wickesy
<font color=royalblue>Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love y
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2006
- Messages
- 3,797
Cast:
Me: David 40
Dad: Ray 60
Back in 2007 when we first returned to WDW I started reading about Disney cruises and really wanted to do one but 4 things put me off: it was a long flight, the cruises were short, the Caribbean didnt really appeal to us and they were expensive. Then in 2008 I read that the Disney Magic was going to be doing cruises out of Dover to the Baltic and they were 12 nights, which immediately crossed three of those problems off the list (unfortunately the fourth one remained). We sailed on the inaugural Baltic cruise last year (boy was that a long wait between booking and sailing!) and had such a great time that we both said we would almost prefer to do another cruise than go back to WDW. I briefly looked at the Alaska cruises on the Wonder but then decided on plan B the Dream was almost complete and the Fantasy was about to begin being built so how about we do the maiden voyage of the Fantasy?
Fast forward to October last year and it was announced that the maiden voyage of the Fantasy would be on the 7th April 2012 and it would be doing a Western Caribbean itinerary. As Ive said the Caribbean doesnt really appeal to us but I really liked the idea of doing a maiden voyage so I spoke to Dad, we crunched some numbers and decided that we could afford it so I contacted Dreams Unlimited and they were able to secure our first choice of cabin 7082, a category 5C on deck 7. After that there was nothing to do but sit back for a while and watch the ship being built thanks to the webcam at the shipbuilders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el0-kolAaD4
Then in December it was announced that the ship was going to be complete a week earlier than expected and the maiden voyage had been moved forward a week to 31st March 2012. Luckily enough that didnt cause any problems for us so we got our reservation moved.
Weve joined the meet up thread for the cruise and also put our names down on the fish extender list so I need to start thinking about getting gifts for that we are up to 53 cabins on the list now so I think I might have to just do a section of the list otherwise it might end up getting expensive!!
I was looking at the different excursions recently but Dad and I have decided to make the ship the destination this time and will probably just get off briefly at each port, have a wander around and then get back on again Castaway Cay being the only exception probably which should make it a nice relaxing week.
I didnt want to get off the ship and come straight home so I saved just enough DVC points for 4 nights in a value studio at Animal Kingdom Villas and we will be there from the 7th to the 11th of April.
The next thing to do was to organise flights. The prices were coming up as an absolute fortune partially I think because we will be away over Easter and most definitely because we will only fly Premium Economy these days. I resigned myself to the fact that we would have to fly indirect (which we also like to avoid if we can) and after a few days of searching I came up with a deal at lastminute.com that would see us flying direct with BA from Gatwick to Orlando but fly home via Chicago into Heathrow and saved us about £1,000 on any other options.
The itinerary for the surf portion of the holiday looks like this:
Saturday 31st March 2012 Board the Fantasy at Port Canaveral (hopefully as early as possible depending on what port arrival times are available when I do the online check-in)
Sunday 1st April At Sea
Monday 2nd April Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Tuesday 3rd April Cozumel, Mexico
Wednesday 4th April Costa Maya, Mexico
Thursday 5th April -At Sea
Friday 6th April Castaway Cay
Saturday 7th April Disembark (hopefully as late as possible to savour every last moment onboard I can)
The turf portion looks like this:
Saturday 7th April Check-in at AKV then go over to EPCOT. Evening meal will be at Sweet Tomatoes, as per tradition.
Sunday 8th April Animal Kingdom. Evening meal at Steak n Shake
Monday 9th April Magic Kingdom. Evening meal at Tonys Town Square. Its not normally recommended to go to MK on a Monday but TourGuide Mike assures us that as it is the day after Easter Sunday, when most people will have been there, we will be fine.
Tuesday 10th April DHS. Evening meal at Sanaa before going over to EPCOT to see Illuminations, as is becoming tradition.
Wednesday 11th April A traditional round of mini golf somewhere and lunch at Earl of Sandwich before driving to the airport for the flight home.
Added to those itineraries will be an overnight stay at the Sofitel Gatwick on the 29th March, flight out on the 30th April and an overnight stay somewhere at Port Canaveral on the 30th at the moment Im thinking the Radisson Resort. Having looked at various options for getting from the airport to the port Im going to go with a hire car, which is only about £22 with Budget and we will also hire a car from them for after the cruise.
So the cruise is booked, AKV is booked, ADRs are booked and the only thing left to do is book the overnight hotels and the car hire, which Ill probably be doing next weekend to get it out of the way.
Other than that all we can do is sit and wait, and wait, and wait....
Me: David 40
Dad: Ray 60
Back in 2007 when we first returned to WDW I started reading about Disney cruises and really wanted to do one but 4 things put me off: it was a long flight, the cruises were short, the Caribbean didnt really appeal to us and they were expensive. Then in 2008 I read that the Disney Magic was going to be doing cruises out of Dover to the Baltic and they were 12 nights, which immediately crossed three of those problems off the list (unfortunately the fourth one remained). We sailed on the inaugural Baltic cruise last year (boy was that a long wait between booking and sailing!) and had such a great time that we both said we would almost prefer to do another cruise than go back to WDW. I briefly looked at the Alaska cruises on the Wonder but then decided on plan B the Dream was almost complete and the Fantasy was about to begin being built so how about we do the maiden voyage of the Fantasy?
