Rock the Boat, Don't Tip the Boat Over! Fantasy 10/20-10/27 Completed Post #277!!

[wendym]

Brenda, thank you for your wonderful descriptions! I'll reply properly later but I can identify two of your meals - turbot and quail as we had them! The other two I'm not sure.

 

[Robert P]

The entire meal looked wonderful, but I'm experiencing some serious cheese plate envy !!

 

[mrkyyyle]

I think we have a copy of the Remy menu at home that I can take a picture of and send to you if you want

I do agree with you about the cheese plate though! I was expecting a bigger selection from when I went there on the Dream and was a little sad when they didn't have quite as many choices!

 

[wendym]

Like Brenda and Jay we had an amazing meal at Remy. Probably lasted over 3 hours but it doesn't feel like that. I couldn't believe the couple opposite us who wanted out in 90 mins to see the fireworks! We too did Remy on the Dream last year and loved it. But I think we enjoyed it more this time. May be because we weren't as nervous - we were nervous it would be stuffy last year.
Yannick was an amazing server and made great recommendations - I'm not good with seafood but he got me to try things! He also recommended a lovely glass of red wine. We too noticed less cheeses - wish we had ordered more last year! And no souvenir menu - wonder if we had asked we would have got one? However we much prefer Remy to Victoria and Alberts - we are lucky enough to have gone there twice and loved it but the atmosphere at Remy is so much nicer. As my mum says we had fun - even just sharing the dining room with Brenda and Jay! And once we were the only ones left Yannick and Florian had fun with us too. Memories that will last forever and this report helps so much!

 

[Jennifer48]

I made it! Thanks for the heads up B!

Lets start:
La Piazza - DH & I had the same blah service there as you did and we were on the maiden voyage of the Fantasy! One would have hoped that they had kicked it up a notch but apparently not. Thats ok though because we spent the week before & after dinner at Ooh La La. Loved the ladies working there and we even got to hang out with John Lasseter for a wee moment. I wish I had known you were going on the Fantasy, I would have had you look up our signature in the book in Ooh La La!

PLEASE tell me you are going to write a TR for your Grimace cruise!!

I'm sorry to hear about your St. Martin/St. Maartin excursion. We did a similar one through DCL back in 2007 but it looks like its not an option anymore. It was a lovely open air bus tour of the island and our driver was fantastic. I'm sorry yours was bad!

DH & I are not fancy people nor are we adventurous eaters. We are reluctant to eat at Remy but it just sounds so wonderful! Do you think they'd have us removed from the restaurant if we told them this?!

 

[Scouter]

We were also told a story about that same mansion you posted. But, we were told that Bill Clinton was hiding there waiting for the Monica Lewinsky scandal to cool off. We were also told it was owned by Sandra Bullock. Since I was sitting close to the "captain" I said "really"?. He just laughed and said, "Oh, if you are on this boat tomorrow, I'll have an entirely different story for you". LOL


Now, as for The Guavaberry Emporium...wasn't that place awesome? We stopped in with Tony and Stacy in 09' and the lady that worked there was a hoot! She had Tony 3 sheets to the wind in about 20 minutes flat with all the samples. He also walked out with a nice stash.

 

[oybolshoi]

Wonderful update, as always.

I LOVED the Collette. Lionel's not a champagne guy so I got to drink his too. We did opt for a single wine pairing, to share, and that was a nice way to sample a lot of new things....needless to say, between the extra cocktail and half a pairing, I left Remy pretty darn happy.

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed dinner. I do remember thinking it hilarious that everything came with foam. Like, EVERYTHING. lol

Thanks! I'm jealous ... two Collettes ... yum! And yes ... they do like their foam at Remy, don't they?!

Great pictures of the food!

I enjoyed Remy too, but we were there on Friday night. I will certainly need to go back and enjoy it without all the crashing glassware and staff clinging to walls/tables/poles to stand up.

