January 5, 2013 Fantasy Cruise to the Western Caribbean

[Towncrier]

Fingers crossed that DW Sue and I will be on this cruise. We originally booked a cruise on the Disney Dream while on the Disney Magic back in October 2010 (celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary). The timing of the Disney Dream cruise didn't work out, so I switched that reservation to the Disney Fantasy cruise which leaves Port Canaveral on May 19th. Too many things came up and we ended up postponing that cruise as well (although I will be at WDW that weekend helping my daughter Sarah get settled in the Disney College program). So now we are booked on the January 5, 2013 Fantasy cruise. They say that the third time is the charm.

The shirts look fantastic. And I'd love to connect with the Facebook group as well, but searches for " *Disney Fantasy Cruise* January 5th - January 12th* " don't turn up anything.

We were on the inaugural 7-night cruise of the Disney Magic and have done the Eastern Caribbean cruise three times, so we are looking forward to a change of scenery. Good thing I stocked up on Guavaberry Rum back in 2010.

Hope to see you all in 2013.

John & Sue Hayes

 

[Morsel (Chris/Lynn)]

Hi all, my parents (Colorado Springs, CO), grandma (Sun City Center, FL), and two cousins (Orange, MA) (11 and 15) and I will also be on this cruise. I am new to disboards but not new to anything Disney or Disney Cruises. This will be the 6th Disney cruise for my parents and I, our third ship, we haven't been on the Dream yet. Both my grandma and I have birthdays on either side of Christmas so we are thinking about celebrating the birthdays together on the cruise. We are going to have dinner at T-Rex in DTD the night before the cruise with my Uncle and his family, gotta love those cotton-candy martinis and onion rings. We are also staying concierge on this cruise, it will be our first time as concierge, it is a surprise for my grandma and two cousins. We are going to try to "bend the truth" as to why they will be in the concierge waiting area of the terminal with us and the check in area also. I am playing a "game" with my cousins having them guess a specific room number each, every week until the cruise.

On the Magic and Wonder deck 3 aft, the elevators, staircases, and restrooms are all clearly marked as part of the hallway on the floor plans. But when you look at the floor plans for the Dream and Fantasy the staircases, elevators, and restrooms all look like they are in Animator's Palate. Is there a little hallway that isn't marked on the floor plans?

Also in Royal Court, Animator's Palate, and Enchanted Garden, what are the table sizes? I have heard that they seat only 4 or 8 people. That doesn't make sense to me since on the Magic and Wonder they have had tables that seat 6.

Also there are those little balcony level boxes in the Walt Disney Theatre, does anybody know if you have to reserve those or is it on a first come first serve basis? And is it true that they scan your kttwc as you enter the theatre?

And one more question for now. Since all 6 of us come from 3 different states we are flying in early and spending the night at the Hyatt at MCO. We are doing the ground transfer from MCO to the terminal. It has been a couple of years since we have gone out of Canaveral. We decided to do the Alaskan last summer for my college graduation and I understand that the terminal check in times have changed to help crowding issues in the terminal. Do we still leave the luggage in the room and they will pick it up for us?

Sorry my post is so long but as we get closer to the cruise all of these questions are popping up.

Welcome and no problem with the length of your post. Good questions and the boards are for questions. Lynn and I have done the Dream twice, Magic five times, and Wonder twice. I think we can help you out some, and others can also help out.
I believe I read on a thread earlier this year for a different DCL cruise that DCL will pick up luggage at the Hyatt MCO. To be sure contact DCL to confirm one way or another. The boarding times are now staggered in 30 minute intervals for the purpose of avoiding terminal crowding, which was in violation of fire codes. DCL actually calls it terminal arrival time. You will be able to select a terminal arrival time frame at time of your on-line-check in process. People are not allowed into the terminal until that arrival time you have. Arrival time frames are in 30 minute segments. During the 30 minutes you will be allowed into the terminal, register in the terminal to get your KTTW card and boarding number. Toward the end of the 30 minutes they will start calling the boarding numbers to board people in that time frame. And as that boarding occurs the next arrival segment people are being allowed into the terminal. Thus DCL limits the number of people in the terminal at any given time. We did it this past March and it is a much improved experience compared to the old way of allowing everyone in the terminal at the same time. By the way, DCL is currently building an additional cruise terminal next to the current terminal. This is to allow two DCL ships in port at the same time. It is due to be completed mid-summer of this year, 2012.
As for the balcony side seating in the Walt Disney Theater, I believe they are first come-first serve. I'm not aware of any method or requirement to get those seats. I could be wrong.
Your KTTW card IS NOT scanned when entering the theater. The key card scanning you have heard of may be associated with the life boat drill. If your assembly area is the WDT your attendance is checked by scanning your KTTW card. This helps DCL to verify you have attended the life boat drill.
The tables in restaurants have different seating capacity. DCL will do everything possible to meet your seating needs, including number. We have never had a problem with numbers when we were dealing with 2, 5, or 9 people seated together. If your cruise reservations are seperate ressies then you want to be sure the cruise ressies are tied together. This way you are assured DCL will be sure to seat you all together, and at the same seating time (early or late). If your cruise ressies are seperate then contact DCL to get them tied together. A word of caution, when you each receive your KTTW card at check in time at the terminal be sure to check your dinner rotation and seating time to make sure they all agree with each other and are correct. We had the wrong seating time back in March on the Dream but were able to get it corrected when we boarded the ship.
Let's see, what is the next question you had. Ah yes, the restroom/elevator/staircase/AP question. The staircases, restrooms, and elevators are located outside AP. I looked up the deck plans on the Dreams Unlimited site and see what you mean.
I hope this helps you out. Keep up the posting. Good luck in keeping the concierge arrangements a secrete.

