Back from our 'Fantasy' Vacation

[labyrinthgal]

I've been inspired by all the great (and helpful) reviews I've read over the years to contribute my own. Here goes ...

 

The set-up

We cruised with 7 total family members -- my husband, two children (boy 6 and girl 2.5), my mother and my in-laws. My husband and I (and my mother, for that matter) are not new to cruising. My mom has been on a half dozen cruises ranging from mega ships, to classic ships, to intimate exclusive cruises. My husband and I were part of a family trip (70 of us ... another post for another day!) to Alaska on Princess, and another cruise with our friends on RCL about five years ago. We have never cruised with our kids and this was the first cruise for my in-laws (needless to say I felt pressure to make sure they had a good time!).

 

We booked about 8 months ago, via Small World Vacations (thanks, to Jo over there -- she was very helpful). I had done a lot of reading about the Disney ships and I wanted to go on the biggest and newest ship so I choose the Fantasy based on the fact that it was the Fantasy -- the itinerary wasn't particularly interesting to me, but the date, price and the ship were what drove my decision making.

 

It's worth noting that I wanted this particular week so my son wouldn't miss too much school -- we had two days off last week making it a short week. Apparently 1/2 of NJ used the same logic since they had the entire week off last week. Most of the state decided to join us on our cruise!

 

Embarkation

We flew in the evening before and stayed at a Residence Inn about 5 minutes from port. The hotel had a shuttle for $3 per person to the port in the a.m. Even though our boarding time was 1 p.m. we took the shuttle over at 11:15 as the hotel workers said we would have no trouble boarding and checking in earlier -- we didn't. Besides I was too excited to wait around much longer!

 

We breezed through the checkin line and while we waited for them to call group 25 (probably waited about 25 minutes) we got in line for a pic with Mickey. Well, Mickey switched out with Minnie just before we got up in line, but my DD didn't care. She loves Minnie mouse and just seeing her run up and give Minnie a hug made the entire trip worth it -- and we weren't even on the ship, yet! Got a great family shot with Minnie, then we got on the ship.

 

The introductions when you get on are cute -- the grand foyer is absolutely beautiful. I, however, was on a mission. Anna and Elsa tickets.

 

I made my way up to the 5th floor and got in line for the tickets. The line moved quickly (it was only about 12:30 at this point), and I got my tickets for the princess meet-and-greet (sea day 1 at 11:15) and Anna and Elsa (sea day 2 at 9:30 a.m.) Victory. I strongly suspect that if you make it to the line before it closes they will accomodate you with some meet-and-greet time. I never heard anyone complain that they ran out of tickets. But, I guess I'll never know for sure :) We headed up to Cabanas for lunch since our rooms weren't really ready yet. It was cold (low 60s) and windy in Port Canaveral so the top deck was a bit cool, but we had a nice lunch (more food details later) and went to check out our rooms and unpack.

 

Rooms

Great rooms. People say this all the time, and I had high expectations. I'm happy to report that my expectations were met. We were in room 7516 (big porthole family room). This room has a couch/futon bed and a murphy bed -- plus the queen bed, of course. DD slept with us, and DS room hopped -- one or two nights with my mom, one night with his other grandparents who had a ceiling bunk that he wanted to try, and a few nights with us. We brought our pack n play, but never set it up. DD slept in the futon and after the first night our room steward even set it up with bed rails for her. She was in heaven being in what she called her big-girl-crib-bed ...

 

Round tub, great rain shower head. Liked the split bathroom -- especially since we're potty training and we spent a lot of time in various ship bathrooms!

 

Family Fun

My six-year-old worked all week on his top 10 list that he was bringing back to school. Among his favorite activities -- mid-ship Detective Agency, the Kids Club and the Aqua Duck. He also loved Aladdin and Buckets n' Boards.

 

I think if there were 500 mysteries to solve instead of just 3 he would have done every single one of them. What a blast. My husband did two mysteries with him and I did one. We ran all over the ship and had a great time. Those things are really, really cool.

