Fantasy 10/20 Eastern Caribbean Review

[Lujackdisney]

I will make this fairly brief as I know much has been written about the ship and the itineraries. Our party included my husband and I (42), our children are Jack 4 and Lucy 8 and my mother (70). We planned for months, not having been on a cruise with kids or for 7 nights. We were in a family verandah stateroom. I will go over some observations....
*In our experience, no need to get to the port prior to 11:30, maybe 11. We used Park n Cruise. Getting back a little tiresome, you have to wait in the crowds for their shuttle. We had the hurricane mess so maybe on a regular day, it would not have been as crazy. Next time we might just park at port. We could then just get our car and be out of there. Shorter cruise for sure, not worth the little bit of savings on the return.
*They didn't start boarding until 11:30 and there were quite a few people ahead of us even when we arrived at 10:30. I have worked for Disney and have gone my whole life so for me the port was nice, but we just wanted to get on the ship. Even with my experience, I was more excited than the kids. Just trying to point out my frame of reference
*We went right to lunch, the Enchanted Garden did not open until 12 so we started our trip by waiting in line. Next time, I would go make a mixology res or walk around for a bit. Maybe even go right to the pools. Mixology books up immediately, we never had a shot after early the 1st afternoon. I did go to the spa after lunch to make a couple of reservations. I would maybe wait for the daily specials if I had flexibility, they are quite good and you see them the night before in the Navigator.
This might take a bit so I will stop here...if you have questions, feel free to ask.

 

[CPer'sMom]

Mixology books up immediately, we never had a shot after early the 1st afternoon.

Where is the sign-up for this? I have read some reports that it's at Guest Relations and others that say it's at La Piazza. Thanks!

 

[addlema]

You should have just walked in and checked for space. I walked into many of the tasting/classes including a mixology class on one of the sea days with Novak the best bartender ever.

In the class i was in he said it was booked but there were 8!! No shows or so.

 

[Lujackdisney]

You can register at either guest services or Piazza. I went by La Piazza around 3 our 1st day and they were booked. They had the schedule right there at the bar. As to checking later, didn't really think about that. We just assumed everything would stay booked with our stormy days and lots of people looking for stuff to do. We will try that next time.

 

[Lujackdisney]

I will go through some things we did and hopefully add some useful hints. This was our 1st kids sailing so we may not do all of this next time around, but fun to experience as much as possible.
*Room was available by 1:30pm, dropped carry ons and ran out to the pools. Again, waiting until 1:30-2 to do this, there was already 30 min wait on Aquaduck, next time go to pool 1st, then eat?
*We did sail away party, stood on Deck 12, just to take in the excitement.
*We did not catch the 1st night's show. Kids just loved seeing room, watching ship move out of port, check out everything we read about for so long.
*We had late dinner, liked the time factor of not rushing but 4 yr old fell asleep at dinner almost every night. Will have to re evaluate as he gets older, but did like doing "stuff" around ship while most others were eating.
*We were in room 7588, mid ship, had no problem going up to 11 for drinks and food. I brought cups for drinks, but only needed them sometimes. Their cups were sufficient.
*Both kids did the kids clubs all week. 8 yr old got a little bored and didn't like having to "watch" her brother (we asked she make sure to know where he was, he gets a little nervous) After a couple of days we would take her by herself so she could explore on her own, but even 4 yr old became more comfortable and we said to just make sure he knew where she was. Wrist band was fine, 8 yr old asked at 1st to put on her ankle, but they tap them on a desk level device to go in so that would not work. Both kids forgot they were on after a day....no problem. They would text when they wanted to leave, no problems.
Going through more notes....will begin again in a minute...

