Get Off The Ship - we are running out of towel animals! Update 10/25 Day 31

[dizneeat]

Just a short little update on future trips planning.



We actually bought our flights for that trip some time ago. I had thought of using airmiles to pay for it, but the price was too good not to pay cash for them.

So, we are set for this trip, which will mean that we will leave Linz in the afternoon of Jan 3rd, arrive in Paris at around 7pm and pick up a rental car (which we will book on Tuesday - I found a really good price for it!) and drive to DLRP to check into the Hotel New York.





Then we will spend two full days in the park and on Monday the 6th we will check out of the hotel, spend all day in the parks and fly home at 7pm. We should arrive back home at 10.30pm. I only start in the afternoon on the following day, but poor Tom will have to go to work again at 6am.





Summer Med cruise on the Magic

I checked prices for flights a few days ago and again found an incredible price on Lufthansa (a little over 400 Euros) for return flights for both of us! Needless to say I booked them right away.
We are now flying in 3 days prior to our cruise and flying back home one night (2 days) after the cruise.
Still have to make my mind up for a hotel, but that should be done soon!

After the cruise and stay in Barcelona we will stay at home over the weekend and on Tuesday fly out again (and again the price was more than right, so we are saving our miles) - this time to



Paris! We renewed our APs last May and they gave us 18 months instead of 12, so why not take advantage of them and add a little trip to Paris too.

We have booked a villa at the Adagio Access,



the place where we always stay for 9 nights



and are flying home on Thursday the following week.

I guess we will squeeze in a trip or two to Italy as well, but no definite plans here.

Then, yesterday the booking window for our upcoming cruise opened - 120 days out.
I was at my computer at 6am (midnight EST) and booked us a Palo dinner, a Palo brunch and

yes, you guessed it

a Cabana again. This time we will be in Cabana 20!



So, there you have it ...... all the planning updates. ​

 

[KatMark]

WOW...you do have the trips planned. Good for you and Tom; and great you were able to get some good airfares.

 

[MEK]

You've got some great future plans. Spending the New Years at DLP sounds so awesome as do all the other future trips!

 

[Teri1]

Karin, don't forget to PM or email me when you decide on dates for our 2015 cruise when they become available. We really enjoyed the Fantasy it is such a beautiful ship with lots to offer, we can't wait go again.

 

[dizneeat]

Yes Karin, We asked to have Ophelie as our server when we went to Palo for brunch and I told her we had a gift for her from you and Tom, she was so surprised! She told us she got the package you sent her and how she lived on Nutella in France. She hid her gift and then took us on our tour of the buffet. She was a very nice server.

I am glad you had her as your server. She was such a sweetie when we were her guests and I am glad to hear that she got all her Nutella supplies. She has to share them with her room mate.

Sorry for the reason your DIS meet went south. I don't know much about the FE...guess I've not paid attention since we probably will never do a cruise.

I'm sitting here drooling over those scallops that Tom had. I do love me some scallops.

Kathy, once we got onto the ship I kind of tried to forget about them and there was so much to do and see (and eat ).

Tom loves those scallops - I tried them the year before and they were really good.

 

[dizneeat]

WOW...you do have the trips planned. Good for you and Tom; and great you were able to get some good airfares.

Apart from the January DLRP trip we had all the others planned for a long time, but somehow last week a lot fell into place and we were able to book our flights.

You've got some great future plans. Spending the New Years at DLP sounds so awesome as do all the other future trips!

We are really looking forward to the new year! Even though we only have one trip to the US next year we have the Med cruise and a long visit to DLRP to look forward too!
DLRP is so beautiful when it is decorated for Christmas. That's why I was so happy when I learned we would just catch the tail end of the season! They even have the Dreams show still on and it is Christmas themed. So happy!

Karin, don't forget to PM or email me when you decide on dates for our 2015 cruise when they become available. We really enjoyed the Fantasy it is such a beautiful ship with lots to offer, we can't wait go again.

