April 12, 2014 Fantasy - Western Caribbean - Calling all Spring Breakers

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Hi everyone!! We are scheduled to join your cruise as long as this is our spring break week in NJ we just got off the Fantasy the day before Easter and we had such a great time, I booked this cruise while on board to take advantage of the discount, hoping we don't have to reschedule.

We would love to participate in the FE. We all had an absolute blast doing it on this past cruise which was our first Disney cruise!

Jen
DH- Brendan
DS- Trevor 6 at sail date
DS- Conner 4 at sail date

Awesome and welcome!!

My kids are also extremely excited about cruising on the Fantasy. However, they don't realize that we are going next year...they believe it is two years away. They will get to find out at Christmas this year that we will be going for spring break, mean parents that we are.

My wife and I have gone on 2 Disney cruises before we had kids and are looking forward to the new ship. We just can't wait to get on board. I am sure that your entire family will want to go again after this one is over.

What an awesome surprise that will be!! WOOHOO!

We are fellow cruise mates! It will be me Linda, dh Mike, dd Michelle (17) and dd Laura (13) ages at sail time. This will be my 10th, dh 9th and dd's 8th Disney Cruise. The girls will be on Spring Break. This will also be the last time our dd(17) will be able to do the clubs Our cruise after this one will be the day after her 18th birthday. We are looking forward to being on the Fantasy for the first time. We have 2 connecting aft cabins with verandas, our first time aft. I've read mixed reviews and am willing to give it a try.

I'll read back through the posts. We would like to join the FE. I've read a few pages and see that there are some cruisers not to far from us and there are certainly kids with similar ages!

I'd like the FB link also please. Wish I could stick around for a bit today but it is off to work!

Linda

Welcome!!! We are also staying aft and we really enjoy the aft location! You can definitely feel the vibrations a little more when the ship is docking, however not enough to be uncomfortable. I think each location has its pros/cons and to me, "it's all good!" Our first cruise on the Dream and also our first sailing with DCL was far aft (in 6188) and we enjoyed it so we look forward to returning to the far aft!

Heather

 

[bubbasmom99]

Hello cruisers! I've taken over the FE exchange coordinating... you can reach me via PM here or via email to disneyjoy@gmail.com. I've set up a little FE survey to gather interest and start figuring out the best format (be it one, or multiple exchanges). Please let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.stampedbydesign.com/machform/view.php?id=12104

Can someone link this to the first or 2nd post? Since I cannot edit that, I will probably have to figure some way of linking to a webpage on my site and updating that as things go...

Thanks!

Oh, and if anyone wants to post this to the FB page, please do - I can't access FB from my work computer Or else I'll do it later when I get home.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Hello cruisers! I've taken over the FE exchange coordinating... you can reach me via PM here or via email to disneyjoy@gmail.com. I've set up a little FE survey to gather interest and start figuring out the best format (be it one, or multiple exchanges). Please let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.stampedbydesign.com/machform/view.php?id=12104

Can someone link this to the first or 2nd post? Since I cannot edit that, I will probably have to figure some way of linking to a webpage on my site and updating that as things go...

Thanks!

Oh, and if anyone wants to post this to the FB page, please do - I can't access FB from my work computer Or else I'll do it later when I get home.

Thank you for doing this for us

I just sent you my/our information

Heather

 

[alenushka]

Hello cruisers! I've taken over the FE exchange coordinating... you can reach me via PM here or via email to disneyjoy@gmail.com. I've set up a little FE survey to gather interest and start figuring out the best format (be it one, or multiple exchanges). Please let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.stampedbydesign.com/machform/view.php?id=12104

Can someone link this to the first or 2nd post? Since I cannot edit that, I will probably have to figure some way of linking to a webpage on my site and updating that as things go...

Thanks!

Oh, and if anyone wants to post this to the FB page, please do - I can't access FB from my work computer Or else I'll do it later when I get home.

Thank you!!!!
I just filled out the form and submitted!

