Disney Eastern Fantasy Concierge Trip Report | October 5-12, 2013

[emmedancer]

Hello all! I am here counting down the days until our trip and I could not wait any longer to start a trip report. I will be doing my PTR and TR in one thread, so I hope no one minds

Up Next: Role Call!

 

[emmedancer]

Role Call for our Fantasy Cruise!

Me: daughter in the family, 17 but turning 18 on board. I am a senior and hope to major in electrical engineering in college. I have an unreal obsession with Disney and hope to work at WDW or on DCL after college as an Imagineer. I love to dance, it's actually all I do. I recently moved all the way to California to dance with my dream company and I am ready for a nice family vacation.




DDad: because DD would confuse everyone! I'm sure my parents prefer me not to put their age, but they have been happily married for quite sometime. He is a doctor and loves his dogs. DDad is totally a 10 year old at heart. Looking forward to relaxing on our cruise. We look a little crazy in this picture, but I guess we were excited about riding California Screamin!



DMom: supports me in all I do. Loves to be pampered. I often refer to her as Queen DMom hates being in pictures so you probably will not be seeing her in this TR. She tends to lay by the pool or relax in the room, not much of the adventurous type, but we love her anyway. She is the one who gets everything done!

 

[dizney-cruiser]

I'm looking forward to reading more!!

 

[cruisingtwins]

Subbing

 

[emmedancer]

I'm looking forward to reading more!!

Subbing

Thank you both for joining in!

 

[emmedancer]

As most people here on the DIS do, I over-plan. I love to add the special little touches that will make our vacation that much more magical. One thing I always love doing is making signs and magnets for our door. I have always used small, and I do mean small, amounts of tape to hang ours. We never had any issues with damaging property or any CMs ask us to take them down. However this time we are cruising concierge, and as I have learned the doors are much different. They have a thick panel of wood on the front, reducing the magnetism greatly.




I have made quite a few signs for our door, but as of right now I believe the only ones that I will hang up are these:






This is one recycled from our previous cruise. I changed the date and added the new Fantasy tag, as it is our first time going on the Fantasy. We have sailed on all three of the other ships, so this will complete the whole fleet!





I really wanted us to have individual Mickey heads, so I made these three. My parents wanted 'plain' ones, so I gave them plain colors but dressed it up with a cute bow and bow tie. I decided on chevron for mine as a nice contrast, and added a cute little sparkle. The fall colors will really help set the mood for our Halloween cruise!

Since we are going on and Eastern Caribbean cruise we will make a stop at St.Maarten and St. Thomas. We are not big excursion people, so we do not have any booked for this trip. None of the ones offered through Disney appealed to the family.
In St. Maarten we plan on catching a taxi over to the French side and stopping in Marigot for a little shopping and some French macaroons at Sarafina's Bakery. I am also hoping to make it to Maho beach to see a plane landing, because that is just plain cool.
In St. Thomas we actually have no clue what to do. Many have suggested beaches, but my parents aren't very fond of beach excursions, so if you have any favorite restaurants, shopping areas, or sights to see please let me know. We plan on discussing this with the concierge staff, so hopefully if I don't get feedback here, we will get some more insight once we board.

The countdown is at 12 DAYS

Onboard plans to come up next!

 

[Princess Michelle]

.

 

[lauralynn0612]

Following along! I'm interested in how your St. Maarten plans turn out so as to look into that for our May cruise!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in. I look forward to reading along on your family cruise.

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

We're on the following Eastern, 10/19, and look forward to your report.

 

[emmedancer]

I'm enjoying your pre-trip report so far! My husband and I will be on the Fantasy, Eastern itinerary in November and our plans for St. Maarten are close to the same as yours. We're taking a taxi to Marigot and plan on seeing Fort St. Louis, and visiting Sarafina's, then going to Maho before heading back to the port.

In St. Thomas we're kind of at a loss too. We wanted to do the Paradise Point Tram thing but last I heard it was being remodeled so I'm not sure if it will be back in business when we get there or not. We'll probably just shop there and then enjoy some time on the ship with less people. I'll be interested in what you end up doing while you're there!

Great minds think alike! I'll definitely try to update my TR as soon as I can so you can see how our plans turned out!

Following along! I'm interested in how your St. Maarten plans turn out so as to look into that for our May cruise!

Thanks for joining in! I'll for sure let you know how everything turns out and hopefully give you some tips for St. Maarten!

Joining in. I look forward to reading along on your family cruise.

Thanks for joining us!

We're on the following Eastern, 10/19, and look forward to your report.

In that case, I will try to do as much of my TR as I can before you get on the ship! Hopefully it will add some excitement to the final week before your cruise! Thanks for following along!!

