Fantasy vacation before baby #2 arrives - Disney World and Cruise

[acceber32]

Hello everyone! I am a first time trip writer, so bare with me while I learn the ropes. I have been a lurker on the boards for about 6 months or so (no idea why I didn't register, just didn't) and have learned so much from reading threads and reading trip reports that I thought I would write a TR as well to try to help others (or for just entertainment).

The cast: Myself (29), DH (32) and DS (3). We have all been to Disney World several times (4 times for me, 5 times for DH and this was DS 3rd time) and consider ourselves intermediate in our Disney knowledge (not beginners and not experts, lol). We have been on different cruise lines as well but never Disney and we were excited to experience a Disney cruise. I have posted the Disney World portion of our vacation here (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=46370435#post46370435) and then the cruise portion on here. I am currently pregnant with baby #2 (at time of vacation I was 14 weeks along) and we wanted to take one last vacation as a family of 3 (that's what we said when we went back in January but we were so happy we were able to sneak another one in). We spent 2 1/2 days at Disney World and then a 7 day cruise on the Disney Fantasy. Well, let's get on with the show.


Day Four: It’s cruise day! Yay! We were sad to be leaving Disney World but not all that sad since we were getting ready to board the Disney Fantasy. We had scheduled for a shuttle to pick us up at 9 to go get our rental car so we were in no big hurry this morning. We woke up and got read, packed what was still out and said bye to our room. We had one last danish at our resort before heading out front to wait for the shuttle. Our driver called and said he was running a little behind, not a good start; however, this did not continue. We used Budget rental this time around. DH was very nervous about renting a car because last time it was a huge hassle renting from Avis (had to take a bus to Downtown Disney to go to the hotel across from there to pick up the car, waited quiet some time to get the car and then when we returned it in Port Canaveral we had to wait to be shuttled over because Avis’s bus had broke down). Our driver showed up about 15 minutes late but was polite and apologetic about it, said his last passenger was late. We were quickly taken to the hotel where the Budget desk was. The desk was just right inside the door and we were the only ones there. The lady had us checked in and a car ready before I had even gotten back out of the bathroom with DS, I was shocked. We walked out to the car, got the car seat hooked up and were on our way. Driving to Port Canaveral is a little annoying because of all the tolls but I guess that’s just because we come from a state that doesn’t have tolls. But in less than an hour and after stopping for gas right next to the Budget center, we returned the car. And to our delight there was a shuttle waiting! We were able to hop on and were at the port by 11. It was so much easier this time around and so pleasant. We will defiantly use Budget again in the future.
It truly is a site to see the ship when you first go over the hill when driving to Port Canaveral. Seeing your cruise ship in the distance and knowing that will be home for the next week is so exciting!

We dropped our checked bags off to the porters and headed thru security. Everything was very easy and such a breeze! We didn’t have to wait in line at all to check in. It only took a few minutes for them to issue us our Key to the World cards and we were given boarding #6. I did not stand in line to check DS into the kids club here because I had read that it was much easier and quicker to do onboard (and I’m glad I waited, the line was long here and no one in line onboard at the open house) nor did we stand in line to see Mickey or Minnie, lines were long for them as well.

Model of the ship in the cruise terminal.

You go thru Mickey Ears to get on the ship thru the cruise terminal. Love the details Disney does.

After just a short wait we were called to board. We had our picture taken and were boarding. It was a neat thing to hear our name called and having them clap and wave at us as we came on board. DS liked that they were wearing Mickey hands. The first view takes your breath away, the atrium is beautiful! We walked thru quickly because we didn’t want to add to the congestion or be a cause for it so we headed toward the elevators (which were very easy to find). We saw the mosaic of the Cinderella coach and the big chair and I was in love.

DS and me in the royal chair.

We headed straight for Cabanas for lunch because surprise, surprise I was hungry, lol. Cabanas is really nicely decorated in my opinion, again the tile work is amazing! We picked up plates and quickly found enough we wanted and were sitting down to eat by 12. I do not remember what we ate specifically, just that it was good and filling.

We walked around for a little bit after lunch just taking it all in. We went up to Palo to make a brunch reservation (which we had no problem getting the day or time we wanted). Our room was ready by 1:30 so we switched into swimsuits and when back up on deck. DH really wanted to ride the Aquaduck (water coaster) and DS was just itching to get into Nemo’s Reef splash area. DS loved Nemo’s Reef (and we would be back many times before the end of the week) and DH really enjoyed his ride. We went back to the room, changed and headed back out to check out the ship some more. We went to the open house at the kids club. I had already pre-registered online so checking DS in was very quick and easy. They gave us the Mickey band and we went into explore. DS loved the Monsters Inc room and Andy’s Room.

This place is so neatly decorated and fun! There are tons of computers for the kids to play on as well; DS thought this was so neat! He loved being able to actually play on the computer! They have smaller scaled bathrooms just for kids and automatic hand washing machines (they were pretty interesting!). DS loved it and was so excited to go back! We walked thru all the night clubs/adult only areas.

Picture of DH & DS playing in the phone booth in one of the night clubs.

We saw both theaters and more art work. We played a game of shuffle board, DS found this amusing. By now it was time for our muster drill. This was super easy, we were in the Walt Disney Theater balcony area and it was over in just a short time. We headed up to the pool deck to the Sail Away Party next. This was so fun! It’s a great way to start a Disney cruise to be out on deck dancing with the characters.

After we went back to the room for a little bit before dinner to relax. We had already gotten one of our bags so I unpacked it. I believe during this time DS played on my Kindle and DH watched tv while I unpacked, not sure how I always get to be in charge of the fun stuff. When we boarded I did notice that we got the dinning rotation that we had requested, so tonight we were in Enchanted Garden. Our other bag was waiting outside our door when we left for dinner. DS had chicken tenders, fries and mac and cheese. This one was a favorite for him and he had it a few nights. They did serve it with veggies and made a cute Mickey head out of ketchup as well. I started out with heirloom tomato soup and a romaine wedge. Both were pretty good. DH had lobster ravioli. We both had the prime rib that was served with double baked potato and we thought it was good. Potatoes were a little dry in my opinion but when you are cooking for the masses I guess that happens. For dessert, DS had an ice cream Mickey bar. He loved these and had one almost every night.

