Photos from Fantasy Eastern Concierge cruise

[Alohagirl73]

Absolutely LOVING this trip report. Brings a smile to my face every time I read it. I look forward to seeing and reading more of it later. Thanks for sharing!! My family and I leave in less than 4 weeks and this makes me more and more and more excited than I already am!!!

 

[huffjoann]

loved your very detailed pics of your trip! I am sure your narrative was also wonderful but a bit long so I hit highlights
I doubt I will be doing Concierce anytime soon but I sure enjoyed seeing what it was all about.
I only wish on our recent Dream trip I could have taken in near the details you captured, so little time and sooo many things to see.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

The picture of your dad on the Aquaduck-- hilarious!!

The picture of the baby laughing with Minnie -- adorable!!

In both cases, Disney magic at its finest.

Agreed! I thought that scene with us looking for our dad and finding him going along above our heads in the aquaduck would make a great ad for DCL. A lot of people over heard us looking for dad and they when we yelled out there he is and pointed above, they all laughed.

Absolutely LOVING this trip report. Brings a smile to my face every time I read it. I look forward to seeing and reading more of it later. Thanks for sharing!! My family and I leave in less than 4 weeks and this makes me more and more and more excited than I already am!!!

I'm excited for you too! Will have more photos to post this evening. I promise.

Absolutely LOVE your trip report! What lovely ladies to do the vow renewal for your parents!

We will be getting on our own Fantasy adventure soon and loving all the pics and the commentary from both sisters!

Thank you ladies for your time!

Have a great trip! We loved it and were thrilled with everything!

loved your very detailed pics of your trip! I am sure your narrative was also wonderful but a bit long so I hit highlights
I doubt I will be doing Concierce anytime soon but I sure enjoyed seeing what it was all about.
I only wish on our recent Dream trip I could have taken in near the details you captured, so little time and sooo many things to see.

Thanks for posting and for following as we relive our adventures and magical time.

 

[disneyholic family]

here's photos from the midship detective game my sister mentioned we played today. We loved it. Dad especially enjoyed it - I think most of all.

You really get to see the ship and if you do the stairs instead of the elevator you get a little work out too. I would encourage adults to do it, with or without kids. I saw a lot of kids doing it and think their parents were missing out on something pretty fun too. Like many Disney things - they are designed for all generations to enjoy.

sounds like kim possible in epcot..
when we were there in august, my kids (27 and 25) and their spouses and we all played kim possible together - all of the different countries...
it was lots of fun!!

i definitely plan on dragging my sister and mom around the ship to play the midship detective agency game!!

 

[disneyholic family]

isn't this PJ??? he was a headwaiter on our very first cruise on the disney wonder 10 years ago!! On our second cruise, i think he'd already been promoted to palo on the magic, so we didn't get to see him...
he's AMAZING!!!!!!!

 

[disneyholic family]

i'm still catching up .....reading through your report very slowly and savoring every picture and description!!!!!
i just finished the vow renewal posts!
i just love it!!! what a lovely thing to do...
too bad i'll be on the dream without DH
(by the way, he and i were married in 1978 - not that long after your parents)

hopefully, one day we'll get to do a vow renewal on the fantasy!! it looks glorious!!!

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

So cool, Beth. 1978 was a great year (I was born that year). Congratulations and I do hope you have a great time on your trip. Yes, that is PJ and he was awesome. So much fun and I am 99.9% sure he's the reason the aquaduck was open an extra hour one night.
Dad really enjoyed the midship dectective game. And it was fun for Sis and me too. I think Mom would have liked it too but she made the cruise about relaxing and reading her book in the adult only shaded sun deck.

 

[disneyholic family]

So cool, Beth. 1978 was a great year (I was born that year). Congratulations and I do hope you have a great time on your trip. Yes, that is PJ and he was awesome. So much fun and I am 99.9% sure he's the reason the aquaduck was open an extra hour one night.
Dad really enjoyed the midship dectective game. And it was fun for Sis and me too. I think Mom would have liked it too but she made the cruise about relaxing and reading her book in the adult only shaded sun deck.

the change in the design of the fantasy from the dream looks really nice - that addition of satellite falls is genius.
Is the shaded adult area also only on the fantasy, or is it also on the dream?