 

[emmedancer]

I have a lot I want to get done this time around on our cruise. To my knowledge we have never done a 7 night cruise, but I was a lot younger when we went on our first two so my memory doesn't serve me well. I know everyone says to just relax and not try to do everything, but I ignore those people. I like being up and active, relaxing isn't really my cup of tea. Call me crazy, but I am a teenager so I guess thats why

My dad loves to take pictures, and with me growing up as a dancer he has a lot of experience taking pictures. Hopefully I will have lots to show you when we get back! If you have any requests of things you would like pictures up, just reply down below and I will make a list!

I, much like many others, love cruises for the food. I am not a very picky eater and I enjoy trying new things, so of course I have a list of foods that I want to eat on this trip. What can I say? I love to over-plan! I won't bore you all with the whole list but a few of my must haves are the Palo Soufflé, the Creme Brule from Royal Court (this is my all time favorite dessert. I only eat creme brule on the Disney ships!), and the 'corn 3 ways' from Animator's Palate. However if we get the seating we asked for, we will be in Remy on the night that they serve 'corn 3 ways', so I will have to request that they send that to my room after Remy. I'm sure I will be stuffed, but I have to try it!! Also I am looking forward to the famous macaroons at Sarafina's in St. Maarten. I had gotten so used to macaroons being everywhere in California, so now that I am back home I am constantly craving those suckers and they are no where to be found!

I plan on spending most of my time in Vibe, since this is my last cruise with access to the club. I absolutely LOVE the teen club! I will put a lot of info in my TR about Vibe, so if you have teens you will get a great view inside of what is to come for your kids on the Fantasy!:good vibes However, since I will be turning 18 while onboard, I will have access to the adult clubs and areas as well, once my birthday rolls around. I get the best of both worlds. I don't think I will be spending much time in the adult areas, but I will probably go in for a peek and maybe dance a little bit! I'll just play that by ear.

Another thing I plan on doing is seeing a movie. I have never actually seen one while on the ship, so I'm praying that something good is playing. We will probably only attend the Aladdin show, we aren't much of a show family. I have the greatest parents as they tend to do what I want while on vacation I'm very very lucky and thankful for that. They don't plan much and usually leave the day's activities up to me. I like to think that I am a pretty nice kid, so I make sure to be respectful and courteous of their plans and wishes as well. I won't want to go to any of the other shows, so my parents probably won't go either.

My momma loves going to the spa, so there will be a little bit in my TR about that too. On previous cruises I have gone to the teen spa and have had mixed reviews on it. The first time I got the chocolate wrap, and it was amazing. We got to go into the adult facilities and use the water beds which really added to the experience. The second time I got a very subpar massage, and the chocolate wrap was horrible. I was wrapped in basically tinfoil. I repeat tinfoil. So my advice is if your teen wants to try the spa, go for a pedicure or facial. Those seem to be harder to mess up. My parents are doing a couples massage, which they have done before and loved, and I am doing a swedish massage the day after my birthday. Hoping for a better spa experience this time around!

I plan on enjoying satellite falls a little as well as the aqua duck and aqua lab. I'm sure I will end up on the teen pool deck at some point too. We have booked a cabana on Castaway Cay, which we are all very excited about. It is our first time cruising concierge and first time with a cabana. My mom cannot stay out in the sun long, and doesn't like the beach that much so we decided to book a cabana so she can have a place to rest in the shade and relax, instead of just staying on the boat.

If you have any special 'must-do' activities on board or foods you always have to get, let me know and I will add them to my ongoing list! Thank you all for following along. I hope I can give you lots of great info on concierge, vibe, the adult pools and clubs, as well as Remy and Palo, and the CC cabanas.

The countdown is at 10 DAYS

 

[Princess Michelle]

Emme, if you have a Whole Foods near you at home they usually have Macarons in their bakery. The pistachio ones are divine!

 

[napleskid]

We just returned from the 7 day Eastern Cruise on the Fantasy concierge cabin 12524. We took a taxi to Maho Beach Sunset Grill and ate pizza and watched the planes land and take off. Windows got blown out of a couple of cars. Taxi was $20 for 2 of us each way. Ask Julia or Kemisha (concierge hostess) to print out a plane schedule for that day showing takeoffs and landings. Make sure you get there for the KLM 747 landing, usually some time before noon. The others are non-eventful. On St Thomas, we did the zip line adventure. It was a blast, I highly recommend it.

We asked for dining rotation AERAERA and did Palo night 2 and Remy night 3. You do not want to miss any Animator's Palate nights. Request Sergio from Montenegro as your server. He's the absolute best and will get you anything if you ask him the night before. Sergio will offer his suggestions, we learned to trust him. We ate sea bass every night. Palo was a perfect meal, Remy was a great experience, but I enjoyed the food more at Palo. I wouldn't do Remy again, but would do Palo twice if I could.

