Sailed the Magic twice, thinking about the Fantasy...?'s

[DIS_Ag]

As the title states, we've been on the Magic twice and and looking at Fantasy cruise this summer and I have a few questions. We absolutely love the Magic. My wife are not huge fans of crowds or lines and I'm worried that the bigger ship will not be for us. For those that have done both....

1.) Did you feel that that you noticed the boat being more crowded? I've read comments about Castaway Cay and the pools being noticeably more crowded. How big of a deal was this?
2.) Did you feel like the service or quality of the food was any different, especially in the MDR's?
3.) Did your kids have any opinions on the kid's clubs in one vs the other?
4.) Any other differences we should be aware of? I'm definitely looking forward to Remy if we go.
5.) Very random, but is it still true that the Magic is the only boat that serves shwarmas on deck? Not a deal breaker at all, but I'm curious.

Thanks so much, I appreciate everyone.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

As the title states, we've been on the Magic twice and and looking at Fantasy cruise this summer and I have a few questions. We absolutely love the Magic. My wife are not huge fans of crowds or lines and I'm worried that the bigger ship will not be for us. For those that have done both....

1.) Did you feel that that you noticed the boat being more crowded? I've read comments about Castaway Cay and the pools being noticeably more crowded. How big of a deal was this?
2.) Did you feel like the service or quality of the food was any different, especially in the MDR's?
3.) Did your kids have any opinions on the kid's clubs in one vs the other?
4.) Any other differences we should be aware of? I'm definitely looking forward to Remy if we go.
5.) Very random, but is it still true that the Magic is the only boat that serves shwarmas on deck? Not a deal breaker at all, but I'm curious.

Thanks so much, I appreciate everyone.

1) I thought it was noticeable that there more people on the Fantasy than the Magic. But the ship itself was larger, and made the crowd "feel" about the same. Pools seem a lot more crowded. Couple of reason for that - both the Mickey & Donald pools are in the same space (unlike on the Magic), so you have twice the number of people in the same area. And pools onboard ships are generally pretty small, making them seem more crowded than a larger one. While, intellectually, I know the Walt Disney Theater on the Fantasy is larger, it felt smaller to me.

2) Service was pretty much the same. I wasn't impressed with the Signature menus on the Fantasy as the Magic.

3) No kid in the clubs, so can't answer this one.

4) Can't address Remy, but Palo seemed smaller, mostly because it's on one side of the ship, unlike the Magic where it's across the whole aft section.

5) I believe I read that the Wonder also has them now (since her re-imagining). Don't think it's on the Fantasy.

 

[Shanti]

As the title states, we've been on the Magic twice and and looking at Fantasy cruise this summer and I have a few questions. We absolutely love the Magic. My wife are not huge fans of crowds or lines and I'm worried that the bigger ship will not be for us. For those that have done both....

1.) Did you feel that that you noticed the boat being more crowded? I've read comments about Castaway Cay and the pools being noticeably more crowded. How big of a deal was this?
2.) Did you feel like the service or quality of the food was any different, especially in the MDR's?
3.) Did your kids have any opinions on the kid's clubs in one vs the other?
4.) Any other differences we should be aware of? I'm definitely looking forward to Remy if we go.
5.) Very random, but is it still true that the Magic is the only boat that serves shwarmas on deck? Not a deal breaker at all, but I'm curious.

Thanks so much, I appreciate everyone.

We've sailed once on the Magic (a year ago) and once on the Fantasy (a couple of weeks ago), both packed sailings during winter break holidays, with great beach weather at CC.

1. No, we did not notice the Fantasy being more crowded than the Magic. I had read so much about this, but it was a non-issue for us. Ditto for Castaway Cay. The family pools on both cruises were kid soup- no difference there. There was more of a line for Pelican Plunge at CC during our Fantasy cruise, but the line moved quickly so that was a non-issue as well.

2. The quality of MDR food and service was much better for us on our Fantasy cruise. Animator's Palate is different on the two ships. We liked the Magic's changing-colors AP better than the Talking Crush show AP on the Fantasy, but I loved the special animation show on our second AP dinner on the Fantasy.

3. My son liked his counselors on the Magic better, but spent little time in the clubs on either cruise. He had an easier time doing his favorite club activity (virtual steering of a ship) in the Magic's Lab than in the Fantasy's Lab- fewer kids trying to do it at once.

