Our Fantastical Voyage in the Eastern Caribbean! A trip report to remember! 12/6/2014

[tigger2002]

This was going to be a full day! We had Palo Brunch,

The server would take your plate and you would point out what you wanted and how much. You would get your plate back and go to the next area.

I have also heard this from another thread on here

Was on the Fantasy for Brunch on 12/14/14. Have done brunch several times. Recently they changed the buffet portion of the brunch, now they have servers around the buffet who will take your plates and get the items you desire

So I guess this is still true, they serve you at the Palo Brunch instead of you getting your own food. In the past the waiter would show you where everything was at and then YOU would get your own food, unless of course you ordered something.

Anyone just off of the Fantasy to confirm this?




.

 

[MrDisneyFan]

I have also heard this from another thread on here


So I guess this is still true, they serve you at the Palo Brunch instead of you getting your own food. In the past the waiter would show you where everything was at and then YOU would get your own food, unless of course you ordered something.

Anyone just off of the Fantasy to confirm this?

.

I think this has been the case for a while and as of 4 weeks ago it still was. We enjoyed the experience and thought it was very well done. Drinks and certain menu items your server would order. Otherwise the servers manning the stations would load your plate. Probably for health reasons as well as maintaining the appearance of the buffet. I thought it also added to the experience making it feel more upscale then just a buffet with great food.

 

[wilkewonders]

We a loving your blog and videos of your cruise on the Fantasy in Dec.
We are booked on the Fantasy in Sept. 2015.
We live in Visalia so are sorta neighbors of you in Bakersfield.
Cant wait for your next days experiences!

 

[chicagolaw]

The mixology looks like so much fun. How did you book that? Did you have to do it in advance or could you do it on the ship? Do you remember what types of drinks you made?

 

[MrDisneyFan]

The mixology looks like so much fun. How did you book that? Did you have to do it in advance or could you do it on the ship? Do you remember what types of drinks you made?

Haha, don't remember the drinks we made. Well I remember the first we made was a really simple drink. Malibu sunset (pineapple & orange juice and malibu rum).

It was all setup through the facebook group for our cruise. I know the boards usually have a meetup group as well but the activities we did - the mixology and fish extender, were arranged by the facebook group. They contacted DCL and made the arrangements.

 

[lizzyb]

Great report so far! Can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Still feeling the fun effects from the mixology we just finished it was time to dress up and head over to Remy!! I had been excited for this way ahead of the cruise. I consider myself to be a bit of an amateur foodie (I love cooking and eating good food and I was looking forward to this dinner so much!

The hostess took us into meridian (the small lounge between Palo and Remy) to wait for a moment before seating us. It was literally probably less then 60 seconds. I'm sure she went over to give the notice we were being seated then came to grab us. Not even enough time to order a cocktail!

Post mixology, slightly-buzzed in Meridian 

Seated to a pretty place setting:

Our amazing server was Oliver and he was an excellent host for the evening. We chatted with him a bit and found out he was from Paris and had opened Remy on the Dream then came over to the Fantasy to open Remy there! We felt very lucky to have him.

Oliver! Getting our first surprise ready – a champagne cocktail

My wife doesn’t care for champagne so they made her this fruit aperitif. I’m not a big champagne lover but I very much enjoyed mine…

Mine:

The next surprise brought to us was deep fried tomato soup. And yes, it was delicious! Crispy, warm on the outside, you ate it in one bite and when you had it in your mouth and bit into it, you got a perfect amount warm tomato soup.

The menu was up next, what to decide? We opted to select one of each of the designed menus: Saveur and Gout! We wanted to try a variety and took bites of each other’s courses along the way. It worked out wonderful!

Before the first course came there was yet another ‘surprise’. A lovely foie gras pistachio mouse with a sweet caramel at the bottom. We were instructed to dip down with our spoons to bring up some of the caramel as we ate. Excellent suggestion, we’d never had foie gras before and it was so amazing. Just rich, creamy, velvety. Wow!

To the first courses! Saint-Jacques (scallop) for my wife and Pheasant for me. Both were very good but I think my wife’s scallop won that round.

The sommelier tempting us with some wines. Okay, we gave in. We just went for a glass of wine each, not the wine experience offered.

Next up: Langostine and Halibut. Both great but my halibut was just sublime. It was the best few bites of food, certainly fish I’d ever had! My halibut took a big lead there.

My wife was served Sea Bass and it was my turn for a Scallop dish. Again both so great but I think my scallop edged out her fish this round (I’m in the lead!)

Last course. Did they save the best for last? My wife was served something neither of us had before: Wagyu beef. I had Kurobuta pork. Now understand my pork was exceptional. Easily the most flavorful pork I ever ate. Very delicious and perfectly prepared. With that said the wagyu beef was something special. It was the best meat of any kind we’d ever had. It didn’t taste or feel like any beef we’d had before, it really transcended beef. Wow is all I can say.

