Sept 14, 2013 - Western Fantasy Cruise!!!

[AngieBil]

Hi all,

We just got off the Fantasy on Saturday and have already booked our next trip on Sept 14th, 2013. We just did the Eastern Cruise and will be trying out the Western ports next time around.

Anybody out there already booked on this cruise???

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[ATLMinnie]

We are booked on this cruise. We were on the Magic back in May, and we are on Carnival next week. We are really looking forward to the Fantasy though because the kids want to ride the Aquaduck...and I do too!

 

[AngieBil]

Have you sailed with Carnival before? The Disney Fantasy was our very first cruise and we couldn't be more pleased with the ship/service/etc. The AquaDuck is a fun waterslide

Hopefully you share with us your experience on Carnival vs. Disney.

Angie.

 

[ATLMinnie]

Yes, we have cruised Carnival and Royal Caribbean before, but the kids have only been on Disney. We are "cruise people" who would rather be on the water than almost anywhere else.
This will be the kids first Carnival cruise, but they have been begging to go back to a boat since we got off in May.

 

[dawn8179]

Was starting to think this was going to be an empty ship. Didn't really want to be the one to start the thread. My husband, my son (who will be 15 months at cruise time) and I will be on this cruise. We rebooked when we are on the Dream last year, with our son being a new addition that has never cruised. I have cruised Carnival before and prefer Disney. I think a lot depends on what type of activities you like as to which you prefer. My in laws would never cruise on Disney and love Carnival. Guess we won't be cruising together, my feelings aren't hurt.

 

[disney honeymooners]

This will be my 5th Disney Cruise and my first 7 night cruise (2-Woner, 2-Dream) so I am really looking forward to going to other places besides Nassau. It will be mine and my husbands 4 year anniversary trip so we are excited. We booked it while we were on the dream last week and can not wait.

 

[AngieBil]

Yay! I'm so happy to see people on this cruise. I'm sure this thread will fill up as the date approaches.

For interest sake, this will be our 2nd Disney cruise and it will just be me, DH and our son who will be 3 1/2 at the time.

 

[zippyzo]

hello
we are on this cruise too, have been waiting for this thread to start. This will be my 2nd disney cruise and my parents 3rd, they have just got off the wonder. I am very excited about this cruise.

so hello to everyone

 

[karyn0995]

Hi everyone!

We just returned from the September 15, 2012 Fantasy Western Caribbean cruise. We had such a great time, we booked on board for the Sept. 14, 2013 cruise!

"We" are me, DH, and DS (who will be 6 by the time we cruise again).

If you have any questions about our experience last week feel free to ask. Looking forward to getting to know some of you in the next 11 months!

 

[Iloveor]

I am taking my niece who will graduate in 6/13. We're acutally doing a 30 Day Disney Do-all Trip (Disneyland, DisneyCruise, DisneyWorld). So looking forward to it. This will ne my 2nd cruise, 1st for Disney. My niece, who will be 18 then, has never done a cruise. She is more nervous about the part of the vacation than anything.

Can't wait to get to know people who are planning to sail this cruise and hope to meet up on the boat.

(fairly new to DIS ... give me a little bit to figure it all out and then my profile won't be so blah)

 

[tink11]

Hi All! Have been waiting for a meet to start! Tried to start a thread, but for some reason it wouldn't post. I will be cruising with my DH, DS's 12 & 8, DD's 7. 10, & 14. On the 14th it will be my DD 7th birthday, what better present than a cruise? We booked on the Dream last year for this cruise, but am cruising on the 21st on the Dream, great price! My Dad and step-mother are going as well as my adult DD, her Dh and 2 kids.

 

[mandarin]

Hi all! Happy there is finally a thread for this cruise! This will be my 5th Disney cruise but first 7 nighter. I am with Tink11. In my room it will be me DH, DS will be 3 almost 4 and DD will be 1 almost 2! We are going on the Dream on October 21st. Looking forward to cruising again!

 

[ATLMinnie]

Hi Everyone!

Well, we are back from our Carnival cruise, and I think it's safe to say that we won't be doing that again anytime soon. It wasn't really anything that was Carnival's fault (well, there were a few things that were Carnival's fault), but mostly, we think that things that we would not have noticed in the past or would not have bothered us in the past, we noticed and they bothered us now that we have kids.
And truly, while I was looking forward to this vacation, I was not as excited about this cruise because I knew it wasn't Disney. When we pulled up to the port, the Disney Fantasy was "parked" in front of the Carnival Ecstasy that we were on, and the kids started jumping up and down for the Mickey Mouse boat. It was a little difficult to say that no, that was not our ship. Then, when we were in Nassau, we were parked next to the Disney Dream, and both kids started crying because we were not getting back on that ship. DH and I were like, "Ok, ok! We get it! Mommy and Daddy made a mistake. It won't happen again."
Anyway, now we can just look forward to the Disney Fantasy. On this cruise next year, it will be myself, DH, DS who will be 5 yrs old, and DD who will be 3.5 yrs old. Looking forward to getting to know everyone better!

 

[zippyzo]

Just wanted to say hi to all those that have just joined this group, am looking forward to getting to know you all in the lead up to the cruise.

 

[mykidsrock76]

We are talking about booking this trip. We've never sailed DCL but have sailed a couple Carnival ships and we are ready for a change. There's do much to read to plan though. Where does everyone begin?

