Photos from Fantasy Eastern Concierge cruise

[Timon]

Absolutely fantastic report!!! Thanks so much for sharing everything with us

 

[flipflops42]

Thank you for sharing. Great pictures and useful information!!

 

[Majordis]

Thank you for this great report. Can you tell me if you felt the ship's motion in your stateroom or in the lounge? My DD suffers from motion sickness so our prevous cruises have been midship. We are sailing concierge next year and I am a little concerned.

Thanks

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Thank you for this great report. Can you tell me if you felt the ship's motion in your stateroom or in the lounge? My DD suffers from motion sickness so our prevous cruises have been midship. We are sailing concierge next year and I am a little concerned.

Thanks

we didn't have any problems at all. the seas were pretty calm for us though - some thunderstorms at night but pretty still otherwise and the motion didn't bother us at all this trip.

 

[davale4]

Thanks for sharing! I love the details of your TR and all the wonderful pics...It makes it more exciting waiting for our trip in August 2012!!!

 

[nenner1]

Fantastic report- thank you both so much. I loved getting both perspectives on the trip- very unique and enjoyable (and also mom's too at the end!)

Once I started reading I just couldn't stop! Really terrific, detailed narrative and great pics too!

We have never done concierge, and hope to someday athough we won't be when we cruise on the Fantasy in Sept. In fact we have one of the aft baclony rooms like your friends had- only not the middle reallly big one, one of the ones next door with an almost as big balcony!

Also we had a similar camera buying experience in St. Maarten last year. Not the same store (I don't think....) but the same deal where they give you the case and memory card package. We had to buy one though because our other camera got wet and ruined on an excursion. We didn't feel totally super ripped off at the time but when we got back realized we got an older model camera that we could have gotten cheaper in the states. It did keep charged properly though. So I know how you felt about that little situation.

Anyway I just loved seeing all of the new (to me!) and interesting things your family did, including the vow renewal! VERY nice!

Again, thanks for sharing your cruise with us. Awesome TR!

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

ah, sorry you had that happen and thanks for posting!

Sis and I are working on getting Navigators up for first few attempts at doing it through wdwinfo failed. so we might just resize and post on photobucket. they are coming though!

 

[CPer'sMom]

Sis and I are working on getting Navigators up for first few attempts at doing it through wdwinfo failed. so we might just resize and post on photobucket. they are coming though!

Sorry you're having trouble posting them. Thank you for taking the time and effort to get them up for us to see!

 

[DisneyRhondaKay]

Thank you so much for this wonderful report! Loving it! We set sail next month on the Fantasy, not concierge, but I'm sure it will be amazing! So looking forward to it!

 

[steph5377]

I love love love love love your report. I've been reading it very slow because I don't want it to end. Looks like you guys had a great time and all your pictures brought back so many memories! Today is exactly one month since my trip and I can't wait to do it again. I was so sad to get on the plane to come home, so I am trying to book another cruise before the end of the year. Can't decide when to go, I was thinking the 2nd week of December, so I need some suggestions!

 

[disneydiva16]

This was an amazing trip report!!! Very detailed. I loved it!! Makes me that much more excited for my cruise.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Thank you so much for this wonderful report! Loving it! We set sail next month on the Fantasy, not concierge, but I'm sure it will be amazing! So looking forward to it!

It WILL be AMAZING! Have a great time!!!

Sorry you're having trouble posting them. Thank you for taking the time and effort to get them up for us to see!

It's been an adventure, first I had to find the navigators and having been in the process of selling a house in Virginia and moving to a house in Florida this summer things just ended up everywhere. But then I had to scan each of them and each page and since that's the extent of my technical knowledge, I then emailed them to Sis who saved them as PDFs and emailed them to WDWinfo. They SHOULD be here http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-stateroom-navigator.htm soon. Fingers crossed! Sorry again for the delay.

I love love love love love your report. I've been reading it very slow because I don't want it to end. Looks like you guys had a great time and all your pictures brought back so many memories! Today is exactly one month since my trip and I can't wait to do it again. I was so sad to get on the plane to come home, so I am trying to book another cruise before the end of the year. Can't decide when to go, I was thinking the 2nd week of December, so I need some suggestions!

I'm very flattered. Thanks for posting and I'm so glad you had a great trip too. It's fun to relive and relive and relive the memories. I've been so busy lately that this cruise seems so long ago for me now and I can't wait for the next! (May 2013 for the Panama Canal). December would be a good time to go, but the water at Castaway Cay might be cooler than you had this summer - it's similar to Florida's waters in December/January I would say. So warm if you are vacationing from somewhere cold at that time of year!

This was an amazing trip report!!! Very detailed. I loved it!! Makes me that much more excited for my cruise.

Have a great time and thanks for your feedback. Disney is in the details!

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

I'm also pleased to report that another Disney vacation is on my calendar! Mom, Sis and I have a baby shower to attend the end of September in Michigan. Mom decided it would be fun to make it a girls road trip and Sis decided to add a stop in Orlando on the drive back south.

We're staying one night at the Boardwalk Inn (Sis found us a Boardwalk view room). Sis booked us dinner at Flying Fish that evening. The next day we will spend at EPCOT at the Food & Wine Festival. These are all first experiences for all of us - the resort, the restaurant, and the F&W.

I'll pack a camera (and have it fully charged)!

 

[CEGrant]

Best. Trip. Report. EVER.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Best. Trip. Report. EVER.

Thanks! I'm blushing!

 

[GeneLegand]

The Mayan Ruins was the only excursion I was considering - soooo that would be the end of that. I truely believe that I would loose my mind on a boat ride like that - even in good wheather it does not sound all that much fun. Again, thank you for all of your information!

