5.5.2018 Eastern Fantasy Grand Slam

[hanscarlet]

This is my trip report for the Eastern Fantasy Cruise - 5.5.2018



Overall Thoughts - Completing our Grand Slam on the Fantasy - 7th cruise

Heading into the Fantasy cruise I was a bit biased in that I'm partial to the classic ships, not a huge fan of crowds and was annoyed at the slightly higher price tag of the Fantasy (vs the other boats). I was also concerned by not having a Family Cabana on CC this time around. I will say that this was our best cruise yet! But I was surprised by the vibe of the ship, lots of complainers and entitled people complaining, both in the cruise group and on the ship. There were plenty of people happy too but this was our first cruise where there was an undertow of negativity so to speak. There was a norovirus outbreak on day 2 so they modified how to get food at Cabanas (basically you can't serve yourself) and so that irritated folks and the serving staff was a bit depressed because they lost their personal time to travel at the ports because they were needed for all the extra required coverage on the boat because of all the extra precautions on the ship. They did an outstanding job with taking care to not get everyone sick, but unfortunately my oldest daughter got it yesterday (she puts her hands in her mouth too much and that's how we think she picked it up, ASD sensory thing). In spite of the virus drama, we really had an outstanding time! The ship is just beautiful. We definitely want to sail on the Fantasy again and love the extra special experiences you get with the 7 night cruises!



I will post the rest of my report in the comments section for easier reply/questions

 

[hanscarlet]

Embarkation Day: Started off kind of annoying because even though we arrived fairly early, earliest bus we could get was one taking off at 9:30am (we got there around 9:15am to get in line) and had the transfers, we got BOARDING GROUP 17! I was so mad and not sure how this happened but I will never buy the transfers until after I get my early PAT online. Really disappointing to sit there for 90 minutes watching all these new cruisers get early PATs and I got a crap one. Fortunately we saved time and went right to Cabanas first before it got busy and saved seats at the pool before it got busy so we still had a very nice embarkation day but I'm still irritated by the boarding group number but I didn't leave it on the comment card because I wanted to leave a positive comment card. We were pixie dusted by real life our next door neighbors, also DCL addicts and happened to be sailing on the Fantasy the week prior, they sent us wine and champagne on night one. It really set a magical tone to kick off the cruise!

 

[hanscarlet]

Sea Day 1 - Palo Brunch and Frozen Meet and Greet: Palo brunch was wonderful as always - we were seated near the buffet and our server, Ashley, was very nice but it was very busy and he seemed to have a lot of tables, some far away. We had worked out in the gym (gorgeous, big gym) and were starving, it was 11:15am and so when Ashley got there, we told him we're vets and didn't need the tour and gave him our food orders and went on with our brunch.

Frozen Meet and Greet - there was a similar length of line in AP here as there was on Dream however it moved quicker (I have a politically incorrect theory as to why, less adult-only pics in this crew, more families, made it move faster)

Vista Café - It was raining and my daughter and I were looking for something to do so we checked out Vista Café and it was really great! Lots of seating and I had a nice Toblerontini (chocolate martini) and a nice view of the beautiful Atrium

 

[hanscarlet]

Sea Day 2 - Character Breakfast, Princess Gathering and Wine Tasting. Our only prior experience with the Character Breakfast was on the classic ship and it seemed to go a bit more quickly than this one. This one went smoothly, however, there was so much more physical ground to cover that we found that we were done with breakfast well before the last two characters came around. It was no big deal and a great way to relax and wait for the characters to arrive - Sofia, Jake, Doc and Mickey. Everyone was asked to sit down while taking photos so characters could get through all the tables quickly, most people listened and went along smoothly. The Princess Gathering was the same as every ship we have been on, 4 princesses except we were delighted to see Ariel as this was our first time with her. The experience was nice but Cinderella was not the friendliest, she seemed annoyed. Princesses were Tiana, Belle, Ariel, and Cinderella.

Wine Tasting - This was really enjoyable and educational. It was the perfect amount of time and number of wines (6). Duncan, the sommelier, was fantastic and funny - I made sure to mention him on the comment card.

 

[hanscarlet]

Serving Team - At this point, by day two, we were really loving our serving team, they were fantastic; Ashang from India and Engin from Turkey. Ashang was amazing and I want to write an email to corporate about him because we loved him so much. If anyone has tips as to how to get him recognized at higher-ups please let me know of an email address or phone number.


