End of Summer. Days 6, 7 and 8. Should We Get the Beach Bag?
Our driver met us at the port and took us to the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale where we are staying for the end of this trip. The hotel is right on the beach. As we checked in, a man brought out a big red wagon full of stuffies. Madeleine picked something that was either a hamster, a guinea pig or a beaver. Who knows. Hallie couldn’t decide between the same hamster/guinea pig/beaver and a weird looking dog with huge eyes, and somehow talked the man into giving me the dog. Good job, Hal.
It was still early—around 10:00—but one of our rooms was already ready. We left our luggage there and then spoke with the concierge to try to plan an activity for the day. I don’t know how, but planning the day ended up being the activity for the day, because by the time we figured anything out it was nearly noon. The hotel has a little seating area outside where Tzvi and the girls sat and played mini golf on a putting green. We then went back to the room to get our stuff before going out and found that our room keys weren’t working because the card reader on the door had a dead battery, so we sat waiting for security to come fix it. They were very apologetic about it.
The hotel drove us to Las Olas in one of its street-legal golf carts. I don’t know whether this is a Miami and Fort Lauderdale thing, but they have these large golf-cart-like vehicles that are registered and can actually drive on the road.
Las Olas is a shopping and dining area, and we had lunch at Earls Kitchen + Bar. It was pretty good. I ordered a bibimbap bowl that was absolutely delicious. Tzvi had a salad with a piece of grilled salmon. After lunch, we walked around and visited the Romero Britto store, which was fun. We found a small Dumbo sculpture that Tzvi really wanted to buy, but it was $350 and very tiny, so we decided it was unnecessary.
From there, we took an Uber to GoYummy, a huge Swedish candy store. They had tons of vegan options, so the girls were very excited to fill their bags with candy.
We returned to the hotel and spent some time by the pool, which was very nice.
Then we got ready for dinner at Evelyn’s, the hotel’s “Levantine” (read: Israeli) restaurant. Dinner was very good, although the service was extremely slow. We had a Jerusalem bagel, stone-fired pita and delicious hummus topped with olive oil and toasted pine nuts. Tzvi and Shir also had a French onion labneh that they really liked. We also ordered pomegranate-glazed salmon and a whole branzino, which arrived with its head still attached. Tzvi picked through and ate basically everything except for the eyeball. Gross.
We skipped dessert because the girls were going nuts and, honestly, none of the desserts looked that appealing anyway.
After dinner, we went upstairs and sat for a long time on our balcony. It was just so peaceful out there. Good day.
At 7:00 Saturday morning, we were awakened by an enormous boom. We looked outside and saw that it was thunderstorming.
“Well, this can’t last all day,” we thought.
Famous last words.
Miraculously, the storm did not wake the girls even though incredibly loud thunder seemed to go on for an hour. Eventually, everyone got up, and we made our way to breakfast. We all got the buffet, which came with one made-to-order egg dish. It was a very nice, fairly standard breakfast buffet.
And then it kept raining. It rained for pretty much the entire day. We spent a lot of time sitting outside under cover and watching the lightning, which was actually pretty cool. But the biggest saving grace was the kids club. The girls refused to use the kids club on the Disney cruise, but at the Four Seasons, they got it. They spent hours there in the morning, leaving only for the half hour lunch break that the kids club closed. We eventually ordered them some lunch, which we ate outside by the putting green, even though the adults weren’t particularly hungry, and then they went straight back to the kids club. Tzvi and I were actually able to sit and read our books. It was wonderful.
The kids club closed at 4:00, and thankfully, the rain had finally stopped by then. The girls and Tzvi went into the pool for a little while, and we all just hung out. That kids club was the best thing that could have happened to us on such a rainy day. We also ordered drinks by the pool, including the Popsicle Margarita, which had passion fruit and a whole pomegranate popsicle on top. It was a very fun drink. It was a very nice end to the day. There was a couple with a small child that kept jumping in the pool, except he didn’t seem to know how to swim and they didn’t seem to try to stop him. He just kept swallowing water and coughing. It was strange and annoying.
Eventually we went back to the room, packed, showered and waited for Shabbat to end. Once it was over, we walked down the block to Wine + Garden, a casual, homey Italian restaurant. We ordered several different pastas and pizzas, including a Margherita pizza. I had gnocchi with zucchini, Shir ordered some sort of pasta, and Madeleine got her own pasta. Tzvi also ordered a pizza with eggplant, sun dried tomato and straciatella. The food was all very good, but it just took a very long time to arrive. I kind of felt like we were inside a house, and once the waitress left to go out into the garden it was impossible to get her back.
By the end of dinner, it was around 10:00, and the girls were going nuts. Shir walked them back to the hotel while we paid the bill, and then we followed them back and went to bed.
Tomorrow we go home.
On our final morning, we hoped to squeeze in about an hour at the beach before heading home. We got dressed for the beach and went down to breakfast around 945. Today I skipped the buffet and ordered French toast. Unfortunately, the service today was extra slow. Slower than Friday’s dinner. Slower than Saturday’s dinner. The staff kept apologizing and telling us it was taking longer than expected, but after waiting at least 45 minutes, we began wondering how much beach time we would actually have left since we needed to check out by 1:00.
By 1040, Tzvi became so angry that he left without even waiting for his omelet and took Hallie down to the beach. They got there and got set up.
10:39 AM Tzvi: Did the food come?
10:39 AM Steph: Nope
10:43 AM Tzvi: The water is pretty warm there’s just a lot of seaweed. The waves are also pretty rough.
10:44 AM Tzvi: Did it come?
10:44 AM Steph: Nope!
10:44 AM Steph: I’m not even going to come down to the beach
10:51 AM Tzvi: All right, so Hallie wants to swim in the pool, and there was a giant ant crawling on me, so we’re coming back to the pool.
Our breakfast eventually arrived, but it was pretty atrocious. We met Tzvi and Hallie by the pool and hung out there for about an hour before returning to our rooms to change, finish packing and leave. It was actually a very nice hour. We tried to order the popsicle margarita again, but they said they were out of the popsicles, which seemed odd given they had just opened.
We checked out at 1:00 and headed to Sawgrass Mills, the huge mall about 25 minutes away, because it has one of the few Rainforest Cafes left in the country, and Hallie really loves that restaurant. The meal itself was not particularly memorable (is Rainforest every memorable?). Thankfully, as soon as we sat down, I asked the server to bring out the chef to discuss Hallie’s allergy. Usually, the server comes over first, then we explain the allergy, then they search for a chef, and the entire process takes forever. This time, we got ahead of it. The food still took a while, but not nearly as long as it has in the past. Madeleine was very upset that our table wasn’t near any elephants. I think this Rainforest Cafe has far fewer elephants than the one in Orlando. Orlando has a lot of elephants. We were seated next to the tigers. It was fine. Basically we spent $100 on Ubers so Hallie could get a meal at Rainforest. Can’t wait to hear what she has to say about us in therapy one day.