Fast forward to October last year and it was announced that the maiden voyage of the Fantasy would be on the 7th April 2012 and it would be doing a Western Caribbean itinerary. As Ive said the Caribbean doesnt really appeal to us but I really liked the idea of doing a maiden voyage so I spoke to Dad, we crunched some numbers and decided that we could afford it so I contacted Dreams Unlimited and they were able to secure our first choice of cabin 7082, a category 5C on deck 7. After that there was nothing to do but sit back for a while and watch the ship being built thanks to the webcam at the shipbuilders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el0-kolAaD4
Then in December it was announced that the ship was going to be complete a week earlier than expected and the maiden voyage had been moved forward a week to 31st March 2012. Luckily enough that didnt cause any problems for us so we got our reservation moved.
Weve joined the meet up thread for the cruise and also put our names down on the fish extender list so I need to start thinking about getting gifts for that we are up to 53 cabins on the list now so I think I might have to just do a section of the list otherwise it might end up getting expensive!!
I was looking at the different excursions recently but Dad and I have decided to make the ship the destination this time and will probably just get off briefly at each port, have a wander around and then get back on again Castaway Cay being the only exception probably which should make it a nice relaxing week.
I didnt want to get off the ship and come straight home so I saved just enough DVC points for 4 nights in a value studio at Animal Kingdom Villas and we will be there from the 7th to the 11th of April.
The next thing to do was to organise flights. The prices were coming up as an absolute fortune partially I think because we will be away over Easter and most definitely because we will only fly Premium Economy these days. I resigned myself to the fact that we would have to fly indirect (which we also like to avoid if we can) and after a few days of searching I came up with a deal at lastminute.com that would see us flying direct with BA from Gatwick to Orlando but fly home via Chicago into Heathrow and saved us about £1,000 on any other options.
The itinerary for the surf portion of the holiday looks like this:
Saturday 31st March 2012 Board the Fantasy at Port Canaveral (hopefully as early as possible depending on what port arrival times are available when I do the online check-in)
Sunday 1st April At Sea
Monday 2nd April Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Tuesday 3rd April Cozumel, Mexico
Wednesday 4th April Costa Maya, Mexico
Thursday 5th April -At Sea
Friday 6th April Castaway Cay
Saturday 7th April Disembark (hopefully as late as possible to savour every last moment onboard I can)
The turf portion looks like this:
Saturday 7th April Check-in at AKV then go over to EPCOT. Evening meal will be at Sweet Tomatoes, as per tradition.
Sunday 8th April Animal Kingdom. Evening meal at Steak n Shake
Monday 9th April Magic Kingdom. Evening meal at Tonys Town Square. Its not normally recommended to go to MK on a Monday but TourGuide Mike assures us that as it is the day after Easter Sunday, when most people will have been there, we will be fine.
Tuesday 10th April DHS. Evening meal at Sanaa before going over to EPCOT to see Illuminations, as is becoming tradition.
Wednesday 11th April A traditional round of mini golf somewhere and lunch at Earl of Sandwich before driving to the airport for the flight home.
Added to those itineraries will be an overnight stay at the Sofitel Gatwick on the 29th March, flight out on the 30th April and an overnight stay somewhere at Port Canaveral on the 30th at the moment Im thinking the Radisson Resort. Having looked at various options for getting from the airport to the port Im going to go with a hire car, which is only about £22 with Budget and we will also hire a car from them for after the cruise.
So the cruise is booked, AKV is booked, ADRs are booked and the only thing left to do is book the overnight hotels and the car hire, which Ill probably be doing next weekend to get it out of the way.
Other than that all we can do is sit and wait, and wait, and wait....
I also noticed that they have got a lot of inaugural cruise merchandise available to order from the website – just t-shirts and baseball hats at the moment. All of the speciality dining has gone though but I wasn’t planning on booking any of that as I want to experience all of the rotational restaurants anyway.
I watched the float out of the Fantasy on-line yesterday and I can't wait to see the fuss for this maiden cruise like I did for the Dream. I'm hoping to sail on the Fantasy later on in the year (though nothing is booked), so I look forward to reading your trip report when you get back
, bit rude of some folks to obscure my view with umbrellas 
looking forward to reading all about your trip.
"That isn't right!". If you haven't seen the mistakes, here is the original artwork I uploaded
I have spoken to somebody at the company that printed the shirts, emailed him pictures of the shirts and he has agreed to have a look at them when he is in the office tomorrow. Luckily I have enough time for the shirts to be re-printed and having had my Baltic cruise and 