I had a chocolate torte and it was ok. DH had the banana foster sundae and enjoyed it. We did not do much else this night, we were all tired. So we headed back to our room to relax and get DS to bed. I finished unpacking and read for a little bit while DH watched tv (he watched 6 movies on tv while on the cruise, lol).

 

[jenseib]

Joining in!

 

[Cheryl726]

Great start! Congrats on your first Disney cruise!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Great start!

 

[acceber32]

So sorry it's been awhile since I've updated!!! Before our cruise when I would read reviews I would try to be patient waiting for them to be wrote but honestly, I'm not a very patient person and it annoyed me. Now, I understand!!! Writing a review isn't as easy as it seems, it's time consuming, real life gets in the way (like work and house cleaning) and (I'll pull out this card, lol) I have a 3 year old while 17 weeks pregnant so this all leaves very little time to update and write. Thank you to those that are being so patient waiting for the next installment!!!! Here it is!

Day Five: Our first full day at sea! We planned on having a nice relaxing day and that’s exactly what I was going to do, relax! DS never really sleeps in late so he and I were up before 7:30. I showered and got ready for breakfast while he watched cartoons and DH slept. After I was ready I made DH get up and get ready so we could all go get breakfast, this pregnant lady doesn’t like to wait to eat in the morning, I am always hungry early. We went up to Cabanas and found plenty to eat. Omelets, hash browns, pancakes, Mickey waffles, cereal, pastries and donuts, fruit, etc. So much food! Everything I had on my plate was very good. I made DS a plate and what do you think he ate, cereal. He didn’t really want any of the other stuff for breakfast all week besides maybe a bite or two of a donut, maybe some fruit but would eat cereal every morning, lol.

After breakfast, DS and I went to “Wake up With Disney Junior”. It was a little dance party for the kids. There was a cast member there and he was very interactive with the kids. They played music from Disney Junior shows and did different dances. Goofy came in for a little bit and danced with the kids too. It was fun and cute! Great way to start the morning.

After this, DS was begging to go to the kids’ club. I hadn’t been sure about taking him before the cruise (I don’t like him spending so much time away from us, we both work all day and he is in daycare, I feel we miss so much) but he was begging to go. I made sure he understood that I couldn’t go and that he would be going by himself, he was fine with that and excited to run around and play. So, reluctantly I took him to the kids’ club. Since I had some free time on my hands with no plans (this never happens!!!) I decided to relax. I grabbed my Kindle from the room and went to the adults’ only area up on the pool deck, grabbed a chair and read a book. DH isn’t the type to just sit and has a hard time with it. He decided he wanted to go swimming so he changed and got in the adult only pool for a little bit with an occasional run over to me just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten about him and to interrupt my reading. It was drizzling rain at this point but he was in the pool and didn’t care. They made an announcement that the Aquaduck was still open despite the rain so he went over to take another ride; however, before he got to the top of the stairs they had closed it due to lightening. With nothing for him to do I thought he was going to sit down and drive me crazy, thankfully he couldn’t sit there long so he went back to the room to change and explorer the ship. I loved having my time to read. It was so nice to be able to sit down, read a good book and look out at the ocean everywhere around us, aw this is the life!

After about an hour and a half I went back to the kids’ club to pick up DS. He was playing on one of the computers when I went in there and the look on his face when he saw me was priceless. And not in the way to make a mommy’s heart melt. I do believe if looks could make people disappear, I would have, lol. He was not happy I was there and he was not ready to leave! It was getting close to lunch time though so I told him he could come back another time and he was happy with that. We went back to the room for a few minutes to meet back up with DH and to hear about DS’s time in the kids’ club. He said he got to play in Andy’s room, in the Monsters Inc room, on the light up dance floor and on the computers. He was particularly happy he got to play on a computer just for him. I was glad he enjoyed his time but I missed him while he was gone (and checked the Wave phone every few minutes, lol). I’ll add that the Wave phones are the best thing ever!! Why we’ve never seen them on other cruise lines is beyond me!

Once we were all back together we went up to Cabanas to grab lunch. Again, I don’t remember what we had but it was all good (nothing spectacular but all yummy and we found plenty to our liking). I believe we walked around the ship a little more after lunch. We headed back to our room so DS could get a nap and I’m pretty sure I took one as well, after all, relaxing was the only thing on today’s agenda.

After nap time, we changed into swim wear and went to go play. DS played some more in Nemo’s Reef area and loved it. We also went up to the Aqua Lab spray area for a little bit. This was fun but he preferred Nemo’s Reef (and I did too since it is covered). I also took my first ride on the Aqua Duck. I wasn’t sure what the ride was going to be like but the first half is faster and you get kind of a water slide feel, then the second half is more relaxed and you are able to look around to take in the great view (and it sure is pretty up there!). Being pregnant I was a little concerned about riding it (I can’t remember if it says not to but I rode it a after DH said it wasn’t bad) but it was overall an easy ride and very fun. DH took another ride down it as well. DS wanted to go on the Mickey kids’ slide so my husband walked him up the steps and gave him a little push. Well, that “little” push wasn’t enough and DS didn’t even make it around the first corner completely. He sat there looking at DH and couldn’t figure out what to do. While DH was trying to explain to him how to push himself down another kid went down knocking DS down the rest of the way. DS was not happy about this and did not want to go again! Then despite being told not to (he later said he never heard the cast member), DH went down the slide. He got yelled at by the cast member once at the bottom, I found this funny. Not a great start to the slide for DS and he quickly went back to Nemo’s Reef to go down Mr. Ray’s slide (which was short but fast and he loved it).

After a few hours of playing around in the water we went back to the room to change and get ready for dinner. Tonight was formal night and we were in Royal Court. Before going down to the Royal Court we waited in line to see Mickey. We were all dressed up and wanted a good picture with Mickey (the one we bought turned out better than this but I haven't scanned it in, for whatever reason our camera decided to take a lot of blurry pictures this trip, we might have had it on the wrong setting but we are searching for a new camera now).