Virus Outbreak - At this point in the cruise, perhaps it was night two or lunch day 3, we were informed, in a tight lipped way, why there were no utensils on the tables - it was because of a suspected virus outbreak on the ship - apparently a large family with many staterooms on deck 10 had a few confirmed cases of a stomach virus (reports of hazmat teams on deck 10 seen from chatter in the FB group). The serving team was kind but clearly disappointed because they couldn't get off for personal time at port because there were needed for extra coverage at Cabanas and other restaurants - no longer were we allowed to get our own food at Cabanas, all had to be served by a crew member - this includes a line for all drink stands.

 

[hanscarlet]

St. Maarten Day - As custom in the past with most of our cruises, we decided to do our own private excursion. We did a private day pass at The Azure Hotel and Art Studio in Simpson Bay. It was absolutely WONDERFUL! Our favorite day! Heading over to trip advisor to give it 5 stars. The beach was definitely wild, wavy and rough when compared to St. Thomas and Castaway Cay but it was FUN! If you have swimmers and teenagers then it wouldn't be a big deal but we have a 6 and a 9 year old so we made a rule they weren't allowed to go in beyond their feet unless we went with them. It really forced us to play in the waves together as a family and the kids loved it! Good exercise too. The beach was breathtaking and it was only a short, enjoyable beach walk to Mary's Boon restaurant and our lunch was in a beautiful ambience and was delicious! We had access to the room so we were able to shower and store our water and snacks and belongings in the room. Our cab driver at the port, Uncle Al, very good man. He and another gentleman were not sure how to get there at first, if you decide to go, make sure you tell them it is in Simpson Bay and off of Airport road and maybe show them a map of the area around the hotel. Fortunately we got there no problem and Uncle Al got us there and then we gave him a time to pick us up and we said 2:30pm and he was right on time. The day flew by and we'd probably tell him 3:00pm the next time. Uncle Al took us on a tour of the island on the way back, including Maho beach, it was included in his cab fare (we didn't ask him for a tour, he volunteered it). Just a wonderful day. That was also pirate night so we headed to Palo that evening for a great meal (I got the Sole, excellent!).

 

[hanscarlet]

St. Thomas - Secret Sands Beach Getaway: We wanted to do a private excursion but there weren't a lot of hotels opened due to the hurricane so we researched it and went with Disney's Secret Sands Beach Day Getaway - it appeared to sell out quickly and looked like most of the cruisers in the group had previously sailed with Disney before (judging by the lanyards). The day is only a half day - group meets at 8:15 in the tube and gets to the beach by about 9:15 after check ins and driving there. There is a host on the beach that has free beer, rum, rum punch, champagne, non alcoholic pop/soda, water and snack mix. Kareem, the host, was outstanding and just asked for tips at the end so as long as you throw him tips at the end, you're encouraged to enjoy his free drinks… the rum punch was delicious. The beach was gorgeous and the excursion sells out quickly because they limit the number of people to go which was nice - it was like about as crowded as the family cabanas beach - if you're familiar with St. Thomas's open safari buses - only 3 of those buses were able to go so it was a nice, small crowd, and plenty of chairs for the group, just had to bring towels from the ship. The excursion ended with a tour of a high point on the way back to the ship, they took us to a nice lookout point to take pics overlooking Charlotte Amalie and the ship in the harbor. It was beautiful and not too long so win-win! This excursion had showers and bathroom so you can bring stuff to change into after the beach day was over. My only complaint about this excursion was the duration - way too fast, it seemed to get tricky to get there by yourself, I'm sure if you worked with a cab driver you could do it but we're not that adventurous so we went through Disney but I wish they would lengthen that excursion to be about 6 hours and maybe include a bagged lunch or something, just more time on the beach would have been great. (Photos show overcast/rain in the morning, but rain cleared by 9:50am and it was hot and sunny after that)

 

[hanscarlet]

Sea Day 3 - Senses Couples Massage - We ate lunch at Royal Court because we were kind of sick of the chaos at Cabanas and then following that we got our first massage ever on the Disney ships. We had been hesitant to get a massage because we had heard how aggressive they are with the sales and consultations… when I checked in I addressed this with receptionist and the doc were both at the desk and were smirking but I kind of felt like they were annoyed by my request. They just explained that when we sit down with our therapists we can decline the private, free consultation and then we won't have to worry about the hard sales pitch. So we followed that advice and it was fine, we declined the private consultations and it was fine. I actually ended up buying a product at the end though, not because of their hard sell but because the product was awesome - Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel. It was pricey but it will hopefully be worth it. The massage was a stone couples massage and was pricey but since we didn't do the family cabana this time, we decided to treat ourselves to the couples massage. I think it was worth it, it was really nice.


