B2B Reviews: (E/W on Fantasy) and Bahamas (3/4 on Dream)

[Boomerang4]

See page 4 for Bahama's B2B on the Dream report. The first part is from May 2012 on the Fantasy. Our family is between overseas assignments and we packed, moved once, entered schools once, greeted home one parent from a difficult place, and prepared the second to leave, and are now readying to move schools and homes again. So, we squeezed in another week on a ship this October, this time we did two Bahama’s cruises B2B on the Dream, and it was a very different experience. Also, we had a quarantine on this one, so anyone who is curious as to what happens when this occurs, please find the info at the end of page 4. Thanks, and we'll see you onboard!!**


ABOUT US

We were fortunate enough to be in a perfect situation for back to back cruises this spring and booked the 12-19 and 19-26 May Western and Eastern Caribbean respectively. We are a family of four with 5 and 7-year old boys and are relatively new to Disney (and cruising). We sort of fell into our first Disney cruise because of a cancelled vacation, and were quick converts to the joys of DCL.

We had a wonderful time on the Fantasy in May 2012. Some of the below may be mildly critical, but it’s meant to help guide and inform, not otherwise. There was really so much to enjoy and so little to worry about, we found our time on the ship to be blissful, low stress, and a wonderful reconnection. Please take the following as an attempt to share observations by a relatively newly recruited Disniac to those who are also new...

 

[Boomerang4]

Disney does a wonderful job of keeping you hooked, interested, and involved prior to your trip, making the cruising experience as long as two years of anticipation and planning.

Reservation Management

I give Disney moderately high marks here.

--The Pros: The website is informative and interesting. In addition, it’s intuitive and easy to use for even my 83-year old mom, who openly admits having difficulties with a lot of web sites. I like the new interface for your cruise calendar where you can see all your excursions and reservations for dining and spa in one place. Nice improvement over last year’s wordy interface, IMHO. Descriptions of the excursions are extensive and largely accurate.

--The Cons: too many hoops to jump through to log into your reservation every time. Disney has tech wizards at work for them, but they can’t find a way to recognize your log in computer and allow a single password entry? In addition, if you are working with two reservations, you have to fully log out of the website to get into the second reservation or the website pops back in the most recent one viewed. Not the end of the world, but for a company that uses facial recognition to categorize and sort your onboard pictures, I’d think they could manage this in a more streamlined manner.

--A Wash: the system of not releasing all the spots in Palo, Remy, and early dining is a bit frustrating if you are ready to book at midnight on the first night and don’t get a space, but it also seems to work out nicely as it mixes things up later in the cruise, and, let’s face it, it’s nice that folks that book later might have a shot at these ressies. I’m of two minds on this, clearly, but the how and why of when they free up new openings is a mystery.

DCL Guest Services 800 Number

I used this number to confirm that our family’s reservations were linked, to sort out seating times for the different reservations, to order Bon Voyage wine and flower arrangements for two cabins, and champagne on embarkment for us. All of the experiences were seamless, pleasant, and effective. With one exception, they delivered the champagne on the wrong cruise (I ordered it for our first embarkation, but the gifts were for family who joined us on our second cruise, so probably easy to confuse). Onboard, I checked with guest services to ensure that we were not billed for the champagne that didn’t arrive, explaining that it wasn’t a major problem, and the next night they sent us a bottle gratis! Very nice touch.

The Boards

From our first cruise we found the DISboards through the Disney Mom’s panel and got on a Fish Extender list right away. (Fish Extenders are a secret santa group; you can find more info on the boards by searching on the term) The boards are so much more than just Fish Extenders, though, and I have personally been a part of three groups, all of which have been informative, supportive and fun, and one of which has just been extraordinary in terms of great people and real interactivity.

Cruise Docs

I don’t understand the fascination with these. As far as I can tell, they are primarily useful for people who are not as comfortable with the internet side of things, because all the information is already in your account. They provide you with baggage tags, yes. And a duplicate of the legal language provided in your online contract (which you still have to print out and bring). Finally, they are a nice marker when they arrive in the mail that your cruise is almost there, but beyond that I don’t see what’s so exciting about them. A few people have stated real consternation when they don’t arrive early on, and I’m not sure I’m not missing something, so maybe someone can chime in and add here.