 

After the first time in the kids club he asked to go back for several hours each day. Come to find out this was because he became obsessed with Mario Kart (really, there's still Mario Kart out there?!). We let him go a lot, especially because our weather was pretty crummy the first part of the week, but I don't think he did many of the activities there -- just the video games.

 

We rode the Aqua Duck at day and night. As I mentioned -- we had really crummy weather days 3, 4 and finally in the evening on day 5 it cleared up for the rest of the trip. Luckily though, two of the nice days were sea days (and one was Castaway) so we managed some pool side fun. My little one loved the Nemo area.

 

Entertainment

If you're going to be on a rainy cruise this is the one -- there was just tons to do on the ship. Yes, it was crowded because the ship was full and everyone was inside, but there were plenty of options. We saw several shows -- Aladdin (great!), A juggler who's name escapes me (good), Buckets n' Boards music and comedy (fun -- really just seeing how much my son enjoyed it made it for me. I've never seen him laugh so hard.), Disney Believe (my daughter was mesmerized by this one), and we got to have the PremEAR of Big Hero 6 -- rave reviews by both kids and my husband. I watched the first 1/2 but the 3D combined with the ship movement was making me a little woozy.

 

Adult Entertainment

(Hmmm, that heading made it sound kind of dirty ...) We took advantage of the nursery two evenings and headed out for a 'night on the town.' A quick word about the nursery -- DD loved it there. She called it her club, the counselors seemed very competent (DD has sever nut allergies so we always needed to sign in with her epi pen and go over snacks she's allowed to have/not have, etc.). I made last minute reservations and moved reservations around with an issue.

 

One of the evenings we went to Remy. First, we started out the evening in Oh La La with some champagne cocktails. Pretty little lounge, and I was determined to try the Elderflower cocktail -- interesting, to say the least. One was enough :) We lucked out in Remy and got the semi-private wine room (pretty cool). The service was spectacular and the food very good (not the best meal I've ever eaten, but certainly worth the special fee). What bothered me about the experience was the confusing pricing. Perhaps it was just me -- but the jump from $75 to $185 for the wine paring wasn't really clear. I thought it was $75 or $105 not $75+$105 ... If we ever did this again I wouldn't get the pairing. The wines were good, but not $105 good. I'll pick out my own nice bottle. Despite this, I would absolutely encourage people to go there -- it's really quite the experience and you feel like you're not even on a ship with 4,000 other people. You feel like it's just you in an intimate restaurant.

 

Another evening we skipped the formal dining room, watched the fireworks out on the deck (delayed a day due to rain), but the kids in their respective clubs and headed to Cabanas for dinner -- just adults. This exceeded our expectation, maybe because we didn't really have one. It was quite, service was quick, but the same menu as the main dining room, and it was a really nice little evening. After that we headed to O'Gills for a few late-night drinks and some live music. It was a great little impromptu night 'out.'

 

I did an 18+ cooking demonstration, too. Lobster ravioli -- we got to sample a piece and have a small glass of wine. We learned how to make the ravioli and about the wine. It was only 30-40 minutes, but it was a fun little thing to do by myself.

 

Dining

Overall, I've never found any cruise food to be the 'best-food-ever.' It's always plentiful, and certainly decent, but never amazing. Remy aside, I felt the same about the food on the Fantasy - with a few notable exceptions. First, our dining experiences were always good -- we loved our waitstaff (they were a little rocky on day 1, but by the end of the week we were really going to miss them!), Animators Palette is not to be missed, and the food at the formal dining times was always pretty good. I had a great beef wellington on the last night, and my pork medallions on the first evening stuck out, too. The first seating, with kids, was obviously hectic and for some reason my children will not stay in their seats -- this is very annoying (to us, and I"m sure others!) but I have to hand it to the wait staff we never once were scolded or giving a bad look because of this. Now if I could only teach my kids to sit still for a meal without inciting world war 3 ....

