A fantabulous 40th - Eastern on the Fantasy! Dec 14-21, 2013

[noahsketomom]

Going to try to get a VERY VERY FAST Trip report going here!

I've learned that if I don't get it done fast, I don't get it done. So here goes.

There are 8 of us in our party -- Me (Beth), My husband who turned 40 on board, our four kids (12 year old son, 11 year old daughter, 8 year old son and 7 year old daughter), and my mom and sister.

We had all had a fantastic TIME!!!!!! This was our second cruise - our first was almost 2 years ago - a 4 day on the dream to celebrate my mom's 60th.

So let's get into it……
I'm going to be writing quickly so feel free to ask questions because I'm sure I will forget something.

We flew down the day before, took a nonstop Jet Blue flight from Providence and arrived on time in Orlando around 10. We took Magical Express to Port Orleans French Quarter.



Our rooms weren't ready yet, so we ate lunch at the pool, enjoyed the florida sunshine, and participated in some of the kids poolside activities.



One of the reasons we chose POFQ was to be able to take the boat to Downtown Disney. We did that in the afternoon, of course stopping at the Lego Store, and purchasing some souvenirs at World of Disney. I wish I had gotten more pics of the decorations in DTD and POFQ. The Christmas stuff was up and lovely.


Although we were hoping to have a sit down dinner, the kids wanted to go back to the pool and my husband was feeling crummy from being up so early. So we grabbed sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich (best deal in DTD) and headed back.

We hung out at the pool until late. In general I loved the feel of POFQ and would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Up next -- our trip to the Port!

 

[noahsketomom]

We had breakfast at the resort, then waited for Happy Limo to pick us up. They texted me about 15 min before arrival and then again when they had arrived….exactly at our 9am pickup time.

Our driver was safe, prompt, and courteous. We stopped for water and drinks at a Publix grocery store strip mall very close to the port. There was also a liquor store there, FYI.

It was shortly thereafter that we got our first view of our home for the next 7 days….


We had a 10:30-10:45 checkin time and we were right on time. There was a little line getting through security and checking in, but it wasn't long before we were all set and had our boarding cards --- BOARDING NUMBER TWO!



The decorations were up!


The terminal was crowded! But we were there literally so little time that as soon as we settled down and hit the restrooms, they were calling our number!!



Our obligatory boarding pic!



As soon as we boarded, my sister and I made a beeline for guest services. We wanted to do a mixology class and I wanted to sign up the kids for gingerbread making. I also wanted to make sure they had my disney visa redemption card on file. The line was annoyingly long and slow, but it was worth it because we got what we wanted and once business was taken care of, we met the rest of the crew on the pool deck.

My two youngest were the first in the pool and had it to themselves for quite a while. They all had also ridden the aqua duck at least 3 times before we even saw them! The buffet was open and did not disappoint! We hung here for a while before I headed down to register the kids….

I forgot to mention that the line for checkin for the kids in the terminal was ENORMOUS. I decided to skip it and just have them get their bracelets onboard. Good decision because there was NO LINE when we went down after lunch:
We checked out the space, which looked almost identical to the Dream.





Up next --- leaving Port!

 

[noahsketomom]

The rest of the afternoon was checking out the ship, doing the muster drill, and finally setting sail! Sadly, we arrived late to the meet and greet for our DIS group, but still had fun chatting with some of the folks who were still there!

The fantasy is a beautiful ship!





We set up our fish extenders and got to work putting ours together!







Our cabins (7170/7168) were port side aft and WE LOVED THEM. The location close to the aft elevators was perfect. My husband is 6'11" so he requires a room very close to the stairs (the sprinklers and exit signs on the cabin floors are way too much of a danger!) But the locations was super convenient...A quick elevator trip and we were in cabanas…down and we were at the restaurants/kids clubs, etc. The 7170 cabin was considered restricted view, but because we had both verandahs, we didn't even notice. I wish I had gotten a pic of the overhang that limited the view. Sorry!

Here are a few as we left Port



Some random dude…





Only saw a few dolphins this time….


BEAUTIFUL sunset!!!!



We had late dining, which worked much better this time that last (when the kids were younger). Our rotation was AERAERA. Loved the rotation --- Animators for 2 casual nights and pirate night, Royal Court for semi formal (we missed 1st enchanted - formal night - due to palo).

Hit Mirror Mirror just before dinner.



Animators was fun the first night -- Crush even spoke to us this time! Our servers were Daniel from Romania and Isabella from Mexico. LOVED Daniel to pieces. Was phenomenal with the kids…..very dry, funny sense of humor and good service.