I think that even if we had enjoyed a "normal" Remy experience we would probably prefer Victoria and Alberts to Remy. There was no real reason, and there are obvious advantages to Remy (price, cheese cart, fussy dessert with millions of extras). For whatever reason we just liked Victoria and Alberts better. Who knows why?! In fact, I enjoyed my evening at Palo more than Remy, but I think I can base that solely on the weather, which doesn't really make it a fair comparison.

Do you live in an area with good food options? My husband and I are stuck in Mid-Michigan-which is not exactly foodie paradise. We enjoy being able to get to these fancy-schmancy dinners when we vacation with Disney!

Definitely give Remy another try when you have a chance - nothing wrong if you decide you like a different venue better, though - we all like different things! My issue with V&A lately has been that their menu just doesn't change very much ... we first dined there in 2006 (were back in 2007 and again in 2009) and the menu offerings were not all that different between our visits. For an establishment of that caliber I expect a little more effort with the menu and we haven't had a lot of interest in going back any time soon.

As for "at home" we live in the St. Louis metro area - options for meals like Remy or V&A are pretty slim. We have a few places -Stone Soup Cottage comes to mind - that offer similar tasting menu and fine dining opportunities but most of our dining experiences come about on vacations.

Brenda, thank you for your wonderful descriptions! I'll reply properly later but I can identify two of your meals - turbot and quail as we had them! The other two I'm not sure.

I guessed right! Thanks for the kind words Wendy ... you're a sweetheart!

The entire meal looked wonderful, but I'm experiencing some serious cheese plate envy !!

It was a great meal and the cheese was heavenly. I just wish there had been as much cheese on the Fantasy as there was on the Dream!

I think we have a copy of the Remy menu at home that I can take a picture of and send to you if you want

I do agree with you about the cheese plate though! I was expecting a bigger selection from when I went there on the Dream and was a little sad when they didn't have quite as many choices!

You're very kind to offer to send a copy of the menu - I'd love it but don't want you to go to any trouble.

Ahhh, the cheese. I'm curious now if they have scaled back the cheese offerings on the Dream as well. When I asked about it, the cheese cart guy told us that there just weren't that many people who were interested in a lot of the cheeses and they decided to scale back.

Like Brenda and Jay we had an amazing meal at Remy. Probably lasted over 3 hours but it doesn't feel like that. I couldn't believe the couple opposite us who wanted out in 90 mins to see the fireworks! We too did Remy on the Dream last year and loved it. But I think we enjoyed it more this time. May be because we weren't as nervous - we were nervous it would be stuffy last year.

Yannick was an amazing server and made great recommendations - I'm not good with seafood but he got me to try things! He also recommended a lovely glass of red wine. We too noticed less cheeses - wish we had ordered more last year! And no souvenir menu - wonder if we had asked we would have got one? However we much prefer Remy to Victoria and Alberts - we are lucky enough to have gone there twice and loved it but the atmosphere at Remy is so much nicer. As my mum says we had fun - even just sharing the dining room with Brenda and Jay! And once we were the only ones left Yannick and Florian had fun with us too. Memories that will last forever and this report helps so much!

Our Remy dinner on the Dream was just a perfect night ... our whole team seemed so excited to have gluttonous hogs dining there and they kept bringing us new things to try and were so eager to talk about places they'd worked previously in London and Paris that it just really resonated for us.

This night was great too, in it's own way but let's face it Wendy ... Yannick just wasn't Jerry. All teasing aside, I thought Yannick and Florian were terrific and we had a lot of fun with them. We gave them a special mention on our comment card along with Novak.

I think the lack of a souvenir menu was an oversight because they were trying to get us the heck out of the restaurant that night! WAHAHA!! Last year we both had a personalized menu and then the whole serving and kitchen team signed it for us.

So glad that you and your mum had a great evening too ... next time the four of us should just have dinner together and really bring the house down!!

I made it! Thanks for the heads up B!

