"Keep Calm and Cruise On" Western Caribbean Fantasy Cruise Trip Report

[Jaxs27]

Welcome to the "Keep Calm and Cruise On" Western Caribbean Fantasy Cruise Trip Report.

Here is my pre-trip report http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3269350 in case you want to get to know the cast better. I am 12 years old and not your ordinary tween. I love all things Disney!( But who doesn't) I am writing this under my mother's account.

My family and I just returned from the beautiful Disney Fantasy. We sailed the Western Caribbean itinerary C, which included Cozumel Mexico, Grand Cayman, Falmouth Jamaica and Disney's gorgeous private island, Castaway Cay. The cruise was from May 24- 31, and was probably the BEST VACATION EVER!!! The only bad part about it was leaving.

Without further ado
Let's introduce the cast!!!
If you would like to get to know the cast better, go to the pre-trip report (Even Miracles Take a Little Time!! Western Caribbean Fantasy Cruise Pre-Trip Report)

Lady's and Gent's, please put your hands together for.......

Me!!! Hailey

As I said before, I am not your average "tween". I enjoy browsing threw disboards, reading Trip reports, and planning disney vacations. I am a competitive dancer and enjoy art and drama.

Dad (DF)

My father, Chris, is the kindest person I know. He is a hardworking man who worked a ton of extra hours for this trip. He also drove us all the way from Texas to Port Canaveral. He works at Harley Davidson Financial.

Mom (DM)

My mother , Lori , is the main planner ( besides me) of all the disney vacations and trips we take. She is a teacher and a mother of three wonderful children!!

Logan (DB1)

My brother Logan is a video game freak who claims he doesn't like Disney. But at heart, I know he always looks forward to seeing mickey mouse on our trips. He is 10 and is entering 6th grade.

Mason (DB2)

Mason is a ball of energy that never burns out. He loves disney (not as much as I do ) and loves to pose in most of his photos. He is going into 2nd grade and is 7 years old.

On this trip we stayed in a deluxe family port hole room on deck 8 Forward. I did take pictures of our food, but there aren't a lot of pictures of the buffets or Flo's V-8 Cafe. As most of those were quick easy meals. Also most of the lunch meals were not as a whole family. Me and DB1 were in the Edge which is right next to the pool deck ( Edge is in the funnel) so me and DB1 went down to get snacks quite often. DB2 was In the Oceaneers Club and enjoyed it very much!! I hope you read on as I add to the Report. If you were on the same cruise, feel free to comment & add pictures. Even if you were not on the Cruise, you may also comment.

 

[maggonz9]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip from your perspective. I have a 12 year old that will be sailing with us in September.

 

[Jaxs27]

Hello Everyone !!!! I'm ready to start this thing!! Sooo... without further ado.....

The Drive and The Port

The Drive

We left on Thursday May 22 and drove all the way from Fort Worth, Texas to Port Canaveral, Florida. A 20hr lloonngg drive.Sorry but I don't have any pictures of the drive or the food we had, because the camera was packed in the bags in the trunk. We did stop at a Dairy Queen in Texas for dinner that night. FUNNY STORY: On our last disney trip ( WDW POR 2013) we stopped at this DQ. We ordered our food and my father got a "Dude" ( a chicken fried steak sandwich). Well the DQ was a small gas station of the side of the highway. So when my when we ordered something the cashier would yell back to the kitchen the order. So the moment went sort of like this. " Drop a Small Fries! Drop a Cheese Burger! Drop a Chicken Basket! Drop a DUDE!!". Now I know what your thinking, "Seriously!! How is that funny??". Well I actually don't know why it's so funny?? But it was the slogan of our last trip. So saying all that , we HAD to go to that Dairy Queen. As I said earlier, we did not take any pictures of the drive. ( If I do find some though, I will add them to this.) But If you want to know what we got ........

DF & DB2 -Dude (yes they said "Drop a DUDE"!!! x2)
DM & DB1 - Chicken Fried steak finger basket 6ct ( They shared)
Me - Chicken finger basket 4ct

Blizzards!!

Me - small strawberry shortcake blizzard
DF - dipped cone
DM - mini oreo Blizzard
DB1 - Medium oreo blizzard
DB2 - Mini strawberry shortcake blizzard

It was a good meal but DQ's are so pricey!!!
After a "okay" sleep in the car, we were in Florida!! For breakfast we stopped at a Mcdonalds. We got .....

DB1 & 2 - Pancakes
Me - Sausage biscuit
DF & DM -Sausage Mcmuffin

Breakfast was fine. We stopped at a Mcdonalds and there were 2 buses full of people in there so we left and went to another one wich was abandoned besides us and some other family's. Later when we got to Daytona we stopped for Chick-fil-a. We got ...

