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

[Dis_Yoda]

Who: Dis_Yoda, Mr. Dis_Yoda
When: Sept 8th to Sept 15th
Where: Disney Fantasy

Table of Contents
September 7th, 2012
Travel to Florida!

September 8th, 2012
Check In
Boarding the Ship
Around the Ship
Sail Away
Remy

September 9th, 2012
Early Morning Sea Day
Palo Brunch
Martini Tasting
Royal Court & Aladdin

September 10th, 2012
Second Sea Day
Palo Dinner

September 11th, 2012
St Maarten
Pirate Trivia
Pirate Dinner
Pirate Evening Entertainment

September 12th, 2012
St. Thomas/St. John
Palo Take 2

September 13th, 2012
Last Day at Sea
Animator's Palette
Night Life

September 14th, 2012
Castaway Cay
Around the Ship
Enchanted Garden
Final Night Around the Ship

September 15th, 2012
Going Home

[Dis_Yoda]

Travel to Florida!

My husband was lucky enough to have Friday off. I didn't.

He did drive me to work in the morning & took care of taking the dogs to boarding. At 3:30pm, he picked me up & we were on the road to Florida.

I-75 was not busy at all. We made a game of license plates looking for vanity ones.


We decided to pick up a Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut in Valdosta for dinner as we wanted something different than our usual fast food stops.

Once we hit the Turnpike in Florida, our luck in great weather went away & fought through a rough storm the entire way to Port Canaveral. The road was even slightly flooded out at a point.

We finally arrived to the Radisson at 9:30pm and checked in. We were given an upgrade to a Jacuzzi Suite which was a great surprise.







We had arranged for the Shuttle with the resort but I knew there were only a handful of Concierge Rooms available for upgrade so we wanted to get to the port earlier than the shuttle would take us. We called the taxi company that advertised in the lobby for a 9:45am pick up & called it a night.

[Dis_Yoda]

Check In

Our taxi showed up right on time. When we headed to the port, the last of the previous cruise were being picked up so we had to wait for a few more minutes until the porters would take our luggage.



DCL sent the early arrivers to wait up on level 3 of the parking garage & we were towards the front of the line.



It wasn't long until we were let through the initial passport check to wait again until we were allowed in the terminal.



Once the terminal opened, we went as fast as we could through check in & over to the supervisors desk. The 1 Bedrooms had already been taken at that point but we were still able to get a Cat V so we took it. A guide took us over to the waiting area for the concierge guests where we hung out until it was time to board the ship.

[Dis_Yoda]

Boarding the Ship

It wasn't long until boarding was started & we were on board!

We were guided to the elevators to head to the concierge lounge where we met by one of the concierge attendants to plan everything needed for the cruise. We picked out each of the tastings we were wanting to go to during the cruise, purchased our weekly rainforest passes and went over what was already planned.

Our room wasn't ready so we headed to lunch in Cabanas!









As it wasn't 1:00pm yet when our room was ready, we met up in Meridian with a few friends I knew from here who were also on the cruise. Here we arranged to go to Palo Brunch together on Sunday.

[Wadekind]

what cat. did you have and how much was the upgrade?

[Dis_Yoda]

Originally Posted by Wadekind

what cat. did you have and how much was the upgrade?

We were in a 6B - It was $1190.

[Dis_Yoda]

Around the Ship

We headed to our room to drop off our bags.


We were right at the front of the boat between the Walt Disney Suite & a 1 Bedroom.


We had a fruit bowl waiting for us!


Attack of the love bugs! (we really didn't mind them but they were everywhere the first day)

We decided to explore the ship some.


Concierge Sun Deck


Satellite Falls


Other Ship in Port



Since the clubs were having open house time, we walked into Vibe:



It made me jealous that wasn't around when I was a teenager!

As we had now been on the boat for a bit & yet to have a drink, we decided to fix it with the Drink of The Day:


It was fruity & rather weak but at 4.25, I won't complain.

The lobby:




Europa:






At O'Gills, we decided to have a drink & I found the drink I would be in love with for most of the cruise:

The Shipbuilder's Wife


My husband had a Miller Lite


As it was around 2:30, we decided to stop by our old room and see if our luggage had gotten placed in front of there so we could go back to the room and unpack. Our old room was in the aft so it was on our way back to the room anyway. The luggage was there! We were glad we checked as otherwise we would have had to wait until later when our room host went over there to get our stuff.

We returned to the room & our Castaway Gift was waiting:


We unpacked the room & got ourselves settled for the week.

At 4:00pm we had our drill. I was glad we were stationed in the Walt Disney Theater:





This was painless and quick. Afterwards, we headed back to our room to get ready for sail away & our dinner.

[Nikki'sMommy]

Thanks for posting- so you said that the 1 BR were taken- what time did you actually get to the port and how many people were in front of you on line?

[Timon]

Congrats on the upgrade

Looking forward to reading more

[oybolshoi]

checked in and ready to read!

[Dis_Yoda]

Originally Posted by Nikki'sMommy

Thanks for posting- so you said that the 1 BR were taken- what time did you actually get to the port and how many people were in front of you on line?

We arrived at 10AM and once we were moved upstairs for the waiting area, we had around 4 families ahead of us. Once we were allowed through security, some families booked it go to downstairs through that entrance and I guess made it through quicker. As you have to fully check in before you can upgrade, we had a bit of trouble with that as I had to convince the guy to put my married name instead of my maiden name. This was fully my fault as my passport still has my maiden name on it as I've been too lazy to amend it (for the past 5 years) I did have my marriage license though.

