Disney Fantasy June 22-29th 2013: Boardwalk, Boat, and Boston! 2nd Wedding Annivesary

[disneybarbie]

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We went for a walk around some of the ship – the entertainment area was very different to the Dream, all the bars and areas were themed to Europe.



Next we went to Cove Café on deck 12 (again, adults only) – we ordered some coffees (these cost extra but only about $3 per drink). One of the servers was English, Lindsey, and commented on our accents! She asked how the weather was at home (we’d had a terrible spring/early summer – so she hadn’t missed much). I also got a speciality coffee loyalty card – so I got one free after buying 5 drinks during our cruise.



By this time it was almost time for the safety drill – our muster station was ‘F’, and we had to meet on deck 4 in the Lake Buena Vista Theatre, so we walked down there – got checked off the list and sat waiting for the drill.

This is the only time I feel at all ‘worried’ about being on a cruise – it reminds me that the seas can be dangerous… however, I would have 100% confidence in the crew in such an occasion!



The crew that lead our safety drill were great, they had a good mix of fun but maintaining a serious tone too.


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[disneybarbie]

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After 20 minutes, we were allowed to leave – once again we headed back to our stateroom, and the luggage was there.

I unpacked a few things, then we got two beers from the ice bucket and headed back up to deck 13… ready for sail away!

While we were waiting for the ship to start moving, we saw lots of sting rays and even dolphins playing in the water.



Soon – the ropes were removed… and we were on our way!





We had told our families that we would be on the starboard side of the ship when it left Port Canaveral…. As there is a webcam set up on one of the bars on the waterfront. They sent us some photos of the Fantasy sailing out…



http://www.portcanaveralwebcam.com/





We are to the right of the white ball – just below where the sun is hitting the ship!



It was agreed that next time we’d make a banner… so that the camera zoomed in on us







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[dmwang9]

Based on your photos from deck 12 forward while the ship was setting sail, we were about standing about 20 feet apart at the time. I don't suppose you remember seeing a Chinese guy with a mohawk? That would have been me.

Thanks for a great update!

-- Dave

 

[Dream426]

Great updates. Love your pictures of the ship. I can't wait to go on another cruise. I watch the webcam often to watch the Disney ships go by. I think DH is sick of seeing it when I remember to put it on...haha I never thought to make a banner. That is a great idea.

 

[disneybarbie]

Based on your photos from deck 12 forward while the ship was setting sail, we were about standing about 20 feet apart at the time. I don't suppose you remember seeing a Chinese guy with a mohawk? That would have been me.

Thanks for a great update!

-- Dave

Hi! Wow we were standing close together... sorry I didn't notice you

Great updates. Love your pictures of the ship. I can't wait to go on another cruise. I watch the webcam often to watch the Disney ships go by. I think DH is sick of seeing it when I remember to put it on...haha I never thought to make a banner. That is a great idea.

Thank you! I also find myself watching the Port Canaveral webcam too often.. because of the time difference, the ships sail out about 10pm our time

 

[disneybarbie]

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Once we were out of the port, turned to the right and were heading down the Florida coast – we went back to our stateroom, unpacked the suitcase, then opened the champagne and sat out on the balcony!



We showered and got ready, we weren’t too worried about seeing the show – so we headed down to deck 4 to explore some of the bars.



The lobby…





First we went to Sky Line – we loved this on the Dream, and on the Fantasy it’s even larger and has different cities to look at through the ‘windows’.



The server suggested we buy a Sky Line passport – it was about $60 for 7 drinks, which equated to two free drinks. We decided to buy one, we knew we’d be back there at other times during the week – plus it made a nice souvenir with cocktail recipes in it for when we got home.

I had a ‘London’ cocktail, DH had one that had an earl grey teabag in it… very unusual drinks! The barman was called Julian, from Jamaica, we had a nice chat with him and the other servers about life onboard the ship.



The other server there was from Brazil, and she said that her husband also worked on the ship at the Cove Café.. we had met him earlier that day! It was their last cruise before an 8 week vacation - they were going to WDW for the first time, then New York, and then back to Brazil.