Me & DF - 6ct nugget kids meal
DB1 & 2 - 4ct nugget kids meal
DM - 8ct nuggets (not meal)

After lunch we traded the kids toys for ice cream!!

The Port

After about a hour more of driving , we finally got to the hotel!!! We were staying at the Country Inn and Suites at Cape Canaveral. We stayed at this hotel last time and loved the accommodations it offered. Including free parking, Complementary breakfast and transportation to the port.

The Hotel

The Lobby

The Pool (We never swam)

The Room

The room we got was only $200 a night and it had a view of the pool and a little bed area ( with 3 beds) for the kids. It was a family room.

For dinner that night we went to Rustys.

My family loves Rusty's because it's great food on the port. During dinner we saw dolphins in the water!!! (sorry no pics!! I promise there will be a ton once we get on the boat)For dinner we got...

DF -Mahi Mahi sandwich -fried
Me & DM -Captain's Seafood Platter - jumbo shrimp, sea scallops, oysters, clam strips & mahi mahi. fried to a crispy golden brown.
DB1 - Kids fried shrimp
DB2 - Kids mac'n'cheese wedges

It was a wonderful meal that included this beautiful sight of the disney port!!!

When we got back to the hotel, we took shower's, watched tv, and slept soudly dreaming about the day ahead!!

 

[DMMarla07860]

lovely trip report, can't wait to read more

 

[Jaxs27]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip from your perspective. I have a 12 year old that will be sailing with us in September.

That's so cool!! Where does your cruise go to and is it on the fantasy?? I can't wait to add more to the report !!

 

[Jaxs27]

lovely trip report, can't wait to read more

Thank you !!!! I can't wait to write more!!!

 

[tinkerbell1112]

going to follow this - love that you love Disney so much. We're driving from FW to Port Canaveral over spring break and I'm curious - did you drive straight through or stay the night somewhere mid way? I was told it was only 17 hours??!! LOL. Did you make a lot of stops? Or long ones when you did?

 

[Jaxs27]

The Moment Before !!!

So, when I got up that morning it felt like pixie dust was running through my blood !! All I could think about was that," Today I'm going to walk on, sleep on, eat on, swim on, have the vacation of my life on, The Disney Fantasy!!!". I was SO excited!! We woke up and all of us quickly got dressed In are awesome"Keep Calm and Cruise On " t-shirts. DM stayed in the room to finish getting ready, while we went down for breakfast. The hotel we stayed at provided a complementary buffet breakfast. The buffet included (sorry no pics) different cereals, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and mini muffins. Also bread and bagels(there was a toaster) a selection of butters, jams, and jellys, and 2 waffle irons to make waffles. After my mom came down to get a bite, we went back up to the room. By the way are room # was 205 if you were wondering. When you stay at this hotel , you get free parking and transportation to the port. Which is nice when you don't want to pay $75 on parking. So when you check in you get a time to meet in a room to get loaded on to the bus to the port. Are time was 11:00 so we waited in the room a long while before we went down to the meeting area.When it was 10:45 we headed down to the waiting area. There where 2 ships at the port that day. The Disney Fantasy, and the Carnival Liberty.They got the Carnival people on the 1st bus and then we got on the 2nd. On are last trip we did the same shuttle service and had a driver named Dwayne who was very funny. We all hoped he would be our driver, and guess what , HE WAS!!!! He joked about the Carnival cruisers and said that they had life jackets and 1st Aid kits in there bags!! He also did some disney trivia which I got all right! I'm not kidding. When he said a question I quickly answered it correctly!! What sad is that I never got the chance to make it to trivia on the boat. Finally we saw this beauty!!!!!!

It was cute hearing all the little kids yell " DUMBO " when they saw the back of the boat.

We got our key to the world card and went up to security. After that we got checked into the ship and the kids clubs. Then we walked through.......

THE MICKEY EARS!!!!

I'm sorry this post didn't have a lot of pictures. I promise this is the last one that has limited pictures!!!!

 

[tinkerbell1112]

He joked about the Carnival cruisers and said that they had life jackets and 1st Aid kits in there bags!!

that's hilarious!!

 

[Jaxs27]

The First Steps!!

As we exited the terminal , we went through the famous MICKEY EARs!!

Earlier when we got our KTTW cards and Silver Castaway Cay lanyards, they took our pictures to put on the KTTW cards. Well when you go through the mickey ears, down the hallway they scan your card. After they scan the card it pops up the picture you took. And of coarse, mine had a picture of DF so we went of to the side in to another room to fix it. After that we took the family picture and waited in line to board the ship. Probably the best part of the trip was probably hearing the cast members announce your family name!!!