My first glimpse of the Royal Court and I was impressed. It is a beautiful restaurant! The mosaics on the walls were stunning, the chairs and light fixtures all added to the great ambiance of the room. With my love for Disney Princesses, this was easily my favorite of the 3 rotational restaurants. I had the double baked cheese and spinach soufflé to start with; DH had the iced lobster and jumbo shrimp. We both enjoyed our starters. Then I had the Royal Market Green salad that came with goat cheese. I wasn’t as fond of this; turns out I don’t like goat cheese unless it’s melted on something. I can’t remember what DH had, probably more shrimp though. For our main course, we both had the aged angus grilled beef tenderloin topped with garlic shrimp (I quickly gave my shrimp to DH, I’m a meat girl, I don’t like anything that comes out of the water) and marquis potatoes. Steak was tender and juicy and the cognac reduction sauce served with it was nice. For dessert I had the grand mariner soufflé, which was very good. DH had the strawberry shortcake sundae and he enjoyed it. DS had spaghetti and meatballs and he ate a lot of it. Our assistant server was nice and cut it all up for DS (DS got a kick out of them cutting his food for him instead of mommy).

I have a lot of pictures of the Royal Court, I'll try to put a few here and a few in another post.

I thought the bread basket was too cute!

These are the plates on the wall near our table.

After dinner we went back to the room for a little bit before the show. We went to see Aladdin tonight. DS loved this show and now watches Aladdin at home all the time. DH and I enjoyed the show but thought a few things could have been done a bit better (why no Abu?!). They did have some very life like horses (or at least they looked that way from our seats in the balcony, lol) and we had to do a double take before realizing there was no way a horse could live on a cruise ship, lol. And it was much better than entertainment shows we’ve seen on other cruise lines. Once the show was over we went back to the room and it was bath and bed time for DS. DH and I did not stay up much longer either. Tomorrow was our first port stop, Grand Cayman, and we were going to the beach.

 

[jenseib]

Looks like a fun day. I am laughing that DS wanted to stay in the club.
I know what you mean about writing TR's...it takes forever!!!

 

[lsenquiz]

can't wait for more updates!

 

[acceber32]

Day Six: Our first port day! Today we woke at a normal time for us. DS woke up around 7, I put some cartoons on for him to watch and I showered and got ready. DH slept in, again. Once I got DH up, I got DS ready and we all headed to Royal Court for breakfast. This was a great time to walk around the restaurant and take pictures of the mosaics.

I had eggs benedict for breakfast, DH had an omelet and DS had the kid’s plate (I think it had scrambled eggs, a Mickey waffle, sausage and some fruit). They brought around pastries and donuts while we were waiting for our food to be made and we all got a donut (we knew they would be good because I had read online previously that they were Krispy Kreme donuts, yumm). DH and I enjoyed our breakfast a lot, DS just picked at his (again, all he wanted was cereal, crazy kid!). After breakfast we went to meet some characters before heading out. We wanted to meet Jake (DS's favorite character); however, the line was already super long. We knew he’d be out again later so we stood in line to meet Buzz, first.

After meeting Buzz we went up stairs to meet Jake. DS was so excited!!!

We went to say hi to Woody and Jessie next and then back upstairs for pictures with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. We did have to stand in some lines for a little bit but our wait wasn’t awful for any of the characters that we met the whole cruise (maybe 20 minutes max).

After our character meets, we went back to the room to grab a few things, we went upstairs to Cabana’s and grabbed some cereal for DS to munch on and headed down to get a tender. All ashore for Grand Cayman was at 10:45 but I think they let people start tendering a little earlier than that. We didn’t want to stand in a long line so we waited a little while and headed off the ship a little after 11. We did not have an excursion booked for Grand Cayman and just planned on going to the beach. Once off the ship we got on a bus/van to taxi to 7 mile beach and asked to go to the public/Sea Grape beach. We had a full van and they let off a few people on the way but we were at the beach within 15 minutes. It was already a little busy and I had to stand in line for probably about 10 minutes just to pay for a chair and umbrella. It was $15 for the taxi and then we spent $12 on one chair and an umbrella. DH was not happy we’d already spent so much on such a simple day and we knew we’d be spending another $15 for the ride back. We enjoyed playing in the sand and splashing in the water with DS. The beach view is nice but honestly, it wasn’t as nice as I was expecting it to be. Next time I think I’ll make sure we book thru a private hotel or something and plan to stay the full day.

We stayed for a few hours but got hot and hungry so we headed back out to get a taxi. One of our fellow cruise passengers lost his wedding ring in the van and was searching frantically to try to find it. Other passengers were trying to help him but the driver was getting really mad that they were looking and kept yelling at all of them, it was crazy! Unfortunately, he never did find his wedding ring. The driver drop us off across from the port and we had to walk across a busy street to go back thru security (I only point this out because it made DH mad that we had to pay $15 for a 15 minute ride and didn’t even get dropped off at the port, I explained it was probably due to security but he still didn’t like it). We started walking back to the dock to catch a tender and enjoyed a bit of the Disney extra. They had cold wet towels for us to use and cold water to drink. This was so refreshing and so nice! We’ve been on two other cruise lines and they’ve never done anything like this. When we were able to catch a tender quickly and were back on the ship by 2:30.

We stopped by the room dropped off our bags and headed upstairs to get something to eat. Unfortunately, Cabanas had stopped serving lunch by this time so we had to grab food from Fillmore’s and Luigi’s. We got a mixture of hamburgers, chicken tenders and fries and pizza and I made a salad. Plus, they have sandwiches and fruit you can get. The food was good and we were all so hungry that we filled up. After our late lunch we went back to the room to relax. I knew there was no hope in getting DS a nap this late but wanted us all to rest up a bit before dinner. We relaxed in the room, showered and cleaned up then went to meet a few more characters before our dinner in Animator’s Palate. We stood in line to meet Peter Pan and DS could barley stand his excitement. He has really liked Peter Pan ever since our trip in January to Disney World when Captain Hook scared him. DS liked that Peter Pan could beat up Captain Hook, lol. He was shy when he met Peter Pan but did carry on a little bit of a conversation with him. Next, we had our picture taken with Tinker Bell. I thought the Peter Pan character was really reaching to look like Peter Pan but this was a good Tinker Bell. DS thought she was pretty and very nice.

