7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy

[jode246]

We've been waiting for the Nov '17 releases and the only Caribbean trip available the week we want (11/4/17) is the 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy. I'm not thrilled about 3 days at sea - tell me your experiences, convince me I'm wrong!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We've been waiting for the Nov '17 releases and the only Caribbean trip available the week we want (11/4/17) is the 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy. I'm not thrilled about 3 days at sea - tell me your experiences, convince me I'm wrong!

I love sea days. But, then, I cruise to relax and finding a lounger on the promenade deck to sit and read or watch the water go by is my way of doing so

That said, there are plenty of activities onboard during the sea days - you won't be bored.

 

[jode246]

I love sea days. But, then, I cruise to relax and finding a lounger on the promenade deck to sit and read or watch the water go by is my way of doing so

That said, there are plenty of activities onboard during the sea days - you won't be bored.

I'd LOVE to relax for those 3 at-sea days, but with three children in tow I don't see that in my future Yes, there are the kids' clubs for us to steal some relaxation, but we do enjoy spending vacation time with our kids....for the most part, haha!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'd LOVE to relax for those 3 at-sea days, but with three children in tow I don't see that in my future Yes, there are the kids' clubs for us to steal some relaxation, but we do enjoy spending vacation time with our kids....for the most part, haha!

Well, as I said, there's lots of activities (for families, kids, adults, whatever) during the sea days.

 

[squirk]

What don't you like about sea days?

 

[wl1117]

The more sea days the better, IMO. lol

My kids are the type we have to drag out of the Clubs. Yes, we enjoy vacationing with them, but its their vacation too, so if they want to be there, we'll let them for the most part. We do schedule in pool and movie times and we make them come out to eat. We love sea days because we get to enjoy the ship, there's no rush or schedule to keep. We love watching the water go by.

 

[jode246]

What don't you like about sea days?

I honestly don't know much about them. I've never been on a Disney at-sea day (other cruise lines, pre-children) and with two in a row plus another later in the week I just fear cabin fever. I don't mean we'll sit in our room the whole time, just more so full-boat cabin fever. As I said, share your experiences, tell me what you all do, please prove me wrong. We're amateurs, only one (short) Disney cruise under our belts.

 

[squirk]

I honestly don't know much about them. I've never been on a Disney at-sea day (other cruise lines, pre-children) and with two in a row plus another later in the week I just fear cabin fever. I don't mean we'll sit in our room the whole time, just more so full-boat cabin fever. As I said, share your experiences, tell me what you all do, please prove me wrong. We're amateurs, only one (short) Disney cruise under our belts.

Gotcha. OK, in short, sea days are awesome. We actively look forward to them, and have never felt any sort of "cabin fever" on the Fantasy or Dream. As @PrincessShmoo pointed out, you won't get bored for lack of things to do on the ship. And if you decide you want to do nothing at all, that's cool as well.

Don't get me wrong - I like a lot of the port days, too. However, those involve a measure of "hustle and bustle", whether you're making your own way into the port or you're part of a Port Adventure. Either way, you're on a schedule - get up at a certain time, leave the ship at a certain time, get back to the ship at a certain time - and you have to prepare in advance for things like sunscreen, bug repellent, pocket money, passports/KTTW cards, water, snacks, etc. (we have three school-age kids). I'm not saying these are "deal-breakers" for Port Adventures by any means, but sea days are a nice break from all of that.

You get up when you want. You go up to eat when you want. Catch a movie. Take a swim. Send the kids to the clubs and grab an adult beverage by the adult pool. Head to the Rainforest Room for a while. No schedule. No timetable. No loading yourself up like a pack mule before being herded like cattle off the ship. No negotiating cab fares or with straw market vendors.

Very leisurely. And bonus - the ship might not be super-crowded on the sea day since you are looking to sail at an "off" time not tied to a U.S. school vacation period.

I really don't view sea days as a negative. Quite the opposite. Unfortunately, the sea days go by a lot quicker than you'd think.

