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[franandaj]

Day 5

I woke up at 4AM to the DVC video loop going on and on. I couldn't take it anymore and put on Ratatouille as they kept asking us at Remy the night before if we had seen the movie. Of course we had but not for a while. I mostly drowsed through it, but before going back to sleep, I opened the curtains a bit so I could see when the sun came up.

I woke around 5AM and it was still dark. Just after 6AM I woke to see light and jumped out of bed. I could still see the sun under the horizon. Having a mid ship cabin and not aft was not ideal for taking morning sunrise pictures. I could tell that the direction that the ship was veering would definitely put the sun out of view from my cabin.





For the first time on a cruise, I threw on some clothes and shoes grabbed the camera and ran out the door. Not bothering to do my hair. I went up to deck 13 aft to catch the sunrise and ran into table mate Pam. I regretted not having done anything to my hair, we know two people on the whole cruise, and that is who I ran into! We chatted as we waited for the sun to rise.







Turns out the clouds obscured the sunrise, but we had a lovely discussion about winter, Christmas, and seasons with a gentleman from Connecticut. Pam is from Eastern New York and both of them were enjoying escaping from their colder climates. This is probably the shot that shows the sun had already risen.



It was after taking this shot that I realized the sun had risen quite a while ago.



After saying goodbye until later I walked around the ship taking pictures. There’s the Mini Golf Course.





I’m sure these tables get lots of use during the day.



There’s this basketball court.



Here is yet another bar, never made it here and probably wouldn’t spend much time here. I’m guessing that it would be hot and sunny.



Here’s a look from above of what I think was the family pool.



I’d seen this in seminars on the Dream and Fantasy, but this is one of the imagineers jokes related to the Aqua Duck (which I never did get on during this cruise.)



I just happened to stumble upon this pool area and bar. I had no idea it was here. Not that we had time or the weather had cooperated, but good to know for the future.





And looking down on the adult pool.



Back in the room I started to detail my notes on dinner the previous night while it was fresh in my mind. We also perused the Navigators.













I went up to the Cove Café to get my free coffee.

Here’s the midship elevators.



And the elevator itself.



This elevator has drawings that you pass by on the walls.





This was one of the sundries stores on Deck 11 conveniently located near the pool to separate you from your money when you’re relaxing poolside.



The pool wasn’t open at this early hour.



Here is the area where they have soft serve ice cream and smoothies.





Adult pool



[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Time for my free Americano!













Now that looks inviting!



And I could have the whole area to myself!



But instead I came back to the room to finish my notes and work on the previous TR as well as start packing. While writing the Wonder TR, I read about how I never actually finished National Treasure on that ship and decided to put that on the TV. Fran woke up and we decided it would be good to have a small snack for our Brunch, so around 9:00 I went up to Cabanas and got us some food. I had the Special K and watermelon. She had the bagel with cream cheese and pineapple.



She snoozed a little while longer while I started the unpleasant task of packing up our suitcases. We had a fair amount of alcohol scheduled for the day and I certainly didn't want to leave packing to the last moment. I had set an alarm to go off, but to my surprise Fran got up and dressed well before it went off.

We had decided to play Bingo before brunch this morning and presales began at 11:00. She wanted a good seat, so we left as soon as I finished getting dressed up for Brunch. We arrived nice and early getting our choice of seats. Bingo was played in Evolution which was the dance bar.





We ordered some non alcoholic drinks, I got the passion cream freeze and she got the DOTD Princess Cream Freeze.



When sales opened up we got the MEGA family pack because everything on the Dream is bigger and better. So now we each had 48 games instead of 24 and it only cost $80 now.





The room started to fill up quickly.



And wouldn’t you know it a big guy walks into the room and sits down right in front of me.



1st game winner would get Bingo in 1 row, but not using the free space

2nd game winner gets 1 row either top or bottom

3rd game the winner would have to fill all the columns G & O

4th game winner gets black out

This time we didn't win. I was really close.

The screens tell you how well you are doing. It tells you how many you are away on how many cards.



We also had manual cards to play.



When ever they call B11 they do this dance on every ship. It has something to with Beyonce and they sing, “All the Bingo Ladies!”