Rant

Cabanas on Castaway Cay. Seriously impossible to get. Twenty one cabanas for 4,000 guests? No wonder it’s a rip-roaring brawl to reserve them, even at the exorbitant cost. If they can add more without seriously impacting the environment of the island, I sure hope they start building soon. Castaway Cay is logistically well run, Disney does an amazing job with sanitation, food, tidiness, and guest services, but 4,000 people is a lot to descend on a small space. On our first cruise we disembarked at 10:00 and got two shaded seats at the back of the beach. On our second cruise we had a 90-year old and a 4-year old with us. We called them “the bookends”. Both took frequent naps...and vehemently denied it. We anticipated we would need plenty of shade (the naps happened in both cases), so my DH and DFiL disembarked when the ship doors opened and literally RAN to find a place where we could both watch the kids in the water and be close to the toilet. It worked, but it was a crap shoot...anyone else’s spouse could have been smarter or faster or had a faster dad (of course, impossible!!! ).

 

[Boomerang4]

As far as I can tell, the embarkation times people are issued are another brilliant demonstration of Disney’s successful conquest of crowd control. I didn’t see anyway or anywhere that they were checking the assigned times, and I can’t imagine them turning people away if they came at the wrong time. That said, if all 4,000 people arrived to jump on the Fantasy at the same time, the hall would be chock a block and the ship would be listing heavily to the Starboard...

We arrived at 11:00 for our first cruise and found the process to be quick, but the hall was pretty full at the time. We were handed a Group 3 boarding card and were onboard no more than 20 minutes after the first group through.

The hall itself is pretty self explanatory. Straight ahead once you enter there are mandatory medical disclaimers to fill out and don’t forget to grab your first navigators at these tables. Check in is to the far left and enrollment in the kids club is to the far right, which must be done after you’ve checked in and received your keys to the world. Restrooms are immediately to your right when entering the hall.

All the way at the far end of the hall is the concierge/platinum check in and a viewing deck open to everyone. Concierge/platinum guests board prior to or in the first group if they want to or at their arrival if later than 10:30. Back to back guests reboarding exit the ship at 9:00 and are reboarded as soon as they switch over the computer systems. For us that was around 10:15. We waited in the concierge lounge of the departure hall in between. It was really cool to be the only ones in there, a couple of concierge guests and one non-concierge guest arrived around 10:00 and all were boarded early. The only problem with this, if you consider it a problem, is that the photo shoot was not set up and they do not announce your arrival onboard.

Something that was kind of fun was after we reboarded at 10:15, we watched Disney shoot a segment of a TV show onboard (they used the ship’s real CM’s in it) as we sat in the Vista Cafe. Not sure which one, but saw blond parents around 30-yo and one or two blond kids. After that we watched the CM’s practice the arrivals (test the audio, etc.). They were joking around and announcing crazy stuff, crazy family names. It’s amazing that these guys, who work ridiculously hard, have so much genuine positive energy. Pretty cool.

If for some reason you don’t get your kids registered in the departure hall, you can register them at the kids’ club after 12:00, but ask for the perforated arm bands, they gave us a sticky band there and it came off in the surf later in the week (a whopping $50.00 charge for the lost lowjack). Kids’ clubs are open 12:00-6:00 for open house, with “secure programming” (or check your kids in) from 6:00. Anyone can go have a look during the open house, so adults with or without kids and older teens should take a peek to see how much fun it is.

Cabanas and one sit-down restaurant are open for lunch, and all the deck activities are open until the lifeboat drill. I did not notice if the fast food areas on deck 11 were open. Rooms are open from 1:30, and they cordon off the halls until that time. People were waiting on the landing and stairs for the ropes to be retracted, so if you’re limited to elevators or don’t like crowds, wait until 1:45.

The lifeboat drill was fast and painless. You are not required to wear life jackets. Your muster station is printed on your Key to the World, but it is also on the back of your stateroom door, along with a map of how to reach that location.

