My 2nd tale... Fantasy Rd 2, TR Rd 2: NO sea sickness! [Apr '16-East Car.] (Upd Apr19: COMPLETED)

[jesterrific]

Fantasy Round 2: CRUISE DAY 1!​

Cruise Day 1 [part 1]: Port Canaveral, Embarkation, Sail Away

Finally!!! Here we are: SATURDAY APRIL 9, 2016. CRUISE DAY CRUISE DAY! Port Canaveral!

We woke up with just barely enough time for us to check out and grab some breakfast to go from Captain Cook’s once again. But they have bagels and muffins that you can take to go, and we grabbed small plates as well. We booked Happy Limo to pick us up from our hotel to drive us to the terminal, with a stop at Publix super market. The driver said it was okay for us to eat our bagels and stuff in the car!

Last look of Maui the Tiki god thing in the lobby of Polynesian Resort Hotel. I think that’s what he’s called anyways.​

Last peek through the buildings.​

The ride to the terminal was quite normal and uneventful. We picked up some last minute items at Publix like bug spray, extra sunscreen, and alcohol (just a 6 pack of beer and a 6 pack of hard cherry cola.)
We all forgot to take photos as we were approaching the terminal haha. Mostly because at this point my mom was giggling with excitement.
Check in was quite seamless. There weren’t any good upgrades available so we just stayed with our room.

A view into the model of the Magic (? correct me if I’m wrong, I can’t remember. Either way I haven’t been on either of the smaller ships before) at the terminal.​

Front of the model. Nautical Pluto in the background!​

After getting onto the ship, the very first thing we did was go straight to Cabanas for lunch. My mom was delighted at the selection of seafood. Every single one of us loaded up our plates with everything that looked like our favourite foods.

First photo on the ship!

On our way to lunch, we passed one of the big porthole seats and Michelle wanted a serene-looking-out-of-the-window photo hahaha.

Here we are! We were all still connected to Wifi so we sent this photo to my sister who is stuck at home haha. Our very first meal on the ship!

Ahhhhhh delightful.

Mom’s HUGE lunch plate​

After lunch we did a bit of wandering to take in our sights while still docked, and eventually made it to the front of the ship so we could look at the ocean.

Parking lot! Ocean! So much excitement for sail away!

We sat ourselves on some loungers. You can see our silly reflections

Already trying to get some colour!

OCEAN!!!!!

Already loading up on snacks: Upon request at Cabanas you can get Rice Dream! (Indeed, I took a bowl of Rice Dream from lunch with me to our lounging spot)​

After a while of lounging mom and dad decided to rest and possibly nap on the loungers while Glendon, Michelle and I wandered some more since the ship was still empty.

Satellite falls area

Adult only hot tub! I love how it looks when you look at the water from the hot tub and then out to the ocean

​

Glass flooring to see the ocean below us

Clear blue sky. Gorgeous day to be setting sail.

More lounging butts.​

Around the time that we assumed our rooms might be ready, we messaged my mom to see if they wanted to head down. (We pre-downloaded the cruise line app at home onto everyone’s phones before our vacation date, and at lunch taught my mom and dad how to use the chat)

Here is our stateroom! 6138
(If you look closely at the curtains… That’s either Michelle or Glendon crouched in a ball and the other is behind the black out curtain. I had shouted to get out of my stateroom photo and they tried to hide haha)


​

Glendon and I’s Castaway Club bag

Mom and dad out on the verandah! Dad looks ecstatic ahaha

A very random photo of Michelle, dad, and I just relaxing!​

You would think that one stateroom for 5 adults is not enough space, but in all honesty we didn’t need more space than what we had! In the end we hardly stayed in our room anyways. And when we did we were comfortable. Mostly just came back to the room to relax, or get away from the crowds. It was nice to sit out on the verandah or couch lounge.


After the safety drill, we were all suddenly quite tired. Possibly too much excitement coursing through our bodies in such a short amount of time haha. We all went back to the room, but it was mostly just to drop off mom and dad. The three of us kids wanted to watch the ship pull away. We didn’t really need to go to the Sail Away party, so we just went to the front of the ship.

