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

[jedijill]

Your arm looks so painful!!!! Glad it didn't blister. Hope it continues to heal.

Have fun at lunch with Tom!

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, August 13

A visit to the Netherlands and France before Captain Jack takes over the Fantasy - Part 1

Today we were up early and at quarter to 7 we were on our way out the door and up to the top deck.









We were just moving into the port of Sint Maarten when we got to Satellite Falls





and ran into our cruise friends, Jean and Paul, who had brought over their breakfast plates from Cabanas to watch us dock while enjoying their breakfast. We walked as far forward as we could and watched the ship being docked.









It was still overcast and slightly cool, but no one really cared. The view was stunning

















and when we were finally docked the blue skies started to come through. And after having taken numerous photos and a few more words with our friends we headed downstairs











and got our things ready for our excursion before heading to the Royal Court for breakfast again.

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

 

[dizneeat]

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 !!

It's a nice place for a quiet dinner. We have been a few times yet, mostly to escape the "regular" AP.
I am sure you'll love lunch at Remy! It is really a wonderful experience. Get the champagne pairing.

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

Good choice, Kathy! And the Mickey ketchup is a must!

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.

The food on board is really good. And it doesn't help that there is so much available ALL day long.

It really seems to be a sign of the times that people feel so entitled to everything they see. I don't care if it is grown ups or kids, it's just not right.

The soup was delish I had it one night !!!Sorry your steak was not good !!! But the dessert looked yummy!!!

The soup is super yummy! I didn't mind too much about the steak or otherwise I would have said something and the sundae made more than up for it.

 

[dizneeat]

That Does seem mean that someone stole it-probably kids. Think I will make a magnet that says please be respectful and do not remove things from our door, as hopefully a deterrant! I leave in 25 days! Yay!

We do have a magnet asking not to take any magnets, but then I do not want to help someone get some ideas.
Yeah for leaving in just a few days. It will be here before you know it.

Definitely with Mickey ketchup

Wow, what a great thread and an awesome TR!!! I love all the pictures! Glad you had a great vacation, even though it got off to a rocky start.

Welcome!
I am happy to hear that you enjoy coming along for the "ride". We had an awesome vacation and there is lots more to come.

All caught up! And I am full just reading it. So many many yummies I can't even count. Sorry about your Cabanas steak though. How fun to see former tablemates, I love that and the Commodores Meet and Greet looks lovely! Jeff and I need to do that next time for sure, he would love it.

I am mad about your magnet though!

You made it. Can't believe that with all the travelling you do, you are still able to catch up on all the treads so quickly.

It was so nice to run into Jean and Paul. They brought back some very happy memories.
The officers meet and greet is such a fun event. Oh, and not to forget free sparkling wine.

 

[jedijill]

I love being up and watching as the ship docks! So peaceful and interesting watching the preparations.

I loved St Martaan. Can't wait to hear about your day.

Jill in CO

 

[Teri1]

So sorry you burned your arm, I know it had to be painful. Take care Karin.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Your poor arm, ouch! Glad you got it into cold water right away.

 

[annmarieda]

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,

It is great the report you have with your hosts! I am sure that they all love the sweets you give them.

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

Warm chocolate cookies are the best... maybe with milk though and not a mimosa.

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.

More treats! YUM!

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

That pie looked so yummy!!! Actually, all your food looks great. Course, I suspect you know that...and even better than how it looks is how it tastes and that is why you are a platinum cruise member.

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.

This looked interesting! I can see why you wanted to walk off a calorie or two.

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

I don't know that I have ever had a good strudel... I mean, maybe a pastry here or there that was more like a doughnut filled with some apple pie filling... but not a real strudel.

The chef we saw was the worst ever! He told everyone how the dough is made, which ingredients to use and then went on to say that if you don’t have everything in the house, make it without whatever you are missing. It was ridiculous.

And I wouldn't have known the difference...well, other than to know that you can't just "fake" any recipe. You need all the ingredients or it isn't right.

way before the chef was done with his presentation. We just could not stand listening any longer.

I dont blame you!

I picked it up and it was room service, who wanted to know which of the treats, that they provided for free to Platinum members, we wanted to choose. We opted for a bottle of sparkling wine.