Sail away was fun, nice, little show. It is potentially best viewed from deck 12, especially for adults. If you have kids, deck 11 is a little better, but try to get little ones a seat on a towel cabinet or encourage mid-sized kids to move out on deck in front. People will let them through.

The first night show is a nice little pitch for adults to spend quality time together and talks specifically to tweens and teens about how there’s actually a lot of “cool” stuff to do onboard, even if they got razzed at home for going on a Disney cruise with their family.

 

[Boomerang4]

We had a 5C, verandah. Nice location between forward and midship stairs, deck 7. A member of our group had an inside on Deck 8. Both were comfortable and obviously brand spankin’ new. The inside single bathroom was clearly larger than the split bathrooms on the outside cabins, but did not provide the family convenience of having a separate shower and toilet. This, IMHO, is brilliant. Families with kids know that there are diverse toilet needs, and this really works.

Smoking is allowed on verandahs on the ship. As this is one of the only place smoking is allowed, most people will at some time experience second hand smoke at some time during the cruise.

The balconies have high rails and present a minimal danger to children, though they should be supervised out there, of course. Also, the design of the ship has deck five extending outwards from the higher decks (except for deck 11), so be careful about losing things in the wind, because the poor folk on deck five (which also contains the lifeboats for a large part of the length of the ship) might be the benefactors of your lost hat or sunglasses. Their upside is that deck five staterooms have super large verandahs.

The beds on the new ships are higher than on the two original ships and will allow luggage storage beneath. Soft sided luggage is easiest to store. We also moved our life preservers to the outside head of the area under our bed, freeing up more space in the closets. Many use clear over-the-door shoe racks are great for keeping your flat surfaces clean and your floor clear, and I also use a set of soft-sided hanging shelves for the kids clothes to add storage in the closet. If you have a collapsible mesh laundry bag, that can also help corral the mess. Bring zip-loc bags for everything from collecting the turn-down chocolates, to carrying your wet bathing suits back from the beach. Also, we found plastic clothespins in hook-shape to be great for hanging out wet suits, either on the verandah or in your bathroom (where they actually dry more quickly bc of the humidity).

 

[Boomerang4]

On Deck

Acceptable options which are amazingly efficiently moved out to you. Even when there appears to be a crowd waiting, they have worked out a system to get the line moving fast. Impressed with the speed here. Quality is meh. Kids will be happy, and it’s a totally acceptable means of getting people fed fast or grabbing a late slice for a kid who missed dinner when it was offered at the kids’ club etc. Soft serve ice cream is (almost) always available, but as someone pointed out in a post I read here, the Frozone sign says that there are a myriad of flavors and tons of toppings. Um, three flavors and no toppings. Which is really fine, but mildly naughty advertising. Perhaps they are thinking of adding on in the future.

Cafes

Stop by the Vista Cafe or the Cove Cafe to grab a few free sweet treats. No requirement to buy a drink at either in order to sample their edible fair. The counters open outward, so you don’t even have to ask for service to do so. The cafes also have member cards and if you’re a huge coffee drink lover, know that even on board you can rack up enough points to get a free one in about half a week. Like in any landlubber cafe, they will make your drink in porcelain for local consumption or whip it up to go.

Room Service

Give them plenty of time if you need it at a certain time. Last minute orders are not easy for them to get to you quickly, they do better with planning ahead. Good options for basic things, like warm cookies and milk for the kids on a special late night, or cheese and fruit to go with cocktails in your room before dinner some night. Lots of people were using this for breakfast as well, though we didn’t. My mom had my sons a few nights in her stateroom and ordered cereal and donuts so that she didn’t have to wrangle two little ones up to Cabanas on her own. Perfect. Remember to tip.

Cabanas

Impressive array of options. DH ate sushi for lunch a number of times. They also had falafel and Swedish meatballs and chicken in a red curry sauce a couple of times, but mainly Cabanas is good for straightforward breakfast and lunch buffets. For some reason the coffee in the restaurant was exceptionally bad on both cruises and we brought coffee in from the drink station on deck 11. Note that they make omelettes to order all the way aft in Cabanas, and have veggie and ham and cheese omelettes ready made, but a lot of people don’t notice it. Also, lots of healthy options in Cabanas if you know where to look. Yoghurt, muesli, dried fruits, whole wheat options, fresh fruit, cheeses and European options like cold fish and cold cuts. And plenty of favorites like sausage, bacon, hash browns, eggs, bagels, biscuits, and eggs benedict and florentine.