Kurobuta pork!

Wagyu Beef!

Oh and yes, there’s still more! You would think with with these courses being so small one would be concerned with not getting enough to eat but we were getting quite full! But... there is always room for cheese! My Achilles heel is cheese. I love love love it So yes of course I would like to see that magnificent cheese cart, please wheel it over!

I would take notes next time on all the cheeses. From memory I recall Brie, double cream brie, camembert, manchego, a couple others and of course blue cheese. But blue cheese with a twist... Served with honeycomb. My wife does not like blue cheese but took Oliver at his word and tried a bite. We both did and I already like blue cheese but the honeycomb completely changes the taste of the blue cheese. In a very good way. My wife didn’t even spit it out! She enjoyed it but said one bite was enough, thank you. We/I ate the cheese…

Dessert was finally here. I had the chocolate sphere and my wife had chocolate (as described on her menu) which was actually a small chocolate cake. Hers was better than mine. I liked this course but didn’t love it. Mine was more like a chocolate soup. It was a hard chocolate sphere shell (empty inside) served in liquid chocolate. I would have preferred a cake or something to mop up the chocolate. For those die hard chocolate lovers this may have been more your thing. Oh it didn’t stop me from eating almost all of it. Extremely beautiful too!

Ready to pop we were getting so full! But there was yet one more surprise from the chef. Little tarts and I think I liked these better then my actual dessert. We took the homemade lollipops home and still have them 

Our dinner experience at Remy was magical. It was romantic, incredible food, service and surroundings. Next time we sail it will be more in the spring or summer so I think I’ll enjoy the view (since this time it was completely dark out). That would have just been an extra special note to be able to enjoy the ocean view with our dinner. Oh well, we get to enjoy the sun a few days later at our Remy brunch.

It's not very long but I have a few moments at Remy on video here

 

[tgeorge]

Sounds like a fabulous meal! I think we're going to have to try it.

Quick question, how crowded was waiting in the concierge area prior to boarding? I've been told this area is small. Did it seem too crowded?

Thanks for continuing to post your trip report. Your report has convinced me to upgrade to concierge. I've been on the fence, but after reading about how fantastic your voyage was, it helped me make the decision.

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Sounds like a fabulous meal! I think we're going to have to try it.

Quick question, how crowded was waiting in the concierge area prior to boarding? I've been told this area is small. Did it seem too crowded?

Thanks for continuing to post your trip report. Your report has convinced me to upgrade to concierge. I've been on the fence, but after reading about how fantastic your voyage was, it helped me make the decision.

Oh you have to try Remy, it really was one of the highlights of the trip!

That's so great, our experience really was great. I have nothing to compare it to but don't regret it for a minute. I don't think you would regret trying concierge at least once. This was our first Disney Cruise so maybe next time we'll try a regular room, maybe... The 'only' negative is it's truly hard to imagine what a cruise will be like without it now!! I've heard that same comment echoed many times... Once you go concierge it will be hard to sail without it!

The waiting area wasn't very large but it never felt crowded to me. But we were the first people who checked in at the concierge desk so the only other folks in there were the back to back cruisers (yes there were a few on the Fantasy!). We had a seat and it seemed by the time we boarded there was still a seat for everyone else who was checked in, in the waiting area.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[MrDisneyFan]

A short update to finish out the day! I didn’t take note of how long dinner was but satisfied and stuffed to the brim we picked up our kiddos. We were walking by the theatre and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was playing. Mom and Jack went into watch it. Kate was psyched to go on the Aquaduck at night so guess where I was going?

Up to the room, swimsuits on we proceeded to give it a try. It was neat to ride at night and the wait was only a few minutes. But holy the water was soooo cold! I only went on it once with her then she was on her own. But even after just 1 more time she was getting cold and a little hungry. So eye scream it was! Some soft serve for Kate. I would burst if I attempted to eat anything yet (still so full from Remy)!

Back to the room to have a quick shower to warm up, Kate was still hungry so kept to our nightly ritual and ordered room service. We turned on an on-demand movie and Jack was snuggled in bed. Kate and mom weren’t done for the night yet and headed down to the winter wonderland ball. Look who made it!

A little Disney magic made it snow!

They said it was fun and Kate was even able to get a quick photo with Santa and Mrs Claus! They weren’t doing photos but they were walking by, being whisked away and she was right in the path so mom was camera ready.

Back to the room the kids finished watching a movie while they got ready for bed. Diane and I enjoyed the verandah while we put some notes down about the day. It had been a noticeably warmer day on the ship, it was really nice. We were super excited for our first port day coming up in St. Maarten!!