 

[Rob1872]

We are booked on that sailing for our 2nd cruise. We loved the day at sea for our first 3 night cruise on Magic; we slept in, saw Zootopia in the theater, the kids had some water playtime, had dinner, saw the evening show and the kids partied in the kids clubs until late. We thought 3 at sea days was a great balance of port calls and enjoying the ship, so we happily grabbed that cruise.

 

[Bookwood]

there's so much to do on the ship, you won't be bored unless you want to be. There are classes (cooking, dance, drawing etc), games to play, movies to watch, shopping to do, competitions, putt putt golf, basketball, the water slide just tho name a few things. I never have enough time to do everything I want to.

 

[hardis5]

IMHO 3 sea days is great as you are paying for the cruise to enjoy, not ferry you port-to-port to not take in the ship and all it can offer. Being on a few shorter and a few longer, to us (especially when the kids enjoy the clubs and learn all the other activities the ships offer) the sea days are great.

 

[cruizincathi]

I agree with all of the above! We have done a 3 night and 7 night Western. We are booked on a 7 day Eastern in late 2916 and my kids can't wait for the extra day on the ship. In 2 cruises, we still have never done the mini golf so this is on the bucket list this trip. Try the Mid Ship Detective Agency game(there are 2-3 different games, so could do it more than once.) The kids clubs are great and can be used as much or as little as your family chooses.

 

[jode246]

Can anyone tell me about the typical water conditions during at-sea days, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean? Obviously the time of year affects the waters, but we went on another cruise years ago and our one at-sea day was terribly rocky that I spent the entire day sick in my room (granted the captain did say that the swells were exceptionally larger than usual). I've since liked sailing at night where we're out in deeper waters while I'm sleeping. But we've taken three cruises to Nassau and I'm over it, lol, so I want to venture out of my comfort zone.

 

[Flossbolna]

If you want to see what kind of entertainment is being offered, have a look at the Navigators from previous cruises. There is a nice selection here: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/ Just click on the tab for the Fantasy and pick some Easter Caribbean dates.

As to the water conditions, this can definitely vary. We had some rough weather on our late November Easter Caribbean. For me it was not bad, but they did limit access to some areas of the ship because of the winds and the Aqua Duck was not running because of the winds. But I did not see a lot of people who were green in their faces either. I would recommend to bring some sea sickness medication and maybe take it as a precaution.

 

[squirk]

Can anyone tell me about the typical water conditions during at-sea days, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean? Obviously the time of year affects the waters, but we went on another cruise years ago and our one at-sea day was terribly rocky that I spent the entire day sick in my room (granted the captain did say that the swells were exceptionally larger than usual). I've since liked sailing at night where we're out in deeper waters while I'm sleeping. But we've taken three cruises to Nassau and I'm over it, lol, so I want to venture out of my comfort zone.

Under "normal" conditions on this itinerary, you will rarely, if ever, feel the ship move. At least, that has been our experience sailing in late May.

My wife gets bad motion sickness - can't even ride Seven Dwarfs without feeling nauseous for the rest of the day. She actually drives the entire 10-hour trip to WDW or Port Canaveral because she'll get car sick riding for long periods in the passenger seat. All that being said, she has never gotten sick on our Fantasy E. Carib cruises. Not once. And she's never had to use bonine/dramamine/scop patch, either.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Sea days = brunch at Palo!

 

[lucas]

We love sea days. For us, the ship IS the destination!

 

[jode246]

Sea days = brunch at Palo!

Yum! We had dinner there on the Dream for Valentine's. Will definitely hit them up for brunch next time around!

 

[jode246]

Thank you all for the input, you've certainly given me a lot more information and ideas to consider. Definitely more open-minded about it now, we'll have to sit down and talk about it to decide if we want to pull the trigger on it or not.

Thanks again!

 

[Rob1872]

there's so much to do on the ship, you won't be bored unless you want to be. There are classes (cooking, dance, drawing etc), games to play, movies to watch, shopping to do, competitions, putt putt golf, basketball, the water slide just tho name a few things. I never have enough time to do everything I want to.

What type of dance classes do they typically offer? My wife, oldest son and myself have been taking Jitterbug lessons for 6 months, and my wife and I used to do ballroom dancing (before we had kids).