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[disneybarbie]

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The scenery changes every 15 minutes to a different city, also the music playing in the bar changes to match the city.



The bartender pointed out a few hidden mickeys too us – also, in the London scene, there are storm troopers walking along the south bank of the River Thames!




Mickey is waving from a window in this building….




We had second seating for dinner each evening, which was at 8.15pm. We arrived at the Royal Court, there was along queue down the corridor to enter the restaurant but it moved very quickly. At the entrance, we were handed sanitising hand wipes (which happens outside each of the restaurants onboard), and then warmly welcomed by the servers who were lined up at the door.

We shared a table each evening with a couple who were on their honeymoon – they were a similar age to us and really nice, we all got along well and it was fun to talk about our days with them each evening. On our honeymoon cruise, we’d had a table on our own – but we actually quite enjoyed having tablemates this time.

Our servers were Pramen (from Bulgaria), Luciana (from Brazil) and Sutheepong (from Thailand) – they stayed with us each evening in the different restaurants, which is great as they get to know you and what you like/disklike!

The dinner was excellent, I had a shrimp and lobster appetiser, an avocado and citrus salad, lamb for my entrée, and then mango cheesecake for dessert (apologies – I didn’t take many food photos at dinner due to having tablemates!!)

Before the end of our meal, the head server, Pramen, brought over a special chocolate cake for us, and the servers all sang ‘happy anniversary’ to us! We were given DCL anninversary buttons (smaller than the WDW ones) and our tablemates were given ‘happy honeymoon’ buttons too. It was a really nice surprise, I didn’t know they did those on the cruises.



After dinner, we went back up to deck 12 and had a walk around – the ship was moving quite quickly, but there wasn’t much movement onboard.



We went back to the room, read the navigator and were in bed by about 11pm.

 

[klacey1]

Wow, your photos are terrific! The Fantasy is gorgeous!!

And 7 drinks for $60-- sign me up! That's a great deal! Can't wait for more.

 

[Leshaface]

M&M pancakes!? What a fantastic idea!

The drive time to the port (including picking up families from another resort) isn't too bad. Was thinking it would be closer to 2 hours.

I love your accents on the video! You probably get so annoyed hearing that all the time but it's so gorgeous. Now when I read your TR, i'm hearing you!

I love the Cove Bar. So relaxing and either people didn't know about it, didn't like coffee or don't like the idea of spending money on drinks, but it was never busy (on the Dream or the Wonder) whenever we went. We filled up that loyalty card pretty quickly.

Love the idea of pre-buying your drinks. $60 is a great price!

The Sky-Line on the Fantasy sounds way better than the Dream! Hope to experience it one day.

I love your shirt BTW! Or is that a dress?

 

[disneybarbie]

Wow, your photos are terrific! The Fantasy is gorgeous!!

And 7 drinks for $60-- sign me up! That's a great deal! Can't wait for more.

Thank you! I took so many photos on the cruise ... the passport wasn't something that we'd been offered on the Dream - but we thought for the Fantasy it made sense as we were doing a 7 night cruise and pretty sure we'd be back to Sky Line! The cocktails were really unusual too, my favourite was 'St Pete's Sling' - grapefruit juice, lemon juice, vodka, ginger & honey

M&M pancakes!? What a fantastic idea!

The drive time to the port (including picking up families from another resort) isn't too bad. Was thinking it would be closer to 2 hours.

I love your accents on the video! You probably get so annoyed hearing that all the time but it's so gorgeous. Now when I read your TR, i'm hearing you!

I love the Cove Bar. So relaxing and either people didn't know about it, didn't like coffee or don't like the idea of spending money on drinks, but it was never busy (on the Dream or the Wonder) whenever we went. We filled up that loyalty card pretty quickly.

Love the idea of pre-buying your drinks. $60 is a great price!

The Sky-Line on the Fantasy sounds way better than the Dream! Hope to experience it one day.

