Day 16 of Vacation - Cruise Day 13, Landfall Dinner

Our last dinner of the cruise :(  It's been a fun and long two weeks lots of tasty meals and a few not so tasty meals as well.  The Landfall dinner menu looked somewhat interesting.

Day 16 of Vacation - Cruise Day 13, Lunch Dessert Buffet

On our last sea day, after 5 consecutive days at sea we attended the cooking extravaganza, at the end of that show we found out about the lunch time dessert buffet.

We were able to get up to the buffet by 11:10am and they had the area roped off so people could take pictures until around 11:30am.  After taking a couple of pictures we were number six or so in line.  Just some brief commentary and some pretty pictures after the break.

Day 15 of Vacation - Cruise Day 12, Captain's Gala Dinner

The final formal night and a sign we are reaching the end of our Panama Canal Transit Cruise, traditionally this is the lobster and steak dinner night where they try to really wow you.

Day 14 of Vacation - Cruise Day 11, Chef's Dinner

This is a first for us, a Chef's Dinner on a cruise, there were fewer menu choices on the menu than normal. Let's see how it goes

Day 13 of Vacation - Cruise Day 10, Cosmopolitan Dinner

Quite the interesting menu tonight, Surf and Turf ! And not on the last formal night either !

Day 12 of Vacation - Cruise Day 9, Italian Dinner

Just over half way thru our cruise and we are onto the Italian Dinner, as we were walking into the dining room they had the little carts out again so they were preparing to make something special, I wonder what?

Day 11 of Vacation - Cruise Day 8 Costa Rica - Okey Dokey Tours

Here's something a little different for the blog, normally I blog about food but I am making an exception as this was the single most enjoyable part of our entire vacation.  A little bit of history first, during the planning phase of our vacation we were concerned about

1 - Keeping costs under control
2 - Having a fun time

At the recommendations of both the members on the Cruise Critic Board and my colleague at work who had previously taken a tour with Okey Dokey Tours, I fired off an email to Charlie Soto, checking for availability of the B2 Tour.

After some back and forth correspondence we booked the B2 Tour, (all the info is at http://www.okeydokeytours.com/)

Arriving in port it was shaping up to be a beautiful day as the sun was shining and it was not incredibly hot out.  A very nice day in the low/mid 20's with a very reasonable amount of humidity.  After walking out through the gates there was a sign with our name on it and we grouped up with the other 4 members of our group along with Emily our guide before heading off to see the monkeys.

Day 10 of Vacation - Cruise Day 7, French & Mediterranean Dinner

Ah yes finally, the dinner with escargot and frog legs.  On Celebrity escargots are on the everyday menu however on Princess they are not.

Day 10 of Vacation - Cruise Day 7 Fruit Carving

Well with a total of 10 days at sea, the cruise staff had to come up with something creative to keep the prisoners happy :).  On this wonderful day the kitchen staff performed some fruit carving to the masses (yes people were waiting on the steps and what not a good 40 minutes before the carving took place.

Day 9 of Vacation - Cruise Day 6 Fuerte Amador, Princess Dinner

Not a typo, a 2nd Princess dinner?  After the amazing chateaubriand I was looking forward to seeing how tonight would play out.

Day 8 of Vacation - Cruise Day 5 Panama Canal, Princess Dinner

After a long day of cruising the Panama Canal, we were looking forward to dinner.  Tonight's dinner was the Princess Dinner.

Day 8 of Vacation - Cruise Day 5 Panama Canal Lunch

After waking up at 4:30am to look at the Gatun Locks on the eastern entrance of the Panama Canal a short nap was in order prior to lunch, today we decided to have lunch in the dining room as opposed to the buffet. (Reviews in red are by Helen)

Day 6 of Vacation - Cruise Day 3 Aruba, North American Dinner

After taking a bus tour that took the better part of the morning around Aruba we had the afternoon to rest up before the North American Dinner at night.  Have I complained yet about our dinner seating? The 5:15pm dinner seating is much too early and it just doesn't feel right. (Reviews in Red are by Helen)

Day 5 of Vacation - Cruise Day 2, Chef's Table

The much talked about Chef's Table as per the members over at Cruise Critic, we had previously tried to book the Chef's Table on our last Princess Cruise but were unsuccessful.  On this cruise the first thing we did when boarding the ship was to call the Dine line to get our name thrown onto the list for the Chef's Table.  At $95 pp is it worth it?

Day 4 of Vacation - Cruise Day 1, At Sea Captain's Welcome Dinner

Captain's Welcome Dinner, surprisingly our first formal night was our first sea day being the 2nd day of our cruise.  After spending most of the day lounging around and just exploring the ship we were quite famished and ready for dinner. (Reviews in red are Helen's)

Day 4 of Vacation - Cruise Day 1, Lunch At Sea

As we had 2 days at sea to start our cruise, we decided to have lunch in the Provence Dining room, on the Coral Princess there are 2 dining rooms, Bordeaux and Provence.  Provence is the set time dining room and Bordeaux is normally reserved for Anytime dining.

Day 3 of Vacation - Cruise Day 0 Embarkation in Fort Lauderdale

This is the "Sail away" dinner, I forgot about taking a shot of the menu (thankfully this didn't happen to often), this dinner is normally where the cruise line attempts to stuff you so full of food so you don't order 3 entrees for the next 2 weeks. (Reviews in red are Helen's)

Crab and Lobster Pate – It did not have an overwhelming seafood taste to it, inside there was crab and lobster inside amongst other things, it was “Ok” 75/100 Would order again.

Day 2 of Vacation - Pelican's Landing Dinner, Fort Lauderdale

For our Day 2 dinner in Fort Lauderdale we were hoping to try something near our Hotel, firing up the trusty iPhone the Urban Spoon app plotted a number of locations near us, with Pelican Landing having an 89% approval rating.  Our first foray into Pelican’s Landing after getting off at stop 6 of the Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi we were greeted with a full restaurant even the bar was full.  We decided to go back to the hotel first to change into warmer clothes before trying again.

Dinner at Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q

At the recommendation of my colleague for a restaurant to try in Fort Lauderdale, we were recommended Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q which we were told was some of the best BBQ in Fort Lauderdale, the real kicker behind this restaurant is the never ending pit fire that I hear is never extinguished.  First impressions were a little dinner style place, it really looks like a BBQ place and smells like one as well.

Having no idea what to order we ordered a little bit of everything..