 

[FloridaNative8]

I am loving your trip report!! Your parents' vow renewal was so sweet We sail on the Fantasy in March 2013, and I just can't get enough of the photos and details. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

the change in the design of the fantasy from the dream looks really nice - that addition of satellite falls is genius.
Is the shaded adult area also only on the fantasy, or is it also on the dream?

I have only been on the Magic and Fantasy so I don't know, maybe someone else does?

I am loving your trip report!! Your parents' vow renewal was so sweet We sail on the Fantasy in March 2013, and I just can't get enough of the photos and details. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!

Glad you are enjoying it and have fun planning your trip!

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

And MORE Vow Renewal cake - this time the top tier - chocolate and chocolate!

and wandering around before heading to bed...

Peter Pan concept art

 

[figment52]

So happy to hear that Dad is going on the Panama Cruise with you. It is all about relaxing!!

If any of you are into the engineering or history of the Canal have read "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough.

 

[speedo]

My favorite day of the trip! We woke up before we arrived to the island and ate breakfast in concierge lounge. We really enjoyed the lounge! Soon we were docking at Castaway Cay and we could just spot our Cabana in the Distance. I was excited to get on the island – I guess too excited because I dragged my sister all the way down but the doors weren’t open yet. So we headed all the way back to our room to wait on the verandah.

While on the Verandah we heard the Captain play all of the horn sounds. I can’t believe how many there were. My favorite was “be our guest”. I wish I had counted how many there were but it seemed to go on forever. It was a really fun way to start the day and I am so glad we went back upstairs to the Verandah to be able to hear it.

The horns signified that we could now leave the ship for the island. There was some confusion because Brent – the cruise director said in his announcement that photo IDs weren’t required but the cast members wouldn’t let people off the boat without photo IDs. It wasn’t an issue for us since we all had our photo ids but it did snag quite a few who had to head back to their staterooms – including our Scottish friends.

Well we were the first ones to Cabana #6 which was absolutely beautiful and much bigger than I expected. It fit the 9 of us very comfortably although it was rare that all of us were in the Cabana at once.

Kristine, Dad and I went to snorkeling first before it got too crowded. The visibility was poor because of a storm that passed through the day before. I think the Magic was at Castaway Cay the day before us and had really bad luck with weather. So far our weather was perfect.

We ran into our Scottish friends at the snorkeling rental. Our rentals were included in the Cabana. I brought my own mask and snorkel but did use the fins and of course everyone has to have a vest even if they aren’t inflated.

The swim out was a lot further than I expected. I think I heard Dory sing "just keep swimming, just keep swimming". First I was just heading toward the end and back (which is what my dad did) but then I noticed that buoys indicated sunken items. Like it looked to me one of the 20000 leagues under the sea “submarine” was sunken. I new about the sunken Mickey ahead of time but the “submarine” was a nice surprise. My dad was separate from us and ended up doing the entire snorkeling without seeing the sunken objects : ) Good thing I took photos.

After the work out we had earned an ice cream cone which was very convenient to the cabanas I might add. We went back to the cabana and noticed the sisters from buffalo were out on the tubes and floats in the water – the cabana area has plenty of floats for anyone in the Cabanas to use. So the rest of us were soon out floating on the water. Our mom and dad stayed back in the shade of the Cabana – life is rough : )

It was soon time for lunch – can’t believe how fast the day was already going. I thought the buffet was good. There was BBQ, hot dogs, hamburgers, and mahi mahi. My sister made herself a coke float mixing ice scream from the soft serve with coke. A good idea that I had to try later : )

Our Dad saw a heavy storm in the distance that he said would get to us by the early afternoon. As kids we would call him Mr. Weatherman because he was always looking at the weather radar and the sky for changes in weather. So I insisted we head to the bike ride before the storm hits.

It was my Sister, Dad and one of our Scottish friends who went for the bike ride. The bike rentals are also included in the cabana. I really enjoyed the bike ride. Just to warn you the bikes don’t have handle brakes, which threw our Scottish friend for a loop – that you have to pedal backwards to stop. Also the tires are big and squishy feeling, but I think that is because they are some kind of sand tire. I will definitely do the bikes again but will probably skip the snorkeling next time.

