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

[oybolshoi]

Originally Posted by mrkyyyle

No problem!

Fortunately I was sick the day after thanksgiving so I got to enjoy that at least

Did you two ever make it to the tube? My wife really liked one of their signature drinks, I cannot remember the name of it but it was a shot of King's Ginger liquor and champagne.

Ya know, we meant to visit the tube to try their drink menu but kept getting distracted by Skyline!

We definitely will need to pay it a visit the next time we're on the Fantasy which probably won't be until 2014.

Originally Posted by Timon

What a great instalment B! It's nice to see someone who has a great attitude about the end of your cruise. Lord knows we've heard a lot from the entitled folks that were on your sailing

I'm glad you made the best of it! Heck, I think you guys might have enjoyed that day more than anyone else on that ship

Question for ya....did you happen to bring home your Navigators? I am looking for some more recent ones, the only ones I could find are from August!

Aww, thanks Cass! We really did have a lot of fun, and this was only day 6 ... we still have the really interesting weather stuff to get to!

And I did bring the navigators home but my mom has them right now - gave them to her last week so she could get a sense of what to expect when she's on the dream with us next year. I will scan them in (or try to) once I have them back if you'd like. Might be a few weeks since we leave for WDW on 12/15 and I don't know if I will see her before then.

[oybolshoi]

We came this close to canceling our dinner reservation at Palo because we were having so much boozie fun in Skyline. And then we remembered that we'd end up being charged for dinner whether we showed or not. And then we realized that we both needed a decent meal after a day's worth of drinking and quick service food.

But first, let me show you what happens when you take a self portrait after having too many cocktails in one afternoon.

What the heck was this all about?


Like the drink Novak made for Jay, the reason behind this picture remains shrouded in mystery. Maybe we were thinking about the main dining room menu; maybe we finally tried one of those Mickey-head shaped crackers included in our castaway club backpack (they were soooooo nasty); or maybe we were thinking about having to go back to work and pay our vacation bill.

Regardless, it was obvious that we needed some serious food to restore our equilibrium.

We were seated immediately after we checked in and were given a lovely window table in which we could watch ourselves and the rest of the dining room enjoy their meals. Our server was Gabi, who had taken such wonderful care of us at our brunch on Sunday. Without missing a beat he delivered the restaurant's cold antipasti plate which included prosciutto, bresaola, parmigiano reggiano, marinated olives, sun dried tomatoes, and artichokes. We both enjoyed this and thought it was the perfect size for two people to share.

Antipasti Platter


Prior to placing an order for the quantities of food we were going to inhale, Jay and I decided that a good bottle of wine was just the thing to put the exclamation mark on our day. Dear friends of ours have recently introduced us to the joys of Amarone, a dry Italian red wine, and we selected a bottle for dinner and toasted to them. Thank you Chelsi & Jason, for never steering us wrong when it comes to wine!

It's delicious!


We started the official meal with three appetizers: tuna carpaccio with lemon oil dressing; calamari with cherry pepper dipping sauce; and mozzarella and plum tomatoes.

I loved the tuna carpaccio - it was beautifully sliced and slightly sweet; the tangy lemon oil dressing provided a perfect compliment. Jason enjoyed the calamari on his own because I don't care for it - he said it was really well prepared and the pepper dipping sauce was both flavorful and full of heat. We decided to order Palo's version of the buffalo mozzarella salad because we thought they would probably have some really amazing cheese and we were not disappointed. The presentation alone was stunning but the taste really blew us away - it was just fantastic and so much easier to eat than the typical serving method that we see here in the armpit of the Midwest.

Tuna Carpaccio


Squid and Sauce


First it's a tomato flower ...


And now it's a mound of cheesy goodness!


We then moved into our pasta course and ordered two versions of ravioli: lobster and mascarpone and chianti braised beef. These were both really tasty ravioli options, but we should only have ordered one instead of going with two. The lobster and mascarpone ravioli was served with a light burro bianco sauce and the flavors were incredible but it was a really rich dish. The chianti braised beef ravioli was served with a red wine sauce and even included some rogue vegetables - while not rich in the manner of the lobster ravioli, this was still a very hearty, filling pasta dish that tasted so good neither one of us could stop eating it.

