jaybo22
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2013
This is a trip report for the Disney Fantasy 7-night Western Caribbean Star Wars Day at Sea cruise departing on January 7, 2017.
This was my second Disney cruise, also on the second cruise on the Fantasy. You can check out my trip report for that cruise for a lot of my original experience and lessons learned. I’ll be adding to it in this report.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...-lessons-learned.3113447/page-3#post-50045610
For this cruise, I (man 41) sailed with my wife (woman) and kids, Boy 8 and Girl 5. Since we loved our first cruise so much, we brought along my brother’s family (Niece 6) and my parents for a grand family adventure..
Itinerary:
Day - Destination - Attire
Day 1: Embarkation. Cruise Casual.
Day 2: Sea Day. Formal Night.
Day 3: Cozumel, Mexico. Pirate Night.
Day 4: Grand Cayman. Cruise Casual.
Day 5: Falmouth, Jamaica. Cruise Casual.
Day 6: Star Wars Day at Sea. Cruise Casual.
Day 7: Castaway Cay: Cruise Casual.
Day 8: Debark.
Booking:
Tip: Use a Travel Agent to at least get a shipboard credit.
We used the travel agency who sponsors the Disboards. Overall, the value-add of using the TA over is primarily to get the shipboard credit. There room inventory and costs are the same as on the DCL website and there was minimal “insider” advice, etc. The company was easy to work with in requestings a quote, booking, changing reservations, and making final payments using Disney Rewards Card (the card you get from redeeming Disney Chase Visa points). They sent us a very thoughtful gift basket as well.
Pre-Cruise:
Tip: Pay attention to all the dates to pay and sign-up for things the first minute you can.
Tip: This includes reserving your boarding time which you can only do once your completed all of your online paperwork.
I stayed up late the book at 12:00 am on the night I was able to reserve on-board activities, meals, and excursions. You can change it later, but some things will sell out so jump on it. Being our second cruise, we could book a little earlier than first timers. The only thing that was unavailable when we booked were Cabanas on Castaway Cay. We booked Princess Tea, Bibbity Boppity Boutique, Frozen Character Meet, Character Breakfast, a shore excursion, and Remy Reservations.
Travel:
We drove down from NC again and had a few days at the parks in Orlando before the cruise. We left around 9:45 am from Orlando and went to the port. We took the toll road which cost about $5-6 total. Crowd levels in the parks were a 10 out of 10 the week following New Years leading up to the Disney Marathon weekend.
Room:
Tip: If you have a group, booking adjoining balcony rooms can give you a nice place to hang out.
Tip: Bring an air freshener for the bathroom.
We booked three adjoining staterooms, 9226-9628-9630, which are Category 04A - Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. Aside from cost, this is a great class of room. We were able to have our balconies opened up that so that we could all hang out before dinner and walk between rooms. Two rooms shared an inside door we could open up as well. Overall, I liked the location of the room. Deck 9 is just two quick floors down from Cabanas and the pool deck. We were located midway between Midship and Aft on the starboard side. In a perfect world may have liked to have been closer to Midship for convenience, but not a major issue. Our room steward was Chart. He did a great job of working around our schedule and overlooking our clutter.
Bathrooms can have a bit of a “sewer” smell coming from the plumbing. We brought an air freshener to leave on the shelf and it did help a little. Luckily, you have a separate room for the shower. Both have a sink, so you can save toothbrushing for the shower room.
Packing / Attire:
Tip: Don’t ignore formal night, but don’t sweat it either.
Tip: Give yourself some room in your suitcase to bring back all your booty.
This time around I went a bit simpler in what I packed. One jacket (formal night and Remy), two dress shirts, 5 collared cruise casual shirts, 2 slacks, 1 pair jeans, shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits. One pair leather shoes, one pair casual shoes, one pair of flip-flops. No tie for formal night or Remy, the jacket was just fine.. By the end I was willing to swap the pants for shorts at dinner.
We had some collared shirts for my son as well as a blazer for formal night. We had a ton of dresses for my daughter. That’s her thing and what better place to bring out all of the princess gear she has. Since it was January, we all had a fleece or sweater which did get work at least once or twice.
