Booked 6192 AFT balcony on Fantasy - but now nervous about rattling??

[colbybug]

SO we had 9152(?) booked pre-Covid and decided to go the refund route after being postponed a couple of times. Now we are set to sail on the Western on Jan 2nd (six day cruise). We are finally Platinum and had the itinerary and cabin that we wanted before but on this one, our travel agent initially could only get us a balcony and then later was able to get us an aft one. I have never sailed on the back of the ship before but have always dreamed I could sit on one of those huge balconies and watch the wake and have the panoramic view. (This will probably be our last Disney cruise for awhile as our son has outgrown Disney and they have gotten too expensive!) But now I'm reading about the possible noise/motion issues and am concerned. Some vibration doesn't bother us. It lulls me to sleep and lets me know I am on the ocean. Are these cabins worse than say the motion that you can feel up front in the theater? Can someone who has actually been in one tell me what to expect? Thank you in advance!!

Kathy

 

[imahistorygeek]

We sailed in 8188 in 2018 and the vibration was very noticeable, even out in open ocean. It didn't detract from our experience, but out of the four ships' aft rooms, the vibration on the Fantasy is the most noticeable. We still love the aft rooms and will book them when we have a chance.

 

[MomOTwins]

It’s been asked many times and is so subjective. Doesn’t bother some and for others it is unbearable. It IS more vibration than any other Disney ship vibration you may have felt—the fantasy just has a mechanical problem they can’t seem to fix.

My solution? Book midship and enjoy the aft views from the outdoor area of the Meridian lounge on deck 13.

 

[KashasMom]

We were in 5688 - which is literally underneath your cabin - and it was HORRIBLE!! Not only did we have to deal with the vibration and noise, there was a disgusting smell coming from the bathroom. It was a DVC Members cruise so they said they could not move us. We had the maintenance team in our room for the first 3 days trying to fix the smell, which they finally did. You definitely need to take the hangers out of the closets and put away anything else that might make noise. I could not wait to get off the ship so I could get some sleep. They knew very well about the vibration and noise but there was nothing that they could do. In the end they gave us a 15% off another cruise, which expired before we could use it. We always book aft on whatever ship/cruise line we sail but I wouldn't cruise Fantasy Aft if it was free! Oh, and to make matters worse, that room had a teeny, tiny, slanted balcony.

 

[cvjw]

We have sailed in 10658 on the dream and 9172 on the fantasy since sailing resumed. No vibration issues on the Dream, don’t think we ever went fast enough. We had some rattling and vibration in 9172 - we were on the fantasy 8 night, so a longer cruise.

Honestly, I used cardboard and face masks to stop the rattling the first night. Then our cabin host had maintenance come in and permanently fix the rattles. The vibrations took a little while to get used to, but we ended up loving the cabin. The sleeping was excellent and the balcony view was the best we have ever had.

We would sail aft on the fantasy again in a heartbeat! In fact, I tried to change our cabin on the same cruise next year and all aft cabins are already booked!

 

[Mitura]

Yes it is very subjective.

We have sailed being in the aft sections many times and the vibrations were noticeable but rocked us to sleep. So we like the vibrations now and when we don't book aft we wonder what is wrong!

 

[Sconny]

I will be staying in this room coming up on the Eastern 7 day at the end of the month. I will get back to you on what we experience...

I will add that I do not mind the back of any of the ships, Fantasy included. The Fantasy's high end speed is a factor on the eastern for sure as its hauling to make it down and back to BVI/St Thomas...I think it would not be as severe if floating around the Bahamas for 3/4 night cruises.

I have raced/sailed on many sail boats that have a major vibration/sounds when pushing MAX hull speed...my guess with the Fantasy its Hull has some differences then the Dream and when pushing high speeds it starts to vibrate some (this is why Dream is not as bad).

But in my guess the only way to know is sail them in the same conditions and seas and see if they behave the same. I don't think the prop has anything to do with it because that vibration should technically be able to be fixed if it was the issue and its still not improved even with the dry docks...Hull shape your stuck with after the initial laying of it in the yard (even if there the same design on paper).

 

[colbybug]

I will be staying in this room coming up on the Eastern 7 day at the end of the month. I will get back to you on what we experience...

I will add that I do not mind the back of any of the ships, Fantasy included. The Fantasy's high end speed is a factor on the eastern for sure as its hauling to make it down and back to BVI/St Thomas...I think it would not be as severe if floating around the Bahamas for 3/4 night cruises.

I have raced/sailed on many sail boats that have a major vibration/sounds when pushing MAX hull speed...my guess with the Fantasy its Hull has some differences then the Dream and when pushing high speeds it starts to vibrate some (this is why Dream is not as bad).

But in my guess the only way to know is sail them in the same conditions and seas and see if they behave the same. I don't think the prop has anything to do with it because that vibration should technically be able to be fixed if it was the issue and its still not improved even with the dry docks...Hull shape your stuck with after the initial laying of it in the yard (even if there the same design on paper).

