Fantasy Western April 28, 2012

[kyla]

Thanks motherofallfans for the info. That is very helpful. We will plan for a nice relaxing day at port.

 

[chasingthedream]

Hello everyone! We will be joining you for out second Disney Cruise next April. I will be cruising with my mother, father, sister and son. It'll be my mother & son's birthdays during the cruise. I am so excited about it! We just left the Dream on May 5 and I am seriously regretting not re-booking onboard. I am so excited about this thread. It is comforting to be surrounded with people who are just as excited/crazy as me!

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Welcome chasingthedream from another excited/crazy cruising person!

 

[supercruiser420]

I agree, great to have another Disney cruise nut aboard!!!!!

 

[taswira]

Hello everyone! We will be joining you for out second Disney Cruise next April. ...

We are happy to have you sailing with us!

 

[krhardy]

welome chasing the dream!!

Can't wait...the closer we get, the more excited I get. I love thinking about and planning all the *stuff* that makes cruising so much fun for us.

 

[kyla]

I just booked at the Disney's Aulani resort in Hawaii. Not sure what to expect there. Rooms start at $400/nite! but I decided it would be worth it, I hope. I have never been to a Disney resort. Hope everything else isn't that expensive but I'm only staying two nights. They have excursions, sounds like being on a cruise ship. Anyone know any more?

 

[taswira]

I think there are threads elsewhere on the Dis about Aulani that have info.

Although I don't know anything about the resort, my personal experience in Hawaii was that everything there was VERY expensive. I'm sure you will enjoy the resort though.

 

[kyla]

I'm thinking of buying a ticket for my parents to go with us on this cruise. Any good deals out there? I see that Dreams Unlimited has shipboard credit and my experience before that usually mirrors what DCL offers anyway. But I don't see that this time. I sure would like to get that shipboard credit for my parents but I'm not a travel agent type of person. I guess I'm a control freak and like to take care of my bookings myself.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

As much as OBC is tempting, I am also the type that wants control over my booking. There are no "deals" other than OBC. And then you are at the mercy of the TA if you want changes or specifics.

I once asked for a quote from DU. Never received it. I emailed to ask them about this and THAT took several days for an answer that was along the lines of "we sent it to you, but now of course it's expired." They said they'd try again, and I STILL never got it. I'm sure others have had better experiences, but it's not worth my time for some small amount of OBC. JMO.

 

[kyla]

As much as OBC is tempting, I am also the type that wants control over my booking. There are no "deals" other than OBC. And then you are at the mercy of the TA if you want changes or specifics.

I once asked for a quote from DU. Never received it. I emailed to ask them about this and THAT took several days for an answer that was along the lines of "we sent it to you, but now of course it's expired." They said they'd try again, and I STILL never got it. I'm sure others have had better experiences, but it's not worth my time for some small amount of OBC. JMO.

Thanks for the input. Yea, I don't think I could handle be put on "hold" waiting on a TA.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

What I will do now when I cruise is to make sure to book onboard. To me that is the best of both worlds - extra OBC AND the ability to control your own reservation.

Again, I am sure some people have had good experiences with DU, and after all they are the sponsor of this section of the DIS. I just personally have not had a good experience and felt I spent far too much effort to not have any results.

Whereas if I book things on my own, I can call DCL or do it online with them.

 

[taswira]

For those who haven't seen it - the Fantasy revealed - Disney blog.

 

[DisneyDuo]

I also saw a news item on USA Today online that our Atrium host will be Minnie Mouse! My DH will be disappointed, he was hoping for the Goof.

I'm so glad we have some new things on Fantasy and not just a copy of the Dream, we're so looking forward to exploring.

Irish pub, here I come

Blessings - Lin

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

I too, am glad it's not a copy of the Dream.

I AM hoping some things look better in person than the artist renditions as a friend of mine pointed out that some of it looks "plastic-y". I think I might have to agree, but of course haven't seen it in person.

I definitely do NOT like the looks of the Tube. Looks like someone melted a whole lot of plastic - or someone designed it while on an acid trip or something. I'd hate to sit in those seats. Will anyone FIT in those seats other than a starved super model? JMO.

