Fantasy February 16, 2013 - 7 Night Western Cruise Meet

I gained 7 and it's all gone already...just tells ya how much salt is in a lot of the stuff...but don't get me wrong...it was worth it!

Holy moly! Well congrats on losing the water retention weight.

Mostly, I rarely took the elevator... if it was within 7 stories I always tried to climb the stairs. If I wasn't in a nice dress and it was just a few flights, I tried to walk up fast. Managed to hit the gym every other day (one day, Goofy showed up! My cabinmate, who had done Goofy earlier this year at the WDW Marathon weekend, was wearing her Goofy shirt, so he got all excited!! lol. He came in wearing his trainer outfit. rofl
 
Smittycait said:
I gained 7 and it's all gone already...just tells ya how much salt is in a lot of the stuff...but don't get me wrong...it was worth it!

Six for me, four disappeared after about three days, so second on the high sodium theory. I took a vacation from most exercise after the first day (ran three miles on the promenade deck), but did stick to the stairs most of the time, and spent a decent amount of time swimming in Cozumel and Castaway Cay. I figured I would gain a few, so I dropped two before the cruise, leaving me even. The hardest part has been adjusting back to a normal diet this last week: no warm cookies before bed.
 
I've spent today trying to get the last bit of post-cruise cleanup done. I just went through our bag of FE gifts to sort them out, and am again struck by how thoughtful and creative everyone was! What a great mix of things - thank you!!!

Now, back to laundry (in between sneaking searches on the Disney reservation page...trying to decide if we should change the 4 day Dream I booked onboard for next April for either a Fantasy Eastern next year or Alaska this August. Decisions, decisions!).
 
Back to life, back to reality...

That has been my theme song this past week, I can hardly believe the cruise is done and over! We had a wonderful trip, stayed at the Polynesian the day before the cruise, got to take advantage of a surprise extra hour at Magic Kingdom, I think we managed to get in 10+ hours after flying in early from Detroit. Loved seeing the new Fantasyland castles!

We had such a great time on the cruise, just wish I could have made the cruise meet! It would have been nice to meet everyone.

Have to say, we loved our assistant server, Mircea from Romania. He was very engaging and thoughtful. Our waitress, Zoe from England, seemed very busy, but was also nice. We never expected to eat in the MDR every night, but we ended up doing so.

We loved the shows, did anyone catch Buckets and Boards during the second show? My niece is Lily, she was the little girl who went onstage!

We rebooked a cruise on the Magic for Easter 2014, took advantage of the OBB discount. Can't wait to go again!

We didn't do the FE this time, will definitely do it next year. We did have fun decorating our doors, though! If I ever figure out how to post a pic, I will share! Don't think alot of people would have seen our doors, we were in room 10654 and 10650.

It is so cold in Michigan, I really would like to go back to the Fantasy! Even those first couple days when it was cool were way better than this!
 


Six for me, four disappeared after about three days, so second on the high sodium theory. I took a vacation from most exercise after the first day (ran three miles on the promenade deck), but did stick to the stairs most of the time, and spent a decent amount of time swimming in Cozumel and Castaway Cay. I figured I would gain a few, so I dropped two before the cruise, leaving me even. The hardest part has been adjusting back to a normal diet this last week: no warm cookies before bed.
I gained 8 during the cruise and only lost 2 afterwards. I guess i was on the low sodium diet during the cruise. LOL. The wife and I loved the cruise and everything about it. We want to plan another cruise but are torn between going DCL because we loved it or another cruise line because we have no children and want to try to compare it to something else. We are first time cruisers and trying to decide.
 
kshark1958 said:
I gained 8 during the cruise and only lost 2 afterwards. I guess i was on the low sodium diet during the cruise. LOL. The wife and I loved the cruise and everything about it. We want to plan another cruise but are torn between going DCL because we loved it or another cruise line because we have no children and want to try to compare it to something else. We are first time cruisers and trying to decide.

My husband and I also have no children (that we cruise with ) as they are all out of the house, but I can't imagine another cruise line! We really like the quality of Disney and aren't bothered by the children. Actually, we enjoy watching the little ones reactions to the characters and the magic that is Disney! Also, Disney's commitment to customer service and safety is second to none!
 