Tiffany's DCL Necklace - The new Tiffany's / Disney charm is my mother's day gift, and only available on the Fantasy ship and can be pre-ordered now in gifts an amenities! The staff at Tiffany's said this is a historical piece of Tiffany jewelry in that it is the FIRST time Tiffany's has partnered up with another company and put another company's logo on their jewelry, pretty cool! $344 (includes tax)

Goofy's Sports Simulator (only available on Dream class) - Forgot to add - we spent an hour in Goofy's sports simulator - pretty fun! We enjoyed basketball and hockey and the kids loved the carnival games. Definitely consider booking it for 30 min or 60 min. There were a lot of folks interested but it was sold out by the time we boarded. I was able to book it online under port activities.

 

[hanscarlet]

Castaway Cay Day - This was our first time not getting a family cabana since 2013 so it was a different experience for us. Fortunately we got out early and got a great spot on the beach with an umbrella. It was the first time my kids checked out Scuttle's Cove and it was great! We also got to check out the Conch Bar too. We saw more of the island this time since not being in a cabana and it was beautiful. We also found there was plenty of seating at Cookies 1 (something I had been concerned about) and it was a great time! It really didn't feel crowded on the beach, maybe because we got an awesome spot but it was great! It was super duper hot that day and we are big aquaduck fans and after having to wait 30 min in line the previous day, we decided to head onto the ship after lunch and we went on the AquaDuck 7 times! It was great! I was also able to get the packing done and finalize my photobook in the afternoon so I could enjoy my final night on the ship.

5E GTY - 8682 Stateroom Review - We got very lucky with our 5E verandah - it was stateroom 8682 and it was huge! Really a pleasurable place to spend time. Only complaints were that sometimes you could smell the smoke from the smoke stacks above and also our neighbors were big star gazing fans so twice they asked us to keep our verandah lights off so they could look at the stars. It wasn't a big deal and they were polite about it but it made me wonder if the aft ships may be more negatively impacted by neighboring room's lights due to the wide layout? Something to keep in mind if you're a star gazing fan.

Code Red and Aft Experience on the Fantasy - I had heard it can get wild as far as vibrations and such in aft on the Fantasy and we definitely felt vibrations anytime we parked the boat in port or turned the boat around or started it up to leave port, but overall it really didn't bother me, if anything it let me know where we were as I was laying in bed in the morning or at night. There was one odd experience though, my husband and I were eating room service, after a night at the lounges, on our verandah and all of a sudden we felt MAJOR vibrations, loud noises and then a complete and sudden STOP of the ship. Shortly after the captain came on the announced a bunch of stuff I didn't understand, something to the effect of, "Crew members, code Charlie, code red, go to stations"… and then in the hallways we noticed the fire doors were all shut. Outside almost everyone down the line were on their verandahs looking around trying to figure out what was up. Then the captain came back on and explained there was smoke in the engine room and therefore they reverted to automatic fire on board protocol , but after investigating the cause of the smoke, they felt confident it was a minor issue and that they were comfortable starting the ship up again and getting on the way to our next destination. It was a scary incident that happened around midnight but interesting as well.

 

[hanscarlet]

Debarkation Day - Our servers insisted we meet them for breakfast so we went but I feel like they did that as a help to get folks out of their staterooms but they really took care of us too. We did the onboard airline check in it was wonderful - no need to see our big luggage until we got it PHL. But we soon discovered that our oldest daughter got the virus! Miserable. Our serving team was wonderful, at the time we didn't know she had it, she just woke up miserable and we assumed because it was so early (6:30) but she felt warm. While on the Mickey Bus, on the way to the airport, she got "sick". By the grace of God, we happened to be sitting in the front row of the bus and the bus driver was able to hand us a garbage bag and paper towels so it actually wasn't as bad as it could be in that I was able to contain the mess, clean it up to the best of my ability but it was traumatic. At this point at MCO we got her into new clothes but we were bracing for a miserable travel day. Thankfully on the plane she just slept but after getting out of the plane, while walking to the baggage claim, she had another "incident". By chance, we bought the refillable popcorn buckets and didn't pack them in our checked luggage, let's just say the popcorn buckets saved the day! I felt terrible for my DD and to have to go through a "public sickness" like that and it was probably terrible for the folks around us in the airport and I apologize to anyone who happened to have to endure us but I share because please don't judge the sickly - we had no control or really a heads up as to what was going on or options really; just rather the urgency to get home. We're lucky I suppose if we had to get the virus, it was good we got it on the last day and not in the middle of the cruise, like many others did. The counts that we have heard on confirmed cases onboard range from 49-100 based on chatter with folks online and on the ship.



