Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean - first timer with toddler May 16-23 COMPLETED

We just came home from our first DCL cruise today!! What a great vacation! I will try my best to finish my trip report in a timely manner (lol) but I'd like to give a quick overview before I start.

Background: We're from Toronto, Canada and a family of 3. My daughter turned 2 years old just before this trip. We traveled with one of my best friend's family and they also have a boy around the same age as my daughter.

DH and I are not avid cruisers, I would say we average one cruise every 2-3 years. My first one was on the NCL Dawn 10 years ago, then I did a short Star Cruise in Asia, followed by Oasis of the Sea and then Carnival Dream most recently (about 2 years ago). I only cruise when I travel with other family members because it's convenient, but otherwise, we're land-vacation people. I decided it was time to do DCL because I have friends who are gold members and swear by DCL.. so I thought, time to see what it's all about!

Itinerary didn't matter to me because I've done both Eastern and Western. We picked a date that was convenient for both families and just went with it. A quick overview of what we did:

Cozumel - did no excursion, just got off the ship and walked a bit in town then went back onboard (which was awesome cuz I did Aquaduck twice, and my daughter went on the slide in Nemo's reef about 5 times!)

Cayman Island - we took a bus/taxi to the public beach area in the seven-mile beach. We then walked back to the ship (yes walked - we kind of figured it would be about 40 minutes but it ended up being over an hour, lol. Oh well! My daughter was napping in her stroller this whole time, which was the main reason we wanted to walk)

Falmouth - no excursion booked, but we decided to do a last minute trolly tour (the one that's offered right in the port) the tour was ok cuz Falmouth is really small.. but at least we did something and saw Falmouth. After the tour, we went back on the ship and just relaxed. I watched little mermaid by the pool while my daughter napped, and did Aquaduck again!

Castaway Cay - obviously our favourite port! the beach was great and while it was somewhat crowded, it didn't bother me. My friend and I also swam out and checked out all the underwater treasures while the two guys went nap-strolling the kids. The snorkelling is tiring but with the life vest, it wasn't so bad. (but I wouldn't recommend it for young kids)

Service - we liked our stateroom host and servers. They were all friendly with us and tried their best to remember/accommodate our needs. But with two toddlers at the table, we were mostly just focused on getting them to eat and behave so we didn't have as much interactions with all the servers as we could have had. (my friend's son is a lot more social so he did have fun with the server playing tricks for him, while my daughter is extremely shy so she'd cry if they got too close. boo)

In general, I thought the service throughout the ship was good, but to be fair, my experience on the Oasis was equally good if not better - I am not saying DCL wasn't good, it just didn't seem more extraordinary to me. But they were all very good with the kids though, so that made a big difference.

Food - I am not a picky eater although I could be if I tried - but it's very easy to please me (I have realistic expectations when I'm on vacation) so I was happy every meal. I could always find something to eat.

Remy - DH and I like to check out 3 star restaurants when we travel (if there are any where we go). I think for the price, it was worth the money. The food, in my opinion, was obviously not 3 star standard, but definitely very good for the price. The service was great too.

Some other misc things...

Nursery - we used the nursery for our Remy dinner. I have to say the staff were very good and tried their best with my daughter for sure. I know that she cried on and off for 2/3 hours (we got 2 texts and both said she was still a little upset) but our server at Remy told us that if they don't call us, it means they're still able to handle our daughter. Our friend went to pick her up for us after they finished dining at Palo, they told me that my daughter was actually playing when they arrived while their son as crying, but so were some other kids. It made me feel slightly better that apparently it is pretty normal and they're used to it. (but we decided to cancel our other nursery times because I think my daughter was too upset afterwards)

Shows - only saw Aladdin in full and part of Believe. We were usually too tired (or trying to get my daughter to sleep) but Aladdin was a lot of fun!

Stateroom - 8546, balcony room. Loved it! I didn't think I would enjoy the balcony (I had it in prior cruises and I find it scary looking at the water) but turns out my daughter loved it and always wanted her dad to take her out

Fish Extenders - this is my first DCL cruise, so obviously my first FE experience. One word (or two?): LOVED IT! In fact, I felt a little embarrassed after seeing all the gifts we got!!! gosh, people, how did you stuff all the gifts in your luggage?!?! (we flew so had to be careful with luggage room) I have some pictures of what I gave out and what I got, but of course didn't get everything in pictures!!

