you.


 

Hi!

I kinda like the informal selfie look on these.

Anyway, I stopped in the rest room on the way into Palo.

Beautiful details. Very clean lines and the gondola pole motif continues.

These washrooms are beautiful, with rolled towels for drying your hand but the same ship toilets as the rest of the ship, which seems like such an odd contrast.
Entering Palo, we were asked if the ship motion happened to be bothering us (it is much more noticeable at the extreme ends of the ship). Thankfully it wasn't, though others might have been bothered as Palo seemed more deserted than usual.
Seated in a table for two at nearly the aft most part of the ship, Sasha from Croatia welcomed us and left us with the menus, acknowledging that Chef Stephane intended to make me something else.

Specialita’ Del Palo: Antipasto Freddo

After dropping off the bread course, the antipasto cart dropped by some of my favorite little tidbits. They had me at balsamic.
The little marinated onions are the best!
Beware the olives. Many of them have pits.

Almost a chowder texture. Velvety and comforting. The radish was a lovely counterpoint.

My first course consisted of a lovely soup while Ben ordered something shrimp-y.

Enormous shrimp!

Ben says this was not memorable.
He ate it all, so it probably is worthwhile, just not as good as the tenderloin.

The crispy leaf is a crispy fried basil leaf. Perfect.

The pasta, although very spicy tasted delicious. Ben enjoyed a similarly spicy pasta course.
As Ben enjoyed his favorite beef tenderloin, I was treated to the following vegan creation.

Tomato Borlotti Bean Sauce on a very convincingly cheesy polenta.

I think that this is one of those things where you take one bite and decide that the portion size is way too small. Scrumptious, creamy, hearty and with a lovely breadstick, to boot!
On finishing that, there was precious little room in my stomach for the dessert spread that Sasha dropped on the table.

Soufflés and Sorbets and Bundt Cakes, Oh My!

Oh my goodness.
I'm in Palo and got the allergen free chocolate bundt cake.
I think it's the sixth one of the cruise. I like bundt as much as the next person, but after a few bites I became really glad that Sasha asked for a lot of berries with balsamic and my favorite sorbets.

So delicious, so gone.

Yummm.
I'm pretty sure I overdid it with this. Ben may have eaten his soufflé, but I was too preoccupied to notice. The second seating began to filter into the restaurant, so we thanked Sasha, tipped and left.

Chef Stephane and the Palo staff.

We returned to the room. The kids were full and ready to head to the clubs for their last hurrah as we packed the bags for pickup. I really just wanted to climb in bed with our towelgami guy and sleep off the dinner.



Two parts adorable, one part odd.

Disembarking is so easy when you don't drag all of your bags with you, so it was worth it to put off sleep for a bit longer. After checking and rechecking all of our suite (it really is amazing how many nooks and crannies there are compared to a standard stateroom) Ben and I went for a final meander before collecting our tired children well after bedtime.
The counselors printed off clean copies of the kids wristbands for our scrapbooks and receipts for the mickey band.
This is Part 20 of an Ongoing Trip Report "The Royal Treatment" additional sections of this report can be found on the Adventures page.