My first time on the Disney Fantasy!!! Our traveling party was my family (my wife Kathryn, my daughter Molly and me) and my sister's family (her husband and two sons). My daughter and my older nephew are graduating from high school this year. She's going to college, he's going into the Navy. So this seemed like something to make a big deal about. What better way than with a Western Caribbean (Itinerary B) cruise on the Fantasy?!?!
I'm going to post the whole report at once, and then add pictures gradually, as I get them off my camera.
Day 1 -- Port Canaveral
Sunny, low 80s.
We spent the previous day at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival and had dinner at Via Napoli, and stayed off-property in Winter Garden. So the trip to the port in the morning was pretty sweatless. We tried something different this time. We have always simply parked at the port, which costs about $15/day. This time, however, we tried one of the nearby off-site parking facilities. Some options are found here: http://www.parkportcanaveral.com We parked at the Radisson for $4/day. It was very easy to find, easy to get a parking spot, and overall very convenient. It was not the fastest shuttle service I've ever had. We got to the parking lot around 10:40 and waited 20-25 minutes for a shuttle. They got us to the ship around 11:15. Convenient, but don't expect to get out of your car and into the shuttle van.
Check-in at the port was very easy, although we didn't use the entrance that I'm used to. In the past, we've always entered the front of the terminal on the ground floor, then gone through the security and up the escalator into the terminal lobby. This time, they sent us up an elevator on the outside of the building. We went through security upstairs and then entered the building into the lobby. I don't know the reason for this change. Maybe the old entrance is reserved for Concierge guests or something. I didn't think to ask.
Unbelievably, I was able to upgrade from my Deluxe Inside Stateroom to a Category 4E Deluxe Stateroom with Verandah. I was sure the ship would be full with no upgrades available. But we got a verandah, and I was very happy to get it. They had already started the boarding process, so after changing rooms and key cards, we boarded the ship immediately. It was still before noon when we were allowed onboard, which was really nice. (We're Platinum Castaway Club members, so I think we board right after Concierge guests.)
We went straight up to Cabana's for lunch. The weather was gorgeous, so we picked a table outside. Glorious. Really. As usual, there was plenty of peel-and-eat shrimp, there was typical salad bar stuff and "Chef Mickey" style kid options (pizza, mac-and-cheese, chicken nuggets, etc). I had marinated chicken breast (good), a chopped chicken dish with an almost curry sauce that I liked a lot, and a cold salad of corn and red peppers. I didn't expect to like it, but it was really good! Kathryn had the lamb chops, which were good, but not great. There were lots of other things that I tasted but didn't write down. But I did write down the awesome chocolate brownie and mint chocolate chip ice cream that I had for dessert.
After dropping off our carry-on luggage at our upgraded stateroom, we decided to explore Europa and walk through all the lounge areas. Great theming. I really enjoyed them. I have to put this somewhere, so I guess I'll just put it in here: I hate O'Gills Pub. I get what they were trying to do, but I hate it. It's so dark that you can't see the items on the walls to get the story of the pub. It's long and narrow, so that no more than 6 or 8 people can sit together. There's no way to get a crowd of people in there to watch a big game. One of my fondest memories is sitting in Diversions with 100 other people, watching the World Cup Finals in 2010. There's no way for that to happen in Europa. I understand that's not what O'Gills is for, but I think it was a bad choice. Additionally, O'Gills is for guests 18-and-older all day. So even though they put out board games, you can't go in and play with the family. I spent a total of 10 minutes in O'Gills during the entire week, when Diversions (or 687) had been a major hang-out for me (and Molly) during previous cruises.
We then walked up to Satellite Falls, which I was very excited to visit. And it's pretty darn cool, I have to admit. It's just for sitting in to cool off, but the look is very impressive. I was also impressed with the area around it. It was well-sheltered from the wind. There were plenty of chairs in the sun, but also a lot of areas that were covered to provide some shade. And, of course, it's only available for guests 18-and-over, so it was very relaxing. On the way back to the stateroom, we played with several pieces of the interactive art. I'm no kid, but those are REALLY fun. And they play multiple scenes, so it's different almost every time that you walk past them.
We had the first seating for dinner, and our first dinner was at Royal Court. We liked Royal Court on the Fantasy much better than its counterpart on the Dream. The royal touches on the Fantasy seemed much more subtle than on the Dream. My wife said the Dream's Royal Court felt almost cartoonish with all the frilly touches. This restaurant felt more formal to me, which I liked.
Our servers were Denis (from Croatia) and Artemis (from Greece). We were impressed with them almost immediately. They each greeted the kids by name, which I love, and they were very personable. Denis admitted to us on our last evening that the servers get scared when they see guests wearing Platinum lanyards, because they know that the guests have very high expectations of the service. But they were both terrific all week.
I had the Iced Shrimp and Lobster with Asparagus appetizer, which was very good (despite the asparagus), and Belle's French Onion Soup with Gruyere cheese, which was also very good. My entree was the wild boar, which was topped with a small amount of a berry jelly. (I ordered this, thinking that I had gotten it on a previous cruise and loved it. When I mentioned this to my wife, she reminded me that it hadn't been boar, it had been elk. Oh well.) Despite being a little underdone for my taste, it was excellent. I really loved this meal. It was a great start to the week for me. Kathryn had the cauliflower soup and liked it. Molly had the cheese souffle appetizer; which was good, but very rich and she didn't finish it. They both had lamb chops, which were MUCH better than the Cabana's version. Kath's medium-rare was a little overdone for her, but Molly's rare chops were perfect. They both loved them. The desserts were a creme broulet, which my sister loved; the Grand Marnier souffle, which we had last year and loved; Molly and I tried the peanut butter mousse, which was VERY good.
Between dinner and the show, we spent some time exploring the shops. I saw a few things that I liked, but honestly, nothing really grabbed me so that I said, "Oooo, I've got to get that before we leave". Also, there is no Pooh-themed DCL merchandise onboard. I was completely surprised by this. I have a friend who is a huge Pooh fan and I wanted to get her something that was Pooh and DCL related. I even asked, but was told there are stuffed characters, but they don't have any cruise theming or branding. Just thought I'd include that as an FYI.