After lunch, we walked around the mall. I found a dress for Madeleine at Monnalisa, and Shir bought some things at Lululemon. Then it was time to Uber back to the hotel and meet our driver for the airport.
Before returning, I called the Four Seasons about the beach bag they had provided in our room. The hotel gives you a beach bag to use during your stay, but there’s a tag on it that says if you want to take it home they’ll apply a charge to your room (which was less than the cost of buying a brand new bag at the spa). Tzvi liked the bag, but kept waffling over whether he wanted to pay to take it home. He ended up not taking it, but then of course regrated it and spent most of lunch going back and forth over whether we should call and buy the bag. Eventually I just called and asked if I could still purchase one. They said of course and that they were very happy that I liked it. When we arrived, a woman brought me the beach bag inside a larger Four Seasons bag. She told me, “I know you’re going on a cruise, so I added some extra things for you.” Apparently, she didn’t realize that we had just returned from the cruise. Well, inside the bag was a very nice Four Seasons water bottle, a hat and a bunch of little things including a little sunscreen. That was very nice of them.
We reached the airport, checked in and everything went smoothly—until, obviously, our flight was delayed. Thankfully, it was only delayed by about an hour. Given my previous experiences flying through Fort Lauderdale and Miami, I had fully expected an eight-hour delay. But we eventually got off the ground and headed home.
It was a great vacation.
End of Summer. Day 5. Sea Ya Real Soon.
Thursday was our day at sea. If I haven’t mentioned this before, this cruise is great because it basically goes nowhere. We left Florida, sailed to Castaway Cay—which is in the Bahamas—then to Nassau, also in the Bahamas, and then back to Florida. Because the distances are so short, the ship never has to speed anywhere. It moves so slowly that it feels as though we’re just hanging out in the middle of the ocean. On other cruises we’ve taken, the ship has had to travel much farther between destinations, so it moves quickly and there can be a lot of rocking. On this cruise, I felt nothing. It was fantastic.
Hallie woke up first and went with Tzvi to the Haunted Mansion Parlor, which was having a special family hour when children could come inside, experience the space and take pictures. Eventually, Madeleine woke up and wanted to go too, so we all joined them. The girls took some very cute pictures inside the bar.
Then we headed to breakfast for one of the most important events of the cruise: churro Mickey waffles. On the final morning of each sailing, the buffet serves Mickey waffles that have been battered again, fried and covered in cinnamon sugar. They are essentially Mickey-shaped churros, and they are phenomenal. They may be the most delicious things ever.
After breakfast, I went to the gym for a little while, which made me feel better. Tzvi had a work call, so Shir took the girls back to Hero Zone to play air hockey and some of the other games. We met up again for a character dance party in the Grand Hall. All the characters came out and formed dance circles with the kids. Our girls were too shy to actually dance with them, but it was still cute to watch.
Afterward, we rode the AquaMouse again and then headed to the pool deck for lunch. In addition to the buffet and dining rooms, the ship has Mickey & Friends Festival of Foods, a collection of quick-service stations serving pizza, tacos, barbecue, burgers and ice cream. We ordered veggie burgers from the burger station, which were good. The barbecue station had a huge selection of meat, and I took a picture because if I ever make another bat mitzvah or kiddush, I want a station exactly like it. In addition to all the meat, they had vegetarian collard greens, corn, cornbread and sweet potato fries. Everything was delicious. Aside from Enchanté, this may have been some of the best food I ate on the ship. I loved that station.
After lunch, the girls went back to ride the AquaMouse with Shir while Tzvi and I relaxed by the adults-only pool.
Then came the sad part: We had to return to our rooms and pack. Once we finished packing, we got ready for dinner at Pride Lands: Feast of The Lion King. The experience is essentially dinner and a show. In the center of the restaurant, performers sing music from The Lion King throughout the meal. It was very well done and enjoyable. During dinner, we finally had an opportunity to really speak with our server, Anthony. He told us that he had worked as a server for 18 years on several different ships. But he also explained that Disney sometimes sends him to the shipyards to help build the ships. He had been in Germany helping to build the Disney Destiny alongside German and Italian workers—wearing a hard hat and safety vest and everything. I asked him how he had learned to do that kind of work. He said he had literally learned by working alongside the Germans and Italians. That is kind of nuts. Anthony’s contract was ending the next day, so he would be leaving the ship to return home to his family. He didn’t know whether Disney would send him back to the Destiny as a server or have him help build the new Disney Believe. We also talked about the design of the ship. Anthony said the servers were given opportunities to provide input, and he agreed with something we had noticed throughout the cruise: The dining areas feel very cramped. There isn’t much room between the tables, and the kitchens are also tight. That creates a constant sense of hustle and bustle. The servers on this ship always seemed to be operating at a heightened level of stress. I don’t want to say they appeared completely stressed out, but they definitely seemed tense. Everyone was constantly rushing, and the whole dining experience felt a little frantic. On ships like the Disney Fantasy, there is much more room for servers to move between the tables. On the Destiny, Anthony said there is sometimes only enough space for one person to pass. He hoped Disney would correct that problem on the Believe. If not, perhaps they’ll fix it when they introduce the next class of ships. It was fascinating to hear his perspective.
After dinner, we got in line for Frozen, A Musical Spectacular. We had already seen the show on the Disney Fantasy, but obviously we were going to see it again. Following Frozen, we headed to the Grand Hall for the “See Ya Real Soon” farewell party. During the first 15 minutes, characters and princesses come out for meet-and-greets. If there is someone you haven’t met during the cruise, this is your final opportunity. I think the girls met Moana. The next portion was a farewell to the villains. They didn’t pose for individual pictures, but they appeared as part of a story and interacted with the crowd. It was very cool to watch. Then Mickey and his friends came out to say goodbye, which was a nice—and slightly sad—way to end the cruise.
At around 10:45, we took the girls to The Sanctum, the ship’s Doctor Strange-themed lounge, where they the special glowy lemonade, and also a strawberry daquiri because Hallie didn’t feel like she’d had enough of those yet. Tzvi got a drink that when you touched the side of the glass it looked like there was electricity running through it. Afterward, we went to get pizza.
