Just got off the Fantasy on the 11/30 sailing and when we went to sign up for Gingerbread House decorating, the cast member told us there were no reservations. Some nice woman on the guest services line, got out of the line and handed us her gingerbread ticket reservation- She said she booked something else and could no longer make it. We were elated! What a sweetheart! We were able to take her reservation and had the 10:45 slot on a sea day at Animators Palate. It was really a fun experience. We (my sister, myself and two small children) had an entire table to ourselves and there were a lot of empty tables. (I was told by one of the staff that a lot of people sign up and just don't show up, which is kind of messed up for the people who really want to do it). The place was not full at all. The entertainment staff as well as one of the cruise pastry chefs are there giving instructions and tips on how to decorate your house. You then get to keep your decorated house which we kept in one of our staterooms.
To answer some of the questions above, I did not see any special desserts during the day. On pirate night, there was a late night buffet in Cabanas and there were some desserts out which looked really good. They had steak fajitas, chicken fajitas, guacamole, salsa, chicken and other goodies out. It was cute that they had watermelon carvings with different pirate faces.
I also heard about the medical emergencies on the ship. Our waiter told us that someone had collapsed with a heart-related issue outside of the Royal Table restaurant and the other issue was someone had fell and had a head injury that couldn't be treated on board. (I'm just relating what I heard from our waiter, so I am not 100% sure if thats accurate) I felt so bad for the people/families, it didn't matter if we were delayed or late for our other stops, we were just praying they were all ok.
As far as the lines for the princesses, I am in agreement with a lot of the previous posts. What was frustrating is waiting in line for 15 minutes and having a cast member come up to you saying, I'm sorry but we're closing the line. We did hear some people getting a little nasty and kids crying but but we just took it in stride. I do feel that could be a little better managed. Also, we saw no Ariel the entire trip for photo opps. Maybe I overlooked something, but my sister mentioned it as well. She may have been out the last night for the final farewell lobby event, but I didn't see her at all during the cruise. Peter Pan was out a lot by the Disney theater and he was cute, running up to people and surprising them. All the kids and even adults loved it.
Also, didn't realize how many people decorate their doors! Saw some very cute cabin doors with some great Christmas decorations. Very cute, have to do this for the next time I cruise.
... ok so I decided to look at the bright side and book a spa treatment for myself instead of going.
