Off of the Fantasy 4/30! Here are some updates

[Ohmymonty]

Hey all!

I was on the 4/23/2022 sailing of the Disney Fantasy. I'll be happy to answer any questions you guys might have (if I can answer them).

Schedule:
Day 1 - Port Canaveral
Day 2 - Day at Sea
Day 3 - Cozumel
Day 4 - Grand Cayman
Day 5 - Falmouth
Day 6 - Day at Sea
Day 7 - Castaway Cay
Day 8 - Port Canaveral

Ended up waiting about 45 minutes for the DCL Transfer bus after our flight arrived in MCO. Maybe we could have caught the first bus if we hadn't stopped to get a breakfast snack, but oh well. Getting to the port was easy. Once at the port, they walked us over to the covid testing area. It went fast, we got our results in about 10-15 minutes and then headed straight to the port. Inside the port, they hadn't started boarding yet. But when they did, it started going pretty fast. We were boarding group 7 but when they called boarding group 5, the guy managing the line just waved us over and told us to go in. I didn't complain! Our rooms were ready about 2pm. I'm a gold member and our welcome back gift was the sling backpack. We were on deck 7, in case that matters.

Of course, you've probably heard these updates elsewhere by now. Cast Members are still wearing masks. No character hugs, but character interactions are happening with physical distance. The app did not specify which characters were coming out, but usually a cast member would know. There was plenty of trivia to be done, but not a lot of adult ish activities outside of that. It was pretty much trivia, happy hour, alcohol tasting, or sit on deck. The Buena Vista theater was showing Dr. Strange, The Eternals, Encanto, Turning Red, and Disney Polar Bears. The nightly entertainment included Aladdin, Frozen, and Believe musical shows, Moonshot acapella group, a magician named Eric Jones, a variety act named Taylor Mason, and Turning Red. The nursery was still not open but all other kids clubs appeared to be open and active.

Compared to my previous Disney cruises, this was kind of a let down? Not to say I didn't have fun or anything like that, but I felt like it was not as smoothly run as other Disney cruises I've been on. All small things like the servers at dinner both asking us for drink and food orders right after the other did. The entertainment staff seemed a little less experienced and like they hadn't quite found their groove yet. It was like showing up for trivia and the host is like "yeah, hi, this is trivia and number 1 is___" which I suppose is time efficient but wasn't very fun-feeling. I did a champagne and whiskey tasting, which were both fun but I'm not sure with the price increase if I will be doing them again, unless it is something that sounds really interesting that I haven't done before.

Sailing away and Pirate deck parties were back. Pirate night buffet was back as well. I didn't go to it because I wasn't hungry, but my servers told me it was there. Merchandise was kind of a letdown, to be honest. There wasn't a lot of sizing available for Smalls and Mediums. Castaway Cay had mostly 5k merchandise or more limited sizes. I'm personally not a fan of spirit jerseys or shirts with big designs on the back of them, so I didn't check for sizing there.

If you have any questions, let me know!

 

[Calantha]

There was plenty of trivia to be done, but not a lot of adult ish activities outside of that.

Ugh. I really hope they fix that soon. I have no interest in trivia.

 

[1200emily]

What night was pirate night?

 

[jmmj13]

Do you know if BBB is doing pirate league again? And what about Bingo - is that back?

 

[HeatherLassell]

Do you know if BBB is doing pirate league again? And what about Bingo - is that back?

It says on the DCL website that the Pirate League makeovers are paused until Fall 2022.

I am sure I've read that Bingo is back.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Were they seating more than one party at a table in the MDR?

 

[Ohmymonty]

Ugh. I really hope they fix that soon. I have no interest in trivia.

It was even too much for me. I LOVE trivia and it was still like "can I get something else to do?

What night was pirate night?

Pirate Night was on day 4 (with day 1 being Port Canaveral). On our cruise, it was Grand Cayman.

Do you know if BBB is doing pirate league again? And what about Bingo - is that back?

I don't know about Pirate League specifically, but there were plenty of kids who got a BBB experience. I saw lots of princesses and when I was booking activities, I saw the opportunity to reserve BBB.

Were they seating more than one party at a table in the MDR?