Teresa, I will definitely let you know what we are going to book. I just hope they won't raise their prices too much.
But then their ships are so beautiful and even though we have been on board for 2 weeks we still have not seen it all.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, August 11

Are you from Austria? - Part 1

We got up around 7am the next morning after sleeping like a log all night.
And after taking a wonderful rainforest shower and getting ready for the day we headed to the Royal Court for breakfast.
We were quickly led to a table and handed a menu, which I would not have needed at all, as I just knew what I wanted. An assistant server came by quickly and asked about drinks. Tom ordered



some coffee and I had made my mind up to no longer bother with luke warm tea while cruising so I just ordered some orange juice. We didn’t want any Danish and so our server took our food order and soon we were brought our starters, the



Swiss Bircher Muesli, Muesli with raisins, shredded apples and yogurt for Tom and the



Mornin' Tug Boat, fresh blend of strawberries, bananas, almonds, raisin granola and low-fat yogurt. We usually order these on the Dream and while other dishes tasted exactly like on the Dream, these two were different. The muesli was very thick with a strong cinnamon taste and my yoghurt was much thicker than usual as well and both were incredibly sweet. But we didn’t want a make a fuss so we just ate both. And once we were done, we were served our entrees. We both have favourites on the menu and we both had chosen them. So Tom was served



The Big Breakfast, a large filled omelet on savory toast with grilled tomatoes, bacon and baked beans topped with caramelized onions, which was a yummy and filling as it looked. No question on what I had ordered, the



Traditional Eggs Benedict, toasted English muffin with grilled Canadian bacon, served with poached egg topped with hollandaise sauce, grilled roma tomatoes and link sausages. What a perfect way to start a leisurely day at sea.
And once we were done and had tipped both servers we went over to Guest Services to ask if we could still sign up for the Italian Liqueur Tasting that afternoon and were lucky they still had 2 spots. Then we headed towards the shops and browsed them for a bit before heading over to check out Europa, the adult area on the ship.





La Piazza looked pretty neat and it was fun to find a “hidden” fun fact in there. There is a motorcycle in there, and the licence plate reads DCL 688 – the ship’s number in the Meyer Werft.





Once we had had a good look around, we went to check out O’Gill’s.









It was fun to see how well they do with the theming as you really walked from Italy right into Ireland. Even the toilets got an inspection,











as they are really very pretty. Then we went over and past the D-Lounge and the Vista Gallery. Needless to say we had to take a peek inside and were in awe with the great pictures they had of Venice. Unfortunately we failed to take pictures, thinking they would be still there lateron during the week, but they disappeared. On our way back to the elevators we passed Shutters and then went up to our stateroom again. .

To be continued ............

 

[Teri1]

Teresa, I will definitely let you know what we are going to book. I just hope they won't raise their prices too much. But then their ships are so beautiful and even though we have been on board for 2 weeks we still have not seen it all.

Yes I hope we can afford the price. The late August into September date was almost a thousand dollars different than early August if you look at next years prices. We will make a wish for some Pixie Dust! We did not see all of the Fantasy either.

 

[RGirl]

Oh, what a great start to your (first) cruise! Love all the FE stuff - I wish I could bring myself to participate in an FE, but I just can't imagine how I would get everything together to make that happen.

I am loving your upcoming plans! I cannot wait for the Magic Med cruise TR!!!!! GAH - I want it to happen tomorrow so I can read all about it!!!!

 

[annmarieda]

Real life update!

As you all know, we have been back for two weeks by now and are suffering from

We had initially planned on heading to Italy for a long weekend, but it just won't work out, so I started looking for a long weekend, and flights to Paris.
Imagine my surprise when I found REALLY cheap flights out of here on Jan. 3 and back on Jan 6 with perfect flight times.
I called Tom and asked if he thought he could get off work early on the 3rd and he was sure he could, so I booked the flights.
Still had to find a hotel. We still have our APs good until the end of October 2014, so I thought I could at least try for a discount. I checked how much I had in my budget and called.
Within my budget they offered me a Concierge room at the Sequoia Lodge (kind of Wilderness Lodge) which was not my first choice. I had her price out other resorts and for a little more than I had initially thought, here is where we are going to stay Jan 3 - 6!











THE HOTEL NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!
We are so happy about it! And as Tom pointed out - today is already "Dalmation day".
Now if you are as puzzled as I was about dalmation day - we are 101 days away from our vacation.

Not sure where how far I got before I left for my trip... nor what I commented on. So I apologize if I already commented on this and anything else I do.... but let me just say that it is super cool you got this booked!!!!

Just a short update on our claim with the airline, before I will do replies and and update tomorrow.

Our compansation went through and the airline paid 1200 Euros. 300 Euros go to the lawyers, but that still leaves us with

900 Euros (1200 US dollars!)
​

That is so awesome!!!

Guess you all know me by now and I never got around to do a lot of the stuff I wanted to do, so the day before we left was super hectic with us getting our things together, getting the house ship-shape and finally taking our furbaby to her vacation home.
Once we were back we finished off the last of the packing, had some dinner and went to bed around 11pm.

This is just a bit like deja vu to my own recent TR update, yes? Glad to see it is not just me that does this!