 

[Lujackdisney]

*We thought all the entertainment was great and definitely worth seeing, kids loved it all.
* We liked the Karaoke, character dance parties, miniature golf, movies (in the theater and the on demand in room), detective agency
*Pirate night was ok. We brought costumes for kids, they loved dressing up. Show was ok, worth seeing once. Fireworks were cool.
*Live piano with Andy Johnson at Outlook was great, but sooo crowded. You had to get there early, standing room only. Andy did say they were moving him to Piazza for future because of the great turn out...check him out
*Adults clubs seemed usually empty, maybe they could improve on some of their offerings and expand the ones that really work.....mixology, room for piano bar, more couples "games"
*Our staff really made our trip so enjoyable....everyone was so nice and accommodating. I have read a lot about tips and was ready to modify if I didn't feel they deserved it.....everyone appeared to be working 24/7...we saw them everywhere, serving different places all day. The only thing we did was swapped the tip for our server with our assistant server. Our main guy was there 2 days, then we never saw him again and had a variety of runners the rest of our cruise..no big deal, but our "assistant" server was really fantastic and we didn't need anyone else.
*Food was very good, Palo brunch and dinner excellent. Atmosphere at restaurants was ok so we never felt we really had to make it to dinner. Even Animators, we did not sit next to a screen so we missed out on Crush, the drawing night was cute. We only missed 1 night at Royal Court, but next time might miss more. Kids don't get excited about eating so pizza, burgers and mac and cheese suited them fine. This is only our preference, not really a negative.

I am jumping around, but have a little more to add.....I will try to leave out the last couple of days since we were in the middle of the weather mess and were sad to end on such a negative note. No CC, most decks closed, chaos getting off the ship. Again, I have worked for Disney and go to Disney World regularly, wish there was a little more order as everyone was tired and quite sick from all the movement. Enough said.

 

[pyramid2000]

Andy Johnson is the best! We had so much fun with him at the Disney tune trivia as we all sang our hearts out! Glad to hear the crowds in Outlook! Never any standing room only just the week before, but Outlook is not easy to find. We actually had Andy join us for dinner after one of his shows as our table mates were going to Palo that night! Funny thing was the next night he had to play in the atrium at the exact time of our dinner and he said he never did that before. We joked it was so he couldn't have dine with us again! He is a real hoot! My DD 9 actually cried our first 2 nights home because she misses him so much. She sent him an e-mail and when he replied, she cried again.

 

[Lujackdisney]

Glad to hear you enjoyed him as well, we love live music, especially piano. Outlook is a funny little bar, very happy they are moving him to a bigger venue. I know if people walked by and heard him, they would stop and hang out more in the the clubs.
Be safe with your weather up there!
Jenny

 

[pyramid2000]

Thanks for the good wishes!

 

[Joanna71985]

Nice review! I was on this cruise also

 

[Lujackdisney]

Nice review! I was on this cruise also

Thanks! I think with this one under our belt, we can relax and really focus on what worked for us...we'll be taking advantage of our discounts. BTW, they are giving me until Friday to wrap up booking another cruise, if you missed doing it with the craziness, maybe you still have time, if you hadn't already?

 

[Joanna71985]

Thanks! I think with this one under our belt, we can relax and really focus on what worked for us...we'll be taking advantage of our discounts. BTW, they are giving me until Friday to wrap up booking another cruise, if you missed doing it with the craziness, maybe you still have time, if you hadn't already?

I didn't book onboard. However- I will be using the 25% to rebook sometime in the future (most likely 2014).

 

[Bear3412]

So can you really combine the OBB and the 25%? TIA

 

[Andianna]

Thank you for your report. Glad all are well and wishing you calm seas on your next voyage.

 

[oybolshoi]

So can you really combine the OBB and the 25%? TIA

We booked on board for us and my parents for a 4-night on Monday (second day at sea) ... we paid in full at that time. I had our travel agent contact DCL yesterday to advise them that we DID NOT want the 25% discount applied that on board booking. We plan to book a 7-night for the two of us using the 25% offer instead. She had a supervisor note our current reservation and it was no trouble.

Just saying there is more than one option if you ask, especially right now.