After having a few pictures taken we went to Animator’s Palate for dinner. We were excited to see what this place was all about after reading so many reviews online. Tonight would be the Crush show, DS loves Finding Nemo and Crush so we knew he would like this. And sure enough he was just mesmerized by everything about this restaurant. The walls are decorated with animation art, the chairs are fashioned after classic Mickey, the silverware is even in the shape of a paint brush; it’s all very neat.

Tonight for dinner I had the black truffle pasta purseittes to start and DH had the mushroom risotto. I had read online about this pasta dish and since nothing else seemed to call to me I ordered it. It was pretty good but not as good as the reviews led me to believe. DH enjoyed his risotto. We both had the baked potato cheddar cheese soup next and weren’t impressed. It was ok but we’ve had so much better else where. I did; however, enjoy my entrée. I got the marinated angus beef tenderloin served with wasabi mashed potatoes. The wasabi in the mashed potatoes was subtle but added a nice kick, they were very good. DH had the white shrimp pennette pasta and he really enjoyed it. For dessert I had the chocolate brownie cheesecake and DH had the cookies and cream sundae. We both enjoyed our selection. DS had fettuccini with chicken and veggies. He was a little too busy watching the Crush show and looking around the restaurant to eat and barley ate much this night. Plus, he was full from lunch still and pretty tired from our beach day. He did have a Mickey ice cream bar to end his meal though, it is vacation after all.

As for the Crush show, it was neat but very much like the show at EPCOT. We were a bit too far away from anyone of the screens for us to get to talk to Crush. It was cute though and DS enjoyed it. After dinner we headed back to the room. DS got his bath and then went to bed. DH probably didn’t stay up much longer either, lol. I stayed up and read a bit on my Kindle and enjoyed the quiet time to myself.

 

[Sparrow78]

Great job! Dh would be the same annoyed about the cab and such!

 

[jenseib]

I have all of those appetizers too..I like them all. and now my mouth is watering. LOL

 

[acceber32]

I thought I had posted our Costa Maya day (but clearly didn't) so today there will be two posts.
Day Seven: Today the ship was docking at Costa Maya; however, we were not getting off. I love venturing out to the ports and seeing new places (we’ve never been to Costa Maya); however, DH loves staying on the ship and really wanted to try to take advantage of the ship today. We had agreed well before going on vacation that we would stay on the ship this day. I didn’t see much to do at Costa Maya besides a beach day or to see some of the pyramids (I didn’t think I could get my 3 year to sit still on the bus ride long enough to get there, plus we weren’t in port long so we ruled that out) and we knew Castaway Cay would top any other beach so I gave in and we stayed on ship. We had booked a brunch reservation at Palo for this day and were very excited about it. DS slept in a little for him this morning and when he woke up we did our morning routine. He and I did go upstairs to have breakfast together while DH got ready though, he wasn’t hungry. DS and I enjoyed our cereal breakfast together very much. He’s a mommy’s boy and loves to spend time with me. After breakfast we went back to the room to meet up with DH. I got dressed for Palo and we told DS that he got to go back to the kids’ club, he was so excited!

We dropped DS off and went to Palo. When we first went in there were not that many people there (we had a 10am reservation). This place is very nice and romantic.

Light fixture at the entrance to Palo

We got a nice table, it was a booth set in the back kind of by itself with a great view looking out at the ocean. This is the closest thing DH and I have had to a date since DS was 7 weeks old so we were glad we got a great table.

Flowers on every table.

Our view looking out.

Our server, whose name I can’t remember and I feel awful about, was amazing. She showed us around the buffet and explained how to order entrees. She did not want us to feel rushed at all so she said she would wait to take our order after we had a chance to sample some of the wonderful pastries and appetizers they had. They had all kinds of pastries, cheeses, fruits, cold seafood, etc. to fill up on; you could really make a meal out of this and be pleasantly full. But don’t! You need to save room for the entrees and desserts. We ordered a pizza to split, half margarita and half grape (sounds weird but it was really good!). I ordered the strawberry soup and while it was good I don’t like mint. The mint wasn’t strong so I did enjoy a little of the soup but after a few bites I couldn’t get past the mint flavor and wanted to save room for the chicken parmesan I had ordered. DH also ordered the chicken parmesan dish. We both really really enjoyed it. The chicken was nice and crispy but not overly cooked. The cheese melted on top was the right amount, the red sauce was very tasty and the risotto it sat on was so good!! This was by far the best dish I had on the cruise the entire time. If you go to Palo for brunch you have to order this!!! By the time dessert came we were both so full but if you know me you know I have a second stomach just for sweets.  We filled our plates from the dessert buffet and enjoyed everything we got. We both found a few things that we really enjoyed and got seconds on those. By the time we left Palo we were both stuffed and almost needed to be wheeled out, lol. Honestly, if you are going on a Disney cruise you have to book Palo. It was so good! I wish we had booked more than one meal there.
After Palo we went to go get DS. He had been in the kids’ club for almost 2 hours but it was getting close to lunch and I knew he’d be hungry. When we picked him up he wasn’t as reluctant to leave this time but was still all talk about how much he enjoyed it. Peter Pan had come in and read them a story, he loved that!! We promised him that he would get to come back at least once more before the cruise was over. Neither DH nor I was hungry but we had to feed DS so we went to lunch. I believe we just got him some chicken tenders and fries and I probably tried to get him to eat some fruit and veggies as well. After lunch we went back to the room for a nap.
We didn’t stay in the room long; DH was itching to take advantage of the ship with a lot of people at Costa Maya. We decided to go play a game of mini- golf (or as my son said he played Mickey golf because he was a boy and I played Minnie golf since I’m a girl). It was a fun game and we enjoyed our time. DS is finally getting the idea of hitting the ball with his club, it was so cute watching him (wish I had my camera with me ). After, we played the mystery game and DS chose to do the “Missing Puppies”. This is an interactive art game and is nothing like anything I’ve ever seen. The art looks so real; however, it’s really not a painting but an interactive screen that you hold your detective card in front of and it plays you a clip with a clue and then you have to move your card around to do different things. We really enjoyed this and DS was glad we caught bad Captain Hook and returned those puppies! He loved putting Captain Hook in jail. We also swam, played in Nemo’s Reef, rode the Aquaduck and DS rode the Mickey slide again.
After we played around the ship for a few hours we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. We were back in Enchanted Garden and the theme was Prince and Princess Dinner. I had the Beast’s Potato and Sausage Casserole soup; which I wasn’t fond of and only ate a few bites and DH had the duck and cheese quesadilla, he did not care for this but I had a bite of it and thought it was good. I also had a caesar salad, I do not remember what else DH had to eat. For my main entrée I had the peppercorn crusted New York strip with sautéed green beans and corn and potatoes with a brandy sauce. I enjoyed my entrée. DH had the oven roasted turkey and enjoyed it as well. I believe DS just had chicken strips, mac & cheese and fries (I did say he ate this often). For dessert I had the chocolate soufflé, which I liked and DH had the sundae. I think this was his favorite sundae of the cruise because it had rocky road ice cream, his favorite. DS had a Mickey bar, of course.
After dinner I wanted to go see Wishes; however, DH was tired and didn’t want to go. So we just went back to the room and relaxed. I didn’t keep DS up too late because I knew he wouldn’t get a nap the next day. I know I stayed up and read more of my book, it’s hard to get this much time to read at home and I was loving “my time” to myself even if it was in a small room with DH watching tv or sleeping and DS sleeping. The next day we were going to Cozumel and I wanted everyone to be rested because we had a big day planned, swimming with the dolphins.