At around 11:30, we stumbled upon another rehearsal on the pool deck. This time, rather than rehearsing the songs, the performers were working on the choreography. Someone was directing every individual movement, which was fascinating to watch. I approached one of the officers overseeing the rehearsal, who told me she was in charge of the ship’s entertainment. I mentioned how interesting it was to see a rehearsal because Disney guests rarely get to watch anything behind the scenes. She explained that we happened to be sailing during a “crossover” period. A crossover occurs when a new cast boards the ship to observe the current shows and rehearse before taking over. The existing cast would be leaving within the next week or two, so both casts were currently on board. That was why so many late-night rehearsals were taking place. I should also mention that this woman was wearing the highest heels I have ever seen. They must have been five inches high, with no platform. I had no idea how she was walking in them.
I finally asked, “Are those magical shoes?”
She explained that she had been a ballerina, so her feet were comfortable in that position.
I was very impressed.
Eventually, we returned to our rooms and sat on the balcony for a while. There was crazy lightning off in the distance, and also tons of cruise ships, including one that was so close I felt like we could reach out and touch it. Then we went to bed. It was another good day.
Friday morning, we were all awakened bright and early at around 7:00 by an announcement telling everyone to stay off their balconies while the ship was being refueled. I think the real purpose of the announcement was simply to make sure everyone was wide awake.
We got up, had breakfast at the buffet and then it was time to leave the ship, which was very sad.
Now back to Fort Lauderdale and on to our next hotel!
End of Summer. Days 3 and 4. I Ran a 5-Cay.
Tuesday morning I knew I wanted to get up early to do the Castaway Cay 5K. Disney has a 5K course on its private island, and if you complete it and tell them you did it, they give you a medal. I had heard about it before the trip and made it my mission to do it. Of course, because I knew I needed to wake up early, my body woke me up even earlier. I was up shortly after six, even though we couldn’t get off the ship until 8:30.
I got dressed, grabbed a little cereal and coffee from the buffet, and headed off the ship as soon as I could. It was already very sunny and pretty hot, so I was glad I hadn’t saved the 5K for later. I took the tram to the starting point and completed the course. I would describe it as a run with some walking involved, both because it was so hot and because I am not in particularly great running shape. But it was really fun, and I was glad I did it.
Afterward, I returned to the ship and met everyone for an actual breakfast. We then went to the lobby to meet Mirabel before getting ready to head back onto the island.
As soon as we got off the ship, the kids started complaining about the heat, and, to be fair, it was extremely hot. We spent some time at the beach, which was very nice, although Madeleine developed some sort of rash from the water. I’m not sure what caused it. We got drinks and ate lunch at the island’s barbecue. They had veggie burgers, but they weren’t very good. It was also just painfully hot, so we headed back to the ship that afternoon.
We spent some time hanging out on board and met Cruella, which was fun. Tzvi and I also spent some time in the adults-only area before getting ready for dinner.
Tuesday night was Hercules night, meaning Disney Hercules was being performed in the theater. In 2000 my family sailed the Disney Magic where they performed Hercules the Muuuuuuusical (yes, pronounced just like that), and then we had seen Hercules on the West End last year, so I was very excited for the show. I decided to dress as one of the Muses. By that, I mean I wore a white dress that I owned but had only ever worn on a cruise, along with some Amazon jewelry I bought to complete the costume. It was really fun, and I got a lot of compliments.
Dinner was at Worlds of Marvel, the ship’s completely Marvel-themed restaurant. Groot helped lead the show, and the whole experience was really immersive. Our food arrived a little faster than it had the night before, although our waiter still seemed overwhelmed. He just didn’t have the ease that Disney servers usually seem to have.
After dinner, we went to see Disney Hercules, which was fantastic. I would say it was better than the production we saw in the West End, although you can’t really compare them because the cruise-ship version is only half as long. The show was extremely well done. It had all the puppetry, including the Titans and the many-headed Hydra. We were very impressed.
We eventually put the girls to bed, and Tzvi and I went to the Haunted Mansion Parlor for drinks. Talk about immersive—it feels as though you’re actually on the Haunted Mansion ride, except you’re sitting in a bar. We ordered two drinks. I don’t remember what they were, but they were delicious, and simply being inside the bar was incredibly cool. I wanted to steal a napkin that said Haunted Mansion but Tzvi wouldn’t let me.
Wednesday morning, we woke up in sunny Nassau. Docked across from us was the Carnival Glory, and we watched tons of people getting off that ship. Then I looked down at our gangways, and they were completely empty. This is because nobody gets off the ship in Nassau. I don’t know if that’s actually a thing, but we never planned to get off in Nassau, and apparently nobody else wanted to either.
We got up and had breakfast. Even though we knew many people were staying on board, we decided it was still a good day to ride the AquaMouse, the ship’s water ride. We waited about 30 minutes, which wasn’t bad. The pool deck also has Funnel Vision, a huge screen that constantly plays Disney movies. If you’re swimming—or waiting in line for the AquaMouse—you can watch a movie, which helps the time pass much faster.
Afterward, the girls changed, and I think Tzvi took them to get something for lunch. We knew Maleficent would be appearing at 1:45, and I had seen how long her line became the night before. So I got there at 12:45. Yes, I waited an hour—but I was first in line, and it quickly filled up behind me. It was a good thing I had arrived so early. While I waited, the girls ran around, met Goofy and hung out. Then we finally met Maleficent, and she was fantastic. She only appears for meet-and-greets about twice during the entire cruise, and her whole look is incredible. The makeup, the costume—everything is outstanding. She was also completely in character. That is one of the best things about this ship: You can meet characters you rarely, if ever, see in the parks. The girls really enjoyed it.
Next, we checked out Hero Zone, a two-level activity area at the back of the ship. The lower level is a sports court with basketball and other activities, while the upper level has air hockey, foosball and similar games. It’s a really fun place to hang out, so we played some air hockey and foosball. I also noticed that although you have to pay for air hockey on some other ships, it’s free on the Destiny.
We sent the girls off with Shir while Tzvi and I spent some time in the adults-only area. It is located at the back of the ship and has an infinity-style pool overlooking the ocean. The problem is that I believe there is only one hot tub on the entire ship, which I’ve heard is a common complaint about this class of ships. Thankfully, it was so hot that nobody particularly wanted to sit in it, so we had no trouble getting in. On a cooler sailing, however—like when we sail in January—one hot tub is not going to cut it. It would be horrible.
After that, we got ready for Pirate Night. The entire ship becomes pirate-themed, with special activities, character appearances and shows.
The girls had dinner with Shir while Tzvi and I went to Enchanté, the ship’s fancy adults-only specialty restaurant. The menu was created by a Michelin-starred chef, and we thought it would be nice to have a special dinner by ourselves. The meal was spectacular. The entire area is inspired by Beauty and the Beast. You enter through The Rose, where there is a beautiful display resembling the Beast’s enchanted rose. From there, you continue into Enchanté, where the staff already knows your name and escorts you to your table. Then you begin a very long and intricate meal.