Here is dad already passed out for a short nap. Mom thinks it’s hilarious, but she decided to stay with him.

Waving goodbye to land

Goodbye cruise ship terminal!

Looks like a post card

Tip of our ship. You can also see the Carnival ship ahead of us.​

Wind in our faces already!

Bye!!!

Beach!

The ocean in front of us. Here we go on our cruise adventure!

Bon Voyage! Goodbye beach!

And to conclude part 1 of cruise day 1 [I hit max photos..]: This pelican flew right in front of us and it was HUGE! I managed to snap him. (I have never seen a pelican in real life before so this was very exciting to me. Even though it looks like it could eat my head)​

To come… Cruise day 1 part 2: Evening and Dinner! First goodnight.

 

[rndmr2]

Awesome start to the cruise!!

Your lunch looked really yummy!

That was a pretty nice room. Doesn't look as cramped as some cruise ship cabins are.

I love the pics of the ship Lobby as you were getting on, That Lobby/atrium is beautiful.

Nice pics of sailaway, it's always fun to see other ships in port and leaving for their cruises too.

 

[franandaj]

With a large group a drink not too much luggage a limo sounds like the way to go, nice you got a stop along the way.

Lunch look good. Was Cabanas a zoo? On the Dream almost every time I went up there it was full of screaming kids and was very noisy.

Nice afternoon of relaxing, and great to make your own sailaway party!

Sometimes I take living at the beach for granted. We have Pelicans all over the place. They are cool, but I forget that people who live inland may not have nearly the opportunity to see them.

 

[jesterrific]

Awesome start to the cruise!!

Your lunch looked really yummy!

That was a pretty nice room. Doesn't look as cramped as some cruise ship cabins are.

I love the pics of the ship Lobby as you were getting on, That Lobby/atrium is beautiful.

Nice pics of sailaway, it's always fun to see other ships in port and leaving for their cruises too.

Pretty good start to our cruise, I'd say!!

 

[jesterrific]

With a large group a drink not too much luggage a limo sounds like the way to go, nice you got a stop along the way.

Lunch look good. Was Cabanas a zoo? On the Dream almost every time I went up there it was full of screaming kids and was very noisy.

Nice afternoon of relaxing, and great to make your own sailaway party!

Sometimes I take living at the beach for granted. We have Pelicans all over the place. They are cool, but I forget that people who live inland may not have nearly the opportunity to see them.

Haha I wish we got an actual limo!! Happy Limo is just a car service, but they're pretty reliable so it just made things much easier to book them. For 5 of us, it was cheaper than taking the DCL shuttle from the resorts (plus we can get to the terminal earlier so we can basically be there for our check in time early in the day instead of getting to the terminal in the afternoon) and it's easier than driving ourselves (don't have to worry about finding our way, returning our car, taking a shuttle, etc.)

Cabanas was fine! Mind you, our check in time was the earliest available check-in time so we were amongst the first groups to get onto the ship. It definitely got busier and crazier by the time we were done eating. But my mom doesn't mind, as long as the food selection is great haha.

 

[jesterrific]

Fantasy Round 2: CRUISE DAY 1!​

Cruise Day 1 [part 2]: Evening adventures, dinner, first goodnight

Dad standing on our veranda.​

While my dad napped, my mom wanted to go and watch a movie in the theatre. She has a little bit of an obsession with 3D movies and was soooo excited when we told her “you can watch lots of 3D movies on the cruise!!” SO that was one of the activities she had planned for herself. While us 3 kids were up on deck, she messaged us to see if we would join her for The Good Dinosaur, but we missed the message so she went on her own while we bathed in the sun. She loved it SO much she wanted to watch more movies. So we accompanied her to watch a showing of Inside Out! (Michelle was too tired and passed out)