Some stuff that I found super useful - travel size wet wipes (you can never have too much with a toddler), travel size sunscreen (this was awesome), crayola soap that came in handy when my daughter was fighting me not to bath. We made some rum and coke ourselves (I'm saving the Baileys for home), crocheted coasters are so cute and amazing, the handmade little seeds, magnet and postcard from your local States, etc. My daughter LOVED all the stickers and glow stuff (btw, there was someone dropping off stickers every other day, even last day of cruise!! Not sure if it was someone in our group or just pixie-duster. But THANK YOU, because seriously, 2 year olds love stickers and it calms her down when she's being annoying) oh, and I have no problem with getting candy. I ate a lot of them during movies! so thank you all! (and there are first aid kits, swim bands, etc.. oh and a cute bouncy ball that my daughter couldn't get enough of until she bounced it onto someone else's balcony. oops)



this is what we gave: essential kit for the parents (though I later realized others also did the same, and mine was not all that exciting, lol) for the young kids, I had a tote bag with frozen themed cutleries, some stickers, crayons (I didn't know there were basically crayons everywhere on the ship..oops. won't be giving those again!) and for the older girls, they got tote bags with their names on them.


anyway, that's it for my summary. I'll try my best to do more detailed report!

We headed to DWD for 2 days prior to the cruise. I'll skip the DWD report this time, but I just thought I should mention that MK was SUPER crowded (we went on a Friday) but Epcot was nice and comfortable, and great for adults when my daughter was napping.

We stayed at the POP century resort so we paid for the bus service to the cruise. The bus picked us up around 12:30 and the trip was about an hour and 20 minutes.



And here she is!

Check in was very fast, but I don't know if it had anything to do with the fact we arrived around 2pm. I assume most people had already been checked in? regardless, it was fast and smooth. My daughter was all excited prior to the trip about going on a big boat, but she got a bit scared when she saw Fantasy in person and refused to go on. We walked around the terminal until she was in a better mood..lol


As you can see, she wasn't very happy (more scared)


and of course had to take a picture of the golden Micky in the lobby!

Our balcony room 8546. I loved the location. Nice fwd room. We never had any problem with elevator even with a stroller. People were mostly courteous and we also took the stairs whenever possible.

Nice comfortable room!




The split bath. I loved it (DH said he preferred one - I'm sure we would have fought for the bathroom if there was only one!!



More pictures of the stateroom



Disney on demand! I watched so many movies in my room lol


complimentary bottle of wine from our TA!


the eye-scream machines! I must have had something like 10 cones during the trip



Aquaduck



The drill at the Walt Disney theater. It was pretty fast and not troublesome at all.


This was the Buena Vista theater. I saw Cinderella here! (I saw Avengers 2 and Tomorrowland in the WD theater.. but they had showings throughout the week in both theatres)


We visited the nursery open house because I wanted to make sure my daughter would be comfortable there. Surprisingly, it was much bigger than I imagined! The space was much bigger than what I saw based on pictures online. I only took a couple of pictures because there were other kids around, but the place was big (there's another section I didn't photograph, where they could have dinner)



There was even a section for sleeping, just like at my daughter's daycare



Now the sail away party!



Our rotation was RAERAAE which I had specifically requested (actually I requested two rotations, just to make sure we didn't have Animator's Palatte on night 3) I liked Royal Court's standard menu, but I enjoyed all the themed menus equally.


Our friends had arrived already!


Most nights we got my daughter something from the kids menu although she would often end up eating our stuff and I'd finish her plate (and half of the time she would not eat anything AT ALL, you know, kids) I thought the portion was way too much for her, so our server took note of that and only served her half portions afterwards.


Micky Bar! (now this was always a hit with the two kids)


After dinner, we saw there were tons of kids dancing in the lobby, so the two kids joined in as well!



I was very surprised my daughter danced because she's usually super shy. It obviously meant she was having a lot of fun!!



After some dancing, we put her to bed and she fell asleep right away because of the tiring DWD trip. (but this was the ONLY day she willingly fell asleep in the room.... for the remainder of the trip, we had to walk her in the stroller on deck 4 for an hour before she would sleep. If you were on that trip and ever in deck 4 between 9 and midnight. You probably saw us, lol!)

