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

[pas130]

I think the medical team on board is pretty well trained. Sure people get sick everywhere, but I'd rather get sick and know there some kind of help on board, than being sick during a 12 hour flight.
But I do understand about not wanting to cruise. Our reasons were different before we took our first. I was so afraid I would feel locked in and would not be able to relax, but the complete opposite was the case. We love our days at sea.
Oh, and there is lots more food to come.

You are very right regarding the medical team's skill Plus, I have an unrealistic fear of boats..I am hopeless. Maybe an adults only cruise..like a 3 day..with lots of alcohol I will survive. Keep up the awesome updates Karin!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Great start to the Remy experience !!! As always the past food pix are mothwatering !!!! I have so much catching up to do here on the Dis and at work ! I am glad I have 3 full weeks before I am OFF again to Disney!! Doesn't that sound wrong to be glad I have 3 weeks !! I have just had such a busy October I am gonna need those 3 weeks !!!

 

[dizneeat]

Your breakfast on your cruises always looks yummy! i think I would be surprised if you chose something different though.

It might surprise you, but sometimes I do choose something else than Eggs Benedict. But you are so right I have it most days - I adore poached eggs and together with Hollandaise Sauce they are just divine.

Very nice! Your two spots were just waiting for you!!! It is neat to read about the more adult things that you can do on the ship.

There are a lot of adult things to do on the ships, even though the "kids stuff" like the detective agency and the enchanted art are just so much fun as well.
We did a lot of tastings on our second cruise too!

More food. I gain five pounds just looking at each of your posts.


Love the photos around the ship by the pool. It looks really fun. Mark and I've decided a cruise is not for us (we're going to try to hit New York next year and Disneyland the year after and then Aulani the year after that so have to save our pennies), but I do enjoy seeing all the photos.

Yes, food and cruises ...... they just go together perfectly.

Kathy, I hope you will forgive me, but I just had to smile when you said that a cruise is not for you - that is exactly what we said before we cruised for the first time.
Have you been to NY before? It is an awesome city and it is on our "to do" list to go back!
And it looks as we will miss you at DL too. We have pushed our trip to California back a year, so we can go to Florida again in 2015, after our Med cruise (and DLRP) next summer.
I am so jealous that you are planning a trip to Aulani! Airfare for us is just astronomical, so I guess Hawaii is not in our closer future. Hope you are going to do a TR - so at least I can live through your trip!

You are very right regarding the medical team's skill Plus, I have an unrealistic fear of boats..I am hopeless. Maybe an adults only cruise..like a 3 day..with lots of alcohol I will survive. Keep up the awesome updates Karin!!!

I do understand about the fear of ships! I felt so uneasy the first time we got onto the ship and I was sure I could feel it move, even in port, but once we were out it did not even feel like we were on a ship.
Oh, and I am sure the alcohol would help calm your nerves.

Great start to the Remy experience !!! As always the past food pix are mothwatering !!!! I have so much catching up to do here on the Dis and at work ! I am glad I have 3 full weeks before I am OFF again to Disney!! Doesn't that sound wrong to be glad I have 3 weeks !! I have just had such a busy October I am gonna need those 3 weeks !!!

More nice food pics to come, Rosie!
Tell me about having to catch up on the DIS. And as often as you are on your trips I don't know how you do it. But it is fun to see you around again.

Can't believe that you will be on your way again in just 3 more weeks.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 6, August 12

What does one do during a day at sea? – EAT of course! - Part 3

We had a nice table in the extra room, right by the window.









We did not sit there long when a server brought out the



truffled brioche served with



fresh butter and coarse sea salt. The sommelier was close behind with the first one of the champagnes we were about to taste, the



Taittinger Prestige Cuvée Rosé NV. And while we were spreading the butter on the brioche and sipping our nice crisp champagne, Benoit came by to chat a bit and introduce our server, a Brazilian, who had worked in Germany and spoke German rather well and was happy to practice it with us.
And soon he came back to present the first course of our lunch, the





