Disney Fantasy June 22-29th 2013: Boardwalk, Boat, and Boston! 2nd Wedding Annivesary

[disneybarbie]

....

Before dinner we went to our new favourite bar… Sky Line! We got two cocktails using the passport we’d bought on our first night. The bar tender was from Manchester, England. DH tried an ‘Ooh La La’ cocktail and I had a ‘Berryshka’, which had blueberries in it – making it a healthy drink



Dinner this evening was at the Enchanted Garden – I love the theme of this restaurant. Our server, Luciana, happened to be stood at the entrance as we arrived – she commented on my dress, saying that each evening I had a prettier outfit than the night before! I really like on Disney cruises that you have the same servers each evening, it's nice to get to know them and build up a rapport.

It was nice to catch up with our table mates and see what they had been up to in Grand Cayman, they’d been to the famous Seven Mile Beach. During the meal, the lighting the restaurant gradually changes from daylight to dusk, to night… at first I thought it was my eyes, until someone else near us said ‘did the light just change?’

To eat, I had a tuna and wasabi tower, raspberry and gorgonzola salad, scallops with asparagus, and then a trio of desserts: passion fruit meringue, chocolate torte and strawberry cheesecake. I really like on the cruise that the portion sizes are small enough that we’re able to comfortably eat four courses – there is always so many dishes we want to try!



This meal also included a ‘kiss goodnight’ from the chef – chocolate truffles and passion fruit Turkish delight.

We went up to bed at 10pm, but managed to sleep through until 7am the next morning – think we were finally over our jet lag!

This evening’s towel animal.. we think it was an aardvark…

 

[dmwang9]

The last set of photos in your Day 5 entry made me smile. For some reason, coming back to the cabin after a long day and finding it turned down for bed is one of my favorite memories of my Disney cruises. Definitely, seeing the red pillow flipped over to the "nighttime" side brings back the warm fuzzies. I've thought about buying one of the pillows to have at home, but the price made me realize that I didn't want the pillow *that* badly.

-- Dave

 

[khertz]

Those turtles are so cute! I can imagine how disturbing it would be to spend a wonderful morning observing turtles and them finding them on your lunch menu.

Goofy sunbathing with guests is just about the cutest thing ever!

 

[klacey1]

Yumm-- I love blueberry drinks! Your dinner sounds delicious. And I'm totally with you on the same servers thing. It's nice when they get to know your preferences, etc.

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like a lovely evening. Whenever we manage to get ourselves onto a Disney cruise, I think we might have to set Dug Baby up with the kids club folks so we can enjoy a drink in the lounge! Enchanted Garden sounds cool with the lighting changing and all. For what it's worth, the two cruises I've been on were with Princess and Royal Caribbean and we had the same servers the whole time on each, so it's not just Disney. Our Royal Caribbean team was great, but Tony, the Italian waiter on the Princess cruise (years ago) was probably one of my favorite servers anywhere ever. He made dinners SO much fun for everyone. That service is a great aspect of cruising when it's done right. Glad you got a good night's sleep also!

 

[princess aleya]

I'm really enjoying your report I just love the Cayman Islands, it's such a beautiful place to visit!! Oh, I also love your new Dooney & Bourke, my DH got be one for Christmas and I just adore it. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

 

[disneybarbie]

The last set of photos in your Day 5 entry made me smile. For some reason, coming back to the cabin after a long day and finding it turned down for bed is one of my favorite memories of my Disney cruises. Definitely, seeing the red pillow flipped over to the "nighttime" side brings back the warm fuzzies. I've thought about buying one of the pillows to have at home, but the price made me realize that I didn't want the pillow *that* badly.

-- Dave

Hi!

I agree, I love the turn-down service on the cruise - we usually save the chocolates in the fridge so there's a constant supply . I like to read the Navigator before going to sleep too
I also considered buying that pillow... but couldn't justify the price, or how to fit it in our suitcase!