The first pic we took aboard the Disney Fantasy!!!!!

When you board, Cast Members tell you to go to Cabana's but we went down to the Enchanted Garden. EG is a very beautiful restaurant and was probably our family's favorite!!!

This was the entrance to the restaurant

And these chairs were to cute!!!!

Now time to the food!! Our 1st meal on the FANTASY !!!!! How the buffet was arranged was that on both sides there was the lunch food then desert was in the middle. In the very middle there was an ice cream station Now the 1st food pics !!!

Starting from top: Asparagus, Jonah Crab Claw, Mashed Potatoes, Beef Tenderloin (I think) Pico de Gallo Chicken, some type of pork with the bone, and Shrimp coleslaw.

Favorite- Shrimp coleslaw It was very flavorful and tasty. The shrimp was delicious also!!
Least Favorite- the pork on the bone(sorry that I forgot what it was) All it was , was fat.

From left-right: Cranberry Cheesecake and Carrot Cake
cheesecake- It had a jell on top which might be good to some but I'm not a jell-o or jelly fan. The cheesecake part was delicious!! The bottom crust tasted burnt and it was awful.
carrot cake- very moist with a nice icing( not a cream cheese icing)

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream - good

Rainbow Sherbert- good

Chocolate Mousse- very creamy


I will be rating the meal from to bad to amazing

Overall this meal was I would defiantly recommend going to Enchanted Garden over Cabana's.

 

[Susan121302]

Great report so far! I can't wait to read more, especially about the Edge, as I am sailing next April with DS who will be 12.

 

[Jaxs27]

going to follow this - love that you love Disney so much. We're driving from FW to Port Canaveral over spring break and I'm curious - did you drive straight through or stay the night somewhere mid way? I was told it was only 17 hours??!! LOL. Did you make a lot of stops? Or long ones when you did?

When my family make the long drive we do not stay the night any where, we sleep in the car. It might be 17 hrs I'm not sure!!?? We do take 10-30 min stops for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also if the weather is bad we go a bit slower than if it was sunny. We have snacks and drinks in the car and only mainly stop for bathroom breaks. Who knows, my friends and family say I over exaggerate a lot so I might of did that.

 

[Jaxs27]

Great report so far! I can't wait to read more, especially about the Edge, as I am sailing next April with DS who will be 12.

Me and my brother both enjoyed the Edge. It had a lot of activity's that both me and him liked. I will be writing about the kids clubs soon and will be including a lot of stuff from mainly the Edge and a little bit from the Lab & Club. I'm really excited to write about the Edge because there really isn't a lot of info on it , not even on the Disney Cruise Line website.

 

[WhenUWishUponA5tar]

Such a wonderful report so far. August will be our 2nd Fantasy cruise and can't wait. I searched these boards for 1 year before our first to find out everything I could. I am again searching the boards so that I might luck up on some new information like you provided about the Enchanted Garden buffett. I only thought they served, never knew about the buffett so thanks for the tip. I look forward to hearing more about your trip.

 

[tinkerbell1112]

When my family make the long drive we do not stay the night any where, we sleep in the car. It might be 17 hrs I'm not sure!!?? We do take 10-30 min stops for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also if the weather is bad we go a bit slower than if it was sunny. We have snacks and drinks in the car and only mainly stop for bathroom breaks. Who knows, my friends and family say I over exaggerate a lot so I might of did that.

thank you

 

[Jaxs27]

Such a wonderful report so far. August will be our 2nd Fantasy cruise and can't wait. I searched these boards for 1 year before our first to find out everything I could. I am again searching the boards so that I might luck up on some new information like you provided about the Enchanted Garden buffett. I only thought they served, never knew about the buffett so thanks for the tip. I look forward to hearing more about your trip.

Hello!! Thanks for tagging along!! I was the same before the trip, I searched and searched all the time for more info about the ship, the ports, characters, kids clubs, and the food. In the process I learned a lot about the other ships!! I hope you read on as I add on !!!

 

[Jaxs27]

Touring The Ship pt 1



The Room

Our room was ready at 1:30 so at 1:20 we headed down to
room 8012 which is located at the front of the ship. And when I mean front, I
mean it. The room was at the end of the hallway but close to the elevators
and stairs!! Once we got to our room, we met the room hostess, Reeda. She
was very kind and always kept our room clean. We then got refreshed in the
room while looking out the gorgeous porthole. This was defiantly the best
part of the room.

