Getting on the Fantasy this Saturday (Jan 29). Looking for recent Fantasy travelers. Questions. Thoughts?

[Cast Member]

Hello All,

My DW and I are getting on the Fantasy this Saturday (Jan 29th) for our Western Caribbean, and we're looking for comments and answers to a few questions.

This will be our first Western Caribbean on Disney, and our first cruise since the restart. We've been reading the DISboards for weeks now, and appreciate the comments and stories we've read so far. We're just looking for the most up-to-date info.

Questions:
-What are the SWDAS events like? Any "must do's", or "just avoids"?
-What have the crowd levels been like? Are people getting off at ports (meaning... is the ship empty on port days)?
-What movies are showing in the Buena Vista Theater?
-What shows are in the Walt Disney Theater? Any cancelled? Days/Times of showings?
-I've been reading that the food choices in Cabanas are somewhat thin. Still the case? Still worth visiting (or avoid it)?
-Did you ever feel (COVID) unsafe onboard? Are the dining rooms crowded?
-Are the bars all open "normal" hours at night? Crowded?
-Are they showing NFL playoff games in O'Gills?
-Anything surprise you, or catch you off-guard?

Any feedback would be GREATLY appreciated.

THANKS!!

 

[MsSimone]

We cruised a month ago on the Fantasy. Not sure how much may have changed since then.

* Crowd levels -- pretty low. There were only about 2100 people on our cruise. Some areas did get packed but mostly it's not full and you can really tell.
* Since we only had two ports and got off at both, I can't speak to that question.
* I would recommend checking disneycruiseblog for the movie line up. It was Encanto, Jungle Cruise, Eternals, West Side Story, and Raya when we cruised in December. No Spiderman. That gets asked a lot.
* When we were on there were 3 shows showing on multiple days and multiple times. We weren't able to go through, because the theatre 'filled' just before they got to us because of the every-other-row, 3 seats between parties thing. It is actually one of my real frustrations from the cruise that apparently being jammed in a line or on a bus with people for 45 minutes is no problem, sitting surrounded by other people at dinner without masks is no big, but sitting in a theatre with people for 60 minutes is too high risk.
* They had lots of football one when we were there at O'Gils. It was one of the places that got entirely full, with them just ignoring the fact that many tables weren't supposed to be used.
* I did not feel unsafe on board, even when/where it was crowded, because of the requirements for vax and test. I did however get really peeved at how inconsistent enforcement was.
* Cabanas is slimmed down. I actually liked the 'cafeteria style' serving and fewer people on board meant you could just walk up to stations instead of having to do the awkward 'is there a line here or not' dance of prior cruises. They do have two of the MDRs open in the mornings for sit-down breakfast if you want more options in the morning.

 

[jenushkask8s]

We cruised last week on the Fantasy.

• What are the SWDAS events like? Any "must do's", or "just avoids"?
  The ticketed character meets ran really smoothly. Very short waits. There were some roaming charactersin the atrium throughout the day. We really enjoyed the Star Wars at Lightspeed show in the Buena Vista Theatre. It was about 30 mins long and has 3 CMs running through the plots of the OT.
• What have the crowd levels been like? Are people getting off at ports (meaning... is the ship empty on port days)?
  There were about 1350 people on our sailing. It didn't look like too many people got off in Nassau but there seemed to be a bit more that got off in Cozumel and Costa Maya.
• What movies are showing in the Buena Vista Theater?
  All of the Star Wars movies were shown throughout the week as well as Eternals, Jungle Cruise, Encanto and West Side Story.
• What shows are in the Walt Disney Theater? Any cancelled? Days/Times of showings?
  We had 3 shows shown 2 nights each: Frozen, Believe and Aladdin. On SWDAS, they showed the first 2 episodes of the Book of Boba Fett.
• I've been reading that the food choices in Cabanas are somewhat thin. Still the case? Still worth visiting (or avoid it)?
  We didn't eat in Cabanas so can't speak to that
• Did you ever feel (COVID) unsafe onboard? Are the dining rooms crowded?
  We did not feel unsafe at any time. The dining rooms were about half full and there were at least 6 feet between tables (at least where we were sitting)
• Are the bars all open "normal" hours at night? Crowded?
  We didn't visit any of the bars so can't speak to that
• Are they showing NFL playoff games in O'Gills?
  I saw NFL games listed on the app
• Anything surprise you, or catch you off-guard?
  We were able to get a lot closer to the characters than I thought we would (which was a nice surprise). Also, SWDAS was definitely watered down from the last time we did it in 2019. There was a lot less decor around the ship and fewer characters. We also didn't have the Star Wars fireworks on SWDAS; they were the day after (and they did them twice).

Hope this helps!

 

[daedelus]

Answers (we were on the 1/8 sailing SWDAS):
-What are the SWDAS events like? Any "must do's", or "just avoids"?
The fireworks set to SW music were pretty amazing, although it's a shorter show than it used to be. But it was still cool. The character meets were cool, but you have to be wearing your mask, so that kind of kills the coolness of any photos. They played SW music in the hallways that day which was cool too. The MDR SW menu is a lot of fun and a nice break from the menus that have been largely unchanged for years...
-What have the crowd levels been like? Are people getting off at ports (meaning... is the ship empty on port days)?
We had 1200 people on our sailing. It was nice, no queues for anything and the theatre seating was easy and well spaced out.
-What movies are showing in the Buena Vista Theater?
Same as the previous poster.
-What shows are in the Walt Disney Theater? Any cancelled? Days/Times of showings?
We got Believe and Frozen, both of which were definitely the "B team." The performers had been hit with COVID, so while we really appreciated them putting on the shows, it was a tad awkward especially having seen Wonder's amazing team do Frozen in 2020.
-I've been reading that the food choices in Cabanas are somewhat thin. Still the case? Still worth visiting (or avoid it)?
Cabanas was a LOT less than normal - there are just 12 copies of the same line, so don't wait in the first line, skip past it to the next one. The food's all the same. It was good, not awesome, but for Cabanas it was about standard. We always go there for embarkation lunch and sometimes breakfast on port days.
-Did you ever feel (COVID) unsafe onboard? Are the dining rooms crowded?
Never. The crew was very good about keeping everything clean and wearing masks. The MDRs were almost creepily empty - there were entire sections with no tables.
-Are the bars all open "normal" hours at night? Crowded?
No - they're not. Almost everything except the late movies closes between 9 and 10 unless there's an event. And the bars have fairly limited capacities too - trivia nights in The Tube were definitely "get there early and wait in line or you're not getting in" events.
-Are they showing NFL playoff games in O'Gills?
Dunno - I don't like football
-Anything surprise you, or catch you off-guard?
Every crew member we interacted with was so happy to see us and have us back onboard. It was a very nice surprise!