4. I prefer the Aqua Duck to the Aqua Dunk, but my son liked both. On the Fantasy, we loved the Mid-Ship Detective Agency, the on-demand Disney movies & cartoons in the stateroom, and the magical porthole in our inside stateroom. We also preferred the ship port at Port Canaveral to the one at Miami. We used DCL transfers, so didn't mind the longer bus ride to get there. The Fantasy had mostly English-speaking families onboard, while our Miami-based cruise on the Magic had predominantly Spanish and Portugese-speaking families onboard.

5. No clue about this one.

So while we really enjoyed our first cruise on the Magic, we were even more blown away by the Fantasy. I was pretty much ready to go home on the debarkation morning of our Magic cruise (though my son wasn't), but the Fantasy was a ship that neither of us wanted to leave.

 

[jiminy14]

We have sailed several times on the Magic and once on the Fantasy. Here are my observations:

1. Yes it is more crowded but since the ship is larger the crowds are usually dispersed well. We noticed longer lines for the character meet and greets, to enter the theater, and to enter the MDRs. We found that we had to arrive at the theater earlier than on the Magic to get a good seat. As for the lines at the MDRs, we let the crowds enter and arrived a few minutes later. One thing to keep in mind, the ship is longer and it takes a little more time to get to places. My DD remarked once while walking down a hall that on The Magic we would have already been where we wanted to go.

2. Service for us was better on the Magic than on the Fantasy. Our servers on the Fantasy were just OK but the Head Server (Munir) was stellar. He more than made up for the problems we had with our MDR team. Food quality was about the same though it seemed like our food arrived quicker and warmer on the Magic than the Fantasy. I like the MDRs on the Magic because they are smaller and you can pretty much see the entire room. In Animator's Palate on the Fantasy, we were stuck in a corner area and could not see what was going on in the rest of the room.

3. I can't comment on the kids clubs since we did not use them, however, the Magic has the Marvel Academy which is not on the Fantasy.

4. We have dined in both Palo and Remy and prefer Palo. I like the Palo brunch better because there are many options for you to choose from. Remy brunch is a plated meal of about 5-6 courses. The dinner at Remy was comparable to a meal at Victoria and Albert's. The food was very good but I was amazed at all the additional up charges there were in addition to the $85. We were presented with several different "menus" for truffles, kobe beef and wine pairings that could have added another $200 to the cost of the meal.
Another difference on the Fantasy is that all the quick service outlets are located in one area unlike the Magic where Daisy's Delights ifs off in a corner.

5. There is no shwarmas station on the Fantasy.

 

[Shanti]

We have dined in both Palo and Remy and prefer Palo. I like the Palo brunch better because there are many options for you to chose from Remy brunch is a plated meal of about 5-6 courses.

I feel the same way. It's nice to hear this from someone else because so many people on the boards say Remy is better, but I really like to get to choose what I eat.

 

[jiminy14]

I feel the same way. It's nice to hear this from someone else because so many people on the boards say Remy is better, but I really like to get to choose what I eat.

I liked Remy, I just prefer Palo. I have a vegetarian in my family and there are many more options for her at Palo than at Remy. I also have a hard time justifying an $85 up charge for a dinner of vegetables.

 

[DIS_Ag]

So for those of you who thought the MDR food suffered, was it enough to make you not want to sail the larger ships?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So for those of you who thought the MDR food suffered, was it enough to make you not want to sail the larger ships?

No, I'd just make different choices the next time.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

I agree with everything @jiminy14 said above. We've been on the Magic twice and Fantasy once. We absolutely loved the smaller feel (and less crazy amount of walking) of the Magic. We also believe the food itself as well as service was noticeably better on the Magic. We actually had a poor assistant server on the Fantasy (dumb example, but every single night of our 7-nt in the MDR I had to ask for a small plate of lemons for our water. Every. Night.), which may have tainted our opinion. We just felt it was probably more difficult for them to prepare and serve the extra couple thousand on board. Saying this however, I would not hesitate to sail on the larger ships again. Honestly, we love DCL and for future cruises would choose the itineraries and prices that fit our liking /budget.

ETA: My girls didn't ride the Aquaduck all that much bc it was so windy. But they LOVED the balcony seating in the WD Theater on board the Fantasy.

 

[gotomu212]

I'll go against the grain and say I found the food, servers, and restaurants better on the Fantasy than the Magic. It's so subjective though.

We liked the adult areas a lot more on the Fantasy. We don't use them very much on the classic ships, but found ourselves enjoying the adult areas every night on the Fantasy, and Satellite Falls was great. We also liked the "tech stuff" on the Fantasy- midship dectectives, on demand movies, and aquaduck. My son (7 at the time) thought midship detectives was better than any of the Clubs on any of the ships.