My husband and I also have no children (that we cruise with ) as they are all out of the house, but I can't imagine another cruise line! We really like the quality of Disney and aren't bothered by the children. Actually, we enjoy watching the little ones reactions to the characters and the magic that is Disney! Also, Disney's commitment to customer service and safety is second to none!
I agree with everything you're saying which is why we are so torn. Actually it's mostly me since the wife doesn't want to try anyone else.In the end we will probably stick with the sure thing.Disney is such a sure thing when it comes to customer care I guess its why they are rated on top at Cruise Critic.
 


kshark1958 said:
I agree with everything you're saying which is why we are so torn. Actually it's mostly me since the wife doesn't want to try anyone else.In the end we will probably stick with the sure thing.Disney is such a sure thing when it comes to customer care I guess its why they are rated on top at Cruise Critic.

I think that's one of the keys, there's just no question that you will get a quality product for your money. There is also something to be said for being young at heart and the balance Disney strikes between catering to the kids and to the adults. But then, that has been the guiding principle since Walt created Disneyland. We were traveling with a couple that have no children and they were at the future cruise desk faster than we were.
 
I think that's one of the keys, there's just no question that you will get a quality product for your money. There is also something to be said for being young at heart and the balance Disney strikes between catering to the kids and to the adults. But then, that has been the guiding principle since Walt created Disneyland. We were traveling with a couple that have no children and they were at the future cruise desk faster than we were.

I think DarthTod nails it. Disney really goes above and beyond with its customer service; every face you see in the crew on the Disney ships represent Disney, and they work really hard at it.

We don't have kids, either, and we've never cruised with any other line. We can control the amount of exposure we have to children (for example, if we want to hang out where it's quiet, there's that whole adults-only area by the Cove). We choose the second seating, where the only minors we usually see are older teenagers (who are typically on very good behavior at dinner). We do also see them at breakfast in Canabas but hey, that's breakfast! We liked seeing that early morning hustle-bustle.

The only time we saw a lot of kids was when we wen towards the aft to grab fast food on deck 11 or we wanted to watch movies on the Funnel Vision screen. During the day, kids are either in their Oceaneer places or off on shore excursions.

One thing I was really touched by was on the last evening... all the kids programs had been let out, and the teens were all over the public areas hanging out with their new BFFs and groups. It was JUST like the end of summer camp, when friends don't want to part, and want to spend as much time hanging out as possible. You don't see it on the 3-night cruises, but on the 7-days, it's long enough for them to create lifelong bonds... and it was kind of fun feeling all that energy in the hallways.

I think the ONLY thing I would say is a requirement for going on a Disney cruise is that you need to have an affinity towards Disney. I know some folks who (gasp) don't like Disney stuff at all, and wouldn't dream of spending a whole week on a Disney ship. But if you like Disney, I say go with a Disney cruise. You really can't go wrong.

Oh, and avoid Carnival! ;-)
 
We would LOVE to take a Disney cruise without our daughter! However, the guilt that would come with that, since she is 9 and quite used to going everywhere with us, makes it impossible for now. When she is out of the house, we will for sure, and by then maybe we will be platinum members with all those great benefits! I say if you enjoyed one Disney cruise, you should stay with Disney!:)
 
We would LOVE to take a Disney cruise without our daughter! However, the guilt that would come with that, since she is 9 and quite used to going everywhere with us, makes it impossible for now. When she is out of the house, we will for sure, and by then maybe we will be platinum members with all those great benefits! I say if you enjoyed one Disney cruise, you should stay with Disney!:)

This was our first cruise/vacation without the kids. Felt weird a couple of times. We were looking around thinking were missing them. Haha!
We just loved it! Looking next year for the Fantasy or Dream/Vero Beach combo!
 
I think DarthTod nails it. Disney really goes above and



One thing I was really touched by was on the last evening... all the kids programs had been let out, and the teens were all over the public areas hanging out with their new BFFs and groups. It was JUST like the end of summer camp, when friends don't want to part, and want to spend as much time hanging out as possible. You don't see it on the 3-night cruises, but on the 7-days, it's long enough for them to create lifelong bonds... and it was kind of fun feeling all that energy in the hallways.