We went to the Welcome Aboard show, which is totally different from the classic ships. On the Fantasy, the story is about a family in which the Dad hopes they will all re-connect while onboard, and has made all kinds of plans for things they can all do together. But the over-stressed mom only wants to unwind in the Spa and the son would rather be home with his friends. The re-worked songs were a little too hip-hoppy for my liking (that's because I'm OLD), and a techno-version of "How Does She Know?" from Enchanted is almost unforgivable. But it has some very nice points, too: the mom sings "I See the Light" from Tangled, and in a nice blast-from-the-past, the dad sings "Let's Get Together" from the Parent Trap. As usual, there's a portion with a "cabaret" performer. This time it was high-energy juggler Mike Price. The juggling was indeed impressive, but the high-energy seemed kind of forced to me. Overall, I have to say that I liked this show better than the "Jeremy Dreams of Being Captain" show on the classic ships.
After the show, the kids went to do kid stuff in their clubs and the adults went to Europa. We sat in Skyline for a while and watched the wall change from St. Petersburg to Barcelona. This was especially fun for us because we visited Barcelona with DCL in '07 and visited St. Petersburg with DCL in '10. We then migrated to the Ooh La La lounge for champagne drinks. We stayed till they started closing up, then turned in for the night.
Is that an unbelievable first day, or what??? (Anybody know which non-Disney movie that line comes from?)
Day 2 -- At Sea
Sunny, mid to high 70s, windy. Cuba off the port side for most of the day.
Breakfast was coffee and chocolate croissants on the verandah delivered by room service at 8:30. How do I know it was 8:30? Because when the tray was delivered, we were still in bed. There was no call from room service to let us know they were coming. So when I opened the door, I said to the server, "No one called us to say you were coming." His reply, "It's 8:30." Ok, then. LOL. (Later in the week, when we made a note on the room service order form to call before delivery, they did that for us.)
Molly and I decided to go to an artist demonstration in the D Lounge in the morning. He was one of the featured artists for the art auction on board that week. I can't remember his name now, but I can probably dig it out of the Navigator later. He does a lot of his work without brushes, using his fingers and sponges, etc. So we thought the demonstration would be really interesting. It turned out to be very cool, but different from what we expected. He had brought some half-finished canvases and let the kids finish them. He did demonstrate some of his technique, but mostly it was a chance for the kids to interact with him personally, and paint on his canvases. It had to be a great experience for those kids; but it was not really something that we were very interested in. So we watched for a while as he interacted with the kids and left after about 20 minutes or so.
We found my wife and the three of us went up to Deck 12 above Quiet Cove and sat for a while. Molly will be 18 in 2 months. Her cousin is already 18. We asked if Molly could have 18+ status so that they could hang out together, but we were turned down. We asked them to reconsider, and they said that they would call stateside to get a higher-up answer, but it was still no. So this Deck 12 area was a real nice spot for our family during the week. It was forward from the kids' pool, so there wasn't a ton of noise from there. It wasn't technically in Quiet Cove, but there were very few kids and no splashing in the little pool. So it was a relaxing almost-adult atmosphere that suited us very well. (What other cruise line has an almost-adult family area???) After a while, Molly and I rode the AquaDuck and then we all went to Cabana's for lunch.
I had chicken with apple and water chestnut stuffing, which was very good; and polenta cakes, which were very simple, but also very good. There was a veal steak, but it was very dry and not good enough to eat. Molly and Kath both really liked the sushi selections. I wouldn't eat sushi if you paid me, so I can't even tell you what kind it was, but they both loved it. And there was also an orzo dish that was very good.
After lunch I "snuck" Molly up to Deck 13 so she could see Satellite Falls, then she settled back in to our spot on Deck 12 and I headed to the Meridian Bar for the start of the Art of the Theme Show tour. I've done this tour on all four DCL ships now. This one was VERY good. It's also the first time I've had to pre-register for the tour and get a ticket. There was no charge for the tour, but I guess they want to limit the size of the group as it wanders the narrow halls of the ship. The tour leader focused on 4 elements that appear in the theming of nearly every space on board:
1) The look/feel of a classic sailing vessel;
2) The use of technology to promote the theme;
3) Story and Disney characters; and
4) Variation of Experience.
So just as an example, take the Enchanted Artwork. They are pictures of Walt or photos of destinations, or movie cells; artwork that you would expect to see on any classic ship. The technology kicks in so that the pictures interact with the viewer (and sometimes with other pieces of art). Many of the pictures (though not all) utilize Disney characters. And each piece has different animations so that each time you walk past, you get a different experience. Not every space features all four elements, but it's amazing how many times you see all four in one setting.
Anyway, the tour went an hour and 15 minutes, which is longer than usual, in my experience. But the tour guide was so good and answered so many questions that I don't think anybody left the group before the end of the tour. One thing she couldn't answer for me is why there are no porcelain masks as part of the theming for Palo in the newer ships. They are so distinctive on the classic ships; but she didn't know why they were left out of the new designs. I stayed after the end of the tour to chat with the tour guide and one other guest. The tour guide is hoping to audition to be part of the Walt Disney Theater cast, so she may not be back after her current contract is up. The other guest is a manager at Downtown Disney, so it was fun to chat with him as well. It was a really good tour. I recommend it highly.
Because the tour went long, when it was done, it was time to get ready for dinner, which was Formal Night in Animator's Palate for us. Since it's me with two women in our cabin, I got ready first and waited out on the verandah until everyone else was decent. I was wearing my tux for Formal Night (without the jacket, at the time) and our neighbor happened to look around the verandah divider and spotted me.
Him: You going to a wedding or something?
Me: No, it's just Formal Night.
Him: Oh, so you're going up to Remy's?
Me: Nope, it's Formal Night in all the regular restaurants tonight.
Him: Jeez, I didn't even pack slacks.
I don't judge.
I know Formal Night isn't everyone's thing. I just thought that was a funny exchange.