Those turtles are so cute! I can imagine how disturbing it would be to spend a wonderful morning observing turtles and them finding them on your lunch menu.

Goofy sunbathing with guests is just about the cutest thing ever!

Hi! Yes it was a little unusual to see turtle burger on the menu at the café - I was so pleased to Goofy in the adults only area, we don't tend to stop for character photos so this was quite nice for us to get a picture!

Yumm-- I love blueberry drinks! Your dinner sounds delicious. And I'm totally with you on the same servers thing. It's nice when they get to know your preferences, etc.

I love anything blueberry flavoured so that cocktail was definitely one I wanted to try . On our honeymoon cruise, we only had 3 out of 5 nights in the main dining rooms so didn't get to know our servers that well, but this time we really did - Luciana (our head server) even recognised us on the first day at sea, walking through Cabanas... I was amazed that she could do that after only meeting us the night before! Amazing Disney crew
Our drinks server always had our drinks on the table minutes after we arrived (we ordered iced tea the first night, so that was what we got every night hehe), and always knew to bring our tablemate a ginger ale towards the end of the meal, as he suffered a little with the ship's movement

Sounds like a lovely evening. Whenever we manage to get ourselves onto a Disney cruise, I think we might have to set Dug Baby up with the kids club folks so we can enjoy a drink in the lounge! Enchanted Garden sounds cool with the lighting changing and all. For what it's worth, the two cruises I've been on were with Princess and Royal Caribbean and we had the same servers the whole time on each, so it's not just Disney. Our Royal Caribbean team was great, but Tony, the Italian waiter on the Princess cruise (years ago) was probably one of my favorite servers anywhere ever. He made dinners SO much fun for everyone. That service is a great aspect of cruising when it's done right. Glad you got a good night's sleep also!

Hi! That's good to know about other cruises - my parents go on a lot of cruises, but they don't tend to do the rotational dining so I hadn't heard of it elsewhere

That would be great if you could go on a cruise and DD was ok being left in the nursery/kids club... those areas look amazing.. I would love to go and have a look around them - but once the ship sets sail they are strictly for children only!

I'm really enjoying your report I just love the Cayman Islands, it's such a beautiful place to visit!! Oh, I also love your new Dooney & Bourke, my DH got be one for Christmas and I just adore it. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

Hi! Thank you so much for reading along so far. I am still using my D&B bag, I've been getting a lot of compliments on it all together I have 4 D&B purses now... and I'm already thinking that if I finish the half marathon in January, that I might need to treat myself to something...



Emma x

 

[wilma-bride]

Hi Emma

Just found your trip report. We are also from the UK and will be sailing on the Fantasy 2 weeks today We are doing the Adults Only Grand Cayman tour so pleased to hear you enjoyed it. I have also made a mental note to make sure we wait until we're back on the ship to have lunch

Any chance you might get this finished in the next fortnight?

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi Emma

Just found your trip report. We are also from the UK and will be sailing on the Fantasy 2 weeks today We are doing the Adults Only Grand Cayman tour so pleased to hear you enjoyed it. I have also made a mental note to make sure we wait until we're back on the ship to have lunch

Any chance you might get this finished in the next fortnight?

Hi!

I am so jealous you are going on a cruise so soon! We are awaiting the 2015 cruise itineraries so we can think about booking our next one...

Hehe I should have some time this week to type up more of my report, I will try my best for you!



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Day 6

Tuesday 25th June 2013

Costa Maya – Mexico


Today we weren’t scheduled to reach port until lunch time, so we had the whole morning to enjoy the ship.

We woke up about 7.30am, and decided to go for a run around the ship! There is track all the way around deck 4, and I believe there was a sign that stated 2.5 laps was 1 mile… so we ran 5 laps! It was definitely a unique experience, I couldn’t feel the ship moving but it was odd to be running while we were sailing. Again I was surprised by how busy the promenade deck was, there were several walkers and other runners – we both went pretty quickly and DH was enjoying over-taking people… like we were racing




We got back up the room and showered – then went to Enchanted Garden for breakfast.