 

[taymorel]

This is an awesome trip report. I can't wait until you do your St. Maarten day since that is one of the places I have wanted to visit for years.

So glad your family had a great time on the ship.

 

[KennedyDCL]

Great TR so far! Our family is on the same Eastern Itinerary you were on for your cruise, we are going down in March.

The 13 of us also booked a shore excursion for St. Maarten with Randomwind, so I'm very much looking forward to your feedback on St. Maarten day. We were hoping to book the entire sailboat to ourselves, however, by the time we booked another couple on the same cruise had already booked a couple spots so it isn't a private sail but from what I've read it is an excellent excursion. I'd like to know if you felt the same?

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Great TR so far! Our family is on the same Eastern Itinerary you were on for your cruise, we are going down in March.

The 13 of us also booked a shore excursion for St. Maarten with Randomwind, so I'm very much looking forward to your feedback on St. Maarten day. We were hoping to book the entire sailboat to ourselves, however, by the time we booked another couple on the same cruise had already booked a couple spots so it isn't a private sail but from what I've read it is an excellent excursion. I'd like to know if you felt the same?

The Randomwind was fantastic, so great! That will be next up in my TR but in short it was excellent, we wouldn't hesitate to do it again if we're in St Maarten in the future!

 

[KennedyDCL]

The Randomwind was fantastic, so great! That will be next up in my TR but in short it was excellent, we wouldn't hesitate to do it again if we're in St Maarten in the future!

Excellent, thank you for the feedback!

 

[MrDisneyFan]

We woke up early at 7am. Ship was still en route to the island. We got in by 8am and watched the docking. 2 other cruise ships came into port. I bet they all wish they were on the fantasy! And I took note how nice the weather was, little to no wind and warm sunshine!

View from the verandah:

We had breakfast at Cabanas, it was nice. Not busy at all and the food was good. Nice quick way to get a breakfast this morning. Up to this point every time we’ve been in Cabanas it’s been really pleasant, better than I expected for a buffet.

Back in the room we got ready to disembark for St. Maarten. It was easy enough, brought a change of clothes, some towels & sunscreen (which was provided by the sundeck above the concierge lounge – we could grab some when we needed it). Also grabbed a few bottled waters from the lounge.

Side note – I can’t count how much bottled Evian we drank!! We popped into the lounge daily or more and grabbed individual bottles or 6-packs to stock our fridge. We’re huge water drinkers, not much for sodas but the kids always had a couple cans of pop stocked in the room fridge. We used the lounge a lot and took advantage of the concierge hosts quite a bit. They were very helpful and it made a big difference when we had questions about things, schedules. We missed a gingerbread house decorating event and they rescheduled for us. If I wanted to change a reservation for Palo they took care of it. Probably repeating myself here but was so happy with having those amenities nearby!

We got off the ship and walked from the boat a few minutes into the town.

The taxi’s were right there on the right as you walked through the port. The workers in the taxi area arranged everything, you just told them where you were going and they told you up front what your fare would be. We were put into a 15 passenger van with some other cruisers going whose destination was in the same general area of town.

It was about a 25-30 minute drive from the cruise port to Skip Jack’s restaurant in Simpsons Bay where we were meeting for the private excursion we booked. The Random Wind sailboat! The taxi cost $8 a person there, I think I gave $10 each. It was a non-eventful ride through town. The driver dropped us off in front of the restaurant and we met a couple waiting for the same activity. They were from the Royal Caribbean ship that just came in. Another family shortly joined us and April who worked for the boat owner showed up and checked our names off the list and got ready to take us over!

We took a dinghy over to the sailboat and started our day. Captain Trevor was piloting the sailboat for the day. He was quiet but would engage when you started talking to him or asking questions. April was a good hostess. She was the people person of the operation. Very outgoing and gave us our instructions through the day. She made us drinks, lunch. She helped Cpt Trevor with the operation of the boat when needed as well.

Endless cold beverages! Beers and cocktails, sodas, etc.

Our first stop was in a little bay to do some snorkeling and go the beach if people wanted. I went off towards the rock face to do some snorkeling. Everyone else took a swim to the beach. I saw a few schools of fish but not a lot. I swam to shore and walked over to where my family was sitting. By the time I got there only Diane and the kids were still at the beach, the other passengers were back on the boat. We played on the beach and swam around there for a few minutes before we heard the lunch horn. Captain Trevor gave us a preview of the horn earlier so we knew what to listen for when lunch would be ready.

We swam back to the boat and lunch was served! It was really good! We had a green salad, some chicken skewers and some thai rice (I think thai). Anyway, tasty stuff cooked on the boat. The kids had mac n cheese. It was good but my eyes were BURNING! The salt from the ocean had got in there even though I was wearing a mask. It took a good while before that went away, ouch!