(Sorry for the lack of pictures this day, not sure why I didn't take many. Guess I was busy having fun!)

 

[acceber32]

Day Eight: The morning was like most other mornings, DS and I woke up first and then DH. Once we were all ready we went upstairs to Cabanas to get breakfast. We enjoyed breakfast here the most because we could get a variety of things we liked, get DS cereal and it was casual enough that I didn’t feel bad if DS was being loud. We took our time enjoying our breakfast and getting ready this morning because we didn’t have anywhere to be early. We arrived in Cozumel and all ashore was at 8am; however, we didn’t have our dolphin excursion booked until 1:00 so we had plenty of time. We did make it off the ship a little after 10 and made our way to Chankanaab national park. Our taxi driver was nice enough and got us there without any problems. DH was a bit freaked out because the car didn’t have a working speed odometer (which might explain why the trip back seemed to take longer, lol). Once we were there we showed them our reservation ticket and they told us to come back to the desk ten minutes before our reservation. The dolphin excursion includes entrance into the national park so we decided to walk around and enjoy it. I wanted to walk around the botanical garden and look at the iguanas, plants and flowers.

We did this for a few minutes but DH was in a foul mood so we turned around and went to find a chair on the beach. We changed and DS and DH got in the water. DH was disappointed that the water didn’t get very deep in the lagoon and that there were no waves.

After a little while of this we decided we would just go play in the pool. The park has a fresh water pool right near the dolphin area so this was convenient. We played in the pool for awhile, had a snack and played some more. DS was enjoying swimming by himself with his puddle jumper.

Once it was time for our dolphin encounter we checked back in at the desk and they told us where the lockers where and to then sit on the benches for instructions. We put all our stuff away and waited and waited and waited. It was after 1:30pm before they finally came over to give us instructions. There was a large group of people waiting and unfortunately, all did not speak one language. So, the instructors had to give the instructions in both English and Spanish. This took awhile to get thru. Once they were finished they split us up into smaller groups and led us to the dolphin area. We were paired with another family of five and again, they spoke Spanish so everything had to be said twice. I hate saying this but honestly it was so annoying. I felt as though we missed out on a lot of interesting facts just because the instructor didn’t want to say it twice, plus it took a lot longer to go thru. We were let into the water and stood on a platform. The life jacket I was wearing kept me just to the point I couldn’t stand flat footed on the platform so it was very hard to keep my balance. But I was in the water with a dolphin so this was exciting. DS wanted me to hold him and I did my best but eventually had to give him to DH because I couldn’t keep my balance enough for the both of us. The first dolphin we tried to swim with recently had a baby and was nursing the baby. It was very cute to see them swimming together; however, she didn’t want to do any tricks and ignored the instructor. They had us get out of the water and move to another enclosure with a different dolphin hoping he would be more cooperative. Thankfully he was! His name was John and he was great. DS still talks about him. He did tricks for us, swam close to us and then each person got to do a few tricks with him (dance, kiss, etc.). The interaction with the dolphin was a lot of fun. It lasted for about 45 minutes. DS loved it and smiled and laughed the whole time. It really was a neat experience.

This is the area where they do the dolphin swim.

Once we were done with our dolphin encounter we were led to the picture shop to look at our photos. We only bought one because they were $30 a picture. But I’m glad we got one since they don’t let you take your camera with you. We quickly changed and headed to get a taxi. We were tired and hungry and by now it was 3 pm. There are taxis waiting for you to leave so getting one was no problem. We got back to the port, tried to pay the taxi driver but he didn’t have change for a $20. The taxi was only $10 so he went to go see if he could get some change. After several minutes he did come back and gave DH back a $10 bill. We usually tip but this guy didn’t get a tip since he didn’t bring us any small bills. Oh well, not a smart move on his part for not getting smaller bills. We walked back thru security, got a cold towel (love Disney!) and boarded the ship.


We were all very hungry so we dropped our stuff off in the room and headed to the grill to get something to eat. I believe we had a mixture of pizza, burgers, chicken fingers and fries. After our late lunch we went back to the room to clean up and relax. Tonight was Pirate night and it was going to be a late night. I had DS lay down to get some quiet time (even though I knew he wouldn’t sleep I thought him resting would help a little). Much sooner than we were ready for, it was dinner time. DH and I had looked at the menus before our cruise and neither of us were looking forward to tonight’s menu, it just didn’t seem appealing. We were back in Royal Court so that was a plus. When we sat down DS noticed that the kids sitting at the table next to us had flashing color pirate cups and he had to have one. It was only $6 so we got him one. He loves using it at home! For a starter, I had the mozzarella sticks off the kid’s menu and then Mr. Smee’s bibb lettuce salad. DH had the crab cakes and a jerk chicken salad, neither of which he was crazy about. For my entrée I had the marinated beef short ribs with mashed potatoes. I’m not sure if it was just that I wasn’t hungry or what but I didn’t really care for this dish, it was just ok. DH had shrimp pasta that he thought was ok. I’m assuming DS had chicken tenders and mac n cheese but I can’t remember what he ate anymore and honestly he had that a lot so it’s probably a safe assumption. I know he had a Mickey bar for dessert and so did DH. I had a sweet temptation of fruit cobbler, some type of meringue and a rum soaked chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. The chocolate cake and the fruit cobbler were pretty good. After dinner we walked around the shops a bit and bought DS a pirate sword.