Thankks for this thought. Makes me feel good that I let my son stay out with his friends the last night when my first instinct was to tell him to come back as soon as the clubs closed
 
SOOOOOO happy today!!! When we got off the ship on Feb 23rd I realized my daughter didn't have her jacket on. Her one and only, non replaceable, 2 time National Champion cheer jacket that she just got a month ago. We left it in the closet in our stateroom. By the time we got back there the room host had sent it to guest services who said they sent it to lost and found in the terminal who said they didn't have it UGH!
I got a call this morning that after 2 more cruises the jacket finally made it off the ship and is on it's way home via UPS.
THANK YOU DISNEY CRUISE LINE!
I wish I could have stowed away for 2 more cruises! Jealous of a jacket, LOL
 
We would LOVE to take a Disney cruise without our daughter! However, the guilt that would come with that, since she is 9 and quite used to going everywhere with us, makes it impossible for now. When she is out of the house, we will for sure, and by then maybe we will be platinum members with all those great benefits! I say if you enjoyed one Disney cruise, you should stay with Disney!:)
It's definitely been decided,next cruise will be the Fantasy.We had to good of a time to take a chance on another cruise line. 3 or 4 nights too short. It will be 7 night Eastern or Southern Caribbean. We're not gonna be big time cruisers maybe every second or third year not enough vaca time with so many other things to do. WDW in 2014. Fantasy in February 2015
 
So, I have to ask....what did you all think about the food? This was my 11th Disney cruise and I have to say I was NOT impressed with the food at all. We were always in dinner until after 10:00....our service was so slow!

Food in the MDR was mostly ok. Most of it didn't rock my world though. The fish that Debbie and Jason got at Animators was completely inedible. And sadly, my lobster tail was full of little shell bits. It completely ruined my appetite. :( I have to say, that of the three dining teams I've had on DCL, these guys did the best job. They certainly didn't have the greatest personalities, but in terms of service, they did better than the others I've had. And they did find Shawn her big marshmallows! :lmao:

We did the Detective Agency twice.

We never did get around to that. And I never had my cider at the sports bar. Heck, we didn't even do our pub crawl for that matter. But, we did have a blast!

I'm thinking the drink server may have spoken very little English and that may have been the problem, but since he didn't even hardly talk to us, I couldn't say for sure.

I got the impression that he was very shy. He kept Jason's tea refilled after the first night and that's no mean feat. We tried to get him to leave a pitcher, but I guess they aren't allowed to do that. By contrast, all I ever asked of Leo was a slice of lemon for my water. Some nights I had to wait until I was almost done with my main course and some nights I didn't get any at all. One night he didn't even give us water until dessert arrived. Maybe he was too busy chatting with you guys? :confused3

Our head server was Liam and he was FANTASTIC! He brought us different dishes each night that weren't on the menu.

Liam really made the dining experience for us! We'd see him around the ship at other times and he was always just as friendly and energetic.

Let me give a little history on previous servers that might help explain why it was so disappointing this time: in September 2011 Simones and Leo a/k/a Brian were our servers. They were so awesome! Leo would have our drinks sitting there waiting for us when we entered the dining room. Simones was right on top of everything. They were so much fun that we almost didn't want to leave dinner!

And our experience was so different from yours. LOL Leo never once had our drinks ready for us. The second night he really seemed to give us the cold shoulder. He immediately brought Paul two iced teas with a big "Hi Paul!" and then walked away without taking our drink order or bringing us water. I got the impression that he thought we were horrible parents for eating in Palo on the first night of the cruise. (For those that don't know the story, the DH and I ate in Palo with some of our group and our, then, 16 year old decided, on his own, on our first ever cruise, to dress up and go to the MDR. He expected to be eating alone, but ended up sitting with Deb and her family instead. :goodvibes Our 14 year old chose to eat pizza by the pool. We were all happy with our arrangement.).

Simones was very sweet, but he was obviously frustrated with Leo much of the time. :rotfl2:

I *did* have a good time, but I think I might have had a better time without the kids

Amen! No really, it was soooo nice to not have the boys along on this trip. They fight constantly. And we never had to worry about what they wanted to do or where they were. I thought I'd worry about them being home a lot more than I did. There were a couple of moments that I missed them, especially at first, but Paul (now 18) was home alone and loving every minute of it and Kyle was down the street at grandma's getting spoiled and helping out with babysitting his little cousins. When I would check in with them, it seemed like I was taking time away from what they were doing, so I stopped calling and just sent a text every few days to check in (we were gone for 18 days in all).

....they did a lot of bickering and it ruined my mood quite a bit. But, like I said, they had a great time, so I'm happy with that!

I have to say, I loved seeing your kids having a good time! They were constantly making Jason and I laugh. :laughing:

However, he had loads of personality, was witty as heck once he realized we enjoyed that type of banter and spoke sarcasm rather fluently :lmao: But I really enjoyed my dining expereince with them. They were a blast so I didn't care that the technical parts were lacking.

I agree with you about the service of both teams. I wish we had seen more of Leo's personality. I think we were just less interesting to him and so we kinda got the "leftovers".

