Fantasy: Best Bar/Lounge

[Dug720]

Yes indeed they do. AND they also get placed in Vista Cafe and Cove Cafe as well. We saw one of our favorite guys (Damien) at the Vista Cafe one cruise and then the next cruise he was in Skyline and recently he was in Ooh La La. The cruise before we saw him in Vista, he was in Meridian. It makes it more exciting for them I am sure instead of being in the same spot for 5 to 6 months.

Yep! And I know when I was on the Fantasy, Andrae was my morning guy in Cove Cafe and he was at Bon Voyage in the evenings. So sometimes they have double bars. He was AMAZING!! Greeted me every morning with "My Princess!!" and after he saw me with the Paris drink from Skyline that has the blinking cube in it, he got a blinking cube for me and had it in a glass of merlot the next evening when I walked through.

 

[Sytrace]

Yep! And I know when I was on the Fantasy, Andrae was my morning guy in Cove Cafe and he was at Bon Voyage in the evenings. So sometimes they have double bars. He was AMAZING!! Greeted me every morning with "My Princess!!" and after he saw me with the Paris drink from Skyline that has the blinking cube in it, he got a blinking cube for me and had it in a glass of merlot the next evening when I walked through.

I love hearing stories like this while I am waiting for my next cruise. It brings back such happy memories.

 

[ciniminis]

The Non-alcoholic drinks are great. If you visit enough, the servers will learn what you like and have suggestions.

I'm not familiar with bars and have no clue what to come up with when they say "we'll make anything you like"... But I do love the fruity cocktails at Castaway Cay such as Konk Kooler and Castaway Freeze - would those be reasonable to request at one of the bars on the ship?

 

[Dug720]

I'm not familiar with bars and have no clue what to come up with when they say "we'll make anything you like"... But I do love the fruity cocktails at Castaway Cay such as Konk Kooler and Castaway Freeze - would those be reasonable to request at one of the bars on the ship?

I don't know that they could/would do the Castaway drinks on the ship. What about just a virgin piña colada or something if you don't want alcohol?

 

[CamColt]

I'm not familiar with bars and have no clue what to come up with when they say "we'll make anything you like"... But I do love the fruity cocktails at Castaway Cay such as Konk Kooler and Castaway Freeze - would those be reasonable to request at one of the bars on the ship?

I don't believe that would be an issue. We first found the Tropical Depression on the menu at the Conched Out Bar at CC about 9 years ago. Multiple bartenders have been making it for me on the ship ever since. The bartenders on CC are the same one from the ship so they would know how to make those drinks. In fact on our most recent cruise I noticed the Tropical Depression has been taken off the sign at Conched Out but I stlil had quite a few on the ship and the island.

 

[Pens Fan]

I agree with others that it depends on what you are looking for. We loved the outdoor Currents bar for a late afternoon glass of wine outside in the sun and breeze before heading down to clean up for dinner. After dinner we loved going to Skyline - great drinks and atmosphere.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

One thing that we found different than most bars on land is that most of these bars are specialty bars, not "full service" bars. Not a bad thing, but something to be aware of.

For instance, my wife likes alcoholic coffee drinks but most of the bars didn't have a coffee machine. Likewise, some of them have a fairly limited selection of alcohol if you are looking for some specific brand or something more fancy.

But as we learned which bars excelled at what, we could go to the right one to get what we wanted at that time.

 

[kiford]

We love Meridian on both Dream and Fantasy. But we also like Oh La La but didn't get nearly enough time to spend in it. It's quiet enough to have a conversation without having to raise your voice.

 

[phinz]

Yep! And I know when I was on the Fantasy, Andrae was my morning guy in Cove Cafe and he was at Bon Voyage in the evenings. So sometimes they have double bars. He was AMAZING!! Greeted me every morning with "My Princess!!" and after he saw me with the Paris drink from Skyline that has the blinking cube in it, he got a blinking cube for me and had it in a glass of merlot the next evening when I walked through.

Andre was my favorite Tube bartender ever. He kept making us Jamaican rum punches from scratch.

 

[Dug720]

Andre was my favorite Tube bartender ever. He kept making us Jamaican rum punches from scratch.

