Inaugural 3/31/12 Fantasy Cruise

[calypso726]

Hi everybody. So we are all toying with having a DIS/FB meet on sailing day at about 3pm. We are looking for ideas on the best place to hold an in person meet and greet. So far Outlook on deck 14, D-Lounge on deck 4 and La Piazza on deck have been mentioned. Any preferences of suggestions? Please post it here on vote on the poll on FB.

ETA: I know someone is hosting or planning to put together a grass skirt fraternity/coconut bra society meet. Has the when and wear been posted somewhere and I missed it. Please advise.

 

[Janis]

Not sure what Jon is planning but this might be a good place to get our lanyards. People have said that because the terminal will be so crowded it might not be a good place to distribute them.

 

[lbgraves]

Not sure what Jon is planning but this might be a good place to get our lanyards. People have said that because the terminal will be so crowded it might not be a good place to distribute them.

With the new checkin process and times, it sounds like you don't hang around in the terminal waiting to board like you used to. If they don't go to the meet, maybe you can get them at the sailaway?

 

[Namsupak]

D-Lounge might not be a good place because on the Dream that's where they do the dining changes and spa ressies until 3:30 PM.

 

[Stitch1313]

Hi all,

We're staying at SSR the night before the cruise. I've been waffling between taking the DCL bus to the Port the day or our departure on the Maiden Voyage. I want to get to the port early enough so that we board early enough to try to get a Palo's Brunch reservation for the day at sea.

I reviewed posts here from people that were on the Dream Maiden Voyage. Some of them said that they arrived early at the terminal (due to taking car service or a rental car), only to have people from the DCL bus inserted into line in front of them when the bus arrived. On the other hand, there are posts from people who took the DCL bus for non-Maiden Voyage cruises and the average arrival time at the port was 1:30 or LATER!

So, my questions to everyone are:
- How are you getting to the Port?
- What time do you plan to arrive?
- What was your rationale for your decision?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[ppartekim]

Hi all,

We're staying at SSR the night before the cruise. I've been waffling between taking the DCL bus to the Port the day or our departure on the Maiden Voyage. I want to get to the port early enough so that we board early enough to try to get a Palo's Brunch reservation for the day at sea.

I reviewed posts here from people that were on the Dream Maiden Voyage. Some of them said that they arrived early at the terminal (due to taking car service or a rental car), only to have people from the DCL bus inserted into line in front of them when the bus arrived. On the other hand, there are posts from people who took the DCL bus for non-Maiden Voyage cruises and the average arrival time at the port was 1:30 or LATER!

So, my questions to everyone are:
- How are you getting to the Port?
- What time do you plan to arrive?
- What was your rationale for your decision?

Thanks in advance for your input.

First Question - What time is your Arrival Check-in? There is no reason to get t the port any earlier than that time as you will not be allow to enter until then. Platinums/Conceirge have no scheduled time, they board immediately upon checked in.

Second - How lazy are you? The nice thing about the DCL bus is that they handle all the luggage for you. You simply put the tags on your bags and around 8am that morning they come by your room and quietly (we're still sleeping) take your bags off to the port. You gingerly get up and meet the bus around noon and off you go with your carry-on. This will put you at the port around 1pm. Early enough to still get lunch or Palo's Resv.

If that makes you nervous as you MUST have Palo's and can not wait until another cruise (took us several before we did Palo's brunch as I was not going to stand in line). Then I would rent a car and drive to the port and wait until you can get in.

The truly early folks, never stay on Dsiney Property the night before and book a Hotel right next to the port and use a hotel shuttle to get there fast.

Us - we always stay at AKL (Conceirge if available, and bought AKL DVC pts just for that purpose) and use DCL buses. Wife loves not having to lug luggage since we use ME to AKL then DCL to port. Just accepted that it took several cruises and I think Gold before we could book a Brunch/Tea online and got one brunch one cruise by just asking to be put on waitlist (14day cruises are great for Palo Brunches). Now that we are Platinum, I can book what I want if I get to the computer on the first booking hour (but still a race but easier than port race).