Sweet Corn Emulsion spiced with a chili oil and topped with crisp pancetta croutons, which was very very good. It was then that I noticed, that my camera was not working quite like it should have. Some of the photos came out blurry no matter what I did. I didn’t really care at that moment, but it was something that happened again and again this vacation.
As soon as we had finished our soup, the plates were whisked away, the tablecloth cleared from any little crumbs that could be there and soon our second course arrived,



wonderful Scottish house cured salmon, served atop a herb-scented aioli, surrounded with edible micro-greens and flower blossoms. It was art on a plate and not only looked good, but the salmon melted in your mouth and the pairing with the aioli was a marriage made in heaven.
Again, it did not take long to take away the empty plates once we had cleared our plates. Benoit came back to explain the next course and while he was still at our table the Sommelier came to present the second one of our champagnes,





a Pommery Pop, a small bottle of champagne, just enough to share. We had time to take a small sip before our next course was brought to our table,





Seared Sea Bass, served atop a bed of creamy scrambled eggs and a thai peanut sauce. We were both looking forward to this course, as we had had it before on the Dream and both loved it. And this course did not disappoint. The sea bass was flakey and moist and went perfectly well with the creamy, well seasoned scrambled eggs. Fish lovers heaven.
Again, once we had finished the dish, out of no where came a server and whisked away our empty plates and the plate was soon replaced with the next one,







a tender pink roasted Veal tenderloin, served au jus and off to the side was a potato croquette, a small potato dumpling, filled with veal jus, breaded and deep fried. The moment you cut into it, the jus oozed out and it all was just heavenly. We both came close to licking our plates, but Benoit watching helped to hold us back. Once we were done with this wonderful meat course, the Sommelier came by again to present the last of the offerings, which went well with the dessert. It was the



Moet & Chandon Ice, served over ice, one oft he most wonderful champagnes I had ever tried before. And it went very well with dessert,



the Paris Brest, Profiteroles stuffed with hazelnut cream and accompanied with a dollop of praline gelato in the middle, rich and decadent. But that was not all, there was still a trio of sweets to come,





homemade strawberry Marshmallows,



Canele, and



caramel lollies. The Marshmallow and Canele got eaten, even though we were so full.
We asked for the bill, then added a nice tip for the server and signed it. It was then that Benoit mentioned that our server would not care for any sweets, but he would. We all had a good laugh as we had always brought a lot of yummy sweets for Mathieu, but hadn’t brought any up to the restaurant as we had not known if our server would care for them.
So we promised to be back in a bit with some candy for them both. So once we had settled the bill we went back to our now sparkling again stateroom, packed up some sweets and headed back. Both, Benoit and our server were pretty thankful and hugged both of us when they received their sweet European treats.
We crawled back to our stateroom and got changed and were pleased that the sparkling wine we had ordered as part of our Platinum Castaway Member gift had been delivered, complete with ice-basket and glasses. We put it on the dresser as we did not feel like any and rested on our beds for a while, watching a movie and dozing off a bit.

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

 

[Linda67]

SOLD !!!!

I am going to have to try and grab a Remy lunch reservation for June

 

[dizneeat]

SOLD !!!!

I am going to have to try and grab a Remy lunch reservation for June

Glad I could help you decide! I am sure you are going to love Remy lunch - the food is just so nice and to be honest, whilst dinner was always nice, I really enjoy lunch a lot more.
Less courses and the champagne pairing is just so wonderful!

 

[jenseib]

That is so funny that he said he likes sweets.
That meal didn't look to bad....as you knw I never seem to like what I see in Remy pictures, but this one looked edible to me.

 

[dizneeat]

That is so funny that he said he likes sweets.
That meal didn't look to bad....as you knw I never seem to like what I see in Remy pictures, but this one looked edible to me.

I could not believe my ears when he came by to tell us that he liked sweets. It was so funny, especially since he had always looked at Mathieu's in disgust.

Jen, I am so sure you would like the food at Remy. It just has fancy (French) names for pretty good items.

 

[KatMark]

More food porn...just before we go to dinner (although I'll be skipping the champagne).

Looks wonderful.

I think "if" we ever do a cruise, it will be the Alaska one.

 

[dizneeat]

More food porn...just before we go to dinner (although I'll be skipping the champagne).

Looks wonderful.

I think "if" we ever do a cruise, it will be the Alaska one.

I told you, you would be in for a lot more food!

Ah, an Alaska cruise - that is something we would love to do as well. My beloved WONDERful Disney WONDER and hopefully Captain John!

 

[Leshaface]

Has Remy always had a lunch option?! I thought they only served dinner. Had I known this, we would have for sure done a lunch as well on the Dream! It looks SO AMAZING!

