Fantasy Eastern Feb 8-15 2014-Cupids in the Caribbean-TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 7/17!

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Love the BBB visit! Having a great time following along

Thank you for continuing to follow along. I am glad that you are enjoying it!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Once DD7 finished her transformation into a princess she decided that she was hungry. I took her up to Cabanas to eat and I thought I was going to be sick. I was so stuffed from Palo that the smell of food was making me ill!



After lunch DD7 made her way back to the club so DH and I could go on a galley tour. I had gotten tickets at Guest Services when we boarded and were given the option of two different times, but both tours were on this last sea day. If I remember correctly we all met outside of Royal Court where a cast member gathered tickets. After a short wait we made our way into the galley that was also shared with Animator's Palate. If the goings on in the galley is something that interests you I would recommend standing closely to the chef, as it was very difficult to hear what he was saying.



During the tour we were shown how the ordering process works during dining hours.





There was not any cooking or processing of food going on while we were on the tour. I could hear some people around us that were disappointed that the kitchen was not functional during the tour. Just a heads up in case you are expecting to see food prep or cooking. Everything was definitely neat and orderly.





We were also shown the area for food prep for those with allergies. You were able to see how important this is and that they take it very seriously.





All of the equipment was huge including the fryers, mixers, ovens, and grills!











It was kind of humorous because the chef was talking about how clean everything was kept. As we walked along we came across a grill that was dirty and one of the members of the tour kind of called him out on it. The chef said that the cook must have left for lunch and would be right back to clean it.



I would say at the most the tour was 15 minutes long. I found it to be interesting to see a little something "behind the scenes." On the way out we were given chocolate chip cookies before we went on to the next adventure.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

When we finished our tour of the galley we made our way to the club to pick up the girls. The plan was to head to the Walt Disney Theatre for the 3:00 showing of Believe. We really enjoyed the option to see the shows in the afternoon so we were able to enjoy more of the ships activities and amenities without so many crowds. We also found we were so drowsy after our evening meals that we might have slept through the shows if we went in the evening!


After Believe we did a little bit of shopping since our cruise was coming to an end so soon. Our sailing was the same week as Valentine's Day and DD7 had her eye on this Minnie doll all week. She was so happy to finally have her!



Tonight was semi-formal night in the dining rooms, so after dressing in our semi-formal best we made our way towards Animator's Palate. Along the way DD7 found these cuties dressed in their best.



Tonight was the animation show in Animator's Palate. Everybody enjoyed creating characters that would later be brought to life.







Tonight for dinner there were no choices for an appetizer and everyone received the "appetizer sampler platter". The item on the left is smoked duck breast, the middle is sliced mozzarella with cherry tomatoes, and on the right is marinated lobster and shrimp. Prior to this trip I think I had tried duck one time in my life!



For dinner both DH and I had the lobster that was served with a bean casserole and rice.



My favorite part of the meal was dessert. I chose the warm chocolate lava cake and enjoyed it very much. Both of the kids chose the decorate your own cupcake. The decorations included whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and white chocolate curls. It was a hit!





After dinner there was a pin trading event with the ship's officers. I can't believe that in all my planning before the cruise that I didn't know that there was a pin trading event on board! In our FE DH had received some pins as a gift and he gave two each to the girls to trade. The girls love to trade pins and made their way around a couple of times to each of the officers. They ended up with some fun pins.



We were starting to wear out from our busy sea day. I can't believe all of the things that we did during our last sea day. We decided to call it an early night, but of course we couldn't go to bed without our nightly Mickey bar!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

On Friday morning I was up REALLY bright and early. I rolled over expecting it to be at least 6:30 to find out that it was only 5:00. We are early risers at home, but I would have thought that I would be able to sleep in a little bit by the end of our busy cruise! Since I was wide awake I decided to grab the camera and take myself on a three hour tour! My first stop was Shutters to check out our pictures in the peace and quiet. While I was there I started to create an album with our pictures. I scanned my key card to start creating the album. When I brought DH back later in the day we scanned his card and the album wasn't there. I had a bit of a heart attack because I had spent almost an hour going through photos and designing the pages. DH suggested scanning my card and there it was! Just a heads up to save you some stress.





Once I finished up in Shutters I went next door to a quiet D Lounge.





I made my way back towards midship. It was so early that there wasn't anyone getting coffee yet.



The future cruise sales desk was definitely bustling later in the day.



I felt like I had the Fantasy all to myself!



I continued on Deck 4 and made my way forward. My next stop was an empty Buena Vista Theatre.









Outside of the Theatre is the Muppets Call Board. If you are playing the Muppets version of Midship Detective Agency I would suggest taking a picture of this to reference while playing to save yourself some walking!



I continued forward to the Walt Disney Theatre. There was a rope in front of the doors, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures inside of the Theatre.











Continued in the next post!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

From the Walt Disney Theatre I made my way down to Deck 3 to the shopping district. At Mickey's Mainsail you can find clothes, pins, postcards, plush toys, picture albums and frames, Christmas ornament and many other souvenirs.



