(If you missed it, here is Part 1).

Day 2

Monday was our day in Grand Cayman, but we didn’t arrive in port until 10:30 or so, so they offered brunch in Palo that day and we were able to go. That’s always one of my favorite meals on board! There are so many wonderful things to try, though – and always way more food I want to taste than I have room for.

One of my favorites is the sticky rolls, which are on the fruit and pastry table (in the covered dish in the center to keep them warm).

So I enjoyed things like a shrimp cocktail shot, cheese, olives, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, fruit, the aforementioned sticky roll, Caprese salad, and smoked salmon.

In addition to the buffet, you can order pizzas and breakfast entrees which are served at the table. Some of the entrees are Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine, Eggs Julia, Open-Faced Frittata, Oysters Rockefeller, and Rum Raisin Pancakes.

I ordered another entree, the Seared Tilapia with Asparagus Risotto. This was SO good – the tilapia was good, but the risotto may have been the best thing I had all week. There was some kind of cheese in it, too.

Lee had the Eggs Florentine.

Palo also has a very nice dessert buffet. The desserts are beautifully presented, but I think that the other breakfast foods are actually better than the desserts. Which doesn’t keep me from trying a selection of them anyway. 🙂 (I should just have a sticky roll for dessert.)

So I had a berry “cocktail”, a chocolate covered strawberry, and a chocolate pot du creme.

Lee had strawberry shortcake, a Sacher torte, and pot du creme.

That night all of the rest of our tablemates were dining in Palo, so we went to Enchanted Garden by ourselves (along with a few hundred of our closest friends). Dinner certainly went a lot faster with only two of us instead of nine at the table! Since we had early seating we were really able to watch the transformation of the restaurant as it went from afternoon lighting to night. It’s quite pretty – but the tables are much too close together.

Overall, this was probably my least favorite menu of the cruise, with the least appealing (to me) selections of appetizers and desserts. I didn’t order an appetizer – I chose a soup and a salad instead. My soup was the Heirloom Tomato Soup, with sour cream, croutons, and basil. It’s a good tomato soup.

Lee had the North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli, in a basil scented tomato juice (it was more like broth than juice). He would have preferred a different sauce, but the ravioli was good.

Next Lee and I had the Spinach and Raspberry Salad, with fresh raspberries and pine nuts and crumbled Gorgonzola. This was very fresh and tasty.

I decided to go with one of the vegetarian dishes, the Pearl-Barley Cakes with Shallots, Leeks, and Rosemary. It was served over julienne carrots, celery root and leeks with a light saffron sauce. The sauce was excellent and the whole dish was very tasty, though I expected a few more vegetables under the cakes.

Lee had the other dish that I had been considering, the Pan Seared Sea Bass with fava beans and pea risotto, so I was able to try it, and it was also very good, (All of the risottos I had on board were really good, though a couple of times my table mates reported that theirs were under-cooked.)

I had the Sweet Temptations again, though none of the desserts on this menu really appealed to me. It included a strawberry cheesecake, Sacher torte, and passion fruit tart.

Lee had the Bananas Foster Sundae. Really more of a fancy name for a banana split than a true Bananas Foster.

Our server brought us some other special treats – the one was sort of a cocoa-dusted ganache/fudge, and the other was sugared jellied fruit – apricot, I think. Kind of different, but interesting to try.

Day 4

Tuesday night, day 4, was Pirate Night, and we were back in Royal Court. Royalty and pirates…kind of an interesting combination. 🙂

The Pirate menu seems to be fairly standard across the Disney cruise ships – this one was the same as the one on the Dream in October.

I started with Pirates Golden Pot Stickers – deep-fried pork dumplings with tamarind-ginger sauce. These were quite good, especially the sauce.

Lee had Black Beard’s Jumbo Crab Cake, with carrot/raisin/coconut slaw in a Calypso dressing. It’s more crab than filler and he enjoyed it.

Next up was Mr. Smee’s Bibb Lettuce Salad, with bibb lettuce, baby greens, chicory, tomatoes, pine nuts, and raspberry vinaigrette. This was more of a wedge salad, which wasn’t what I was expecting. It was fine, but I wish I had ordered the Jerk Chicken Salad instead – which is what Lee and several others at our table ordered.

And here is the aforementioned Jerk Chicken Salad. It had jerk-seasoned chicken strips (which Lee had cut before I took the photo), plantain chips and fresh greens with citrus dressing.

My entree was one of the vegetarian dishes: Sunken Vegetable Treasure It’s black-eyed pea and quinoa croquettes with mushroom sauce. The shape looked more like sausages than croquettes, though. And the “mushroom sauce” was actually a bed of sauteed mushrooms. Unfortunately it’s not a very attractive dish to photograph! It needs some more color. I like the croquettes, though I can’t really describe the flavor to you. They are not really spiced at all, but still have a nice flavor. I have ordered them in the past and I would order them again, though next time a side of steamed vegetables to go with them might be in order.

Lee had Jack Sparrow’s BBQ Marinated Beef Short Ribs with onion red bliss mashed potatoes and plantain chip. He really enjoyed this – the meat was very tender.

Pictured below is the Treasure-of-the-Sea Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops dish that someone else ordered. It was on a bed of pasta with tomato sauce.

For dessert I had, guess what, the Sweet Temptations. It was rum soaked chocolate cake, fruit cobbler, and floating island (meringue with marinated fruit). The cake was just ok, and the floating island was actually my favorite part. This is the only menu where the Sweet Temptations did not include one of the no sugar added desserts.

Lee had the Rum Soaked Chocolate Cake, and he enjoyed it.

This is one of the no sugar added desserts – the Banana-Chocolate Crepe

Stay tuned for part 3!