This trip report was written by Gunes, who sailed the Disney Fantasy August 25, 2018, through September 1, 2018. You can see photos and videos from her cruise and other adventures by visiting her travel blog (fotogenictravel.com) or by following @fotogenictravel on Instagram or Facebook. Gunes provides concierge-style planning services as an independent travel advisor affiliated with My Path Unwinding Travel and can be followed on both Instagram and Facebook (@vacayconciergegunes).
You can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here.
Day 3: At Sea
You can see the daily navigators from this sailing here.
Two straight days at sea! Like our first day at sea, I once again was going back and forth between Cabanas, our stateroom, and the Concierge Lounge to create our own in-room breakfast buffet. And, once again, we ate while watching repeats of Mickey Mouse Shorts (and this pattern would repeat itself virtually every day of our cruise).
And, once again, after breakfast, my husband headed for the gym, while my son and I hung out in our stateroom. Then, when my husband returned, I went to the gym. Our goal was to be ready fairly early, as we had a 12:30pm brunch reservation at Palo to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This would be our first time dining at this adults-only venue; in fact, it would be our first time to ever do any adults-only activity on a Disney cruise, even though it was our third time on a Disney cruise ship. We couldn’t wait!
To accomplish this task, we had to get my son fed and dropped off at the Oceaneer Club prior to 12:15pm to give us enough time to go over to Palo. While I showered, my husband grabbed some lunch for my son from Flo’s Café to eat in our stateroom. Then, around 12:00 noon or so, we dropped my son off and made the leisurely stroll to begin our two hours of heaven…
This magnificent chandelier/work of art greeted us at the entrance in Palo:
We were seated in a cozy, corner booth with a straight-on view of the sea. It was super-romantic! One thing I would note, though, is that on the Disney Fantasy, Goofy’s Sports Deck is right above Palo, so we periodically heard basketballs bouncing on the ceiling. Nothing too crazy, but the ambience was not necessarily perfect.
Our waiter asked if either of us had food allergies, so we let him know about my husband’s beef and dairy allergy. He let the chef know, and then the chef actually came out to talk to us. Chef Davide (from Italy) politely queried my husband about his food preferences, and he committed to bringing out a custom meal made by his own hands! My husband was in for a treat.
Brunch at Palo includes many options – you can order as much as you want from the à la carte menu, and you also can gorge yourself at the buffet:
The food at Palo was definitely a step above most of the other food we have had in other parts of the ship. I’m not saying that the food in the main dining room or other venues is bad; it’s just that you can tell most everything was made-to-order, which makes a difference.
Food highlights from the buffet included an amazing warm sticky bun, chocolate chip bread, a heavenly goat cheese spread, twisty chocolate sticks, and spicy albondigas (Spanish meatballs).
One glass of prosecco per person was included in our meal:
After feasting at the buffet, we somehow managed to begin the à la carte portion of our meal. I couldn’t resist ordering two Mickey waffles (giant sized!) – one was strawberry, and one was apple cinnamon:
The strawberry waffle was very good, but the apple cinnamon waffle was amazing (better than expected)! There were bits of warm apple in the syrup, which were quite the yummy surprise.
I loved the fresh basil and grape tomatoes in the “Heirloom Tomato and Basil Soup.” The tomatoes had an incredible sweetness to them:
This veal “Lasagna Bolognaise” was extremely rich and probably one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever had:
Chef Davide made my husband some absolutely delicious dishes. First, he sent out a fantastic sweet/savory flatbread (really a pizza with fantastic crust) with a variety of veggies (and no cheese). There were grapes on there, which I made me skeptical. But, I tried it, and it was good!
Next up was some chicken with green beans and potatoes. Sounds boring, but it was excellent (yes, I tried this one, too!):
And, then, it was time for dessert! I’m not quite sure how I force-fed myself all this food, but there was no way I was going to miss out on THIS:
Because most of the desserts had dairy in them (hello, heavy cream!), Chef Davide sent out some dairy-free sorbets for my husband. Strawberry basil (we loved this combination) and lemon, with fresh berries on the side:
Brunch ended with a little surprise:
I’m not quite sure how I survived a two-hour meal like that, but it was a very leisurely way to enjoy some quality time with my spouse.
Of course, not to be forgotten and right as we were wrapping things up, I checked my wave phone (which I had in my purse the whole time), and there is a message from the Oceaneer Club: my son wanted to be picked up. That message was over 30 minutes old – oh well! Guess we better save that child from his misery.
My husband went to pick him up on his own, while I went back to the stateroom. When they both returned, I could see that my son had been crying. He’s not a huge fan of going to the Oceaneer Club on his own, since he doesn’t know any other kids. I felt really bad for him, but not bad enough to regret going to Palo for two hours!
I still wanted to make him feel better, so I offered up a special treat: AquaDuck! None of us had been on it before, so my son and I changed into our bathing suits and went to wait in line (about 15 minutes) to ride together. It was an absolute blast!!!
After that adventure, I was ready to get changed and walk the ship a little bit before the start of the Concierge happy hour and dinner. So, my son and I went back to the stateroom (where my husband was hanging out), and we got ourselves ready.
We then headed over to my favorite spot on the ship, the lobby atrium. I absolutely love the Fantasy’s lobby atrium and couldn’t seem to get enough photos of the pastel colors and peacock themed Art Nouveau décor. And, there happened to be a Princess meet and greet taking place:
I also was quite ecstatic to see adorable Princess Minnie (and bummed that she was about to end her meet and greet, so I couldn’t get a photo next to her):
Next stop was Tiffany’s! That’s right – the Disney Fantasy has an official Tiffany & Co. boutique:
Nope! I didn’t purchase anything…I was sailing Concierge level, so I already had handed over my life savings to Captain Mickey.
Speaking of Concierge, it was time for happy hour, so I grabbed a drink (or two) from the Concierge Lounge, and then we meandered over to Animator’s Palate for dinner. Always a perennial favorite place to dine, we were looking forward to chatting with Crush that evening.
The hidden and not-so-hidden Mickeys in the restaurant’s décor (and even bread bowls) are also a favorite:
Despite STILL being somewhat full from the biggest meal EVER at Palo, I had to try various items off the menu. The Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes were very good as an appetizer:
My entrée was the Pennete Bolognese, which was very good. The toasted garlic ciabatta bread that came with it was excellent:
And, for some crazy reason, I was inspired to order the cookies ‘n cream sundae, which was excellent:
I don’t know what this was called, but they brought it out to my son for dessert:
I had over twenty desserts that day, but that didn’t stop our wait staff from surprising us with even more! Yep, it was “happy anniversary” time à la chocolate cake:
My son and husband had to roll me out of the restaurant. I literally felt like my stomach was going to burst. It all was worth it, though! When you’re paying beaucoup bucks for a Disney Cruise (and Palo to boot), gorging yourself on food, especially dessert, is absolutely required.
We were ready to retire to our stateroom for the night, as we had an early start the next day for our Tortola Port Adventure. But, first, the towel elephant in our stateroom had to offer us chocolates (no more dessert – please make it stop!!!): it’s the Disney way.
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Up Next: Day 4 – Tortola, BVI
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