Fantasy Inaugural and Remy observation About This Page:

[kcooley]

So, I've noticed over time that at the beginning of the booking window for Gold Castaway Club members, all Palo and Remy reservations were gone. Now there are open slots for Remy on the first night. They have been there for a few weeks - but only on the first night.

Any thoughts as to why Remy seems to be open the first night? There has already been a discussion as to why everything probably booked up so early (VIPs, lots of Platinums) but for the life of me I can't come up with a reason why Remy isn't full.

[Dave Marx]

This fits my normal observation about Remy and Palo reservations. Folks are least likely to book those meals on the first and last nights of the cruise. First, because they're just settling in and want to meet their regular dining room staff. Last, because of the busy-ness of the last evening - bags packed and out in the corridor by 10:30pm, purchase photos from Shutters, distribute gratuities to dining room staff, etc. On a special cruise, this is probably even more dramatic - the special meals (receptions, private parties, etc.) are more likely to take place on nights other than #1 and #7.

[chezp]

Good - this works for me, as I'm desperate to get Remy on the last night of our cruise on the Fantasy, as that will be the night of my 40th birthday. I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

[PixieMichele]

I think the luggage arrival and dress code is the big drawback for bookings on the first night for Remy. People are worried their luggage won't come in time to get dressed properly for dinner, it's a more formal attire and on their travel day not everyone feels like dressing up to go to dinner.
If you don't want to eat there on the first night, don't worry, i'm sure there are plenty of reservations available, just check when you get onboard. They never offer all the seats for online bookings, a select number are for pre-bookings and a select number are set aside for folks to book when they board so i don't think you'll have a problem getting a reservation if you didn't want to eat there on the first night.

It really is quite an experience!

[kcooley]

Thanks for the feedback. We have already planned on having our dressy clothes in our carry-on for the ship. We celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday and we wanted to eat at Remy for sure, so it being Saturday night is as close as we could get for our anniversary. We were hoping Palo would open up as well, but we have a 11:30 boarding time, so hopefully all the 11 am boarders will have their reservations already and won't rush the line for on-board reservations.

I also asked that our dining rotation not start with AP, so we won't miss the AP experience. The videos posted on various sites look really cool.

[Dave Marx]

Originally Posted by kcooley

but we have a 11:30 boarding time, so hopefully all the 11 am boarders will have their reservations already and won't rush the line for on-board reservations.

That would be an 11:30am port arrival time. Boarding doesn't begin until Noon, for everyone. While the folks who arrive at 11:00am will receive lower boarding numbers and will still have an advantage over folks who arrive at 11:30am, it's likely to be less than a half-hour advantage - boarding moves faster than check-in. Plus, most folks taking Disney transfers from WDW won't be arriving at the terminal until after Noon, so you'll have a leg up on them, too.

[kcooley]

So, this is definitely a late reply, but here is what ended up happening. We actually boarded around 11:20 if memory serves me. They let us on early and said our rooms were available right then. That was because they weren't turning the rooms around post-cruise.

We carried our dressy clothes on so we would ensure we'd have them but it didn't matter. Our luggage was in our room around 2pm.

Boarding early, our room being ready when we boarded and our luggage coming so fast will never happen again. Only because it was an inaugural.

Now, as for eating at Remy the first night on the inaugural. Food and service were fantastic. There was one HUGE problem though. We won't make the mistake again of eating there at the beginning of the cruise because it makes the rest of the dining seem subpar (even though it isn't).

One of the reasons we made our reservation the first night was because we forgot to book when our Gold CC window opened and that was what was left. We won't make that mistake again either. We are on a B2B next week - 4 night followed by the 3 night DVC member cruise - and we've booked Remy for night 2.

[MickeyWatch]

One more comment--yes, you will likely be able to score a Remy's reservation once on board. I was on a 7 day Fantasy Western Caribbean cruise in November and decided mid-week that I wanted to try Remy's brunch the next day which was the second sea day. I got the ressie with no problem. I haven't done dinner at Remy's but the Brunch was spectacular and exceeded my expectations. I would also highly recommend the Champagne pairings for an extra $25.00.