Nice report so far! Cant wait to see the rest as I am on the Fantasy in Sept 2016 (argh wished it wasnt so far away) with my kids (one will be 5 when we go on that one)

Day 2 - Sea day!

We had no specific plans for this day, so we're just kind of walking around. Lots of characters and princesses on sea day. My daughter loved seeing them but from far. She would cry if we got too close.. well, hopefully she'll get better towards the end of the cruise!


After breakfast, we headed to Nemo's Reef. I think we must have spent like 40 minutes here or more because she just loved it. Here are a few pictures of Nemo's Reef


Her friend Felix joined us and they had a lot of fun together


After Nemo's Reef and a quick lunch, DH and her both napped in the room while I went to watch the Avengers 2 in 3D. It was listed as a special showing in the Walt Disney theater. It was pretty full but I was by myself so I found a seat without any problem.


After the movie, we got ready for the formal night! Our meal tonight was at the Animator's Palatte. The show tonight was "talk with crush". Unfortunately we were seated in the middle so we didn't get to talk to Crush, boo.

Although AP's regular menu isn't as good as Royal Court's, I personally preferred AP's atmosphere and I didn't think it was weird to have formal night here.

here's a shot of us all dressed up




Our servers remembered that we do not want butter on the table with bread (only because my daughter would insist on eating every single package and cry if we didn't let her) and they also remembered that Felix doesn't like high chairs so he always got an adult chair! They tried their best to entertain the two kids and I know Felix enjoyed the little tricks.. not so much my daughter because she's just super timid. oh well!

After dinner, the two kids were just being silly and acting like kids



We got changed and then went to the Aladdin show. So here's the thing, when we were at Magic Kingdom, we went on the "Carousel of Progress" ride which honestly is such a mild and not-scary ride. But my daughter HATED it because of all the fake people (I guess?) so she suddenly developed a fright of theaters (even during the drill she kept wanting to leave). We tried watching the welcome show on the first night but she started crying after two minutes when the characters appeared. So with Aladdin, I tried to prepare her for it, constantly telling her those are people dancing and singing, not big scary characters. In any case, she enjoyed it, we actually managed to watch the whole thing! (and that ended up being the ONLY show we watched beginning to end)

Day 3 - Cozumel

I had initially booked the ruins & beach excursion but I found out that the beach park was under renovation and all the kiddie stuff would be closed. We decided to cancel the excursion and just walk around the port. Truth is there wasn't much to see (but good for souvenirs if you're looking for some shopping)


Here's fantasy from far!


My daughter fell asleep while we were in on shore, so we decided to check out the sports deck while she slept. The mini golf looks so cute! too bad we never got a chance to come, but it looked like fun.




Here's Aqua lab, the big kids splash zone


We also took turns and did the Aquaduck! the wait was only about 10 minutes or so, perfect time to do it while the ship is docked!!


After my daughter woke up, we went to Nemo's reef again and this time she got to do the slides about five times in a row. I love being on the ship while docked!




and then we went back to the room and enjoyed some ice cream on the balcony (a treat for her because we were putting her in the nursery that night)


ok, so tonight is Remy night. We decided to drop her off earlier at 5pm hoping she'd eat at nursery. Big mistake because she just cried on and off the whole time and didn't eat. Felix showed up at 6pm (our friends were going to Palo) and we were hoping they'd both be happier with each others there. Nope, not really. The nursery texted us twice throughout the meal and each time they said she was a little upset (default messages) the staff at Remy told us not to worry too much. If it was THAT bad, they would have called us to pick her up.. so we just decided to try and enjoy our meal!

View from our table


Usually you get a complimentary glass of champagne, but because we ordered cocktails already, we got them towards the end of the meal! the cocktails were very good though!!

the kitchen from Ratatouille


the amouse bouche




here's the menu. The left was made by the French chef Arnaud Lallement and the right by chef Scott Hunnel of Victoria and Albert. You can also mix and match (bottom portion) but we decided to take the tasting menus (me French, DH the other)


This is not a food review so I won't go into details but we were happy with the food and thought the price was well worth it. It's not quite the 3 star michelin standard but definitely gourmet high end quality. The only slight disappointment was the wine pairing that my husband took. It was $105 but he thought the selections were just ok.