 

[CathieForman]

Hello cruisers! I've taken over the FE exchange coordinating... you can reach me via PM here or via email to disneyjoy@gmail.com. I've set up a little FE survey to gather interest and start figuring out the best format (be it one, or multiple exchanges). Please let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.stampedbydesign.com/machform/view.php?id=12104

Can someone link this to the first or 2nd post? Since I cannot edit that, I will probably have to figure some way of linking to a webpage on my site and updating that as things go...

Thanks!

Oh, and if anyone wants to post this to the FB page, please do - I can't access FB from my work computer Or else I'll do it later when I get home.

Thank you Joy for taking on the FE coordination. I will add your link to the first page and update the roll call today or tomorrow.

thanks
Cathie

 

[CathieForman]

Hi guys!

So glad to see all the new faces over here! (Hi Yelena!!!)

We're still not altogether at our house from getting back from our cruise on Saturday. Still getting through laundry.... Ick!

Unfortunately, our cruise was not as "magical" as those in the past couple of years and given that next year would make 3 years in row to the same ports, DH is lobbying to skip next year and push our ressie out to 2015.

I'm bummed, but I see his point. If there is no way to change his mind over the next month or so, is there anyone out there who would like to be a backup for the FE group? I will definitely get things started this weekend with an email and the spreadsheet, I just don't want to leave everyone hanging if we do switch dates.

Take care, E

Sorry to hear your cruise was not as magical as you hoped it would be. I do hope you cruise with us next year. It looks like we do have a back up for the FE coordination.

thanks
Cathie

 

[CathieForman]

Hi Cathie Just a reminder that I was one that wanted to do a small FE group, not a large one. I don't think you have us down for the FE. I'm open to ideas Perhaps once we get more confirmed folks we can decide how to break into other groups since there are others also saying they prefer smaller groups now and some prefer several groups?

I'm starting to get ideas together and when I'm out shopping I find myself peeking for FE gifts

Heather

Hi Heather,
Sorry I missed listing you for the FE. I'll add it on the roll call. Joy is taking on the FE coordination and has posted a link to a survey to get us all started.

Thanks
Cathie

 

[west&east]

Hi All,

We just got off the Fantasy (March 30-April 6) and had an absolutely amazing vacation. I booked a dummy reservation on board and today, our TA confirmed us for this sailing next Spring Break. It is myself (Karen), DH Harv, DD14 Leah (she will be a 9th grader and 6 weeks away from 15 at time of cruise) and DS Aaron (11 at time of cruise, 5th grade). We are in cabin 9120.

I can't express how great a time we all had. My children made some great friends. We made some connections through the DIS and facebook ahead of time, met in person at WDW briefly or at the Meet & Greet on the ship, and then they were off to the races. I hope that some of our new friends may join us on this cruise but it is hard to say since everyone's spring breaks are at different times.

I hope to post a review of the cruise soon (it was also Western) but I'm happy to try to answer any questions while the experience is still fresh in my mind. Dreaming about the next cruise helps with post cruise depression!

Karen

 

[thdarragh]

Anyone sign up for the late dinner seating? We opted for the 8pm(?) dinnertime for a couple reasons and are trying to find some others who have that seating. I understand they seat families with similar "profiles" together so if you have children in the 12-17 year range and are eating late, maybe we could request sitting together. Maybe later in the year, when more people join the thread, we could get a little group together for dinner.

 

[alenushka]

There is a now a separate kids thread for the young'uns to get to know each other: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3091352#post48012100

Cathie, could you add this link to your roll call / info post please. I think, it will make it easier to locate and to know about. Thank you!

 

[alenushka]

Anyone sign up for the late dinner seating? We opted for the 8pm(?) dinnertime for a couple reasons and are trying to find some others who have that seating. I understand they seat families with similar "profiles" together so if you have children in the 12-17 year range and are eating late, maybe we could request sitting together. Maybe later in the year, when more people join the thread, we could get a little group together for dinner.

We have early dining as it is closer to our typical eating times. Just wondering about the reasons you opted for 8 pm.....