Across the way is Sea Treasures. Here the items were a little more upscale.



At Whitecaps you will find luxury items like jewelry, perfume, swimwear and accessories, and liquor.



I made my way back to Deck three midship. Here you can find the Bon Voyage Bar. Unfortunately we never ended up having a cocktail here.



Of course I couldn't pass my favorite mural without a picture.



The midship elevators without a wait! I needed to take a picture to prove it!



I continued on Deck 3 to the aft of the ship and grabbed a couple of pictures outside of Animator's Palate.





Continued in the next post!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

After touring around inside it was starting to get light enough to get some pictures outside. I made my way up to Deck 11 to see if it was any livelier up there. I was excited to find that it was still to early for most cruisers!

The Quiet Cove Pool living up to its name.



The Aqua Duck is still asleep.



Such a beautiful sight.





This is probably the most time I spent in the adult areas of the ship!









Hopefully anyone that was in this area was wide awake!



It was so windy in the forward area of the ship, so I decided to make my way back to midship. At this point I was just so at peace. I really felt like I had the ship all to myself.















I continued aft and ended up being in the right place at the right time!

 

[lauralynn0612]

I am going to have to plan at least one of these early mornings to tour the ship! How neat.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I am going to have to plan at least one of these early mornings to tour the ship! How neat.

You must! I went for almost two hours before I encountered others out and about. It was amazing to feel like I was all alone knowing how many people were actually aboard.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I made my way up to Deck 13 aft and came around the bend just in time to see that the sun was rising. In my time out and about it hadn't even crossed my mind to try to see the sunrise. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time! This was the first time I encountered other cruisers and I would say at the most that there were a dozen of us having our own private show.























Good morning neighbors!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

When I finished up I walked towards Goofy's Sports Deck and encountered the one and only clock I saw outside of our stateroom all week. It was so cute and as you can see it was still pretty early!



I wish we had played some ball while cruising, but unfortunately it was one of those things that just didn't happen.







This next picture shows the bottom of the Aqua Duck. You can see that it ends near the Aqua Lab on the port side of the ship.



I thought that it was nice that there was a convenient stop to rinse off after spending time in the pools.



A quiet Mickey pool.



They certainly did not miss a detail when designing the ship.



Our kiddos were too old to enjoy Nemo's Reef, but it sure was cute!

 

[JKSWonder]

Such wonderful pictures of the ship! Amazing that you really did seem to have it all to yourself for so long. Must have been lovely.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Such wonderful pictures of the ship! Amazing that you really did seem to have it all to yourself for so long. Must have been lovely.

Thank you! I don't think I spied anyone in any of the pictures until that last picture of the Mickey pool. It truly was amazing!

 

[bbn1122]

Favorite time on the ships...early morning...never that early!
I really enjoyed all your photos

 

[kkayluvsdis]

LoveMyTwoPrincesses,

Your trip report is amazing! I just finished reading through the whole thing! I love your details and your pics. I feel like I'm enjoying the vacation along with you We have never done a Disney Cruise but after our most recent trip to WDW at the beginning of May we are ready for a change. I'm hoping that we can somehow swing the $$ of a Disney Cruise sometime next year! I sure do feel overwhelmed, however. It seems like there is a LOT to know to be prepared for this type of adventure. Looking forward to more!

-Kelly

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Favorite time on the ships...early morning...never that early!
I really enjoyed all your photos

Oh my goodness, it is the most wonderful time! I am so glad that I didn't decide to just toss and turn in bed.

Thank you so much!

LoveMyTwoPrincesses,

Your trip report is amazing! I just finished reading through the whole thing! I love your details and your pics. I feel like I'm enjoying the vacation along with you We have never done a Disney Cruise but after our most recent trip to WDW at the beginning of May we are ready for a change. I'm hoping that we can somehow swing the $$ of a Disney Cruise sometime next year! I sure do feel overwhelmed, however. It seems like there is a LOT to know to be prepared for this type of adventure. Looking forward to more!

-Kelly

Thank you Kelly! My DH was also ready for a change. I felt like a Disney cruise allowed for something different, yet we were still able to experience the "Disney Magic." The planning was definitely overwhelming, yet it was also a big part of the fun!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I decided to take a walk through Cabanas before heading back to the room. I had really wanted to get some pictures without the crowds and here was my chance!



While I was taking these pictures of the drink station a gentleman approached me to tease me. He wondered if I needed to take the pictures so that people back home would believe what I told them!





This morning was the first that I realized how wonderful the murals were in Cabanas. It was always so busy when I was in there, so I had missed so many details. I was so happy to have a chance to admire them more closely.









There was a few people wandering around at this point, but Cabanas was still pretty quiet!



I stepped outside for one more look at the sunrise. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day!









I made my way to the starboard side of Cabanas where a server saw me taking pictures. He asked if I would like him to take my picture, which I thought was very nice. We visited for a bit before I went on my way.













Continued in next post

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

My 3 hour tour seemed like it took me about 20 minutes! I was a happy lady and my day was just beginning. I arrived back at our room to rouse the rest of my crew for some breakfast.