What a nice perk!

promised to deliver it the next day and we decided to stop watching the movie and instead went to deck 4 to book our dummy cruise for 2015.

There was only one lady ahead of us and we quickly were seated and told the sales person what we were looking for and within a few minutes we held a dummy booking in hand.

I am finding it funny how easy it is to plan out future trips in my own head. 2015 is right around the corner.

Because of a medical emergency we had made a short d-tour and gotten close to one of the small islands, and now one of the lifeboats, the number 11, would be lowered and take the patient and his family to the island to be flown back to Florida. Now lifeboat 11 was OUR lifeboat and it was right underneath our veranda. Yes, we were nosy and went outside and watched and so did a lot of the people in the staterooms on this side.
The crew was already ready and they were taking the last steps to get the patient on board safely, then some cast members brought out the family’s luggage and finally the family arrived and climbed on board the lifeboat.

I hope that it was nothing too serious! That is sad and scary.

grabbed the tickets for our tasting and hotfooted it down to La Piazza. They had not started yet and there were still four empty chairs.
We headed right for two of them when I heard someone say, “Hey, are YOU from Austria?”.

I can see why you would be a tad apprehensive given you were trying to avoid some uncomfortable meetings.

But the lady that now waved at me looked very familiar and after we had said, that yes, we were from Austria, she got up and came over to hug both of us. And then we knew,

they had been our tablemates on our very first cruise on the WONDERful Disney WONDER.
Okay, can you say “small world” again? Jean and her husband Paul, who had come over to us for some hugs as well, had been part of another Disney group we had cruised with in 2009 and it was so much fun to catch up with them. Needless to say they changed their seats and we all sat together

That is such a relief I am sure!

tWalt Disney Theatre for tonight’s show, which was “Aladdin”.
We had seen it at Disneyland years ago and were really looking forward to it. It was fun now to attempt to see it together with long lost, new friends. We sat towards the very back of the theatre and the show was as wonderful as we remembered it from Disneyland and then some.

I love it at DLR! And it is better on the ship?

Double Baked Spinach Souffle, coated with a three cheese cream. Both were incredibly yummy and we both left a pretty clean plate.
Next course was served right after the plates were taken away, we both had ordered the

I think this is something that I would truly die to have. I LOVE spinach.

Grand Marnier Souffle, infused with fresh orange zest and served with creme Anglaise. The perfect way to end a food and fun filled evening.

But another of my favorite things... Grand Marnier... and in a souffle it must be amazing!!!

and a huge towel lobster on the bed.

How cute and unique of a towel animal is that!!!??!!!

Frozen Cappuccino, 1/3 Espresso, blended with Vanilla Ice Cream. Very filling! But, oh so good and we just loved sitting in the cool coffee shop, watching people in the adult pool and enjoying our frozen treat.
Then, we walked around the pool deck,

You just seem to have all my favorites! espresso and ice cream. YUM!

It didn’t take long and the Maitre d´ entered to room to lead us into the restaurant. We could not believe our eyes, when we saw the Maitre d’. It was Benoit from the Dream.
We had gotten to know him last summer when Mathieu had been our favourite server and we had come back again and again, just because of Mathieu. And when we made our way into the wine room and we went past Benoit, I just could not help and say to him, “So you jumped ship, didn’t you?”
He was a bit stunned, but the presentation began and the chef and sommelier explained what was to happen next and we all were handed a glass of champagne and a small plate of Iberico ham.

That is funny that you caught him off guard like that!

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.

I am glad that worked out like it did. I imagine though it was a tad shocking before you went down to guest services.

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.

I love the shows! Is saving seats allowed?

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.

From what I have seen of that restaurant, I can understand why it would be a bit chaotic almost. It certainly doesn't seem like it would be a relaxing place to dine.

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

Didn't you have trouble on your last cruise? I assume that it would have been the work of bad kids...

I am sorry I have neglected this thread for nearly a week, but it has been a busy one.

It started out with me being pretty clumsy and burning my arm.

OUCH!!! That does not look good! No blisters? But that red... It must have really hurt...and probably still does!

so I checked in on My Disney Experience and guess what .........

I was able to costumize our magic bands for February! ​

We didn't get any for our summer stay last year, but will get two sets for our February stay (1 night pre cruise at VGF and 2 nights post cruise at OKW) I am sooooooooooo excited!

