Day 3 at sea was very relaxing. We had breakfast at Cabanas which is where I had had lunch the previous day. There are plenty of food stations serving the same thing, so the temptation is to queue for the first station but actually you can skip the first queue and go deeper into the restaurant to find stations with no queues.

I saw Mickey waffles but didn’t partake. Instead I had a bowl of melon on the side of my hash brown and two slices of bacon. I felt virtuous having the fruit.

Having not covered ourselves in glory in the quizzes the previous day, we decided to go to the Fin and Crown for Disney trivia- for 18+. The first four questions to some people seemed easy. Only when we hit the 4th question of “What Princess is found in Aladdin?” were Martin and I sure of the answer. However, that was also when the quizmaster realised he was giving us the family quiz and not the harder adult quiz. I think Martin and I may have struggled on the “easier” quiz. Out of 25 we got 13.

We headed back to the room before going to the cinema to watch the most recent Indiana Jones film. Martin and I sat down to watch it, and as soon as it started, there was a sudden realisation on my part that this was a film I had gone to see on my own in Northern Ireland. However, having walked out of one film this holiday, I wasn’t about to walk out again and given that I couldn’t remember how it all panned out, we stayed to the end and enjoyed it. (Martin has now watched it three times!)

From the film, onto lunch at Cabanas with Martin this time. I had a nice strip of ribeye beef and a mountain of prawns. The day before I had chosen a sticky toffee dessert which I was disappointed by – it was slightly dry. I had been tempted though by the carrot cake so I was pleased to see it on display. And oh my – it was moist, delicious and perfectly formed with the right amount of cake to icing.

Every evening when we come back to our room, Eleanor’s bed has been turned from a sofa into a bed, and on our bed is a creation made out of the blanket that sits at the bottom of the bed.

Many years ago, in a French restaurant, when my parents lied to me, telling me my weird tasting trout was from the green stuff sprinkled on top – it wasn’t – it was actually the garlic butter the trout had been cooked in. Anyway… that was also the restaurant that showed my mum how to fold a napkin into a fleur de lis. After lunch I decided to go to a practical “course” in how to fold towels into animals. On arrival I was given a hand and a bath towel. There then followed a 20 minute step by step guide from the house keeping team on how to fold towels…

Having decided not to give up my job for a life in housekeeping just yet I took myself off to Deck 10 to watch the ocean and blog Day 2. There are a few canopies that provide shade

Once back in the stateroom, Eleanor got ready for dinner and Martin and I went out to a show, as we had pre-booked an adult only dinner at Palo’s at 8:30pm.

Now on this cruise there are some themed evenings – one of which was last night – 🏴‍☠️ Pirate 🏴‍☠️ Night! You are encouraged to dress up and Disney even provide bandanas in case you haven’t brought any accessories.

While at dinner in Tiana’s the previous evening, an older guest had been around a lot of the tables and given out eye patches and pirate rings. This had caused controversy because the woman came to our table and give Ben, the teen boy the eye patch and ring and then moved on completely by-passing Eleanor. Martin had been watching her move from table to table and only give the gifts out to the boys. It baffled us, and left at least one girl, much younger than Eleanor, in tears.

Pirate Night commenced with a party on deck at 10:30pm! Eleanor and I went separately and Martin went to bed.

It started off with the good characters (Chip and Dale, Minnie Mouse, Pluto) before Captain Hook and Smee came on deck. It is ok though – we were rescued by a zip lining mouse.

There were several outfit changes yesterday. Initially I was on brand with a Mickey Mouse t-shirt from Hong Kong. Then a swimming costume before putting on a Goonies Pirate t-shirt for the show and for Pirate Night at 10:30pm. Our show was a juggler (Jeremy Penguin) who I had seen the previous night in an adult only venue. He was actually better in front of a larger audience and had great audience participation. But for our elegant exclusively adult dinner Martin put on a long sleeved shirt and jacket (his Boxing Day sale bargain) and I put on heels and a jumpsuit.

I was a tad worried that we had overdressed, but on getting out for the lift I was met with a woman in a lovely black dress who had just come from the restaurant.

Dinner was lovely, both Martin and I had fish as a main course, and it was paired by Atilla, the sommelier, with a lovely Italian white wine (I have no idea what it was called – nor did I take a picture of the bottle)

We finished with soufflés (mine was chocolate, Martin’s was amaretto)

The restaurant is called Palo’s as a nod to the signature poles used by the gondoliers in Venice. The exclusive Italian restaurant is also in homage to the fact that both the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic were built in Italy.

And so this is the final day of 2023. As of now, before making live this blog, I have had 3,557 views this year. Every year, the three of us have to say one thing we are grateful for that happened during 2023. 2023 was the year the family was split apart for 7+ months but I am grateful for being able to spend that time with my parents and with Eleanor. There have been lots of adventures this year, new friendships made and existing friendships strengthened. 2024 will be a year that the Croziers thrive. We all are in a happier place than at the end of 2022.

So thank you all for reading. I blog because I want to share it with you. We are so fortunate in being able to do what we do – and we never take that for granted.

Wherever you are in the world, Happy New Year.