"Have a Drink & Try to Relax" - Fantasy Eastern Concierge Sept 2012 - Complete

[Dis_Yoda]

Who: Dis_Yoda, Mr. Dis_Yoda
When: Sept 8th to Sept 15th
Where: Disney Fantasy

Table of Contents
September 7th, 2012
Travel to Florida!

September 8th, 2012
Check In
Boarding the Ship
Around the Ship
Sail Away
Remy

September 9th, 2012
Early Morning Sea Day
Palo Brunch
Martini Tasting
Royal Court & Aladdin

September 10th, 2012
Second Sea Day
Palo Dinner

September 11th, 2012
St Maarten
Pirate Trivia
Pirate Dinner
Pirate Evening Entertainment

September 12th, 2012
St. Thomas/St. John
Palo Take 2

September 13th, 2012
Last Day at Sea
Animator's Palette
Night Life

September 14th, 2012
Castaway Cay
Around the Ship
Enchanted Garden
Final Night Around the Ship

September 15th, 2012
Going Home

[Dis_Yoda]

Travel to Florida!

My husband was lucky enough to have Friday off. I didn't.

He did drive me to work in the morning & took care of taking the dogs to boarding. At 3:30pm, he picked me up & we were on the road to Florida.

I-75 was not busy at all. We made a game of license plates looking for vanity ones.


We decided to pick up a Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut in Valdosta for dinner as we wanted something different than our usual fast food stops.

Once we hit the Turnpike in Florida, our luck in great weather went away & fought through a rough storm the entire way to Port Canaveral. The road was even slightly flooded out at a point.

We finally arrived to the Radisson at 9:30pm and checked in. We were given an upgrade to a Jacuzzi Suite which was a great surprise.







We had arranged for the Shuttle with the resort but I knew there were only a handful of Concierge Rooms available for upgrade so we wanted to get to the port earlier than the shuttle would take us. We called the taxi company that advertised in the lobby for a 9:45am pick up & called it a night.

[Dis_Yoda]

Check In

Our taxi showed up right on time. When we headed to the port, the last of the previous cruise were being picked up so we had to wait for a few more minutes until the porters would take our luggage.



DCL sent the early arrivers to wait up on level 3 of the parking garage & we were towards the front of the line.



It wasn't long until we were let through the initial passport check to wait again until we were allowed in the terminal.



Once the terminal opened, we went as fast as we could through check in & over to the supervisors desk. The 1 Bedrooms had already been taken at that point but we were still able to get a Cat V so we took it. A guide took us over to the waiting area for the concierge guests where we hung out until it was time to board the ship.

[Dis_Yoda]

Boarding the Ship

It wasn't long until boarding was started & we were on board!

We were guided to the elevators to head to the concierge lounge where we met by one of the concierge attendants to plan everything needed for the cruise. We picked out each of the tastings we were wanting to go to during the cruise, purchased our weekly rainforest passes and went over what was already planned.

Our room wasn't ready so we headed to lunch in Cabanas!









As it wasn't 1:00pm yet when our room was ready, we met up in Meridian with a few friends I knew from here who were also on the cruise. Here we arranged to go to Palo Brunch together on Sunday.

[Wadekind]

what cat. did you have and how much was the upgrade?

[Dis_Yoda]

Originally Posted by Wadekind

what cat. did you have and how much was the upgrade?

We were in a 6B - It was $1190.

[Dis_Yoda]

Sail Away

After the emergency drill, we headed back up to the room. We debated on watching the Sail Away party or splitting up.

We split up.

My husband wanted to go to the gym as he didn't want to gain a lot of weight this cruise (ha!)

I headed to the Rainforest Room to relax.

As I didn't feel like getting wet & having to take a shower before our dinner, I brought my e-reader and hung out on the heated loungers as we sailed away!







It was a perfect, private sail away party for me! Not another person in the rainforest room.