They started by offering us champagne. I had the non-alcoholic champagne, which I had assumed would be complimentary, but turned out not to be. Either way, nice way to start the meal. Then we had an amuse bouche of three little bites, one of which was super cheesy and I did not touch and another that basically tasted like gefilte fish with a ton of chrain on it. They were interesting. Tzvi actually liked them. Then there was the bread – a fantastic rustic sourdough and a huge block of French butter. After that we had a four course tasting menu. It began with a tomato course, which was tomato ten different ways, including a stewed tomato, a brioche-croissant with a tomato dipping sauce, and a tomato water to drink as a palette cleanser. Next we had a potato gnocchi, which was good, followed by a dover sole which I actually tried (not my favorite, but I could appreciate it was good). For the final course Tzvi had a second fish and I had vegetable ravioli which were really tasty.
Finally it was time for dessert, which was basically a meal in itself. First they brought the cheese trolly, and Tzvi selected six different cheeses, all of which he enjoyed. Then they brought out a giant gold egg that had a little chocolate cake inside that said Happy Birthday (because I had said it was Tzvi’s birthday). After that they brought a selection of six different delicious petit fours. And then finally it was time for the desserts we had actually ordered. Tzvi had the pineapple dessert, which had a bunch of different elements – a bruleed pineapple with pineapple foam, a pineapple cake and a pineapple sorbet. I had the chocolate dessert. I can’t even describe it except to say it had layers of chocolate, a massive chocolate tuille thing on top and a chocolate ice cream. What a meal.
After dinner, we met back up with the girls and took pictures with Pirate Mickey. Then, at 10:15, we headed up to the pool deck for Pirate’s Rockin’ Parlay Party. It’s a pirate-themed rock concert featuring a live band and lots of classic rock music. Captain Jack Sparrow eventually makes an appearance, and the party ends with Disney’s famous fireworks at sea. It was a great party, and we all had a lot of fun.
Afterward, we brought the girls back to the room and put them to bed. At around midnight, Tzvi and I were sitting on the balcony when I suddenly heard the pirate music again—loud rock music coming from the pool deck. We went up to the pool deck and discovered that they were rehearsing the show. It wasn’t the same cast we had watched earlier; it was a completely different group of performers singing the songs and practicing the production. It was fascinating because you almost never get to see anything behind the scenes at Disney, unless you specifically pay for it, which I have, by the way. I assume the performers in the theater productions can rehearse during the day inside the theater. But because this show takes place on the pool deck, the only time they can rehearse is around midnight, after everything else has ended. It was pretty impressive to watch them rehearsing in real time. We stayed for a while, enjoyed our unexpected behind-the-scenes look and then headed to bed.
It was a good day.
End of Summer. Day 2. Welcome Aboard Kaplan Family!
Time to check-in!
We had already completed nearly the entire check-in process online, but Shir being in her second au-pair year and technically having an expired visa made the process take longer than usual. We started at one counter, were sent to another counter, waited some more, and watched as several supervisors were consulted. Ultimately, everything was fine.
By around 12:45, we were boarding the Disney Destiny for our four night sailing to the Bahamas!
As we boarded, the crew announced, “Welcome, Kaplan family!” They do this for every family, but it is always very exciting.
Then we began exploring the ship and eventually had lunch at Marceline Market, the buffet. On this class of Disney ships, all of the food is kept behind glass and served to you by crew members. It feels much cleaner than having everyone reach for the same serving utensils, which is nice.
After lunch we continued exploring. The artwork throughout the ship is fantastic. The Destiny’s theme is heroes and villains, and it definitely feels more adult than Disney’s other ships. The front of the ship is themed to villains, while the back is themed to heroes. The theme carries through everything—the staircases, the carpets, and all the artwork. It is extremely well done. The staterooms also have different themes. When our rooms were ready at around 1:30, we discovered that one was themed to Mulan and the other to Hercules. Obviously, I took the Hercules room.
We stopped by the kids club, which I’m sure our children will never actually use. It is very cool, though. There is an entire Marvel section, an entire Star Wars section, and a princess section. We had our muster drill at 3:30 and then headed upstairs for the Sail Away party. We missed the party on our last Disney cruise, so I really wanted to see it this time. It’s a great show with the core Disney characters and a countdown to the official start of the vacation. At one point Spider-Man came down from the top of the smokestack by his web. By the end, it was extremely hot and we were all sweating, but I’m glad we saw it.
[Tzvi: I’m glad Steph got to see it. I did not see much of anything. First off, while Steph was securing his spot right at the front of the railing so she could see, I was taking the kids for ice cream. We took the ice cream to where Steph had set up, but steps before we reached her Madeleine dropped her ice cream, so I took her back for another one. Then the party started, but Madeleine was very unhappy at how sticky she was, so I had to take her to find somewhere to get napkins and wash her hands. I did see Spiderman come down. That was cool. But that was about all I saw.]
Afterward, we returned to our rooms. All of our luggage had made it, so we unpacked and changed for dinner.
Our first dinner was at 1923. I’m not entirely sure how to describe the restaurant’s theme. I suppose the theme is…1923 (the year Disney founded Disney). I guess it’s more of a classy, formal dining room. In any event, the restaurant itself was fairly understated. The food was decent, although not amazing. I ordered an Indian dish. Madeleine ordered plain pasta as usual, but was very adventurous and tried seared tuna and tortellini stuffed with artichoke and cheese. She loved the tortellini and ate most of Tzvi’s meal. Hallie had her first of many Caesar salads and salmon.
We also met our dining team. Anthony was our server, Jonathan was our assistant server, and Raphael was our head server. They seemed very overwhelmed that first night by all of our allergies and requests. Our food took a very long time to arrive, and it ended up being an extremely lengthy dinner.
After dinner, we went to the Grand Hall, where a bunch of the ship’s officers were meeting guests. I spoke to the food and beverage officer and told him that dinner had taken a very long time. He explained that the first night of every sailing is chaotic but assured me that things should improve.
The night’s show was Disney Seas the Adventure, a cute welcome-aboard with songs from different Disney movies. Tzvi had a work call so he skipped it, but the girls and I enjoyed it.
When we returned to our rooms, we saw that our stateroom host had surprised the girls with Frozen sheets on their beds! Such a cute surprise. We got the girls settled into bed, or, more accurately, put them in their beds, said goodbye, and headed out to explore one of the bars.
