Fantasy June 29, 2013 Meet Up!

[rtjhouse]

Sitting on ME bus waiting to leave to Poly

 

[jetskigrl]

Just printed our boarding passes!!!

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

Anyone else feeling depressed now that the cruise is over? I need another one stat!

 

[jetskigrl]

Anyone else feeling depressed now that the cruise is over? I need another one stat!

Yep, me!!!! It was a roller coaster ride for us, that is for sure!

I still haven't started downloading pictures. I spent all day yesterday unpacking and doing laundry. What a depressing way to return back home. And I didn't even have a towel animal or chocolates on my bed when I finally got to go to sleep last night

Now to start planning for Alaska next summer. Hum...time to change my signature to my new (and very long) countdown clock...

 

[CruizinTigers]

I hope everyone had a great trip! We sure did.

I wanted to put out a special thanks to all of you who participated in the FE exchange. The treasures you all left for us were all greatly appreciated and enjoyed. Thanks so much. This was our fifth DCL cruise, but the first time participating in the exchange, and we're glad we did. It was always very exciting returning to the room to find new surprised waiting for us in the FE. It really added to our overall enjoyment of the trip.

To the other repeat DCL cruisers, I'm curious to know how you felt this trip on this ship compared to your previous Disney adventures at seas. One thing I was a bit disappointed in was the lack of characters and dancing and celebrating in the dining rooms. I always thought that was fun... you never knew what was going to happen or when. Also, no more character breakfast. I really missed that.

Your comments?

 

[stampinot]

Anyone else feeling depressed now that the cruise is over? I need another one stat!

Samantha told me this morning she wishes she was still on the ship. She misses going to dinner and getting the 4 course meals.

 

[brendah]

We are happy to be home, especially after the uncertainty with the plane crash in San Francisco. We ended up only a couple of hours late. The pilot even announced that you could see the remains of the crash from the left window. agh! Not really a good thing to point out right before landing.

My kids are missing the ever present food on the 11th deck, especially the chicken tenders and the cheese burgers. My son never left our cabin except to eat and watch a couple of movies (Iron Man 3, Monsters University, Lone Ranger and Oz the Great and Powerful), but he still rated the cruise "Excellent", go figure.

I'd also like to thank everyone who participated in the FE Exchange. I really enjoyed planning and making things. Delivering, not so much, but my daughter liked that part. "Hurry mom, someone's going to catch us!" We were caught a few times because I was so disorganized, lol.

I was really impressed with the thoughtfulness and work put into the gifts and we loved everything that we found in the FE! Thank you to Rani and Edith for organizing the FE exchange and starting this cruise meet thread.

This was our first Disney cruise and first cruise in 9 years. We spent 5 days at WDW beforehand and I called it the Disney Death March. It was just too hot, humid and crowded.

I think I'm done with Disney for awhile, except maybe I might be addicted to pin trading.

 

[ByTheBook]

It's always hard to get off the ship. We've been on 4 Disney cruises now and I think there have been tears every time. We stopped going to the "farewell" show a couple cruises back because it just left us too sad!

I want to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts, too. This was the first time we did the FE exchange and it was like Christmas morning every day! You are a very clever, thoughtful and talented bunch. We loved everything! Though we have taken a few Disney park trips in addition to the cruises, my kids have never gotten into pin trading until this trip -- the gift of pins scored very high with them! Thanks!

I wish I'd gotten to meet more of you. I went to the Tube for the first day meet-up to find it was the location of a DVC presentation; bummer.

We went to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday and Blizzard Beach on Sunday and just got home last night, so what I should be doing now is: Better get started! Thanks again everyone!
Kathy & family

 

[ByTheBook]

To the other repeat DCL cruisers, I'm curious to know how you felt this trip on this ship compared to your previous Disney adventures at seas. One thing I was a bit disappointed in was the lack of characters and dancing and celebrating in the dining rooms. I always thought that was fun... you never knew what was going to happen or when. Also, no more character breakfast. I really missed that.

Your comments?

Oh, I meant to respond to that. Yes, I noticed the absence of the character breakfast and this is the first cruise from which I have not a single photo of one or more of us with Mickey or SOMEBODY! And yet, my kids are 12 and 16 now so they are fine with that. I'm just glad they still want to GO on Disney cruises; I can learn to live without the character photos.

 

[jetskigrl]

To the other repeat DCL cruisers, I'm curious to know how you felt this trip on this ship compared to your previous Disney adventures at seas. One thing I was a bit disappointed in was the lack of characters and dancing and celebrating in the dining rooms. I always thought that was fun... you never knew what was going to happen or when. Also, no more character breakfast. I really missed that.

Your comments?

I'm unfortunately going to have to say that this cruise did pale in comparison to our cruises on the Wonder and the Dream. The personal experince with the CMs just wasn't there this time. Our best interactions with other people were definitely with our fellow DIS'ers!!

I think there was a bit of a turn off by some rude passengers (limited numbers, but enough to notice) and the CMs just were not as friendly. It was the first time I really felt like we were just customers, and not "part of the family" so to speak.

But maybe it had to do with being a very full ship. I had never sailed in Summer before so that could be why also. I did not have the same issue on the Dream though and those sailings were also fully booked. We had lots of wonderful CM encounters on the Dream. I think the CMs on the Fantasy were just very busy, with limited time getting to know people.