Chianti Beef Braised Ravioli


Lobster & Mascarpone Ravioli


Before the main course was presented, Gabi offered us a palate cleanser. This was a limoncello sorbet with a handful of frozen blueberries - it was delicious and refreshing.

Intermezzo!


A funny thing happened while we were waiting for our "dinner" to arrive. The table next to us was having a good time, as well they should. But they were a little loud and when you've been blessed with sonar-like hearing to make up for being half-blind you sometimes overhear things you're probably not meant to. Someone at this table was celebrating a birthday. Good for them! Congratulations! Happiest you-were-born-on-this-day-several-decades-ago to you!

Apparently the staff at Palo wanted to help them mark the occasion and presented the birthday girl with a Happy Birthday "NAME" plate, only her name was spelled incorrectly. Now in my world, no matter how tipsy you are, you hold the giggles and thank your server because that's the polite thing to do when presented with a thoughtful gesture from someone who doesn't owe you squat. But these people not only laughed while their server was still at the table, they went to great lengths to point out that the birthday girl's name was spelled wrong on the plate. And then they asked for a new plate with the correct spelling.

As someone who's not only been on the receiving end of a misspelled free dessert offering but who now sports a nickname as a direct result of said dessert error, I'm here to tell you that the gracious thing to do is just say "thank you." Once your server is gone, laugh yourselves silly; take some pictures to remember the moment; show your friends at home and see if someone bestows a nickname on you. But don't humiliate your serving staff over something this inconsequential.

It's tacky.

And it's rude.

These folks talked like they were oozing money from every orifice - if they really were as well-heeled as they were trying to sound, all I can say is money doesn't buy a lot of things, including good manners and gratitude.

Soon after receiving a new and improved birthday plate they settled their bill and departed, for which Jay and I were eternally grateful.

Anyway, back to the food ... I ordered the beef tenderloin which was resting in a small puddle of red wine sauce and topped with melted gorgonzola cheese. It was amazingly good; the beef was prepared just the way I'd requested and the wine sauce and cheese made for a decadent flavor combination, but it was very rich and I'm ashamed to admit that I was unable to finish it.

Jason ordered the special, which was lamb (I think). It was a gorgeous presentation and he said it was delicious. I wish I could give you something better than that, but this dinner took place about a month ago and Jay said he's having a hard enough time remembering last night's meal.

Beef tenderloin


Lamb Chops?


Before I go any further, I must explain a little something. There was a couple on this cruise who are friends of friends and we've been "just missing" each other at WDW for the last few years. When we found out that the four of us were booked on the same cruise there was much rejoicing in Stinktown. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to spend as much time with them as we would have liked because they were sailing with a fairly large group but we had fun with them when we did hook up! As a token of regard, we sent a package over to them in Remy that evening and as an even kinder return, they sent us some amazing port to enjoy with dessert. They sent us so much port that we decided, in turn, to share some of it with Wendy and her mum, who were also dining in Palo that evening. All four of us agreed that it was the perfect way to finish off our meals and a really lovely treat.

We have been fortunate during our years cruising DCL to meet some truly warm and generous people and this trip was no exception - many thanks to Lori and Rick and here's hoping we meet up again soon, whether it's in bourbon country or on another cruise!

Beautiful, lovely port; it only needs cheese to attain perfection!


I drink your port; I drink it all up!!!!


We shocked a few years off of Gabi's serving life when it came time to order dessert because we didn't want the chocolate souffle. I know, it's like Disney Cruise Line sacrilege not to order that souffle, but as I have mentioned previously, my sweet tooth is diminishing as my age increases and Jason wanted to try something different after three cruises with nothing but souffle for dessert at Palo.

