"Have a Drink & Try to Relax" - Fantasy Eastern Concierge Sept 2012 - Complete

[Dis_Yoda]

Enjoying your trip report. We were on the same cruise, probably saw you in the concierge lounge. Love the Remy pictures, makes me wish I would have done Remy for dinner instead of just brunch.



We were fortunate enough to upgrade to one of the two 1 bedroom suites still available at the port. We stayed at the MCO Hyatt, checked in at the airport, assigned to the first bus to port and those of us on the bus were first people in the terminal at about 10:15ish.

I'm glad you are enjoying! We probably did see each other in the lounge some. It was great for breakfasts as we don't tend to eat a lot for breakfast & having access to the bottle water at all times was wonderful. Now that I've seen pictures from the brunch, I'm sad I didn't do it. There is always next time though!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Early Morning Sea Day

My husband and I are in the habit of waking up early. He tends to go to the gym early in the morning at home & I just go to work really early in the morning.

My husband went to the gym at 6:30am. He had the Metabolic Testing in the Spa at 8:30am also so I wouldn't see him for a bit.

Myself, I wandered around the ship until my facial at 8:00AM.

After my morning walk around the deck, I headed back into the concierge lounge to grab breakfast. I was able to get some hot tea, a large fresh croissant, cheese, and fruit that morning.

Entrance into lounge

I enjoyed this in peace and quiet while watching some early morning cartoons & chatting with one of the members of the concierge staff as I was the only one in there until it was almost time for me to leave for my facial.

At 7:50am, I headed down a floor to Senses Spa to check in for facial. I had Nicole from England for my service. It was wonderful! It left my skin feeling renewed.

The service took about 75 minutes & I headed back to my room.

I talked to my husband about his treatment. He was told his metabolic rate is higher than he thought it was & thus in turn isn't eating enough for the work outs he has been doing lately. He really enjoyed the discussion with the trainer.

It was then time for me to head to Palo to meet up with 3 lovely ladies I've known from the Dis for a few years for Brunch.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Palo Brunch

I was the first to arrive of our group so I hung out in Meridian until they arrived. The first came right on time & we had to wait a few minutes for the other two to show up as they were at the DVC Members Party & wanted to see if they won the shipboard credit.

Meridian Lighting

Once everyone arrived, we were led to our table next to the window and our wonderful server, Laszlo, offered us a cocktail (champagne or a mimosa) before we were guided to the buffet.

Choices for Main Course:

Pizza!

We ordered a full Margarita and Goat Cheese for the table along with a split of the Blue Cheese & Grape and Italian Sausage.

We each got our plates and selected various options from the buffet tables.

My selections were all good. I went for cheese, shrimp, fruit, some pastries, a piece of tuna, and bread.

As our pizzas were brought out, we placed our orders for the entree selections.

We definitely had too much pizza for the 4 of us. I only had some of the Margarita which I really enjoyed. The ladies that tried the other three had great comments about each of them.

For my entree, I had the Chicken Parm.

The risotto was perfect in consistency (Gordon Ramsey would be proud!)

If we weren't full enough, there were still desserts to partake.

As we finished up our meal, I had noticed previously on the navigator that there was a Tile Coaster activity for adults at O'Gills at 11:30. I was headed there and 2 of them joined me for it.

 

[lucas]

Great review and pictures!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Martini Tasting

After Tile Making, I met up with my husband back at the room & got him a small lunch by the pool before we headed to the Martini Tasting.

We walked to the backside of the ship getting to Meridian.

We were there a little bit early, so we hung out on the deck in the back until it was 1.

Stewart was our host for this tasting.

We started with a classic gin martini & a vodka martini.

The gin martini was made with Hendrick's Gin & it was actually a gin I was ok with drinking. I think it was because of the cucumbers it is made with rather than some of the other gins out there. The vodka martini was made with Russian Standard & was a lot smoother than some of the other vodka martini's I've had.

The next was a classic cosmo.

The next was one of the martini's offered in Meridian.

For the final martini, it was a combination of what people were asking for it to be made out of. I wish I could remember everything that was in it but it was with Absolut Pears, Passion Fruit Juice, Fresh Lime Juice, Bitters, and *mystery ingredient that I can't remember*

Overall, it was a fun tasting with a couple different martinis than what was done previously.