Tom picked blue and green bands for himself and mine will be red and orange. Can't wait to wear them!

I just realized I can start for mine too. I need to call Disney this week. I have one band already...and I am not entirely positive that my ap was not added to it. It lists it as active. Then I have two coming for January. There HAS to be a way to combine them all...

and when we were finally docked the blue skies started to come through. And after having taken numerous photos and a few more words with our friends we headed downstairs

So neat to see those skies clearing. The day appeared to be quite overcast at first.

And with that... I am caught up with your TR!!!.

 

[superme80]

So sorry to hear about your arm. I am very glad you were able to care for it and not have nay blisters. I can't believe your next Disney trip is in less than 100 days! Lucky! Lovin the trip report!

 

[dizneeat]

Happy Dalmatian Day!

Jill in CO

Thanks Jill! We love anything that will make our vacation sound closer!

Dalmatian Day! Awesome!! What a cute idea!

Thank you! Tom picked it up on one of the boards he frequents and we both thought it was such a cute term.

We have never had dinner at Cabana's, we always eat breakfast there. We tried Enchanted Garden for breakfast for the first time after the suggestion of our dinner server. It was nice for a change. This cruise we had great table mates again and everyone enjoyed talking and eating together each evening. Disney has done a great job of picking the right table for us. I am so sorry someone took your Stitch Magnet, we had one on our door that Tom made that you gave us last year. It helped us find our room quickly. : )

Tom and I don't like Cabanas when it is a buffet. We will much rather go to EG or RC for breakfast, but it is a TS restaurant for dinner, so we really enjoyed it there.
Disney does do quite well picking table mates ..... I remember a particular couple that we met in 2010, who were on their first cruise ..... and we were so happy to meet up with them again last year and this year as well.

Glad you got good use out of Tom's magnet. We just love to decorate our door.

Hello! I've just spent the afternoon reading all of your report so far and enjoying all of it! Can't wait to hear more! 2 weeks sounds like a GREAT way to cruise to me!!!!

Welcome!
I am so glad you decided to come along. There's lots more to come - more cruise, more WDW and a side trip to Key West.
We just love to cruise back to back ....... so relaxing.

 

[englishrose47]

What a pretty picture docking was !!! Yea for breakfast at RP !!! I can just taste those eggs benedict !!!hmmmm !!

 

[dizneeat]

I can not even begin to say how disappointed I am reading about the Muesli! I have been looking forward to an icy cold bowl of that since March when I had it on the dream! BOO!

Everything else did look very good, though- especially the brunch at remy! We did decide to do dinner this time, but in the future I will do the brunch most definitely!

Isn't the show in Animator's really different than on the Dream? With everyone's drawings animated? Well, I guess I will find out for sure in 2 months, huh!

Looking forward to reading more, of course!

Ellen

The muesli did improve over the course of the two weeks, but there was definitely too much cinnamon in it.

Remy dinner is nice, but we really do prefer lunch. Me ...... because one of the champagnes in the tastings is the Moet Ice.

There are usually two visits to AP. The first one is the regular Crush show, which gets really loud and that is what we do not enjoy. The second time you get to eat at AP you will be handed some pen and paper to draw your character which will then be animated. That one is really fun!

I have never tried cabanas dinner either. Maybe after I get a few more under my belt I'll give that a try. So is the menu a mix of the other dining rooms?

If you haven't tried it, Jen, you definitely should. The menu is indeed a mix of the most famous dishes of the other dining rooms, with a steak or two thrown in.

Hi Karin! I haven't been feeling well this week and have gotten kind of behind on my DIS'ing. But I'm catching If up tonight!

LOVED reading about your Remy brunch. Wasn't that sea bass incredible???? I wish I was eating it right now.

I love that you know so many crew members - how fun that must be.

What a shame about your magnet.

I hope you feel a lot better by now. My DIS time has been pretty slim too.

That bass was to die for.

It really feels like a large "family", knowing so many crew members. We didn't know if there would be someone we knew, but even without we made a lot of friends within the crew.
Guess it helped that so many of them come from Europe.

