Morning Trivia And Anyone Can Cook

After all of the activity of the past week, we were looking forward to a relaxing day at sea in the Med. As the ladies were sleeping in, J. R. got up early to take a walk and have breakfast. An early morning coffee in the Promenade Lounge turned into Disney Trivia, which J. R. won. His prize was one of those Disney "winner" magnets (which also was lost by Aer Lingus). Janie met him in the lounge after trivia and they headed upstairs for the "Anyone Can Cook" Apple Strudel demonstration. We had both seen this before on a previous cruise, but it's a free dessert and a glass of wine.

Trivia and Coffee

We tried their hands next at Movie Quotes Trivia in O'Gills, but we hadn't seen a lot of the movies and even those we did, we struggled with the exact name of the movie. We went upstairs for the "Movie Challenge Poolside" and heard our daughter and her group of friends singing songs from "Hamilton the Musical". They formed a team for the challenge and won the first round to pick the genre of the next movie but lost the second so didn't get to pick the actual movie. But the other team chose the one they wanted anyway. Fletcher had mentioned a drink known as the Moka Experience that was served in Cove Cafe. It included Rumchata, Grand Marnier, Rum and Chocolate with espresso, so we went in to try that. Janie had one sip and ate both of the chocolate truffles than came with it and J. R. had the rest of the drink. It was quite rich, but very good.

Chocolate and Liquor

We had two tastings planned for this afternoon. The first was Chocolate and Liquor, which we had done previously as well. But again, four drinks and chocolates for $20 is not a bad deal. We started with Moet Flamingo Champagne paired with melted white chocolate and then continued to a bordeaux blend (Lasseter Amoureaux, to be specific). This we tried with the dark chocolate to bring out the flavors. Our bartender suggested this was a good wine to have with food rather than by itself. Our third drink was a Noval 10-year Tawny Port, which we paired with the fantastic parmesano reggiano cheese from Palo. We also were told to try the cheese with the melted dark chocolate, which was interesting. We finished with a whiskey, the Glenmorangie Signet, which we tried with all three chocolates, although the bartender recommended the dark chocolate. The chocolates were again Valrhona, which are excellent but quite pricey.

Mixology

The adults headed upstairs to have some lunch in Cabanas before our next tasting, which was Mixology, another favorite. We started off with "Fun on the Beach" (since it is a Disney Cruise), which is ice, peach schnapps, vodka, cranberry juice and orange juice. Next was Janie's favorite, the Kir Royale with Prosecco and Creme de Cassis. We moved on to making our own caipirinha by muddling limes and adding ice, sugar and rum. The rum was actually Cachaca, a Brazilian liquor made from sugar cane and not molasses. We finished with a Brandy Alexander, which is cream, cognac (or brandy), creme de cocao and simple syrup. Then we were treated to a specialty drink they called the "Keys with Love" which we made ourselves by layering Kahlua, Disaronno and Baileys and adding whipped cream. The bartender told to try to drink this shot without using our hands, but we all failed at that so we downed it the old-fashioned way.

Afternoon and Evening

Rebecca and her crew went to see "Incredibles 2" and Janie went to go see "Avengers: Infinity War" again. J. R. wasn't in the mood to waste a good sea day in a movie theater, so after doing a little packing, he hung out in the adult area getting some sun and talking to James, who we met on our Barcelona tour along with his wife and friend who were part of our pre-cruise Facebook group. James also was in several of our late-night tastings.

J. R. headed down to O'Gills for a drink and the end of the France vs. Peru World Cup game. Mariela, one of the bartenders in O'Gills was from Peru and was trying to cheer on her squad, but they fell short. We then joined James for 90's Music Trivia in Fathoms, which was a bit of a struggle as none of us listened to much music in the 90's. We were quite successful in the second round of 80's music trivia, tying for first place. We only missed one song outright, had the wrong AC/DC song (picked Back in Black instead of Highway to Hell) and suffered due to Tisa's insistence that it was "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" and not just "Joan Jett" who sang "I Love Rock and Roll". Thank goodness there was no Springsteen or Seger on the list or we would have to list the full E Street or Silver Bullet Band members. Not sure why she decided to be so picky. Neither Disney Dreams or "Just John & Paul" were appealing to us, so none of did the evening shows. We feared "Just John & Paul" would be as bad as "Almost Elton" we had on our Spring Break cruise and from the little we saw walking by, we think we were right. Just play the music -- you don't have to try to pretend to be the Beatles.

Dinner

We met up with Steve, Christina and Cat for dinner but none of us were really into the menu and we were tempted for a moment to just leave and go to O'Gills for hot dogs and chicken wings. Cat and Rebecca tried to warn us off the Beef Wellington as their friends said it was bad, but Steve and J. R. had it anyway and said it was actually quite good. It was cooked well, which is surprising for beef on DCL and actually seasoned, unlike much of the food on this trip in the dining rooms.

Junkk

After dinner, we went to see Junnk's adult show which was okay. One part of it was pretty disturbing as they brought a young woman up on stage and had the guys do love songs while sitting way too close to her, including one point where one of them stood over her so she was looking at his crotch. We hoped this was all pre-planned and she knew what was going to happen and agreed to it. J. R wanted to stay for the Awesome Mix Tape dance party but Janie wanted a chocolate martini, so we went to Keys. Two martinis later for her and it was time for bed.

Daily Navigator