The only draw back for us was the kids clubs seemed more crowded on the Fantasy at times, and port embarkation every port day seemed to take longer to us.

 

[ilovebassets]

As the title states, we've been on the Magic twice and and looking at Fantasy cruise this summer and I have a few questions. We absolutely love the Magic. My wife are not huge fans of crowds or lines and I'm worried that the bigger ship will not be for us. For those that have done both....

1.) Did you feel that that you noticed the boat being more crowded? I've read comments about Castaway Cay and the pools being noticeably more crowded. How big of a deal was this?
2.) Did you feel like the service or quality of the food was any different, especially in the MDR's?
3.) Did your kids have any opinions on the kid's clubs in one vs the other?
4.) Any other differences we should be aware of? I'm definitely looking forward to Remy if we go.
5.) Very random, but is it still true that the Magic is the only boat that serves shwarmas on deck? Not a deal breaker at all, but I'm curious.

Thanks so much, I appreciate everyone.

1. I thought the Fantasy feels more crowded than the Magic. Castaway Cay was just fine in terms of crowds with the Fantasy. The biggest area it felt more crowded was for character meet and greets. The lines were always ridiculous on the Fantasy. So much so, that we gave up trying to meet characters the second and third Fantasy cruises we took. The second area it felt more crowded was the main theater and movie theater--had to get to both relatively early to get good seats. In general, some of the main public areas feel like there's just more people. Mostly it's not an issue, but occasionally, it felt too much.

2. I though the service was equivalent between the two. We've had excellent table service on all four of our Disney cruises. In fact, our original Magic server was the same server we had on the Fantasy 18 months later. Do not feel like more people affected that at all. Food is fantastic on both IMO. It exceeded my expectations on our most recent Fantasy cruise (and we sailed her twice last year!)

3. No major opinions on kids clubs. The Fantasy clubs can get very crowded. I would not send three year old there without a big sibling personally. Although on our last Fantasy cruise, it didn't seem as crowded as it did the first two times we sailed. Of course, we sailed during winter break versus during school sessions the previous two times, so perhaps more teens and preteens using Vibe and Edge instead. The nursery is definitely nicer on the Fantasy than the Magic.

 

[DIS_Ag]

Ok one more specific....

On the Magic we could always find loungers by the pool and tables to eat on deck. How difficult is this on the Fantasy?

TIA

 

[Marc D]

Ok one more specific....

On the Magic we could always find loungers by the pool and tables to eat on deck. How difficult is this on the Fantasy?

TIA

Tables are not hard to come by but loungers are sometimes hard to get on sea days. We arrived early and had no problem finding three chairs but we saw a lot of people in larger groups walking around without success. We also saw (unfortunately) a lot of people grabbing chairs by putting stuff on them then going off for hours.

 

[Belle2002]

1.) Did you feel that that you noticed the boat being more crowded? I've read comments about Castaway Cay and the pools being noticeably more crowded. How big of a deal was this?
2.) Did you feel like the service or quality of the food was any different, especially in the MDR's?
3.) Did your kids have any opinions on the kid's clubs in one vs the other?
4.) Any other differences we should be aware of? I'm definitely looking forward to Remy if we go.
5.) Very random, but is it still true that the Magic is the only boat that serves shwarmas on deck? Not a deal breaker at all, but I'm curious.

I took my first cruise on the Fantasy last year after only being on the Magic and Wonder (once), so majority of my experience is on the Magic which I love! To answer your questions:
1. I didn't really notice the ship to be more crowded except the day we got on board, but Castaway Cay was nuts, and VERY crowded. Really hard to get seats on the beach and really long lines at lunch.
2. The food was better than on my last Magic cruise which had terrible food. However dinner service was very rushed and service much less personable, no time to get to know your server as they were way too busy.
3. we were an adult only group so no comment on kids stuff.
4. The Aquaduct is amazing!!! Wish they had it on the Magic. They also have a way larger adult only section on the Fantasy which did save us for deck seating on sea days!. I also found the ship really confusing to get around and got lost every day. Also, if you want to sign up for any of the adult tasting classes (champagne, wine, mixology, etc) they were all fully booked on day 1 of the cruise by 2:00pm!! Oh yes, and getting off the ship at the end took FOREVER!!!
5. There is a shwarma station on the Magic?! that's new since I last travelled, definitely not one on the Fantasy.

Still had a great cruise on the Fantasy - it's a gorgeous ship! Palo was definitely a better experience too. I could do without the extra 1000 passengers thought and am really looking forward to my cruise on the Magic this spring!!