 

[1KKH]

Handmade FE gifts - Done
New FE handmade with all of the ship names - Done
Suitcases - Set up in guest room
Spring clothes for 4 of us - Laid out on guest room bed
Lists - Being compiled and checked off

Its an obsession, I know... But now that I've got everything under control what will I do for the NEXT 6 weeks??

Yes- I got the DH eye roll today for getting the Easter baskets done today-check!

 

[lbgraves]

First Question - What time is your Arrival Check-in? There is no reason to get t the port any earlier than that time as you will not be allow to enter until then. Platinums/Conceirge have no scheduled time, they board immediately upon checked in.

There really isn't any reason to show up prior to your assigned arrival time. Even if you do end up in the terminal prior to that (highly unlikely due to high volume of platinum & concierge guests on this cruise), your boarding number will be linked to your assigned time, so you will have to then sit and wait in the terminal for your number to be called.

 

[Stitch1313]

Hi ppartekim,

Thank you for your input. I had forgotten about the Arrival Check-in time. We are scheduled for 12:30, so it appears the DCL bus is out if it arrives at 1:30. Does anyone know if the DCL bus picks up cruisers based on Arrival Check-in time (seems unlikely)?

We want the Palo's brunch strongly enough to either rent a car or hire car service. With SO many Platinum and Gold members checking in ahead of us, we may not be able to get it, but we're going to try. We couldn't snag a reservation on our Dec 2011 cruise, but we did on our May 2011 cruise (and LOVED it!).

Hopefully, this won't be as big an issue when we hit Gold (Alaska May 2013!). And, even less when we reach Platinum like you (and we will, oh, yes, we will make Platinum...)

 

[Stitch1313]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the reminder about the boarding numbers being linked to the Arrival Check-in time. Guess we'll show up at 12:30 and wait. When you want Palo's Brunch, sacrifices must be made.

 

[lbgraves]

This cruise has a high number of platinums as well as VIPs, so it was expected that Palo would fill quickly. It was gone for many platinums when they signed in. There are only two days for brunch this cruise, so that also affects the chance of getting a reservation. We enjoy brunch, but there is going to be so much to do and explore on this cruise that we will just wait until next year.

 

[ppartekim]

This cruise has a high number of platinums as well as VIPs, so it was expected that Palo would fill quickly. It was gone for many platinums when they signed in. There are only two days for brunch this cruise, so that also affects the chance of getting a reservation. We enjoy brunch, but there is going to be so much to do and explore on this cruise that we will just wait until next year.

This is our fifth time on the new ships (did two B2Bs on the Dream last year) and the first time I got a Palo's Brunch.

We did get into Remy's once on each B2B and I must say that while it costs more than Palo's it was a FABULOUS dinner. We did manage to get a Remy's on this cruise. Unlike Palo's, Remy's changes menus every six months which makes a new experience each time.

So, if you can't snag a Palo's you might want to try Remy's (you can save some $$ buy skipping the wine options, but even they are worth it once if you never had a wine pairing before).

 

[Jennifer48]

Hi all,

We're staying at SSR the night before the cruise. I've been waffling between taking the DCL bus to the Port the day or our departure on the Maiden Voyage. I want to get to the port early enough so that we board early enough to try to get a Palo's Brunch reservation for the day at sea.

I reviewed posts here from people that were on the Dream Maiden Voyage. Some of them said that they arrived early at the terminal (due to taking car service or a rental car), only to have people from the DCL bus inserted into line in front of them when the bus arrived. On the other hand, there are posts from people who took the DCL bus for non-Maiden Voyage cruises and the average arrival time at the port was 1:30 or LATER!

So, my questions to everyone are:
- How are you getting to the Port?
- What time do you plan to arrive?
- What was your rationale for your decision?

Thanks in advance for your input.

I've quoted several different chauffeured services in FL and DCL bus transfers are $100 cheaper for DH & I. Since our check-in time is not until 12 noon anyways, we won't be missing much if we get to port at 1pm. So, DCL transfers are they way we are going to go.

 

[lbgraves]

So, if you can't snag a Palo's you might want to try Remy's (you can save some $$ buy skipping the wine options, but even they are worth it once if you never had a wine pairing before).