On the way to Animator's, we passed through the Atrium, where The Switch was playing. The Switch is a woman playing a saxophone, accompanied by a man on the piano. I know not everyone loves a sax, but I thought she was very good. She had two different sizes of saxophone plus a clarinet. She was obviously very talented, and I liked them a lot. We heard them in several different places around the ship over the course of the week.
Crush visited the restaurant during dinner, which was very fun. Our table was right against the wall where Crush appears, so he struck up a conversation with my wife, whom he referred to as Kickin' Kathryn. That made all the kids at our table cackle. The meal itself was pretty good, but not as good as the previous night. I had the mushroom risotto (VERY good) and Molly had the cheese-stuffed ravioli (good, not great) for appetizers. The potato-cheese soup was delicious. Very different from previous years, I think. This soup didn't have any chunks of potato, and was much thicker than I remember. It wasn't salty at all. I really liked it. I had the shrimp pasta in parmesan sauce for my meal. The shrimp and sauce were good, but I didn't eat all the pasta. Kathryn had the veal and liked it very much. For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse on a thin walnut cake. It was mostly mousse, which was a good thing, because the mousse was delicious and the walnut cake was, well, walnuts. (Bleh.) There was also a pineapple spongecake. The pineapple filling was very good but the spongecake was not tasty and was more like a wet Twinkie, kind of soggy. There was also a Cookies and Creme Ice Cream Sundae. This was a sundae glass filled to the top with crumbled chocolate chip cookies; then topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. I didn't try it, but it just seemed kind of a wierd concept. We took lots of Formal Night pictures after dinner, but oddly enough, there were no photographers at all in the restaurants during our first two nights.
After dinner, the show was Aladdin. I'd never seen this show before, but I honestly loved it. When Genie stars in a show, it can be very good, or Genie can go crazy (in an unfunny way) and crater it. This night, Genie was terrific, not too over-the-top. There were a couple of pop references that fell flat, but overall, it was a really good performance. Jafar was fantastic. Genie, Al, Jasmine and Carpet were all very good. I missed seeing Abu, but I love how they brought Carpet to life. The Sultan was the only character that didn't seem to have much to do; he seemed like a throw-away character to me in this show. The songs they did were all very good, although I like "Prince Ali" better in Dreams. Jasmine also gets a solo in this show, which doesn't appear in the movie, but is a pretty good song. The song serves to talk about how she feels trapped in the palace, and our Jasmine did a really good job with it. Overall, I liked this show a lot and would definitely recommend it.
No night life for us after the show. I was pretty wiped at the end of the day, so we went up to get a quick soft-serve ice cream and then back to the cabin to read a little before turning in.
Day 3 -- Grand Cayman
Sunny, mid 80s.
Coffee on the verandah (and we did get a call before delivery!). After getting fully awake, we went to breakfast at Royal Court. Molly had the "Express" and I had the French Toast and Pineapple Stack. Kathryn got the Eggs Benedict with bacon and hash browns -- sort of. When her plate came out, it had sausage instead of bacon and no hash browns. So she mentioned it to the server, who went to get it for her right away. So we started eating while we waited for the bacon. Kath took a couple bites and said to me, "Hmmm, it's kind of dry. Wait a minute. . ." There was no hollandaise sauce on the eggs. So when the server came with the bacon, we had to ask for some hollandaise sauce. Of course, he brought a whole new plate for her and it was delicious, but it was pretty poor execution of her order. (The Maitre D' even came over to find out what happened.) Having said that, this was the worst "incident" at any meal for the entire week. We had great service for the whole week.
We didn't have a shore excursion lined up, so we had to get tender tickets before we could board the tender to shore. It was actually a very smooth process the crew did a great job of getting us through the line and we were on one of the first tenders of the morning, just after 11:00 a.m. We did some shopping on Fort St. Then we grabbed a taxi to Seven Mile Beach ($4 per person) and got out at the Marriott resort. We walked along the beach with our feet in the water, it was so beautiful, and had a drink at the beachfront bar. We stayed for a couple hours, then took a taxi back to the tender and were back on the Fantasy around 3 p.m.
We hadn't eaten lunch, so we grabbed some chicken fingers and pizza just to tide us over till dinner (less than 3 hours away
) and settled into our spot on Deck 12. The Switch was playing out there, which was kind of fun. We all rode the AquaDuck and then went to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was in Enchanted Garden. The lobster ravioli appetizer was good, and Molly loved the Ahi tuna. Kathryn said the asparagus soup was excellent, but there's no way I was going to try that. My romaine salad with Romano dressing was just ok. I had the pork tenderloin with root vegetables, which was very good, and a side of the seared scallops, which were delicious. Kathryn had the sea bass, which was "amazing". My nephew had the prime rib with twice-baked potato. It was a very big portion and it looked terrific. For dessert, I had the chocolate tort, which Denis said is sometimes a little dry, but I liked it.
And here's one of the things I liked best about Denis. He told us when he thought something on the menu was not worth ordering. Later in the week, he said of one of the soups (try saying it with an Eastern European accent): "It is not the star of the day, I can tell you that." On another occasion, he told us, "If you set your expectation very low, you may be pleased." I really respect that. It makes me value his opinion even more when he tells me that something is good. Anyway. . .
Artemis sat down at the table with us while we were having coffee and chatted with us for quite a while. She seems to genuinely like our kids and laughs with us and bad-mouths Denis because he calls her "old" (she's 31 and he's 28). We really loved her by the end of the week.
The show was a comedy-cabaret act by hypnotist Ricky Kalman. I'm pretty skeptical of this kind of act anyway, but we decided to give him a chance. Unfortunately, it took a solid 25 minutes to put the volunteers "under", and there was no comedy to keep the rest of us occupied. It was extremely boring to sit there, so we bolted. We did pop our heads back in toward the end of the show, just to see what was happening. It was mildly funny (a guy thought he was handling a snake named Steve), but it was hard to tell if he was "under" or just kind of playing along. I'm not sad that we skipped it.