Everyone was already up, so we made our way back to Cabanas for a quick bite. I didn't want to eat too much because I would be running the 5K on Castaway Cay. We made our way back to the room and stepped out on to the verandah. Our view to the aft was pretty cool.



Soon enough our view was even more amazing! One of the reasons I had wanted a room on the starboard side of the ship was because I had read you would have a great view of Castaway Cay. My research was not wrong! Castaway Cay-here we come!!















Up next: Castaway Cay 5K

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

An activity that I was looking forward to was running the 5K on Castaway Cay. I aspire to run at a RunDisney event some day and I thought this would be a good event to tide me over until that happens!

We registered for the 5K at Guest Services when we boarded the Fantasy back on Saturday. We were told to meet in The Tube at 9. When we arrived they checked us in and gave us our race numbers. They also had the route for the 5K up so that we could see where we needed to go. The plan was to drop off the girls at Scuttle's Cove while both DH and I ran.



We started to watch the minutes tick by and started to wonder if we might need to skip the 5K. DH, DD10, and I had an excursion scheduled at 11. If we were going to drop DD10 off, run, and then make our way back to pick her up we weren't sure we would make our way back to Marge's Barges in time. As it got later and later DH made the decision to skip out on the 5K. He knew that it meant more to me and graciously took one for the team. DH and DD10 brought DD7 to Scuttle's Cove and then made their way to the start line to see me off. They were also nice enough to grab a shirt for me at the shop. The plan was for me to meet with them at Marge's Barges for our excursion as soon as I finished.



I am glad that I was able to do the run, but I don't think that I would do it again. By my standards it was hot! The course for the most was out in the open, so I can only imagine how hot it gets in the summer months. A nice perk was that they had a water station set up that you passed by four times during the run.

By the time we ended up starting it was about 10. This wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't have the excursion planned, but the timing got a bit tight. The run wasn't officially timed, but they did have a timer out so you had a general idea of how long you took. I finished in 30 minutes and quickly grabbed my Mickey medal. I noticed that there was a tram stop, so I decided that it might get me back a little faster. A tram quickly arrived and who should happen to be on it-DH and DD10! I was so grateful that DH skipped out on the run. If we would have needed to pick-up DD10 at Scuttle's Cove we would have been late for the excursion. Since we made it with a couple of minutes to spare, DH got a picture of me with my medal and the best backdrop ever.



Once we returned home I snapped a couple of pictures of my swag from the Castaway 5K.

My medal-





Race number-



and my t-shirt that DH got for me-





Up next: Parasailing at Castaway Cay!!!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I had mentioned in previous posts that the girls were each allowed one special activity to do while on the cruise. DD10 had chosen hair braiding, while DD7 chose the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Of course we couldn't leave the biggest kid of all out of this deal! DH chose to go parasailing! This was something that he has always wanted to do. Quite frankly the whole idea kind of freaked me out, but I decided that we should all go. Unfortunately DD7 missed the age cut off-you have to be at least 8 to parasail at Castaway Cay. She was a little disappointed, but she handled it pretty well. In the end she enjoyed her time at Scuttle's Cove so much that she didn't mind missing out on parasailing at all.

We arrived a couple of minutes early at Marge's Barges to check in for our 11:00 excursion. I have to say that something I really appreciated on this trip is that they really adhere to times. If something was set to start at 11:00, they meant 11:00.



Soon we were gathered and made our way to the boat that would take us out. DH would recommend that you be sure that you don't drag your feet on the dock. He ended up getting a huge sliver in his toe, but thankfully he was able to get it out quickly with the assistance of one of the tour guides.

DD10 was more than a little excited to be on our way.





It was always interesting to see the ongoing maintenance of the Fantasy whenever we were at a port. I loved the pride that was taken in keeping the ship beautiful.



Very quickly they started to get us set up. A couple that was on board asked if it would be alright for them to go first. She was a bit nervous and wanted to go so she wouldn't have to worry any longer. They made their way up and from what we could see it looked like she was no longer worried. When they returned she reported that she had a great time. This definitely helped to ease my nerves!



Next up was DH and DD10. To say that they were excited is an understatement!





The two guys that were working definitely had the whole process down to a science. One of them was in charge of rigging everyone up, while the other took charge of the driving.



First DH was strapped in. I thought it was so fun to see him so excited.



Next up was DD10.



Making sure everything is connected and ready to go.



Some last minute instructions before they are sent on their way.



Continued in the next post.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Prior to the trip we bought a small waterproof camera for moments like this. There was a wrist strap that was attached and worked well for the trip up to the top of the world. DH took a few shots as they made their way.

In the first picture you can see me on the left taking pictures of them, while they take a picture of me!



And they made their way higher,



and higher,



and higher,



and higher still.



I wish that you could see DD10 from the front in this shot. DH said she was smiling from ear to ear.



When they were brought around they had a great view of the Fantasy.



It was cool to see the size perspective of the Fantasy versus Castaway Cay.







In the last couple of pictures you can see the clarity of the water below. It was like you were looking through glass.





Continued in the next post.