I'm pretty sure that he ordered tiramisu - the presentation was fun, especially the cookie shaped like a spoon. Just for kicks, he tried to eat his dessert with that spoon, but it didn't really work out very well.

First dessert - tiramisu?


I don't think this is a good idea.


I have no idea what I ordered for dessert but it was very colorful and was garnished with a fun chocolate hypnotic spiral.

Mystery dessert


You are getting verrrrry sleeeeeeepy!


And then Gabi brought us a third dessert - zabaglione - which is something I have always wanted try. It's a light egg custard dessert, flavored with wine or liqueur, and usually served with fresh fruit. It was wonderful, and actually should have been the dessert I ordered because it was light and sweet without being either heavy or cloying. In a word: YUM!

Zabaglione


Once again, we managed to be the last couple to leave an adults-only restaurant on the Fantasy for the third time in five days. The staff was great and didn't pressure us to get out until we were ready, so we took our time enjoying our desserts and our port and our last "no-pressure" evening of the cruise. I find it hard to relax on the final night of a cruise just because everything has to be packed up and organized in such a short period of time, so having a dinner like this on the night before the final cruise night was a lovely treat.

The meal was fantastic and the service everything we've come to expect from our past experiences at Palo. It's a lovely alternative to the main dining rooms and the food is excellent - if you haven't had an opportunity to dine at Palo, I'd like to urge you to give it a try because it's a wonderful treat. Our hope is that you enjoy it as much as we do!

[Tink rules]

Originally Posted by oybolshoi

What the heck was this all about?

One legged Bendy's down an arm too!!!

[wendym]

And I'll take this opportunity to thank Lori and Rick as well for the Port - mum and I both loved it!
Mum and I loving reliving our cruise through this report - reminds us of what wonderful fun we had and what fantastic memories we made.
I'll echo how tacky some people were at Palo and how fantastic the crew members are. Mum and I always take some British chocolate with us as little thank yous - never instead of tips of course but just a little extra. Well we had some with us for the servers in Palo and Remy tonight and you would have thought we had given them the best thing ever. We along with Brenda and Jay were amongst the last in Palo and we just had the best time chatting with everybody.
Wendy

[WDW Fan]

Your food pictures look amazing Brenda I agree with you about that rude family and the way they treated the server. Money does not buy manners for sure. So sad that it's the last night of your cruise It feels like you just started writing this TR! You need to go on another cruise only longer next time!

[disneyholic family]

i've just started reading your (very funny) trip report - thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!!

i'm only on the second page so far, but thought i'd comment before i forget - i was just on the Dream in October (we were right in front of Sandy, but our cruise was only affected by the more intense rocking and rolling on our last night - the cruise right after ours was severely affected)..

anyway, deck 13 forward on the Dream is now adults only...
i don't know when they changed it, but that area is now completely adults only...it was way too windy on our cruise to really make use of it, but it's definitely nice to have!

as for the main dining room food - we found it to be excellent in all three!!
we were very pleasantly surprised after all the bad reviews i'd read...
it helped that our server made suggestions and wouldn't let us order anything he thought was bad (and then brought it to us in addition so we could try it for ourselves)..
almost everything we had in the main dining rooms was really good...(in fact, our only food disappointment on the ship was our brunch in palo)

[oybolshoi]

Originally Posted by Tink rules

One legged Bendy's down an arm too!!!

I must have lost it in Skyline ... all that drinking.

Originally Posted by wendym

And I'll take this opportunity to thank Lori and Rick as well for the Port - mum and I both loved it!
Mum and I loving reliving our cruise through this report - reminds us of what wonderful fun we had and what fantastic memories we made.
I'll echo how tacky some people were at Palo and how fantastic the crew members are. Mum and I always take some British chocolate with us as little thank yous - never instead of tips of course but just a little extra. Well we had some with us for the servers in Palo and Remy tonight and you would have thought we had given them the best thing ever. We along with Brenda and Jay were amongst the last in Palo and we just had the best time chatting with everybody.
Wendy

Wendy, thanks for reading along with us; I'm so glad you're enjoying our silly adventures splashed with alcohol! We were just talking yesterday about how we hope that the four of us end up on another cruise together in 2014. We're not all that excited about the cruise with my parents but sure would love to sail with you guys again! What that says about us I'm not sure ...