Table Service at Breakfast and Lunch

Hours are different daily, so check your Personal Navigators, but usually both the Enchanted Garden and Royal Court are open for breakfast and lunch with a less rushed atmosphere. We chose these options more on our second cruise with several elderly members of our group as it was a nice break from Cabanas. On both cruises, the Royal Court served an a la carte menu (order from the menu) and the Enchanted Garden served a buffet with drink service. Nice change. They both had nice lunch menus too, but we didn’t take this option on either cruise.

Main Dining

The rotational dinner service was good, sometimes great, sometimes not so good. I loved the cheese and spinach souffle, the truffle pasta pursettes, the mushroom risotto, and some of the creative salads, but I wasn’t as much of a fan of the entrees in rotational. Much of it was unremarkable enough that I can’t really remember specific plates now, a week later. My husband had a lot of seafood and was really pleased with the variety and options. I sent one meal back (savory tofu crepe, hmmm) and wasn’t really hungry enough for a replacement meal. My poor servers were at a loss, they were genuinely concerned. The assistant server went so far to note that I could have one or two bites I told him that I was really pretty full, the two courses I’d had before were good and I ate every bite. He then said that they throw away all the food anyway, and even went so far as to tell me that it goes into the sea. I’m not sure if this is true, but I do think it’s true that they overproduce and then toss a lot. He said that the bonus of dumping the food is that it attracts fish and that the fish, in turn, attract dolphins. Hmmm. And this from a German, the greenest of green countries. I think Disney has pretty good environmental policies in general and don’t know whether it’s true that they dump into the sea (or what the real impact of that is), but it was an interesting comment.

Palo

Palo was good, as always. I was having a hard time deciding, so I ordered, but also shared my confusion/reservations with Michael, our server. He brought me small samples of the lobster ravioli and potato risotto that I had been interested in. (Small side note here, another CM was talking about the life onboard with us and was making the point that some do the higher end jobs as retirement options. He said that Michael owns several apartment blocks in the Philippines but loves his job and does it because it’s interesting and fun...albeit really hard...even though he doesn’t need to).

Remy

Remy was extraordinary. On both cruises we did the dinners with the wine pairings and were beyond beyond beyond pleased. The sommelier was from Copenhagen and was introduced to wine by his father. He has a personal reserve of over 4,000 bottles and his father has almost 6,000 bottles. Together their cave is nearly the size of a football field. He was from the Dream and was standing in for the Fantasy sommelier who was on vacation, but clearly knows his stuff. The menus were both just scrumptious, wonderful experiences. Servings were small enough to allow the eight courses (two amuse bouches, appetizer, fish, intermezzo, main, dessert, and second dessert). The wine parings are about 2 oz each. You will also be given a welcome cocktail, or if you arrive with a drink in hand (we were at Merician beforehand), they will offer you champagne with the second dessert. My DH and I each picked one of the two set menus (Gout and Saveur) and told them we were along for the ride. The Gout menu is more seafood-oriented. Our server, Gerrard, was from Liverpool, and was on his first cruise contract ever. He was extraordinary and a delight. My advice: go for it. Go with the menus as designed by the chefs, share tastes, get the wine pairings, share sips. Savor! Enjoy! You will never get this quality meal at this price anywhere in the world.

 

[Boomerang4]

Drink Packages

We purchased these in our group and were happy with the program. You can purchase 3, 4, 5, and 7 night (bottle) packages of either standard or premium wines. Then you pick any of the wines on the list nightly with your dinner. You can use your package in Palo too, but not Remy. You can take up to two bottles per person with you when you leave, but make sure you ask for them on your last night because they won’t automatically be offered. There is no advantage to pre-purchasing this package unless it’s a gift for someone else (you will see the option on the guest services menu online) or to purchasing from any of the guys on deck 11. I advise purchasing it directly from the assistant server as he will be providing the service and should get your tip for it.

