FANTASY FANTASTIC:::September 8, 2012

[DLW8]

I am so excited!!! Just wanted to share my joy!

- - Does anyone know if I set up a family photo session does that cost extra or do those pics come on the cd from shutters?

In my experience, you don't need to set up a family photo session, you just bring your group to one of the photo sessions and they will take a lot of photos. We have done this and they come out great! There will be a list at Shutters each day that will tell you what backgrounds/characters will be set up for photos, along with where and what time, so you can plan accordingly.

We haven't bought the CD, but have bought the individual photos. I would assume they are on the CD though. I know the prices for the CD are pretty high, they are not the same as the Photopass CD from the parks. I want to say the CD for the 7 night cruise is somewhere between $300 - $400 if my memory serves me correctly.

Backgrounds we have done/seen:
all white
all black
a pink/black pattern (this was on Pirate Night)
rising moon over the ocean
in front of the statue in the atrium (this will be Minnie for the Fantasy)
Formal Night with Mickey & Minnie

I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting....

We used our family photo from the last 2 cruises for our Christmas cards, and ordered them right at Shutters as well. They are more expensive, but I loved the Disney designs!

 

[DLW8]

Just wanted to let you all know that we have changed our dates, so won't be sailing with you. Enjoy and Bon Voyage!

 

[lmhall2000]

Have a great trip! Thanks for all the tips and helps you shared! As far as I can tell our cruise is remarkably underbooked...I am hoping they will offer specials to fill it!

The Fantasy is looking great and coming together quickly!

 

[malacajo]

We just booked our Sept 8 2012 Eeastern Caribbean on Fantasy! It's our very first cruise, beyond excited and have a lot to learn I'm sure. We are on the 2nd level, 9B if this means anything. We know nothing about shore excursions, etc. I know the main thing that we are looking forward to is Castaway Cay, I've heard it's amazing. Nervous about it being peak of hurricane season (more so for the fact that we live on the coast of NC), but it's the only time of year that we could afford a Disney Cruise! This is a dream vacation for us..Love to hear from lots of people!

 

[technoarch]

First post here on DISboards but we have been long time lurkers since May of 2010 when we booked our 1st cruise with DCL that sailed last month (4 night on the Dream room 9662). We had such a wonderful time we booked a dummy date for October 2012 then immediately changed it to the 09.08.12 seven night Eastern (also in room 9662). We really hope some of the Palo and Remy servers and staff transfer over to the Fantasy as they were fantastic!

Happy birthday crusinmom! I will also be celebrating my birthday on this cruise (Sept. 10). Hopefully at Remy !!

 

[lmhall2000]

Welcome!

First cruising fam and first poster! And more September birthdays!
Just think, this time next year we will be in the Caribbean! So excited! I think we are going to make tie dye shirts this weekend for the cruise! Trying to color coordinate them with the lobby colors of the Fantasy! Yes, we are so excited in an over the top kind of way!

I will try to start the planning pages for ports this week!
Let's cruise on into 2012!

 

[malacajo]

Welcome!

First cruising fam and first poster! And more September birthdays!
Just think, this time next year we will be in the Caribbean! So excited! I think we are going to make tie dye shirts this weekend for the cruise! Trying to color coordinate them with the lobby colors of the Fantasy! Yes, we are so excited in an over the top kind of way!

I will try to start the planning pages for ports this week!
Let's cruise on into 2012!

We will be celebrating our 17th anniversary, you think they'll cut a couple of thousand dollars off of our cruise????? LOL

 

[malacajo]

Oh one more thing! Just realized that next year at this exact time, we should be at Castaway Cay...cannot wait. Hope no weather issues keep us away....!

 

[lmhall2000]

Oh one more thing! Just realized that next year at this exact time, we should be at Castaway Cay...cannot wait. Hope no weather issues keep us away....!

That is sooo cool! And happy Anniversary!! We have never been to CC b/c our other cruises were other locales..so the kids are super excited! I really am hopeful they will offer a kids sail free offer and that will save us a couple of thousand!! I'll post here if anything ever comes up!

 

[technoarch]

CC is a blast. So many options of things to do on the island while we were there.

We did have the catamaran snorkeling excursion booked but it was cancelled last minute as Hurricane Irene was starting to pose a threat and the excursion companies did not want to bring their boats over to the island. We were the cruise that made it back to port right before Irene hit. We had wonderful weather the entire trip and honestly there was no sign of a hurricane on the horizon the entire time. We are going in a typically active month during the tropical season and I would strongly suggest the trip insurance. There is just no telling what may pop up while we are down there.

While my wife and I were disappointed that we could not go on the excursion, the snorkeling opportunities on the island are amazing. We actually thought the snorkeling at serenity bay was better (a barracuda kept a watchful eye on us the entire time!!)

We were also able to rent one of the small catamarans and sailed for almost an 1-1/2 hours. Just awesome.

If any of you have any questions about the Dream/Fantasy class ship just let me know. We toured pretty much every inch of the ship and got pictures everywhere. We don't have kids but we toured the kids areas on the first day and I wanted to hang out there!! My wife had to drag me away .

 

[malacajo]

CC is a blast. So many options of things to do on the island while we were there.

