Am I Gonna EAT? Or Am I Gonna STAAAARRRRRVE To Death? Eastern Fantasy UPDATED 06/12/15

[markuehl]

Thank you for doing this report we are going to be on the Fantasy in July a Western we have been on the Dream once before this will be our second Disney cruise i also was sea sick the first night !

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Thank you for doing this report we are going to be on the Fantasy in July a Western we have been on the Dream once before this will be our second Disney cruise i also was sea sick the first night !

Thanks for reading! We will be taking our 2nd cruise on the Dream in May. Any tips on the Dream? I just got a prescription for a patch for seasickness so hopefully I will be going in prepared this time! So looking forward to it! I would love to be on the Fantasy in July - I know you will have an amazing trip!

 

[Kiren]

Oh this is exciting to read! I'm going on my first cruise on the Fantasy next April! I sail for a living but I'm concerned as well that I might be sea sick. It's nice to read about a trip from someone else who is on their first too!

 

[markuehl]

Thanks for reading! We will be taking our 2nd cruise on the Dream in May. Any tips on the Dream? I just got a prescription for a patch for seasickness so hopefully I will be going in prepared this time! So looking forward to it! I would love to be on the Fantasy in July - I know you will have an amazing trip!

I am also going to get the patch my husband had it and had no problem i didn't have time to go to the dr. before this time i am going to make time! as far as tips i think the Dream and the Fantasy are sister ships and pretty similar we did not get off the ship in Nassau and went to the the spa rainforest a one day pass the two person hot tub looking at the ocean and the heated loungers were a nice relaxing time the nice thing about our Dream vacation was it was a double dip two stops to Castaway Cay !

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Oh this is exciting to read! I'm going on my first cruise on the Fantasy next April! I sail for a living but I'm concerned as well that I might be sea sick. It's nice to read about a trip from someone else who is on their first too!

Thank you!!! How exciting that you will be going on your first Disney cruise! Now that we have gone I am counting down to the next trip it was one of the best trips I've ever had! SOOOO much to do and amazing service! you will have a blast!

I am also going to get the patch my husband had it and had no problem i didn't have time to go to the dr. before this time i am going to make time! as far as tips i think the Dream and the Fantasy are sister ships and pretty similar we did not get off the ship in Nassau and went to the the spa rainforest a one day pass the two person hot tub looking at the ocean and the heated loungers were a nice relaxing time the nice thing about our Dream vacation was it was a double dip two stops to Castaway Cay !

Ohhhhh those heated loungers are on my list for our May cruise! They look heavenly!! I would LOVE to do a double dip! My husband and I were just talking about Castaway Cay this afternoon - we are sooo looking forward to it! A cruise with 2 stops there would be amazing!

 

[markuehl]

I had been thinking the cool showers would be what I liked best but the hot tubs and loungers were the hit with my husband and I i don't think i would get the pass for the full cruise but maybe two days would be good we enjoyed tastings and bingo too we tried palo and enjoyed not just the food but the peace the MDR's are very loud this trip we are going to try Remy I can not wait !

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

The next morning we decided to check out the kids clubs during an open house they were having. Loved the Toy Story rooms - I want one at home lol

Zoe tried out "RC"

Monsters Inc

Once we toured the kids club we took off to the Princess meet and greet that we had gotten tickets for

They have it set up so each princess has their own photographer and you go through the line and meet one at a time

They had Cinderella

Ariel

Tiana

and Jasmine

THen we ran into princess Minnie

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

I had been thinking the cool showers would be what I liked best but the hot tubs and loungers were the hit with my husband and I i don't think i would get the pass for the full cruise but maybe two days would be good we enjoyed tastings and bingo too we tried palo and enjoyed not just the food but the peace the MDR's are very loud this trip we are going to try Remy I can not wait !