We did have a dedicated suitcase that was taken up primarily by Fish Extender gifts. I’ll address that later on…
Pirate Night Attire: you see the range from nothing to full costume attire. We had pirate outfits for the kids (halloween costume / pirate t-shirt). DCL hooks everyone up with a pirate bandana so everyone gets into it a little.
Star Wars Day at Sea Attire: we had Jedi robes for my son to wear for pictures and Star Wars t-shirts for the rest of us to wear during the day. Being that it was a full-day, it was mostly casual. We did see a handful of costumes in the evening.
Dining:
We had the Main (early) seating at 5:30-45 pm. Our main dining room (MDR) order was ERAERRA which I really liked. With a group of 9, we had a large table to ourselves. Rectangular tables, with 4 a side a 1 at the head of the table. Space on the table does get tight. The whole family ate in the MDR every night except when one couple had Remy reservations.
2nd Night - Formal.
3rd Night - Pirates.
4th Night Captain’s Gala Dinner (Lobster Night) - Free Drinks before dinner in the atrium.
5th Night - Star Wars Menu & Late Night Buffet
Tip: If you can’t decide, choose both! You can get two appetizers or desserts to try/share if you can’t decide.
Animators Palate
Tip: Don’t miss Animator’s Palace. Reschedule your Remy reservations around it if you have to.
We had table 66 which had a great location in AP near the wall and video screens. On the first night you go to AP, they have an interactive experience with Crush the Sea Turtle. We were very lucky based on our table location to have Crush talk directly to my 5 yr old daughter and ask her some questions. This is truly some Disney magic that they pull off to hear a child’s voice over the crowd noise and have personalized responses.
The second night you get to have your own stick figure drawings come to life as they use the Disney magic to animate them and have them dance around the restaurant. A truly one-of-a-kinds experience.
Enchanted Garden:
Tip: Don’t miss watching the ceiling turn colors as the dinner progresses. They flower shaped lamps “bloom” as well.
Allergies:
Tip: Communicate your allergies and needs and DCL with work with you to get you the best experience possible.
My son had serious allergies (epi-pen) to Shellfish and Tree Nuts and a mild allergy to Dairy. Overall, DCL does a really great job handling allergies. Every night we were able to view the menu for the main dining room for the next night and put in our request. We kept it simple focusing on proteins / sides that worked for us. The dessert options improved this time around. Cabanas had several non-dairy options (multiple flavors of rice-dream ice cream, sorbet, and allergen free cookies) available upon request. In the main dining room, our server arranged for an different allergen-free dessert each night. My son really appreciated that he wasn’t relegated to just plain vanilla every night and excited to get his special dessert.
Drinks:
Tip: The “Drink of the Day” is a fruity mixed drink that costs a couple bucks less than other drinks. The variety is kind of quirky with drinks like the “Yellow Bird”, not your typical boat drinks..
Tip: Pack a beer koozie in your beach bag for Castaway Cay in case you get bucket of cold-ones.
I also got the Beer Mug special where you buy the souvenir mug for $17 and get 22 oz for the price of 16 every time you use it. You can trade it in for a card so you don’t have to carry it around and clean it. I don’t think I’d do it again because I don’t think I drank enough to “pay for it” and I didn’t really need another piece of souvenir drinkware. I kept the token card in hopes of using it again in the future.
Entertainment
Since we had early seating, we had shows scheduled at 8-8:30 pm. We ended up watching two stage shows in the Walt Disney Theater and well as Rogue One on Star Wars Day in that time slot.
A Fantasy Come True - first night show was part DCL pep rally and part variety show. You get a taste of the stage shows as well as the magician playing on the ship that week. Entertaining but not memorable.
Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular- great show that the whole family enjoyed. The Genie was very funny.
As time went on, the kids wanted to spend time in the Oceaneer Club after they finished dinner. As a result, we didn’t watch the other stage shows.
Being a Star Wars cruise,they did play all of the movies in the theater at least once. Not all times were convenient. It was fun to watch Empire Strikes Back on the big screen. I was surprised that Rogue One wasn’t a packed house since it was still a new release in theaters. They did play in both Walt Disney (3D) and Buena Vista theaters at the same time.
I was also about to catch a late night showing of Dr. Strange (3D) and it was very full for a 10:30 pm show.
Tip: the entertainment cast also have day jobs as handlers for the characters. If you pay attention during the show, you can see them around the ship.