Lets start:
La Piazza - DH & I had the same blah service there as you did and we were on the maiden voyage of the Fantasy! One would have hoped that they had kicked it up a notch but apparently not. Thats ok though because we spent the week before & after dinner at Ooh La La. Loved the ladies working there and we even got to hang out with John Lasseter for a wee moment. I wish I had known you were going on the Fantasy, I would have had you look up our signature in the book in Ooh La La!

PLEASE tell me you are going to write a TR for your Grimace cruise!!

I'm sorry to hear about your St. Martin/St. Maartin excursion. We did a similar one through DCL back in 2007 but it looks like its not an option anymore. It was a lovely open air bus tour of the island and our driver was fantastic. I'm sorry yours was bad!

DH & I are not fancy people nor are we adventurous eaters. We are reluctant to eat at Remy but it just sounds so wonderful! Do you think they'd have us removed from the restaurant if we told them this?!

Welcome to the madness!! We did look through the book at Ooh La La but only went back to mid-summer. Wish I'd known because I would have looked for you!

I wonder if the problem at La Piazza is the staff? Everyone there seemed kind of surly, except for one guy the first night who was dancing around a bit with Jay and me. It's kind of a bad location ... outside of two other bars ... lots of people moving through so it's hard to create much of an atmosphere.

I think if you booked Remy and then were upfront with your serving team about your "not so adventurous tastes" that they could help you choose items that would amaze and delight you. The question is whether or not you want to spend $75 per person to do that. There is no right or wrong answer - it's just what works for you guys. Palo is just as enjoyable in its way, so maybe that's where you start and then move up from there when you're ready to make the leap!

Rose ... you're not supposed to laugh at Nancy's comments ... you're supposed to laugh at mine. WAAHAHAHAAAA!!!

 

[WDW Fan]

YAY - I finally made it to your TR Life has been hectic since Hurricane Sandy hit our state but now that I have some free time again, I'm going to enjoy hearing all about your cruise adventures!!! Loved seeing your first day cheese and fruit platter along with the champagne that your travel agent sent for you! I know how much you enjoy your cheeses along with some good bubbly Your brunch at Palo sounded wonderful and it was so nice that you had such great table mates on the cruise! Pete and I would love to join you in the future on a cruise Your excursion sounded a little disappointing but it was nice that you got to go to the HRC and buy your souvenior shirts and pins. Pete collects the HRC pins also and when we went to Hawaii, we had to visit the HR on Oahu to buy a pin! Your dinner at Remy sounded fabulous, although I do remember your TR from The Dream and that dinner sounded more special for some reason. Sorry to hear that you got the effects of Sandy towards the end of the cruise but it doesn't sound like it bothered you and Jay too much. Can't wait for more! BTW, I was so happy to finally meet you and Jay in WDW

 

[oybolshoi]

YAY - I finally made it to your TR Life has been hectic since Hurricane Sandy hit our state but now that I have some free time again, I'm going to enjoy hearing all about your cruise adventures!!! Loved seeing your first day cheese and fruit platter along with the champagne that your travel agent sent for you! I know how much you enjoy your cheeses along with some good bubbly Your brunch at Palo sounded wonderful and it was so nice that you had such great table mates on the cruise! Pete and I would love to join you in the future on a cruise Your excursion sounded a little disappointing but it was nice that you got to go to the HRC and buy your souvenior shirts and pins. Pete collects the HRC pins also and when we went to Hawaii, we had to visit the HR on Oahu to buy a pin! Your dinner at Remy sounded fabulous, although I do remember your TR from The Dream and that dinner sounded more special for some reason. Sorry to hear that you got the effects of Sandy towards the end of the cruise but it doesn't sound like it bothered you and Jay too much. Can't wait for more! BTW, I was so happy to finally meet you and Jay in WDW

Hi Linda - thanks for joining us here even though you have so much other stuff to take up your time. I'm glad that you and your family are all OK, even though there was some damage to homes.