We only "lost" one magnet this time, some "nice" boys from Concierge stole most of our magnets and ALL our FE gifts in 2012. So we were pretty lucky this time.

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin just checking in !!!

Thank you, Rosie!

This food is making me hungry and right now I have chest/gas pains and still want it all. LOL
I easily got caught up.

I am glad you got caught up easily. There was so much going on, updating just wasn't in the cards.
Prepare yourself for MORE yummy food.

Sorry about your arm, that looks painful!!Glad everyone passed !!That's cuz they have a GREAT teacher !!My trip is getting very close , I am still toying with another trip to use my AP, but am super nervous about taxes and am waiting for that bad news beforeplanning anything !!!

Thank you, Rosie!
It was pretty painful in the beginning. But by now the skin is starting to peel off a little and you can see the "fresh" skin.
I hope that you get a nice tax refund, Rosie. I guess that might make another trip more reasonable.

Your arm looks so painful!!!! Glad it didn't blister. Hope it continues to heal.

Have fun at lunch with Tom!

Jill in CO

It did hurt a lot for a few hours. I stayed up until 2am and showered it with luke warm water.
Lunch was yummy!

 

[RGirl]

So sorry about your arm, Karin.

I'm excited to hear about your excursion.

 

[Leshaface]

Oh man that burn looks painful! Hope it's doing better There's nothing worse than a burn, they feel so awful.

I think it's so fun to go up on top and watch the ship port! Very fun!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Wow, I can't believe you bumped into your cruise buddies from your FIRST CRUISE!! The DCL world is so small.

Mmmmm, day of food. That frozen cappuccino looks REALLY good.

That lunch at Remy's is beautiful. My mouth waters just looking at your food porn. In fact, it made me get myself a bowl of ice cream.

I've never had champagne...but now I really want to try it.

Oooh, your pictures make me miss cruising so much! Cruising in Asia is a different beast I hear.

I can't believe someone stole your Stitch magnet! People stole our dry erase pens...though I can't understand why you would do that.

Those fish extenders goodies look so cool! I can't wait for my first DCL cruise so I can join in on the fun.

 

[dizneeat]

I love being up and watching as the ship docks! So peaceful and interesting watching the preparations.

I loved St Martaan. Can't wait to hear about your day.

Jill in CO

I had seen so many photos of the ship getting docking in our ports of call and was determined to watch them do so. It was SO worth it.

We had so much fun at Sint Maarten. I think that was one of the best ports of call ever.

So sorry you burned your arm, I know it had to be painful. Take care Karin.

Thanks, Teresa. It is much better already.

Your poor arm, ouch! Glad you got it into cold water right away.

I can't believe it didn't blister at all. But it is much better now already.

It is great the report you have with your hosts! I am sure that they all love the sweets you give them.

Yes, I guess we stick out with all the sweets we carry, but then there were those who were not receiving any (as we did not have contact with them - as our Palo server's friend) who recognized us as well.

Warm chocolate cookies are the best... maybe with milk though and not a mimosa.


No milk for me - I am allergic to it. But the cookies were delish!


That pie looked so yummy!!! Actually, all your food looks great. Course, I suspect you know that...and even better than how it looks is how it tastes and that is why you are a platinum cruise member.

Food is definitely a big part of a cruise, Ann! And the food is very tasting, but I guess it is the overall feel on the ship that makes us come back for more.

This looked interesting! I can see why you wanted to walk off a calorie or two.

That terrine was definitely something new and very light and refreshing. And we indeed had to walk off a few calories. Good thing that the elevators are often full, so we just walk the stairs.

 

[dizneeat]

Austria is famous for it's strudels, and we all know exactly how to make it. So, watching the chef doing it all wrong really got to me.

What a nice perk!

Yes, the higher you get up on the Castaway Club ladder the more goodies you get. The bottle of bubbly was nice and so was a free meal at Palo's!

I am finding it funny how easy it is to plan out future trips in my own head. 2015 is right around the corner.

I am already getting ideas for 2015 and 2016. We changed our 2015 plans already. We actually wanted to do California, but decided we cannot go two years without a WDW summer.
Tom is turning 50 in 2015, so I am hoping to be able to pull off a Fantasy cruise that year as well.

I hope that it was nothing too serious! That is sad and scary.