Bingo ran a little long. We were supposed to be done at noon and it went just a few minutes past. I went ahead of Fran up 8 decks to Remy where we had our Champagne Brunch scheduled.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

We were just in time for our "briefing" prior to the Brunch. The chef explained to us about the menu and what we could expect. The sommelier told us about the region of champagne and a few little “fun facts” about the different Champagnes that we would be tasting.



We were then seated at our table.





This was our menu for the afternoon.



Our first course was Jamon or ham which was served with a Brut Champagne. It was nicely salty and I suppose it was just supposed to be a little taste to get your palate going.



Our next course was a vegetable risotto with root vegetable shavings. Our server encouraged us to stir it up so you got a bit of everything in one bite. I was a little dubious about this one, but it was really good, lots of flavor and I didn’t miss that there was no meat.



The third course was a lobster dish with a mango shaving as a border, and all kinds of other complex flavors . It was served with a Tattinger that also was supposed to last until the next dish. This was another one that was really tasty when you got a bite of everything in your mouth.



For our next course, I asked if they would pour us (me) more of the Tattinger Champagne, it was too good not to almost finish it off with the last course. Fletan or Halibut. It had a potato seafood soup over a spicy Thai sauce. The complex mix of flavors here was just incredible. The spicy acidic brown Thai sauce balanced with the creamy potato and the seafood was seared to get a crispy top. Every dish was created to be combined so that all the flavors are mixed together and you get bit of everything in one bite, and it becomes something greater.



Our "main" was Chicken Oscar. I didn't give it much thought. It sounded good enough, but in actuality it was one of the most amazing preparations of chicken that I have ever tasted. It was moist and tender, melt in your mouth like, but yet the skin actually had some crispiness to it. I had to ask the server about the preparation and it turns out that it was seared on the skin side on a very hot grill and then cooked in a sous vide. For those who don’t know about this method of preparation, it like boiling the meat in a bag, but the water is not actually hot enough to boil. It’s a slow cooking method in a vacuum sealed bag. If you watched Iron Chef America, they used it on that a lot. The Chicken was just incredible and that's not a word you will hear me use often to describe chicken.



Both the halibut and the chicken were served with POP from Pomeroy Champagne. The story we were told by the Sommelier at the beginning of the meal was that back in the day Madame Pomeroy was a "party girl". She liked to go out to the theater and other events, but she liked to bring her drinks along. So she invented this bottle in her Champagne house to fit in her purse so she could bring her beverages with her. Sounds like my kind of gal!



The Oscar part of the Chicken means that there was crabmeat served with it. Our crab was in the form of this little crab cake ball. It was good enough that it could have been served as a course on it’s own!



Our last course was a spicy chocolate soup that was paired with Moet Ice. I can’t remember what the flavor of ice cream was but I know it was good. I ate every last bite, and would’ve licked the plate if it wasn’t so rude!



They joked about adding Parmesan Cheese, but it was really white chocolate.



After our dessert they brought us more of these weird Hazelnut biscuits. I let Fran eat all of these.



We took one more shot in the restaurant before heading out to our next destination.



We had practically closed the place down!



But we didn’t want to forget our souvenirs, signed by the chef!

 

[PrincessInOz]

OMG! What an amazing meal with Champagne! LOVED every picture.

And was there ANYONE on that ship??? Those are amazing empty pictures.

 

[franandaj]

OMG! What an amazing meal with Champagne! LOVED every picture.

It was a fantastic meal, actually they both were!

And was there ANYONE on that ship??? Those are amazing empty pictures.

Sure but they were all still asleep in their cabins!

 

[tlynk]

Your trip report is excellent! It makes me want to try Remy when I sail the Fantasy again! Thank you for sharing!

 

[SixtoMouse]

I have read several of your trip reports and have enjoyed them all. Thank you for sharing.

 

[dizneeat]

So, the Brunch menu has changed as well. Looks yummy to me. And the champagne ......... don't blame you at all to ask for a refill.

And what a neat idea to have your "souvenirs" signed. I need to keep that in mind.