 

[dizneeat]

Has Remy always had a lunch option?! I thought they only served dinner. Had I known this, we would have for sure done a lunch as well on the Dream! It looks SO AMAZING!

No, they started out as a dinner only restaurant, and I had to smile at your comment as I had used YOUR review of Remy to determine if we should go to Remy in the first place.

I think they started mid 2012 offering lunch - first you could only book it on board, but you can now book it via their website. To be honest, we have done 3 dinners (mostly because we liked our server there so much ) and 3 lunches and I would prefer lunch to dinner. The champagne pairing is far more up my street than the wine pairing at dinner and I found the menu more to my liking for lunch as well.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 6, August 12

What does one do during a day at sea? – EAT of course! - Part 4

We put it on the dresser as we did not feel like any and rested on our beds for a while, watching a movie and dozing off a bit.
After a while I had the glorious idea of checking what else can be found on TV. We checked the course of the ship, then saw some of the videos explaining excursions and finally we found guest services and there was actually a possibility to check our account.
We clicked on it and were a bit shocked. It showed minus 800 something dollars. Well, we knew we had a cabana to pay for, some excursions and we had paid for Remy and the tasting, but no way we owed them more than 800 dollars already.
The other thing that really hit me was that it did not show any credits we had received. We had gotten a 100 dollar credit from Dreams Unlimited, I was expecting 200 dollars from DCL and I had already paid 500 dollars into our account before we had left. So something was not right here.
So after a while trying to figure out what was going on here, we got properly dressed and headed down to guest services. There was a short line and soon it was our turn. I tried to explain to the Cast Member what I wanted and she soon started to smile and told us that somehow onboard credits you receive or pay ahead of time don’t show up, but things you pay for do. So she went to look up what our balance was and went on to explain that there indeed were the 500 dollars I had paid, the 100 dollars from DU and that DCL had honoured our “old” credit of 350$!!
Now that was the best surprise of them all. Getting a huge chunk of money from Mickey. Not that it wouldn’t go back to him in the end anyway, but it felt good to be at the receiving end for a change.
Now that was something that called for a celebration. We headed towards Europa and into O’Gills and right out of it again as they had some kind of game going on. Where to go?
Well, we just found a nice seat in La Piazza



and had a look at the menu. When the barkeeper returned from whatever he had been doing behind the scenes Tom ordered some



“O’Gills” beer, while I had my heart set on a Bellini. It took some time for the barkeeper to get Tom’s beer and my drink took even longer, but we were finally served and chatted with the barkeeper a bit, before La Piazza was filled with people who had come to do some crafts. We slowly finished our drinks, then walked through Ooh La La and Skyline before heading back to our stateroom again.
Again, the Fish Extender was filled and we brought our booty inside and inspected all the new goodies we had gotten







and rested a little while.
Shortly before 6pm we got ready to head to the Walt Disney Theatre to see Disney Wishes. We found a seat on the balcony, settled in and waited for the show to begin. It was interesting to see how many people were saving seats and no one would say anything. Finally the show started and it was pretty nice with a fun storyline.
Once the show was over we went back to our stateroom. Our rotational restaurant for the night was Animator’s Palate and this is our least favourite restaurant, because of the Crush show. While it might be nice to watch with kids, it gets really loud in the dining room and therefore not very pleasant, if you just want to enjoy dinner.
So we decided to skip Animator’s and just head to Cabanas instead. We walked up to the restaurant, were handed a wipe and invited in. It surprised both of us to see that the part of the restaurant, that was prepared for dinner was rather full and they had a few more tables in the back, where all the officers were having their dinner. After we had signed in, we were led past the last table for two in the main area and seated in the area where the officers were eating. At first we felt a little out of place in our casual cruise attire, but since no one seemed to mind we started to enjoy the evening.
A server came by immediately, introduced himself and asked for our drinks order. He quickly returned with our Diet Cokes and



a basket full of fresh rolls and some butter. While we had waited for the drinks our other server had come by, made some recommendations and had taken our order. And very quickly after we had received our drinks and bread our starters were served. Tom got the



Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup with bacon bits and chives and I had ordered the



Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist served with Parmigiano-Reggiano. And while we still enjoyed them, one of the officers, the one we had gotten to know during the meet and greet, Lloyd, came over to greet us and asked about how we enjoyed the cruise so far and if everything was alright. Needless to say we assured him that we really loved the cruise so far and that service was just excellent. When he left our server took away our empty plates and soon returned with our main courses.
We both had opted for some grilled steaks, mine being a



New York Strip and Tom’s



a ribeye, both served with steamed veggies and



steak fries. Tom’s had some herbed butter on top as well. The servers were pretty insistent we needed some ketchup, so we both got some Mickey Ketchup.