I really loved the Fantasy and all the new technology and features but I'm really looking forward to being back on the Wonder next year. That will be more like "coming home" for us

 

[2CME911]

Hi Patti and family from the right coast!

I agree with everything you said, Patti. The Fantasy is BIG, and AWESOME in every way, but it just seems to lack something that I can't quite explain. Karen disagrees, she thinks Fantasy is WAY better than the Magic, and the kids are still carrying on about the AquaDuck. If I could pick the next one it would be a PC on the Wonder or a Southern on the Magic. School won't let that happen for some time though, huh?

 

[reevesinga]

Hello from Atlanta! We had a great time and enjoyed the ship! Our only 'pea under the mattress' was our room steward, she was not personable at all! We even had to see the DR in the health center twice (DD developed a horrendous cough) and they were phenomenal!!! Interesting input: we had 2 'carnival cruisers' with us that vowed DCL was such a more pleasurable experience! They said it was nice to feel like they mattered to the CM's!

 

[jetskigrl]

Hi Patti and family from the right coast!

I agree with everything you said, Patti. The Fantasy is BIG, and AWESOME in every way, but it just seems to lack something that I can't quite explain. Karen disagrees, she thinks Fantasy is WAY better than the Magic, and the kids are still carrying on about the AquaDuck. If I could pick the next one it would be a PC on the Wonder or a Southern on the Magic. School won't let that happen for some time though, huh?

I would really love to do the PC also. But yep, school gets in the way. And I'm not sure that the kids would let me get away with booking that one without them

 

[Tiggerball]

We had a great cruise! Our interaction with CMs was good. We had a great team for our dining room service, even our Head Server was constantly around to help and entertain. Our room steward was a little quiet but very helpful when we approached him with some special needs. This was our 2nd DCL cruise, the first being on the Dream which was a lot like this ship. I'm not sure how some passengers missed out on character meet and greets and picture ops because every evening between early dinner and late there were usually so many characters out in the atrium it was hard to choose who to see. We felt like as usual Disney lived up to its reputation of great service..and the unexpected...we even got to see the opening night premier of the Lone Ranger at sea..how awesome was that!

 

[CruizinTigers]

We had a great cruise! Our interaction with CMs was good. We had a great team for our dining room service, even our Head Server was constantly around to help and entertain.

Our wait staff were all VERY nice, but nothing spectacular when it came to service. They missed plates, were slow, sometimes didn't bring our coffee until after we finished desert, things like that. Don't get me wrong, they were ok, and very nice, but that's it.

Our room steward was a little quiet but very helpful when we approached him with some special needs.

We never saw our room steward. He did keep the room clean and entertained us with his towel animals, but he also never brought our pirate bandanas on Pirate night, and never brought our luggage tags and customs forms. Had to go to Guest Services. C+ for him.

I'm not sure how some passengers missed out on character meet and greets and picture ops because every evening between early dinner and late there were usually so many characters out in the atrium it was hard to choose who to see.

Agreed, characters were everywhere... except in the dining rooms. This was our fifth DCL cruise, 3 others on the Magic, one on the Wonder. My memory was that dining was an event. Characters came through. Wait staff were dancing and carrying on. A non-stop party. Also, we always had a character breakfast, which was always a big hit with our family in the past. Not so anymore. Even the parties (sail away, 4th of July, etc.) I found to be a bit ho-hum compared to similar events from past DCL cruises.

We still enjoyed the trip, but might have enjoyed it more if we didn't have such great DCL experiences before to compare it to.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I had kind if the same experience. I felt like our cruises on the Dream the staff were so much more interactive. Our wait staff was nice and our room steward was ok, but never had time to talk to anyone. The wait staff seemed to be juggling too many tables and the room steward only said hello in the first night. We rarely saw him after that.

Oh and the rebooking agent acted like we were annoying her asking her to compare two room category prices. She kept sighing and saying ok but not overly helpful.

 

[4407mark]

It was just DW and I on this cruise and we had a wonderful time! Our room hostess was very attentive and we saw her at least twice a day. Our service team was exceptional and we found the other CMs we encountered wonderful as well. I have been blessed with sailing all four Disney ships and have never had a less than exceptional experience. I do believe there is a different 'feel' to the Dream and Fantasy but I believe it is directly related to the size of the ship and the number of guests. We knew this sailing of the Fantasy was full and we knew things would be crowded. I'm sorry others had difficulties or didn't find the same Disney magic.

 

[scottofsdea]

I am glad everyone had a great time on the cruise. Would someone consider posting your navigators from the trip so we can glean from your expertise? We are on a Eastern Cruise in two weeks and would love to know the schedule of activities. Thank you in advance....TIA!

 

[owensamo]

I am glad everyone had a great time on the cruise. Would someone consider posting your navigators from the trip so we can glean from your expertise? We are on a Eastern Cruise in two weeks and would love to know the schedule of activities. Thank you in advance....TIA!

We have them all, but haven't gotten home yet! I'm sure DH will post them (along with kids menus) sometime this week. Note - it was a July 4th cruise, so activities on that day were very holiday-centric - I'm sure other Eastwrns won't have most of those activities.