After Inside Out we all went back to the room to meet up with Dad. He was sitting out on the verandah. Glendon and Michelle decided to rest up before getting ready for dinner. We had a late seating for dinner, so we still had a lot of time. Originally, we had wanted an early seating, because we liked the idea of eating dinner earlier in the day, then if we were hungry still we could go and get snacks up on deck in the late evening. But unfortunately, we weren’t able to get in on early seating. This turned out to be a blessing! Worked our perfectly for us!!! A HUGE advantage was that now, everyday, we could watch the sunset!!! Mom and I were quite excited about this but had no idea where on the ship was a good spot to go, so we just decided to go to deck 4 to walk around the running track while we waited for sunset. Unfortunately, neither of us thought to give our phones a quick charge before leaving so neither of us got to take any photos of our first sunset experience on the ship.


SO time to get ready for dinner. Our rotation for the day was Royal Court.

On our way we passed the main atrium where there was a singing performance!

Mini door for the pretend stateroom for the muppets.

Hidden Mickey mirrors in a bathroom​

And here is our menu for the night!​

Alright let’s see if I can remember correctly what everyone ordered!
From the appetizers then!! I ordered the Duck Confit. Mom, dad and Michelle ordered to share the Iced Lobster and Shrimp and the Escargot. I think Glendon ordered the fried brie but I’m not entirely sure. I don’t have a photo of the brie so I feel like maybe not… but Glendon really likes cheese so I’m not sure!
Soups and Salads: Mom also ordered the French Onion Soup as well as the Pear Salad haha (to share with dad and Michelle)
Entrees… Mom dad Michelle had the Oven-Baked Salmon Royale, Crispy Roasted Duck Breast, and the Roasted Rack of Lamb. Glendon also had the Roasted Rack of Lamb, and I had the Ahi Tuna Nicoise.

Bread service was Warm French Country Bread with Olive Spread. Mom was in love with the bread shaped like a chef’s hat, she thought it was hilarious.

Here is the escargot! Mom already took a bite before she remembered to take a photo. Dad was hesitant to eat because he’s never really tried and the thought of snails make him squirm haha.

Iced lobster and shrimp! Dad and Michelle really liked this one.​

French onion soup

Pear salad. Mom and Michelle both enjoyed this.

Duck confit. For some reason I was expecting this to be warm to the cold dish startled me. But it was still very tasty.​

Glendon’s lamb

Ahi Tuna. mmmm look at that plating!

Salmon

Duck

And dad’s lamb!​

I forgot to take a photo of the dessert menu, but since it was the first night… everyone definitely ordered something haha.

Mom and dad shared the cheesecake. I honestly don’t know how she still had room for dessert!!! She ate most of the appetizers since neither my dad nor Michelle were interested in trying the escargot or french onion soup. And ate a whole entree hahaha. But I guess it’s true what they say! Always room for dessert haha

Michelle had the creme brûlée​

I just ordered some plain ol’ sliced strawberries since I’m not really a huge fan of sorbets

And Glendon ordered a Mickey Bar haha.​

After dinner, everyone together did a small walk around the ship. Mom was so impressed with the food, she was already excited for the next day. We couldn’t believe our first day on the ship was already done!

Turn down service! My family got excited about the swan.

And our bunks and murphy bed! Poor Michelle… her body was not handling the motion of the boat so well and she ate a little bit too much at dinner, so she wasn’t feeling too great and just fell right asleep in her top bunk.​

And that concludes our first night on the ship!!! It wasn’t too exciting of a day, but we definitely enjoyed ourselves.



To come… Cruise Day 2: Our first full day out at sea!!!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Enjoyed the update! I found it hysterical when they were hiding behind the curtains because that is exactly something I would do yelling for everyone to get out of my stateroom photo

 

[liltink]

Love reading your trip reports! You write so expressively and the pics are great.
This might sound nuts but I was wondering what brand your Mom's shoes were? The ones in the Epcot pictures.I Love Them and would like to see if I could find a pair!
Leaving for a quick Disney cruise in 3 weeks and they'd be perfect!
Thanks!