Dessert was also very delicious! plus the petit four (which we ended up packing cuz we were so full)


I jokingly said to DH that perhaps they'll give a little gift just like in 3 star restaurants (often they bring you a box of homemade chocolates when you leave) and voila, there it is! Remy's nice little box of chocolates and even a rose for me!


Overall, we were very happy with this meal. If you're into gourmet food/upscale dining, I highly recommend this experience.

p.s. our friends picked up my daughter for us since they finished at Palo earlier. They told me she was playing when they got there but Felix was crying.. but, they also said there were a couple of other kids who were crying even more, and a mom who got called to come get her child. I guess we're not the only ones who have crying toddlers in the nursery! (the staff there were really great and patient given what they have to deal with!)

Ipt looks,like your daughter was having a fab time at Nemo's reef. Our DS will be nearly,7on our cruise. Any thoughts,about Aqua,duck for him?

Benchley said:

Ipt looks,like your daughter was having a fab time at Nemo's reef. Our DS will be nearly,7on our cruise. Any thoughts,about Aqua,duck for him?

Click to expand...

I think your son should be able to go on Aquaduck with one of you as long as he is over 42" tall (single rider must be 54" or taller). The line on day 1 or 2 (or first sea day) will be longer, but both times I did Aquaduck during port-days, the wait was only 10 minutes. I heard evening lines are short too!

We are booked on the Fantasy for the Western Caribbean cruise in Feb 2016! Your trip sounds like so much fun and Remy looks delicious! Your daughter is adorable too! Looking forward to more!

Thank you! We are sailing this itinerary in July! Would you please be able to share your navigators with us! Thanks!

kiapepito said:

Thank you! We are sailing this itinerary in July! Would you please be able to share your navigators with us! Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hi there! Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the navigators, but I am happy to answer any questions you have if I can!

It's finally the weekend, which means more time to write my trip report, yay!

One thing I forgot to mention for Day 3 (and for many days after) is the toddler time. We really enjoyed this! At first I was afraid my daughter would be too old for toddler time even though she's technically still a toddler, but I was just thinking it might be more for crawling babies. Turns out she had a lot of fun too.

The toddler time was always hosted at the Outlook on deck 14. Outlook has a great view to the water. They always had hot tea/coffee, milk and cookies too so we can just sit and chat and enjoy the view. There were always a couple of toddler times on sea days (sometimes 1 session sometimes 2) but we also had toddler time on Falmouth day, maybe even Grand Cayman, I can't remember. It was definitely more than just sea days. Here's a picture of my little one playing with her friend.



Day 4 - Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman was the only port I was looking forward to beside CC. A couple of my friends had been there (not with cruise, but land vacation) and all said it was really nice, clean, safe, well maintained (albeit expensive). So I was looking forward to a free-stroll-beach day.

We were planning to take the public bus that was $2.5 per person to the Seven Mile Beach. We couldn't find the $2.5 bus but did find those $4 buses. I was weary at first because I read a review about how the driver wouldn't start the car until it was full and wouldn't let them off either. In our case it was fine. We were the only people in the mini bus (4 adults and 2 kids) and the driver took off right away. She recommended that we go to the public beach because there are swings and slides for the kids. Admission was free, but you pay for chairs and umbrella. I think the other beaches had a fee but not sure if you would have to pay for a chair.

The public beach was nice and not crowded at all. We were pretty pleased with it.


My friend also negotiated fresh coconut for us and ended up paying $5 for 3! (the sign was 1 for $3 lol)


and my daughter swimming


We had lunch in the restaurant that was right by the beach. My jerk chicken was good and spicy


After lunch, it was already nap time for the two kids.. Felix had already fallen asleep in his daddy's arm and we knew my daughter was getting grumpy and tired. We decided to walk back to the port/Georgetown while my friends took the real public bus back. We thought the walk would be about 40 minutes but it ended up being 70 minutes, boy. Oh well, it was good exercise. There were tons of lizards and iguanas too


Georgetown was a bit of a disappointment. I knew it isn't what the Cayman is known for and is jut a financial hub, but I guess I was expecting it to be like Hamilton, Bermuda. (I love Bermuda, it's such a cute place and everywhere you go, it feels safe, clean and lively). Georgetown isn't all that pretty, but it did have some major American stores. Maybe I need a land vacation to appreciate Cayman Islands.



