August 16th, 2014 - FANTASY Western Caribbean

[CTdaizy]

My kids really want to visit some Mayan Ruins while we stop in Cozumel. I don't want to spend hours getting to the ruins, but would still like to see something. And I'm thinking private tours are the way to go.. Any ideas?

 

[jamescinda]

Hi how do I join the August 16th fantasy FE group?
My name is Cinda Carvalho
I am traveling with my husband James
and our daughters Kayla 13 and Katie 8
I have sent a request to join the FBI page.
We went on the Fantasy this past August and we are counting the days until our next cruise!
Thank you
Cinda

 

[JKSWonder]

Hi how do I join the August 16th fantasy FE group? My name is Cinda Carvalho I am traveling with my husband James and our daughters Kayla 13 and Katie 8 I have sent a request to join the FBI page. We went on the Fantasy this past August and we are counting the days until our next cruise! Thank you Cinda

Hi! The Facebook page is for the FE, so if you put in a request there, you are good to go. Petra, who is running the Facebook page and the FE, responds to the Facebook requests to join pretty quickly. Once you have access to the page, you will just have to give her your info (number of cruisers, cabin #, etc.)

My daughter will be 13 and my son will be 8 at sail time.....so glad to see more kids their age joining the group.

 

[disneycruiser888]

This will be our 4th cruise for me(34) and my DH(36). It will be our sons (7 and 10) third cruise. We are cruising with my in-laws and this is their second and my sister in-law and her family, it will be their first cruise.

Counting down the days!!!

2000-Disney Magic
2011- Disney world
2012- Disney Magic NYC to Canada
2013- Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean
2014- Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean

 

[thatmrscook]

Hi there -- my husband and I want to be part of the FE group for August 16, 2014!!
Our first cruise was last August on the Fantasy, and we are hooked!!!

 

[KeatingFamily]

Greetings Fellow Cruisers!

So excited to join you all. For the roll call we are:

The Keating Family in 7034
DH - Matthew (me)
DW - Suzanne
DD - Arianna (9)

and...

The Rickards Family in (TBD - hopefully close by)
DM - Anne Marie
DD - Alyria (7)

We'll be joining the FE list as soon as I find the FB link.

Matthew

PS. I do tech support for a company that specializes in easy to use computers, phones and tablets etc. If you have an emergency on the ship, please let me know if I can help.

 

[pstorme]

So excited to be going on this cruise! We are going with another family and have joining rooms!

I'm pam (35 on the cruise)
Hubby: Rob, (39 on the crusise , 40th is the following week)
Makenzie: 6 on the cruise
Brady : 1.5 on the crusie
We will be celebrating 10 year of married bliss!!!

 

[pennymike]

We are joining you all in August!

We are Penny (43) and Mike (46).
We are from Michigan (so, YES, we are cold right now!). I am an early elementary reading specialist and my DH sells/leases golf cars.
No kids....just 2 kids at

This will be our, um....15th Disney Cruise. Yup....addicts.
Just transferred our Dummy booking we made while on the Fantasy NYE '14 cruise to this cruise....can't wait to see Jamaica! Love new ports!

Looking forward to getting caught up on this thread!

 

[JKSWonder]

We are joining you all in August! We are Penny (43) and Mike (46). We are from Michigan (so, YES, we are cold right now!). I am an early elementary reading specialist and my DH sells/leases golf cars. No kids....just 2 kids at This will be our, um....15th Disney Cruise. Yup....addicts. Just transferred our Dummy booking we made while on the Fantasy NYE '14 cruise to this cruise....can't wait to see Jamaica! Love new ports! Looking forward to getting caught up on this thread!

Welcome! 15th cruise? Amazing!

 

[lovedvc]

I so wish I were sailing tomorrow. I need to run away from the cold especially since my trip to WDW had to be cancelled in February due to my dads health. We have decided to add 6 days at BCV before we sail on the Fantasy.

I wanna leave now!!!!

 

[kastuder]

Hi, we will be joining you all on this cruise! This will be my families first cruise...Disney or other wise, but we are traveling with my in-laws, sister-in-law and nephew who have all cruised before. We are all super excited and can't wait! We are really looking forward to being part of the FE!
Stateroom# 2550
CJ -dad
Kim- mom
Aisling - girl, 9
Deirdre- girl, 8
Seamus- boy, 6 birthday is the day we fly to Disney-- August 12


I have sent a request to the FB group as well! Any suggestions, tips or device welcome!

 

[kastuder]

My family will be joining you all on our very first cruise ever! I can't wait to watch my three kids and all the excitement that is in store for them! I have requested to join the FE FB page and am already thinking of how to make our hanger!
Any tips or advice for our first cruise would be more than welcomed!