 

Second, we loved Flo's V8 Cafe. The mickey pretzels on day 6 were awesome, my mom raved about a pulled pork sandwich she had (a special one day) and I liked everything else we sampled from there. After the first day we never ate lunch at Cabanas. Only Flo's for us.

 

Ports of Call

Well, what can you say about torrential downpours in St. Thomas? We did make it to Meggan's Bay for a couple of hours before it really started coming down. The kids played in the sand, the water was really warm and it was actually turning out to be a really pleasant day until the sky opened up. We cut it short and were back to the boat for a late lunch by 2 p.m. That evening was Pirate night, too, and the majority of the activities on the deck were postponed because of weather :( (Not gonna lie, I don't like the whole dress up thing -- but secretly I really had a great time on Pirate night.)

 

In San Juan my husband and I took our son surfing. The excursion via Disney was booked, but we managed to get a (much shorter!) private lesson from the same company a little later in the a.m. They were slammed with cruise excursions (two other ships in port that day, Carnival and MSC), but it was ok. It rained, but started to clear up by lunchtime. Even though we didn't get to keep our boards and practice the team at the WOW surfing school was really good. We were just disappointed that we paid for the full time and ended up having to give up our boards for the next cruise excursion. Still, we each had our own instructor for 30 minutes. So basically a private lesson. After walking around Old San Juan a bit, we grabbed lunch and headed back to the ship. At this point the weather was (finally!) clearing and we had fun in the sun for the remainder of the trip.

 

Castaway Cay. What can you say? It's awesome. Everyone says it -- it's true. It would really be a bummer in the rain, but luckily we had a picture perfect Bahamian day (we deserved it). We parked near the Pelican Plunge, cheered on crab #1 in the crab races (he didn't even try to win), and had (two) Konk Coolers :) We rented tubes and snorkel gear. Snorkeling was fun. I thought my son would love the Plunge, but he's not quite 4' tall and so he was required to wear a life jacket. This really upset him and he pouted about it for the next hour. Finally we dropped him at the island kids club and his mood improved after a game of capture the flag! DD took a nap under our umbrella and I got to read two whole chapters of my book. Finally. Relaxation.

 

Odd-and-Ends

Characters -- Let it be known we are not Disney fanatics in our house. Yes, we like Disney, there have been phases from both kids amounting to obsessions (Toy Story, Cars, a little film called Frozen ...) but all of this is to say, I wasn't really sure the kids would care about the characters. A 2-year-old could easily be scared, and my son, well sometimes you just can't predict what he's going to do. But, DS couldn't wait to meet Phineas and Ferb -- it was one of the highlights of his trip, and I'm fairly certain my daughter thinks Chip and Dale are her new BFFs after they danced with her at the family dance party one night. Of course, the Princess meet-and-greet and Anna and Elsa were highlights, but it was the random sightings (like the dance party) that really excited the kids. I think this was one of the best parts about the cruise for us, and it was a little unexpected.

 

Our Room Steward -- she was awesome. How she kept a room for a family of four that clean is beyond me.

 

Spa -- only Ok. I love a good spa treatment, but in this case I think I would have rather spent the time on the adult deck reading my book sipping beer from my refillable mug. My massage hurt, but my pedicure was good. Plus it was really quiet in the salon at the time so that was nice.

 

Pirate Night -- Like I said, I had way more fun than I expected. It's fun to see people get so into it, and even though the fireworks and deck show were a day late they were good.

 

Cleanliness -- I've never seen so many crew keep a ship so clean. My husband joked the day we were in San Juan that he saw rust on the anchor. "I bet it's gone by the time we're back to the ship," he said. Sure enough, they painted over it, treated it, whatever -- no rust on the anchor. It's that meticulous.