 

[bubbasmom99]

Cathie - the link to the FE exchange survey didn't copy over completely when you added it to the first post...

http://www.stampedbydesign.com/machform/view.php?id=12104

(if the forum software truncates it again, here it is with spaces)

http://www.stampedbydesign.com/ machform/ view.php?id=12104
Delete the spaces after the slashes and you should have the right URL.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Hi Heather,
Sorry I missed listing you for the FE. I'll add it on the roll call. Joy is taking on the FE coordination and has posted a link to a survey to get us all started.

Thanks
Cathie

Thank you Cathie and no worries at all!!!

Anyone sign up for the late dinner seating? We opted for the 8pm(?) dinnertime for a couple reasons and are trying to find some others who have that seating. I understand they seat families with similar "profiles" together so if you have children in the 12-17 year range and are eating late, maybe we could request sitting together. Maybe later in the year, when more people join the thread, we could get a little group together for dinner.

We are "early eaters" so we picked early dining since it works well for our family. I know there are pros and cons to both so I hope you get a nice group together since that's a great idea

Heather

 

[thdarragh]

We have early dining as it is closer to our typical eating times. Just wondering about the reasons you opted for 8 pm.....

We opted for late dining since I have 3 DD's and a DW that need to get ready and all that preparation takes time. LOL. Also, we figured since the families with little children will eat early, we could enjoy a couple hours with it being a little less crowded at the pool etc. Eating late could give us a little more time getting back on board from port excursions too. I believe some excursions end at 4:30 or 5pm and that's about the time main dining begins. I think there will be ample opportunity to grab a snack if the kiddos need it to hold them till 8pm!!

 

[mom2aredhead]

We did early too. It worked well for us last time. We liked having dinner, then heading over to the show, then either D-Lounge or up to Deck 11 and back on the aquaduck.
That being said, now that we've been on one Fantasy cruise and have eaten in all the MDR's, I won't feel as pressured to make dinner every night. Definitely plan on skipping the dining room on Castaway Cay day so we can spend as much time as possible there then chill on our last night. And depending on our rotation, I definitely don't feel the need to spend 3 nights in Animator's Palette.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We will definitely be booking Monday night! Woohoo!

364 days!

 

[thdarragh]

We did early too. It worked well for us last time. We liked having dinner, then heading over to the show, then either D-Lounge or up to Deck 11 and back on the aquaduck.
That being said, now that we've been on one Fantasy cruise and have eaten in all the MDR's, I won't feel as pressured to make dinner every night. Definitely plan on skipping the dining room on Castaway Cay day so we can spend as much time as possible there then chill on our last night. And depending on our rotation, I definitely don't feel the need to spend 3 nights in Animator's Palette.

Not sure about the shows. If we make them, great, but we don't feel a tremendous obligation to see them. I think there are only 3 on our cruise anyway. We might do dinner then try to escape to the "parents only" section of the ship We will play it by ear.

 

[thdarragh]

Hey all! I re-booked on my last Fantasy cruise December 1st. I adored this ship! We were actually able to upgrade at the port to concierge! It was a BIG mistake. I am spoiled now! But we booked room 10100. Hoping to upgrade again! Mainly because it will be right next door to the tween club (yes, I am an overprotective Mom)

It will be my 12 year old daughter at time of sailing, my Mom and I.

Is there an Fish Extender Exchange list yet? I was hoping to get in on that.

Thanks!
Jen

Re-reading some of these older posts and noticed we are neighbors..on the ship that is. We have a cabin a few doors from yours and we also have a 12 year old daughter. Sounds like a good match! I am sure we will be seeing you on board

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

We will definitely be booking Monday night! Woohoo!

364 days!

Awesome!!!

Heather

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Officially booked! Woohoo! 361 days!

We are wait listed for main dining. I asked for that because my DH and kids will be eating everything in sight by 8pm. There is also a chance that my in-laws and BIL, SIL, and DN will be joining us, and DN usually goes to bed by 7:30. If it ends up that it is just the four of us going, then I don't mind doing the later dining. The kids can do play-and-dine, and maybe it will be a calmer atmosphere with the babies and toddlers in bed.