Originally Posted by Timon

Congrats on the upgrade

Looking forward to reading more

Thanks for joining in!

Originally Posted by oybolshoi

checked in and ready to read!

Welcome!

[Dis_Yoda]

Sail Away

After the emergency drill, we headed back up to the room. We debated on watching the Sail Away party or splitting up.

We split up.

My husband wanted to go to the gym as he didn't want to gain a lot of weight this cruise (ha!)

I headed to the Rainforest Room to relax.

As I didn't feel like getting wet & having to take a shower before our dinner, I brought my e-reader and hung out on the heated loungers as we sailed away!







It was a perfect, private sail away party for me! Not another person in the rainforest room.

[Dis_Yoda]

Remy

We had reservations at 6:00PM for Remy. We initially planned to start the cruise with Remy as what better way to start a vacation than fine dining?

Our server was Nato & we were seated next to the window to overlook the sunset over the course of the meal.

The view!


Nato prepared our cocktail - the Colette


The charger!


The meal started with a treat from the chef.

It is tomato soup that has been encased with breadcrumbs.

Our first course was a Ratatouille w/ Olive Oil Ice Cream

I enjoy this course as how can you go to a restaurant called Remy & not have Ratatouille?

We were given a choice of breads: French Baguette, Multi Grain, or Onion Brioche. Over the course of the meal, my husband and I did try each of them & each of them were lovely.

My husband's first course was:

Saint Jacques Olives Noires Fenouil Cru et Cuit
Scallops with black olives and cooked and raw fennel
Chef Arnaud Lallement

Honestly, I'm not sure why he chose this as he isn't the biggest fan of either Scallops or Olives, but of all places to branch out, this would be the place.

My first course was:

Langoustines Pomme Gingembre
Royal Norway Lobster with Apple and Ginger
Chef Arnaud Lallement

I also went out on a dish I wasn't sure about. Those that have read my dining reports know I'm not the biggest fan of lobster. I can finally say I've found a lobster dish I am in love with. The ginger and apple really balanced out the sweetness from the lobster.

For the next course, my husband & I had the same dish:

Grosse Crevette Creme de Laitue
Large Florida Shrimp with Lettuce Cream
Chef Arnaud Lallement

It is very simple dish but nice. Coming after the lobster for me, the shrimp was tough. My husband did not have the complaint.

My husband's next course was:

Cabillaud Girolles Coco Rouge Sauce Chilli
Cod with Red Beans, Girolle Mushrooms and Chili Sauce
Chef Arnaud Lallement

This was described by Nato as being similar to a bean chili in its flavor profile. Everything outside of the fish did have that.

My next course was:

Smoked Buffalo
with Jicama, Hearts of Palm and Vinaigrette
Chef Scott Hunnel

It was perfect! This is similar to the dish I had last year on the dream.

For my husband's next course he had:

Poularde Rotie au Citron
Roasted Chicken with Pickled Lemon
Chef Arnaud Lallement

This was wonderful!

What the leave off the menu is that the dish also comes with this:


It is a fois gras wrapped in spinach (and a few other ingredients I can't remember at this moment)

My husband and I split this and it was lovely!

My next course was:

Wild Turbot
with Lemon-Capers and Spinach
Chef Scott Hunnel

Turbot is one of my favorite fish & this did not disappoint.

Our next entree course was the same:


Boeuf de Wagyu Jus d'herbe Siphon,
Pomme de Terre, Sauce Barbecue Salade
Wagyu Beef, Potato Puree, with Barbecue and Herb Sauce
Chef Arnaud Lallement

I'm not usual one to post after pictures but this is what we thought of this course:


It was a great improvement over the Wagyu that was served last year on the Dream. I wasn't sure that was possible!

Next was our visit from the cheese trolley.
Sadly, my pictures of the trolley were bad. I think my wine was getting to me at this point...

My husband went for the 4 mildest cheeses. He enjoyed them all.

My plate:

I went for the goat cheese, the double and triple creme, and the mildest. The goat cheese with the honey was my favorite but everything was great.

Next was our desserts:

My husband had:

Paris-Brest

These are a hazelnut cream puff w/ a bourbon praline ice cream. It was amazing!

I went for:


Peruvian Chocolate w/ Chocolate Ravioli

The Ravioli was with Elderflower Liquor & great when it popped in your mouth. This entire dessert was playful. The caramel beads were great to have pop when eating a bit of the bar.

We were stuffed at this point & asked for the final candies to be wrapped as there would be no way to enjoy them this evening. Nato happily obliged this request.

Overall, it was a great meal. It exceeded our expectations from our last cruise.


After our meal, we had full intentions of changing and watching Match Your Mate in the Tube but as I started reading for a bit (Dance of Dragons) and he started watching tv, sleep sounded like the better option. Hopefully we'll hit it next cruise!

[Nikki'sMommy]

OMG- So happy with your review and pictures of Remy- I am not an adventurous eater so was a little skeptical about making reservation for our trip next week but I think I could eat almost everything you showed(maybe pass on the buffalo ). Can't wait for more-

[jedijill]

I'm in. Remy looks amazing...can't wait to try it in 3 weeks.

Jill in CO