Some of the seats in the restaurants and bars don't look all that "sit for awhile" friendly. I AM hoping the other bars are comfortable as far as seating as they could be interesting.

I'm going to have to see it in person I think before deciding. I may love it - I may not.

 

[MinnieMeg]

Hi all - DH (Carl) & I will be joining you for this cruise. We just cruised on the Magic and booked while we were onboard. This will be our third Disney cruise. We participated in the FE exchange with 20 cabins. It was a lot of fun and a great way to meet more people on the ship.
Meg

 

[chasingthedream]

I also saw a news item on USA Today online that our Atrium host will be Minnie Mouse! My DH will be disappointed, he was hoping for the Goof.

I'm so glad we have some new things on Fantasy and not just a copy of the Dream, we're so looking forward to exploring.

Irish pub, here I come

Blessings - Lin

Hi Lin! I see in your sig line that you were on the maiden voyage of the Dream. When we booked this cruise, I did it because the dates coincided with my mother and son's birthdays. I did not realize it would only be the 4th or 5th sailing. I've read about early sailings of the Dream and some people complained about an under trained crew. What were your experiences? Do you have any concerns about being on a brand new ship?

BTW, my family is very laid back and we will be on VACATION. I'm not really worried I am just curious as to what your experience was like.

 

[DisneyDuo]

ChasingtheDream -

From Andy:

Bad service on a Disney Boat - NEVER!!! There were some glitches that I think were due to there being almost 4000 guests on board and the 4 earlier sailings had way fewer guests. Nothing major in my humble opinion, but here is what I noticed: Disembarking at Port Canaveral - More people meant longer lines, but the times were kept the same - they should be spaced out more. Restaurants - the only "slow" one was Animator's Palette, and I think that was a design error - our servers (who were VERY good) had to almost run to the pick-up station for our meals. We had a great cabin steward who was very attentive to our requests, room service was great (try the cheese plate ), and we were almost escorted to our lifeboat station down the crew member stairways. Some more high maintenance types may have had some problems, but we did not.

From Lin: I agree with what DH answered above. I do think that lessons have been learned about the challenges of more people on a larger ship, and so we'll have an easier time on the Fantasy! (I am the eternal optimist that ALWAYS has a good time with Disney )

Blessings - Lin

 

[DisneyDuo]

Welcome MinnieMeg!

We had a HUGE FE group on the Dream Maiden Voyage, that was our first time participating and we just couldn't afford to bring gifts for everyone! We ended up giving out 70 and had to quit Hoping we have a smaller and more manageable group for our Fantasy. Guess we'll get it more organized when we get closer!

Did you enjoy the Magic? That's the only one we haven't been on - we've done 2 Wonders and the Dream.

I see you're from CT, I grew up in Bloomfield and my Mom and brother still live there!

Blessings - Lin

 

[kyla]

Hi Lin! I see in your sig line that you were on the maiden voyage of the Dream. When we booked this cruise, I did it because the dates coincided with my mother and son's birthdays. I did not realize it would only be the 4th or 5th sailing. I've read about early sailings of the Dream and some people complained about an under trained crew. What were your experiences? Do you have any concerns about being on a brand new ship?

BTW, my family is very laid back and we will be on VACATION. I'm not really worried I am just curious as to what your experience was like.

We were on the second voyage of the Dream and did notice some problems even though the ship wasn't full. In fact, Castaway Cay was like empty, it was great. However, we had problems with the TV, phones, guest services, and our room attendant. Nothing major, but we didn't like see our room attendant for 2 days (it was a 4 day cruise). The TV and phones didn't work and was only a problem when we had the boat drill (we were instructed to watch our TV) and couldn't call cause the phones didn't work and the room attendant was absent. Guest services was really the only one that came close to a real problem and that was because we were trying to book a cabana and wires kept getting crossed - they ended up giving the cabana to my sister who didn't want it and our shore excursion tickets were never delivered. But thats it. The restaurants were amazing! The theatre was fantastic! 4 days was not enough!