December 7, 2013 - Winter Fantasy Cruise

[MinnieCruzer]

Going for it

 

[MinnieCruzer]

Did I make it?

 

[Dixielady908]

morning:

well they said it was supposed to be nice today and rainy tomorrow....its pouring and thunder and lighting out right now

hmmmm thank goodness I'm working right now, but not sure how much of the yard work we will get done???

Oh well, guess I'll go home and clean the house....again!!

later

 

[philatiger]

Hi everyone,

Hope you are having a good weekend. I won't be posting much in the next few weeks. We got an offer on the house and we are in full drive ahead. We still have inspections to get through (110 year old house, who knows what they will find). They want to close on Dec 19th and we are away on vacation from Dec 7th to the 16th. So we have a lot to get done in the next few weeks.

We are fortunate that we packed most of the stuff we are moving to Florida and put it in storage. We are only taking the kitchen one bedroom set and the family room to the apartment, all of the other furniture and remaining objects we are hoping to sell off at our house sale that is scheduled for Dec 1st.

So much to do but looking forward to the next phase of our lives as long as everything goes smoothly. We had an offer fall through back in June so still a little uneasy. Some pixie dust is definitely needed to get through the inspections and the next few weeks of packing.

 

[Dixielady908]

Hi everyone,

Hope you are having a good weekend. I won't be posting much in the next few weeks. We got an offer on the house and we are in full drive ahead. We still have inspections to get through (110 year old house, who knows what they will find). They want to close on Dec 19th and we are away on vacation from Dec 7th to the 16th. So we have a lot to get done in the next few weeks.

We are fortunate that we packed most of the stuff we are moving to Florida and put it in storage. We are only taking the kitchen one bedroom set and the family room to the apartment, all of the other furniture and remaining objects we are hoping to sell off at our house sale that is scheduled for Dec 1st.

So much to do but looking forward to the next phase of our lives as long as everything goes smoothly. We had an offer fall through back in June so still a little uneasy. Some pixie dust is definitely needed to get through the inspections and the next few weeks of packing.

Awesome on the offer.... for your home inspection...I hate thoes inspections. Good luck on the packing and getting things ready for the sale and your trip... So I guess your going to be Flordians by our trip
gonna miss you chatting tho. Just keep us posted..

Enjoy the rest of your weekend...

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Hi everyone,

Hope you are having a good weekend. I won't be posting much in the next few weeks. We got an offer on the house and we are in full drive ahead. We still have inspections to get through (110 year old house, who knows what they will find). They want to close on Dec 19th and we are away on vacation from Dec 7th to the 16th. So we have a lot to get done in the next few weeks.

We are fortunate that we packed most of the stuff we are moving to Florida and put it in storage. We are only taking the kitchen one bedroom set and the family room to the apartment, all of the other furniture and remaining objects we are hoping to sell off at our house sale that is scheduled for Dec 1st.

So much to do but looking forward to the next phase of our lives as long as everything goes smoothly. We had an offer fall through back in June so still a little uneasy. Some pixie dust is definitely needed to get through the inspections and the next few weeks of packing.

Hope everything flies through easily for you! I DESPISE waiting for house inspections and closings...my imagination always sees gremlins in the works! How exciting for you! You are living our dream!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

oh by the way....
I'M BACK!!

We had a wonderful time, where to start?

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Bay Lake Towers

Very nice, but not our style. We like a little less contemporary decor, I felt a little uncomfortable and unable to relax. That said, the layout was fantastic, especially the kitchen. It's the best DVC kitchen that I have found yet. Our "Lake View" was a view of the side of MK to the left, the rushes in the water at lakes edge to the right, and the parking lot AND loading dock straight below. I'm not real thrilled with their idea of a LAKE view!
The beep beep beep from the loading dock was annoying!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

The Fantasy in general

GORGEOUS!!! very little sign of damage on board, I think there was one door that was missing. Miss Minnie's feathers on her hat had apparently broken off (during Sandy< I don't know) and they were glued back in place. There were also some places on her feet where the finish had been rubbed away. The chandelier is amazing, the decor very nicely done. The three dining rooms are pretty much the same as the ones on the Dream. The wonky layout of having to go through the adult pool area from the forward elevators and Cabana's from the the Aft is still there. Sure wish they would have fixed that little feature!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Animator's Palate

OMG, the show is amazing! On your first meal in AP, you have the same show as is on the Dream where Crush goes around and talks to the different tables and such.

On your second dinner in AP, you get to do the animation show. IT IS WONDERFUL! When you sit down you have a template at your place and you draw a little person. your serving team takes it away and at the end of dinner, you have a show and they have brought your drawing to life! I was amazed! They used all of them and made them dance and ice skate and do all sorts of things set to music! We had just as much fun with it as the kids did! The odd part is dinner, you get a set appetizer, soup course, and dessert, you choose the main course only. There were several 'weird' things with dinner actually....