 

[jesterrific]

Enjoyed the update! I found it hysterical when they were hiding behind the curtains because that is exactly something I would do yelling for everyone to get out of my stateroom photo

Hahaha but honestly sometimes you just have to!!! Because if you don't get your photo right off the bat you will never get a photo of the empty stateroom again!!! Everyone's junk explodes everywhere haha

 

[jesterrific]

Love reading your trip reports! You write so expressively and the pics are great.
This might sound nuts but I was wondering what brand your Mom's shoes were? The ones in the Epcot pictures.I Love Them and would like to see if I could find a pair!
Leaving for a quick Disney cruise in 3 weeks and they'd be perfect!
Thanks!

Glad you enjoy!

The shoes she wore to Epcot... Are by a brand called "Dawgs" and their logo is a paw print HAHA! There is a store in a mall in our city by that name and sells all kinds of shoes... Basically they look like... a knockoff of Crocs. But, like Crocs, there is a whole store for them! In all honesty we were quite appalled at mom for bringing those to wear. (Crocs aren't that popular here) "What on earth is DAWGS? Why couldn't you just get CROCS! At least people know of Crocs!!!" But in the end they were great because she wore them on the cruise, as well as on our excursion in St Thomas, and since they're that rubber stuff material she didn't worry about them getting wet or destroyed.

 

[jesterrific]

Fantasy Round 2: Cruise Day 2!​

Cruise Day 2 [part 1]: First Day at Sea!


Mom’s goal while on the cruise was to wake up every morning early enough to catch the sunrise. (Living in Edmonton, this just isn’t really something we ever catch… the sunrise or sunset.) The night before, I had definitely said “Oh mom that sounds great!!! I’ll wake up with you!” But of course, come morning, we are all still passed right out. But mom definitely tried, and got up to go up on deck on her own. Unfortunately, she just missed it and when she was on deck the sun was JUST up and shining. Dad was awake by the time mom messaged all of us that she missed the sunrise, so he went and met up with her for breakfast at Cabanas.

Mom and dad’s breakfast with a view

Dad’s photo of mom looking out to sea with her coffee. I’m pretty damn sure she got him to take the photo while she posed ahahahaha.​

Mom and dad came back to the room after breakfast just as the rest of us were waking up haha. It wasn’t THAT late… 9 o’clock. Mom said that Cabanas was pretty busy when they left, so we got ready as quickly as possible so we could get some breakfast to start off our day!

My breakfast! SO much to choose from. LOVED how much fruit was available. I packed up the pear and orange to go with me.​

After breakfast activities for the three of us included playing some basketball and mini golf!

Here is Glendon and Michelle playing basketball.

Mini Golfing

More mini golfing! There is Michelle’s banana she took to go, and you can see my bundle of fruits in the napkin as well.

Ocean view from mini golf course

More ocean view!​

After mini golfing… Glendon and Michelle decided to head back to the room to nap (They played basketball a lot longer and harder than I did haha)
Mom and dad had just messaged us to tell us they were going to head to Cabanas for lunch, so I decided to meet up with them.

My modestly random plate of food for lunch.

Mom’s not-so-modest plate of basically surf and turf for lunch​

At lunch I asked mom and dad what they did after breakfast when we were off doing our own activities. Turns out they just went and wandered the ship. It was pretty quiet so early in the morning. Here are some of their photos:

Mom tried to get a “pondering, watching the ocean” photo of dad. But she caught him mid-face making LOL. On deck 4

Minnie!

Empty at the Bon Voyage

And view of our verandah.

[ Found this random photo just now while going through my photos… ] Apparently on this day I took a mirror photo while waiting for the elevator. I have no idea why. But I decided to post it because look how ridiculous: I am eating an apple and holding a beverage cup… and I still wanted to take a photo.​

After lunch…

We all went back to our room. I feel like we are not of the norm. We actually spent quite a bit of our time in our room it seems like haha. But in all honesty… the decks were a tad crowded and the privacy of our stateroom was quite welcoming. And even though we’d only been in the room one night, it was already our “home” so returning to our comfort zone was nice.