The Disney Destiny has become known for its immersive lounges, and that night we chose De Vil’s, the ship’s Cruella de Vil-themed bar. The space is filled with plush couches and red velvet, and Cruella herself occasionally makes appearances. We ordered a drink called Perfectly Wretched that came with a side of lipstick, face powder and perfume, all of which were edible. I believe the lipstick was an ice pop, but I’m not sure. Whatever everything was, it was super cute and delicious.
At some point, they also brought out “dog biscuits” for everyone. They were actually sugar cookies shaped like dog biscuits—and I think they may have been some of the greatest cookies I have ever tasted. They were so good that when we left, we asked for additional biscuits in a doggy bag to go.
We walked around the ship for a little while, stopped for a midnight slice of pizza, and then went to our room.
When we got back, we discovered that someone had left pixie-dust gifts in our fish extender. For anyone unfamiliar with Disney cruises, a fish extender is a hanging organizer that guests place outside their stateroom doors. Other passengers leave little surprise gifts inside, a tradition known as “pixie dusting.” There is generally no expectation that you give anything in return, although some people get very into it and organize formal gift exchanges.
We received so many cute things throughout the cruise. I was really impressed by how much effort people put into these little gifts. I brought some stickers for the girls to give out, but that paled in comparison. Next time we will level up.
Overall, it was a very good first day on the Disney Destiny.
End of Summer. Day 1. The Presidential Suite Awaits.
Here we go – our end of summer cruise on the Disney Destiny, bookended by a one night stay in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise and a two night stay back in Fort Lauderdale after the cruise.
Sunday morning, we got up without having to rush because our flight wasn’t until 12:30. We left the house, got in the car, and headed to the airport. Everything was really easy—check-in, security, and then we were at the gate. We were seated in the second row of the plane, which was great. Unfortunately, once we were on board, the flight was delayed for an hour because the fueling truck was fueling the plane too slowly. Eventually, they had to switch fueling trucks.
We did have an amazing flight attendant named Ricoh, who made some pretty funny jokes.
“If you have devices please use headphones. No one wants to hear baby shark. And now it’s in your head. You’re welcome.”
“We need you seated so we can go. If you are standing, please do the opposite of that.”
“If you have children, please put the oxygen mask on your favorite child first.”
“Please take your right hand and place it over your heart now and repeat after me: I will lock the bathroom door.”
The flight itself was pretty smooth. We landed in Fort Lauderdale, collected our luggage, met our driver, and headed to the Omni Hotel. The Omni is a brand-new hotel located right by the port. You can literally look out your window and see the cruise ships.
What I haven’t mentioned is that while we were still at JFK, I received a call from Andrew, an assistant manager at the Omni. He told me that although we had booked connecting rooms, they didn’t have any available. Naturally, I was confused. I texted our travel agent, who told me, “Not only did you book connecting rooms—you paid extra for connecting rooms.”
So she called the hotel because…how does that happen?
Well, evidently, nobody really knows. They told her that perhaps someone on the night staff had switched some rooms around and made a mistake. When I spoke to Andrew, he said something along the lines of, “Well, that’s a pickle.”
Their solution was to put us in the Presidential Suite. At first, we were excited. We had never stayed in a Presidential Suite before. So we got to the Omni, checked in, and were taken to our Presidential Suite. The Suite has a huge living space with a powder room, a desk, a living area with a television, another desk, a dining-room table that converts into a pool table, a kitchen, and a shuffleboard table. The interesting thing about the Presidential Suite though, is that it only has one bedroom. The bedroom has a beautiful bathroom with both a bathtub and a shower, but alas, just one bed. So the solution was to bring in three rollaway beds. Hallie and Madeleine slept in the TV area, and Shir slept in the kitchen. It was kind of funny, but it worked. It feels like a space designed for two people to sleep in but fifty people to attend a party in. I’m not really sure who stays there or how they’re supposed to use everything in that suite.
We quickly changed and headed to dinner at JZ Steakhouse, where we met my friend Sarah, whom I used to work with at FIDF, and her boyfriend.
We had a very nice dinner, ordered way too much food, and ate a lot of meat. We had humus with these giant laffas, long cigars with brisket in them, arancini with brisket in them, onion rings, skewers of beef, skewers of lamb, and short ribs. For dessert we told them it was Tzvi’s birthday and they played loud music and brought sparklers in the desserts.
Mostly, it was just fun to catch up with Sarah and meet her boyfriend. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and put the kids to bed.
Finally able to relax, we decided to test out the fancy very technologically advanced shower. It was a Kohler with four jets that moved in a bunch of different directions with everything controlled by a touch screen display (not a Shabbos friendly shower). It was cool that it showed you the actual temperature in degrees and you could adjust degree-by-degree. Of course, all of that technology won’t help you if the train backs up and turns the shower into a bath. So that was fun.
We went to bed, exhausted, excited to get on the ship tomorrow!
Monday morning began after a pretty crappy night’s sleep, thanks to the girls repeatedly waking up. But when we opened the curtains, the Disney Destiny was right outside our window, looking as though it were waiting for us. It was an exciting start to the day.
We got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast, where Andrew—the assistant manager who had called me the day before—came to say hello and comped our entire meal, plus a little extra. The buffet wasn’t particularly appealing, but the à la carte options were good.
Because the hotel is right next to the port, I expected to see lots of families preparing to board cruises. Instead, we saw almost no families. What we did see was a tremendous number of people with great hair. Eventually, I realized they were there for Behind the Chair, a hairdresser convention taking place at the hotel. Some of them definitely looked like hair dressers, and not because of their hair.
Anyway, if you are sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, the Omni is a great option.
We packed up our things and took the hotel’s complimentary shuttle to the Disney Cruise Line terminal. The girls called it a party bus (it was just a sprinter van). The drive took less than five minutes. We unloaded our bags and got in line to check in. As we stepped into the line to enter the terminal, Shir realized she had left her phone at the hotel. I called the Omni, they found the phone, and then sent the shuttle driver back to the port to bring it to us. Tzvi actually managed to get off the line, get the phone, and be back before it was our turn to check in. It was pretty amazing. Well done, Omni. Top-notch service.
On to check-in!
Anguilla. Part 4. You Could Kill Someone with this Bowl.
Saturday morning we got a late start by waking up at 8:00am! How glorious.
We eventually made our way to breakfast. Nothing unusual today. Then we spent the entire day on the beach. At some point we walked down to the Cap Shack for lunch. LL was there too. I had the Island Bowl again and Tzvi had a fried fish sandwich that he loved.