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Meals...

First off, let me tell you, over all, we were disappointed in the food. It was not as tasty as the meals we've eaten in the past (of course, we are not talking our Remy's meal or Palo's brunch here)

Remember it used to be on formal night you had a special menu, the Captain's Gala and Semi-formal night you had Prince and Princess and the final night was Til We Meet Again ?

Now it's rotate through the dining rooms and eat the meal of that dining room for the first three nights, the fourth is Pirates night (we were at Remy's so I don't know about the menu), fifth was Prince and Princess and then they didn't call them anything special.

The food was ok, don't get me wrong, but not as wonderful as we've had in the past. Our service was great, the ship was not full, we were at 2nd seating and we were done by 9:30 each night. I actually felt rushed, not by the servers, but by my dining companions, they ate very fast. We had just one other couple at our table for eight!

Because of the light load, we got to sit in the middle of the dining room and not back in the corner as usual, and we actually saw the show at Enchanted Gardens! It's amazing to watch the sun set!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Remy's

OMG, what can I say about Remy's?

SUPERB, wonderful, fantastic, amazing, need I go on?

Yeah, we liked it!

We met with the sommelier at 5 in Meridian Lounge before our 6 PM dinner and after that we had a cocktail while we waited. At 6 we were taken to our table overlooking St. Thomas and proceeded to spend the next 3 hours in foodie heaven!

I cannot begin to describe the absolute yumminess of our meal. The service was IMPECCABLE!!

If you can get a reservation there, I highly recommend it!! WELL WORTH the upcharge, no doubt!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Palo's Brunch

Wonderful as always, again the service was amazing!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Staterooms...

There is nothing different here, really. This was our first time forward, and though it was wonderfully handy to the adult pool, we didn't like it there as much as we do aft. It just felt 'wrong' and don't ask me what I mean by that, I can't tell you. Maybe after 9 previous cruises aft, forward didn't 'fit' well.

Our stateroom host was wonderful, as always and we played a game the entire cruise with the Jiminy Cricket I got in WDW. Each time he was in the room he would do something with Jiminy...sit him in the chair at St. Thomas in front of the verandah door, I would put him on the bed with my reading glasses and a navigator, and we would come back, and the navigator was replaced by my kindle. I love it when you get a playful host, it makes the trip that much more fun! I won the 'war'...I put Jiminy in one of the children's life vests outside our room on top of our luggage...we could hear AG laughing all the way down the hall! It was great fun!

The upside of Forward, I could see directly into the navigation bridge and watched Capt. Tom pull us away from Castaway Cay....and even got a few pictures!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

I need to pause here to......

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Get the top of the page!!!!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Adult pool area..

Was crowded on sea days. It's just too small of an area and as I stated before, the forward elevator dumps out there so people are always walking through. Poorly designed, if you ask me.

That said, on the next deck up where the Dream has a sun deck, there is now a little sitting pool, but it is not adults only. Up one deck from there to the bow of the ship where the satellite domes are is another area, Satellite Falls, it is adults only and no kids actually came through there. No excuses for them to. the big satellite has the water coming out of it in a curtain and there is a place to sit behind the water on a bench. however, the water does not drip while we are at sea and it closes at 6PM I think because they can't light it, it would interfere with the sailing of the ship. There is a wide area that is shaded and many chairs are available there, both in the shade and in the sun. it is right around the corner from the bar and lots of bar servers are wandering the deck. It was the quiet relaxing area to be in.

 

[Va-NanaTink]

That's about it, we did not get off the ship in Castaway Cay, it was chilly (low 70s after days in the 90s, we've also been there 8 times before, so we enjoyed the pool practically to ourselves until after lunch. Another reason, it has rained EVERY TIME we have gone to CC....but I"m happy to say, this trip it did not, so our curse has been broken!

OK, that's it in a nutshell, if I've missed anything you wanted to know about, ask away!!!

I wish I were out there now.....

 

[MinnieCruzer]

Welcome back--glad to hear you had a great time! Sure appreciate the update. It's like getting a shot in the arm as we wait for our sailing I enjoyed hearing about your experiences. Sure am glad you broke "the curse!"

Angie

 

[Dixielady908]

Welcome back......

Thanks for the report.
OK question, is the set appetizer,soup and dessert only at AP at your second rotation or is this thru all the dining rooms every nite? I have read complaints about the food, I think Disney needs to be aware and step it up, since they charge more for their cruises.

But it sounds like you had a great time. I still cant wait to get on the ship and see her in person. Our stateroom is mid-ship, so I guess I better bring a GPS with me so I wont get lost...

Well I have tons of things to get done around here so better get off this computer and get them done.

later