A minute later the captain announced that indeed the plane had been hit by lightning, (another first), but everything was okay and a little while later we landed in Frankfurt. To our utter surprise we did not go to an outside position, but rolled up right to the terminal. Yeah, and that was another first!

Now, I know I read about this... and am pretty sure I commented. however reading it again it still brings a bit of out in me.

It was PAST 8pm and over 13 hours at Frankfurt airport when the plane FINALLY rolled out and took off.

And this is why you got the good compensation you did!!!

After lunch we watched a little TV and once they dimmed the lights in the cabin and the blinds had been drawn shut we adjusted our seats to become beds, threw the blanket over and went right off to sleep

Did they really become beds? I have wondered how that works Maybe that is a silly question...

BTW... the food looks like it may have made up a tad for that long wait. YUM!!!

placed on Turtle Pond Road

Curious... why? I need to know where to make my request for since we are staying in January.

of the alarm clock in the room we went to bed at 2.45am

Oh my! That is a very long travel day!

 

[JKSWonder]

Eggs Benedict....my favorite!

 

[Leshaface]

Phew! Just got caught up.

Seeing the fireworks from the pontoon boat would be amazing! I don't remember, do they pipe the music in?

We rarely go to the movies because it's so expensive, but every once in a great while, we'll catch a movie at DTD at Disneyland and seeing a movie there is so much better than seeing a movie in our towns movie theater. Especially when you're watching a Disney movie at DTD! Couldn't get any better!

I'm so sad. We never made it to the Top of the World on our trip. I think if we had instant access to the lounge, instead of having to go downstairs to request to go in, we probably would have. Everytime we felt like going, we were reminded that we would have to go to the lobby first, but got so lazy that we never did.

You're totally making me want to go on another Disney cruise! After our first Disney cruise we were hooked. We've just been on the Wonder and the Dream, but DH is determined to get on the Fantasy. We've had a dummy cruise booked since our last trip in December 2011 and we just keep moving it. Hopefully soon, we can get some firm dates.

 

[annmarieda]

As I get a little closer to being caught up... on to day 2...

Your breakfast at Olivas... it looks soooo good. Ya know I read your TR's to glean wisdom on where to eat and so I have made an ADR for breakfast in January.

How fun to meet up with Jeff and his family...but then to go to play miniature golf?! So cool!

Your meal at BOG looks good!

I am sorry to hear you had to deal with some mix ups... not only with the firework cruise but with the kids tickets. At least there was some pixie dust in the end.

Love the pictures of you loading up for the cruise. It brings back some very fond memories for me. It is so neat to hear that Angelina giggled at the fireworks again. She really helped to bring out a certain joy in the experience we shared... like her unbridled joy made it more special some how... if that makes sense.

And look at how you end the day...

Those look soo good!!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Sounds like a really nice start to your morning! I started ordering Eggs Benedict because you always get it!

Ooh, can't wait to hear about your wine tasting.

Those bathrooms are beautiful!

 

[dizneeat]

Yes I hope we can afford the price. The late August into September date was almost a thousand dollars different than early August if you look at next years prices. We will make a wish for some Pixie Dust! We did not see all of the Fantasy either.

They had gone up quite a bit over the time between booking and our trip. We are hoping to maybe be able to pull off another back to back, but we would need to go closer to the end of August, early September to make it happen.
But I would LOVE to cruise with you again, so let's keep our fingers (and toes) crossed.

Oh, what a great start to your (first) cruise! Love all the FE stuff - I wish I could bring myself to participate in an FE, but I just can't imagine how I would get everything together to make that happen.

I am loving your upcoming plans! I cannot wait for the Magic Med cruise TR!!!!! GAH - I want it to happen tomorrow so I can read all about it!!!!

Yes, we were up to a great start! And it went on like this, we were very lucky.
You really should try and participate in the FE, Roni! I am SURE, Willow would love it, both the handing out and sneaking around the ship and the coming back to your stateroom and finding a lot of gifts in your FE!

I cannot believe we have so many more trips planned. Guess I need to get my act together and finally finish all these trip reports.

Not sure where how far I got before I left for my trip... nor what I commented on. So I apologize if I already commented on this and anything else I do.... but let me just say that it is super cool you got this booked!!!!

Falling behind is so easy! You go on a trip to Disney and voila catching up is in order.

That is so awesome!!!

I know, we were so pleased it ended like this! And without any hassle as well.

Did they really become beds? I have wondered how that works Maybe that is a silly question...

They become completely flat. The leg portion extends and moves upwards, then the back of the seat lowers down. It is SO comfortable. And after sitting around the airport for 13 hours, being able to sleep for a bit was wonderful.