...more to come. I'm posting this not to give me motivation to write up a few more thoughts. Happy to answer any questions.
This was my second Disney cruise, also on the second cruise on the Fantasy. You can check out my trip report for that cruise for a lot of my original experience and lessons learned. I’ll be adding to it in this report.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...-lessons-learned.3113447/page-3#post-50045610
For this cruise, I (man 41) sailed with my wife (woman) and kids, Boy 8 and Girl 5. Since we loved our first cruise so much, we brought along my brother’s family (Niece 6) and my parents for a grand family adventure..
Itinerary:
Day - Destination - Attire
Day 1: Embarkation. Cruise Casual.
Day 2: Sea Day. Formal Night.
Day 3: Cozumel, Mexico. Pirate Night.
Day 4: Grand Cayman. Cruise Casual.
Day 5: Falmouth, Jamaica. Cruise Casual.
Day 6: Star Wars Day at Sea. Cruise Casual.
Day 7: Castaway Cay: Cruise Casual.
Day 8: Debark.
Booking:
Tip: Use a Travel Agent to at least get a shipboard credit.
We used the travel agency who sponsors the Disboards. Overall, the value-add of using the TA over is primarily to get the shipboard credit. There room inventory and costs are the same as on the DCL website and there was minimal “insider” advice, etc. The company was easy to work with in requestings a quote, booking, changing reservations, and making final payments using Disney Rewards Card (the card you get from redeeming Disney Chase Visa points). They sent us a very thoughtful gift basket as well.
Pre-Cruise:
Tip: Pay attention to all the dates to pay and sign-up for things the first minute you can.
Tip: This includes reserving your boarding time which you can only do once your completed all of your online paperwork.
I stayed up late the book at 12:00 am on the night I was able to reserve on-board activities, meals, and excursions. You can change it later, but some things will sell out so jump on it. Being our second cruise, we could book a little earlier than first timers. The only thing that was unavailable when we booked were Cabanas on Castaway Cay. We booked Princess Tea, Bibbity Boppity Boutique, Frozen Character Meet, Character Breakfast, a shore excursion, and Remy Reservations.
Travel:
We drove down from NC again and had a few days at the parks in Orlando before the cruise. We left around 9:45 am from Orlando and went to the port. We took the toll road which cost about $5-6 total. Crowd levels in the parks were a 10 out of 10 the week following New Years leading up to the Disney Marathon weekend.
Room:
Tip: If you have a group, booking adjoining balcony rooms can give you a nice place to hang out.
Tip: Bring an air freshener for the bathroom.
We booked three adjoining staterooms, 9226-9628-9630, which are Category 04A - Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. Aside from cost, this is a great class of room. We were able to have our balconies opened up that so that we could all hang out before dinner and walk between rooms. Two rooms shared an inside door we could open up as well. Overall, I liked the location of the room. Deck 9 is just two quick floors down from Cabanas and the pool deck. We were located midway between Midship and Aft on the starboard side. In a perfect world may have liked to have been closer to Midship for convenience, but not a major issue. Our room steward was Chart. He did a great job of working around our schedule and overlooking our clutter.
Bathrooms can have a bit of a “sewer” smell coming from the plumbing. We brought an air freshener to leave on the shelf and it did help a little. Luckily, you have a separate room for the shower. Both have a sink, so you can save toothbrushing for the shower room.
Packing / Attire:
Tip: Don’t ignore formal night, but don’t sweat it either.
Tip: Give yourself some room in your suitcase to bring back all your booty.
This time around I went a bit simpler in what I packed. One jacket (formal night and Remy), two dress shirts, 5 collared cruise casual shirts, 2 slacks, 1 pair jeans, shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits. One pair leather shoes, one pair casual shoes, one pair of flip-flops. No tie for formal night or Remy, the jacket was just fine.. By the end I was willing to swap the pants for shorts at dinner.
We had some collared shirts for my son as well as a blazer for formal night. We had a ton of dresses for my daughter. That’s her thing and what better place to bring out all of the princess gear she has. Since it was January, we all had a fleece or sweater which did get work at least once or twice.
We did have a dedicated suitcase that was taken up primarily by Fish Extender gifts. I’ll address that later on…
Pirate Night Attire: you see the range from nothing to full costume attire. We had pirate outfits for the kids (halloween costume / pirate t-shirt). DCL hooks everyone up with a pirate bandana so everyone gets into it a little.
