Western Caribbean Fantasy Apr 28 - May 5

[time4dis]

Saturday. Disembark.



6:45 breakfast served at your last dinner location.
for us, Royal Court.

i stayed back with my son, while everyone else went to breakfast. we got up at 7:15 and tried to slip in, but were denied entry, as they were trying to setup for second seating. so I took him up to Cabanas, where they were 1/2 open and we ate and met our party afterwards. We popped back up to the room, cleaned it out, I stopped by guest services for a couple things to sort out, and that was it.

We filled out our customs forms, customer service surveys and left the ship for the last time, for now. We picked up our luggage at port and went to meet our shuttle. Cocoa Beach Shuttle again. This time went fine. We waited about 15 minutes as they were picking up people at the Carnival port, then swung by Disney and got us. We went straight to the Orlando airport and were there around 10:15. we dropped our checked luggage then browsed about and had lunch. TIP: they have several shops to browse BEFORE you go through security
so we stayed outside security until about 2 hrs before our flight, then went through and to our gate. once you are through security there is much less to see and do there, so either kill time before you go to the Airport, or once you get there, before you go through security. We'd have been really bored with 4hrs to kill sitting at our gate.

Well that's it I guess. Let me know if I missed anything or have questions for me. Thanks! Looking forward to doing another report!

[TrojanJulez]

Thanks you so much for the wonderful information! This was a great trip report, filled with all of the details I am curious about. I especially enjoyed the excursion details, photo info, and infant tips. We will be taking our almost-3-year-old with us, which is not exactly an infant, but I still like knowing what is available since he won't technically be old enough for the Oceaneer Club. How did your son handle the characters? It sounds like you met them a lot... was the waiting time long? We are working on patience around here!

[time4dis]

I will try to come up with more info on our meals, the rainforest room, our stateroom, movies and the list of characters here, just let me know if you have questions.

[time4dis]

Originally Posted by TrojanJulez

How did your son handle the characters? It sounds like you met them a lot... was the waiting time long? We are working on patience around here!

i'm thinking with 3k people and 1200 kids, we were about 2/3 to 3/4 full??? Wait time with most characters was 15-30 mins if you were in a reasonably sized line, but you could certainly wait in line if you have more than 1 adult and bring the kid later. coordinate with the wave phone.

The princess experience, I believe there were 2 opportunities on our 7 night to meet all 6 princesses onboard. That was hilarious. i'd say the end of the line could certainly have been an hour. A few of the other characters were coming around to say hi and sign stuff and take photos with the kids waiting, but for that, you could find yourself in a wait line. the best parts were when the characters were walking from place to place you might bump into one alone accidentally. We met several that way in addition to their formal photo ops. Plus the staff is great, they stop to talk to you and will entertain you for a little bit too, we had several hallway conversations with the great staff all around. And I think under 3yrs old is ok for the nursery, so don't be afraid to drop them for an hour and see if they like it, then you could utilize it again further along in the cruise, even if you feel they might be 'too old' but not old enough for the oceaneer stuff.

figure about 1-2 minutes per family in line to estimate, i'd say. There were decent wait times for sure, but overall, I don't remember being too crabby about 'waiting around' too often.

[TrojanJulez]

Thanks for that info! When you bumped into characters just walking down the hall, were they willing to stop and take a photo, or were they in a hurry to get somewhere?

[Toria]

Enjoyed your TR. Thanks for writing.

[time4dis]

Originally Posted by TrojanJulez

Thanks for that info! When you bumped into characters just walking down the hall, were they willing to stop and take a photo, or were they in a hurry to get somewhere?

they were always gracious and willing to stop for a 1-1. if they got surrounded by people the handler that was with them did a good job of moving things along without really disappointing anyone as far as I could tell. But i never saw a big group mob a character on these chance meetings and most people were content just to wave and watch the character move along.

[Bethleham]

Thank you for the wonderful report. Are there lockers available at the Boatswain's Park/Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman? We are taking that tour next week.

[dumb4disney]

Great TR!!!!

[time4dis]

Originally Posted by Bethleham

Thank you for the wonderful report. Are there lockers available at the Boatswain's Park/Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman? We are taking that tour next week.

I don't recall lockers, but I didn't look for them. There is a changing bathhouse. we had a big enough group where we just carried everything on the turtle tour and then dropped it at a lounger on the little snorkeling beach and someone stayed behind to relax and stay with our things. it wasn't very busy so there was plenty of space. but pack light and you shouldn't have to worry too much.

There are lifeguards around, not that they'd watch your stuff, but I think it would somewhat deter anyone from messing with your things.

[Dawncala]

Thank you for taking time to write this. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. We will be onboard for the Western on May 26th and your TR had great information.

I have a DD 13 & a DS 11. What did your DD think of the new Edge space? Are there things she would highly recommend or not recommend on the ship?

Looking forward to hearing more and seeing photos.

[time4dis]

She really enjoyed the EDGE. most of the time there was really not structured activities planned and she enjoyed the open time, but she did go to the activities they had planned too. All in all, she spent maybe 2 hrs a day there on average , stopping by a couple times a day. we ate just about all our meals together as a family.

You could join Edge mates for Aquaduck rides, and they had a pirate party get together, but we stayed as a family during that.
Mini Golf was small and quick, but fun. There are 3 Mickey Agency Detective mysteries to solve, and I heard that even if you repeat one, you still get a different experience too, so there's many opportunities for that. But at one point I think all the 'badge' cards were in use, so get one when you get the chance if you are going to do it that day, and even the regular Enchanted Artwork is fun to go around to see too.

Also, watch the navigator for 'Family Fun' activities. That's where we did the learn to cook seminars, and the paper airplane class. she also did the character drawing lecture (she said it was a lecture not interactive class so that was a little slow). We did pirate trivia in the D lounge too. We did not do karaoke but there's plenty of opportunities for that as well.


as for more adult stuff: the Rainforest room was fun, but once was enough for us. check it out the day before you get a day pass and make sure it's for you. My wife enjoyed it, i'm not so much a 'spa' person.

There's lots of random moments that will make your own trip special and unique.

One other example was on Castaway Cay, we were walking down the road and Captain Marco came by all alone, he stopped us and asked us how things were and chatted for like 5 minutes. He told us about Italy and such. He was very pleasant, I thought that was really cool, here's the Captain of the ship just stopping by to say hi.

[hardingk]

Thanks for the great TR! We are sailing in a little less then 4 months!!

Did you ever find out why the shuttle didn't come to the hotel to go to the pier? I hope upu didn't get charged!

[time4dis]

Originally Posted by hardingk

Thanks for the great TR! We are sailing in a little less then 4 months!!

Did you ever find out why the shuttle didn't come to the hotel to go to the pier? I hope upu didn't get charged!

unfortunately we had pre-paid for the whole trip, so we have to deal with getting a credit back. But we used a credit card, so if there is an issue, I can at least dispute it. Minor hassle and that's why I would not recommend them for the hotel to port transportation, i'd say just use who the hotel recommends.

[Dodieauglis]

Thanks for the TR!! We are going on this same cruise on October 13. Since we have the same itinerary, is there any chance you can scan and post your Navigators? I did find someone who posted their Navigators for a Western Itinery B but they are embedded in the DISBoard and not in pdf format making them very difficult to print. I am a planoholic so I would like to print them. I also found a site that has itineraries posted but those port calls are out of order from ours. That site is:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruis...-navigator.htm

If you have them scanned and saved already, send me a private message and I will send you my email address.

Thanks again!!!