BTW... the food looks like it may have made up a tad for that long wait. YUM!!!

It did make up for it! Thank god they had a lovely buffet in Frankfurt and the food during the flight wasn't bad either.

Curious... why? I need to know where to make my request for since we are staying in January.

Ann, I don't have any special reasons for it. We love Turtle Pond road. It is quiet and out of the way. We always have a car, so being far away from Hospitality House is not an issue, but the quiet pool there is really nice and not too many people use it.
If you won't have a car, I guess, close to Hospitality House would be easier.

Oh my! That is a very long travel day!

Yes, it definitely was a LONG travel day! But we had quite a bit of vacation time to get over it.

Eggs Benedict....my favorite!

Mine too!

 

[dizneeat]

Phew! Just got caught up.

Yeah!

Seeing the fireworks from the pontoon boat would be amazing! I don't remember, do they pipe the music in?

It is the most wonderful experience, especially if you are able to share it with friends.
Disney offers two types of pontoon boats for these cruises. The smaller ones, which hold up to 8 people I think, don't have music, but the larger ones, which hold up to 10 people and which we usually rent do pipe in the soundtrack.
It is really awesome to see it from the water.

We rarely go to the movies because it's so expensive, but every once in a great while, we'll catch a movie at DTD at Disneyland and seeing a movie there is so much better than seeing a movie in our towns movie theater. Especially when you're watching a Disney movie at DTD! Couldn't get any better!

To be honest we have not been to a movie theater here in a long time, but it was wonderful to see a Disney movie at DTD with Disney friends. Doesn't get better than this.

I'm so sad. We never made it to the Top of the World on our trip. I think if we had instant access to the lounge, instead of having to go downstairs to request to go in, we probably would have. Everytime we felt like going, we were reminded that we would have to go to the lobby first, but got so lazy that we never did.

Yes, having to go and check in at the ground floor is a bit of a pain, but it keeps the lounge exclusive to members.
I just really hope that they will keep it open to all members staying on property, not just the ones staying at BLT!

You're totally making me want to go on another Disney cruise! After our first Disney cruise we were hooked. We've just been on the Wonder and the Dream, but DH is determined to get on the Fantasy. We've had a dummy cruise booked since our last trip in December 2011 and we just keep moving it. Hopefully soon, we can get some firm dates.

Your comment made me smile, as I used your TR to decide on some things we did on our Dream cruises. Remy for instance.
You will really love the Fantasy and the longer itineraries. So relaxing and there is so much to do and see on these ships. We have been on board for two weeks straight and didn't get to do half of what we wanted to do.

As I get a little closer to being caught up... on to day 2...

Your breakfast at Olivas... it looks soooo good. Ya know I read your TR's to glean wisdom on where to eat and so I have made an ADR for breakfast in January.

We just love breakfast at Olivia's. And it is never overrun, so it is quiet and nice and the servers can be so much fun.
I really really hope that you will like it in January!

How fun to meet up with Jeff and his family...but then to go to play miniature golf?! So cool!

I actually could not believe it, when he told me he would be able to make the trip to WDW. We had so much fun together on the Dream in 2011!

Your meal at BOG looks good!

So far, all the meals we have had at BoG have been really good. We really enjoyed our lunch there too!

I am sorry to hear you had to deal with some mix ups... not only with the firework cruise but with the kids tickets. At least there was some pixie dust in the end.

I was glad we caught them right away and were able to straighten everything out.
The mix up with the kids tickets was more or less Lily's mistake, but they were so nice about it and then after straightening everything out, even gave us the FP!

Love the pictures of you loading up for the cruise. It brings back some very fond memories for me. It is so neat to hear that Angelina giggled at the fireworks again. She really helped to bring out a certain joy in the experience we shared... like her unbridled joy made it more special some how... if that makes sense.

It was great seeing them all again and so nice to hear her giggle. It really adds to the magic to experience her excitement. We are so lucky, to be able to call them our friends. They are a wonderful family.

And look at how you end the day...

Those look soo good!!!

They were SO yummy. It's not a vacation in Florida if we haven't had any KK.

Sounds like a really nice start to your morning! I started ordering Eggs Benedict because you always get it!

Ooh, can't wait to hear about your wine tasting.

Those bathrooms are beautiful!

It was a nice and leisurely start, but we ended up A LOT that day ... just wait and see.

We did some more tastings over those two cruises and they were a lot of fun - that first one was extra special though. Again, you'll soon find out.