My oldest waiting for luggage at PHL


Overall though, amazing trip! Can't wait to go again!

 

[hanscarlet]

duplicate - delete

 

[vertigo235]

Great review! We were in the cruise as well and I'm astonished by the overwhelming negativity and complaining on the FB group. People complaining about the cruise, their FE groups , the fact that they had to wait in any line whatsoever. It's just spewing with negativity.

We had a great time and our thoughts mirror yours.

 

[bcwife76]

Great review!!

You have such a positive attitude, even with the sickness at the end (your poor DD!) I'm so glad none of this put a real damper on your trip. How is your DD today?

We had Ashang on the Fantasy January 2017 and my girls STILL talk about him!! We will be on the Fantasy again this October but I haven't put in a server request (yet) but I might!

Thanks again for the concise report!

 

[delo4]

We were on this cruise as well. We had an excellent time. It was cruise #33 for me, and I echo your sentiments about the negativity. We heard lots of complaining as well and it was surprising to me. Some of the complaining was because people don’t read or listen. Out in our hallway at 10:00 on Friday night someone was complaining that they did not know their luggage out to be out by 10:30. They said they had a busy day and would not have time. The room steward told them they would have to carry off their luggage the next morning and they had a fit. Then they said they should not have Castaway Cay Day on the day before leaving. What?? I also heard people complaining about the gratuities charged to their account and they couldn’t wait to go and give guest services amd have then removed. Unbelievable!! Also complaints about Cabanas not being self service because of the illnesses aboard ship. We were grateful they took so many precautions. None of us got sick and I’m sure it was because Disney tried to do everything they could to make sure the virus did not spread. The crew had to work many more hours than usual and all time off was canceled. They spent most of their time cleaning. We walked by animators one day and they had pushed all the furniture to one side and were cleaning everything. It caused so much extra work and we were very appreciative.

I do agree with your assessment of Cinderella. Our grandchildren were at the Princess Meet and greet and it did seem like she did not want to be there. Tiana was the most friendly though. In fairness, we did see Cinderella on a different day and she was very nice, so maybe she was having a bad day.

Our grandchildren had a great time. We had excellent servers and our room steward was fabulous and so friendly.

The red party thing in the middle of the night was a little scary. I have never had that happen before and it was a little disconcerting to walk into the hallway and find the fire doors closed. The captain made an announcement about there being smoke in the engine room and then in the middle of his announcement he stopped talking for about 30 seconds and we could hear whispering. That was the scariest part, wondering what he was going to say. He came back on and said something about not all the staterooms were able to hear the announcement, so he started all over again. It was a bit hard to get back to sleep after that. Glad nothing was seriously wrong, but it was an experience.

The ship was really crowded. We were on a back to back and the cruise previous to this one was not crowded at all. We noticed a huge difference when the ship is full.

 

[buteraa]

Sea Day 3 - Senses Couples Massage - We ate lunch at Royal Court because we were kind of sick of the chaos at Cabanas and then following that we got our first massage ever on the Disney ships. We had been hesitant to get a massage because we had heard how aggressive they are with the sales and consultations… when I checked in I addressed this with receptionist and the doc were both at the desk and were smirking but I kind of felt like they were annoyed by my request. They just explained that when we sit down with our therapists we can decline the private, free consultation and then we won't have to worry about the hard sales pitch. So we followed that advice and it was fine, we declined the private consultations and it was fine. I actually ended up buying a product at the end though, not because of their hard sell but because the product was awesome - Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel. It was pricey but it will hopefully be worth it. The massage was a stone couples massage and was pricey but since we didn't do the family cabana this time, we decided to treat ourselves to the couples massage. I think it was worth it, it was really nice.


Tiffany's DCL Necklace - The new Tiffany's / Disney charm is my mother's day gift, and only available on the Fantasy ship and can be pre-ordered now in gifts an amenities! The staff at Tiffany's said this is a historical piece of Tiffany jewelry in that it is the FIRST time Tiffany's has partnered up with another company and put another company's logo on their jewelry, pretty cool! $344 (includes tax)

View attachment 322293

Elemis products are amazing. They have such a great line to choose from and I'm sure your hooked now that you've tried it.