Chris

 

[Morsel (Chris/Lynn)]

Fingers crossed that DW Sue and I will be on this cruise. We originally booked a cruise on the Disney Dream while on the Disney Magic back in October 2010 (celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary). The timing of the Disney Dream cruise didn't work out, so I switched that reservation to the Disney Fantasy cruise which leaves Port Canaveral on May 19th. Too many things came up and we ended up postponing that cruise as well (although I will be at WDW that weekend helping my daughter Sarah get settled in the Disney College program). So now we are booked on the January 5, 2013 Fantasy cruise. They say that the third time is the charm.

The shirts look fantastic. And I'd love to connect with the Facebook group as well, but searches for " *Disney Fantasy Cruise* January 5th - January 12th* " don't turn up anything.

We were on the inaugural 7-night cruise of the Disney Magic and have done the Eastern Caribbean cruise three times, so we are looking forward to a change of scenery. Good thing I stocked up on Guavaberry Rum back in 2010.

Hope to see you all in 2013.

John & Sue Hayes

Welcome and I had a problem with locating the group Facebook site. I posted a note the other day to Morgan askiong for a step-by-step instruction on getting there.

Chris

 

[coloradodumbo]

Thanks so much for the information. The first thing I did after making the ressies was to make sure that both were connected. I called DCL twice today and asked a few more questions about everything. I asked both ladies I talked to about the Oceaneer Lab/Club because on the DCL website under the Fantasy page youth activities section it said the age range for them was 3-12 years old. But when I checked on my ressies and saw the link for signing kids up for the club it said that the club/ lab was for 3-10 year olds. The first lady said that they changed it and that my 11 year old cousin would only be able to go in the Edge. The second lady I talked to said to check out both the Edge and Oceaneer Club first thing after checking in with the concierge lounge. She said that since she is 11 she can choose one or the other, it all depends on how comfortable she is in which club. The second lady I talked to today actually spent an hour and a half on the phone with me going over every little detail or question I had. She reviewed my room with me since it is a handicap accessible room and I have been having issues finding pictures and descriptions of it compared to a regular one bedroom suite. I did double check with the Hyatt and Disney today about the luggage in the room, and they both said that thy start collecting it around 8:30am.
What is so concerning to me is that when I asked about check-in time at the airport for the ground transports I was told two different things by both DCL cm's. The first lady said that the airport desk doesn't open until 10am. The second lady said that the desk open's up by 8am since they deal with ME for WDW resorts also. Hyatt also gave me a different time but the fact that DCL is saying two different things has me worried a little. I know everything is subject to change so I am not going to worry about it until we get a lot closer to the sail date.
I was also told by the second lady that she is going to suggest that the next time they have somebody on board with a camera that they take pictures of 11006. Since there are not any clear differences listed between the accessible room versus the regular one-bedroom suites. I hope they follow through with that, I would love to see pictures of 11006 if possible.

 

[glasslipper]

Welcome and I had a problem with locating the group Facebook site. I posted a note the other day to Morgan askiong for a step-by-step instruction on getting there.

Chris

We are also having a problem with the facebook site Morgan, would you please send me instructions as well? Thanks!!

 

[MorganR]

Hello Morgan,

I gave this a try on facebook without any results. Can you give us step-by-step instructions on how to obtain the group on Facebook? I tried different combos of the group name you provided, no luck. Maybe it's just me.