We went to the pool in the afternoon where I had the pleasure of talking to a couple from Nashville. One husband was a primary care and infectious disease doctor and the other husband was in sales. They stopped me because they liked my bathing suit. Win. They also told us that Juluca is the name of an HIV medication, and that apparently it means rainbow something. In the pool we also spoke to a couple of guys from Toronto. They said they had to connect in Newark to get here. Ew. We ordered chips and guacamole and drinks that we had in the pool. I got a mudslide, which was absolutely delicious. Another win.
When we finished at the pool Tzvi went to the pool attendant to close the tab and said he wasn’t able to sign the check. The guy said no problem and asked if we were Adventist. I guess it’s not obvious to everyone. Tzvi told him we’re Jewish, and then the attendant said his family is Rastafarian and that they observe the sabbath on Saturday also. Who knew. Then the band arrived and started setting up for tonight’s live music at Uchu. The band leader asked Tzvi where he was from and when Tzvi said New York, the man said in the thickest Caribbean accent possible, “I’m a Long Island guy.” Apparently he used to live in Elmont.
It got a little less sunny in the afternoon so we ended the day at the spa where we went in the hot tub, even though it was still like 85 degrees outside. Tzvi spent some time in the sauna and I read my book.
We went back to the room, I finished my book, and we got ready for dinner.
Our last dinner was at Pimm’s, which I guess is supposed to be the best restaurant on property. As I’ve mentioned, it’s in the same building as Cips so it kind of just feels like you’re in one big restaurant, although I didn’t feel like I was eating at Cips. Somehow they make it feel different. The food was much better than Cips, although it was a very long meal. I don’t know why. It just felt like things were very drawn out, but they may have been trying to go for a fine dining ambience where nothing is rushed.
We started with drinks. I tried to order a drink with Pimm’s liqueur in it, but ironically they were out of it. How does that happen? We started with house bread. Then they brought an amuse bouche that was a salmon mouse macaron that Tzvi tried but I did not. Then we had a carrot ginger soup that was delicious. When they brought it to us they split it into two of the nicest bowls I’ve ever seen. I think they were marble and you could definitely kill someone with it. We also ordered cauliflower croquettes (which were awesome) and a beet salad (which was also good, and which they also split into two plates for us). For the mains I got a curry gnocchi and Tzvi got the grilled mahi. I was so full by the end and was sad I couldn’t eat more. I really enjoy curries. I’m not sure why I don’t eat them more often.
For dessert we got a chocolate soufflé and a coffee mouse, which was listed on the menu as having “sea moss, salted caramel and oat milk sorbet.” I don’t even know how to describe it. It was kind of a soupy mess of coffee and cookie crumbs. Tzvi really enjoyed it.
After dinner we came back and packed up. Tzvi set his alarm for 8am so we could be up and out and have some beach time in the morning! We watched some Law and Order and then realized it was midnight and we had never heard from the kids or my parents. I had texted my mom but got no reply. So, I assumed they were all dead. Turns out they weren’t, and the kids just don’t care to speak to us anymore. We spoke to my mom a little after midnight and sounds like all went well. It’s possible they agree to watch our kids the next time we go on vacation, but I’m not hopeful about it.
Sunday
Sunday we were up bright and early. Tzvi leapt out of bed and got ready for a breakfast that neither of us were hungry for. We opted for the French toast once again because it was so good. We also tried the Island Shakshuka, which was interesting.
Then we had our last hour and a half at the beach. We swam all the way down to the end of the bay by the main house, lamenting that it was the last swim. Then we walked back and it was time to head back to reality.
At 11:15 a man can for our bags and took us to the lobby. It was at this point that I learned about Hallie’s book report. Apparently she was supposed to have been working on a book report all week. Well, that never happened. I can’t blame her completely because she was out sick half the week. But she did know it existed. I then had to contact other moms to see what the story was and it ends up there was a lot of confusion. I don’t know what’s going to happen with this report, but I’m glad I’m not dealing with it this moment.
We packed up the car and said our last goodbye to Evan, who sent us off with a small coconut cake and stood waving as we drove away like in the White Lotus. I swear this place thinks of it all. I wonder if more hotels are doing that now that everyone has watched that show.
Now that the trip is over, I’m ready to render a verdict. This was a fantastic hotel. We have almost no complaints (we have to have some complaints – it is still us after all), but they’re minor, like the fact that they ran out of the complementary beach bags you’re supposed to get (apparently its been a few months now). I would say service here was top notch, and everyone was really friendly and personable. The beach and ocean were 10/10. The room was great. The food was great. But one thing I feel I have to mention is that the people were nice. For a luxury hotel that’s owned by LVMH, it doesn’t seem to draw an ostentatious crowd. No one was dripping in labels. Sure, we saw Prada beach bags and a woman walking on the beach was wearing a bathing suit and a Van Kleef necklace. But for the most part, people seemed pretty normal. Rich, but normal. Not sure what we were doing here since we are neither of those things.
The ride was about 15 minutes to the ferry terminal. We had to go through immigration and then wait for the ferry. I was hoping for another speedboat ride, but this boat was about twice the size of the last one. Still wonderfully bumpy though! I loved that boat ride.
Once docked at St. Martin we went through immigration yet again to reenter St Martin. We were driven the thirty seconds from the ferry port to the airport, and then checked in and went through immigration to leave St Martin. So many immigration points.
We had about an hour to spare so we did some shopping, picked up tuna sandwiches, and checked out the lounge. I wanted to buy something last minute for the kids, so I did, except they called our flight and started boarding early which led to Tzvi having a total meltdown at the gate. We were supposed to board at 2:29, but they started boarding around 2:15. Now I should mention that we were once again sitting in row 1, where you’re unable to put your bags under the seat in front of you so they always reserve the overhead space for those rows, so really there was absolutely no need to rush on the plane because there would definitely be space for Tzvi to put his bag. Tzvi ended up sitting at the gate watching people go by, practicing mindfulness.
We had to take a short bus ride from the gate to the plane. Once again the plane wasn’t that full and we had a free seat next to us. The flight, which was scheduled to take off at 3:14, took off at 3:15. I can’t remember the last time that happened.
And then we were off and the trip was over.
Great trip.
Anguilla. Part 3. Let's Go Knicks!
Friday morning we woke up to sunny skies once again. We really lucked out with the weather here. Tzvi didn’t want to go to the gym again, so I did a quick ten minute core in the room and we were off to breakfast. Today we tried the waffles and they were thick yet crisp.
After breakfast we spent a couple of hours on the beach. Tzvi got a floating mat and just floated in the ocean until a wave came and knocked him off, and then he came running out saying he was almost eaten by a shark, except it didn’t actually touch him and when he showed me the “shark” it was about the length of my arm.
