Disney Fantasy December 2, 2017 (Eastern Caribbean)

[Godwine Lee]

Hi, new to the board, this will be our second Disney Cruise, the first was a 5 days on the Dream. I will be traveling with my wife, my 5 years old daughter and a new born (that is still shown as TBD in my booking as of now, 4 weeks to go!). This being the "Merry" cruise, what other Christams-sy activities can we expect? We are big into Christmas, we are the people who have the house decorated and lit as of Nov 1st!

Also, we are interested in the fish extender, but still am not sure how it works. Any info will be appreciated!

 

[godde8ss]

Hi, new to the board, this will be our second Disney Cruise, the first was a 5 days on the Dream. I will be traveling with my wife, my 5 years old daughter and a new born (that is still shown as TBD in my booking as of now, 4 weeks to go!). This being the "Merry" cruise, what other Christams-sy activities can we expect? We are big into Christmas, we are the people who have the house decorated and lit as of Nov 1st!

Also, we are interested in the fish extender, but still am not sure how it works. Any info will be appreciated!

Hi, I am a Griswold as well! So this will be our first Merry cruise too and am so excited. I have googled it extensively. There are parties in the lobby with Characters in their Christmas outfits, complete with cookies and cocoa, meet and greets with Santa, Castaway Cay is decorated....etc. I'm sure some people will post some photos of their experiences.

I haven't seen anyone start a FE on here yet. Basically, you sign up and the moderators divide cabins into groups of about 10, and you bring gifts for your group, handmade or otherwise, and distribute them during the cruise. The rules on here prevent the sharing of cruise groups on other sites, but there is a group started for this cruise on the book.

 

[Godwine Lee]

Is it just one gift per cabin? or is it a daily thing per cabin?

 

[godde8ss]

Is it just one gift per cabin? or is it a daily thing per cabin?

It depends how you want to to it. It can be one gift per cabin or one gift per cabin member (i usually do something for the adults and then the kids each get their own things). But, it is not per day.

 

[Starwind]

We have done the Merrytime Cruises 3 times now (2 were a B2B on the Dream). The ship and Castaway Cay will be decorated for the holidays, including a large tree in the atrium. The first evening there will be a tree lighting ceremony -- be sure to check the Navigator for the time.

Some of the character meet and greets will have characters in holiday attire (eg Mickey and Minnie in holiday sweaters), while others they are in non-holiday attire. The only meet and greet I recall with cocoa and cookies was the Santa one, the rest are all normal meet and greets except possibly for different attire. And yes, adults can visit with Santa, too (Santa's chair is particularly wide and therefore kids or adults can easily sit beside him) !!

There is a large gingerbread house in the atrium (feet tall...). The smell near it is devine (if you like gingerbread). There are lots of hidden and neat things, so take the time to walk around and get a good look at it.

There will be gingerbread house making sessions that you sign up for at either Guest Services or Port Adventures. You will be assigned a time (you may get to choose from a list of times). They are popular, so we make that a priority to get signed up soon after we get on board. During the session you will assemble and decorate a gingerbread house. The panels of the house are pre-made and they have the icing to hold it together as well as lots of candies to decorate with. It is all edible. You may bring it to your stateroom (mmmmmm the smell is very nice) BUT you cannot take it off the ship.

There was a storytelling session with Mrs Claus, a winter Wonderland party in the atrium, and other neat activities. Plus all the normal activities, shows and movies !

Online at some different sites you can find prior navigators, if you look for ones with the same itinerary during the Merrytime cruises you will get a good idea of what to expect.

SW

 

[Godwine Lee]

Will the fish extender list be here when its ready? We probably will sign up. My wife is more excited about this than my kid!

 

[godde8ss]

Will the fish extender list be here when its ready? We probably will sign up. My wife is more excited about this than my kid!

I'm the same way...
I'm not sure if anyone will start a FE on this board. There is one on the "book" though...

 

[tommysb1]

Thinking of booking this cruise.
We had our 1st DC in September 2016 on a 4 day to the Bahamas and reserved a placeholder because we loved it so much.Has anyone been on this Eastern Caribbean, or a Merrytime Cruise before that could share some things? Some of our friends are on this one and trying to get the funds together to make this work. We just hate taking the 2 kids (11, 8) out of school for a week. But, we hate paying double for a cruise even more.