I would recommend as an excursion something like Punta Venado (google it, they have a web site - I can't post links yet). Or another of these eco adventure preserves along the coast.

We had the most glorious time. It was a short 15 minute bus ride from the Playa Del Carmen port. Snorkeled for hours in the morning. Fishes and coral everywhere. Then they led us through the jungle forest took us to explore a brackish water cenote. Then we paddled on race kayaks all along the blue lagoons and bays. We turned it almost into a race to see who could get farthest south of the main bay before being called back by the guides. We had exhausted ourselves but that just made the afternoon all the sweeter: in this grass longhouse full of swings they had set out fresh fajitas and jicama and fruit and slaws with Mexican sodas and beers. We grabbed plates and went on the white sand beach and say under a private grass cabana and ate and tanned our legs. God it was like a Corona commercial without the annoying punchline. Please look out for these excursions if you are doing Western Caribbean.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

I absolutely LOVE your fantastic trip report! Amazing photos and it all sounded like a dream of a cruise! I knew I was hooked after reading your description of your crazy tablemates on your previous cruise.
And I was still laughing at how you described your snorkling adventure below!

*snipped by me*

After everyone got back on board and the hysterics of being in the ocean with fish and salt water with the screaming and shouting of about 8 different languages subsided, the dive crew made pitches for tips (I think we were the only ones who tipped though I think we got the least service from them).

We have sailed Magic 3x and Wonder 1x and I was on the edge of my computer chair reading your descriptive account of the shore excursion in Cozumel. Wow, I would have been absolutely terrified! We had a harrowing experience in Grand Cayman once, so I can sympathize.


*snipped by me*

The next day was Cozumel and my birthday and we wanted to see the Mayan Ruins. We were really looking forward to this. We met our excursion group in the theater and waited and waited and waited for our turn to leave the ship. At one point they handed out a generic dramamine. The ship wasn't rocking but they said that the ferry we take to the mainland can be choppy. I put it in my bookbag.

Our group of about 50 people was led off the ship and down the dock with two other excursion groups of 50 each and we waited for our ferry boat. The boat had cushion seats like a charter bus and no outdoor seating. The windows are all closed with no access to open them. All the seats face the same direction in rows. There are about 150 of us plus the Mexican crew. As we are crossing to Plaza del Carmen the weather kicks up - it kicks and punchs and head butts our little ferry boat. One person starts to puke. Then another. Then another. The crew is running up and down the aisles with plastic bags. They are putting garbage cans in the aisles. No one is safe. Everyone is sitting next to or behind or infront of someone who is puking. The sound alone would drive you to uncontrolably gag. It's too late to take the medicine they gave us - best to save it for the way back. This birthday has turned into a barfday.

We arrive at shore. Everyone is pale and blue and embarrassed. No one makes eye contact with anyone else. They then force our group of 50 on to a charter bus and make us wait. The rains come pouring down now. They take us to a reststop for some local Mayan crafts and a bathroom. This takes about an hour and many people buy trinkets (this also looked exactly like places I've been to in other countries - funny how tourist traps all look the same). They also give us our lunches - Subway sandwiches but most people are still too green to eat. We are then driven to the Mayan ruins and given a short tour and then two hours to explore on our own. The rain is pouring down - it's strange since most tropical storms are short - this went on and on with a driving rain. Everyone is soaked to the bone but we must wander in this unsheltered place for two more hours. You can't go near these ruins - they have ropes about 20 feet from each. There is a beach but the rain is really coming down. Some women wore heels - gollashes would have been better! Everyone is drenched and wishing we could go back, but we can't. They keep us to our original schedule.

On the way back - everyone is dreding this ferry ride. A few fathers complain about the lack of safety and we are all assured we will be fine. We are offered another Mayan trinket to purchase while on the bus ride and eventually we are at the dock. We have to wait to get on our ferry, in the pouring rain, lined up on the street. It takes about an hour to get on the ferry - there seems to be a hold up getting boats out.

The crossing back to Cozumel I truly thought was going to be my final resting place. I've watched enough Deadliest Catch to know the captain should drive the boat into the waves, not be tossed entirely side to side like we were. We were pitching 90+ degrees side to side. Everyone had taken their little generic sea sickness tablets before this trip so less puking and more just all out fear. You had to hold on to the seat infront of you. I began to realize this ferry company is the first commercial boat I have ever been on that didn't tell me where the life jackets are (even our little two minute dive boat in Grand Cayman did) or have a safety video/talk. I start looking around and don't see any signs of life jackets or any safety equipment. We can't dock at the port because of the weather and the waves have come up over that dock and even the street by the beach is gone. We have to dock at another dock "where the locals dock" and it is not safe so we are told we all have to go together. We are more than an hour late to get back to the ship. Since 150 of DCL passengers are on this ferry from hell, DCL knows these excursions are late and are waiting for us. Sis and I have enough and a few other folks take off with us - practically running through town. Still in the pouring rain. We just wanted to get back and we had dinner at Palo in a couple minutes. Even as we are trying to run in the rain the shopkeepers are standing in the way and pulling at us to stop in their shops and buy this or that.

Our excursions were an hour and a half late. The captain announced that dinner would be served for those people on the excursions with early seating (which they missed) and they held the boat that whole time for us.

 

[UO Duck 91]

Lovely photos! Thanks so much for sharing! We sail in November and I can hardly wait

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

Thank you so much for your amazing trip report! My husband however does not thank you, as now I'm convinced we must do concierge and a cabana for our upcoming cruise. He can't say no though, it's my birthday cruise! Lol anyway, I really enjoyed your trip report, and was so glad to find so much information on concierge. I look forward to reading future trip reports from both of you.

 

[lucas]

Fantastic review and pictures!