He is the best!!!!!!

I would almost cruise the Fantasy just for him!

 

[sefowler1]

I'm not familiar with bars and have no clue what to come up with when they say "we'll make anything you like"... But I do love the fruity cocktails at Castaway Cay such as Konk Kooler and Castaway Freeze - would those be reasonable to request at one of the bars on the ship?

Look at the menus on the tables for the drink of the day, or you can check the navigator and app. They always have a non-alcoholic drink. Start there and see if you like it. Then later in the stay, you can always ask them to make any previous drinks you liked.

 

[Deaconfan]

Meridian (view and I like the ambiance), Cove Cafe (kind of quiet, good for people watching or reading a book and comfortable seating), and O'Gill's (can catch a little sports on TV).

 

[dclpluto]

I'm not familiar with bars and have no clue what to come up with when they say "we'll make anything you like"... But I do love the fruity cocktails at Castaway Cay such as Konk Kooler and Castaway Freeze - would those be reasonable to request at one of the bars on the ship?

I have gotten konk koolers many times on the ships.

 

[Keri Barker]

This might sound like a odd question. But when our child is in the room sleeping (she's 9) is it safe to leave her alone to sleep while we go walk around and maybe go watch a game or have a drink? Every time we traveled before we never felt safe enough to leave her alone in a room so we would just go to bed at her time. But thinking it might be nice to have some "adult" time when she's asleep on the cruise! We would leave her my phone to use the app to text us of course.

 

[Momee]

This might sound like a odd question. But when our child is in the room sleeping (she's 9) is it safe to leave her alone to sleep while we go walk around and maybe go watch a game or have a drink? Every time we traveled before we never felt safe enough to leave her alone in a room so we would just go to bed at her time. But thinking it might be nice to have some "adult" time when she's asleep on the cruise! We would leave her my phone to use the app to text us of course.

That's an extremely subjective question.
Here's my opinion:
We have a 10 and an 11 year old and they are mature kids. We would allow them to check themselves in and out of the club with the strict instructions that they call us first (Wavephones) and then get further instructions for where their dad and I will be so they can come meet up with us. They also have to stick together, always.
That being said, I would not feel comfortable leaving them alone in the cabin while they sleep. I wouldn't want them to wake up in a sleepy stupor to go to the bathroom and panic when they realize that we aren't in there. (Even though we would've told them before they went to sleep.) I also don't think I would want to do that if one of them were an only child- that would intensify the panic, I would think.) I would also worry that in the rare event of an emergency, the child(ren) would be alone and not sure what to do. (At least if there was a sleeping sibling, he/she could wake the other one up to get help.)
I am not a huge worrier, but leaving a younger child (not a teen) asleep alone in the cabin would make me uneasy.
My husband and I enjoy our drinks in the evenings (sometimes pretty late), but always when the kids are in the kids' club.

 

[JimGA]

My favorite lounge bAR is my free verandah at my room, listening to the ocean, and the dark vastness.

 

[McWilldo]

Is the beer selection the same at each bar, or does it vary?

 

[Sil452]

Is the beer selection the same at each bar, or does it vary?

It varies from bar to bar. O'Gills had around 5 or 6 taps, and many of the others had 2 taps (plus whatever bottles they carry). At least that's how it was when we went in 2015.

 

[tigerchic89]

This might sound like a odd question. But when our child is in the room sleeping (she's 9) is it safe to leave her alone to sleep while we go walk around and maybe go watch a game or have a drink? Every time we traveled before we never felt safe enough to leave her alone in a room so we would just go to bed at her time. But thinking it might be nice to have some "adult" time when she's asleep on the cruise! We would leave her my phone to use the app to text us of course.

Our kids have always had pretty early bed times..... at home. We find that on the ship we all kind of fall into similar sleep schedules. So usually if one of us wants to stay out until 11, all of us stay out.... sometimes together but often the kids are in clubs and hubby and I are at an 18+ show. So while I probably wouldn't leave my 9yo sleeping alone in the room, I would let her stay in the kids club while we grabbed the game or drink.

 

[WDisneyWLove]

We loved Andre in O'Gills!! He was the best. We cruised last February.