Oh my goodness I REALLY wanted to try bingo last trip. We popped in during the last session of our cruise and it was PACKED and wasn't cheap so I decided to skip it. Our upcoming trip is adults only so I think I am going to make time for it - i thought it would be a blast! How did you like it? Did you win? We are trying Palo brunch as well - I can't WAIT for that! Did you go to brunch or dinner? Any recommendations on favorite dishes? Remy looks amazing too! I need to book more cruises to fit all this in!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

The rest of the day was spent lazing around the pool, aquaduck, etc. Unfortunately I did not get pics during.

Next up was dinner at Royal Court - after all - we wouldn't want to STARVE to death!

The way they set up the table is super cute - the napkins are adorable!

The menu

Excuse the partially GONE escargot - I had always wanted to try these and here was the chance - I actually really liked them! I think it helped that they were swamped in garlic butter

Iced lobster and jumbo shrimp

french onion soup - i thought this was completely tasteless

Salad

Lobster macaroni

Filet

desert menu

creme brulee - i could inhale this right now - SO GOOD

Sweet Temptations

After dinner drinks

the little menus folded and sealed

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

I love this pic. It shows Our WONDERFUL AMAZING server Stipe - busy entertaining our girls who were surrounded by what looks like a sea of shirley temples and ice cream sundaes. Again, can't say enough. Never rushed, took his time to keep the girls happy.

Magic tricks

After we left dinner there were carolers singing

We headed back to this cutie - Big hero 6 was on going to be the show the next evening - hooray!

I won't tell you how long it took me to realize that all of the chocolates were SLEEPY - i noticed it was a dwarf obviously but apparently it took awhile to sink in to me that it was sleepy. Oh my goodness - what a cute disney touch!

Tomorrow was also St. Maarten and Pirate night!

We decided to roam the ship a bit - Andy watched many football games on funnel vision that week!

it was pretty much empty

Everything looks so neat lit up at night

When we went inside - guess who we ran into?

Santa even had cookies and milk out - how cute is that?

My new BFF - hey - he had COOKIES!!

Then we ran into adorable green Christmas sweater Donald

Then we headed back to the room as we were planning on a full day off ship tomorrow.

We put on Santa Claus and we were FORCED to order more chocolate chip cookies from room service

I always brought back a few chocolate milk for the fridge from the breakfast buffet and it hit the spot - Donald agreed

Next up - St. Maarten

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

We woke up and got ready and soon this was our view from the verandah

Zoe was the first out to check it out

Getting into port - Royal Caribbean was next to us

It was absolutely gorgeous - the sun was shining and only a few clouds

Norwegian

We all got off and gathered in front of the ship. We had a plan to take a taxi to Orient Beach. Everything we read said how amazing it was so we decided that was what we should do that day.

I snapped a few pics of all the kids

We easily found a taxi and off we went!

I took about 100000 pics along the way so brace yourself

us in the taxi

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

this told a story - i wish it came out clear

That's when I saw....McDonald's! WOW - it's everywhere

The setting is unbelievable - green, beautiful

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

We were getting close to the beach

And then we were there! ORIENT BEACH!!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

In my mind, I had made this beach out to be nothing short of AMAZING. Unfortunately, it was COVERED in seaweed. And I learned something about seaweed there - it was sharp. It wasn't like the soft wavy seaweed in the lakes around where we live. There were tractors scooping up seaweed in some of the areas.

The SECOND you get near a chair someone magically appears to charge $20 per set of chairs.


You can see one of the tractors. sadly, there was a TON of this in the water too. it made it very difficult to enjoy the water as you were covered in it plus you had to walk on it and it wasn't very nice

The other thing about Orient Beach is you are quickly approached to buy souveniers and massages, etc. These were the first two to come up to us - luckily for them, because even though I wouldn't have bought a thing, the girls had their own money and all wanted a cover up. I THINK we paid $15 each.

Piper and her BFF braved the water a bit

You can really get a feel for the seaweed here

The big kids decided to soak up some sun

while i think the little kids played seaweed games LOL

As it got a little later in the day the water sports picked up

there was a place you could rent boats, etc

relaxing

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Zach and Mariah rented some boards

Chase and Laine walked around

It was so bright they really couldn't keep their eyes open

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

After a while we decided to head back to the ship

We decided we would go back to clean up and have some lunch

There are lots of little shops and stands right around the ship

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

When we left the ship i wanted to get a photo of everyone in front of the St. Maarten sign when it was completely empty but everyone was in a hurry to get to the beach. Now when we got back it was packed around it.