Remy's would be a waste of money for us. I have looked at the menus and don't see much of anything that I would be willing to try. Besides, we don't want to miss out on the dining rooms the first time on the Fantasy. We'l book dinner at Palo next March.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Remy's would be a waste of money for us. I have looked at the menus and don't see much of anything that I would be willing to try. Besides, we don't want to miss out on the dining rooms the first time on the Fantasy. We'l book dinner at Palo next March.

Lisa, I agree....I was so happy when I was able to snag a reservation for Remy's then I saw someone's detailed post about Remy's and the menu and I decided that I'd like a D&B purse instead of dinner at Remy's....so I cancelled our reservation so someone that would or could enjoy it more than us could have a reservation...

 

[pacurn]

Thanks to everyone who joined in on the weight loss goal for March 31. I believe it was Tracy who posted the original challenge, and I took it up on Dec27. I am 2 lbs. away from the March 31 goal, and 45lbs away from my November cruise goal. It has been a lot of hard work at the gym and tracking all the food going into the mouth, but it is working. I may not be ready to scale a mountain, but I have more confidence to do a zip line. Hope everyone else is getting themselves to a healthier you.

Congrats

I took this up on Jan3rd when I stepped on the scale after getting off the Dream I am about halfway to where I want to be when I step onto the Fantasy.

Love MFP and have become very good at tracking (and drinking water). Big thanks to the folks here for getting me clued in.

This week I shaved 100 seconds off my 5k time and am now (barely) under 40 minutes. Can't say the I look forward to the treadmill but at least I'm no longer afraid of it.

 

[Tracyvp]

Thanks to everyone who joined in on the weight loss goal for March 31. I believe it was Tracy who posted the original challenge, and I took it up on Dec27. I am 2 lbs. away from the March 31 goal, and 45lbs away from my November cruise goal. It has been a lot of hard work at the gym and tracking all the food going into the mouth, but it is working. I may not be ready to scale a mountain, but I have more confidence to do a zip line. Hope everyone else is getting themselves to a healthier you.

Congratulations!! Doesn't it feel great! I haven't posted for a few weeks because I was traveling for 2 of them and missed 3 meetings, so it wasn't until last Friday that I finally weighed in to find I was still down 2 pounds. So I'm down a grand total of 13lb. since December 9. I'm really hoping to reach my 10% goal (having lost 10% of my starting weight) by March 31. Then I'll reset another goal before our August 6 Alaska cruise. I know my real hope is to get to my final goal by Christmas. That would mean I would have lost an average of 1lb per week for a total of 55 lbs.

I salute all of you who have set and stuck to a goal to get healthier before our cruise. And doubly salute those who set the goal, slipped and made up your minds to pick yourselves up and start over again. It's always just a decision away!

 

[padalyn]

In regards to the arrival time at the port - not only are the check in times and boarding passes important, the time it take to get into the area and through security should be included. The whole party has to be upstairs (across the bridge) before they will check you in - gone are the days of sending one person ahead with all the information!

Remy is well worth it, IF YOU ARE INTO FOOD!! I managed to get into Remy on the Dream Maiden, and while I ate solo (the way it worked out) the service and food were amazing. Be careful...the wine pairing package is 6 to 8 FULL glass pours...I was feeling no pain when I finally finished. However, I missed the show that night. The seating is designed to be 4 to 6 hours. There is ONE seating per night, 50 seats. That is it. I was seated at 6:15pm and left the restaurant at 11:30pm. More than a little snockered, and very very full!

Cayla

 

[calypso726]

Gotta agree with Cayla. Remy is worth it IF you are a foodie or into the wine pairings. We've done Remy 3 times now and are hoping to do it again on the Fantasy. No luck yet getting a ressie though.

 

[DCLShel]

So, my questions to everyone are:
- How are you getting to the Port?
- What time do you plan to arrive?
- What was your rationale for your decision?

#1) We are taking DCL transfer from BWV to the port.
#2) Whatever time the bus drops us off
#3) We took DCL transfers to port for the MV of the Dream. We didn't get to the port terminal until 2:30 or so and it was EMPTY! We walked right up to a CM to check-in and almost immediately were called to board. We walked right on, got our picture taken and walked onto the ship. We dropped some stuff at our stateroom and went to Cabanas to get something to eat. Again, the crowds were already gone by then. I'm hoping for a similar experience on the MV of the Fantasy~