I think we could have a great time on a cruise together! We didn't have nearly enough time to sit down and chat with each other last month. But we're obviously on the same wavelength ... HRC ... cheese and bubbles ... cruising in general! Happiest of Thanksgiving holidays to you and yours - meeting you and Pete was a real highlight for us!

 

[WDW Fan]

Hi Linda - thanks for joining us here even though you have so much other stuff to take up your time. I'm glad that you and your family are all OK, even though there was some damage to homes.

I think we could have a great time on a cruise together! We didn't have nearly enough time to sit down and chat with each other last month. But we're obviously on the same wavelength ... HRC ... cheese and bubbles ... cruising in general! Happiest of Thanksgiving holidays to you and yours - meeting you and Pete was a real highlight for us!

We'll. have to plan for a 2014 cruise!

 

[oybolshoi]

We'll. have to plan for a 2014 cruise!

It's already in the plans over here ... just waiting for itineraries & dates!

 

[oybolshoi]

Our excursion meet time was 7:30AM this fine morning, so we had to be up and about early whether we wanted to or not. And let me just say, after closing down Remy the night before, neither Jay nor I wanted to be up at all. But the lure of catamaran sailing, and snorkeling, and more rum punch in the face was sufficient to get us out of bed ... that, and sixty four wake up calls in a row from Guest Services because our phone wasn't working properly and it didn't register that we were answering the calls even though we were.

That cloud of sleepy profanity that wafted up from Deck 8 the morning of October 24th and was spotted hovering over The West Indian Company Dock much of the day? Yeah, that was all ours.

Look at the sunrise ... it's the last time you'll see one on this trip!

Good Morning St. Thomas!

We booked the St. John Champagne Catamaran Sail and Snorkel for our St. Thomas port adventure; Jay really enjoys snorkeling and I love catamaran sailing and neither one of us has been to St. John. On our last visit to St. Thomas we kayaked through the mangroves and then watched a credit card self immolate while we went on a duty-free shopping binge at Havensight Mall. Seemed like something a little different was in order this time around.

Once our excursion group departed the Fantasy we climbed aboard an open-air safari taxi for a wild ride around the island to the marina where our catamaran was waiting. Who needs coffee when you're bouncing up and down and side-to-side with the fresh island air blowing the cobwebs from your brain? We wanted to take some pictures during the ride, but the bus was moving so fast that Jay was concerned that someone ... read: Brenda ... would drop the camera over the side of the bus where it would languish in the road-side brush for all eternity.

The walk through the marina was also something Jay and I enjoyed - this was a real marina and real people (not just tourists) live and work here. We saw people already opening up cafes and bars for business, watched a goat wander past a BBQ joint (still wondering if he was on the lunch menu), and walked past a number of moored boats and yachts on our way to the catamaran. I have always taken a great interest and pleasure in noting the various names people give their vessels ... my favorite from St. Thomas?

Fishizzle.



From the marina it was about an hour to sail over to St. John - the ocean was a little on the choppy side but nothing bad and everyone appeared to be having a good time. Our crew was young but obviously experienced and a lot of fun. They handed out snorkeling gear to everyone and provided some great background information about St. Thomas and the surrounding islands.

Headed out to St. John

Have I mentioned how much we love not being at work?

The other catamaran is waaaay behind us!

One of the most interesting things we learned on the sail to St. John was that there are private islands for sale in the area. One in particular has a six-bedroom, three-bath house, a guest cottage, a desalination plant, and underwater power cables that allow the island to have a source of electricity from St. Thomas. All this for the bargain price of $12 million dollars!

Within five minutes Jay and I had a viable business plan. Within another five minutes our dream of life in the tropics had gone sinking to the bottom of the bay. No capital; no business partners; no ambition.

We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!

It's our new home!

History lesson at sea!