We went back through the shops and then stopped in for my one visit to O'Gills, while we waited for Mike Price, the high-energy juggler, to appear in The Tube. His juggling was actually excellent, but his comedy wasn't. The juggling was made more challenging by the fact that the ceiling in The Tube is so low; but he made it work. Overall, I enjoyed the show; but I would've enjoyed more juggling and less talking.
When Mike Price was done, the next act started immediately. They were The London Dancers. There were 6 or 7 members of the group, and they danced one number and were very good. But they then left the stage so the guests could get on the dance floor. I imagine that they returned later for another number or two, but we left at that point, so we didn't see any more of their act.
That was it for me. I went back to the room and crashed.
Day 4 -- Costa Maya
Sunny, 90s, slight breeze occasionally, rough sea
Light breakfast at Cabana's. Just a little scrambled eggs with corned beef hash. (The corned beef hash is phenomenal, by the way.) No one could disembark until 12:30 p.m., so we relaxed in our Deck 12 spot for the whole morning. Did some reading, dipped our feet in the little pool, and just relaxed.
We had to meet for our excursion at 12:25, so we grabbed an early lunch at Cabana's. (Denis told us the table service at Royal Court was a little slow for lunch.) They had BBQ short ribs, which I always love, and they were awesome as usual. Kath gave the veal steak another try, but still thought it was too dry. There was a seafood paella, but it was only ok. It had calamari, which was a little too chewy for me, and I crunched on pieces of clam shell in the rice. Kathryn makes a GREAT paella, so I'm probably spoiled, but this paella was only ok. The real surprise to me was the Fish Curry with coconut milk and lime. That was really, really good. I actually got seconds when I went back for more ribs Dessert was a hazelnut chocolate roll. It was fantastic. I loved it.
We chose the Chocchoben Mayan Ruins excursion. We felt lucky, because all of the watercraft excursions were cancelled, due to the rough seas. "Chocchoben" means "red corn" in Mayan. This excursion was a 1 hour bus ride to the ruins site, then a 2 hour tour of the site, then a half hour for shopping before the hour-long drive back to the port. It was VERY interesting. Lots of great information from our very knowledgeable guide, Lisbeth. I really enjoyed the excursion, but I would not recommend it for families with small children under the age of 13 or so. There was very little to hold a child's attention, except possibly for climbing on the ruins, which is only about a half hour or so of the tour. Additionally, as much as I liked the excursion, it was just too long. We reported to the theater at 12:25 (before "all ashore") and get back at 5:40 (after "all aboard"). Because we got back to the ship so late, we had to rush to dinner.
Molly and her cousins dined at Royal Court. She had the duck and cheese quesadilla on a mango bed, which she said was good, but a little too spicy for her. She said the Caesar salad was very good, which I was happy to hear, because I've been less than impressed with it in the past. The boys both had the sausage and lentil soup, which got mixed reviews: one liked it, and the other didn't. The same was true of the pepper steak entree: split decision. Molly had the mushroom ravioli over butternut squash and she LOVED it. For dessert, she had Prince Charming's chocolate mousse, which was just ok.
The adults ate at Palo. Normally, we're very excited to be at Palo, but we had to rush so much to get there in time, that it took quite a while to feel like we could relax. But we finally did feel ready to enjoy dinner and we met our server, Ivan from Croatia. He brought us bread and a plate of antipasto, some thin-sliced meats with cheese and olives. This wasn't something that we ordered; it's just presented to each table before ordering. It was tasty and light. For appetizers, we got the grilled shrimp, some calamari and a mushroom dish with marzipan cheese. The shrimp were very good, and the calamari is always good. My sister loved the mushroom; I thought it was just ok. Kathryn had the tuna appetizer and said it was great, as well.
For my entree, I had the grilled scallops over a bed of white beans and pancetta. The scallops were ok, but to be honest, the scallops from the previous night in Enchanted Garden were better. The really interesting part of the meal was the pancetta/bean mix. It was really tasty and had some texture to it that I liked. (I'm not usually a big fan of dishes with "texture", but the soft beans and firm pancetta were great together.) I also tried a "side" portion of the beef ravioli in a wine reduction, and I really liked those a lot. They were really delicious. My sister had the crusted lamb chops, which were great; her husband got the sea bass, which was ok, but (like my scallops) had been better on a previous night in the rotational restaurant. Kathryn got the Osso Buco (veal), which was fabulous. I got a taste and I loved it, too. For dessert, the girls got the chocolate souffle, which is great (obviously). I got the Amoretto Indulgence. Oh. My. Gosh. This was probably the best dessert I had all week. It's a small cylinder of mousse in a chocolate shell, with a raspberry in the middle, topped with a miniature canolli. Just throw away the canolli, ok? It's fine, but it's nothing special; not even as good as a canolli you'd get at Carrabba's. But the mouse was fantastic, and the presentation is honestly beautiful. I have a picture and will post it later. But take my word for it; next time you're at Palo -- Amoretto Indulgence. You can thank me later.
Dinner went a little longer than usual, as you might expect at Palo, so we were about 10 minutes late for our show that night. The show was Wishes, which I hadn't seen before. This show is about 3 high school friends, and features a love story, which I think is a first for a DCL show. This was a great show with great song choices. Songs included "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride", which is a fantastic dance number. It seemed to go on and on, but in a good way. It had to take tremendous stamina on the part of the dancers. They also used "I've Got a Dream" from Tangled. (With every passing hour, I'm so GLAD I left my tower. Like all you lovely folks, I've got a dream!) "I've Got No Strings" was used for another terrific dance number, but once again, it was updated as a LOUD techno song, which really rubs me the wrong way. But I realize that's just me being the grumpy old man. The other song that I really thought was done well was Mulan's "Reflection". I just thought the way they used this song was tremendous. The singers were honestly great, and the staging was actually touching. I liked this show a lot. It was better by leaps and bounds than the showing of Believe that I saw on the Dream last year.
After the show, we sat on deck with the kids to hear about their dinner with Artemis. They had a great time. Artemis was her normal funny self and spent a lot of extra time with them, making sure they had whatever they needed. (When we saw her the next night, Artemis told us -- remember the Greek accent -- "Oh my goodness, we laughed so much I almost been fired!") Needless to say, they had a great dinner.