There is enough food out all day long in the concierge lounge, that we never ventured out for breakfast or lunch. And you can get a full hot breakfast delivered to your stateroom if you wish. Just ask Julia for the menu to order the night before.

Be glad to answer any of your questions. BTW, we will be in Nashville next weekend for the Here Come The Mummies concert!

Brian

 

[Empress Room]

In St. Thomas we actually have no clue what to do. Many have suggested beaches, but my parents aren't very fond of beach excursions, so if you have any favorite restaurants, shopping areas, or sights to see please let me know. We plan on discussing this with the concierge staff, so hopefully if I don't get feedback here, we will get some more insight once we board.

Our favorite thing to do in St. Thomas is to shop in the Royal Dane Shopping area off of Main Street and Veteran's Drive (a quick taxi ride or longer walk from the ship). While there, for the absolute best authentic Caribbean experience and food ever, have lunch at Glady's Cafe, located right in the Royal Dane Shopping area (any local knows where it is). Great, great food, it is open for breakfast and lunch only.

If you are looking for a full-island tour, head out to Main Street and look for the red open air truck driven by Dawud (sp), a Bob Marley look-alike (although much younger). He typically holds his tour sign out on Main Street up the alley from Glady's in front of the jewelry shops. He is an artist, historian and all-around fun guy who gives great tours (at a reasonable price).

Enjoy!

 

[emmedancer]

Emme, if you have a Whole Foods near you at home they usually have Macarons in their bakery. The pistachio ones are divine!

I may or may not have driven an hour to get some today Thank you so much, I had no idea! No pistachio ones today, but they did have cappuccino and passion fruit! So yummy!

We just returned from the 7 day Eastern Cruise on the Fantasy concierge cabin 12524. We took a taxi to Maho Beach Sunset Grill and ate pizza and watched the planes land and take off. Windows got blown out of a couple of cars. Taxi was $20 for 2 of us each way. Ask Julia or Kemisha (concierge hostess) to print out a plane schedule for that day showing takeoffs and landings. Make sure you get there for the KLM 747 landing, usually some time before noon. The others are non-eventful. On St Thomas, we did the zip line adventure. It was a blast, I highly recommend it.

We asked for dining rotation AERAERA and did Palo night 2 and Remy night 3. You do not want to miss any Animator's Palate nights. Request Sergio from Montenegro as your server. He's the absolute best and will get you anything if you ask him the night before. Sergio will offer his suggestions, we learned to trust him. We ate sea bass every night. Palo was a perfect meal, Remy was a great experience, but I enjoyed the food more at Palo. I wouldn't do Remy again, but would do Palo twice if I could.

There is enough food out all day long in the concierge lounge, that we never ventured out for breakfast or lunch. And you can get a full hot breakfast delivered to your stateroom if you wish. Just ask Julia for the menu to order the night before.

Be glad to answer any of your questions. BTW, we will be in Nashville next weekend for the Here Come The Mummies concert!

Brian

Hi Brian! Thanks for the advice on Maho! I had no idea about the breakfast delivery. I always hate the line in Cabanas, so we will definitely have to take advantage of that! While you're in Nashville, I recommend eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It's always so good and usually very crowded! Also if you have a sweet tooth for ice cream check out Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams on Eastland ave. They have the best flavors. If you want good ole southern cooking, Loveless Cafe is about 30 outside of Nashville, but totally worth it.Be sure to make a reservation for Loveless or get there super super early! Hope you have fun!!

Our favorite thing to do in St. Thomas is to shop in the Royal Dane Shopping area off of Main Street and Veteran's Drive (a quick taxi ride or longer walk from the ship). While there, for the absolute best authentic Caribbean experience and food ever, have lunch at Glady's Cafe, located right in the Royal Dane Shopping area (any local knows where it is). Great, great food, it is open for breakfast and lunch only.

If you are looking for a full-island tour, head out to Main Street and look for the red open air truck driven by Dawud (sp), a Bob Marley look-alike (although much younger). He typically holds his tour sign out on Main Street up the alley from Glady's in front of the jewelry shops. He is an artist, historian and all-around fun guy who gives great tours (at a reasonable price).

Enjoy!

Thank you for the St. Thomas ideas. That shopping sounds like it's right up our alley! Hopefully I can convince everyone to try Glady's! Sounds delicious!

 

[Princess Michelle]

Yay! I'm so glad you were able to get some!

 

[SacCruiser]

Joining in. We are doing the Eastern in December and at this point have not decided on any excursions yet. Hoping to see how your non-plan plan works out.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

I'm on board! Eager to hear your experience as a new *adult* on the ship. Our cruise is a year out and my son will turn 18 right before.

 

[Texas lady]

YAY!!
Dh & I are on this cruise, getting excited!!!