9-night DCL Mediterranean with Greek Isles cruise - Day 12: At Sea

At Sea

Thank goodness for this sea day. I think we all just needed a day to chill and reset after the heat and crowds of the previous couple of days. We also gained an hour as we switched back to the Italy time zone from the one Greece was on. Consequently, I woke up early so I went up to the gym and was able to hop on the Peloton bike they have. Actually, they have two but one was out of order and the other had been in use each time I was there. It was really easy to log into my account and connect my Bluetooth headphones, selecting a ride I had previously bookmarked in my account. By the time I was leaving the gym at 7:15 AM the place was a madhouse. If you want a chill gym experience on the ship, get there before 6:15 because after that is when people really start to trickle in steadily. 

I found a lounger in Quiet Cove and relaxed until everyone else was up and then we went to Cabanas together for breakfast. After that, we returned to the room where we all got ready for the day, which was starting at 9:30 with napkin folding in the D-Lounge. We were told we had to be there by our server who was helping out. We returned to the room and I worked a little more on my trip report and we organized some things to start packing up to disembark on Monday. We weren't going to have much time the following day because of our all-day excursion. 

After that, we went to the previously mentioned meetup in the theatre with a few of the cast and technical crew members. There were a couple of other families there that had made similar arrangements because their kids were also interested in pursuing a career in theatre. Big shoutout to DCL and the stage manager for helping make it happen. We had previously met most of the cast members there but they were joined by the woman who played Elsa (possibly the best Elsa we’ve ever seen) and she actually went to Ithaca College, which is on Emmaline’s list (and we visited there last fall) so that was cool. 

We returned to the room and did a bit more packing and organizing before we went to lunch in Cabanas. Following lunch Roger and I went to the Buena Vista Theatre for the third of Cesar Gallegos’ talks. This one was about the 20th Century Studios archive that came in with the acquisition of that studio by Disney. In fact, that’s how Cesar Gallegos came to be at Disney - he was over at 20th Century Fox previously. This was also a really cool talk (with technology that worked). Emmaline split off after lunch and did some other activities on her own including Marvel Superfan Faceoff and then karaoke.

At the end of Cesar’s talk, I got a message from Emmaline that Bianca was working in D Lounge for karaoke and that "her life depended on me coming over there and showing her my Donald drawing technique," so I did. She was very appreciative and I hope it helps her with her future Donald drawing classes on the ship. Roger had returned to the room to relax and I went off to drawing class in O’Gills, which was Baby Yoda: a new one for me. While I waited for it to start, I practiced another Donald, showing a guy at my table how as well. 

After that, we regrouped at Vista for coffee (I swore off Cove for this trip after the coffee they gave me on day 1 was terrible and I ended up chucking it into the trash) and Emmaline went to Vibe for another WD Theatre cast meet and greet (her third one). She said hardly anyone was there so she got to ask lots of questions. Roger and I went to guest services (fun times) to adjust the tips (we always give a little extra - they work so hard) and then we went and met Mickey so we could get his signature on a little print that we got from the DVC desk previously. 

We returned to the room and I typed some more trip report and Roger took a shower. Emmaline did some character meets then we all went up to play mini golf and had a weird run-in with a guy who kept playing the same hole over and over despite a growing line up of people behind him waiting to play that hole. After he yelled at us to skip that hole and go play the other holes instead I finally just put my ball down and started playing. He got mad and stormed off. It was probably one of the weirder exchanges I've ever had with another passenger on a DCL cruise. 

We finished mini golfing with no further incidents and then it was time for dinner in Animator’s where we had the Animation Magic show. After dinner we went up on deck to see the sunset in the Messina Strait and take some photos. 

The show for the evening was Believe and as I mentioned before, this cast was fantastic and it was fun seeing Ian Knauer in the lead role. After the show we went back to the room to get to bed so we could be ready for our full day excursion the next day in Naples.