 

[buteraa]

Debarkation Day - Our servers insisted we meet them for breakfast so we went but I feel like they did that as a help to get folks out of their staterooms but they really took care of us too. We did the onboard airline check in it was wonderful - no need to see our big luggage until we got it PHL. But we soon discovered that our oldest daughter got the virus! Miserable. Our serving team was wonderful, at the time we didn't know she had it, she just woke up miserable and we assumed because it was so early (6:30) but she felt warm. While on the Mickey Bus, on the way to the airport, she got "sick". By the grace of God, we happened to be sitting in the front row of the bus and the bus driver was able to hand us a garbage bag and paper towels so it actually wasn't as bad as it could be in that I was able to contain the mess, clean it up to the best of my ability but it was traumatic. At this point at MCO we got her into new clothes but we were bracing for a miserable travel day. Thankfully on the plane she just slept but after getting out of the plane, while walking to the baggage claim, she had another "incident". By chance, we bought the refillable popcorn buckets and didn't pack them in our checked luggage, let's just say the popcorn buckets saved the day! I felt terrible for my DD and to have to go through a "public sickness" like that and it was probably terrible for the folks around us in the airport and I apologize to anyone who happened to have to endure us but I share because please don't judge the sickly - we had no control or really a heads up as to what was going on or options really; just rather the urgency to get home. We're lucky I suppose if we had to get the virus, it was good we got it on the last day and not in the middle of the cruise, like many others did. The counts that we have heard on confirmed cases onboard range from 49-100 based on chatter with folks online and on the ship.



My oldest waiting for luggage at PHL
View attachment 322296

Overall though, amazing trip! Can't wait to go again!
View attachment 322297

UGH! That poor baby! I was she was feeling better soon. They are just adorable. Thank you for sharing your trip.

 

[hanscarlet]

Great review! We were in the cruise as well and I'm astonished by the overwhelming negativity and complaining on the FB group. People complaining about the cruise, their FE groups , the fact that they had to wait in any line whatsoever. It's just spewing with negativity.

We had a great time and our thoughts mirror yours.

THANK YOU! We were in a lounge with two DVC members and the female was so drunk every night and she was slurring her words and she was totally crapping on the cruise, she was cussing and saying just horrible horrible things, she kept repeating herself too because she was so drunk.... it really put a damper on our lounge experience, thankfully she was far enough away that I only heard her a few times and I only saw her a total of three times on the cruise but I was so sad for her serving team.... but her negativity breeded other negativity with another couple in the lounge, also a DVC member - they just acted very entitled and rude..... we made friends with another DVC member and annual passholder and he was extremely positive about the trip and if anything said he was going to move his focus more to DCL than to WDW because of the changes WDW is undergoing .... but yea this is the first cruise group where I wasn't totally feeling the vibe of the place and also some of the lounge folks were negative.... thankfully we met a ton of people who were really happy and nice but it's hard to describe the undertow of negativity, glad you get what I am talking about. Thanks for your reply! Glad you had a great trip!

 

[hanscarlet]

Great review!!

You have such a positive attitude, even with the sickness at the end (your poor DD!) I'm so glad none of this put a real damper on your trip. How is your DD today?

We had Ashang on the Fantasy January 2017 and my girls STILL talk about him!! We will be on the Fantasy again this October but I haven't put in a server request (yet) but I might!

Thanks again for the concise report!

Thanks! I think you should definitely request Ashang, if you go tell him Emma and Ava say hi! He was so sweet with my girls. Emma is on the autism spectrum so we feed her most of her nutrition in the stateroom and just let her eat her same pizza and fries in the dining room but we always ask for strawberries because she loves strawberries.... like previous cruises they were able to get strawberries every night but on debarkation morning it is difficult to get strawberries at the breakfast..... Ashang sent someone down to get Emma strawberries on debarkation morning breakfast! In past cruises it always feels like the serving team is ready to get you out of there during debarkation morning but he sincerely made us feel like he was going to miss us. He was a good person and really good at his job. During The AP show when you have to put your order in early because of the animation, he was like walking around and kept checking on us and talking, he was clearly bored because he didn't know what to do with himself during the show, it's like he loves running around.... Great guy! Thanks for reading your reply!

 

[hanscarlet]

Elemis products are amazing. They have such a great line to choose from and I'm sure your hooked now that you've tried it.