After a yummy meal (much better than I remember on the dream), we CRASHED!!!

Next up -- 1st full day at sea!!!!

 

[noahsketomom]

So forgot to mention that the first night was rough. Two of my kids were having a hard time getting their sea legs and felt kind of blah. It was a bummer because these two were in the edge and they missed out getting to know a lot of the kids that first night. It didn't end up being a big deal for my 12yo, but my 11yo daughter really never found a group to hang with. Oh, well…it was a FAMILY vacation after all!!!

The next day we started off with our favorite activities…..
ME…running around deck 4:





2.5 laps is a mile and it is a ghost town in the early morning!

We all hit the pool deck, which also (surprisingly) was not too crowded. Aquaduck lines were short and my youngest had the hot tub to herself! My mom enjoyed Alanas (she'll have to correct me on her name but she was super nice!) Bloody Mary's with breakfast at cabanas. We hung out at the pool until lunch!







The girls wanted to see Daisy



And then headed off midday to do the vegetable race with my mom.



My husband, sister and I hung out in O'Gills watching the Pats game. Other than Meridan, we loved O'Gills. Of course we wished the Pats game ended better, but it was fun to watch onboard and most of the Dolphins fans were good sports!!!

Afterwards, we decided to play santa while delivering our FE gifts…..



That night it was time for PALO dinner!
First a drink in Meridian….mine was a Basilico something or other and it was DELISH! My mom got a coffee something, and my sister got another type of martini.



Dinner at Palo was wonderful. Martin from Portugal was our waiter and he did a fine job. My husband decided to do the pairing, which was $69 extra, fixed menu with a small glass of wine with each course. He loved it.






We all left very happy and very full. The chocolate soufflé did not DISAPPOINT!!!

We had promised the kids that if they let us have an adult only dinner that we would then ride the aqua duck at night with them.





We had to pay up! It was super fun, but chilly afterwards with the winds. So we would end up in the hot tub after every run. There was NO LINE though -- so it was a great ending to the day!

Next up -- another day at sea with gingerbread, mixology, and a lost tooth!!!

 

[lorimay]

Reading along!

We are heading on our first Fantasy cruise in Feb for my 50th!
Very excited, we have only done the classic ships so far.

Love your Mickey earrings too cute!

Is the Palo menu the same when you do the wine parings or are there different items?

 

[noahsketomom]

I decided to try the treadmill this morning and boy was that a mistake. the view was wonderful….


But made me nauseous after 1/2 a mile….not sure if it was the movement of the boat, of the treadmill, whatever, but I hated it. Decided to go get some breakfast and skip exercise that day!

Don't remember too much of the morning, but we had fun! We again hung out on the pool deck, met some characters, and did a few of the muppets detective agency cases. Fun times!




My mom took the kids to gingerbread house making and the big kids (US) spent time sunning on the adult sun deck.

The masterpieces:





In the afternoon, my mom hit the Pink Ladies party (through our DIS group) and my sister and I went to our Mixology Class in Skyline.

It was a fun class, where we learned about the history of mixed drinks and learned how to make them! There were only 8 of us in our class, which was a great sized group. We made 5 different drinks, all of which were yummy, but my favorite was the mango mojito. For each drink, two of us would serve as the bartenders.



Julian ran the class and was very entertaining. He can balance almost anything on his nose….and limbo while doing it!!! Egads!!!



The rest of the day I don't have any pictures from -- but I promise it wasn't from Mixology!

I know we again hung out until late at the pool. We went to a trivia game in O'Gills and a Family game in the Tube…..and dinner was in Royal Court.

We had a lousy table location in Royal Court, but the food was great. I remember it was the only steak I ate the whole cruise and it was perfectly cooked. The escargots weren't as good as I remember, but the shrimp was wonderful.

And how could I forget the lost tooth?? My daughter's tooth was literally hanging on by a thread when we boarded. She was so happy that she lost it on board because we were told that Tinkerbell is the tooth fairy on board. Well we let Guest Services know and guess what showed up that night on her bed??




She was ELATED!!!!!



Next up --- St Maarten/Martin at Loterie Farm and Le Gallion Beach!

 

[Princess Michelle]

.

 

[noahsketomom]

Reading along! We are heading on our first Fantasy cruise in Feb for my 50th! Very excited, we have only done the classic ships so far. Love your Mickey earrings too cute! Is the Palo menu the same when you do the wine parings or are there different items?

You will love it!!! It's a fun way to celebrate those big birthdays! We tried to rebook on board for my 40th, but that's in April 2015 and it is the day after Easter! Our quote was DOUBLE this cruise... So had to say no thank you!!!!