I really love the early morning pics you took, even though the sun was hiding, but the empty ship is always an awesome sight. We sometimes do the same - head up to the top deck in the early morning, and we love to "kind of" have the ship to ourselves when the first dinner seating is on and the rest of the guests watches the show. So peaceful!

 

[pkondz]

I'll try to be gentle, but I don't want to start the next trip with a bunch of days left on this one!

I hear ya.
Now that my Tr's (temporarily) done. I hope to be able to keep up a bit.

I don't know if it's because we're a beach city or what, but I was surprised when I moved here how many places opened from 6AM-2:30PM, no dinner, just breakfast and lunch.

Huh.

I wonder if the Imagineers made it or they found it somewhere.

Good question.
Ask it if you can.

Lots of tasty stuff there! I wish I had a bigger stomach!

Don't we all.... don't we all.

Married? 7 1/2 years, with an 11 year engagement.

Figured it had to be a while!

I live in a beach town and I don't think I've actually gone in the ocean once in 18 years, but some of my favorite restaurants have an ocean or harbor view.

I find that the more I stay out of the ocean, the higher the likelihood that I won't be eaten by something in it goes.

Yeah, the amount of stuff she keeps putting in boxes saying, "I can sell that on eBay..." is a little daunting, especially since we only have two things on eBay.

So if eBay crashes, I'll know it's because you guys decided to sell some stuff.

Evidently the recipe for these is so secret the owner wouldn't even share it with her husband once they got married!

Wow.

Magdalene was able to point out that it was called a Collete, after the woman chef in the movie.

Ah.

Back to read the updates.

 

[pkondz]

I couldn't take it anymore and put on Ratatouille as they kept asking us at Remy the night before if we had seen the movie. Of course we had but not for a while.

I haven't seen that one yet.

I could tell that the direction that the ship was veering would definitely put the sun out of view from my cabin.

Drats

I regretted not having done anything to my hair, we know two people on the whole cruise, and that is who I ran into!

Of course!

It was after taking this shot that I realized the sun had risen quite a while ago.

Whoops! Did Fran ever wake up while you were gone and wonder where you were?

There’s the Mini Golf Course.

I had no idea you could do that!
Well, of course they can... but that anyone would!

That's great!

Yesss....

This elevator has drawings that you pass by on the walls.

cool

conveniently located near the pool to separate you from your money when you’re relaxing poolside.

Disney does that?
Who knew!

She snoozed a little while longer while I started the unpleasant task of packing up our suitcases.

Ugh. Packing to go on a vacation is fine. Packing to leave a vacation... not so fine.

And wouldn’t you know it a big guy walks into the room and sits down right in front of me.

Figures.

When ever they call B11 they do this dance on every ship. It has something to with Beyonce and they sing, “All the Bingo Ladies!”

And since you didn't mention it... neither of you won any games?

The story we were told by the Sommelier at the beginning of the meal was that back in the day Madame Pomeroy was a "party girl". She liked to go out to the theater and other events, but she liked to bring her drinks along. So she invented this bottle in her Champagne house to fit in her purse so she could bring her beverages with her. Sounds like my kind of gal!

That meal looks almost as good (in some instances better) than your last.

 

[jedijill]

I love Remy brunch as well. Loved the looks of your menu...Completely different than the last time I was onboard. Love all the pics of the empty ship!

Jill in CO

 

[dhorner233]

Such nice pictures of the empty ship! It's nice they have separate pools for the adults. Very pretty ship. Interesting elevator!

I've never played Bingo on a hand held device. Interesting. Sorry you didn't win anything after spending $80

How may restaurants are on the ship? You have to pay extra for Remy's right? Fancy, artistic meal!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Great sunrise photos. Even though you were mid the colours are still delightful. How nice to meet Pam. Funny how you keep seeing the same folks!

Lovely brunch. We have done Palo many times and love it but not Remy. Looks delightful. I love the menu. Crab and chicken yes please. Adore crab. Love the pop story! My kind of gal also. Have you tried Cristal champagne Alison? Holy moly. I thought who would pay that for a bottle then hunted it down in Costco....liquid gold my friend.

I have seen that cooking water bath method on masterchef. I have been dying to try it. Sous Vide. I have seem they have started selling the machines over here.