After our tastings, we spent the rest of our afternoon before dinner between Satellite Falls, the Concierge Sundeck or Rainforest Room. I ended up finishing my Game of Thrones Book 5 & moving onto Divergent.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Royal Court & Aladdin

After our relaxing afternoon, we headed to dinner at Royal Court. As we hadn't met our serving team yet, we were able to meet them this evening. They seemed a bit flustered this evening but seeing as all their other tables had lots of children and people coming in late, I could see why.

We were happy to find out we didn't have table mates.

I went with one of the specialty drinks at the top of the menu.
Double Crowned

My husband started with the pomegranate glazed duck breast.

I went with the french onion soup.

For the main course my husband with the filet w/ garlic shrimp.

I went with the wild boar.

My husband had the mango cheesecake for his dessert.

I went with the creme brûlée.

My husband went back to the room to watch Sunday Night Football. I headed to Aladdin. I sat in the very back row of the balcony as where I used to watch on the Dream was already filled.

I got a drink from the lounge & called it a night after the show.

 

[jjgarv]

Enjoying your TR and pictures! Do you have Navigators that you could post?

 

[linco711]

Enjoying your review

 

[oceangirl]

Is that your photo of Aladdin or one of the stock ones from Shutters? I ask because I'd heard you aren't allowed to take photos during the shows anymore (flash was always banned) and I was very disappointed. Are they relaxing that rule now on the Fantasy? TIA.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Enjoying your TR and pictures! Do you have Navigators that you could post?

I do not have any navigators, sadly!

Enjoying your review

Glad you are enjoying!

Is that your photo of Aladdin or one of the stock ones from Shutters? I ask because I'd heard you aren't allowed to take photos during the shows anymore (flash was always banned) and I was very disappointed. Are they relaxing that rule now on the Fantasy? TIA.

Um. I arrived right before the start so maybe I missed the announcement but my camera was in hand and no one said anything. I was sitting in the very back of the balcony and only took 2 pictures throughout the show.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Loving your TR. Your pictures are great and those martinis shouldn't look so yum this early in the morning!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Second Sea Day

My husband spent the morning in the gym or reading.

I spent the morning either swimming, rainforest room, tanning on deck and reading even more books. (I finished 4 books by the end of the cruise!)

At 12:30pm, we headed to the DVC Presentation in the Tube. We already knew we were going to buy on this cruise before we did the presentation but we knew we needed to set up the appointment to buy along with trying for the free shipboard credit that they give away at the presentation. We set up our meeting to be after our Mixology class.

We got lunch by the pool. He had a chicken sandwich and I had some chicken tenders, then it was time for our Mixology class.

It was different than it was when we did the class on the Dream with both drinks and set up. On the Dream, it was set up at the bar itself with a max of 10 students (we were the only 2 there though) Here it was set up around the tables and probably about 25 people total.

We started with the most popular drink of a cruise: The Bahama Mama

He showed us how to make it and brought someone up to mix it.

Our 2nd drink was a martini. It was a play on a cosmo and jokes were made about Sex...err "Fun" in the City because apparently you can't say Sex on a Disney boat. I don't remember what was in it though as I forgot at this time

He started asking a lot of questions during this time, so as we moved to the 3rd drink - which was pretty much a rum & coke w/ lime juice, I ended up getting an additional full size sample because I acted like Ms. Know It All. (I behaved after I got my drink though)

This drink we were able to make ourselves as we based around the liquors so the drink to the side is my partially made drink as I"m waiting on the last ingredient to be based around.

Our next drink we made was a Berry Mojito. We had to muddle the berries and mint and added the rum and club soda.

Our last drink was a layered shot that we attempted to make without a spoon. It looked horrible as I couldn't make it layered. I may have been drunk at this point as I did finish some of my husband's drinks.

After this, we were headed to our meeting with DVC. This is where I'm glad we already knew exactly what we wanted. We ended up purchasing 220 points at AKV & getting 100 one time use points at SSR. This turned this vacation into the most expensive trip to date >.< We arranged to head back at 9:45pm to sign all our paperwork for the closing documents.

We then got ready for our dinner that evening!

 

[oceangirl]

Oops, messed up quote function. Trying again.

 

[oceangirl]

Um. I arrived right before the start so maybe I missed the announcement but my camera was in hand and no one said anything. I was sitting in the very back of the balcony and only took 2 pictures throughout the show.

Haha. Sorry, didn't mean to "bust" you - I thought your photo was so good and clear that is must have been a stock photo. Great shot! Enjoying your TR very much.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Loving your TR. Your pictures are great and those martinis shouldn't look so yum this early in the morning!