Chris

If you cant find it threw the Actual NAME..then u need to find me and add me...which u have to do anyways since its PRIVATE
U can look me up under...
My Facebook Name: Morgan JoEllen Gonzalez
My Email: morganreeves57@yahoo.com
OR This Link : http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002129156872
Let ME know if yall have any more troubles

 

[glasslipper]

Thanks for the facebook info,! DH(tigger2u) is in!

 

[shrpgrl]

Just booked today. It will be myself (Susan, 54) and DH (Floyd,57). It will be our 6th cruise but only our second Disney one. We had one booked in 2009 but cancelled when we decided to move to Florida. We live in Winter Haven, home of Legoland, about 45 minutes to WDW. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

 

[Morsel (Chris/Lynn)]

Just booked today. It will be myself (Susan, 54) and DH (Floyd,57). It will be our 6th cruise but only our second Disney one. We had one booked in 2009 but cancelled when we decided to move to Florida. We live in Winter Haven, home of Legoland, about 45 minutes to WDW. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Hello Sue and Floyd,
Glad to hear you will be able to make the cruise this time. You had a very good reason to miss the '09 cruise. Enjoy the weather down there. We just heard we may have a snow event, Northeaster, this coming week.

Chris

 

[shrpgrl]

I love the Florida weather but missed the snow so much I went back to Indiana in January just to remind myself about the cold. We drove up and spent the last 3 hours of the drive in blizzard conditions.That is when I remembered why we moved. Did enjoy it since we knew we were just visiting.

 

[MISSREBECCA76]

My In-laws just booked for this cruise and now my daughter's best friend and her parents did too- I guess our Disney fever is contagious!

 

[brackjr]

Quiet on here!

 

[Morsel (Chris/Lynn)]

My In-laws just booked for this cruise and now my daughter's best friend and her parents did too- I guess our Disney fever is contagious!

Yes, Disney cruising does get contagious. I remember after our first couple Disney cruises we said we would hang it up. After all we had been on the Wonder and Magic, and had been on a Bahama, Eastern, and Western cruise. Well, here we are getting for this our 10th with DCL, and we have another scheduled for Dec. 7, 2013. Always nice on DCL and always something to do or see in ports. I must admit we did do a RCCL out of Puerto Rico and will be doing RCCL out of Boston this October, but DCL is still our favorite.

Chris

 

[glasslipper]

Has anyone seen copies of the navigators from the recent western sailings on the fantasy? This thread has been really slow lately, where is everyone?

 

[Morsel (Chris/Lynn)]

Has anyone seen copies of the navigators from the recent western sailings on the fantasy? This thread has been really slow lately, where is everyone?

Must be everyone is enjoying outside activities now that Spring weather is finally settling in. I know that we have spent the last two weekends outside getting house and yard work done. We even just completed a walk with Morsel and Munchkin, our two Chihuahuas, to view the "Supemoon". Beautifull sight. With luck I'll get to hit the golf course tomorrow. That's if the "boss" does not have anything prssing that needs my attention.

Chris

 

[garrettandkatesmom]

This is cruise #2 for us - thought we'd join a fish extender group this time. Has anyone started a group?

 

[coloradodumbo]

Has anyone been on the dream and had to deal with long lines when reboarding at the ports of call? On past cruises my family and I have noticed long lines for reboarding other ships such as Carnival, especially at Grand Cayman because of the tendering. Since the Dream and Fantasy are 40% larger than the Magic and Wonder I was wandering about crowds for reboarding. Disney is an expert is would seem in crowd control and making sure that their lines are moving but since you have to go through the metal detector, sanitize your hands, have your kttwc swiped I was just curious about how long the lines at port might be?

 

[brackjr]

This is cruise #2 for us - thought we'd join a fish extender group this time. Has anyone started a group?

Not yet I do not think but did you check earlier in the thread?

 

[brackjr]

Has anyone been on the dream and had to deal with long lines when reboarding at the ports of call? On past cruises my family and I have noticed long lines for reboarding other ships such as Carnival, especially at Grand Cayman because of the tendering. Since the Dream and Fantasy are 40% larger than the Magic and Wonder I was wandering about crowds for reboarding. Disney is an expert is would seem in crowd control and making sure that their lines are moving but since you have to go through the metal detector, sanitize your hands, have your kttwc swiped I was just curious about how long the lines at port might be?

Boarding on Castaway Cay was a long line but it did not seem to be intolerable. It definitely wan't walk right on though.

 

[momof2minnies]

They have forward and aft areas open but most people just get in the first line.We always went to the other end and walked right on.


Linda