The fruit flavoured water DCL provides!


Tonight was the prince and princess's night. My daughter was in a really good mood so she agreed to put on her Minnie dress (it was a gift from Felix's mom!)


We even managed to get a picture with Micky. She basically has a love/hate relationship with all the characters. Gets super excited seeing them and super scared near them. We were lucky to get a picture with Micky without too much crying! (she wanted to get photos with Micky herself.. of course then last minute she started crying, lol)


Then she saw Cinderella in the lobby!


until Cinderella came too close

Oh well, next year perhaps!

Day 5 - Falmouth, Jamaica

I had no expectation nor plans for Falmouth. We were just thinking we'd get off the ship for half an hour then back on. The port itself was actually very nice because it only opened in 2011.


I can't remember which RCCL ship this was, but it was a bit smaller than Fantasy. Falmouth is also the only Jamaican port that can accommodate the Oasis class ships.


At first, we just wanted to visit the port town a little bit.. so we left the port gate and started walking in the more local village (?) right outside.. but the amount of haggling for excursion/taxi/food/drinks was too much for me, and there were so many police on the street, it didn't really make me feel all that safer. We decided to go back to the port and took the trolly tour instead ($22 each adult)


The trolly tour was about an hour, included a half hour stop at a local church and 10 minutes by a small beach (just so you can get some local souvenirs) overall, I guess we can say we saw Falmouth. There weren't really any other excursions that interested us so this was good enough.

In any case, it was extremely hot in Falmouth, my daughter was starting to be uncomfortable and eventually fell asleep in the trolly in my arms. After we got back onboard, she continued napping but woke up with a mild fever. We suspected it might have been a heat stroke. Poor thing, she slept for almost 4 hours that afternoon. She felt better after some kids tylenol and then was ready for pirate night!


My friends were all dressed up!!!


I did my best by preparing pirate-themed t-shirts and red sash/belt



After dinner, we all went to the pirate show. My daughter enjoyed it, she really wanted to dance but it was too crowded and nowhere to dance, boo



after the show, we took her back to the room so she could rest (still not feeling 100%) and I went out for the fireworks. My camera isn't great so I don't have any good pictures of the fireworks.


On my way back to the room, I snapped this picture of the Quiet Cove Pool! It was always pretty empty during the cruise, I'd love to come enjoy this next time!

Hello! I was on the Fantasy 2 weeks before you on the Eastern itinerary, but I'd love to go on the Western one day and I'm definitely going back on the Fantasy in the future. I had my 19mo old with me and she HATED the nursery. I made the mistake of putting her in there on the first night (got to go on the Aquaduck ONCE...) and she lasted only 1 hour. I also got the Wave Phone texts saying that she was upset, 3x actually. When I went to pick her up, she had the saddest look of terror. The rest of the cruise she was stuck on me like glue and didn't want anyone else but me. So we never made it back there either. And I remembered when I went to return her magic band, there was a little girl crying bloody murder because she didn't want to be in there. Her mom was actually in there with her...checking her IN.

Your daughter is too cute. I love her reactions with the characters. You posted a pic of Cinderella. She's the same one that was on my cruise. I actually saw her (non-Cinderella time) on a different day assisting the line for Donald Duck and thought I'd be cute and whisper to her "Hey Cinderella!" She curtly responded to me "Oh no, my name is Katie." OK...can you say AWKWARD...

Who were your dining team? I had Jose from Dom Rep and Made from Indonesia. I was also on Deck 8 (8606). My room attendant was Josefina from Peru. I miss her! Wished I could've snuck her in my luggage and brought her to my home.

One more thing, for sharing your review!

genki3 said:

I had my 19mo old with me and she HATED the nursery. I made the mistake of putting her in there on the first night (got to go on the Aquaduck ONCE...) and she lasted only 1 hour.

Click to expand...

I hear you! Honestly, I thought their staff at the nursery were very good. But I don't think that makes too much of a difference to kids at that age. It took my daughter 3 weeks to fully adapt and stop crying at her current daycare and her teachers are amazing. So I totally 100% expected she would cry most of the time.. I guess I just *hoped* that she wouldn't too much if she had a friend there. (but then again, I don't really think 2 year olds consider each others as friends, more like playmates, lol) Having said that, when I dropped her off, there were at least 2 or 3 other kids that were playing contently at the nursery. My friends on the other hand, said they saw a lot more crying during pick up, so I guess it really just depends on the child!