After biking we had earned another ice cream : ) This time I made a coke float. This was to help me float in the water : ) Sure, but seriously we spent almost the remainder of the time floating in the water. That afternoon we watched as the storm skirted by the island leaving us in sun for the entire afternoon. What luck Mr. Weatherman was wrong!

It really is so peaceful in the cabana area. There is such a difference between the cabana beach and the general beach. I was so spoiled by it! We will definitely have to try to get a cabana again on our Panama cruise.

We were one of the last off the island. PJ said he would call us a taxi back to the ship, which I laughed off as joke. So we walked back the ship. Turns out PJ wasn’t joking there are golf carts to take people to the ship from the Cabanas. It was nice to walk anyway - more time to take in my favorite Island : )

It was then time to pack and get ready for dinner. My sister and I missed the show that night because we still needed to pack and get our suitcases out before dinner for the 10pm pick up. My mom and dad got to see the show since they both headed back to the ship earlier than us to pack. I guess that is the trade – go back early to pack or miss the show.

We tried to watch it on the TV but there must have been technical difficulties in the broadcast because it wasn’t on.

That night we were in Animator’s Palate and it was the Animation Show. Each of us picked a name from a hat so that we drew a picture of someone else in our group. So much fun. The show was great too. I can’t believe how they animate the drawings. But the animation is actually at the very end. Before that there are great clips from the animate movies. And their special soup is the pop corn soup – so unique, but in a good way. Seriously it was better than I expected. Ordering was confusing that night. It appears you get a choice of appetizers but really you get a taste of all three. Poor Lilly had to explain that so many times at our table! I think they give you less to choose from because they want to give you more time for your drawings.

 

[speedo]

So happy to hear that Dad is going on the Panama Cruise with you. It is all about relaxing!!

If any of you are into the engineering or history of the Canal have read "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough.

I am determined to relax on the Panama Cruise! A vacation that I can get some rest on would be so nice! We are excited that Dad changed his mind and is going too!

I'll have to look for that book. I am a geek at heart so definitely looking forward to the canal.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Finally, the day we have been looking forward to since January 2011 - when we and our Scottish friends decided we need to come back to Castaway Cay ASAP.

seeing Castaway appear as I sit enjoying a mimosa on the verandah. We got the OJ from the lounge and had brought the bottle of champagne and saved for our last day.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

I'll have to look for that book. I am a geek at heart so definitely looking forward to the canal.

Sis, you are more than a geek at heart.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

If you are in a cabana, don't feel you need to be off the gangplank early. Your little piece of paradise has been reserved for 120 days already (most likely)!

Don't bother picking up towels as you arrive on the island - there are plenty of towels in your cabana.

I'll post more photos of the island and cabanas soon.

 

[chris31997]

Love it. Can't wait to do this.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

At least that's what the sign says. The cabanas are staffed by the concierge team (two of the three with one staying on the ship) and Kristina the concierge bartender. You don't have to be concierge to book a cabana but on our cruise all the cabanas were booked by concierge we were told. It was nice to see PJ in shorts and tropical shirt uniform though he was really working hard that day.

 

[runskyhy]

Great review! Really loved all the photos!

I think I have a better photo somewhere, but I found this shoe holder for honestly $2.99 at super Walmart. It's plastic and folds flat and fit fine in my suitcase and under the bed holding my 9 shoes.

That shoe holder is such a find! I have to admire fabulous-(and-even-frugal)-find-shoppers!

Yes we have no bananas... in the fruit bowl.

I'm not sharing my evil chipmunk Mickey.

They joked that we just wanted to make sure we were legal.

Your family has a fantastic sense of humor!

We grabbed a bite to eat at Tow Mater’s Grill. I love Disney’s chicken fingers.

Sis is like, uh thanks but i'd rather have chicken fingers. So off to the 11th deck I go.

I've both heard and read lotsa rave reviews on the Fantasy's chicken fingers since the ship's debut. I would love to find out what their secret recipe is!