 

Things I'd Do Differently Next Time

(and yes, I think there will be a next time)

 

First, convince my cousins or friends to join us. I think it would be a blast with a couple of families of kids around the same age. Friends for the kids club, etc. I think the sweet spot for ages on this cruise is somewhere between ages 4-10. All kids are different, surely, but by 4 they would be comfortable in the kids club (especially with older siblings, friends or cousins) and by age 10 or 11 you probably start to age-out a little on some of the stuff. That being said I saw plenty of teens and families having a great time with older kids.

 

Second, I'd try to relax a bit with the scheduling. I felt a lot of pressure to get the princesses and Anna and Elsa scheduled. I wouldn't necessarily skip that experience, but there's no need to wait in line to see, say, Mickey Mouse on the first day (or the second day, or the third day) he's on the ship several times a day every day. Spread out the 'magic.' The first two and a half days I felt like I was running all over the ship from one appointment to the next. I didn't take a moment to just enjoy it. Me and my 'control freak' side.

 

Third, I'd consider the late seating. With two young kids this might be hard to imagine, but the evening we went to the early show (Buckets n' Boards), fed the kids at Flo's, then dropped them at their clubs and went to Cabanas was one of the most enjoyable evenings. If my kids were just a smidgen older, and could go with the kids club counselors after the first part of the second seating, that would have been the way to go. Family meals, but some quiet time for the 2nd half of the meal would have been nice.

 

Fourth, I think I might try one of the smaller ships. The Fantasy was awesome, don't get me wrong, but 4,000 people was a lot. And it felt crowded. Crowds and lines don't bother me, generally, but even I felt like some space and quiet would have been nice. I feel like a smaller ship with 1/2 the people might afford that a bit more.

 

In Summary

This was a wonderful family vacation. Like any family we had our tantrums, and some rough patches, but the good definately outweighed the bad. I had really huge expectations for this trip -- I might have been looking forward to it more than anyone in the family, honestly -- and I feel like my expectations were met (which, was no small feat!). For people skeptical about 'cruising' I would recommend Disney purely based on their commitment to cleanliness. It's a great cruise for people who are suspect about cruising because it really is the top of the line.

 

And that's the end of our trip ... kind of chokes me up thinking of going back to work tomorrow. Hope this review is helpful to some of you!

[rmandmm]

Thank you! We board the Fantasy next Saturday with our 4-and 6-year old and your pointers at the end were especially helpful. We are so excited! Thanks again!

[JesusuUK]

Thanks for the super-detailed review!

 

rwandmw, are you sailing on the 15th? If so, we'll see you on the seas. We're counting down the house!

 

Bill

-----------------------------------------

Disney Fantasy - November '14

Disney Magic - November '13

Coral Princess - August '09

RCCL Mariner of the Seas - May '08

Holland America Oosterdam - March '06

Carnival Fantasy - March '99

[surran12]

Excellent summary! I truly appreciated reading it. Can't wait for our first Fantasy trip

[barbaro_3003]

Thanks for your review!

 

We are booked on Fantasy on Nov 22 (a week from next Saturday). Trip was booked when we were aboard Fantasy last year. We are so excited, but I am very worried about the weather, especially when they are talking about a January-type weather pattern setting up in North America through Thanksgiving, and I know for the Caribbean that means rain, wind, and cooler temps. It would stink to have a Caribbean vacation with no beach time! here's hoping the weather will cooperate!

 

Rgds

 

Eric

[JaniceB]

Thank you for the very detailed review. My excitement is building with every review I read that is closer to my embarkation date.

[rmandmm]

Thanks for the super-detailed review!

 

rwandmw, are you sailing on the 15th? If so, we'll see you on the seas. We're counting down the house!

 

Bill

-----------------------------------------

Disney Fantasy - November '14

Disney Magic - November '13

Coral Princess - August '09

RCCL Mariner of the Seas - May '08

Holland America Oosterdam - March '06

Carnival Fantasy - March '99

 

Thanks, Bill, but we're on the 11/22. I hope you have an awesome cruise!!