St John

Once we arrived at the private beach in St. John we had about 90 minutes to snorkel, swim, or sunbathe. I can't snorkel because I can't see without my glasses and no one makes a prescription snorkel mask in a minus 13 because if the sun's rays hit that baby in just the right way the sea would burst into flames. I usually hang out on the catamaran soaking up the sun and enjoying the quiet while the waves lull me to sleep. The crew offered to take me over to the beach but I declined, telling them I would get my beach time on Friday when the Fantasy visited its private island in the Bahamas. Perhaps I might have changed my mind if I'd been aware that pesky Hurricane Sandy was going to muck up everyone's plans. But I was blissfully clueless that morning and really enjoyed having the catamaran to myself.

Snorkeling Jay!

Private beach

Sea turtle came right up to the catamaran trying to escape the snorkeling hordes

Caneel Bay Resort ... too rich for our blood!

Look at the water!

On the sail back to St. Thomas the crew cranked up the playlist and let the alcohol flow. They were offering wicked rum punch or champagne ... and wicked Jay and Bendy asked for them to be combined which resulted in the hardest rum punch to the face I've ever had!

The bar will come to you!

Punch it!

Usually on an excursion like this the crew will offer to let guests "drive" the boat. I am not one to let such an invitation go ignored ... and so I captained the catamaran for a few moments while enjoying some more punch. I love the island life!

I have no formal training - this is all natural ability

What's worse? Drinking and boating or texting and boating?

Look Ma, no hands!

The rest of our day was a true study in laziness, at which we excel. We cleaned up, had some lunch, and spent two hours in the rainforest room sleeping before being awoken by our attendants for the couples villa we'd booked.

I think we had the couple's choice, which was just about two hours. We received a lovely foot bath and foot and leg massage followed by 30 minutes of time to ourselves which we spent in the hot tub. Then we each had a Thai Poultice Accupressure massage (nice, but a little hard on me with my fibromyalgia ... those pressure points can be a real killer), and then another 30 minutes to relax on the verandah with some fruit and hot tea.

This was one of those things I'd been wanting to try for a long time and Jay is nothing if not an indulgent husband who happens to like being pampered on vacation almost as much as I do. We really enjoyed it but aren't sure that we would book it again, since it's a pretty pricey experience. And the hard sell from the attendants at the end of the treatment is obnoxious - no matter how often you indicate that you don't want to purchase a suitcase full of Elemis products they just don't want to take no for an answer ... until you scream it in their faces with a slightly maniacal glint in your eye while waving around a steaming teaspoon.

St Thomas from our private spa villa

Leaving St. Thomas that afternoon ... weather already looks bleh

Fresh fruit and hot tea .... ahhhhh!

One thing of note that happened during our massage was that Captain Tom made an announcement about our change of plans due to Hurricane Sandy. Instead of docking at Castaway Cay on Friday we were going to sail past Cuba and up the Florida coast - the storm was forecast to be in the Bahamas on Friday and it was going to be too dangerous for the ship to dock there.

Jay and I were so unplugged on this cruise that we didn't even know there was a hurricane forming in the Caribbean. We both lifted our heads and asked our attendants at the same time, "There's a hurricane?"



It's our new itinerary ... say hello to the socialist paradise of Cuba while you're hugging its shores!

We decided to skip our dining room assignment this evening because we were so tired - Jay and I paid a visit to Novak at Skyline, gave him some of our private bourbon stash so he could try something new, and then ordered room service for dinner while downing the bottle of pinot grigio we still had from our first day on the ship. We ended up missing all the Halloween festivities that night but from what I've heard we really didn't miss all that much. I think we must have both fallen asleep by 11PM and we slept hard that night - one of the best nights sleep we had during the whole trip!

Please enjoy our final picture of the day - two amazing drinks from Skyline: The St. Pete Sling made with Russian Standard Original, King's Ginger, Honey Syrup, freshly squeezed lime and grapefruit juices, jasmine tea, and a souvenir glow cube; and the Aquincum made with 901 Tequila, Grand Marnier, freshly squeezed lime juice, paprika rim, and a souvenir glow cube.