Star Wars Day at Sea Attire: we had Jedi robes for my son to wear for pictures and Star Wars t-shirts for the rest of us to wear during the day. Being that it was a full-day, it was mostly casual. We did see a handful of costumes in the evening.
Dining:
We had the Main (early) seating at 5:30-45 pm. Our main dining room (MDR) order was ERAERRA which I really liked. With a group of 9, we had a large table to ourselves. Rectangular tables, with 4 a side a 1 at the head of the table. Space on the table does get tight. The whole family ate in the MDR every night except when one couple had Remy reservations.
2nd Night - Formal.
3rd Night - Pirates.
4th Night Captain’s Gala Dinner (Lobster Night) - Free Drinks before dinner in the atrium.
5th Night - Star Wars Menu & Late Night Buffet
Tip: If you can’t decide, choose both! You can get two appetizers or desserts to try/share if you can’t decide.
Animators Palate
Tip: Don’t miss Animator’s Palace. Reschedule your Remy reservations around it if you have to.
We had table 66 which had a great location in AP near the wall and video screens. On the first night you go to AP, they have an interactive experience with Crush the Sea Turtle. We were very lucky based on our table location to have Crush talk directly to my 5 yr old daughter and ask her some questions. This is truly some Disney magic that they pull off to hear a child’s voice over the crowd noise and have personalized responses.
The second night you get to have your own stick figure drawings come to life as they use the Disney magic to animate them and have them dance around the restaurant. A truly one-of-a-kinds experience.
Enchanted Garden:
Tip: Don’t miss watching the ceiling turn colors as the dinner progresses. They flower shaped lamps “bloom” as well.
Allergies:
Tip: Communicate your allergies and needs and DCL with work with you to get you the best experience possible.
My son had serious allergies (epi-pen) to Shellfish and Tree Nuts and a mild allergy to Dairy. Overall, DCL does a really great job handling allergies. Every night we were able to view the menu for the main dining room for the next night and put in our request. We kept it simple focusing on proteins / sides that worked for us. The dessert options improved this time around. Cabanas had several non-dairy options (multiple flavors of rice-dream ice cream, sorbet, and allergen free cookies) available upon request. In the main dining room, our server arranged for an different allergen-free dessert each night. My son really appreciated that he wasn’t relegated to just plain vanilla every night and excited to get his special dessert.
Drinks:
Tip: The “Drink of the Day” is a fruity mixed drink that costs a couple bucks less than other drinks. The variety is kind of quirky with drinks like the “Yellow Bird”, not your typical boat drinks..
Tip: Pack a beer koozie in your beach bag for Castaway Cay in case you get bucket of cold-ones.
I also got the Beer Mug special where you buy the souvenir mug for $17 and get 22 oz for the price of 16 every time you use it. You can trade it in for a card so you don’t have to carry it around and clean it. I don’t think I’d do it again because I don’t think I drank enough to “pay for it” and I didn’t really need another piece of souvenir drinkware. I kept the token card in hopes of using it again in the future.
Entertainment
Since we had early seating, we had shows scheduled at 8-8:30 pm. We ended up watching two stage shows in the Walt Disney Theater and well as Rogue One on Star Wars Day in that time slot.
A Fantasy Come True - first night show was part DCL pep rally and part variety show. You get a taste of the stage shows as well as the magician playing on the ship that week. Entertaining but not memorable.
Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular- great show that the whole family enjoyed. The Genie was very funny.
As time went on, the kids wanted to spend time in the Oceaneer Club after they finished dinner. As a result, we didn’t watch the other stage shows.
Being a Star Wars cruise,they did play all of the movies in the theater at least once. Not all times were convenient. It was fun to watch Empire Strikes Back on the big screen. I was surprised that Rogue One wasn’t a packed house since it was still a new release in theaters. They did play in both Walt Disney (3D) and Buena Vista theaters at the same time.
I was also about to catch a late night showing of Dr. Strange (3D) and it was very full for a 10:30 pm show.
Tip: the entertainment cast also have day jobs as handlers for the characters. If you pay attention during the show, you can see them around the ship.
...more to come. I'm posting this not to give me motivation to write up a few more thoughts. Happy to answer any questions.