4/7/2012 Fantasy

[itutorfortravel]

My family is booked on this cruise! I am so excited! I didn't want to book it when it was the MV because it was too far out for me to commit a large deposit and not have the flexibility to cancel if we had to...sure hope that we don't have to! This is our spring break week and I was so excited when it was no longer the MV week.

We've been looking at pictures of the Dream and just cannot wait to be on its sister ship for 7 wonderful nights in only 450 days! LOL!

 

[Chief71]

Hi all we are booked for our first Disney cruise. We have two girls that will be 8 & 5 for the cruise.

 

[birkner]

Hi all we are booked for our first Disney cruise. We have two girls that will be 8 & 5 for the cruise.

Welcome aboard!! We are John and Noel and this will be our 6th cruise. Our next cruise will be the 2011 WBTA.

This is a great group and I am sure you will have a wonderful time with all of us. Many activities will be planned and I get more info, I will post an updated "welcome wagon" post.

 

[Chief71]

Welcome aboard!! We are John and Noel and this will be our 6th cruise. Our next cruise will be the 2011 WBTA.

This is a great group and I am sure you will have a wonderful time with all of us. Many activities will be planned and I get more info, I will post an updated "welcome wagon" post.

Thanks John and Noel. We are Nick & Allison and can't wait!

 

[birkner]

Thanks John and Noel. We are Nick & Allison and can't wait!

You are welcome!! There seems to be two thread going so you might want to check the other thread!!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2617935

 

[itutorfortravel]

Hi there! I checked out the other thread but that looks like it's for the new inaugural sailing. Are the folks posting here moving to that cruise date or keeping the April 7th date? We are definitely booked for April 7th. I know I am in the minority, but I was kind of glad that the inaugural sailing got moved. I was hesitant to book spring break of 2012 when this particular week was that sailing because of the "no refund" policy on deposits. I really have a hard time being able to fully commit to something this far out, so now I don't have that stress. I am getting very excited about the new ship after hearing so much about the Dream and seeing all the pictures. Just think the Fantasy will be just as new and wonderful when we sail it next spring. Hooray!

 

[kakelly03]

When we originally booked this cruise our deposit was non-refundable because it was the maiden voyage. I assume my deposit is now refundable but I am not certain and I have tried to call DCL but the wait times are super long.

We are going on the Dream next week - totally last minute- and I would like to see if I can cancel and get my money back and rebook on-board to take advantage of the 10% discount and credit. It would save me some $$$ if it worked out.

Thanks in advance if you have any advice for me.

 

[jmcdonnell04]

When we originally booked this cruise our deposit was non-refundable because it was the maiden voyage. I assume my deposit is now refundable but I am not certain and I have tried to call DCL but the wait times are super long.

We are going on the Dream next week - totally last minute- and I would like to see if I can cancel and get my money back and rebook on-board to take advantage of the 10% discount and credit. It would save me some $$$ if it worked out.

Thanks in advance if you have any advice for me.

When they asked us to move to the March 31st for the MV -- we could not move due to Spring Break so I asked that same question, would our non-refundable deposit be refundable for the April 7th cruise? I did not get clear cut answer so we cancelled to get our refund back. I believe other passengers posted earlier in this thread that they were told that the April 7th
cruise would be treated like a regular cruise so the deposit was refundable.

We were on the MV for the Dream and we re-booked the April 7th Fantasy cruise. We did not take our children DD15 & DD11 so we wanted to share the Fantasy voyage with them. We kind of feel guilty.

The Dream was fantastic and we were told the Fantasy would be even nicer.

 

[itutorfortravel]

When we originally booked this cruise our deposit was non-refundable because it was the maiden voyage. I assume my deposit is now refundable but I am not certain and I have tried to call DCL but the wait times are super long.

We are going on the Dream next week - totally last minute- and I would like to see if I can cancel and get my money back and rebook on-board to take advantage of the 10% discount and credit. It would save me some $$$ if it worked out.

Thanks in advance if you have any advice for me.

Don't cancel the trip, just take your current reservation on board and get them to re-process it for you. They will apply the 10% discount to whatever the current rate is for the category you booked and you will also get the $200 OBC. The only thing that you might want to think about is that onboard bookings only require a 10% deposit versus a 20% deposit, or whatever you may have been required to put down when it was the MV. I have had partial deposits refunded to me before when I've moved my date to a less expensive cruise and didn't want to tie up all my deposit money, so that may be an option if you wanted to try that. Otherwise, you could look at it as more paid toward the cruise or you could also just rebook entirely on the cruise and then cancel the reservation you are holding now. Just some thoughts on how to go about it...

 

[itutorfortravel]

We were on the MV for the Dream and we re-booked the April 7th Fantasy cruise. We did not take our children DD15 & DD11 so we wanted to share the Fantasy voyage with them. We kind of feel guilty.

The Dream was fantastic and we were told the Fantasy would be even nicer.

I saw a post by you on the upgrade prices on the Dream MV. Lucky you that you got to go on that cruise!!! What did you hear that would be nicer on the Fantasy?

My family was booked on the Dream for spring break of this year but we cancelled it to go on the 11-night holiday cruise on the Magic over Christmas. So we booked this cruise instead and I cannot wait! The only concern I have is about the increase in passengers and having to wait in more lines...how was that on the Dream?

 

[jmcdonnell04]

I saw a post by you on the upgrade prices on the Dream MV. Lucky you that you got to go on that cruise!!! What did you hear that would be nicer on the Fantasy?