After that, Kath, Molly and I went to D Lounge for Disney trivia. We tied for first and won DCL hats!! After that, it was pretty late, and we turned in for the night.
I'm going to post the whole report at once, and then add pictures gradually, as I get them off my camera.
Day 1 -- Port Canaveral
Sunny, low 80s.
We spent the previous day at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival and had dinner at Via Napoli, and stayed off-property in Winter Garden. So the trip to the port in the morning was pretty sweatless. We tried something different this time. We have always simply parked at the port, which costs about $15/day. This time, however, we tried one of the nearby off-site parking facilities. Some options are found here: http://www.parkportcanaveral.com We parked at the Radisson for $4/day. It was very easy to find, easy to get a parking spot, and overall very convenient. It was not the fastest shuttle service I've ever had. We got to the parking lot around 10:40 and waited 20-25 minutes for a shuttle. They got us to the ship around 11:15. Convenient, but don't expect to get out of your car and into the shuttle van.
Check-in at the port was very easy, although we didn't use the entrance that I'm used to. In the past, we've always entered the front of the terminal on the ground floor, then gone through the security and up the escalator into the terminal lobby. This time, they sent us up an elevator on the outside of the building. We went through security upstairs and then entered the building into the lobby. I don't know the reason for this change. Maybe the old entrance is reserved for Concierge guests or something. I didn't think to ask.
Unbelievably, I was able to upgrade from my Deluxe Inside Stateroom to a Category 4E Deluxe Stateroom with Verandah. I was sure the ship would be full with no upgrades available. But we got a verandah, and I was very happy to get it. They had already started the boarding process, so after changing rooms and key cards, we boarded the ship immediately. It was still before noon when we were allowed onboard, which was really nice. (We're Platinum Castaway Club members, so I think we board right after Concierge guests.)
We went straight up to Cabana's for lunch. The weather was gorgeous, so we picked a table outside. Glorious. Really. As usual, there was plenty of peel-and-eat shrimp, there was typical salad bar stuff and "Chef Mickey" style kid options (pizza, mac-and-cheese, chicken nuggets, etc). I had marinated chicken breast (good), a chopped chicken dish with an almost curry sauce that I liked a lot, and a cold salad of corn and red peppers. I didn't expect to like it, but it was really good! Kathryn had the lamb chops, which were good, but not great. There were lots of other things that I tasted but didn't write down. But I did write down the awesome chocolate brownie and mint chocolate chip ice cream that I had for dessert.
After dropping off our carry-on luggage at our upgraded stateroom, we decided to explore Europa and walk through all the lounge areas. Great theming. I really enjoyed them. I have to put this somewhere, so I guess I'll just put it in here: I hate O'Gills Pub. I get what they were trying to do, but I hate it. It's so dark that you can't see the items on the walls to get the story of the pub. It's long and narrow, so that no more than 6 or 8 people can sit together. There's no way to get a crowd of people in there to watch a big game. One of my fondest memories is sitting in Diversions with 100 other people, watching the World Cup Finals in 2010. There's no way for that to happen in Europa. I understand that's not what O'Gills is for, but I think it was a bad choice. Additionally, O'Gills is for guests 18-and-older all day. So even though they put out board games, you can't go in and play with the family. I spent a total of 10 minutes in O'Gills during the entire week, when Diversions (or 687) had been a major hang-out for me (and Molly) during previous cruises.
We then walked up to Satellite Falls, which I was very excited to visit. And it's pretty darn cool, I have to admit. It's just for sitting in to cool off, but the look is very impressive. I was also impressed with the area around it. It was well-sheltered from the wind. There were plenty of chairs in the sun, but also a lot of areas that were covered to provide some shade. And, of course, it's only available for guests 18-and-over, so it was very relaxing. On the way back to the stateroom, we played with several pieces of the interactive art. I'm no kid, but those are REALLY fun. And they play multiple scenes, so it's different almost every time that you walk past them.
We had the first seating for dinner, and our first dinner was at Royal Court. We liked Royal Court on the Fantasy much better than its counterpart on the Dream. The royal touches on the Fantasy seemed much more subtle than on the Dream. My wife said the Dream's Royal Court felt almost cartoonish with all the frilly touches. This restaurant felt more formal to me, which I liked.
Our servers were Denis (from Croatia) and Artemis (from Greece). We were impressed with them almost immediately. They each greeted the kids by name, which I love, and they were very personable. Denis admitted to us on our last evening that the servers get scared when they see guests wearing Platinum lanyards, because they know that the guests have very high expectations of the service. But they were both terrific all week.
I had the Iced Shrimp and Lobster with Asparagus appetizer, which was very good (despite the asparagus), and Belle's French Onion Soup with Gruyere cheese, which was also very good. My entree was the wild boar, which was topped with a small amount of a berry jelly. (I ordered this, thinking that I had gotten it on a previous cruise and loved it. When I mentioned this to my wife, she reminded me that it hadn't been boar, it had been elk. Oh well.) Despite being a little underdone for my taste, it was excellent. I really loved this meal. It was a great start to the week for me. Kathryn had the cauliflower soup and liked it. Molly had the cheese souffle appetizer; which was good, but very rich and she didn't finish it. They both had lamb chops, which were MUCH better than the Cabana's version. Kath's medium-rare was a little overdone for her, but Molly's rare chops were perfect. They both loved them. The desserts were a creme broulet, which my sister loved; the Grand Marnier souffle, which we had last year and loved; Molly and I tried the peanut butter mousse, which was VERY good.
Between dinner and the show, we spent some time exploring the shops. I saw a few things that I liked, but honestly, nothing really grabbed me so that I said, "Oooo, I've got to get that before we leave". Also, there is no Pooh-themed DCL merchandise onboard. I was completely surprised by this. I have a friend who is a huge Pooh fan and I wanted to get her something that was Pooh and DCL related. I even asked, but was told there are stuffed characters, but they don't have any cruise theming or branding. Just thought I'd include that as an FYI.