Thanks for the compliment on the earrings... My daughters made them for all of us out of bubble stickers!!!!

Re: the palo pairings....I seem to remember him having mostly items from the menu, 6 or 7 at least. The wine sommelier would come over with each course and explain why the pairing was made. My husband loved it! He could also order from the menu if he wanted something else. Martin brought him the soufflé without him even ordering it!

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[noahsketomom]

Enjoying your trip report! We had Martin for our brunch and dinner at Palo, we really liked him too! Your bartender is incredible! Wow!

We really liked Julian...he was very knowledgeable and fun! (Though the two bottle thing made me nervous for him!!!)

It was funny to have Martin... Who was great, yet very reserved compared to the joking nature of Daniel in our main dining. The cool thing was that Martin knew the town and exactly where we lived in Portugal over 15 years ago! I also liked that he ordered the soufflés for us ... And was an excellent server overall.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[disny_luvr]

I'm enjoyed your TR!

We were on the November 30th Eastern and it was AMAZING! We had a blast. We, too, were on deck 7 AFT but starboard. Great location! The Fantasy is a beautiful ship. We can't wait to go again.

I enjoyed seeing your pictures of the derby race. We wanted to do it but missed it in the Navigator. There was so much we wanted to do and never got to. We spent most of our time hanging by the pool, playing the Midship Detective game and relaxing. My boys loved the clubs and I had a hard time getting them out of there. Even though we didn't do a lot of what we planned to do, we loved everything we did and have no regrets. We'll just need to book another cruise on the Fantasy so we can do everything we didn't get to do this time.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[noahsketomom]

I'm enjoyed your TR!

We were on the November 30th Eastern and it was AMAZING! We had a blast. We, too, were on deck 7 AFT but starboard. Great location! The Fantasy is a beautiful ship. We can't wait to go again.

I enjoyed seeing your pictures of the derby race. We wanted to do it but missed it in the Navigator. There was so much we wanted to do and never got to. We spent most of our time hanging by the pool, playing the Midship Detective game and relaxing. My boys loved the clubs and I had a hard time getting them out of there. Even though we didn't do a lot of what we planned to do, we loved everything we did and have no regrets. We'll just need to book another cruise on the Fantasy so we can do everything we didn't get to do this time.

Yes - I totally agree! There's so much to do, but I love that you feel like you don't have to do it all! Honestly my mom chose the derby race….mainly because she wanted the rest of us to be able to watch a little bit of the football game. A few events in O'Gills were listed as 18+ in the Navigators, even though there were people who still brought their kids in. Although it didn't bother me a bit, there were others who it did, so we kept to the rules.

That's what I loved about cruising….everybody can pick and choose what they want to do--- and the fact that all 8 of us (A 61 yo grandmother, a single 35yo, two 40ish parents, and 4 kids) had a good time says something!

We are also going to do a western in 2015….but on the magic in January. More on that later! Back to the report…….

 

[noahsketomom]

Following along!

 

[noahsketomom]

Up until about 2 weeks before the cruise, we had planned on just hanging in phillpsburg and maybe relaxing on the beach right there. The day was my husband's birthday and we wanted a low-key celebration. We also wanted to be able to stay up for Pirate night fireworks, which we missed on the Dream ship due to being too busy on CC that day. We also knew we had an EARLY excursion planned the following day on St. Thomas, so we really wanted to chill a bit in St. Maarten.

But that was the PLAN…..here's what really unfolded!

A good friend of mine suggested Loterie Farm, a nature preserve located high in the mountains of St. Martin. We did a little research and thought, why not?

But I was still nervous about going out on our own….not on a disney excursion. I awoke that day, to this view and realized that our day would turn out just fine!!!





We tried to get a relatively early start, with a quick breakfast at cabanas and headed off. The cruise terminal was lively and decorated for the holidays…



We went to the taxi stand and told them where we wanted to go. $10 per person was the quoted rate and we were off. Our driver, Will, was EXCELLENT. He told us a lot about the island and answered my pestering questions.

It wasn't long before we were in St. Martin!


The scenery was breathtaking. If I remember to upload more to photo bucket, I'll add some more here!


As soon as we turned into Loterie Farm we noticed LOADS and LOADS of monkeys! My 11yo is a big fan of monkeys and I was afraid we'd never be able to get her away!



Loterie Farm is BEAUTIFUL. Tucked right into the mountains and rain forested lands. We had originally reserved a cabana at this pool…..