 

[medha311]

We just got our cabin assignment - 7124 for this 8/16 Fantasy cruise and it's our first Disney cruise! We've been on many other ships, especially Royal Carribean, and love cruising but could never justify the price since we're DVC members and spend at least a week twice a year at DisneyWorld. But, this year we decided to skip both of our DW trips and do a one week Disney cruise instead - combine our two loves!
We chose this sailing as never been to these ports of calls before, but have done the Eastern Carribbean stops on other ships.

For the roll call, we are:
Skaria (Dad, 42 when we sail)
Medha (me Mom, 36 when we sail)
Alyssa (DD, 7.95 when we sail)
Matthew (DS 3 when we sail)
and Grandma (Maya), age unknown ;-)

In another cabin, my aunt and her three kids (15, 8 and 6) will be on this same sailing.

I have a couple of questions, hoping you guys can help or should I post to the general forums?? While I have gone through at least 200 pages of helpful tips and know to sneak sweets down to the kids club counselors, to bring door magnets to decorate and will be shopping for Pirate Gear, I can't figure out this Fish Extender thing. What is it, how does it work and where do I go to join?

Also, my 3.5 year old son is in the process of potty training but can't quite get his pants up to his waist on his own yet. While I know we have 7 months to practice, can anyone tell me if the camp counselors are apt to help the really young ones who know how to go potty but need a bit of strength or having a hard time reaching the toilet paper, etc? Also, PLEASE tell me it's a low-to-the-ground kiddie potty in the kids club as if it's a big grown-up sized toilet he's not going to be able to reach it!

Also, we're really looking forward to the pool but my 3 year old can't swim on his own yet. He's golden in his puddle jumper while my 7 year old likes a pool noodle. Does anyone know if they have these on board or will I have to spend precious luggage room to bring our puddle jumper/noodle (neither of which are inflatable!)

Are the bathtubs truly nonslip or should I bring one of the little shower suction rugs? I worry about the kids in there with the ship rocking...
TIA!!
Medha

 

[JKSWonder]

We just got our cabin assignment - 7124 for this 8/16 Fantasy cruise and it's our first Disney cruise! We've been on many other ships, especially Royal Carribean, and love cruising but could never justify the price since we're DVC members and spend at least a week twice a year at DisneyWorld. But, this year we decided to skip both of our DW trips and do a one week Disney cruise instead - combine our two loves!
We chose this sailing as never been to these ports of calls before, but have done the Eastern Carribbean stops on other ships.

For the roll call, we are:
Skaria (Dad, 42 when we sail)
Medha (me Mom, 36 when we sail)
Alyssa (DD, 7.95 when we sail)
Matthew (DS 3 when we sail)
and Grandma (Maya), age unknown ;-)

In another cabin, my aunt and her three kids (15, 8 and 6) will be on this same sailing.

I have a couple of questions, hoping you guys can help or should I post to the general forums?? While I have gone through at least 200 pages of helpful tips and know to sneak sweets down to the kids club counselors, to bring door magnets to decorate and will be shopping for Pirate Gear, I can't figure out this Fish Extender thing. What is it, how does it work and where do I go to join?

Also, my 3.5 year old son is in the process of potty training but can't quite get his pants up to his waist on his own yet. While I know we have 7 months to practice, can anyone tell me if the camp counselors are apt to help the really young ones who know how to go potty but need a bit of strength or having a hard time reaching the toilet paper, etc? Also, PLEASE tell me it's a low-to-the-ground kiddie potty in the kids club as if it's a big grown-up sized toilet he's not going to be able to reach it!

Also, we're really looking forward to the pool but my 3 year old can't swim on his own yet. He's golden in his puddle jumper while my 7 year old likes a pool noodle. Does anyone know if they have these on board or will I have to spend precious luggage room to bring our puddle jumper/noodle (neither of which are inflatable!)

Are the bathtubs truly nonslip or should I bring one of the little shower suction rugs? I worry about the kids in there with the ship rocking...
TIA!!
Medha

Hi! I will try to answer some of your questions based upon what I know (or what I think I know)

Clubs and Potty: Kids need to be fully potty trained, including taking their own clothes on and off and getting on and off the potty by themselves. Staff will not assist with this. I would suggest putting your child in the easiest clothes (pull on shorts, t-shirt, no zippers, buttons or belts) and maybe practice a bit at home too. I believe the toilets and the sinks are kid sized.

Pool: No flotational devices are allowed in the pool. The pools are very small and very crowded. There would be no room for pool noodles or baby floats in there. I would suggest sticking only with the pool your child can stand up in (Mickey's Pool) and/or using the really great splash area, Aqualab. I would NOT recommend putting a child who is not a strong swimmer into the main pool (Donald's Pool) with all the kids and adults.

Bathtub - I never noticed that is was slippery at all. The fiberglass has a raised design to it that provides slip resistance. I don't think the tub is large enough for a standard size bath mat. I doubt your kids would experience much ship motion in there unless the ship was REALLY rocking. In which case, you probably wouldn't pick that time for a bath! The tubs are small, so not too much room to jump around in there.