 

[karyn0995]

We are talking about booking this trip. We've never sailed DCL but have sailed a couple Carnival ships and we are ready for a change. There's do much to read to plan though. Where does everyone begin?

Hi!! My family (DH, DS) and I cruised on the Fantasy just a few weeks back so I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have. This was our first ever cruise on any line, so I can't offer any comparisons of DCL to Carnival BUT I can go on and on about the absolutely amazing experience we had!!

Not only are we booked on this cruise next September, but we're also booked on the Dream in July.

If you don't feel like searching through the vast amounts of information on DISboards (because it can become addicting!), feel free to ask away here and I'll do my best to help out.

Happy planning!

 

[mykidsrock76]

Hi!! My family (DH, DS) and I cruised on the Fantasy just a few weeks back so I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have. This was our first ever cruise on any line, so I can't offer any comparisons of DCL to Carnival BUT I can go on and on about the absolutely amazing experience we had!!

Not only are we booked on this cruise next September, but we're also booked on the Dream in July.

If you don't feel like searching through the vast amounts of information on DISboards (because it can become addicting!), feel free to ask away here and I'll do my best to help out.

Happy planning!

Thank you! I always use the Dis for our WDW trips and it can be extremely addicting. There is so much information out there it can make your head spin!

How was your experience with the dining rooms? What is the dress code like? We have no problem dressing for dinner but we do like to change after dinner into more comfortable clothes.

I'm assuming the kids clubs are great. From what I've seen online, they look like a lot of fun.

What kind of activities do they have in the evening? Carnival is big on the bars, casino scene, which we are not. Most nights my DH and I felt lost for something to do and none of their evening activities were kid friendly.

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[karyn0995]

Thank you! I always use the Dis for our WDW trips and it can be extremely addicting. There is so much information out there it can make your head spin!

How was your experience with the dining rooms? We had a great experience in the MDRs. Our son has special dietary concerns, which I explained to ALL of our servers the very first night. They bent over backwards to accommodate us and help him feel at ease. Personally, I prefer to eat vegetarian and there were plenty of options for me. DH and MIL (who I forgot to mention also cruised with us) can be food snobs but they too enjoyed every single meal. The 3 of us did have dinner in Palo's one evening while our son ate in the kids club. Palo was fabulous but I'll admit that I was disappointed in the serving size of my dish. I ordered some type of lobster ravioli thing (apologies for not remembering the name) and I got a whole whopping THREE ravioli's. That was a let down because the dish was scrumptious but admittedly with the salad and everything that came before hand I probably didn't "need" to eat more than I did! Back to the main MDR's...our assistant server would see us walking into the restaurant and before we even had a chance to sit down our drinks were waiting on us. The service team would acknowledge us anytime we saw them on board and always went out of their way to make sure we were having a great time and that our expectations were not only met but exceeded. They asked about our dogs because they knew I had a hard time leaving them at home, they recommended activities for the next day, and made sure we had fun on our excursions. They left NOTHING out!

What is the dress code like? We have no problem dressing for dinner but we do like to change after dinner into more comfortable clothes. Most people adhered to the DCL dress code requirements. Meaning, no shorts (except for little kids) etc. My family dressed for all of the special events, semi-formal, formal and pirate. DH wore a tux on formal night, and while I didn't wear a satiny gown, I did wear a long dress. We didn't feel out of place doing so and there were more people who had on formal attire than not. We also dressed up for Pirate Night along with our son and had a BLAST! If you want to connect with your inner child, I suggest dressing up too! We were surprised with how many adults were actually walking around with pirate gaaarrrrrbbb on!

I'm assuming the kids clubs are great. From what I've seen online, they look like a lot of fun. One word - FABULOUS! I was talking to a friend today about how special the kids club really is, and how much interaction DS had with the Fab 5. He had a PJ party with Pluto one night, and Mickey the next. He danced with Chip & Dale, had a personal visit from Stitch, hung out with Minnie. I could go on and on. Let's just say that the time he spent with the characters on the Fantasy was way more than you can ever get standing in an autograph line at MK. The kids club workers learned the names of everyone in our family after the first day, and addressed us as such anywhere they saw us. I don't know how they remember since they encounter so many cruisers but the do! Phenomenal..just phenomenal!

What kind of activities do they have in the evening? Carnival is big on the bars, casino scene, which we are not. Most nights my DH and I felt lost for something to do and none of their evening activities were kid friendly. Oh my gosh, you name it they've got it! The atrium was the place to be with characters walking around, live music being played, movies in the Buena Vista theatre, live shows in the Disney theatre, adult comedy in the lounges, and family activities in the DLounge (bingo, kaoroke, drawing lessons and a whole slew of other stuff!!). You will not be bored at and other than the pubs/lounges kids are welcome everywhere. Oh, and make sure to catch at least one movie on Funnel Vision (the huge outdoor screen on the pool deck) That was really neat to watch a movie under the stars. If your kids decide to move in to the kids club (like my son tried to do), there were wonderful adult only places to escape to, both inside and out on the decks. My husband, who is NOT a Disney fan, asked the 3rd day if we could rebook for next year! Of course, I said yes!

Sorry for all the questions. No need to apologize! I hope this helps. If you think of anything else, don't hesitate to ask.

Hi again! Hopefully this will post correctly. I tried to answer in red above.

 

[mykidsrock76]

Hi again! Hopefully this will post correctly. I tried to answer in red above.

Wow! Thanks for the great reply. Cannot wait to share it with my DH.