[Dis_Yoda]

Remy

We had reservations at 6:00PM for Remy. We initially planned to start the cruise with Remy as what better way to start a vacation than fine dining?

Our server was Nato & we were seated next to the window to overlook the sunset over the course of the meal.

The view!


Nato prepared our cocktail - the Colette


The charger!


The meal started with a treat from the chef.

It is tomato soup that has been encased with breadcrumbs.

Our first course was a Ratatouille w/ Olive Oil Ice Cream

I enjoy this course as how can you go to a restaurant called Remy & not have Ratatouille?

We were given a choice of breads: French Baguette, Multi Grain, or Onion Brioche. Over the course of the meal, my husband and I did try each of them & each of them were lovely.

My husband's first course was:

Saint Jacques Olives Noires Fenouil Cru et Cuit
Scallops with black olives and cooked and raw fennel
Chef Arnaud Lallement

Honestly, I'm not sure why he chose this as he isn't the biggest fan of either Scallops or Olives, but of all places to branch out, this would be the place.

My first course was:

Langoustines Pomme Gingembre
Royal Norway Lobster with Apple and Ginger
Chef Arnaud Lallement

I also went out on a dish I wasn't sure about. Those that have read my dining reports know I'm not the biggest fan of lobster. I can finally say I've found a lobster dish I am in love with. The ginger and apple really balanced out the sweetness from the lobster.

For the next course, my husband & I had the same dish:

Grosse Crevette Creme de Laitue
Large Florida Shrimp with Lettuce Cream
Chef Arnaud Lallement

It is very simple dish but nice. Coming after the lobster for me, the shrimp was tough. My husband did not have the complaint.

My husband's next course was:

Cabillaud Girolles Coco Rouge Sauce Chilli
Cod with Red Beans, Girolle Mushrooms and Chili Sauce
Chef Arnaud Lallement

This was described by Nato as being similar to a bean chili in its flavor profile. Everything outside of the fish did have that.

My next course was:

Smoked Buffalo
with Jicama, Hearts of Palm and Vinaigrette
Chef Scott Hunnel

It was perfect! This is similar to the dish I had last year on the dream.

For my husband's next course he had:

Poularde Rotie au Citron
Roasted Chicken with Pickled Lemon
Chef Arnaud Lallement

This was wonderful!

What the leave off the menu is that the dish also comes with this:


It is a fois gras wrapped in spinach (and a few other ingredients I can't remember at this moment)

My husband and I split this and it was lovely!

My next course was:

Wild Turbot
with Lemon-Capers and Spinach
Chef Scott Hunnel

Turbot is one of my favorite fish & this did not disappoint.

Our next entree course was the same:


Boeuf de Wagyu Jus d'herbe Siphon,
Pomme de Terre, Sauce Barbecue Salade
Wagyu Beef, Potato Puree, with Barbecue and Herb Sauce
Chef Arnaud Lallement

I'm not usual one to post after pictures but this is what we thought of this course:


It was a great improvement over the Wagyu that was served last year on the Dream. I wasn't sure that was possible!

Next was our visit from the cheese trolley.
Sadly, my pictures of the trolley were bad. I think my wine was getting to me at this point...

My husband went for the 4 mildest cheeses. He enjoyed them all.

My plate:

I went for the goat cheese, the double and triple creme, and the mildest. The goat cheese with the honey was my favorite but everything was great.

Next was our desserts:

My husband had:

Paris-Brest

These are a hazelnut cream puff w/ a bourbon praline ice cream. It was amazing!

I went for:


Peruvian Chocolate w/ Chocolate Ravioli

The Ravioli was with Elderflower Liquor & great when it popped in your mouth. This entire dessert was playful. The caramel beads were great to have pop when eating a bit of the bar.

We were stuffed at this point & asked for the final candies to be wrapped as there would be no way to enjoy them this evening. Nato happily obliged this request.

Overall, it was a great meal. It exceeded our expectations from our last cruise.