Beer mugs

You can purchase beer mugs from any bar or server for which you get discounted refills. The discount isn’t steep, but it adds up if you are a beer lover. Turn in your mug after every session and get a coupon which you can keep with your key to the world and they will give you a new much every time so that you don’t have to tote it. We almost always forget our coupons somewhere and have never managed to actually take the mugs home as a souvenir, but it’s a nice option.

Glasses

If you are wine lovers like us, grab a glass at dinner or in the clubs and leave with it half full. If you wash it out and stash it on one of your shelves clean, your stateroom host/hostess will leave them there for use with any bottles you have in your room. If you leave it on a counter, desk or bathroom, they will remove it. Staterooms do not have corkscrews or bottle openers. They do have nice mini fridges. If you prefer, you can also call room service and have them bring you glasses of any sort.

Tipping

I don’t know if this is a change, but I noticed that all service bills onboard, with the exception of room service, included an automatic 15%. We almost always added a bit to the automatic number, but it’s something to be aware of.

Tip** Don't miss the Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Super!

 

[Boomerang4]

Orientation

I was always getting turned around. One night I overheard someone tell his wife that in the stateroom corridors, you could tell the direction from the carpets. There is a picture of a globe with Disney ships on it. If the globe is right-side up, you are headed forward. Also, someone else told me that you are on the port side of the ship if there are fish clips next to the door. Four letters in fish, four letters in left, four letters in port. On the starboard side, there are seahorses. Nine letters in each. Nice.


Teens and Tweens

I can’t speak too authoritatively to either of these groups as we have little ones, but I managed to observe a few things. Edge, which is located in a cool, almost secretive spot on deck 13 midship, seems to be a nice enclave for the middle set. We saw them doing some fun scavenger hunts, and they always seemed to bounce out of the club with enthusiasm and energy when we were in the area. I didn’t go to Vibe, but I could see the outside section of it from Senses Spa. The day I got a massage I watched the teens film a zombie video while I waited for my masseuse. It was awesome, they were TOTALLY into it. They film it for days and then show the film on the second to last night. can you think of anything that teens would be more into? Also, at the See Ya Real Soon show on our first cruise, Cruise Director Ray Smale gave a shout out to the “Vibe Balcony,” it seems the teens of the 12-19 May cruise had really bonded and made a name for themselves on board. They were really fun during the show, cheering and clapping, in a fun, respectful, upbeat way. Convinced me that we would do this into our own children’s teen years.

Shows

Aladdin and Believe were wonderful. Wishes, I was not terribly impressed with. The embarkation show and goodbye show were both good and worth going to, but not in the same league as Aladdin and Believe. If you are on a full cruise or have a group larger than two, it’s worth going a half an hour before show time to get seats together. Fair warning, don’t send some poor guy down to save seven seats for a group of eight, he will get continually harassed. That said, if you have more than half of your group in your seats, remember that the other half can shop at the nearby shops, use the restrooms, get drinks/snacks at the bars just aft of the theater, you don’t have to all be in place for the whole half hour. But if you send a minority in as a vanguard, it can be rough on them. Also, there are waiters from the bar who are underused, you can have a drink as you wait if you all want to take a seat and relax.

Excursions

Not too much to say here except to be aware in the description of the excursion you choose of the amount of travel time to its location. Some were caught off guard by long travel before and after the excursion. I heard a guy complain about low safety standards on the aquaboat excursion on Grand Cayman. Also we had a semi-submersible tour in St. Thomas (at Coral World) which I wish had been fully submersible as the seas were pretty rough and half of our tour-mates headed for the deck in the first ten minutes.


OK, all for now...more later guys...

 

[gumbo1009]

Thank you for your insightful review; I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the cruise...

 

[twinmom108]

ok I'm subscribing to your thread. DH & I have a Fantasy Eastern/Western B2B booked (and almost paid off) for Nov 2013. We're booked in one of those larger balcony rooms on deck 5 - same room for both cruises.

Can't wait to hear more of your trip report!

 

[Goldeelox9]

Great Reviews!!!!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Awesome reviews!!

 

[Boomerang4]

Mixed reviews here but we generally had a great experience.