Glad you are enjoying my report! Martinis look yum at all time of day

Haha. Sorry, didn't mean to "bust" you - I thought your photo was so good and clear that is must have been a stock photo. Great shot! Enjoying your TR very much.

Its ok. I'm glad you thought it was a stock photo then

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Palo Dinner

We headed up to check in for dinner. We were a bit early, so we enjoyed a cocktail at Meridian.

Le Grand Bleu - Grey Goose Vodka, Grand Marnier, Blue Curacao Liqueur, Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice, Taittinger Champagne

We shortly were led right next to the table where I was for the Palo Brunch. Our server, Laszlo, was the same one I had during the brunch. He was just as attentive and funny this night as he was before.

Antipasta Selection

Laszlo went over the menu options and we made our selections for our meal. I thought about doing a full review but everything we had was wonderful.

My meal:

Tuna Carpaccio and Lemon Oil Dressing: Thin Slices of Tuna Brushed with our Chef’s Special Lemon Olive Oil

Half Portion of Wild Mushroom Risotto: With freshly-shaved Parmesan and a Chianti Reduction

Our Beef Tenderloin “Palo”: Topped with Palo signature Barolo Red Wine Sauce

Hazelnut Creme w/ Cannoni

My husband's meal:

Sicilian Pesto Marinated Grilled Shrimp: On a Mussel, Crab, and Cherry Tomato Ragu

Half Order of Lobster and Mascarpone Ravioli: With a light Burro Bianco

Fagotti di Petto di Pollo con Ricotta e Basilico: Baked Chicken Breast filled with Ricotta, Basil, and Red Peppers served with Pinot Grigio Reduction

Palo Souffle

After dinner, we headed back to the room.

I went to Wishes while my husband stayed back in the room. I wasn't a fan of the show, to be honest.

We went to bed as we knew we would be busy for our next port day.

 

[bsusanmb]

Loving your trip report and the detail. We leave in 2 weeks for our first 7 night Eastern on the Fantasy. Been on the Dream 4 nights and Wonder 4 nights, really looking forward to this upcoming cruise. Love the drink pictures!

 

[aiken4mickey]

Your pictures are wonderful....I'm sailing on The Dream next month...DCL cruise #11! Would love to know if you used a special setting, camera...to get such great pictures...Love reading your trip report!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Loving your trip report and the detail. We leave in 2 weeks for our first 7 night Eastern on the Fantasy. Been on the Dream 4 nights and Wonder 4 nights, really looking forward to this upcoming cruise. Love the drink pictures!

Enjoy your 7 night cruise! I feel its just long enough to fully relax but not be unconnected too long.

Your pictures are wonderful....I'm sailing on The Dream next month...DCL cruise #11! Would love to know if you used a special setting, camera...to get such great pictures...Love reading your trip report!

Thanks. I have a Canon t2i. For most of these I was using a 50mm f/1.4 lens. I do use my 55 to 250 mm some but not often. I tend to keep my camera in the aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

St. Maarten

This morning we walked into the lounge and grabbed some Evian for the day before our excursion.

We had a breakfast in Cabanas & headed to the Tube to check in for our excursion.

We had selected the St. Maarten Island and Butterfly Farm Tour and headed to the buses to begin our tour.

We were given some history of St. Maarten as we were driven to the Butterfly Farm (it is on the Dutch side) To be honest, our tour guide had an extremely thick accent that made me tune out a lot of what she said. I know she talked about love a lot.

Butterfly Farm

Once we got to the farm, the owner's daughter came on board to give us our tour of the farm. She talked about the stages of a butterfly, life spans, and why butterflies are important.

After we walked through the farm, we were given the option of having a fruit punch drink or a rum punch drink. (Honestly, it was the same drink either way - one just had rum in it)

We then headed to Marigot for an hour break for shopping, eating, or exploring.

We did a little shopping at the nearby mall. I was able to find some spices at this french shoppe that I can't always find where I live now for a lot cheaper than usual.

We didn't buy much else as my husband couldn't find a watch he wanted.

After this stop, we were driven to an optional stop for the main shopping area on the island but we were just going to do the shopping next to the pier rather than deal with coming back to the ship on our own.

Back at the pier, we looked through the shoppes but ended up not buying anything as one place wanted a minimum purchase before you could use your credit card and my husband didn't like the watches they had for options.

We went back to the ship to grab some lunch up by the pool before we enjoyed the offerings the ship had for some activities.