But hearing your experience made me realize my daughter probably actually did OK at the nursery. She was there about 3 hours and we got 2 texts, both times said she was "a little upset", I think it meant she was just crying on and off (since she apparently was playing when my friends went to get her)

Our dining room staff were Thanaphone (sp?) from Thailand and Shaun from India. They were both very nice. Actually now I wish we had a female staff only because my daughter is scared of males in general! I can't remember our stateroom host's name or place she was from, oops, but she was a bigger lady who had a very direct attitude (which I wasn't used to at first, lol) but actually really nice. It was like the way my mom would talk to me, haha (giving me instructions for the room very straight and then constantly telling me not to forget sunscreen and hats and stuff every single time!)

Last part of my trip report!!!

Something I forgot to add in the Falmouth day - DH and I went to the Senses Spa! I had booked the treatments in advance and I booked him a deep cleaning shave, and a massage + facial for myself. I purposely booked them back to back so we could take turns watching my daughter. The Senses Spa is very nice, just like any fancy hotel spa. I initially booked the "Absolute Ritual" (massage + full facial) but last minute, I saw a special promo on the navigator which was a full massage + mini facial, for $100 LESS!!! well duh, I don't really know if a full facial is worth that much more than a mini one. I inquired and they let me switch my treatment, yay. Overall, I was very happy with what I got and I even fell asleep during the massage and facial! DH said the shave treatment was good but not as traditional as he would have preferred.

Day 5 - at sea
This was our second and last at sea day. Honestly, I can't remember what we did (as you can see, it seems to be a pattern with my trip report, always adding something afterwards, oops!) We did check out the midship detective game. My daughter obviously didn't "get" it but she was very excited to take an agent card and imitate us thinking she was the one making the pictures move.



Later that day, we also went to the Rain Forest Spa. We got two passes complimentary of our TA. Again we took turns to go, DH spent about an hour there and he said he tried to do a bit of everything there. I spent maybe just 30 minutes because I was bored.. the spa is really nice with all the water treatments and steam room and stuff, but I get bored being there by myself. It was a nice experience and I'd definitely go again if I got complimentary passes.

Also, we got the premEAR of tomorrowland tonight at midnight!


We also took my daughter to toddler time again. This is where all the adults sit and chat, and the kids play area is basically to the left of this picture


Alright, tonight's main event! Animation show!!!!




this one is my daughter..obviously


Tonight is also Captain's Gala, so we had lobster as main course. Our server knew I love lobsters so he asked if I wanted two, so two it is! delicious!!


Animation show! mine is the third from the left


collaboration!


Credits, that's too cute!


A quick note. We booked Remy on purpose on night 3 because my reasoning was that no matter which rotation I get - night 3 guarantees that I will NOT miss the animation show (since it is always the "last" show in AP). We did put in a specific request to NOT get AP on night 3 and we ended with RAERAAE. But even if we did have AP on night 3, at least we wouldn't miss the animation show.

After dinner, we went to a family dance event at the Tube


Followed by a kids variety show. It was pretty funny and I was surprised that my daughter sat through the whole thing!! She was staring at the guy and applauding when he joggled


We went to bed after the show because DH needed to wake up early the next day for the 5K!

Day 7 - Castaway Cay

view from our balcony, exciting!


DH left the room around 7:30 to grab breakfast then met with the 5K group while we slept in. I don't have any pictures of him doing the 5K but here's the little medal!


After breakfast, I took my daughter off the ship to meet with our friends who were already at the beach while DH went back to shower and eat a real breakfast. Here are a couple random pictures of CC:





ah, and I spent money on an Olaf cup, lol


There were lots of strollers and wagons to use (actually, wagons went faster) I think I got there around 10am and there were still plenty. The following picture was taken around 11 and the wagons were gone, but still lots of strollers


My daughter loved the wagon!


We were in the slightly far end of the first family beach (before the Pelican Plunge) and managed to grab 2 chairs relatively close to the beach. Again, if you came closer to 11, it was definitely pretty hard to get a chair by the water





One thing I liked about the buffet on CC was the "whole fruits" section! They had whole mangos which they never had on the ship!