TIA
Tommy B.

 

[godde8ss]

Thinking of booking this cruise.
We had our 1st DC in September 2016 on a 4 day to the Bahamas and reserved a placeholder because we loved it so much.Has anyone been on this Eastern Caribbean, or a Merrytime Cruise before that could share some things? Some of our friends are on this one and trying to get the funds together to make this work. We just hate taking the 2 kids (11, 8) out of school for a week. But, we hate paying double for a cruise even more.

TIA
Tommy B.

I will be taking one of my kids out of school, the other will be 4, so it hardly counts. I look at it as education. They are traveling, seeing other countries/cultures, etc. Not to mention, they can always do school work on the boat for an hour a day, if the teacher can get work assigned in advance.

I haven't done this itenary on Disney yet, but have done the Eastern Caribbean on Celebrity and LOVED it...its is truly beautiful.

 

[Tiffybuggie]

If any of you all that aren't already apart of this group want to join here is the link.
FE and ornament exchange already started
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1713573595569950/

 

[ShellyH919]

Looking to join a FE group for Dec 2 2017,Eastern Caribbean, Fantasy. This will be our 3rd cruise, but never new how to join. Help greatly appreciated!

 

[godde8ss]

Di

Looking to join a FE group for Dec 2 2017,Eastern Caribbean, Fantasy. This will be our 3rd cruise, but never new how to join. Help greatly appreciated![/QUOTE
Someone will start a FE group and announce it (as seen in the post above yours). It may be there is a group here or just the one on the other social media site. Either way, you would state your interest, and fill out the details requested in the form or via a message. Typically, this is cabin number, names and ages of sailing group and perhaps a favorite character or celebration. There is usually an option to sign up for more than one group, if your sailing group is large and there are many FE sub groups ( most FE groups are a max 10 cabins).

 

[godde8ss]

Thinking of booking this cruise.
We had our 1st DC in September 2016 on a 4 day to the Bahamas and reserved a placeholder because we loved it so much.Has anyone been on this Eastern Caribbean, or a Merrytime Cruise before that could share some things? Some of our friends are on this one and trying to get the funds together to make this work. We just hate taking the 2 kids (11, 8) out of school for a week. But, we hate paying double for a cruise even more.

TIA
Tommy B.

Did you decide to go with this sailing?

 

[Godwine Lee]

My kid like beaches more than anything else whenever we are on a cruise, but it appears that beach excursions for Tortola and St Thomas are very expensive. My wife and I are into port souvenirs which looks to be walking distance from the port. Is there any cheaper beach that is accessible within walking distance?

 

[Tiffybuggie]

Looking to join a FE group for Dec 2 2017,Eastern Caribbean, Fantasy. This will be our 3rd cruise, but never new how to join. Help greatly appreciated!

Hi check the link in my post above
They have fish extender already started

 

[eva]

Just booked this cruise today! It is just DH (Steve) and me (Eva). We are empty nesters and this will be our 9th Disney cruise and our second time on the Fantasy. Super excited to see what a Merrytime cruise is all about. Not sure if we will do the FE, but I might be interested in an ornament exchange. On the Med cruise that we just took in September our meet group reserved the pub and the piano bar for a late afternoon adult meet and greet. What fun! Looking forward to planning this cruise with everyone! Oh, and we are celebrating our 35th anniversary on the cruise.

 

[tommysb1]

Did you decide to go with this sailing?

Well we did, but we are actually going to switch our date. We really wanted to do the East Caribbean, but i don't think this date is going to work out. Just emailed our TA at DU to switch to a Western caribbean on 09/01/18. Its going to really stink waiting 18 months to sail!! Hope you all Enjoy the cruise. We have friends on this one so can't wait to hear how it goes.

 

[petrola]

Hi! we are also sailing this week - it will be myself, DH, DD (8) and DS (who will be 3 by then). Sailing with another family of four and we are looking forward to it and to meeting everyone! this will be our 3rd Disney cruise and our second Merrytime cruise. Someone already mentioned this is a previous post - but the gingerbread house - OMG! I still remember the delicious smell ... it was amazing! Our last sailing was December 2013 ...