It was so sad seeing them leaving the ship and so scary as well. I hope the patient is well again.

I can see why you would be a tad apprehensive given you were trying to avoid some uncomfortable meetings.

That is such a relief I am sure!

That was my first thought, please don't let it be any one from our DISgroup, but the same moment I realized that I knew the person. And was so relieved that it was Jean and her husband Paul.

I love it at DLR! And it is better on the ship?

It is actually pretty similar. They had to tweak it here and there, but I could not pick a favourite.

I think this is something that I would truly die to have. I LOVE spinach.

It is SO good, fluffly and light and so tasty with the cheese sauce.

But another of my favorite things... Grand Marnier... and in a souffle it must be amazing!!!

Funny side note. Tom had the Grand Marnier Souffle the first time we cruised and it was aweful. Like a very dense muffin. I didn't touch it then in a long time, but they must have improved on the recipe as it is now truly wonderful.

How cute and unique of a towel animal is that!!!??!!!

Raj outdid himself with his towel animals - they grew bigger and bigger and we loved every single one of them.

You just seem to have all my favorites! espresso and ice cream. YUM!

Yummy combination, how can it not be our favourite!

That is funny that you caught him off guard like that!

We must have really shocked him, as he went right outside to check who we were and when the presentation was over he very well knew.

I am glad that worked out like it did. I imagine though it was a tad shocking before you went down to guest services.

It most definitely was shocking to see the bill. But even better to learn that they owed us, not the other way around.

I love the shows! Is saving seats allowed?

NO, it is not, but so many people did it. We always go to the shows with plenty of time to spare, but it was really a bit disappointing to see so many people saving seats.

From what I have seen of that restaurant, I can understand why it would be a bit chaotic almost. It certainly doesn't seem like it would be a relaxing place to dine.

It was interesting to see the Crush show the first time around. But then we had special circumstances We sailed through a hurricane and the dining room was pretty much empty.

 

[dizneeat]

Didn't you have trouble on your last cruise? I assume that it would have been the work of bad kids...

Yes, we did! There was a whole "gang" of boys from Concierge who stole not only most of our magnets, but also emptied our FE. The Stitch Magnet was the only thing that went missing this cruise.

OUCH!!! That does not look good! No blisters? But that red... It must have really hurt...and probably still does!

It did hurt a lot in the beginning, but is much better now. The skin on top is now turning "brown" and starting to peel off. Good to see the fresh skin underneath.

I just realized I can start for mine too. I need to call Disney this week. I have one band already...and I am not entirely positive that my ap was not added to it. It lists it as active. Then I have two coming for January. There HAS to be a way to combine them all...

I was really just greedy ordering two for both of us. But we missed out on them in the summer, so I am trying to make up for that.
I am sure you can combine them all and I really messed up with them already, I will explain about it once I am done with replies.

So neat to see those skies clearing. The day appeared to be quite overcast at first.

I was a bit upset when I walked out on the veranda and it was overcast, but it really cleaned up nicely a little later in the day.

And with that... I am caught up with your TR!!!.

 

[dizneeat]

So sorry to hear about your arm. I am very glad you were able to care for it and not have nay blisters. I can't believe your next Disney trip is in less than 100 days! Lucky! Lovin the trip report!

Thank you! But it is MUCH better already.
Yes, we are getting close to the next two of our planned trips. We leave for DLRP in 52 days and WDW/DCL in 94 days. And I am SO ready for both trips.

What a pretty picture docking was !!! Yea for breakfast at RP !!! I can just taste those eggs benedict !!!hmmmm !!

It was really awesome to see that huge majestic ship glide into port!
Hm, I wonder how you guessed what I had for breakfast?

So sorry about your arm, Karin.

I'm excited to hear about your excursion.

Thank you, Roni! It is nearly all well again.
I have a gazillion pictures to go with the excursion and it was such a wonderful day. I'll update soon!

Oh man that burn looks painful! Hope it's doing better There's nothing worse than a burn, they feel so awful.

I think it's so fun to go up on top and watch the ship port! Very fun!

I cannot believe I stayed up for 4 hours to cool down my arm. Well, at least it is much better now.

It was awesome to see the ship pull into port. Especially since it was early in the morning and not many people were up at Satellite Falls.