And while Tom’s steak was pretty nice, mine was rather tough, a bit overcooked and full of gristle. Not wanting to a fuss, and not being really hungry anway, I ate some bites of it and then stuck with the veggies and fries, which were both nice.
When the server saw that I had barely touched my steak she was very apologetic and offered to get a new one, but there was no need for it. She then insisted I had to at least have a decent dessert to make up for the steak. And you can’t possibly give up a nice dessert, can you? So we both ordered the



Cabanas Sundae, pineapple, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and caramel sauce. A yummy dessert indeed! We sat there, enjoying the treat and the quiet environment and made plans for the next day.
Around 9pm we had finished our dinner, tipped the servers and walked back to our stateroom. There were even more presents in our Fish Extender, but something seemed wrong with our stateroom door.
It just didn’t seem right, but I could not find out what it was until Tom pointed out that someone had stolen the Stitch sitting on top of the stateroom number. I could not believe it, that with all the things on the door, someone had taken that magnet. Especially since it was really customized with an Austrian Ear Hat. We had a replacement, but did not use it, because we still had another cruise coming up.
So we just rearranged our other magnets and from now on we started to check if anything was missing from the door. Back in our room we found a fun elephant towel animal



on our bed and after watching a little TV and again sitting outside on the veranda for a few minutes we went to bed early that day.

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

 

[JKSWonder]

We've never been to Cabanas for dinner....looks like a really nice option if you want to skip the MDR.

How sad that someone took your magnet. It always bothers me when I hear about things like that happening. Our magnets are pretty sentimental at this point, having been on three cruises with us so far. It's a shame that there are people out there who are so thoughtless.

 

[pas130]

I do understand about the fear of ships! I felt so uneasy the first time we got onto the ship and I was sure I could feel it move, even in port, but once we were out it did not even feel like we were on a ship.
Oh, and I am sure the alcohol would help calm your nerves.

And the food!! YUM! Castaway Cay for me is enough to really want to try....hmmmmmm

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! I'm finally all caught up again. It looks like two days of non-stop eating and drinking - you must be on a cruise! I'm glad that most of your meals were delicious.
How fun to meet up with your old tablemates! Your story made me think of our first tablemates - I can't even remember their names, but I do remember their stories.
The Italian Liqueur tasting sounds interesting - is everything bitter? Well, I guess Amaretto isn't. I know the Italian "coke" in Club Cool was horribly bitter. Thanks so much for writing!

 

[Leshaface]

No, they started out as a dinner only restaurant, and I had to smile at your comment as I had used YOUR review of Remy to determine if we should go to Remy in the first place.

I think they started mid 2012 offering lunch - first you could only book it on board, but you can now book it via their website. To be honest, we have done 3 dinners (mostly because we liked our server there so much ) and 3 lunches and I would prefer lunch to dinner. The champagne pairing is far more up my street than the wine pairing at dinner and I found the menu more to my liking for lunch as well.

Aw that's so nice, thanks Karin I told DH that you guys did a Remy lunch and he got upset that we didn't do it during our cruise! I'll need to tell him tonight that they added it after our cruise

What a nice dinner at Cabanas. Too bad about your steak.. It looks so juicy and delicious. But the sundae looks even better!

Aw man, sorry about your magnet. I was always worried about one of our magnets being stolen. However, it seemed that someone always put one on our door!

 

[Linda67]

We've never tried Cabanas for dinner Karin
Good idea though if you aren't feeling the main dining rooms - I shall have to remember that tip
So far I need to have lunch at Remy and dinner at Cabanas - keep the good ideas coming !!

 

[KatMark]

For dinner, please, I would like the soup, the New York strip and the french fries with the Mickey ketchup.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Your food looked so good, love the rolls.

I hate when people steal things, wether it is cheap or expensive it's mine & I don't want it taken.