Thank you so very much! I would greatly appreciate your opinion!!

 

[Cheburashka]

We were in 5688 - which is literally underneath your cabin - and it was HORRIBLE!! Not only did we have to deal with the vibration and noise, there was a disgusting smell coming from the bathroom. It was a DVC Members cruise so they said they could not move us. We had the maintenance team in our room for the first 3 days trying to fix the smell, which they finally did. You definitely need to take the hangers out of the closets and put away anything else that might make noise. I could not wait to get off the ship so I could get some sleep. They knew very well about the vibration and noise but there was nothing that they could do. In the end they gave us a 15% off another cruise, which expired before we could use it. We always book aft on whatever ship/cruise line we sail but I wouldn't cruise Fantasy Aft if it was free! Oh, and to make matters worse, that room had a teeny, tiny, slanted balcony.

Yuck. This is why I won't sail aft or even book a GT rate (which could land me in aft) for the Fantasy- I would hate dealing with that in my stateroom. It's a shame for DCL to charge those prices for the Fantasy and have those kinds of problems in the aft for years on end.

 

[marnm022]

We just sailed on the Fantasy and were in room 7192. As Aft as you can get. The balcony was fantastic - beautiful views and tons of space. There was rattling at night, especially the last night. Restraining/removing the hangers in the closet helped with the noise. It wouldn't deter me from that room type again in the future, but it is something to be prepared for.

 

[KashasMom]

Yuck. This is why I won't sail aft or even book a GT rate (which could land me in aft) for the Fantasy- I would hate dealing with that in my stateroom. It's a shame for DCL to charge those prices for the Fantasy and have those kinds of problems in the aft for years on end.

And being a DVC Member's cruise, it was even more expensive than it normally is.

 

[Sconny]

Just back from our wonderful 7 night eastern Cruise and staying in room 6192. Wanted to get back to the OP and give a review of this room.

I will start by saying this was the best room that we have stayed in do to the Balcony, it is beyond huge. It is also the Flag pole room which for us made it really cool, having the flag flying at ports was neat. It is not flying of course in transit. Also I should say we normally stay in the back of all of the boats (for different reasons then the balcony) so we know about the shaking/rattling that goes on each boat.

The Fantasy as has been discussed is the worst of the 4 boats for the shaking when moving at high seeds, The Wonder and Magic do not rattle like the Fantasy. The Dream never has to go to fast and I dont know if I have ever stayed in the way back either since we stay away from the shorter cruises (so its been a while since we have been on that boat). This shaking has not been fixed on the Fantasy during covid dry docks etc...It is still taking place.

But I did notice some things on this trip with all of this shaking and rattling. The 1st night we were crossing the gulf stream and we were going into the wind, boat shaked rattled and rolled all night. I will also say this does not bother us when sleeping, but I know this is a deal breaker for some. The 2nd day the wind shifted and was from the aft, there was no shaking, no rattling was very pleasant all day and night. The 3rd day as we headed on our second day at sea the wind shifted again and the room would occasionally rattle/shake. The next couple days while in BVI and St Thomas it never rattled or anything because we were going slow.

The way back to Castaway we were in to the wind and going full speed to get there (even arrived late do to unfavorable current) so it was shaking again.

SO in summary when going full speed (Over 18 knots) and into the wind and current it was shaking. When going with the wind no noise at all.

So besides the shaking of the boat and room which you cannot avoid there was the rattling of "things in the room". The main culprit was the closet closest to the entrance door, it rattled like crazy, the other closet was fine. I made a cardboard wedge (used are platinum Gift card) and stuck it the metal area of the doors. This solved the problem, no more rattle. The other big rattler was the metal part of the entrance door, the cardboard wedge worked but had to be adjusted a bit every once in a while. The hanger thing happens in a lot of rooms so we solve this by using all of the hangers for things so that never happens.

I hope this helps some people when deciding. I knew other people on the boat (not in out party but friends we met) and they did not have any of the shaking or rattling any nights in there rooms. The back of the boats are not f or everyone. If you do not like noises and shaking like this DO NOT STAY in this room you will not relax and my guess will effect your overall trip. For my spouse she said this was the worst room for this in our 7 or 8 cruises staying in the back of the boat. Also the lay out of the bed is different since the rooms are on the back of the boat, if your on the sides u roll with the boat instead of fighting it in the back rooms.

 

[Mitura]

I want to update my previous post. Like stated above I was also on the 11/28 Eastern. And yes the vibration is still there and definitely more noticeable. My wife definitely noticed it and it did bug her. Did it alter our sleeping or cruise enjoyment, no. But if you like a smooth as glass sleep this wasn't it. It is more like the vibrating/massage chair experiences. We were in 8660 which is right outside of the aft elevators. Also we definitely could feel it in the Tube lounge at night.

Again as others have said you feel it when you go really fast. For us this was a lot of the week since we got into CC late on Saturday and the Captain said that we were fighting the currents all the way. So maybe that had a lot to do with the vibrations as well.

I would book 8660 again.