As you can see this picture was taken on pirate night. Through out the trip
there will be more room photos, I just can't find them right now.


Another thing we loved about the room was the separate
bathrooms. The one closest to the door had a toilet & sink while the other
had a shower & sink. It was very easy to get ready during the trip. Last trip
we had 2 small inside staterooms to fit us 5 but this one room was very nice
and spacious. After getting settled in we decorated the door with our
magnets and fish-extender.

Throughout the trip we got more magnets from others. As you
can see, if you were part of the castaway club (gold, platinum, or silver) you
got a dry erase board with a marker to write messages for others. Also we
got a silver castaway club bag that was very handy. We then headed out to
see the kids clubs.


The Club (OC)

I was only in there during open house, but as DB2
said, he LOVED it. In the OC there are 4 different rooms that themed off of
Disney films. DB2's favorite was the Toy Story room.

This room was SOO cute!! I felt as if I was in the
world of Woody and Buzz.

The next room was the Nemo room. This room had a
big submarine that was defiantly kids size. I was to tall for it but DB2 liked it!!
The sub is full of computers that play kid friendly games.

Next was, my favorite, Pixie
Hollow!!! I loved this room!! If I was little this is the
room I would probably be in. Because.......

1. It's TinkerBell themed and I LOVE TINK!!!
2. This is a dress-up room!!
3. There is drawing and I love art!!
4. The room lights up like ton's of fairy's and stars!!
5. There's a TV

The last room was Monsters Inc. This room is sort of
like a big jungle gym. It was cool looking but is probably cooler when not
open house.

The last pic of the OC..... the dance floor.

The Lab OL

Logan was only in the lab for 2 days and wanted to be
with me in the Edge. But the Edge did come and invaded the Lab a lot so we
got to see a lot of it. Just like the OC there are different room, but these
rooms aren't themed off of movies. The whole OL has a pirate theme to it.
The rooms that are in the OL are a movie/game room, art/craft room,
animator/drawing room, and the explorer room.

The explorer room is basically a room that has a game
that simulates you steering a ship. You get to pick wich ship you want to do
and where you want to port from.

You can watch movies and play video games in this
room.

In the craft room you can make arts and crafts.

I didn't take pictures of the other rooms, but all the
names of the rooms describe them self.

Dance/game floor
on this floor you could play games that where very fun.

These were like computers but with big screens in the
front.

This was the craft/eating/science area that joined the
OC & OL.

Sorry about the different size pictures!!! My computer makes
them all different sizes and I don't know why.

 

[Jaxs27]

Touring the Ship pt2

The Edge

Me and DB1 were in the Edge and loved it!!! Right after
dinner every night, we would change in the room and then head straight to
the Edge. The Edge is on deck 13 mid ship( in one of the red funnels) How
can get up to Edge is that you go to the mid ship elevators or stairs and go
up to 12. Then you look for the sign that says "Edge" and enter. You have to
go up a flight of stairs to get up unless you take the elevator. There is one
elevator that takes you straight up to the Edge.You should be able to tell
which one is the Edge elevator because it's the only elevator that goes up to
deck 13. The Edge has a lot of activity's that all genders and ages (11-14)
enjoy. In the Edge, there is a outside view of the adult only pool. We can
see out but they can't see in. Other things in the Edge are a green screen
room were you can make your own films, also lots of computers and a large
ipad. Another cool thing is the 2 large screens were we watched movies and
played video games.

You will hear a lot about the Edge during this report since I was in it a lot. We then went to the pool deck (11 & 12) and took a
picture with Nigel.

When it was time for the dreaded life boat drill, we went straight to our meeting place. Our meeting place was A, the 2nd floor of the
Walt Disney Theater (deck 4) Last time, we were outside which is horrible. So when I found out we were indoors, I was so thrilled.We then all went to see the show A Fantasy Come True. I really enjoyed seeing the family in the show, on there cruise of a lifetime. After that we headed to dinner. Our 1st dinner will be in a different post but here are some before dinner pics. Our dinner rotation was ERAERRA and so the 1st night we had Enchanted Garden.

Tat ta for now !!!!!

 

[JulieODC]

GREAT report so far!!!

We were on the same cruise as you -- can't wait to hear all about it! I'll be looking for us in your pictures!

 

[maggonz9]

Good job on your trip report so far. I'm really looking forward to hearing about the Edge. My daughter is 12 so she plans to spend a lot of time there.

Do you know if you are able to go to both the Oceaneer Club and the Edge? I was hoping my daughter would be able to go to both so she can hang with her little brother. Thanks!