I mean, I couldn't even tell you how beautiful this place was. But this pool was not exactly kid friendly. There was a long list of rules -- no running, jumping, splashing, yelling, etc., etc., etc. We quickly decided that we would forgo the cabana and just do the ropes course. All of the kids were tall enough for the intermediate course so we paid for 8 of us. Price was $48 per person. As soon as we started towards the station where you get outfitted, we realized something important -- it had begun to RAIN. POUR actually.



And it POURED.

And it POURED.

My oldest suddenly didn't want to do it. Then my youngest. Then our guide said "well I don't want to go out in this. I might get sick!" (Note: WE LOVED our guide, Ricky. he was hilarious.) So on it rained, and when it finally lightened up to a drizzle, we decided that six of us would give it a go. My 12 year old and 7 year olds stayed back in the snack/bar area, which had free wifi. This ended up being a great call because there is no way my 7 yo would've lasted on the course.

The rest of the six of us had a BLAST. About 10 minutes in the skies cleared and it got beautiful! This ropes course was challenging….but not too challenging. We had to walk across single ropes, swinging logs, wide planks, and had about 8 zip lines. I run 3x a week and was sore the next day. My mom however, was able to complete it all….so did my 8 year old daredevil!

Ricky showed us how to use the equipment but then pretty much made us do it ourselves, though he was always within earshot. He was amazingly patient with the kids (and adults), helped us when we needed help, and even went to fetch my daughter's hat when it fell. We tipped him at the end.

All in all, it was a great experience and we would all recommend it.



While we were zipping, our taxi driver stayed there and waited for us. He took us next to Le Gallion beach, the calmer side of Orient. So glad we chose that because Orient was ROUGH that day.

On the way we met some horses


Le Gallion was nice. They had had a bad storm the day before so there was a ton more seaweed than usual, but once you got out 10 feet or so it was great.

There were chairs available for rent, as well as paddle boards, kayaks, and the like.





There were also some "carribean santas" that would come and take food and drink orders.



We ended up heading up to the restaurant and getting some food. They had platters of grilled fish, hot dogs, chicken, fries, and drinks. The rum punch was made with their own homemade rum, which on it's own in a bottle looked a bit interesting. All the food was good. They took credit cards and american money, and lunch with drinks for 8 of us came to $120 including gratuity.



the view was great!



After lunch we played in the water and the sand, and even swam a bit in the floating lap pool they had there --- my son who is on the swim team loved that!









One more thing about this place. I realized as soon as we got there that I had forgotten to ask Loterie Farm to refund me for my two kids who hadn't done the ropes course. D'oh! HUGE BUMMER of a mistake. Well would you believe the folks who ran the restaurant there let me call Loterie? As soon as I called, the lady on the other end knew who I was right away and asked if I could come back with my card so she could process it. When I told her that would be a bit hard, she agreed to try to do it manually -- and it worked fine! Two thumbs up for them! Needless to say I was thrilled with both places and their friendliness to help a tourist. The santas at the beach thought I should celebrate the refund with a complimentary taste of their own homemade rum! LOL! Like I said before, it looked a bit on the sketchy side, but I'm still alive so far.

We had arranged for Will to come back for us in 2 hrs and he was right on time. The drive back was just as beautiful and before long we were back at port.



Of course my husband then realized that he had left his flip flops back at the beach. Here is us looking through the bags for them…..



Oh, well! As our cab driver remarked, we probably ended up blessing someone else with those shoes. Of course, that someone would have to have size 15 feet!!! LOL!!!

We thanked Will again for a wonderful day on St. Maarten/Martin and said farewell.



One last pic on land before reboarding and getting ready for pirate night!



Next up -- will a 40 year old be able to make it to pirate night?

 

[Princess Michelle]

.

 

[noahsketomom]

I was adamant that I was not getting the souffle and Martin told me in no uncertain terms that I would be having the souffle and that if I didn't like it he would bring me something else and eat the souffle himself! LOL I'm not a fan of warm chocolate but I have to say, he was right, it was delicious.... That's really cool that he knew where you lived!

I'm the same way... In fact I almost never eat chocolate desserts.... And I did only use the vanilla sauce.... But the sauce with the soufflé with the ice cream? YUM!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in.

 

[Linda67]

Great TR so far - joining in

 

[noahsketomom]

Joining in.

Great TR so far - joining in

Hi there!

Thanks for joining in! I hope to finish up the second half of the trip soon! My inlaws surprised me with a visit, so I've gotten sidetracked!!! Sorry!

Pirate night coming up soon!!!

 

[hbrennock]

I am contemplating taking a Disney Cruise to celebrate my 40th. We are going to do the 4 night Bahama cruise as this will be my first voyage on DCL. I want to take my parents with me. Am I better off getting two rooms for us? Or one room for all of us to share?