We went to the Welcome Aboard show, which is totally different from the classic ships. On the Fantasy, the story is about a family in which the Dad hopes they will all re-connect while onboard, and has made all kinds of plans for things they can all do together. But the over-stressed mom only wants to unwind in the Spa and the son would rather be home with his friends. The re-worked songs were a little too hip-hoppy for my liking (that's because I'm OLD), and a techno-version of "How Does She Know?" from Enchanted is almost unforgivable. But it has some very nice points, too: the mom sings "I See the Light" from Tangled, and in a nice blast-from-the-past, the dad sings "Let's Get Together" from the Parent Trap. As usual, there's a portion with a "cabaret" performer. This time it was high-energy juggler Mike Price. The juggling was indeed impressive, but the high-energy seemed kind of forced to me. Overall, I have to say that I liked this show better than the "Jeremy Dreams of Being Captain" show on the classic ships.
After the show, the kids went to do kid stuff in their clubs and the adults went to Europa. We sat in Skyline for a while and watched the wall change from St. Petersburg to Barcelona. This was especially fun for us because we visited Barcelona with DCL in '07 and visited St. Petersburg with DCL in '10. We then migrated to the Ooh La La lounge for champagne drinks. We stayed till they started closing up, then turned in for the night.
Is that an unbelievable first day, or what??? (Anybody know which non-Disney movie that line comes from?)
Day 2 -- At Sea
Sunny, mid to high 70s, windy. Cuba off the port side for most of the day.
Breakfast was coffee and chocolate croissants on the verandah delivered by room service at 8:30. How do I know it was 8:30? Because when the tray was delivered, we were still in bed. There was no call from room service to let us know they were coming. So when I opened the door, I said to the server, "No one called us to say you were coming." His reply, "It's 8:30." Ok, then. LOL. (Later in the week, when we made a note on the room service order form to call before delivery, they did that for us.)
Molly and I decided to go to an artist demonstration in the D Lounge in the morning. He was one of the featured artists for the art auction on board that week. I can't remember his name now, but I can probably dig it out of the Navigator later. He does a lot of his work without brushes, using his fingers and sponges, etc. So we thought the demonstration would be really interesting. It turned out to be very cool, but different from what we expected. He had brought some half-finished canvases and let the kids finish them. He did demonstrate some of his technique, but mostly it was a chance for the kids to interact with him personally, and paint on his canvases. It had to be a great experience for those kids; but it was not really something that we were very interested in. So we watched for a while as he interacted with the kids and left after about 20 minutes or so.
We found my wife and the three of us went up to Deck 12 above Quiet Cove and sat for a while. Molly will be 18 in 2 months. Her cousin is already 18. We asked if Molly could have 18+ status so that they could hang out together, but we were turned down. We asked them to reconsider, and they said that they would call stateside to get a higher-up answer, but it was still no. So this Deck 12 area was a real nice spot for our family during the week. It was forward from the kids' pool, so there wasn't a ton of noise from there. It wasn't technically in Quiet Cove, but there were very few kids and no splashing in the little pool. So it was a relaxing almost-adult atmosphere that suited us very well. (What other cruise line has an almost-adult family area???) After a while, Molly and I rode the AquaDuck and then we all went to Cabana's for lunch.
I had chicken with apple and water chestnut stuffing, which was very good; and polenta cakes, which were very simple, but also very good. There was a veal steak, but it was very dry and not good enough to eat. Molly and Kath both really liked the sushi selections. I wouldn't eat sushi if you paid me, so I can't even tell you what kind it was, but they both loved it. And there was also an orzo dish that was very good.
After lunch I "snuck" Molly up to Deck 13 so she could see Satellite Falls, then she settled back in to our spot on Deck 12 and I headed to the Meridian Bar for the start of the Art of the Theme Show tour. I've done this tour on all four DCL ships now. This one was VERY good. It's also the first time I've had to pre-register for the tour and get a ticket. There was no charge for the tour, but I guess they want to limit the size of the group as it wanders the narrow halls of the ship. The tour leader focused on 4 elements that appear in the theming of nearly every space on board:
1) The look/feel of a classic sailing vessel;
2) The use of technology to promote the theme;
3) Story and Disney characters; and
4) Variation of Experience.
So just as an example, take the Enchanted Artwork. They are pictures of Walt or photos of destinations, or movie cells; artwork that you would expect to see on any classic ship. The technology kicks in so that the pictures interact with the viewer (and sometimes with other pieces of art). Many of the pictures (though not all) utilize Disney characters. And each piece has different animations so that each time you walk past, you get a different experience. Not every space features all four elements, but it's amazing how many times you see all four in one setting.
Anyway, the tour went an hour and 15 minutes, which is longer than usual, in my experience. But the tour guide was so good and answered so many questions that I don't think anybody left the group before the end of the tour. One thing she couldn't answer for me is why there are no porcelain masks as part of the theming for Palo in the newer ships. They are so distinctive on the classic ships; but she didn't know why they were left out of the new designs. I stayed after the end of the tour to chat with the tour guide and one other guest. The tour guide is hoping to audition to be part of the Walt Disney Theater cast, so she may not be back after her current contract is up. The other guest is a manager at Downtown Disney, so it was fun to chat with him as well. It was a really good tour. I recommend it highly.
Because the tour went long, when it was done, it was time to get ready for dinner, which was Formal Night in Animator's Palate for us. Since it's me with two women in our cabin, I got ready first and waited out on the verandah until everyone else was decent. I was wearing my tux for Formal Night (without the jacket, at the time) and our neighbor happened to look around the verandah divider and spotted me.
Him: You going to a wedding or something?
Me: No, it's just Formal Night.
Him: Oh, so you're going up to Remy's?
Me: Nope, it's Formal Night in all the regular restaurants tonight.
Him: Jeez, I didn't even pack slacks.
I don't judge.
I know Formal Night isn't everyone's thing. I just thought that was a funny exchange.On the way to Animator's, we passed through the Atrium, where The Switch was playing. The Switch is a woman playing a saxophone, accompanied by a man on the piano. I know not everyone loves a sax, but I thought she was very good. She had two different sizes of saxophone plus a clarinet. She was obviously very talented, and I liked them a lot. We heard them in several different places around the ship over the course of the week.