We did concierge last year and enjoyed the Elemis Shampoo and Conditioner but this gel is off the hook! It's a shame they are so pricey but at least you get a generous amount in the gel. My DD is home from school today and tomorrow they have off for election day (primary day) so I think she will ok to be at school on Wednesday. She's doing much better than she was on debarkation day. I feel for the folks who got this during the cruise and had to stay in their staterooms during their trip. Thanks for reading and your reply!

 

[hanscarlet]

We were on this cruise as well. We had an excellent time. It was cruise #33 for me, and I echo your sentiments about the negativity. We heard lots of complaining as well and it was surprising to me. Some of the complaining was because people don’t read or listen. Out in our hallway at 10:00 on Friday night someone was complaining that they did not know their luggage out to be out by 10:30. They said they had a busy day and would not have time. The room steward told them they would have to carry off their luggage the next morning and they had a fit. Then they said they should not have Castaway Cay Day on the day before leaving. What?? I also heard people complaining about the gratuities charged to their account and they couldn’t wait to go and give guest services amd have then removed. Unbelievable!! Also complaints about Cabanas not being self service because of the illnesses aboard ship. We were grateful they took so many precautions. None of us got sick and I’m sure it was because Disney tried to do everything they could to make sure the virus did not spread. The crew had to work many more hours than usual and all time off was canceled. They spent most of their time cleaning. We walked by animators one day and they had pushed all the furniture to one side and were cleaning everything. It caused so much extra work and we were very appreciative.

I do agree with your assessment of Cinderella. Our grandchildren were at the Princess Meet and greet and it did seem like she did not want to be there. Tiana was the most friendly though. In fairness, we did see Cinderella on a different day and she was very nice, so maybe she was having a bad day.

Our grandchildren had a great time. We had excellent servers and our room steward was fabulous and so friendly.

The red party thing in the middle of the night was a little scary. I have never had that happen before and it was a little disconcerting to walk into the hallway and find the fire doors closed. The captain made an announcement about there being smoke in the engine room and then in the middle of his announcement he stopped talking for about 30 seconds and we could hear whispering. That was the scariest part, wondering what he was going to say. He came back on and said something about not all the staterooms were able to hear the announcement, so he started all over again. It was a bit hard to get back to sleep after that. Glad nothing was seriously wrong, but it was an experience.

The ship was really crowded. We were on a back to back and the cruise previous to this one was not crowded at all. We noticed a huge difference when the ship is full.

Thank you on the confirmation of the people complaining! I had heard people wanting to remove their tips too and others saying they were just going to eat in cabanas every night because they didn't like the serving team! Also our server asked us to bring the kids to the MDR so he can feed "my princesses need to eat too" the girls before we go to Palo, we were going to bring them to the MDR on Palo night because Ashang insisted... well at 4:00pm I get a call from guest services asking if they can have our MDR table for just the night because he has a waiting list of people trying to get main seating for pirate night and kind of begged me for the table.... it was the oddest thing, he sounded a bit exasperated, "please mum, I'm just trying to make folks happy, I have 8 families waiting on tables"... so I said "fine, go ahead" after originally telling him that I was going to bring the girls because our servers insisted... so the next day we asked Ashang about the new family sitting at our table and he said he was told someone new may be coming but they NEVER SHOWED UP! I was so pissed and he was annoyed too.... I told him we purposely didn't show up so another family could enjoy main seating for a night and they didn't even have the decency to show up!

I was surprised by the volume of NEW, first time cruisers to the Fantasy, I would have assumed there would be less first timers because it's one of the more expensive ones but there are really ignorant first time cruisers is the hypothesis I'm starting to form in terms of explaining the negativity.... I got the sense that a lot of people on the ship never cruised before, didn't go through a strong TA and were blindsided with some of the protocol.... but because they spent a lot of money they felt entitled to be jerks about things....

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of first time cruisers, who know Disney well and for that reason plan accordingly, join all the cruise groups they need to and for the most part get themselves informed.... but the oblivious ones that just show up, act stupid and then get mad when they don't want to follow the rules are really irrititating and I feel like a lot of them were on the ship

I too was pleased with the Cabanas protocol, we were impressed actually to the lengths to which Disney went to ensure we didn't spread the virus

The red party thing WAS SCARY especially when the captain and the other person were whispering over the loud speaker... it didn't exactly provide a vote of confidence when he was doing that.... I loved our captain, he seemed so genuine, sincere and a total marine nerd, loved to explain the wildlife, etc.... but he was a little "too honest" with all that whispering going on over the loud speaker LOL

So glad you had a nice time! Thank you for your reply!