Maybe my parents will surprise us next November.

Originally Posted by WDW Fan

Your food pictures look amazing Brenda I agree with you about that rude family and the way they treated the server. Money does not buy manners for sure. So sad that it's the last night of your cruise It feels like you just started writing this TR! You need to go on another cruise only longer next time!

Hi Linda - thanks so much; I was focusing extra hard when I took these pictures so that must account for it! We have one more day left to write about, but this was definitely the last calm night of the cruise.

We do have that 14-night Panama Canal cruise booked for September but I'm not sure I'm up for that long of a TR.

Originally Posted by disneyholic family

i've just started reading your (very funny) trip report - thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!!

i'm only on the second page so far, but thought i'd comment before i forget - i was just on the Dream in October (we were right in front of Sandy, but our cruise was only affected by the more intense rocking and rolling on our last night - the cruise right after ours was severely affected)..

anyway, deck 13 forward on the Dream is now adults only...
i don't know when they changed it, but that area is now completely adults only...it was way too windy on our cruise to really make use of it, but it's definitely nice to have!

as for the main dining room food - we found it to be excellent in all three!!
we were very pleasantly surprised after all the bad reviews i'd read...
it helped that our server made suggestions and wouldn't let us order anything he thought was bad (and then brought it to us in addition so we could try it for ourselves)..
almost everything we had in the main dining rooms was really good...(in fact, our only food disappointment on the ship was our brunch in palo)

Hello there - thanks for reading! So glad you're catching the funny ... sometimes I'm not sure how well it comes through - I tend to write a lot of things tongue in cheek and just let people interpret as they will.

So nice to hear that Deck 13 on the Dream is adults only ... we will have to check it out next November when we sail with my parental unit. Also glad to hear that the dining room food offerings have improved from last year, although to be fair ... I was dealing with some medical issues when we sailed last year and that could have colored my impression.

So sad to hear you were disappointed in your Palo brunch? May I ask what happened? It's just such a rare thing to hear around the DIS that I find myself feeling extra nosy about it.

[disneyholic family]

Originally Posted by oybolshoi

Hello there - thanks for reading! So glad you're catching the funny ... sometimes I'm not sure how well it comes through - I tend to write a lot of things tongue in cheek and just let people interpret as they will.

So nice to hear that Deck 13 on the Dream is adults only ... we will have to check it out next November when we sail with my parental unit. Also glad to hear that the dining room food offerings have improved from last year, although to be fair ... I was dealing with some medical issues when we sailed last year and that could have colored my impression.

So sad to hear you were disappointed in your Palo brunch? May I ask what happened? It's just such a rare thing to hear around the DIS that I find myself feeling extra nosy about it.

you have a wonderful writing style!!! very engaging and entertaining!!!
i'm the most boring writer on the planet, so it's a good excuse to leave trip reports to those with gifted pens!

i discovered the adults only change on the first day when i went looking for our dis-meet which was supposed to be up there, but which had to be relocated at the last moment (since our meet included kids)....i eventually did find it - at the bottom of the stairs on deck 12...

as i said, it was way too windy to make use of deck 13 forward (including the concierge sun deck, which i had been looking forward to trying out)..
we were on the october 21-25 Dream cruise....Sandy definitely started really affecting us on our sea day....waiting in line for the show on the last night, i fell over twice....too bad there were women standing in front of me both times, it would have been a great excuse .....well..
anyway...
walking back to the room, we had to hold the walls to stay upright....and during the night i seriously started wondering if perhaps the Dream was too top heavy and that was the reason we were pitching over so far each time....i was a bit unnerved, but at least thanks to the sea bands i was wearing, my stomach was totally unfazed...