Crush visited the restaurant during dinner, which was very fun. Our table was right against the wall where Crush appears, so he struck up a conversation with my wife, whom he referred to as Kickin' Kathryn. That made all the kids at our table cackle. The meal itself was pretty good, but not as good as the previous night. I had the mushroom risotto (VERY good) and Molly had the cheese-stuffed ravioli (good, not great) for appetizers. The potato-cheese soup was delicious. Very different from previous years, I think. This soup didn't have any chunks of potato, and was much thicker than I remember. It wasn't salty at all. I really liked it. I had the shrimp pasta in parmesan sauce for my meal. The shrimp and sauce were good, but I didn't eat all the pasta. Kathryn had the veal and liked it very much. For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse on a thin walnut cake. It was mostly mousse, which was a good thing, because the mousse was delicious and the walnut cake was, well, walnuts. (Bleh.) There was also a pineapple spongecake. The pineapple filling was very good but the spongecake was not tasty and was more like a wet Twinkie, kind of soggy. There was also a Cookies and Creme Ice Cream Sundae. This was a sundae glass filled to the top with crumbled chocolate chip cookies; then topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. I didn't try it, but it just seemed kind of a wierd concept. We took lots of Formal Night pictures after dinner, but oddly enough, there were no photographers at all in the restaurants during our first two nights.
After dinner, the show was Aladdin. I'd never seen this show before, but I honestly loved it. When Genie stars in a show, it can be very good, or Genie can go crazy (in an unfunny way) and crater it. This night, Genie was terrific, not too over-the-top. There were a couple of pop references that fell flat, but overall, it was a really good performance. Jafar was fantastic. Genie, Al, Jasmine and Carpet were all very good. I missed seeing Abu, but I love how they brought Carpet to life. The Sultan was the only character that didn't seem to have much to do; he seemed like a throw-away character to me in this show. The songs they did were all very good, although I like "Prince Ali" better in Dreams. Jasmine also gets a solo in this show, which doesn't appear in the movie, but is a pretty good song. The song serves to talk about how she feels trapped in the palace, and our Jasmine did a really good job with it. Overall, I liked this show a lot and would definitely recommend it.
No night life for us after the show. I was pretty wiped at the end of the day, so we went up to get a quick soft-serve ice cream and then back to the cabin to read a little before turning in.
Day 3 -- Grand Cayman
Sunny, mid 80s.
Coffee on the verandah (and we did get a call before delivery!). After getting fully awake, we went to breakfast at Royal Court. Molly had the "Express" and I had the French Toast and Pineapple Stack. Kathryn got the Eggs Benedict with bacon and hash browns -- sort of. When her plate came out, it had sausage instead of bacon and no hash browns. So she mentioned it to the server, who went to get it for her right away. So we started eating while we waited for the bacon. Kath took a couple bites and said to me, "Hmmm, it's kind of dry. Wait a minute. . ." There was no hollandaise sauce on the eggs. So when the server came with the bacon, we had to ask for some hollandaise sauce. Of course, he brought a whole new plate for her and it was delicious, but it was pretty poor execution of her order. (The Maitre D' even came over to find out what happened.) Having said that, this was the worst "incident" at any meal for the entire week. We had great service for the whole week.
We didn't have a shore excursion lined up, so we had to get tender tickets before we could board the tender to shore. It was actually a very smooth process the crew did a great job of getting us through the line and we were on one of the first tenders of the morning, just after 11:00 a.m. We did some shopping on Fort St. Then we grabbed a taxi to Seven Mile Beach ($4 per person) and got out at the Marriott resort. We walked along the beach with our feet in the water, it was so beautiful, and had a drink at the beachfront bar. We stayed for a couple hours, then took a taxi back to the tender and were back on the Fantasy around 3 p.m.
We hadn't eaten lunch, so we grabbed some chicken fingers and pizza just to tide us over till dinner (less than 3 hours away
) and settled into our spot on Deck 12. The Switch was playing out there, which was kind of fun. We all rode the AquaDuck and then went to get ready for dinner.Dinner was in Enchanted Garden. The lobster ravioli appetizer was good, and Molly loved the Ahi tuna. Kathryn said the asparagus soup was excellent, but there's no way I was going to try that. My romaine salad with Romano dressing was just ok. I had the pork tenderloin with root vegetables, which was very good, and a side of the seared scallops, which were delicious. Kathryn had the sea bass, which was "amazing". My nephew had the prime rib with twice-baked potato. It was a very big portion and it looked terrific. For dessert, I had the chocolate tort, which Denis said is sometimes a little dry, but I liked it.
And here's one of the things I liked best about Denis. He told us when he thought something on the menu was not worth ordering. Later in the week, he said of one of the soups (try saying it with an Eastern European accent): "It is not the star of the day, I can tell you that." On another occasion, he told us, "If you set your expectation very low, you may be pleased." I really respect that. It makes me value his opinion even more when he tells me that something is good. Anyway. . .
Artemis sat down at the table with us while we were having coffee and chatted with us for quite a while. She seems to genuinely like our kids and laughs with us and bad-mouths Denis because he calls her "old" (she's 31 and he's 28). We really loved her by the end of the week.
The show was a comedy-cabaret act by hypnotist Ricky Kalman. I'm pretty skeptical of this kind of act anyway, but we decided to give him a chance. Unfortunately, it took a solid 25 minutes to put the volunteers "under", and there was no comedy to keep the rest of us occupied. It was extremely boring to sit there, so we bolted. We did pop our heads back in toward the end of the show, just to see what was happening. It was mildly funny (a guy thought he was handling a snake named Steve), but it was hard to tell if he was "under" or just kind of playing along. I'm not sad that we skipped it.
We went back through the shops and then stopped in for my one visit to O'Gills, while we waited for Mike Price, the high-energy juggler, to appear in The Tube. His juggling was actually excellent, but his comedy wasn't. The juggling was made more challenging by the fact that the ceiling in The Tube is so low; but he made it work. Overall, I enjoyed the show; but I would've enjoyed more juggling and less talking.