A little before noon we walked down to the spa for our massages. The spa is a Guerlain spa, it’s gorgeous and kind of Moroccan themed. We put our stuff in the locker room and headed to our massage. Both of us had great massages. When I said hard pressure she understood the assignment. I think I finally relaxed. We hit the sauna for a few minutes, and then went to gather our belongings. On the way out, I asked someone to show me some perfumes, and boy did she. They sell the whole line of Guerlain perfumes (because it’s also an LMVH brand) and I think we went though at least 15 scents. They had the eau de parfums that were $300+ and the eau de toilet that were under $200. I ended up choosing the toilet water because it smelled delicious and also I didn’t want to spend $350 on the real stuff.
After the massage we went back to the beach and ordered food at our seats. I had a pizza and Tzvi had a fish sandwich. We also had a jar with ice cream, cookie pieces, hazelnuts and coffee liquer. It was delicious. We laid out for a bit, then hit the pool once again in the late afternoon where we again got drinks and sat in the pool FaceTiming the girls before shabbos before going back to the room to get ready for dinner.
When we were in the room, Evan, our butler, called to check in because he said he hadn’t heard from us all day. I told him we were doing well. I also mentioned that after sundown I would no longer get his text messages. He said “of course, yes I know your sundown is around 6:30.” How did he know! I mean, I guess we are pretty obvious? Then I mentioned that we wouldn’t be able to sign any bills and he said of course no problem. And there was never a problem.
Dinner tonight was at Uchu, which is outside above the pool area. In the middle of the restaurant is this little pool, which they say is a wading pool but we’ve never actually seen anyone in it. The restaurant is Nikkei cuisine, which is Japanese-Peruvian fusion. Midway through our meal our friend LL Cool J showed up and sat at the table next to us. We were brought fried wontons with a tomato dipping sauce to start. We once again ordered too much food. We started with spicy edamame, which actually wasn’t that spicy – it was covered in a sticky chili sauce and was delicious. We also got veggie empanadas that were really good. For mains we got a vegetable fried rice, a side of vegetables, and mahi skewers. There was live music, which was a nice touch, but by 8:30 we were getting antsy because the Knicks game was about to start (LL had it on his phone). We ordered churros for dessert, then asked if we could have them inside at the bar where they were showing the game and they said no problem.
Tonight’s Shabbos activity was watching the Knicks game with fellow fans, who, like us, booked a vacation for the first week in June thinking that the Knicks being in the finals during vacation was about as likely as Anguilla being struck by a nuclear missile attack from Albania.
It was nice to watch with other fans and there was great energy in the bar. There was an older couple from the Upper West Side who stayed until the end of the first half and I swear they didn’t say one word to each other the whole time. There was Knicks Hat and his wife (we don’t know his name but we always saw him in his Knicks hat, so we just referred to him as Knicks Hat). There was a woman from the West Village who was wearing blue capri pants and an orange shirt. And then there were a number of other couples who came and went throughout the night. Oh, and of course LL Cool J and his wife came in to watch the last five minutes of the first half. So, if anyone asks, we watched Game 2 of the NBA finals with LL Cool J.
It was a long time to sit in this bar. We didn’t have the option of going back to our room since we couldn’t put the TV on there, so we just sat and sat. I ordered a Kahlua, Baileys and cream, and Tzvi followed Knicks Hat and ordered an Anguilita rum with Ting. Thing is a Caribbean grapefruit soda that’s basically a better version of Fresca.
The Knicks won by a hair. What a crazy game. When Wemby missed the shot at the buzzer everyone left in the bar erupted and high fived each other. It was great. Then we floated back to our room and went to bed.
Anguilla. Part 2. Mom, I have a headache.
We woke up (too early) for our first full day. I think I was up at 650.
By 855am we were on bikes heading to breakfast. There are bikes placed all over the resort that you can just grab one and ride around. It’s not like Rosewood Mayakoba where every room got a dedicated bike. It’s more of a free for all here.
Breakfast is in the combined space of Cips and Pimm’s. Both are beautiful open spaces (of course no walls) with sweeping views of the whole bay. We were seated at a table in the Cips side next to the water. They serve a buffet and an à la carte menu. The buffet had some great pastries, as well as eggs, fruits, yogurts. The pastries were really good and very fresh. We also tried the oat crusted French toast, which we didn’t realize was gluten free. It tasted gluten free.
After breakfast Tzvi went to the beach and I went to the gym before joining him. We spent most of the day just sitting on the beach and relaxing. We swam in the ocean a bit. I think this is definitely one of the top two waters I’ve ever been in. Anguilla is known for having some of the best beaches to swim in, and it didn’t disappoint. The water was crystal clear and pretty calm. It could’ve been a touch warmer, but I’m not really complaining. Throughout the day they kept bringing around little things – glasses of iced tea, shots of a vodka drink, sorbet, cold towels. Great service.
Around 2pm we were hungry so we made our way down to the Cap Shack for lunch. I had an Island Bowl with fried tofu, roasted jerk chickpeas, cabbage slaw, mango, rice and a passion fruit dressing. It was delicious. Tzvi had a pulled tuna burger and sweet potato fries, which he also really liked.
At some point during lunch Hallie’s math tutor and third grade teacher, Miss Shelby, started texting me that Hallie has a headache. Hallie really has things figured out. Whenever she needs something from me during school hours, she finds Shelby and has her text me. She’s very resourceful and has figured out that this works better than going through the hassle of visiting the school nurse and getting the office to contact me. There was only an hour and a half left in school so I sent Shir to pick her up early. Let’s hope there’s nothing really wrong with her.
We stayed on the beach until around 5pm, when we made our way down to the pool. The pool is really warm and great. We had rum punch and Diet Coke and swam for a while. They have these cool floating trays that hold your drinks and they actually work well. In the pool we met a young couple from Tennessee who had just gotten married, like last Saturday. I don’t understand how people get married and then leave for a honeymoon a day later. We also met a couple from Lakewood. Jews… we’re everywhere!
Finally it was after 6pm and we decided to go back to the room. We got ready for dinner and then walked back to the main building for dinner at Cips. We were seated again along the water and it was just beautiful looking out at the hotel lit up at night.
We started with drinks. I went with a simple mojito, but Tzvi had a type of martini that had muddled cherry tomatoes in it and was ginormous. It was weird. For food, they started us off with a delicious warm bread. Then we ordered way too much food. We started with a margarita pizza and Caesar salad that was made table-side. If that wasn’t enough appetizers we also the fried zucchini, which turned out to be a massive pile of stringy fried zucchini and were absolutely delicious. For mains (which we weren’t even hungry for), I had pasta with tomato sauce and Tzvi had paccheri (a large tube pasta) with tomato sauce and chunks of branzino. For dessert we had a warm chocolate cake that they poured warm chocolate over and a rum baba.
