Boundless Horizons

Day 3 – Day at Sea

Drink of the day (alcoholic): Captain’s Mai Tai (Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, Amaretto Disaronno Liqueur, Pineapple Juice, Dark Rum)
Drink of the day (non-alcoholic): Princess Delight (Mango Puree, Orange Passion Guava Juice, Raspberry Puree)
Evening entertainment: Beauty & The Beast (additional matinee performance at 1:00pm)

This was our only sea day on this cruise, and as the ship was sailing at capacity with around 4000 people on board, we knew it would be busy. Our only planned activity was Remy brunch, which was sold out when Silver Castaway Club bookings opened but I managed to pick up a reservation while checking the app a couple of weeks before we sailed.

Since we had brunch booked, we weren’t planning on having breakfast. I had a bit of a lie in, but Rhys woke early so they headed up to get tea and coffee for us. While up on deck, they realised that Cabanas was just starting to serve breakfast so checked to see if by any chance churro waffles were available two days in a row. And they were! I woke up just as Rhys arrived back with a plate. This was our first time trying them, and they absolutely lived up to the hype. The extra crunch from the cinnamon sugar coating really takes them to the next level.

On previous cruises we purchased the photo package, but this time we decided we’d just buy a couple of individual photos instead. Individual photos were $20.95, the package for a 3 night cruise was $194.95 in advance / $229.95 to buy onboard. For our previous cruises, we made a point of dressing up every night and going around the backdrops in the atrium to make sure we got lots of photos. Between this cruise being busier and trying to travel light, we didn’t think we’d have enough opportunities for photos to make the package worthwhile.

We had a little time before brunch, and from looking on the app there were a couple of options for photos. We got dressed up for Remy and headed out. Annoyingly, we couldn’t find the magic shots on deck 4, but the Tiny World shot was available on deck 12 midship. If you’ve not seen them before, the Tiny World photos use a 360° camera to capture the surrounding area. Which is cute, but it means the photographer has to chase people out of a large perimeter to avoid them being in shot!

Since we had still had time to spare, we popped into Whozits & Wotsits (deck 11, midship). Strangely we hadn’t made it in here at all on our last cruise on the Dream. Rhys hadn’t packed sandals for the trip and wanted some footwear for the pool, they got a nice pair of Mickey flip flops for only $14.99! The shop also carries Crocs and Havianas, but it was nice to see a reasonable option. Given its location near the pools, it’s a handy place to pick up swimwear, sunscreen, and accessories.

Our Remy reservation was for 11:45am, and by now it was just after 11:15am. Rather than getting distracted elsewhere, we decided to check in for our reservation and grab a drink in Meridian while we waited. The cocktail of the day was a Captain’s Mai Tai, so I ordered one of those and Rhys ordered a glass of wine.

While we were finishing our drinks, the host asked if we’d like to be seated early, as there was a table available at the 11:30 seating. We followed her to the restaurant, where she seated us at a window table with a perfect view! It definitely paid to arrive early.

I’m going to cover Remy brunch in a separate blog, because the experience really deserves a more in-depth review. So stay tuned for that! This was an excellent five course brunch which took a full two hours from start to finish. It’s only offered on sea days, so on today was the only chance to experience it on this cruise. The restaurant was wonderfully quiet, which was a real contrast to the otherwise busy ship with everyone on board today. Brunch includes a glass of champagne and we added the Champagne Experience which gave us an additional three two-ounce pours of champagne. For the non-Americans, that’s around 60ml per glass.

By the time we were done with all of that amazing food, we were pretty full! We strolled to the drinks station for some Peppermint tea and took it back to our stateroom. When we arrived, our stateroom host was making up the room and we didn’t want to disturb him. So we headed down one flight to the promenade deck and enjoyed our drinks with a view of the sea. Then we went back to the stateroom where I had a nap!

As it was a sea day, the shops were open from 9:30am to 11:00pm. The shelves were still full this far into the cruise, and they were relatively quiet because people had all day to browse. While there was plenty of stock on the shelves, some specific items that had been available on Day 1 were gone – the black and gold Spirit Jersey that I’d loved was no longer in stock, so I was glad I’d picked it up. But compared to our 3 night sailing on the Magic where the shelves were half-bare at this point, this sailing was really well-stocked! I had bought a dress on Day 1 that felt a bit too big, so purchased the size down to try them both in the stateroom. I was pleased that even after all that food at Remy, the smaller size was the better fit! I returned the other size and then we headed up to Cove Cafe.

Somehow despite being fueled by caffeine in my daily life, I hadn’t made it to Cove Cafe on our 7 night cruise last year! It was a must-do on this sailing. I had a delicious Salted Caramel Coconut Latte with oat milk, and Rhys had a cup of tea. Since Cove Cafe is right next to the adult pool, Rhys had a quick dip while I finished my coffee and read my book.

We were well into the afternoon by this point, and decided to spend a little longer relaxing in the adult area. I ordered a Dole Whip with Meyer’s dark rum from Frozone Treats and brought it back to the adult area, while Rhys ordered a beer from the Cove Bar. And of course we had to admire the towel animals, including a towel Wall-e!

Before dinner, we went back to our stateroom to freshen up and enjoy the views from our verandah. We spotted a couple of other ships, but sadly no wildlife! Our stateroom host had left the gratuities slips and envelopes in our room so we prepared those to take to dinner for our dining team. We skipped the show again, which was Beauty & The Beast. I love the story, but the style of the show is more like the live action movie. Instead, we put the show on the stateroom TV and started to pack since it was our last night. If we wanted our luggage to be taken off the ship for us, we needed to put the cases outside the stateroom by 10pm, but as we were travelling light we decided just carry them off ourselves the next morning.

Tonight’s dinner was at Royal Palace. We were glad that we had late seating after brunch. Both of us had the Chateaubriand-roasted Filet Steak, which was very tasty, though not quite as good as the Wagyu we had at Remy! For dessert, I had the Classic Opera Gâteau and Rhys had the Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée. These were great, light and just sweet enough to finish the meal.

It was almost time for the See Ya Real Soon show at 10:15pm, so I headed up to deck 5 to grab a spot for the show. This show is bittersweet – it’s lovely, but it signals the end of the cruise! The atrium on deck 3 can get quite crowded as it’s the last chance to meet the characters, which is why I like to go up a couple of levels. Our stateroom is also on deck 5, so standing here means I can get back quickly! Rhys decided to go back to the stateroom to finish packing. David, our cruise director, introduced the characters and they all headed down to meet guests. We had Cinderella, Belle, Tiana, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy, Donald, Minnie and Mickey! After about 15 minutes of meet and greets, the characters headed to the staircase for a little song and dance, and to officially say See Ya Real Soon.

With that, all that was left to do was finish packing and go to bed, we had an early start for debarkation morning!