Oh that chocolate soup. Ought to have a viewing cinema cetification! Looks divine. Is that a 'quinelle' I don't know how to spell it! Of ice cream. I like it when they do that on masterchef also.

How nice the chef signed your gifts. Again you both look lovely.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am finally all caught up again. Having finally something to plan has taken up all of my time at the moment.

I loved all the photos from Castaway Cay. It is far too long since we have been there. The lunch looked nice and they seemed to have a really good selection there.

I loved the sunset photo. What a shame that the sunrise the next morning did not quite happen. Both meals at Remy looked amazing, but they reinforced that I would struggle to find something to eat there. Having said that, I loved the look of the fried tomato soup, the beef and the dessert.

From your description, I think I would actually prefer the Pirate party on the Dream as it seems to be less drawn out. I am still not sure if I would bother to go though as this really is not my thing. Speaking of Pirates, I loved Donald in his pirate costume.

Finding out what is in all those boxes must be like Christmas, but it also sounds like a massive pain.

I hope that you will manage to sit together and firm up the dining plans for New Orleans.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

Your trip report is excellent! It makes me want to try Remy when I sail the Fantasy again! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you very much! I can't wait to try the Fantasy, the Dream was just too short to do everything that I wanted.

I have read several of your trip reports and have enjoyed them all. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for reading and posting!

So, the Brunch menu has changed as well. Looks yummy to me. And the champagne ......... don't blame you at all to ask for a refill.

And what a neat idea to have your "souvenirs" signed. I need to keep that in mind.

I don't remember what you had on your Brunch, but it was the one that spurred me to do it! They actually asked if we wanted the bottle autographed, so of course I said "yes".

I really love the early morning pics you took, even though the sun was hiding, but the empty ship is always an awesome sight. We sometimes do the same - head up to the top deck in the early morning, and we love to "kind of" have the ship to ourselves when the first dinner seating is on and the rest of the guests watches the show. So peaceful!

Because it was so crowded on other times, it was great to have a little time where no one was around, and not have to wait and fight to get on an elevator.

I hear ya.
Now that my Tr's (temporarily) done. I hope to be able to keep up a bit.

Good luck! I always find there is something that keeps me from being able to stay caught up.

Good question.
Ask it if you can.

I will. Next February.

Figured it had to be a while!

Next year will be 20 blissful years.

I find that the more I stay out of the ocean, the higher the likelihood that I won't be eaten by something in it goes.

Good point!

So if eBay crashes, I'll know it's because you guys decided to sell some stuff.

Nah, there was a time when we had hundreds of items listed and it never crashed.

 

[pkondz]

Good luck! I always find there is something that keeps me from being able to stay caught up.

I was chuckling and saying "Yeah right!" to myself as I typed that.

Next year will be 20 blissful years.

Emphasis on the bliss.

Nah, there was a time when we had hundreds of items listed and it never crashed.

Try 1,000s.

 

[Flossbolna]

Loved to see your brunch experience! But how did you end up with the "souvenirs"??? They are not part of the normal package, are they?

 

[franandaj]

I haven't seen that one yet.

Oh, C'mon Pkondz, you really need to step up your Disney flick game! It's a classic!

Of course!

I never allow myself to be photographed with my hair like that, but most of the time, I wear it on top of my head in a little tight bun, so it was like that AND all messy from having slept on it!

Whoops! Did Fran ever wake up while you were gone and wonder where you were?

I probably told her I was leaving, but rarely does she wake up without me prodding her.

I had no idea you could do that!
Well, of course they can... but that anyone would!

There's a lot of cool things to do on the larger ships, so many that you could never do everything you want to try.

That's great!

Leave it to the Imagineers. They're always thinking!

Disney does that?
Who knew!

Ugh. Packing to go on a vacation is fine. Packing to leave a vacation... not so fine.

Well for now, just think of it as packing for "the next phase of vacation."

Figures.

I know, always happens to the short girl.

And since you didn't mention it... neither of you won any games?

Nope. Not this time.

That meal looks almost as good (in some instances better) than your last.

They were both awesome, and those two meals, plus Castaway Cay were my whole reason wanting to go on this cruise.