Tonight was also the preimer for Finding Nemo 3D. We went to watch this but only stayed for the first 10 or 15 minutes. We’ve seen Nemo so many times. 3D effects are not something that I really see well, plus we were sitting in the balcony where the bar was hitting the screen so it was obstructing my view (driving me crazy). We went back to the room again for a little bit. I was worried that DS might fall asleep but he seemed to be just fine playing my Kindle. We didn’t stay in the room long though; we went up to the pool deck to begin the festives for the pirate party. We danced around for a little bit to the music, watched the Mickey pirate stage show and enjoyed ourselves. DS loved it! After a little while we moved spots to get a better view for the fireworks and waited and waited. They made an announcement that the Captain was trying to get us out into clear skies but there was a storm approaching and they weren’t sure if we were going to be able to see fireworks. About 20 minutes later, the show started! It wasn’t a long fireworks show and honestly, it wasn’t anything spectacular but there is something about fireworks out at sea that is so cool! And we all love fireworks anyway so we really enjoyed this. Right after the fireworks, they have a large buffet at Cabanas. We quickly went in there to get something to eat. We filled our plates with tacos, desserts and other goodies and then headed back to our room. It was really late and we needed to get DS to bed. Once back in the room, it was bath and to bed for DS (after a few bites off my plate to sample). DH and I enjoyed our buffet items (it was a nice change to have tacos). DH even got a turkey leg but didn’t get the thrill of eating it and actually found it gross. With full bellies we went to bed right before midnight, definitely our latest night but staying up for pirate night was worth it.

 

[bitlerzx4]

Love this trip report.

 

[acceber32]

Thanks bitlerzx4! I'm hoping to finish up in the next couple days.

 

[jenseib]

I can't wait to do Palo brunch. I did dinner and was not impressed, but brunch looks more my style.

I had a turkey leg too, it was good, but so hard to eat.

 

[acceber32]

Palo brunch was so good! You won't be disappointed! Make sure you go hungry. I had a lite breakfast (had to eat something since I'm pregnant) but was still hungry. And I highly recommend the chicken parmesan, it is so good!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining in for your cruise!! Cant wait to hear more. I am getting so excited about my cruise on the Fantasy Dec 15, 2012!!

 

[jamelynn24]

Love reading this and seeing the pics!!

 

[acceber32]

Day Nine: Today was another sea day and due to staying up late the night before we all slept in a bit this morning. Once we were awake and ready to go, we went to Enchanted Garden for breakfast. We all enjoyed the selections we got (similar to the stuff served up in Cabanas, just a different setting). After breakfast DS was asking to go to the kids’ club again. I had promised him that he could go again so we took him. While DS was gone, DH and I decided to go have some fun time together. We went back to the room and changed into our swim suits. We wanted to ride the Aquaduck together to see if it was any different. We had so much fun!!! The ride is a bit wilder at the beginning with the extra weight from a second person and then you get to enjoy the view with someone else. It’s a fun ride by yourself but way better with someone to ride with.

After riding the Aquaduck several times we went to get DS. He was having so much fun! They had just finished up a game of finding monsters and he had won a little Disney bag for finding the monsters (I think all the kids got the bags but it made him feel so special to think he “won” it). The camp counselors were all super nice and DS just loved going to the kids’ club. Despite my concerns of leaving him with people I didn’t know and from being away from him, he did great. I had a much harder time than he did with him going, lol. Next time, I might let him go more but I really enjoy getting to spend time with family on vacation so that might not happen, lol.

We went to Cabanas for lunch and all had a mixture of things. We always found something we liked at Cabanas to eat and thought the food was pretty good for a buffet style. Both DH and I do agree that we wished they would have had some sort of a pasta bar or burrito bar (Carnival had these on our last cruise and we really enjoyed them). Also, where are the croutons?! That drove me nuts! I love croutons and so does DS; however, they are not at the buffet at all (and not usually in the salads I had in the main dining room either). I liked being able to get pizza and salad, DS loved getting chicken tenders and fries and DH would get some sort of shrimp thing most days. We did try the burgers thru out the week from Flo’s and they were ok, not the best burger but not the worst either. And I love having dessert for lunch, yumm.

Once we were done with lunch we went back to the room for a nap. Thankfully, DS was still trying to catch up on some sleep from the night before and we are on vacation, so he and I both slept for about an hour and a half. After nap time, we went back up to the pool deck to play. DS played in Nemo’s Reef and went down the Mickey slide a bunch of times. He loved that slide! I was so glad he enjoyed it after the fiasco of his first try going down. We tried swimming in the pools but they were too crowded. DH and I took turns going down the Aquaduck a few more times while the other played with DS. I stayed for a few hours then went back to the room to shower and get ready for the princess gathering we wanted to catch for pictures. DH and DS followed to change clothes. While I got ready they went out on an “adventure” as DS called it. They did a bunch of things (but only for a few minutes each as a 3 year old has a small attention span). They played basketball, mini-golf, ping pong, foosball and then started the Muppets Detective Agency game.

By the time they came back to the room I was ready, I got DS ready and we went to the lobby to line up for the princess meet-n-greet. DS, despite being a boy, loves the princesses. So glad he enjoys them!!!
Aladdin was walking thru the line to talk to the kids while they waited.

Here are a few pictures of our meet-n-greet with the princesses:

Snow White was great with DS. She talked about his sword and how she was so thankful he was there to protect the princesses, he got a big kick out of that.

After pictures we finished up the Muppets game that the boys had started. It was a cute game but DS enjoyed the Dalmatians game more just because he knows them better. He hasn’t ever really watched Muppets, only knows them a little bit.