--Pros: In general they do a great job. Programming is constant and there is always something interesting going on in both rooms. Great improvement having the Oceaneer’s Lab and Oceaneer’s Club connected on the big ships, makes it easier for the kids to spread out with different interests and still be near their siblings. CM’s helped our kids learn different games and were generally very positive. The playfloor is genius as it allowed our video game-frenzied boys to play shooting games/balloon popping games with their feet, bouncing around like crazy. The biggest pros are the same as the old ships, great programming, including magic shows, comedy, flubber making, and volcano building. Hand washing machines are super and much more effective than old squirt and scoot method on the smaller ships.

--Cons: Check in/out was usually a mess. Probably due to the size of the ship, there was almost always a line to get your kids in and out and very little method to the madness. Also due to the size, we saw one or the other of our kids try to connect with the childcare CM’s a couple of times and be rebuffed for one reason or another. In general, they work really hard and do a great job, but I guess there can’t be magic all of the time. Some of the spaces are cool to look at but sort of a waste. The primary example is the Monster’s Inc. room. There isn’t much interactivity in the set, and I’m not sure they really use it for much, but it sells well in the open houses. Somewhat the same for Andy’s Room, though the littlest ones get a short term kick out of being in there.

Don’t miss the meal times, and if you want them to eat in the club, get them there by the opening of the hour as the CM’s won’t have enough time to get them a meal if they arrive at the end of the hour.

Don’t lose your lowjack armband, as I mentioned, one of our sons got his inside the kids’ club (as opposed to at the front desk) and they used a sticky arm band which wrapped around the wrist and stuck to itself. We probably should have figured that this wasn’t the most secure attachment method and replaced it with the perforated/snap closure one at the front, but we didn’t think about it and DS4 lost it in the surf, natch. The replacement cost was $50. DH made a brief argument that the band was insufficient, but they clearly had this dialogue frequently and the CM said that Disney recommended removing the armband each time a child left the ship. Honestly, we had never heard this, but I can see how it’s a common problem for them. Also, don’t forget to turn them in before 10:00 PM on your final night to avoid being charged for keeping them. Bottom line is, watch your armbands!

 

[PizzieDuster]

Great informative trip report! Enjoyed reading it.

 

[Boomerang4]

The Quiet Cove

Nice area, quite different than the small boats. I differ from some reviewers in that I actually like the copious shade in the area. For sun, try nearby areas on deck 12. It is a little odd that the forward stairwell/elevator and all the concierge suite areas empty out into the Quiet Cove area, but I hardly noticed the kids passing through.

Satellite falls

Really nice addition, IMHO. It was peaceful and there was always plenty of space available. They often had live music in this area (vice just piped in from deck 12 forward family area) and there was both sun and shade. The only problem I noticed was that on sea days it could be quite windy. Watch your hats.

The Meridian Bar

Great spot. Quiet, peaceful, nice views, great outside areas. It was a nice alternative to Currents or Europa. We used it both prior to Palo/Remy and on date nights. When we showed up in pirate garb on pirate night, the charming maître d' for the restaurants didn’t skip a beat and asked us in her best pirate accent if we were “looking for some rum, me hearties...” My father, a lover of the sea and avid cruiser until he passed away, would have loved the Meridian, it has a lovely, sophisticated, masculine vibe.

EUROPA

La Piazza

Easy meeting spot, but we didn’t see it utilized very often. Seems like it would be an ideal people watching spot. Also, this is the area where the late night buffet is set up. There is often live music in an alcove near the entrance. Clap for them if you wander through, it seems so lonely there most nights...

O’Gill’s Irish Bar

I was impressed by the authentic feel (minus the atmospheric aroma of the typical Irish bar). We popped in one night and caught a pub quiz in action, what fun! Also shows American sports around the clock and has family board games during the day.

Ooh La La

Better than I expected. Very pretty, and my DH didn’t feel overwhelmed by a feminine vibe, which is what I anticipated. One night we caught a brief two-gal cabaret dance, but not sure how often that happens. There are curtained windows that look out on Deck 4 and you can watch the late night walkers (or they you) if you so choose.