We joined a tour on the Dream and they even made a "sightseeing" spot at the bathrooms. So we knew we had to see them on the Fantasy as well. All of them are different and really beautiful.

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Karin. I am sitting here drooling over Tom's breakfast as I type this. Oh my that omelet looks yummy.

Glad you were able to get a spot in the wine testing.

And fun pictures around the ship.

 

[pas130]

Karin the pictures of the ship are amazing! And yay for January!!

 

[dizneeat]

Great update, Karin. I am sitting here drooling over Tom's breakfast as I type this. Oh my that omelet looks yummy.

Glad you were able to get a spot in the wine testing.

And fun pictures around the ship.

Tom loves that breakfast, and I have tasted it and it is as good as it looks.

We were way better getting all our reservations for tastings in order on the second cruise.
Somehow I just was too much in awe with the ship the first time around.

Karin the pictures of the ship are amazing! And yay for January!!

Thank you, Jeanette!
It's easy to take nice pics if you have an amazing Disney ship to take pics of.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, August 11

Are you from Austria? - Part 2

On our way back to the elevators we passed Shutters and then went up to our stateroom again. Our Fish Extender was filled with presents again and we needed to hand out the first part of ours as well.
So once we had gathered everything we took our map and started our walk all around the ship.







It took us around an hour to hand the first part of our gifts out and when we returned to our stateroom it had been cleaned already and we met Raj in the hallway.
We stopped to talk with him and he let us know that we were the first guests he had on the Fantasy who were doing a back to back. We all had a good laugh when he told us that he was hoping he had enough towel animals to get through two weeks.
At that time we asked if he liked sweets and when he said that he loved them, we just got him a handful of the sweets we had brought with us. We went back into our stateroom and relaxed for a short while as we had another appointment we needed to go to, the meet and greet with the captain, Commodore Tom, and some of the officers. So we headed down to The Tube again,



where we were greeted with



a glass of sparkling wine, then found a nice table to sit at and soon a cast member came by to offer us some canapés. I had



one with brie and a raspberry on top and one with asparagus wrapped in Parma ham, while Tom had chosen a



Bloody Mary shooter with a nice shrimp in it and the brie canapé as well. The officers went around and we got to meet quite a few, one of them being the hotel (or human resource) officer and another one being a fairly new female officer who was from Italy.
We got along pretty well with her, especially since she told us that she was from Venice herself and Commodore Tom was living in the area as well, in Treviso. And while we were talking more drinks,



Mimosas this time were served and some wonderful, still warm, chocolate chip cookies as well.



After a while we were interrupted by the arrival of Commodore Tom,





who then talked about the new DCL flagship, the Fantasy and how he had been on all the maiden voyages of the DCL ships and that the future was open for new ports as well. There was a short video of Karl Holz, the president of DCL as well and after about 20 minutes the meet and greet was over. Some of the officers still stayed around, but most everyone started to leave and on the way out we were handed yet another little treat,



Mickey shaped and chocolate covered Rice Krispy treats. Treat in hand we were on our way back to our stateroom where we had a drink and sat out on the veranda for a while.
Around noon we got ready to yet have some more food. We went to have lunch at the Royal Court. There were a few families in line ahead of us, but we were seated at a nice table near the windows and a server was right there to ask for our drinks order and put



some bread on our table.
And once the drinks were on the table, we ordered our lunch and our starters arrived in no time at all. Tom had ordered the



Vegetable Quesadillas, served with guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo and I had opted for something I had had before too, the



Ginger-infused Carrot Soup with yogurt. They were both really good and soon after we had finished them we were served our main courses. Tom had ordered the



Grilled Halibut, with a tomato, olive and garlic sauce and served with herb saffron rice, which I had recommended to him. I myself had ordered



the Glazed Meatloaf with smashed yukon potatoes, buttered carrots, long beans and gravy. I would not normally order meatloaf, but there is something about that meatloaf on the Disney ships. We both were stuffed, but again, the server insisted on us having dessert and we happily obliged. So I ordered the



Key Lime Pie, Lime custard on graham cracker and a meringue topping, while Tom tried the



Yogurt and Mixed Fruit Terrine with blueberries. We were so full after dinner, so we decided to walk around a little more to walk off at least one or two of the calories.
We walked outside on deck 4, but didn’t really walk far as the loungers looked far too inviting. So we sat out there for a while before returning inside and heading towards the back elevator.
On the way there we passed the D-Lounge and saw that a cooking demonstration had just started.





So what do you do if you feel stuffed to the gills after lunch? Yes, you go and watch someone make Apple Strudel.

To be continued ............