I love Remy brunch as well. Loved the looks of your menu...Completely different than the last time I was onboard. Love all the pics of the empty ship!

Jill in CO

That's good to know that it changes, so it will be fresh the next time I go!

Such nice pictures of the empty ship! It's nice they have separate pools for the adults. Very pretty ship. Interesting elevator!

It wouldn't be such an enjoyable time if there wasn't separate adult areas.

I've never played Bingo on a hand held device. Interesting. Sorry you didn't win anything after spending $80

It's fun, even though we didn't win. We look at it this way, $40 per person for an hour of entertainment. It's cheaper than our theater tickets two weeks ago, and it was actually more fun!

How may restaurants are on the ship? You have to pay extra for Remy's right? Fancy, artistic meal!

There are three Main Dining Rooms, Cabanas is the buffet restaurant, there are the three Quick Service places on the pool deck (pizza, burgers, salads), and then Palo ($25 upcharge) and Remy ($75 upcharge).

 

[franandaj]

Great sunrise photos. Even though you were mid the colours are still delightful. How nice to meet Pam. Funny how you keep seeing the same folks!

Well, they were our tablemates....they were the only people we knew on the ship.

Lovely brunch. We have done Palo many times and love it but not Remy. Looks delightful. I love the menu. Crab and chicken yes please. Adore crab. Love the pop story! My kind of gal also. Have you tried Cristal champagne Alison? Holy moly. I thought who would pay that for a bottle then hunted it down in Costco....liquid gold my friend.

I have not tried Cristal champagne. I'll have to put it on my list.

I have seen that cooking water bath method on masterchef. I have been dying to try it. Sous Vide. I have seem they have started selling the machines over here.

I've had it a couple times, and done right, it's really good.

Oh that chocolate soup. Ought to have a viewing cinema cetification! Looks divine. Is that a 'quinelle' I don't know how to spell it! Of ice cream. I like it when they do that on masterchef also.

How nice the chef signed your gifts. Again you both look lovely.

Thanks. The chocolate soup was divine!

I am finally all caught up again. Having finally something to plan has taken up all of my time at the moment.

I loved all the photos from Castaway Cay. It is far too long since we have been there. The lunch looked nice and they seemed to have a really good selection there.

It was a great selection, especially on the island. It had been 15 years since we had been there!

I loved the sunset photo. What a shame that the sunrise the next morning did not quite happen. Both meals at Remy looked amazing, but they reinforced that I would struggle to find something to eat there. Having said that, I loved the look of the fried tomato soup, the beef and the dessert.

You can always order individual courses from the menu, and you could probably choose some of the vegetarian options as well. I remember that they Magdalene's boyfriend a nice meal, and he doesn't eat seafood at all.

From your description, I think I would actually prefer the Pirate party on the Dream as it seems to be less drawn out. I am still not sure if I would bother to go though as this really is not my thing. Speaking of Pirates, I loved Donald in his pirate costume.

I just thought the video pirate on the screen was really annoying.

Finding out what is in all those boxes must be like Christmas, but it also sounds like a massive pain.

Actually no, it's a PITA! We moved about 40 boxes yesterday, I peeked in a few of them and there is a lot of stuff that I really want to just get rid of, but for now we need to empty the apartment and deal with stuff later.

I hope that you will manage to sit together and firm up the dining plans for New Orleans.

I hoping we do that in about 15 minutes.

I was chuckling and saying "Yeah right!" to myself as I typed that.

I can bet.

Emphasis on the bliss.

Loved to see your brunch experience! But how did you end up with the "souvenirs"??? They are not part of the normal package, are they?

Those were the champagnes that they served us for the last two courses and they let us purchase them. As I remember they were fairly pricey.

 

[pkondz]

Oh, C'mon Pkondz, you really need to step up your Disney flick game! It's a classic!

Picture me standing with my head hanging in shame.

There's a lot of cool things to do on the larger ships, so many that you could never do everything you want to try.

Impressive.

Well for now, just think of it as packing for "the next phase of vacation."

I like that!

They were both awesome, and those two meals, plus Castaway Cay were my whole reason wanting to go on this cruise.

Those are very good reasons.