Chase and Laine didn't want to wait to get a pic without others in the background so I had to snap one with lots of other people in it so we had a pic of them there

Then as we headed back to the ship I took more pics around the port area

The ships all lined up

I thought the Fantasy was the prettiest

These things that look like rocks were actually cement type blocks I believe

hope you don't mind all the photos!

it truly is a beautiful place to visit

Once back on board the ship we grabbed a quick lunch then our friends, Zach, Mariah, Andy and I headed up to the adults only deck to have a cocktail and take in the views

If you look close you can see where the St. Maarten sign is to take pics by - super tiny in the center of the pics by the yellow buildings and palm trees - its just off the ship in port

I think the drink of the day was "sunken treasure" - they were THE BEST and we got several

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

As we were standing here drinking our cocktails and taking pics, Andy and I started feeling like we were missing out on something we wanted to try here while we had the chance. When we had gotten off the ship this morning before we got in the taxi to Orient Beach, we had seen the area where you could take a water taxi over to a small beach area right by the port. We could SEE it from the ship and it looked GORGEOUS. I had read about the water taxi and since it was only lunch time, we started throwing out the idea to go over there.

We talked to our friends and they decided to stay on the ship with the younger girls. However Zach and Mariah were game!

So we decided spur of the moment to get off the ship again and head over to the water taxi. By far the best move we made we had an AWESOME time!

The water taxi has a one way price - i believe it's $5 OR you can get a bracelet for all day back and forth for only $7. We quickly got our $7 bracelets and were boarding before we knew it!

You can see the little yellow bracelet on Mariah's arm

We were all happy with our decision to explore

annnnnnnnd we're off

Getting close!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

As we were pulling up you can start to see the beach area, Hard Rock, etc. right by the dock - SUPER easy to get to

pulling in to the dock

It was a QUICK and beautiful ride over

you can see the ship right in the background - it really is close

the docking area

and just like that, we were off the water taxi and at our destination! Not sure what Mariah was doing in this pic lol. Note, we did bring a couple of our tervis with ice water - it was pretty hot that day

this is where they let you off - you can see the beach area is literally right there

you are also right at a duty free liquor shop - we didn't stop at it

the entrance to all of the shops and the beach area

and we just turned right and there we were! right at the little beach. Obviously, it's not Orient Beach. BUT - there was no seaweed AND no one selling anything. Happiness! When I was little my parents couldn't get me to go into the lake until the put sneakers on my feet. I've just never liked things underwater touching my feet. This sand was completely clean!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Barefoot Restaurant is one of the first things right off the dock. We weren't hungry BUT they have 99cent beers! They are at there little outside shop right on the corner of the building so you don't even have to go in to get one!

There go Zach and Mariah! lol

There was live music playing just under a tent down a bit and plenty of loungers

Or you can just sit right on the sand which is what we ended up deciding to do since we had rented loungers earlier and we wanted to explore here anyways

Who doesn't love 99c beer? It was ice cold and Mariah gave hers a thumbs up

So did Zach

Andy and i decided we would hang out in the water for a bit while Zach and Mariah wandered around

I look hideous in this pic but it gives you an idea of how nice the water looked - it was completely clear

Andy actually went out a lot farther than I would - I stay right by the shore but it was a nice way to cool down. Andy came back in and said he was swimming right next to a sea turtle. he LOVED it. We were wishing we had brought the underwater camera with us. That would've been neat

After a swim we decided to wander around the area and listen to live music for a few minutes

There was a restaurant right across from it that had internet access

the musicians

They were really good. I took a video but I guess Andy deleted it from his phone

moving on

Apparently the "smallest bar in the world" was in the back? and 1 cuban cigar and 2 beers for $2.99