Checking our location on the map!








I thought it was just a continental breakfast – but there was so much choice! We were seated in one of the pretty circular booths right by the buffet.





When I went up to get some food, I asked one of the servers behind the counter for something – and she asked where I was from, as she could tell I had an English accent rather than American (I think she was from the Philippines), she told me that one of her friends on the ship was English and that they loved some of the phrases she said! I found it quite amazing how the international crew members picked up on our English accents so quickly.
I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cheese, toast and smoked salmon – then went back for some fruit, yoghurt and honey.



DH had got chatting to our drinks server, he was from Eastern Europe, and they talked for a while about English football (soccer) teams.

We were really impressed with the buffet breakfast at Enchanted Garden – lots of choices, but less busy than Cabanas.

After breakfast, we went up to deck 13 to sunbathe for a couple of hours. It was exciting to see Mexico gradually coming into view as we sailed closer.








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[disneybarbie]

...

We went back to our room at 12, got changed and made our way to the Lake Buena Vista Theatre, where we needed to check in for our excursion, the Mayan Ruins at Chacchoben, at 12.45pm.

We had a wander around the ship first...







This was one of my favourite enchanted art pictures!

Video of Enchanted Art

I noticed on this cruise that the music played in the public areas changed depending which port we were in.. for example, Caribbean music on the days in Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay - and Mexican music for Costa Maya and Cozumel...

Video of atrium



We had to wait outside the theatre for a little while as another group were being organised to disembark the ship, and then it was our turn – it was obvious this tour was very popular, there were a couple of hundred people there to check in.. and it took almost an hour for all of us to be registered and then be led off the ship.






One thing we noticed almost immediately was the heat and humidity… I think that must have been the hottest place I have been in my life (except Dubai once – but that was a different kind of heat, not humid like Mexico!).
We shuffled along the dock to the port, where we were lined up into coach groups – everything seemed to take a really long time… I think it was just due to the volume of guests. We were then told that the coach transfer to the ruins would take about one hour… DH was pretty amazed, once we got there – it would be time to turn around and come back to the port! He suggested that we skip the tour, and just get back on the boat … I was almost tempted to agree, but so glad we persevered and stayed with the tour group.

We had booked the adults only tour group, so everyone on our bus was over 18, however once we got Chacchoben there were of course the other tour groups from our ship that included children (this didn’t matter to us – but just something I thought I’d mention if anyone reading was thinking of booking the adults only tour).

The coaches were large and, most importantly, air-conditioned! Our tour guide, Jesus, used a microphone to talk to us throughout the journey – he talked about the history of the area and Mexico, and a little about his life and Mayan roots. The area was very rural once we got away from the dock.


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[disneybarbie]

....

We arrived at the ruins just after 3pm, and we had a quick restroom break for 10 minutes before the tour began. There was a café and some souvenir shops at the entrance to the ruins site.
Jesus admitted that it was a very hot day – even for him! He led us around on foot, explaining that less than 10% of the site had been excavated so far, the hills around us were actually mounds of earth and rubble, covering over other pyramids and buildings.
What has been uncovered was amazing to see, and we were even allowed to climb up onto the pyramids which I had not expected!





The sky had turned dark grey by this time and we could hear rumbles of thunder – everyone in our group was really hoping that it might rain and cool the temperature down! But Jesus said that the clouds above us were too high for rain, and he was right.



The pyramids were incredible – it’s amazing to think how old they are. Some of them still have the red paint on them, which has mostly faded away over time.







One of the areas we visited could be reached by climbing up some very steep steps – or there was an easier route if people didn’t want to face the steps… DH and I took the steps, it was like a work out







Trying not to fall down the pyramid!