I love your shirt BTW! Or is that a dress?

Hi Lesha,

The M&M pancakes were delicious, such a great addition!

The DCL bus driver said it might take up to 90 minutes as we left Caribbean Beach Resort, as the usual route he'd use was bad traffic, but it only took an hour - and, like Magical Express, I was so engrossed in the onboard video that I didn't really notice the time!

Lol I always find it weird hearing how my voice/accent sounds

I agree about the Cove - it was so calm in there, nice to be able to get a good latte/iced coffee while onboard too



Emma x

 

[Dugette]

Just got all caught up!

Your DHS morning was really nice! Not much line-waiting and lots of things done. That's the way to do it!

Can't wait to try Be Our Guest. Glad you enjoyed it.

That whole evening sounds really nice too.

Your TR is good at reminding me of a lot of little things/new things I'd heard about and forgotten, by the way.

Love hearing about the cruise! I want to take a Disney cruise so badly!!! Looks wonderful!

 

[disneybarbie]

Just got all caught up!

Your DHS morning was really nice! Not much line-waiting and lots of things done. That's the way to do it!

Can't wait to try Be Our Guest. Glad you enjoyed it.

That whole evening sounds really nice too.

Your TR is good at reminding me of a lot of little things/new things I'd heard about and forgotten, by the way.

Love hearing about the cruise! I want to take a Disney cruise so badly!!! Looks wonderful!

Hi! Thank you for reading along so far, we had a really great couple of nights at WDW
The Disney cruises are amazing - I hope you get to do one one day

 

[disneybarbie]

Day 4 – Full Day at Sea


It was a lovely feeling to wake up and remember we were onboard the Disney Fantasy!

We were both awake early, so decided to do something unusual for us while on vacation…. We went to the gym!

Usually on vacation I relax and don’t worry about exercise, however it was nice to keep active this trip – we did several runs, a few trips to the gym and lots of walking too… balanced out all the delicious food we were eating.

Also… I really don’t mind going to a gym when this is the view from the treadmill..






I was actually surprised to see how busy the gym was, but nice to be among other active people at 7am! We did about 45 minutes of cardio, then went back to the room and showered – ready for breakfast.

There are always several options for breakfast while onboard a Disney cruise – most people head to the buffet at Cabanas, but there is also room service, a buffet at the Enchanted Garden or an a la carte menu at the Royal Court – we chose the latter, make the most of the day at sea and have a leisurely breakfast.



We were greeted at the entrance by several friendly crew members, the restaurant was very calm and quiet.
Our server was called Emmanuel, he was so friendly and spent a lot of time chatting with us about England. DH had eggs benedict and I had a buckwheat crepe with egg whites, spinach and tomato (I also had a mini Danish from the pastry tray!). It was a delicious breakfast and a lovely way to start the day.



Heading back up to the room in the lift..



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[disneybarbie]

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Some photos of our state room..



View from the balcony on a sea day…


My cruise bag.. complete with ‘happy anniversary’ buttons!


Something I think is great on Disney cruise lines… the TV channels! They have an ‘on demand’ service of almost every Disney movie you can think of – in the mornings I quite often watched some of the Pixar shorts or part of a film while getting ready!




Next it was time to do something very exciting… find the laundry room! It was quite early in the vacation to be doing laundry, but we had gym clothes that needed doing so I decided to wash everything we’d already worn too. There was a small laundry room on Deck 8 aft, and later on in the week I discovered a much larger one on Deck 7.



It was $2 for the washer and $2 for a dryer, which you could just swipe your stateroom card to pay.. however it cost me $4 for the washer as I misread the instructions the first time There’s also a free iron and ironing board in the room, useful for any clothes that might have got crumpled in the suitcases. I understand that not all cruise lines offer self-service laundry, so I think this is a good thing that the Disney ships have!

We spent the morning sunbathing up on deck 13, the adults only area. We had no trouble at all finding sun loungers, they are also really comfortable – padded and with a detachable pillow.