When Mike Price was done, the next act started immediately. They were The London Dancers. There were 6 or 7 members of the group, and they danced one number and were very good. But they then left the stage so the guests could get on the dance floor. I imagine that they returned later for another number or two, but we left at that point, so we didn't see any more of their act.
That was it for me. I went back to the room and crashed.
Day 4 -- Costa Maya
Sunny, 90s, slight breeze occasionally, rough sea
Light breakfast at Cabana's. Just a little scrambled eggs with corned beef hash. (The corned beef hash is phenomenal, by the way.) No one could disembark until 12:30 p.m., so we relaxed in our Deck 12 spot for the whole morning. Did some reading, dipped our feet in the little pool, and just relaxed.
We had to meet for our excursion at 12:25, so we grabbed an early lunch at Cabana's. (Denis told us the table service at Royal Court was a little slow for lunch.) They had BBQ short ribs, which I always love, and they were awesome as usual. Kath gave the veal steak another try, but still thought it was too dry. There was a seafood paella, but it was only ok. It had calamari, which was a little too chewy for me, and I crunched on pieces of clam shell in the rice. Kathryn makes a GREAT paella, so I'm probably spoiled, but this paella was only ok. The real surprise to me was the Fish Curry with coconut milk and lime. That was really, really good. I actually got seconds when I went back for more ribs
Dessert was a hazelnut chocolate roll. It was fantastic. I loved it.We chose the Chocchoben Mayan Ruins excursion. We felt lucky, because all of the watercraft excursions were cancelled, due to the rough seas. "Chocchoben" means "red corn" in Mayan. This excursion was a 1 hour bus ride to the ruins site, then a 2 hour tour of the site, then a half hour for shopping before the hour-long drive back to the port. It was VERY interesting. Lots of great information from our very knowledgeable guide, Lisbeth. I really enjoyed the excursion, but I would not recommend it for families with small children under the age of 13 or so. There was very little to hold a child's attention, except possibly for climbing on the ruins, which is only about a half hour or so of the tour. Additionally, as much as I liked the excursion, it was just too long. We reported to the theater at 12:25 (before "all ashore") and get back at 5:40 (after "all aboard"). Because we got back to the ship so late, we had to rush to dinner.
Molly and her cousins dined at Royal Court. She had the duck and cheese quesadilla on a mango bed, which she said was good, but a little too spicy for her. She said the Caesar salad was very good, which I was happy to hear, because I've been less than impressed with it in the past. The boys both had the sausage and lentil soup, which got mixed reviews: one liked it, and the other didn't. The same was true of the pepper steak entree: split decision. Molly had the mushroom ravioli over butternut squash and she LOVED it. For dessert, she had Prince Charming's chocolate mousse, which was just ok.
The adults ate at Palo. Normally, we're very excited to be at Palo, but we had to rush so much to get there in time, that it took quite a while to feel like we could relax. But we finally did feel ready to enjoy dinner and we met our server, Ivan from Croatia. He brought us bread and a plate of antipasto, some thin-sliced meats with cheese and olives. This wasn't something that we ordered; it's just presented to each table before ordering. It was tasty and light. For appetizers, we got the grilled shrimp, some calamari and a mushroom dish with marzipan cheese. The shrimp were very good, and the calamari is always good. My sister loved the mushroom; I thought it was just ok. Kathryn had the tuna appetizer and said it was great, as well.
For my entree, I had the grilled scallops over a bed of white beans and pancetta. The scallops were ok, but to be honest, the scallops from the previous night in Enchanted Garden were better. The really interesting part of the meal was the pancetta/bean mix. It was really tasty and had some texture to it that I liked. (I'm not usually a big fan of dishes with "texture", but the soft beans and firm pancetta were great together.) I also tried a "side" portion of the beef ravioli in a wine reduction, and I really liked those a lot. They were really delicious. My sister had the crusted lamb chops, which were great; her husband got the sea bass, which was ok, but (like my scallops) had been better on a previous night in the rotational restaurant. Kathryn got the Osso Buco (veal), which was fabulous. I got a taste and I loved it, too. For dessert, the girls got the chocolate souffle, which is great (obviously). I got the Amoretto Indulgence. Oh. My. Gosh. This was probably the best dessert I had all week. It's a small cylinder of mousse in a chocolate shell, with a raspberry in the middle, topped with a miniature canolli. Just throw away the canolli, ok? It's fine, but it's nothing special; not even as good as a canolli you'd get at Carrabba's. But the mouse was fantastic, and the presentation is honestly beautiful. I have a picture and will post it later. But take my word for it; next time you're at Palo -- Amoretto Indulgence. You can thank me later.
Dinner went a little longer than usual, as you might expect at Palo, so we were about 10 minutes late for our show that night. The show was Wishes, which I hadn't seen before. This show is about 3 high school friends, and features a love story, which I think is a first for a DCL show. This was a great show with great song choices. Songs included "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride", which is a fantastic dance number. It seemed to go on and on, but in a good way. It had to take tremendous stamina on the part of the dancers. They also used "I've Got a Dream" from Tangled. (With every passing hour, I'm so GLAD I left my tower. Like all you lovely folks, I've got a dream!) "I've Got No Strings" was used for another terrific dance number, but once again, it was updated as a LOUD techno song, which really rubs me the wrong way. But I realize that's just me being the grumpy old man. The other song that I really thought was done well was Mulan's "Reflection". I just thought the way they used this song was tremendous. The singers were honestly great, and the staging was actually touching. I liked this show a lot. It was better by leaps and bounds than the showing of Believe that I saw on the Dream last year.
After the show, we sat on deck with the kids to hear about their dinner with Artemis. They had a great time. Artemis was her normal funny self and spent a lot of extra time with them, making sure they had whatever they needed. (When we saw her the next night, Artemis told us -- remember the Greek accent -- "Oh my goodness, we laughed so much I almost been fired!") Needless to say, they had a great dinner.
After that, Kath, Molly and I went to D Lounge for Disney trivia. We tied for first and won DCL hats!! After that, it was pretty late, and we turned in for the night.