FE - or Fish Extender is a cruise gift exchange program. To sign up, you need to join the FE group. Our group has a Facebook page for that...I believe the link is on the first post of this thread. There are a few threads about Fish Extenders on the DCL board. Just search forums, and it should pull up stuff that describes it in detail and has pictures of what a Fish Extender (the pouch, pockets, that people hang from the metal fish located outside of their door for gift collection/delivery). You can give one gift per cabin in your group, or one gift per person in your group, your choice. No set dollar amount and you deliver your gifts during the cruise depending upon what works in your schedule. Likewise, people will deliver little gifts to your cabin too.

I hope this helps.

 

[puddin21]

Hi! I am new to this. We are going on the Fantasy for a second time with our daughters, now ages 6 and 8. 5 other families have also booked with us, with kids ranging from 2 ½ to 11 years old. I was interested in participating in fish extender activities. Anyone know how this starts? Is it with random passengers, or do you sign up?

Any advice would be appreciated! Jennifer

 

[JKSWonder]

Hi! I am new to this. We are going on the Fantasy for a second time with our daughters, now ages 6 and 8. 5 other families have also booked with us, with kids ranging from 2 ½ to 11 years old. I was interested in participating in fish extender activities. Anyone know how this starts? Is it with random passengers, or do you sign up?

Any advice would be appreciated! Jennifer

You have to sign up for the fish extender if you want to participate. The fish extender for this cruise is organized on a Facebook group page. You have to ask to join the Facebook group and then provide your details to the organizer (Petra). The link for the Facebook group is on the first post of this cruise meet thread.

 

[suffieldhockeymom]

We just got our cabin assignment - 7124 for this 8/16 Fantasy cruise and it's our first Disney cruise! We've been on many other ships, especially Royal Carribean, and love cruising but could never justify the price since we're DVC members and spend at least a week twice a year at DisneyWorld. But, this year we decided to skip both of our DW trips and do a one week Disney cruise instead - combine our two loves!
We chose this sailing as never been to these ports of calls before, but have done the Eastern Carribbean stops on other ships.

For the roll call, we are:
Skaria (Dad, 42 when we sail)
Medha (me Mom, 36 when we sail)
Alyssa (DD, 7.95 when we sail)
Matthew (DS 3 when we sail)
and Grandma (Maya), age unknown ;-)

In another cabin, my aunt and her three kids (15, 8 and 6) will be on this same sailing.

I have a couple of questions, hoping you guys can help or should I post to the general forums?? While I have gone through at least 200 pages of helpful tips and know to sneak sweets down to the kids club counselors, to bring door magnets to decorate and will be shopping for Pirate Gear, I can't figure out this Fish Extender thing. What is it, how does it work and where do I go to join?

Also, my 3.5 year old son is in the process of potty training but can't quite get his pants up to his waist on his own yet. While I know we have 7 months to practice, can anyone tell me if the camp counselors are apt to help the really young ones who know how to go potty but need a bit of strength or having a hard time reaching the toilet paper, etc? Also, PLEASE tell me it's a low-to-the-ground kiddie potty in the kids club as if it's a big grown-up sized toilet he's not going to be able to reach it!

Also, we're really looking forward to the pool but my 3 year old can't swim on his own yet. He's golden in his puddle jumper while my 7 year old likes a pool noodle. Does anyone know if they have these on board or will I have to spend precious luggage room to bring our puddle jumper/noodle (neither of which are inflatable!)

Are the bathtubs truly nonslip or should I bring one of the little shower suction rugs? I worry about the kids in there with the ship rocking...
TIA!!
Medha

Flotation devise like Puddle Jumpers that are coast guard certified are allowed. Inflatables and noodles are not.

 

[kastuder]

Hi, you need to sign up for the fish extender group. You can find the link to the Facebook group at the beginning of this thread. Request to join, they are very quick at getting back to you. Then let her know your room # and the name/ages in your group. The organizer is going to divide us all into groups! Hope this helps!

 

[tine21]

Just wanted to check in. This will be our first cruise and feel very overwhelmed. It will be Me, my DH and our four children, Steven (19), Nick (16), Samantha (13) and Robert (10). I just requested to join the Disney Facebook page and would love any guidance!!

 

[suffieldhockeymom]

Just wanted to check in. This will be our first cruise and feel very overwhelmed. It will be Me, my DH and our four children, Steven (19), Nick (16), Samantha (13) and Robert (10). I just requested to join the Disney Facebook page and would love any guidance!!

Welcome to the group! 2 of our 3 boys are around the same ages. Mine are Mason (18), Colan (16) and Gavin (15). This is our 1st time of the Fantasy. We have sailed the Magic and Wonder before.