At 12pm, the cruise director (Clayton) came on to the speaker system to tell us about a few of the day’s activities, and then Captain Marco spoke for a little while about the sea conditions… then… they played all seven of the horn melodies!

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyxmh2QViy8



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[elphie101]

Whoo for being on the ship! She looks beautiful!

I love the idea of spending the pre-dinner time getting drinks - especially Skyline! Cool that they do a drink passport, since I could easily see myself having several adult beverages there

 

[Princess Michelle]

I love your Daisy Duck bag! She's my favorite and there is nowhere near enough stuff with her on it. Where did you find it?

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like a relaxing morning on the ship. Love the view from your balcony (and from everywhere else, for that matter). The horns were cool!

 

[Dream426]

I love the day at sea. I feel I can really enjoy the ship on those days. Love the video of the horn melodies.

 

[disneybarbie]

Whoo for being on the ship! She looks beautiful!

I love the idea of spending the pre-dinner time getting drinks - especially Skyline! Cool that they do a drink passport, since I could easily see myself having several adult beverages there

Hi! The Fantasy was beautiful... I don't think I could pick a favourite between the Dream and the Fantasy.. but I did love the colour scheme on the latter
It seemed strange how quiet/empty parts of the ship could be at certain times of the day.. we enjoyed going to the Europa bars before dinner though as we got to chat to the crew members a lot

I love your Daisy Duck bag! She's my favorite and there is nowhere near enough stuff with her on it. Where did you find it?

Thank you! The bag was actually my sisters, she bought it from the UK Disney Store about 3 years ago - I have taken it for both Disney cruises I've been on though I agree there never seems to be much Daisy merchandise.. hopefully with the popularity of the Mickey Mouse Club House there might be more coming in the future?!

Sounds like a relaxing morning on the ship. Love the view from your balcony (and from everywhere else, for that matter). The horns were cool!

I love the day at sea. I feel I can really enjoy the ship on those days. Love the video of the horn melodies.

Thank you both for commenting - before we'd ever been on a cruise, I worried that the sea days would feel a bit boring/claustrophobic.. but now we look forward to them as much as the port days!



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

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We decided to have our lunch at Cabanas, it was busy – but lines moved quickly and there was plenty of seating, the crew members do a great job in keeping the tables clear and clean. I find it so hard to decide what to have when there is literally everything you can imagine on the buffet!

We got a nice table outside, right at the back of the ship.



After lunch, we moved to some sunbeds in the shade (didn’t want to burn as the sun was so hot!) for a couple of hours.



We had a spa appointment booked at 3pm, so we arrived at the Senses spa at 2.45pm to check in. For our honeymoon, I had booked the ‘couples choice’ experience for us – we’d enjoyed it so much, that we agreed it would be our anniversary present during this cruise!

(Sorry, no camera during the spa so no photos! )

After getting changed in the locker rooms, we were led to the relaxation room and completed a health questionnaire. One of the questions is ‘on a scale of 1 to 10, how stressed are you?’ … I wonder if anyone can be stressed while in a spa on a beautiful cruise ship

Next we were taken to our spa villa, and introduced to our therapists. They discussed the different treatments available with us, DH chose a deep tissue massage and I chose a Swedish massage with a facial.

We were led outside to the balcony area and each had a foot spa, then we were left alone for about 30 minutes to enjoy the hot tub and day beds. We were sailing past Cuba at this time, which gave us a lovely view throughout our spa experience.

The treatments were both excellent, I think I almost fell asleep! Afterwards we were allowed more time out on the balcony, they brought us out a platter of fresh fruit and hot green tea.

We left the spa just after 5pm, it had started to rain a little so we went back to the room to shower and get ready for the evening.

I had wanted to see the Aladdin stage show in the theatre, unfortunately we had an ‘emergency’ as a button had come off the dress I wanted to wear, so I had to sew it back on! By the time we were ready, the show had already started… never mind, I will just have to hope that the Broadway version is successful and that they bring it over to the West End in London one day.

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