For dinner, we were again in the Royal Court. We ate here 3 nights out of the 7. I had specifically requested this dining rotation before our cruise because 1) I thought I’d love Royal Court’s decorations the best (and I did, it’s princess themed) and 2) it would put us in Royal Court on both formal and semi-formal night. Out of the 3 rotating dinning rooms, Royal Court is the nicest. Tonight was the Captain’s Gala dinner and I had minestrone soup; which was ok, and then a regular garden salad. I had requested a garden salad over the one that was on the menu and wish I had done this earlier in the cruise. Even asked for croutons and got plenty of those plus extras for DS to eat. Best salad I had all week! DH had 2 helpings of the sautéed shrimp appetizer and a wild mushroom soup. He enjoyed the shrimp appetizer but thought the soup was too greasy. For a main entrée I had the fettuccine with parmesan crusted chicken with a few changes (added steamed broccoli and left out the mushrooms and peppers) and it was pretty good. DH had two plates of the lobster, he loves lobster. He enjoyed them but did say they were a bit dry, when you are preparing that many for large amounts of people it happens. I believe DS actually had steak for dinner tonight rather than chicken or mac n cheese. As always, he had a Mickey bar for dessert. I had the warm chocolate lava cake, yumm and DH had a sundae. Overall, it was a very good dinner.

After dinner, we walked around the shops for a bit. I bought a Disney Christmas ornament; we have a tradition and always buy one on every vacation. Plus, we love ornaments. I also bought a Disney scrapbook and some paper (need to find time to actually use it!). We headed back to the room for some more relaxing. I think we watched a movie, DS played on my Kindle for a little before bath time and then he went to sleep. I probably stayed up and read some more but not too late. Tomorrow was Castaway Cay day, probably the day we were most looking forward to of the whole vacation!

 

[acceber32]

Day Ten: Our last full day of vacation. But we didn’t have much time to be sad about that because we had a day to enjoy at beautiful Castaway Cay. This is Disney’s privately owned island and it is the prettiest island we have ever been to. Now, I get that it’s just a tourist island and no one but a few Disney employees live there so it’s hard to compare to other islands that are actually cities/countries; however, we loved it. We woke up this morning a little early well rested from our relaxing day before. We got ready and went to Cabanas for breakfast. We were glad we tried all 3 places for breakfast but I think we still prefer Cabanas for the laid back atmosphere and large array of choices since we had DS with us (but you have to go to Royal Court at least once to get eggs benedict, loved it even if it’s a no no while pregnant, lol). We could see the entire island as we pulled up and began the docking process, great view in Cabanas as well.

After breakfast we went back to our room to grab our bags and as soon as we were allowed to, we got off the ship. We decided to walk to the second family beach over by Pelican Plunge because I thought we would play on it more than we did. As we were walking we did see the trams but we wanted to look around. We enjoyed looking at the vegetation and decorations along the way. Once at the beach we quickly picked some chairs to set our stuff on. DH really wanted to go down the slide on Pelican Plunge first so he and DS headed off that; however, DS didn’t want to go without me so I went too. We all put on life jackets even though they aren’t required if you are over a certain height (I still recommend them). We swam out to the dock and it was much deeper than we expected. We climbed the stairs and everyone was excited to go down the slide. Since it was still early the line was not long at all. I was up first so that I could catch DS at the bottom and the life guard at the top told me to hold on to my sunglasses. I said “ok” not thinking much about it, well I should have just taken them off but I didn’t. As I went down the slide I was surprised at how fast it was. It was a fun ride . . . . . until you got to the bottom. The drop off was much further than I had anticipated. And the lifeguard wasn’t kidding. I hit the water and my glasses flew off and were no where to be found. By the time I got my breathe I had to get ready to catch DS and wasn’t sure how that was going to work. Well, the lifeguard standing on a platform at the bottom said I couldn’t catch him, that I had to wait at the side (again, thankful for the life jacket so I didn’t have to tread water for this). DS flew off the slide and was not happy. I got him as quickly as I could but I know he still swallowed water and was a bit scared. Thankfully, he was fine as soon as I had him and all he said was that he didn’t like it. DH came down next as I was trying to swim back to shore with DS. And he quickly noticed my glasses were missing and thought this was hilarious. I filled out a form at the life jacket drop off and they told me that they dive at the end of the day to get lost items (since they have a lot!) and to check back that evening on the ship to see if they had found them. In hindsight, I would not have had DS go down this slide (and probably shouldn’t have either since I am pregnant); however, that didn’t even cross my mind despite every other thing we did I always had DH check it out first. But we were all just fine and did enjoy the slide (it was just the drop that wasn’t fun).

We went back to our chairs to dry off and I realized there was no way I was going to be able to make it thru the day without another pair of sunglasses. So, off I went to buy a new pair from one of the shops on the island. DH and DS stayed to play in the sand and water. Thankfully, I found a cute pair that was only $20 (I was scared I was going to be paying much more than this but the sun was so bright they were a necessity!). After I got my new sunglasses I rented two floats for us to use then headed back to the beach (all this was very close together so it didn’t take me long at all). I took the floats out to DH and DS who were in the water and we all climbed on (DS rotated back and forth between DH and me, he also had on his puddle jumper). This was so much fun! We loved just floating out in the water. We stayed out there for a long time. And again, I was so thankful for having DS’s puddle jumper. He felt so confident in the water instead of holding on to one of us for dear life. We had planned on renting bikes while on Castaway Cay; however, we were having so much fun just playing/relaxing in the water we changed our minds. After quiet some time we did get out and walk around a little bit. We found the kids’ splash area and DS played in there for a little bit; however, I think he got sprayed in the eye or maybe he got sunscreen in his eye, either way he was crying and his eye was red. We decided now was a good time to go get something to eat and sit down for a bit.