After our meal, we had full intentions of changing and watching Match Your Mate in the Tube but as I started reading for a bit (Dance of Dragons) and he started watching tv, sleep sounded like the better option. Hopefully we'll hit it next cruise!

[Nikki'sMommy]

OMG- So happy with your review and pictures of Remy- I am not an adventurous eater so was a little skeptical about making reservation for our trip next week but I think I could eat almost everything you showed(maybe pass on the buffalo ). Can't wait for more-

[jedijill]

I'm in. Remy looks amazing...can't wait to try it in 3 weeks.

Jill in CO

[jjgarv]

What's in a Shipbuilder's Wife? We're sailing in less than three weeks, so I'm looking for some new beverages to try.

[Dis_Yoda]

Palo Brunch

I was the first to arrive of our group so I hung out in Meridian until they arrived. The first came right on time & we had to wait a few minutes for the other two to show up as they were at the DVC Members Party & wanted to see if they won the shipboard credit.


Meridian Lighting

Once everyone arrived, we were led to our table next to the window and our wonderful server, Laszlo, offered us a cocktail (champagne or a mimosa) before we were guided to the buffet.

Choices for Main Course:



Pizza!


We ordered a full Margarita and Goat Cheese for the table along with a split of the Blue Cheese & Grape and Italian Sausage.

We each got our plates and selected various options from the buffet tables.

My selections were all good. I went for cheese, shrimp, fruit, some pastries, a piece of tuna, and bread.

As our pizzas were brought out, we placed our orders for the entree selections.

We definitely had too much pizza for the 4 of us. I only had some of the Margarita which I really enjoyed. The ladies that tried the other three had great comments about each of them.

For my entree, I had the Chicken Parm.


The risotto was perfect in consistency (Gordon Ramsey would be proud!)

If we weren't full enough, there were still desserts to partake.



As we finished up our meal, I had noticed previously on the navigator that there was a Tile Coaster activity for adults at O'Gills at 11:30. I was headed there and 2 of them joined me for it.

[lucas]

Great review and pictures!

[Dis_Yoda]

Martini Tasting

After Tile Making, I met up with my husband back at the room & got him a small lunch by the pool before we headed to the Martini Tasting.

We walked to the backside of the ship getting to Meridian.

We were there a little bit early, so we hung out on the deck in the back until it was 1.





Stewart was our host for this tasting.

We started with a classic gin martini & a vodka martini.



The gin martini was made with Hendrick's Gin & it was actually a gin I was ok with drinking. I think it was because of the cucumbers it is made with rather than some of the other gins out there. The vodka martini was made with Russian Standard & was a lot smoother than some of the other vodka martini's I've had.

The next was a classic cosmo.


The next was one of the martini's offered in Meridian.



For the final martini, it was a combination of what people were asking for it to be made out of. I wish I could remember everything that was in it but it was with Absolut Pears, Passion Fruit Juice, Fresh Lime Juice, Bitters, and *mystery ingredient that I can't remember*



Overall, it was a fun tasting with a couple different martinis than what was done previously.

After our tastings, we spent the rest of our afternoon before dinner between Satellite Falls, the Concierge Sundeck or Rainforest Room. I ended up finishing my Game of Thrones Book 5 & moving onto Divergent.

[Dis_Yoda]

Last Day At Sea

Today's goal was to just enjoy the ship as much as possible.

We did breakfast in the concierge lounge



I headed to the rainforest room afterwards before it was time for my massage.

It was the 75 minute hot stone massage & it was bliss!

My husband enjoyed the gym.

Afterwards we walked around some.



Enjoyed a cocktail or two at the pool bar.

Got a quick snack by the pool.




We then watched the princess parade from the upper level as there was no way we were going to wait in that line to visit with them!




We then attended the towel folding class.




Our snake


Puppy


Monkey

There was then a special reception for the concierge guests on the sun deck. They had free cocktails and some snacks.

Stitch also visited us upstairs!




(It was really windy upstairs)