My family was booked on the Dream for spring break of this year but we cancelled it to go on the 11-night holiday cruise on the Magic over Christmas. So we booked this cruise instead and I cannot wait! The only concern I have is about the increase in passengers and having to wait in more lines...how was that on the Dream?

I heard/read that the MV of the Dream was not a full ship. I don't know what lines people are complaining about. Cabanas is so much bigger than Topsiders. The other fast food stations by the pool had no lines. The restaurants are big and beautiful. The shops had lines before they opened up for the special maiden voyage clothing on the first night and then the Dooney & Bourke purses on the second night. This would not be a problem for other cruisers. We had the late seating at 8:30 and there were always a couple of hundred people waiting to go in when they opened the doors. There main lobby was full of people waiting to get off the ship for disembarkation at 8 am. Took one minute to get off ship, found my bags right away and proceeded through customs with no wait or problems.

We had a fabulous cruise and we can't wait for the Fantasy because it will be a 1 week cruise instead of 4 nights. There was nothing specific that they mentioned about the Fantasy except it will be better. I guess doing something the 2nd time they will have improvements and upgrades that they could not incorporate into the Dream.

 

[jmcdonnell04]

Hello, my name is John and my family and I will be sailing on the Fantasy on April 7th. We are Gold Castaway members and we will be in Cabin 8504.
Our family crew includes John (45), DW Alison (46), DD Katie (16), DD Kelly (12). Our daughters are looking forward to a Disney cruise since they have been deprived for 5 years.

 

[jmcdonnell04]

Must be more people going on this cruise

 

[jmcdonnell04]

Looks like this cruise will be empty based on the lack of disboard activity.

 

[itutorfortravel]

No, you won't be the only one on board! We'll be there too!

I haven't been on the DISboards much lately. I figure that if I get on too often I'll see some great deal I can't pass up and then before you know it I'll be scheming another cruise before this one! (it's happened before...) Not that I wouldn't like that, but we need to do some things around the house right now so I am trying to minimize my DCL distractions - LOL.

My friend and her family are going on the Dream over spring break and I'll be excited to hear how she likes it. Actually, one of my friends is going on the 3 day spring break cruise and then another friend will be going on the 4 day, so I should be able to get a lot of good info from them. I know the Fantasy may be a little different but I'm thinking I'll still be able to get the gist of things from their reviews.

Are you cruising before this spring break 2011 trip?

 

[liberty6201]

Hi there - i have booked!!! I am so excited, like the PP i couldn't commit when it was the MV because of the non refundable money but now it is i have booked us in - WAHOO!! My boys don't know yet - i am planning on telling them next Christmas (seems so long away!LOL)
There will be me (Nikki) and my 2 lovely boys, Jackson (will be 8) and Ethan (will be 4). Also coming are my mum and dad - and possiby my Grandad (Depending on his health). Me and the boys and mum went on the Med cruise last year but my dad hasn't been - so so excited
Hopefully people will be interested in FE because my sons loved that part of the trip last year - they got so excited!

 

[Chief71]

I have to ask what is FE? I see this everywhere and have no clue.

We are excited for our first Disney Cruise, Its myself (Nick), Wife (Allison), DD 5 (olivia) & DD 8 (Victoria)

They have no clue, we are going to tell them when we arrive at the port! They go to Disney often so we will tell them are are going to WDW and let them figure out what that huge ship is!!

 

[jmcdonnell04]

No, you won't be the only one on board! We'll be there too!

I haven't been on the DISboards much lately. I figure that if I get on too often I'll see some great deal I can't pass up and then before you know it I'll be scheming another cruise before this one! (it's happened before...) Not that I wouldn't like that, but we need to do some things around the house right now so I am trying to minimize my DCL distractions - LOL.

My friend and her family are going on the Dream over spring break and I'll be excited to hear how she likes it. Actually, one of my friends is going on the 3 day spring break cruise and then another friend will be going on the 4 day, so I should be able to get a lot of good info from them. I know the Fantasy may be a little different but I'm thinking I'll still be able to get the gist of things from their reviews.

Are you cruising before this spring break 2011 trip?

We were on the MV of the Dream so we do not have another cruise scheduled until this cruise. My wife and I went on the Dream for our 20th anniversary so our girls are very excited to be going on the Fantasy.

Welcome aboard to the other new families

 

[Chief71]

Does DCL offer any kind of reception for DIS board members or anything? I like how RCCL has a cruise critic event thats gives out free drinks and ives everyone a chance to meet who talks on the boards.

 

[itutorfortravel]

Welcome to all joining the thread!

I think the only kind of reception DCL hosts is for certain levels of Castaway Club members. I can't remember if it's for Gold and Platinum status or just Platinum. We are Silver level so we have not been included on the guest list! Anyhow, maybe someone else who knows can comment on that.

In terms of what an FE is, it stands for Fish Extender. Outside your cabin door there is a metal fish-shaped peg or hook and many cruisers will hang an organizer type thing with pockets for each family member. People in the DISgroup will buy little trinkets for others who decide to particpate and throughout the cruise deliver those small gifts to everyone in the group. I'm not sure if my explanation is all that great, but there is another explanation for it on the FAQ thread anchored at the top of the main DCL thread page. We participated in the FE exchange on our 11-night cruise this past Christmas and had a ball! There were about 65 families participating so it took a long time (close to 2 hours) to deliver everything and that was on the Magic! I cannot imagine how long it will take to do it on the Dream or Fantasy with it being so much bigger! We got things from candy to CD's to handmade Christmas ornaments, bookmarks, etc. I felt like I had to buy very little DCL souvenirs because we had some of the most creative and elaborate ones given to us in our FE!