I had the French-inspired fixed menu and I had the best. fish. dish. ever. It was the sea bass dish... I've eaten a lot of fish in my life, but OMG I almost fainted when I took my first bite of the fish. It was SOOOO incredible. Everything was perfect about it... down to the temperature. It was such a simple dish (I think it was just poached, although it had a thin layer of crunch on one side) in a bed of broth and a bit of foam. But SO delicious. I was in heaven. [btw it was not the same sea bass dish they offered for brunch; that was also good, but didn't compare to the dinner version.]

That sea bass was one of the best things I've ever eaten. It was PERFECT!

We can control the amount of exposure we have to children (for example, if we want to hang out where it's quiet, there's that whole adults-only area by the Cove).

Except during the hours of midnight - 3am. There were LOTS of teens in the adults-only area by the Cove. They were like flies. They kept buzzing through over and over and over and over. :rolleyes:

The DH and I had a great time on this cruise! Spending time hanging out with our group was definitely the highlight. Thanks to Terrie and Wally, we discovered the relaxation of the Rainforest Room. :hug: We'll definitely be doing that again! And if Jason has anything to do with it, probably some other spa services too! And the aft verandas were amazing! I'm going to find it hard to cruise with a regular veranda from now on! I thought Remy dinner, Remy brunch and Palo dinner were fantastic! The food was outstanding and the company divine!
 
SOOOOOO happy today!!! When we got off the ship on Feb 23rd I realized my daughter didn't have her jacket on. Her one and only, non replaceable, 2 time National Champion cheer jacket that she just got a month ago. We left it in the closet in our stateroom. By the time we got back there the room host had sent it to guest services who said they sent it to lost and found in the terminal who said they didn't have it UGH!
I got a call this morning that after 2 more cruises the jacket finally made it off the ship and is on it's way home via UPS.
THANK YOU DISNEY CRUISE LINE!
I wish I could have stowed away for 2 more cruises! Jealous of a jacket, LOL

SO GLAD FOR YOU!!!!! She must have been crushed to have left such an important jacket behind! I lost my brand new $200 pair of Dolce & Gabanna sunglasses on the ship a couple years ago....they NEVER turned up. :( So, I'm glad to hear that isn't always the case with missing items!


Food in the MDR was mostly ok. Most of it didn't rock my world though. The fish that Debbie and Jason got at Animators was completely inedible. And sadly, my lobster tail was full of little shell bits. It completely ruined my appetite. :( I have to say, that of the three dining teams I've had on DCL, these guys did the best job. They certainly didn't have the greatest personalities, but in terms of service, they did better than the others I've had. And they did find Shawn her big marshmallows! :lmao:

LOL!!! Next time we should all bring the big marshmallows for Shawn so it doesn't take till the last night of the cruise for her to get them. LOL

We never did get around to that. And I never had my cider at the sports bar. Heck, we didn't even do our pub crawl for that matter. But, we did have a blast!



I got the impression that he was very shy. He kept Jason's tea refilled after the first night and that's no mean feat. We tried to get him to leave a pitcher, but I guess they aren't allowed to do that. By contrast, all I ever asked of Leo was a slice of lemon for my water. Some nights I had to wait until I was almost done with my main course and some nights I didn't get any at all. One night he didn't even give us water until dessert arrived. Maybe he was too busy chatting with you guys? :confused3

That could be it....he was probably shy....but why would you work in the cruise serving industry when you're shy?! LOL If that's the case, I hope he comes out of it....he is a good looking guy and if he interacts with his guests he might get better tips! (just sayin) :goodvibes



Liam really made the dining experience for us! We'd see him around the ship at other times and he was always just as friendly and energetic.



And our experience was so different from yours. LOL Leo never once had our drinks ready for us. The second night he really seemed to give us the cold shoulder. He immediately brought Paul two iced teas with a big "Hi Paul!" and then walked away without taking our drink order or bringing us water. I got the impression that he thought we were horrible parents for eating in Palo on the first night of the cruise. (For those that don't know the story, the DH and I ate in Palo with some of our group and our, then, 16 year old decided, on his own, on our first ever cruise, to dress up and go to the MDR. He expected to be eating alone, but ended up sitting with Deb and her family instead. :goodvibes Our 14 year old chose to eat pizza by the pool. We were all happy with our arrangement.).

