This guest trip report was written by Cynthia, who sailed the Disney Fantasy on July 27, 2019, on the 11 night Southern Caribbean itinerary. You may remember her as the guest blogger who shared her previous experience with the medical center on the Disney Fantasy, which you can read about here. She has now graciously offered to share her adventures with us! This is a unique itinerary not often offered on the Fantasy so I am very excited to get to share this with you!
Day 2: At Sea
You can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here.
You can see the daily navigators for this sailing here.
Today was our first full day at sea so we decided to sleep in a bit. After a good night’s sleep, we were greeted by perfect sailing weather – sunshine and calm seas.
We got up just in time to head to the Lobby Atrium for our first scheduled event of the day: the 10:30 a.m. Princess Gathering (reservation required, details here). My oldest daughter still enjoys getting pictures with all the characters, so off we went to see who was going to be available for pictures. Princesses Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, and Tiana graced the Lobby Atrium. If you have older children, or are on your own, don’t hesitate to attend the character meet and greets and get pictures with your favorite Disney Characters A Disney cruise if for everyone!
After the meet and greet, my daughter and I headed to Cabanas to grab a quick snack. I nibbled on a few things, but I did not want to eat a lot because I had a 12:30 brunch reservation at Palo. I was not about to spoil my appetite! My daughter, on the other hand, feasted on Mickey waffles with strawberries and fresh whipped cream. She said her breakfast was delicious.
Next on the agenda was Palo brunch. Both my daughters are under 18, so they could not join me for brunch. My youngest headed to the Vibe and my oldest did some shopping and exploring.
I, on the other hand, made my way to Palo. Even though I was the only adult traveling in our group, I still wanted to take advantage of the adult dining. So I went ahead and made brunch reservations for both Palo and Remy. My husband and I dined at Palo for both brunch and dinner on a previous cruise and loved our experience, so I was eager to see how my experience would be as a solo diner.
Let me start by saying that Palo was amazing. The fact that I was dining alone was not an issue. I was very comfortable and enjoyed myself. The staff seemed to go out of their way to make sure I had everything I needed. My server, Sasha, was wonderful.
When you arrive at Palo, you enter through a beautiful lobby into an open, bright, and spectacular dining room with amazing views.
I was seated at a table right at the window so I was able to spend the entire time looking out onto the beautiful blue seas and the shoreline of Cuba. Sasha brought me the Palo Brunch menu and explained to me that I was welcome to help myself to anything off the buffet and once I was done sampling the buffet offerings, he would take my menu order. Having dined once before at the Palo Brunch, I knew to truly “sample” the buffet offerings so I could also enjoy the menu offerings. The buffet included a dessert table, a seafood table, a cheese and meat table, and a breakfast buffet.
I started by sampling several items from the buffet including strawberries and cream, cured meats, Italian cheeses, and an almond croissant. It was all wonderful, but my absolute favorite was the strawberries and cream.
As soon as I finished my buffet items, Sasha returned to take my menu order. The menu offers a variety of traditional breakfast brunch items such as waffles, eggs benedict and frittatas as well as lunch options such as pasta, red snapper, and parmesan-crusted chicken breast. There is also a selection of stone oven baked pizzas and flatbreads and a variety of soups. You are free to order whatever you would like. If you can’t decide, no worries . . . your server will encourage you to order several items.
After much discussion with Sasha, I decided to order a flatbread, the heirloom tomato and basil soup, and the chicken parmesan. I know this sounds like a lot of food, but Sasha suggested that chef could prepare smaller portions of each item. This was a great idea. Even with the smaller portions, I still ended up eating only about half of each dish. Everything was wonderful.
I was going to skip dessert, but Sasha insisted I try the chocolate lava cake. It was wonderful, but I could only eat a couple of bites.
My solo dining experience at Palo was memorable. Both Chef Davide and maite d Salvatore stopped by my table to ask about my dining experience and to make sure everything was perfect.
If you are the only adult sailing in your party, or if your adult traveling companions are not interested in the adult dining experiences at Palo or Remy (big mistake!), I encourage you to dine solo. I will not hesitate to do so again in the future.
After Palo, I met my oldest daughter in the Walt Disney Theater for the afternoon performance of Disney’s Aladdin. The show was very well done and enjoyable. After the show we decided to spend some time walking around the ship.
By this time I was a bit tired, so I headed back to the cabin to rest for an hour or so before it was time to start getting ready for formal night. When I returned to the cabin I discovered we had pixie dust gifts in our fish extender – we love our fish extender and door magnets!
At about 5:30, my girls and I headed to the Captain’s Welcome Reception in the Lobby Atrium for a few pictures including pictures with Captain Thord, our cruise director Peter Hofer, and Captain Mickey.
After pictures, socializing, and checking out the beautiful sunset, we made our way to Animator’s Palate for dinner.
I was still pretty full from brunch, so I had a light dinner and simply enjoyed talking to the girls about their day. I tried the baked potato and cheddar cheese soup (just okay) and the herb crusted pork chop (very good). Hazel, our server, insisted that the three of us share the crunchy walnut cake. I am so glad we did because it was amazing! I highly recommend that you order this dessert if you ever have the chance.
After dinner, my oldest daughter and I decided to go up to Deck 11 (the pool deck) and enjoy the evening air and the Fantasy by night. One of my favorite times on board is the evening when everything is lit up so beautifully and you can sit on deck enjoying the fresh ocean air. We ended our day by watching Moana on Funnel Vision. It was another perfect ending to a perfect day aboard the Fantasy.
Up Next: Day 3 – At Sea
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