It looked like if you had multiple staterooms in your travel party, you were seated at the same table. So, by that I mean that if you were traveling with your family in multiple rooms on a linked reservation, you could be seated together. We were not seated others at our dining rotation.

 

[Barbydoll8]

Hmmm... We sailed last Nov on the Fantasy when restrictions were much tighter and they still did Match Your Mate, Bingo, character drawings and other activities for adults (I think Karaoke?). The only thing that was suspended at that time was the nightly dance was not done due to social distancing needs. Yes, trivia was around but there were other things for adults.
Hope everyone has a fun time on their up coming cruise.

 

[Ohmymonty]

Do you know if BBB is doing pirate league again? And what about Bingo - is that back?

Sorry, realized I didn't answer your bingo question. Yes, bingo was back. I think the jackpot on our cruise was about 4k.

Hmmm... We sailed last Nov on the Fantasy when restrictions were much tighter and they still did Match Your Mate, Bingo, character drawings and other activities for adults (I think Karaoke?). The only thing that was suspended at that time was the nightly dance was not done due to social distancing needs. Yes, trivia was around but there were other things for adults.
Hope everyone has a fun time on their up coming cruise.

I maybe should have been more specific. There was Match your Mate, character drawings, bingo, and some karaoke. The adult shows like match your mate, snippets, etc were all later at night (1030pm). I don't remember seeing an adult karaoke, just family karaoke. So there was a little variety, but it was still few and far between, especially during the daytime. Pretty much from sun up to 6pm it was trivia and drink tastings. Maybe it's that there wasn't enough instances of these other activities so that the ratio is still heavy on trivia and drinking.

 

[Diana Lyn]

How was your Grand Cayman stop? Did you do a DCL shore excursion or book something on your own?

We are on the Dream 6/11 and I know GC just opened recently to cruise ships, but there isn't a lot of info out there.

 

[zzakaria]

Thanks for the recap! Wondering if there was a formal night, and if folks got dressed up for pirate night?

 

[MomOTwins]

Thanks for the report! On the servers at dinner, on every disney cruise we’ve been on the assistant server takes your drink order and a few minutes later the main server takes your food order. Maybe that’s what they were trying to do and something got lost in translation?

 

[Lynes88]

Thanks for the recap! Wondering if there was a formal night, and if folks got dressed up for pirate night?

Yes, these have been features for a while since the return to cruising for Disney... for us on our Fantasy sailing back in Feb. we had the typical Formal night (Sunday) and plenty of people dressed-up as usual and also for Pirate night. I saw typical Pirate costumes on guests and we wore special Pirate t-shirts as a family. There were no special pirate night activities since we were on a SWDAS.

 

[randumb0]

I am on the Fantasy now. It's kind of sad. Our server told us he has 2 tables for early dining and 1 table for late

 

[cwis]

I am on the Fantasy now. It's kind of sad. Our server told us he has 2 tables for early dining and 1 table for late

Is this because they train staff and there are more waiters than actually needed?

Or has free champaign and lobster come to Cabanas?

 

[Calantha]

Or has free champaign and lobster come to Cabanas?

here here!

 

[MomOTwins]

Is this because they train staff and there are more waiters than actually needed?

Or has free champaign and lobster come to Cabanas?

It's because it's early May. It's a down time between March/April spring break season and the summer season. Parents don't want to pull their kids out of school for a whole week just before the end of the year and final exams, especially when whether is nice at home (unlike late/fall winter--also a busy season because people wanna go somewhere tropical to escape the cold). Disney World is seeing a lull in crowds now too.

 

[MODisFan]

Merchandise was kind of a letdown, to be honest.

This makes me sad! DCL and Castaway Cay merchandise is something I look forward to! Do you remember seeing any DCL scrapbooks? We are sailing on the Fantasy in June. Hopefully there will be more options.

 

[Sophie’smom]

We get on the Fantasy May 14 , it’s great to get such current info. Have they done a silent disco one night ?

 

[HeatherLassell]

This makes me sad! DCL and Castaway Cay merchandise is something I look forward to! Do you remember seeing any DCL scrapbooks? We are sailing on the Fantasy in June. Hopefully there will be more options.

Best advice is go shopping AS SOON AS THE SHOPS OPEN on the first day! That's your best chance at all sizes, etc.