Skyline

My favorite. The moving window montages are of Budapest, Barcelona, Paris, St. Petersburg, London, and Athens. The skyline changes every 12 minutes and the bartender told us that the rotation is random and they never know what is coming next. The music changes with the view and adds definite atmosphere. Look for a cameo appearance by the Magic in the Barcelona skyline. DH liked picking out random animation in the scenes, like a couple having an argument in the window of a Barcelona apartment building. They do themed cocktails on a very cool little light up table-top menu. Some successful, some not so much. My DMiL, who loves margaritas, ordered the Hugnarian-themed margarita on the advice of the server. The rim is coated with paprika in place of salt. She didn't finish it (nearly unheard of), though I didn't try it personally so can't make a direct comment. Also, DFiL noted as he was sitting next to the faux fireplace, that he could hardly believe he was on a ship. That's either a cool thing or not so much, depending on your POV. Note that the skylines aren’t accurate, the montage of St. Petersburg, for example, repeats different views of several buildings in an inaccurate order, but heck, who really cares. One could argue that Disney improved the view.

The Tube

Loved the details. How cool to have the metro strap hanging over the booths, and the seats are accurate representations of the London metro tickets. Seating is plentiful and comfy (maybe too much so as this is often people’s last stop for the night). Great dance floor and creative lighting and ceiling in the shape of the British flag. British red phone boxes on either side of the stage for atmosphere. I would be interested in a Brit’s opinion of the decor, but I enjoyed it. Great glowing menu repeating the metro map theme. The club was crowded only for the adult cabaret shows, otherwise it was easy to find a seat and get a drink from the bar/waiters. One little naughty secret that we stumbled onto. When they reach capacity (during the cabarets/shows), they will stop letting people in. If you enter directly from Skyline, they will not stop you and you can essentially bypass the closure.

 

[texfinn]

Hi Meg!!! Great reviews! Agree 100% on Remy, worth every penny. I too drink Sauvignon Blanc but drank the other Marlborough regional bottle. Being there without DH, still bought a bottle at dinner and they stored it for me. I found 2 bottles to work well for me for the week and quite economical!
Mati

 

[Boomerang4]

Thank you for your insightful review; I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the cruise...

Can't wait to hear more of your trip report! [/QUOTE]

Great Reviews!!!!

Awesome reviews!!

Great informative trip report! Enjoyed reading it.

Thanks for the kind words. The style is less narrative as I was shooting for mainly conveying some of the info that I looked for before my own first and second cruises. Hope it's helpful to some.

Hi Meg!!! Great reviews! Agree 100% on Remy, worth every penny. I too drink Sauvignon Blanc but drank the other Marlborough regional bottle. Being there without DH, still bought a bottle at dinner and they stored it for me. I found 2 bottles to work well for me for the week and quite economical!
Mati

Hey Mati, great to hear from you. I loved that Kim Crawford. I heard two other ladies coming back from Castaway Cay talking about it and we got into a nice conversation about the wine. I had never run into it before. Just goes to show that a really good bottle of wine, can, in fact, have a screw top!

ok I'm subscribing to your thread. DH & I have a Fantasy Eastern/Western B2B booked (and almost paid off) for Nov 2013. We're booked in one of those larger balcony rooms on deck 5 - same room for both cruises.

Wow, the best of all worlds, it sounds like. Good for you. I'm going to write more later about the B2B process, but if you have any questions, let me know.

Meg

 

[Shazzasmd]

Excellent report!

I second your comment on how annoying it is to login to the My Reservations section, especially if you are managing more than one.

 

[Boomerang4]

Excellent report!

I second your comment on how annoying it is to login to the My Reservations section, especially if you are managing more than one.

yes, this really is mystifying as Disney is the king of technical wizardry. My guess is that it's less about a lack of interest in providing us with an easier interface and more about a security issue, but it still seems excessive. I filled out a survey about the website last year and they had a specific section on ease of use in logging in, so they are probably aware of the issue. Maybe it is an improvement we can look forward to.

 

[Debs Hill]

thank you so much for posting! we are doing B2B in Dec Eastern and Western, so really interested to hear your thoughts! How was the process of getting off and getting back on the ship?
Would love to hear about which excursions you did and how you found them
Debsx

 

[Dogsambam]

Great review. Thank you