And yes, we relaxed: watched some movies, and of course… napped.

All the way until we had to wake up for… ALADDIN!

Mid-day view of our verandah haha​

Up next: Cruise Day 2 Part 1: Aladdin! Sunset! Formal Night! Captain Mickey! Dinner at Animator’s Palette!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Another great update! Love the eating an apple mirror pic. I could really go for a Cabanas buffet right now!

 

[liltink]

Glad you enjoy!

The shoes she wore to Epcot... Are by a brand called "Dawgs" and their logo is a paw print HAHA! There is a store in a mall in our city by that name and sells all kinds of shoes... Basically they look like... a knockoff of Crocs. But, like Crocs, there is a whole store for them! In all honesty we were quite appalled at mom for bringing those to wear. (Crocs aren't that popular here) "What on earth is DAWGS? Why couldn't you just get CROCS! At least people know of Crocs!!!" But in the end they were great because she wore them on the cruise, as well as on our excursion in St Thomas, and since they're that rubber stuff material she didn't worry about them getting wet or destroyed.

Just ordered a pair! My kids will be appalled too! Oh well.....

 

[jesterrific]

Just ordered a pair! My kids will be appalled too! Oh well.....

Lol!!! Well, many times in Disney there is no fashion ahaha. Comfort trumps all!

 

[jesterrific]

Fantasy Round 2: Cruise Day 2!​

Cruise Day 2 [part 2]: Aladdin! Sunset! Formal Night!!

[ I think I’m going to change my post formats from now on… Up until this point I’ve done my photo captions after I’ve posted the photo, but I think I’m going to try describing the photo first. If I don’t like it, I might change it back. But if it works better, going forward that’s how the posts will be…]

SO!!! After our nap, Glendon and I decided to get dressed earlier for formal night, since we didn’t think we would have time after Aladdin to run back to change and still take in the fun stuff happening around. Michelle decided to get changed too so that we could go and see what complimentary drinks were being offered in the atrium before they stopped serving haha. Mom and dad weren’t interested in drinking later so they just rested a bit more and met up with us at the theatre.

Here is our obligatory “we are dressed up let’s take a selfie” selfie while sitting in Walt Disney Theatre waiting for the show to start:

And here is the view of the stage before the show started! We decided to sit in the upper balcony.

I have very fond memories of going to see the Aladdin show in California Adventure from when I was… 13 (?) and I was very excited to see it again on the ship. (Since the first time I saw it when I was 13 (?) I’ve seen it again in California twice more and on the Fantasy the last time too, but I always get excited for Aladdin. Who doesn’t love Genie!!!) I always think, if my parents can enjoy a stage show, it’s a good one haha. You’re not allowed photos or videos when the show is on, so I don’t have any footage. Of course I’ve always thought about sneaking a snap, but I always get scared and don’t want to get kicked out. I don’t think it’s worth it!! I’d rather just sit back and enjoy the show!


Anyways, after the show, mom and I very quickly run to a deck to see if we could catch the sunset, and we just BARELY made it in time!

We thought that it was too cloudy to actually see the sun set though…

BUT WE LUCKED OUT!!! Just peeked out:

After the sunset, mom went back to the room to meet up with dad to get ready for dinner. I just got a message from Glendon that him and Michelle already grabbed some beers in the atrium and were waiting in line to get photos with Captain Mickey. So I mad dashed to get there, because I didn’t want to miss out on Captain Mick!

Another “we are dressed up selfie”:

A view into the atrium!

A view of the chandelier!

Then randomly we found mom and dad:

And then a photo of Michelle and I… because she’s wearing lipstick!!!! (And Glendon’s awful photo bomb)

A very obnoxious one with us and our drinks…

And Glendon thought he owed us a nice one so he took one of the two of us:

And finally! We made it to the front of the line to meet the star of the night: Captain Mickey!

He is such a gentleman!