After lunch, the two guys went nap-strolling the kids while me and my friend decided we would do some snorkelling. If you want to swim out to see the underwater treasures, just keep in mind it is not close by and not an easy swim. I mean, it wasn't "hard" but it was far. I took this picture below when we were maybe 1/3 of the way or something. That gives you an idea how far you had to swim to see the underwater treasures


but it was definitely cool to see all the stuff!!


Especially this guy!


and this gal!


It was tiring, but worth it. then I came back to a wide-awake kid. Oh well, we're on vacation!


Our last night was at Enchanted Garden. It would have been nice to get one of the booth but I don't think it would fit 6 people


After dinner, DH went to see Tomorrowland (additional showing) while I tried to put my daughter to bed but failed. I just waited till he was done and we swapped (he's better at putting her to bed than me!) I went to see Tomorrowland right after as they were basically having back to back showings. I'm just glad I didn't have to pay for it ...

this pretty much concludes our vacation!! The next morning, we decided to eat at Cabanas (which closed at 8:30am) as opposed to our main-dining seating (would have been 6:45am), then we just walked off the boat, got our luggage and went to the airport. It was all pretty nice and smooth. My daughter slept all the way back to Toronto. I think she was very tired from the trip!

We are so happy we tried DCL. We really enjoyed this cruise even though we generally prefer land vacation! After this cruise experience, we've decided we'll do an European DCL cruise and make a combination land/cruise vacation. We booked onboard (not placeholder though since I knew which cruise I wanted to do) early on, maybe by day 2? do it early otherwise there might be a line if you go on the last day!

Thanks for reading my trip report and let me know if you have any questions!

Nice trip report and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Now I cant wait to go on the Fantasy to western caribbean in Sept 2016. Its torture having to wait that long now though,

Thanks for your trip report. Did you request a specific dining rotation? I'd like to have pirates night in AP, and wondered what that would mean for our dining rotation

What was the name of the beach they took you to in gc? How much were chairs and umbrellas?

kiapepito said:

What was the name of the beach they took you to in gc? How much were chairs and umbrellas?

Click to expand...

It was actually called "public beach" (they have a sign with 6 or 7 beach names, and this one was called Public Beach because there is no admission). For 2 chairs and an umbrella they charged $20. I think we definitely overpaid (coconut prices were $3 for 1 but my friend eventually got 3 for $5!! so I'm sure you can negotiate the chairs and umbrella)

Thanks for the TR! How did you find the Fantasy in relation to other ships you've been on? Was it comparable in terms of food and service? (Minus all the Disney magic and characters, of course!).

Benchley said:

Thanks for your trip report. Did you request a specific dining rotation? I'd like to have pirates night in AP, and wondered what that would mean for our dining rotation

Click to expand...

Yes I did, I asked my TA to put in AERAEER as choice #1 and RAERAAE as choice #2. We ended up with the latter which I am happy about actually! That's the rotation you'd need if you want to do pirate night in AP (pirate night being night 5 for us on the Western)

chunkymonkey said:

Thanks for the TR! How did you find the Fantasy in relation to other ships you've been on? Was it comparable in terms of food and service? (Minus all the Disney magic and characters, of course!).

Click to expand...

I was on the Oasis in 2010 and Carnival Dream in 2012 (NCL Dawn 2005 but that's too long ago for a good comparison!)

My experience on the Oasis was also wonderful (but no kids at that time and keep in mind this was the year Oasis inaugurated). The service was amazing, in particular our dining room server (even better than my experience this time) the food was also very good quality, similar to DCL. I think if I were to travel with other adults with no kids (for examples like my parents or in laws) I will probably go with the Oasis because I think they will appreciate the shows on the Oasis better (ice skating show, outdoor water show, etc) and enjoy the walk in the central park area and such. On the other hand, if I'm going to travel with my brother's family and my niece then definitely DCL! I do think that the my experience on the Oasis was pretty on par with the Disney Fantasy but DCL does an amazing job with kids.

Carnival Dream on the other hand was a joke to me - the service was mediocre, food was mediocre and even the shows were not comparable to Oasis nor DCL. I personally would not sail Carnival again - that's just my experience!