Since it was game 1 of the NBA finals, we put the game on Tzvi’s iPhone and watched while we ate. It was a very exciting game and a perfect setting to sit and watch. It was halftime when we finished our meal.
As we were finishing, we saw a couple walk through the restaurant. People were saying hello to him and he was giving fist bumps. When he turned around we realized it was LL Cool J. All I have to say is that he is a very large man.
We walked back to the main building and saw there were a few people sitting at the bar and watching the game. Before we arrived we had emailed and asked if they would be showing the game in a public setting, but they said they weren’t sure yet. It seems that they installed a tv in the bar just for this. Was it because of us? Who knows. We were pretty exhausted though so we decided to go back to our room and watch the end of the game in bed. Of course the Knicks won (by 10!) capping off a great day.
Thursday
We woke up too early again. If someone knows how to turn off my internal alarm clock let me know, although I suspect I need to wait until both kids are out of the house and in college for that to reset itself, although by then we’ll be old and be waking up to pee at all hours. Life is cruel sometimes.
At 756am we texted Shir, “Hi Hal. Love you, have a great day!”
She replied, “Hey, Lisa told me she is not gonna go to school today.”
“Oy, did she say what was wrong?”
“She said she has a headache.”
Ok, so a headache and she is continuing to find ways to manipulate people, this time it’s my mother and she’s convinced her she needs to stay home. Not great.
Anyway, we managed to get out early and hit the gym. I’m not sure what it says about the clientele of this resort that the gym was pretty crowded at 830am.
Throughout my one hour workout the trip slowly unraveled. Apparently Hallie had woken up around 12:30 with a low fever, and then was up and down. She’s convinced she woke up at 3 and never went back to sleep. Of course my mother was up until 5, but we can’t confidently say how much of that was Hallie’s fault and how much was that’s her general way of being. I was texting my mom back and forth and she made an appointment with the pediatrician for 12:30. In order to mentally escape this I decided to do a run on the treadmill, which I haven’t done since I hurt my foot. While it was short and a mix of running and walking, I have to say my foot didn’t hurt. Hooray for the small wins.
We then had an anxiety ridden breakfast, not that that stopped us from eating. Today we ordered the French toast, which was definitely bathed in some alcoholic custard. It was very good.
We walked back on the beach to the room, changed, and settled into our beach seats. Today we opted not to eat anywhere for lunch and got chips and guacamole on the beach. It was pretty good. From 1230-130 I was back and forth texting with my mom while she was at the pediatrician. And the diagnoses is… Flu B! At this point I was ready for my head to explode. Instead, I asked our server to please find me one of the drinks in a pineapple. It was leaking on the bottom, but it worked for me.
As it got later, it got a bit cooler and windier on our side of the bay so we opted to spend some time at the pool before going in and changing for dinner.
At 6pm we walked down to the lobby to watch the nightly Sabering ritual. When we arrived, the hotel manager was telling a story about a gardener at the hotel who dug a hole in the sand so a pregnant woman could lay with her belly in it and then she named the baby after him. I think it was George. Then they had guests open bottles of champagne using a saber. That was cool.
Tonight’s dinner was off property at the Four Seasons. When we were deciding where to stay, we looked at both the Belmond and the Four Seasons and ultimately decided on the Belmond because it’s smaller, more intimate and known for being less family friendly and more geared toward couples. Walking around the Four Seasons, we felt like we had made the right choice. It’s a beautiful resort, but there were kids all over the place and it felt kind of big and impersonal. I’m not sure the whole resort is actually bigger than ours, but the main lobby and the outdoor spaces just felt very large. We started with a drink at the Sunset Lounge, which is known for having really beautiful sunsets, except it was kind of cloudy so we didn’t get the famous Four Seasons Anguilla sunset. Oh well. Also, while this hotel feels more lively – there was a DJ at the lounge and it was pretty packed – the lounge was right next to the pool and there were lots of kids still swimming at 645 as we were having drinks.
The drinks were not memorable. Tzvi ordered something orange and I ordered something pink, except I didn’t particularly like mine and Tzvi’s matched my dress better so we switched. We recognized several people from our hotel, including a couple who were at the next table at last night’s dinner at Cips. We called them the tall couple because both the man and the woman had to be over six feet tall.
We sat for a half hour until it was time to go to dinner at Salt, the restaurant at the Four Seasons. Dinner was absolutely delicious, but I don’t recall much because I was just in my head about everything that was going on. Midway through dinner Hallie called us crying because she missed us and was lamenting that we wouldn’t all be together for Shabbat. Good luck to her in Seneca (though she claims that it’s different because her friends will be there).
[Tzvi: I’ll fill in the gaps where my wife has blocked out the meal. When we arrived at Salt, they brought us to a station where they filled little glasses with some sort of passion fruit drink and you had the option of adding rum or not. Yes please. Then we were seated, of course one table away from the tall couple from our hotel. To start, they brought around a cart with johnnycakes and butter and, of course, salt. There were different things that you could choose to add to the salt like herbs and fruits. We had one salt with parsley and rosemary and another salt with orange. Very tasty. For drinks Steph ordered something with passion fruit (they’re big on that here) and I ordered a rum drink that the menu said was “finished tableside,” although that just turned out to mean that they poured it out of the shaker at the table. Whomp whomp. For appetizers Steph had a pumpkin soup and I had a tuna ceviche. For the mains, I had a grilled grouper and Steph had a vegetable curry. We also got a side of peas and rice, which is the national dish of Anguilla apparently. We were so full by the end of it.]
For dessert we decided to order the warm chocolate cake, which they told us would take 15 minutes. No problem. After about 13 minutes they brought out a cake with a sparkler. At the same time they brought a few other people sparklers and sang Happy Birthday, but the Stevie Wonder version. I think that’s the only version they know here because last night we heard it as well. Do they think that’s the real Happy Birthday song? Anyway, the cake they brought us was not our chocolate cake. They told us it was a strawberry mousse cake and they wrote Happy Anniversary in chocolate. We weren’t sure if this was an extra dessert or if they had brought out the wrong dessert, but then after a few minutes they brought out the warm chocolate cake. It was delicious, but at this point we were ready to vomit.
Finally we got a cab and headed back to the hotel. One nice thing about this island is that no matter where you get a taxi you can charge it to your hotel. I’m not sure if the cab drivers love that, but hey, works for us! We also noticed that at the Four Seasons, they gave us a Cap Juluca pen to sign with and at at least one meal at Cap Juluca they gave us a Four Seasons pen. I guess it’ s a really small island and the pens get around.
We got a golf cart and went back to the room and went to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow I will find a way to relax.