as for Palo brunch - i've only had palo brunch once before, on the Wonder (8 years ago)....we really enjoyed it.....great food, great service, and very quiet...
but on the Dream i felt the food wasn't nearly as good as i remembered, the service was just so so (our regular rotation waiter was superb and probably anyone would have paled in comparison), and it was super crowded....just a zillion people crowding around the buffet tables.....not at all the palo i remember fondly on the Wonder...
but i should add that i know other people on the dis who were on my cruise who thought the palo brunch was stupendous....so as they say, your mileage may vary....ours certainly did..

oh...and about those parental units...
this cruise i left hubby and kidlets behind (well - my kidlets are 25 and 28 and married)...
i took my mom and sister on this cruise - their first - so i was VERY worried before the cruise...especially after i'd read a number of bad reviews of the Dream - bad food, bad service, bad concierge service, bad rooms, etc etc etc etc etc etc.
And given that my mom and sister are almost disney haters...not quite haters, but certainly love to make fun of us, i was even more worried they weren't going to enjoy themselves....
so imagine my relief when everything (other than palo) was beyond perfection...truly....amazing amazing amazing!!!! we had the most wonderful cruise that could be...the ship is a Dream, truly...
and the service is outstanding!! everyone from the lowest to the most senior was friendly and helpful - going out of their way to be helpful...
and our rotation staff was incredible...the best i've ever had on a cruise!!!
my mom and sister enjoyed everything so much they're already talking about when we should go again!! and if we do, we should go on a longer cruise since 4 days just isn't nearly enough on that ship!! we barely scratched the surface!!
so there's hope for your parental units!!!!

[disneyholic family]

i forgot to mention why we didn't eat at remy...
had i been on the cruise with my family, or just with my mom, we would definitely have done Remy...
but it would have been torture for my sister so what's the point?
i absolutely LOVE a long leisurely meal (and yes, i'm a cheese person too!!).....but my sister is anything but a foodie and hates lingering..

i know that at least one of the servers on the Dream must be superb - we met him in the concierge lounge...he was there to take reservations from any concierge passengers who still needed to make them.
when we first walked into the concierge lounge, upon boarding the ship, there wasn't any place to sit (both my mom and sister are mobility challenged - walking very slowly due to chemo effects on their feet - so we got to the lounge long after everyone else)...
i've forgotten his name, but he literally leaped into action to get us a table and 3 chairs and to take our hand luggage aside out of the way...
only later, when he came by our table to tell us about remy, did i realize he was a Remy server.
And he made it clear there wouldn't be any problem at all feeding me, a fish eating vegetarian (ok, pescatarian)- and having had the meal of a lifetime at V&A last year, i knew that was possible.
Alas, we had to pass. But the next time i'm on the Dream/Fantasy, i'll definitely be dining at Remy.

[Dixielady908]

another fabulous installment...looking forward to your last sea day...

[TigerKat]

I'm so happy y'all got to spend some time with Lori & Rick, great people!

[disneyholic family]

i just got to your post about the storm and your seasick room steward...
that reminded me....
as i mentioned, Sandy really started affecting us on our sea day (getting worse as the day progressed and into the night)...
in palo, the waiter at the table next to ours was really not well (he was seriously green)....
i told him he should wear sea bands, as they truly are a miracle (i wore them for the first time on this cruise and they saved me!!).
he said that they're not permitted to wear them or he definitely would...

i felt terrible for him!!!

[cntkg1]

B, don't I recall someone very special had the wrong name on her Birthday pin from WDW a little while ago? Too bad that passenger couldn't have as much fun as you guys did with that little error.


Glad to see that you and Jason had a nice dinner even though the boat must've been rocking and rollin' all over the place by then. Yes, I say "see" because once again I read your TR on the computer and viewed the pics on my iPhone.

See? I am dedicated.

Delicious update B.

[zweihund]

Such a great update!
One of these days worlds will collide and we will actually get to sit down at Remy or Palo together

[PNO4TE]

Just love reading your TRs, Brenda. Thanks for taking the time to write this one.