After an hour of wandering around the site, we were led back to the site entrance – given time for a quick restroom break before getting back on board the coaches. We were greeted with an ice bucket of bottled water and soda, which was a very welcome sight!
For the journey back, Jesus told us more about the Mayan culture and about Mexico’s history with Spain. He explained the Mayan calendar to us, and that the 21st December 2012 was never meant to be the end of the earth – just a movement to another cycle in the calendar. He had some silver medallions that depicted the calendar, which we could have bought – however it wasn’t a ‘hard sell’ and I don’t think anyone on our coach bought one.


....

 

[elphie101]

Those pyramids are beautiful! That's definitely an excursion worth checking out!

I'd like to think I'd run on the decks of the Fantasy - but I'd probably just roll out of bed right to breakfast!!

 

[Dugette]

Looks like a really neat excursion! We love checking out Mayan ruins!

 

[disneybarbie]

Those pyramids are beautiful! That's definitely an excursion worth checking out!

I'd like to think I'd run on the decks of the Fantasy - but I'd probably just roll out of bed right to breakfast!!

Looks like a really neat excursion! We love checking out Mayan ruins!

It was a really good excursion once we got to Chaccoben - and we learnt so much about the Mayans and Mexico from our tour guide too!

Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

...

We left Chacchoben just after 4pm, and arrived at the port at 5.10pm – giving us only 20 minutes before ‘all aboard’ at 5.30pm! So we didn’t have any time to look around the port, but to be honest there wasn’t very much there.

We had a quick walk back to the ship…




I had hoped to see the Wishes show that evening in the theatre, but we realised there wouldn’t be time to get ready and make it for the 6.15pm show. Instead, we got relaxed and got ready in our room – and I was able to watch some of the show via the TV channel!



At 7pm, we wandered down to Europa – and decided to try out a new bar… Ooh La La!




We were the only people there – private bar, sunset and a champagne cocktail… perfect.





The bar tender was from Trinidad, as we were the only guests there she spent quite a lot of time chatting to us.

Dinner this evening was back at the Royal Court, but they had a ‘Prince and Princess’ menu, something I’d not heard of before!





I had a tomato and goat’s cheese salad, the Beast’s chorizo soup, turbot for main course and Cinderella’s lemon cheesecake for dessert. It was another excellent meal.
The head server, Plamen, talked to us quite a lot this evening – he had lived in London for a while and was telling us some stories about his time there. Our tablemates unfortunately had not had a good day in Costa Maya, they had got a cab to a beach but felt intimidated by the cab driver and beach owner – so got a cab straight back to the ship! They felt they’d wasted money and should have just stayed onboard. I’m glad we did the Mayan ruins tour, it was definitely unique to the area and unlike anywhere I’ve ever visited.

After dinner, we weren’t too tired so decided to go to Sky Line, again! We both had cocktails with light up ice cubes (the bar tender gave us a new, clean cube to take away with us, which meant we didn’t have to reach into our drinks to take out the sticky cubes), mine was a St. Pete’s Sling which I have since tried to recreate at home! It was lemon juice, grapefruit juice, honey, ginger and vodka.





The bar tender, Julian, was doing a few tricks behind the bar – he balanced one, and then two bottles on his forehead!



Back in the room, our towel animal was an elephant – my favourite animal – plus we’d been given an extra Sleepy chocolate too!

 

[elphie101]

I love Royal Court, at least in photos it's my favorite of the MDRs! Hooray for empty bars as well!

 

[JKSWonder]

Both times we visited Ooh La La we were the only people in there too. We couldn't figure it out, since its such a cute place.

Our favorite bars were a tie between Skyline and the Meridian (upstairs, by Remy and Palo). The Meridian is kind of tiny, but we loved the amazing view through the windows behind the bar.

 

[wilma-bride]

I am so excited to see your latest update. We are doing the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins tour so it was nice to hear your perspective. I must remember to make sure our things are ready for a quick change for dinner since we have main dining and it doesn't sound like we will have much time to get showered and dressed after our tour. Perhaps I should also warn our table mates that we might be late and not to wait on us

 

[klacey1]

Those pyramids are incredible! That is a lot of people on an excursion, however.
Mmm champagne cocktails!