Pretty beach we swam to

Just to the right of this wall was where I snorkeled...

We left and made our way to the next little spot where we would be doing the tarzan swing. It had a bar like a trapeze that you grasped and was hooked on to a horizontal mast that swung out from the ship. So you could swing out and drop into the water. It was fun and Kate really loved it. She must have gone 15 times! I went a few times and Diane went once. Jack didn’t want to get back into the water after the beach adventure.

April, our hostess for the day giving us the low down on the Tarzan swing

We started heading back to to where we started...

April took us back on the dinghy but this time we took a small tour of the little bay where all the huge yachts were and took a quick pass. Now that’s the rich and famous! Paul Allen’s (Microsoft) boat was there, talk about huge! No photos but there is a gopro clip I uploaded to youtube, link below.

And they called a taxi for us from the boat while we were sailing back to the bay. So the driver was waiting when we got off the dinghy. No waiting and we were able to start heading straight back to the port. We were back on the ship by about 4pm. Plenty of time to get ready for Pirate Night festivities! aaaargh! (Pirate night up next...)

Video of Day 4

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Originally we had reservations for Pirate night but my wife wanted to make sure we didn’t miss either pirate show so we cancelled our reservation. I was thinking we might try again for last night but chances were looking pretty slim – hard to believe how quick 7 nights starts to go!

We had already taken the kids to get some quick service dinner since we thought we were going to Palo. So with the kids fed and dressed for pirate night we took them to the Oceaneers clubs and we decided to go to the MDR by ourselves. Not Palo but still a mini-date for us!

Dropping kids off:

In my research a lot of people didn’t love the pirate night menu. Everything was pretty good though. We had a crab cake starter – my notes say it was good. The short ribs were great! We tried the macadamia nut encrusted mahi mahi and it has no flavor at all, bland! The fruit cobbler for dessert was a great finish though.

Diane and I were wearing our DCL provided bandanas, arrgh! We made our way down to pickup the kids.

Saw pirate stitch but line was too long, on the way to the pirate show!

Pirate show was cute, kids really loved it. I was glad we went but still sad to have given up Palo for it. This was the show with Mickey and the gang…

Entertained for the moment, kids were hungry so up a deck to the lounge to grab a snack. We ran into the hosts. They were getting into the pirate spirit too!

Snack in the lounge...

Popped into the room and found this guy hangin out…

We hung out in the room since we had about an hour before the late pirate show started. Kids started watching Dolphin Tale 2. In hindsight we would have gotten out to the deck much earlier to grab a spot. We foolishly went out minutes before the show started and it was PACKED! We squeezed in and saw ‘okay’ but didn’t get any great photos of the show and the video was only so so. But he kids got a pretty good view and the fireworks were definitely a great ending!

Pirate night meant one other thing – late night pirate buffet! Well we had to check it out. The kids were laying down watching a movie so Diane and I went down to grab a plate and bring it back up. This was probably the least enjoyable buffet experience we had while on the ship. The food itself was just okay. But it was sooo busy. It’s what I usually like least about buffets. We had some chili beans, chips and some little chicken burrito things that were pretty tasty.

Back to the room with our bounty in the few minutes we were gone Kate started having a stomach ache! Yikes! We had brought some anti-nausea meds so gave her one and put her to sleep. Hoping for a good night we all crashed out.

Video - Pirate night clips:

 

[Jim Riche]

Mike, thank you so much for your in depth report of your family vacation on the Fantasy. My wife and I will be going on the Fantasy in a few weeks and we are excited! We've only been on the Wonder, (7 times for me and 8 for my wife), your photos and videos are fabulous! You stated you used a GoPro, which one do you have and what device did you use to walk around the ship to keep the GoPro stabilized? What other accessories did you use on your trip? Thank you in advance for your help. Jim

 

[lulucornbread]

loving your trip report! We sailed concierge on Dream in July and it was SPOILING to say the least -can't wait to go back - thank you for all the great pictures.. I feel like I am having a mini-vacation with your family

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Mike, thank you so much for your in depth report of your family vacation on the Fantasy. My wife and I will be going on the Fantasy in a few weeks and we are excited! We've only been on the Wonder, (7 times for me and 8 for my wife), your photos and videos are fabulous! You stated you used a GoPro, which one do you have and what device did you use to walk around the ship to keep the GoPro stabilized? What other accessories did you use on your trip? Thank you in advance for your help. Jim

Wow, jealous I am sure it will be so fun, the weather should be great! I got the hero 4 black and I either handheld the camera in a case without any mount or used the smatree smapole s1 (a monopod) off Amazon. I used the chest mount in at Maarten a bit as well. YouTube has some stabilization tools that worked really well after uploading.

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[OSUBuckly]

Two very long weeks without an update! Hope to read more soon!