Simones was very sweet, but he was obviously frustrated with Leo much of the time. :rotfl2:

And....about Leo...I am so sorry your service from him wasn't as great! That makes me sad. It didn't help that Junior would call him over all the time to talk to him or ask him questions. He had to remind him a couple times that he had other tables to serve. So blame it on Junior. :rotfl2:


Amen! No really, it was soooo nice to not have the boys along on this trip. They fight constantly. And we never had to worry about what they wanted to do or where they were. I thought I'd worry about them being home a lot more than I did. There were a couple of moments that I missed them, especially at first, but Paul (now 18) was home alone and loving every minute of it and Kyle was down the street at grandma's getting spoiled and helping out with babysitting his little cousins. When I would check in with them, it seemed like I was taking time away from what they were doing, so I stopped calling and just sent a text every few days to check in (we were gone for 18 days in all).



I have to say, I loved seeing your kids having a good time! They were constantly making Jason and I laugh. :laughing:

I'm glad to hear that. Maybe I can hire them out as comedians and make some college money for them! :rotfl: :lmao: :rotfl2:

I agree with you about the service of both teams. I wish we had seen more of Leo's personality. I think we were just less interesting to him and so we kinda got the "leftovers".

No....like I said....blame it on Junior.

That sea bass was one of the best things I've ever eaten. It was PERFECT!



Except during the hours of midnight - 3am. There were LOTS of teens in the adults-only area by the Cove. They were like flies. They kept buzzing through over and over and over and over. :rolleyes:

Toy_balls_with_different_Colors.jpg
!

The DH and I had a great time on this cruise! Spending time hanging out with our group was definitely the highlight. Thanks to Terrie and Wally, we discovered the relaxation of the Rainforest Room. :hug: We'll definitely be doing that again! And if Jason has anything to do with it, probably some other spa services too! And the aft verandas were amazing! I'm going to find it hard to cruise with a regular veranda from now on! I thought Remy dinner, Remy brunch and Palo dinner were fantastic! The food was outstanding and the company divine!

I wish I could have enjoyed Palo brunch with you guys!! But I'm so glad I was feeling better after I got some motion sickness meds in me! :scared1:
 
I wish I could have enjoyed Palo brunch with you guys!! But I'm so glad I was feeling better after I got some motion sickness meds in me! :scared1:

I'm glad you felt better later too! You and Jim sure did have a rough go of it for a couple of days there! Definitely look into the patch for Alaska. It was a much rougher trip than this one. I suppose it all could vary and Alaska could be smooth as glass, but although the motion didn't bother me in Alaska, it was SURELY rocking! When you are looking out your porthole and can see waves coming up over your line of sight, yeah, it was rough!

LOL!!! Next time we should all bring the big marshmallows for Shawn so it doesn't take till the last night of the cruise for her to get them. LOL

:thumbsup2:thumbsup2:thumbsup2

That could be it....he was probably shy....but why would you work in the cruise serving industry when you're shy?! LOL If that's the case, I hope he comes out of it....he is a good looking guy and if he interacts with his guests he might get better tips! (just sayin)

I agree. Maybe he was newer or maybe it's just not a good fit for him. Either way, he does need to come out of his shell a little more. He didn't have an "Earning my Ears" ribbon on, but there were a lot of crew members that did. And I was surprised to hear how many of the crew that we talked to were leaving DCL and had no plans to return.

And....about Leo...I am so sorry your service from him wasn't as great! That makes me sad. It didn't help that Junior would call him over all the time to talk to him or ask him questions. He had to remind him a couple times that he had other tables to serve. So blame it on Junior.

LOL Ok, I'll blame Junior! :rotfl2:

I'm glad to hear that. Maybe I can hire them out as comedians and make some college money for them!

:idea::lmao:

OOPS! Sorry about the HUGE picture of balls!

OMG!!! :lmao::lmao::lmao: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: What a riot!

I'll be so glad when I can finally get rid of my "souvenir". We're into week three of this and the pneumonia is still hanging in there. I was hoping I'd feel better than this by now. Luckily I have a fairly light week ahead of me. I managed to give the cold portion of it to the boys and now I have to keep them home from their camping trip this weekend. They only have a light cough, but that's how I started out too. :headache:

On a happier note, the box I had shipped home from my shopping spree at the Emporium arrived today! :cool1: I bought two beer glasses with gold Mickey heads around the rim, a lovely "toothpick holder" that is etched with the castle, a new coffee mug, a two CD set of park music, and one of the super soft blankets that were the promotional item. There was a lot more stuff that I really wanted, but I was good. :rolleyes1
 

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