You may notice in the picture below that the glow cubes are missing. That is not a mistake. We don't like glow cubes; they are a waste of valuable alcoholic space in a glass that has limited capacity. Jay and I asked Novak to substitute our respective glow cubes with more alcohol and he charmingly obliged us. Now that's service!

St. Pete Sling and Aquincum

Coming soon ... a very busy, boozie day at sea!! Thanks for reading!

 

[PNO4TE]

Loved the update, B. Thanks for taking the time to write this!

 

[Scouter]

I never normally eat seafood but if there is ever a place to try it it is Remy! Expensive meals but so worth it. And the champagne is just served over ice - like Brenda it wasn't my favourite.

Great minds!

L
Yannick was an amazing server and made great recommendations - I'm not good with seafood but he got me to try things!

Good to know. I might THINK about trying a bit, I don't know what's harder.... getting past the seafood smell or the mental image of how ugly fish and other seafood is But I would agree that if ever a place to try it I would bet they would do the best with it

 

[Scouter]

Wonderful update, as always.

I LOVED the Collette. Lionel's not a champagne guy so I got to drink his too. We did opt for a single wine pairing, to share, and that was a nice way to sample a lot of new things....needless to say, between the extra cocktail and half a pairing, I left Remy pretty darn happy.

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed dinner. I do remember thinking it hilarious that everything came with foam. Like, EVERYTHING. lol

That's a great idea! I wouldn't have thought they would let you do that
Something I should have tried the other night at The Melting Pot as Bob ordered a beer flight and I a wine flight, then they gave us a complimentary champagne glass each for Bob's birthday.... Whoa! I awoke to a massive hangover complete with migraine, had to call in sick, because I was really sick! Had I thought of just asking to share with Bob, would have been better

 

[Scouter]

Rose ... you're not supposed to laugh at Nancy's comments ... you're supposed to laugh at mine. WAAHAHAHAAAA!!!

OOOOhhhhh! Sorry!
I hadn't read the Bendy rulebook! Did not know!
Please excuse me just this one time, it will never happen again!

(Nancy.... I'll send you private message laughs at your comments, LOL!)

 

[Scouter]

I have always taken a great interest and pleasure in noting the various names people give their vessels ... my favorite from St. Thomas?

Fishizzle.

 

[oybolshoi]

Loved the update, B. Thanks for taking the time to write this!

Thanks Ellen - I appreciate you taking the time to read!

Good to know. I might THINK about trying a bit, I don't know what's harder.... getting past the seafood smell or the mental image of how ugly fish and other seafood is But I would agree that if ever a place to try it I would bet they would do the best with it

They do have a fair number of meat options on the dinner menu so you could avoid the seafood that way if you want.

That's a great idea! I wouldn't have thought they would let you do that
Something I should have tried the other night at The Melting Pot as Bob ordered a beer flight and I a wine flight, then they gave us a complimentary champagne glass each for Bob's birthday.... Whoa! I awoke to a massive hangover complete with migraine, had to call in sick, because I was really sick! Had I thought of just asking to share with Bob, would have been better

Poor Rose ... they probably didn't give you a very good champagne and then mixing that on top of wine would be enough to set you off if you're sensitive. Th nice thing about Remy is they will let you share those wine pairings, like Erica said. V&A lets people do that as well.

OOOOhhhhh! Sorry!
I hadn't read the Bendy rulebook! Did not know!
Please excuse me just this one time, it will never happen again!

(Nancy.... I'll send you private message laughs at your comments, LOL!)

WAHAHAHAAA!!!! You know I don't have a rulebook ... I just like messing with you guys!

Your sarcasm has been noted ... and is much appreciated!

 

[wendym]

Thank you for another great instalment! We were disappointed you didn't make dinner as we were forced to drink the bottle of Rosa Regale we took ourselves!

 

[Scouter]

Your sarcasm has been noted ... and is much appreciated!

Never even met you yet, but I just love you!

Keep up the great work!