And here is our nice photo:

After our photos we made our way down to Animator’s Palette for dinner. The lineup for Mickey was running a little bit slower than we had anticipated, so mom and dad were already at dinner waiting for us. The staff were all really nice, even though we arrived quite late. Some families were already eating!! Yikes.

For some reason I liked the napkins:

Here is the menu for the night:

Here is mom and dad:

And Michelle and I:

Both Glendon and Michelle also weren’t feeling all too great by the time that we sat down… Both of them were still getting accustomed to the sway of the boat, and food wasn't sitting all that well with their bodies. Especially since the two of them were more active on the ship than mom, dad, or I.

BUT here is the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes! Dad, Michelle, and Glendon each ordered one of these. Glendon LOVES these and he couldn’t finish them due to his stomach so he was very sad. Michelle and Glendon both left after this dish to rest to hopefully feel better.

My Arugula Leaves! I can never say no to a salad when it comes with beets. I LOVE beets

Mom’s salmon tartar:

And mom also ordered this… which I THINK is the chicken and walnut salad:

Mom has had huge food days already… And this was only the second day!! So she opted out of a main entree for the night. (Really she and dad shared all food and he’s a picky eater so she eats what he doesn’t like…)
And Dad and I both had the beef tenderloin! Though ours came out a bit different since I can’t have dairy.

Regular tenderloin dish:
Sorry it’s a bad quality photo, it was a little bit dark and mom’s phone isn’t as good for photos in low light settings. But you can still see the little carrot that I think is so Bugs-Bunny and I love it. And some lovely sauce

And Dairy-Free version:
Plain baked potato. I used the dairy-free spread that they bring out for me with bread service on this, because who wants to eat straight up plain baked potato. And steamed veggies.

I don’t think we had any desserts! None of us had any photos of anything so I’m going to assume that we didn’t opt for dessert! We just finished off the night by heading back to our room to get out of our “formal” wear.

Tonight’s bed animal:

That was basically the end of our night! So that concluded our very first FULL day at sea! Relaxing, but still got to do what we wanted this day! (Can you tell, already, that we were most excited about food on this trip? Mom and I especially hahaha.)




To come…
Cruise Day 3: Day at sea… Deck activities, mixology, deck photos, more food, Aquaduck!

 

[bcwife76]

Love those sunset photos!

I love how your parents were trying to get 'artsy/introspective' photos of each other, so cute!

So, what did you think of the Aladdin show? We saw it a few times at DCA, most recently was about 10 weeks prior to it ending. I LOVED it every time, we always picked somewhere different to sit and always seemed to come away 'seeing' something new. I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the Fantasy in January, hopefully it's of the same caliber!

 

[starousse]

Nice pics. So from your experience, would you say that the majority of the ship dressed up for formal night? or is sundress sufficient? Thanks.!

 

[franandaj]

Great day at sea!

We also spend a good deal of time in the room. I enjoy just sitting/standing out on the verandah watching the water go by. Plus my other half needs a lot of naps.

Is the Aladdin show similar to the one they used to have at DCA? I've heard the one on Broadway is completely dofferent. I was so sad to see it go, and while Frozen is a top notch performance I'm not going to go back again and again.

Too bad the motion of the ship got to the rest of your party, maybe it was that and all the free drinks! Dinner looked good, gotta love the truffle pursettes!

 

[danajay]

Love reading your report... we (me, my husband and 2 girls) were on this cruise! I keep looking for my family in the background of your pictures!

 

[jesterrific]

Love those sunset photos!

I love how your parents were trying to get 'artsy/introspective' photos of each other, so cute!

So, what did you think of the Aladdin show? We saw it a few times at DCA, most recently was about 10 weeks prior to it ending. I LOVED it every time, we always picked somewhere different to sit and always seemed to come away 'seeing' something new. I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the Fantasy in January, hopefully it's of the same caliber!

It's not on the same level as DCA, since it's a stage on a ship haha. So you don't get too much of the show in the crowd. But it's still a good show and I think worth it to go see!