We did have the catamaran snorkeling excursion booked but it was cancelled last minute as Hurricane Irene was starting to pose a threat and the excursion companies did not want to bring their boats over to the island. We were the cruise that made it back to port right before Irene hit. We had wonderful weather the entire trip and honestly there was no sign of a hurricane on the horizon the entire time. We are going in a typically active month during the tropical season and I would strongly suggest the trip insurance. There is just no telling what may pop up while we are down there.

While my wife and I were disappointed that we could not go on the excursion, the snorkeling opportunities on the island are amazing. We actually thought the snorkeling at serenity bay was better (a barracuda kept a watchful eye on us the entire time!!)

We were also able to rent one of the small catamarans and sailed for almost an 1-1/2 hours. Just awesome.

If any of you have any questions about the Dream/Fantasy class ship just let me know. We toured pretty much every inch of the ship and got pictures everywhere. We don't have kids but we toured the kids areas on the first day and I wanted to hang out there!! My wife had to drag me away .

I live in NC too, I have heard of Davidson, what are you near? It'll drive me crazy. So far the only thing we have planned in any port is to rent the snorkel/floaties/bikes at CC! I have dreams of just floating for days in that beautiful warm water..Cannot wait! We know nothing about cruising, this is our first!

 

[technoarch]

Davidson is just north of Charlotte, NC. I grew up close to the Raleigh area.

This cruise will be our second, the Disney Dream 4 night cruise we took last month was my first and it was a blast. My best advice is to study the current Dream deck layout for locations of things. We saw too many people looking lost but its really an easy ship to navigate.

 

[lmhall2000]

Hey!

How many can fit on the catamarans? I'm wondering how to organize the five of us if we rented, my husband is not adventurous on water...so wondering if 4 can fit? Thanks!!!

 

[technoarch]

If your kids are small then 4 total should be ok (5 would be tough). They will ask if you have sailing experience before you can rent the catamarans. If you dont have any sailing experience there are other waterbike, kayak, etc options.

 

[lmhall2000]

If your kids are small then 4 total should be ok (5 would be tough). They will ask if you have sailing experience before you can rent the catamarans. If you dont have any sailing experience there are other waterbike, kayak, etc options.

Great! Thanks!! No, the only sailing we've done was on Lake Dillon in Colorado, almost killed ourselves! EEK! I think we'll stick to the kayaks

Our kids are pretty much grown...17, 14, 13...hoping they'll want to be adventurous!

 

[wvhokie]

I wasn't quite sure if any groups were setting up for Sept 2012 so I was glad to see this. We will be sailing on Sept 8 on the Fantasy and we are excited. We went on the Dream in May and loved it so much that we booked again. There are 5 of us (4 adults and 1 child). My daughter will be 4 when sail next year and I am excited that she will be able to participate in the kid's activities. We have sailed the same itinerary with Carnival serveral years ago and we can't wait to go back. It is hard to believe that it is still a year away but we booked our Dream cruise a year before we sailed and I couldn't believe how quickly the year went!

 

[malacajo]

So far, I guess we're the only ones that are first time cruisers...! I feel like an entire year is going to drag, especially when winter comes, blah! All I can think about is our cruise!

 

[lmhall2000]

I wasn't quite sure if any groups were setting up for Sept 2012 so I was glad to see this. We will be sailing on Sept 8 on the Fantasy and we are excited. We went on the Dream in May and loved it so much that we booked again. There are 5 of us (4 adults and 1 child). My daughter will be 4 when sail next year and I am excited that she will be able to participate in the kid's activities. We have sailed the same itinerary with Carnival serveral years ago and we can't wait to go back. It is hard to believe that it is still a year away but we booked our Dream cruise a year before we sailed and I couldn't believe how quickly the year went!

Welcome!
I really do think we will have a light load...most other weeks already have 5x as many travelers...I think we are up to five or six right now! I will keep my eyes and ears open or any specials! It is exciting to know your little one can enjoy the programs...my teen girls sigh when they see the Toy Story room...they would love to be little again to play in there!
Do ou have any recommendations for the ports? We have never been there, I am just uploading tips from Trip Advisor on the first page.
We are so excited...we already have our first trips down the Aquaduck planned! I get to ride in front first...

Just 11 months and 20 days!

 

[wvhokie]

St. Thomas is great for snorkeling. We did that then walked around the shops. In St. Marteen we took a tour of the Dutch and French side. We stopped a market and there was a great bakery then we went to the beach and it was beautiful. My parents ended up taking a trip just to St. Marteen because the loved the beach so much. We will probably end up doing the same thing just because it worked out well for us. I can't wait to back to Castaway Cay. My little one was playing in the sand all day and we have so many good memories of that day. The AquaDuck is also so much fun.

 

[lmhall2000]

Hi travelers!! I am updating the first page with travel information, links to helpful sites and a list of our cruising buddies as well as a Fish Extender list. If you want to participate in the FE...just send me your information...how many in your family will participate...I will send out an email closer to sailing that will include stateroom...for privacy, some may not want that information posted here. Just email me that information (also let me know if your participating guests are boy/girl or adult...some like to tailor their gifts)

If any have any more tips/guides on specific port ideas...please post and I will update the pages.

Does anyone know if you buy/purchase activities on Castaway Cay if you can use your room key to do the charges or do you need a separate credit card? I can see us wanting to rent the kayaks but don't want to carry money/purse with me..hoping just a lanyard with room key would work! Thanks!!