We found Cookies II pretty easily and got our plates. We were a bit disappointed in the selection of food (burgers, hotdogs, a few fruits and bagged chips) and then really disappointed when we ate. The burgers were very dry and tasteless. My husband said this was easily the worst meal of the whole trip. We weren’t expecting gourmet food but we were definitely not expecting the bad food we had. And DS didn’t eat much more than chips (he’s not much of a hot dog fan and he didn’t want to eat the burger). We did get yummy cookies and ice cream though. We sat for awhile letting DS calm down as he was still a bit cranky from hurting his eye (I tried to wash it out as best I could in case it was sunscreen and I never did see a scratch). But after we were done we went back to the beach. DH went back out in the water while I cuddled DS for a few minutes (he was a bit tired). It didn’t take DS long and he was playing in the sand. While he played I read on my Kindle. We joined DH back in the water and played/relaxed on the floats some more. It was starting to get a bit cloudy and you could see a storm coming in so we decided to head back to the ship. We packed up all our stuff and began walking back. We leisurely took our time, looked around more shops, got another ice cream cone and enjoyed the scenery. We even saw a cat on the way back (DS loved that!). We got more cold towels once back to the dock and Captain Hook was doing a meet-n-greet. There was no line so DS got his picture taken with him again.

Here are some pictures we took on our way back.

Once we were back on board we headed back to our room and then up to the pool deck for a last bit of fun. DS played in Nemo’s Reef and went down the Mickey slide and DH and I both took turns going down the Aquaduck one last time. We didn’t stay up there long though as we wanted to make it to the See Ya Real Soon party with the characters so we went back to our room to clean up. And we are so glad we did. I highly recommend going to the early party, there weren’t a lot of people here and the cast members told us the late one is always the busiest. The characters do a little performance at the show and then they spread out for pictures. We were able to get lots of pictures! And DS was having so much fun. He even went up to the characters all by himself (this was big since he always wanted one of us with him the rest of the vacation). And it really didn’t feel like a huge organized deal.

DS gave Pluto a big hug first!

And then we spotted Donald hiding in the curtains. We were able to get a picture with him before anyone else noticed.

We were able to get pictures taken with Goofy, Chip and Dale, Daisy, Minnie and then finally Mickey. (we were even able to get back in line to try for a better picture with Minnie because DH didn’t think the first turned out well).

After the characters were done taking pictures they did a little song and dance and then Mickey head shaped confetti fell from the ceiling. I grabbed a bunch of this for my scrapbook. We really enjoyed this little party. We looked thru all our pictures before dinner and decided to only purchase one (I would have loved to buy more but didn’t).

It was soon time for our last dinner on board. We were in Animator’s Palate tonight for the Animation show. After we ordered we were given the special placemats to draw our characters on and turn in. For dinner tonight I started out with a garden salad, just like the one I had the night before. And again, it was very good, it was simple but I enjoyed it and the croutons. DH had a mushroom risotto and he enjoyed it. We thought we were going to be getting the corn three way soup but never did (and didn’t realize it until we had our entrees), DH was a bit disappointed we didn’t get to try this after reading reviews about it. For an entrée I had grilled sirloin steak, it was just ok. DH had seafood linguine pasta and said it was one of the best dishes he had all cruise (but didn’t top Palo’s chicken parmesan). DS had his usual chicken, fries and mac and cheese. It was the last night so I had to let him get what he wanted. For dessert, DS had a Mickey ice cream bar, DH had the baked Alaska and I had the temptation because I couldn’t decide. The chocolate decadence cake and celebration cake were both very good but I didn’t care for the third one served with it. While we ate our dessert they played, what we thought was the new animation show with our characters we drew; however, there was a malfunction and none of the drawings were there (there were blank spots where the drawings were supposed to be). We waited for what seemed like forever because they said they were trying to fix it and replay the show with our drawings. Finally (after about 20 to 30 minutes) they finally played our show. It was neat to see the drawings and DS got a kick out of it. After the show we stopped by guest services to see if they had found my sunglasses but they hadn’t. Then we headed back to our room to finish packing. We had a long busy day and we knew that the next day would be exhausting so we didn’t stay up too late tonight.

Day 11: Debarkation day. We had a late flight today so we were in no hurry but they do make you get off the ship by a certain time. Because we had early dining our main dining room breakfast should have been at 6:30 am; however, there was no way I was getting up that early to leave. So we decided to skip that breakfast and just grab something at Cabanas. They do not have the usual full length buffet, it was a very simple small buffet on this day (DH was very disappointed he couldn’t get his made to order omelet). We ate quickly and headed off the ship. It was probably around 9 or a little after. Before going thru customs we stopped by the lost and found area (they have a big area with lots of stuff here and two cast members manning down the station) to see if my glasses had shown up. And sure enough they were there!! We made it thru customs and were on a bus to the airport in what seemed like no time. We were so sad to leave the Fantasy, it really was a beautiful cruise ship. But we had been on vacation for 10 full days now and were ready to be back at home. Our flights home were uneventful but we had long waits in both Orlando and Atlanta along with a slight delay in Atlanta so we didn’t get back to Lexington until after 8. I was coming down with a cold (always do after vacation) add on top that my stomach was queasy from flying and it made for a very long day.

Final thoughts: We had a great, amazing vacation. We enjoyed so much about it. Yes, there were a few issues but overall we had a blast. We made a lot of wonderful family memories that we will cherish forever. DS still talks about it almost daily and wants to go back. He wears us out talking about it all the time, lol. Disney World was lots of fun. DS was even more into it this trip then he was back in January. We really enjoyed staying at Port Orleans Riverside and wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again. The Disney Fantasy cruise ship was beautiful. And in my opinion the best looking cruise ship we have ever been on. The décor was not tacky or flashy like we’ve seen on other cruise lines. The cast members were all very friendly and helpful. But I don’t think we’ve ever encountered any really rude employees on any of the 4 cruises we’ve been on (the others were on Royal Caribbean and Carnival). Honestly, the food was a little disappointing. I always look forward to the food on a cruise and this food just didn’t live up to it. Most of everything I had was good but not amazing; a few things were bad but not overall, it just didn’t wow us. I tried to hit everything in the trip report but I probably forgot a few things here and there. I know that we ate ice cream cones a lot (DH loves the ice cream machines) and that we relaxed more on this vacation than on previous ones. I would have liked to have made it to a few more shows but it didn’t work out that way and I don’t regret it. Early dining made it hard to do anything after dinner without staying up late and that wasn’t really possible with DS. We usually prefer late dining but I thought (and still do) that it would have been too hard for DS to make it thru a late dining. Overall, we would definitely sail Disney again and look forward to our next vacation.