Friday 22 August Embarkation Day
The day started early, at 5am, watching The Disney Fantasy arrive in Southampton. As my room was at the back of the hotel, I watched the port live streams on
Solent Ships YouTube Channel
I snoozed for a while and then went to breakfast around 7.45am
After breakfast I went for a walk to the front of the hotel for my first in person view of The Fantasy.
Back in my room I got ready for the ship, did my final packing and put my luggage tag on my case.
Then it was finally time to head to the ship. My PAT time was 10.45am.
I left the hotel at 10am and took a slow leisurely walk to Horizon Cruise Terminal. It was a lovely morning and I was in no hurry, so it took me about 15 minutes, even though I had a 50 pound / 20kg 4 wheel roller, and a small carryon 4 wheel roller and a cross body bag.
I stopped to take some more photos when I got near the cruise terminal.
After leaving my checked bag with the porters I joined the queue marked 10.45am outside the terminal building. Note for Americans reading this, in Southampton you do not need to tip the bag porters as they are employed by Southampton Port. The concierge line was to the left and the next PAT time 11am was to the right. You could feel the excitement in the air.
At 10.30am concierge were allowed into the building and then it was our turn.
They had changed the set up this year in Horizon Terminal. This year, 2025 after some switchbacks we went straight to security check. This is similar to airport security, all carry on bags go through the scanners, electronics need to be taken out of bags and pockets etc emptied.
Then after security we went up the escalators and then some more switchbacks to the check in desks. This is where passports and travel documents are checked , as well as the health questionnaire. You will need to show your PAT form multiple times, so make sure it is to hand.
Then once I was checked in it was over the seating area. As I was in the first PAT time, there were plenty of seats. I did a time check and it was just after 11am.
Once I had a seat I tried to connect to
DCL Guest Wi-Fi but there were some issues. I could see around me that everyone was having issues. It was annoying but it was clear it was a DCL issue and not an issue with my phone.
I also sent a message in the cruise WhatsApp group. There were a few solos and we had connected before embarkation day and agreed to meet up before boarding. This way we could board together and go straight to the dining team to make sure we were on the same table for dinner.
I managed to meet up with 2 out of the 3 solos in the boarding area, L from France and A from Italy. E from England had a later PAT and boarding group. It was nice to meet in person after communicating on WhatsApp for a few weeks.
We were chatting ( spoiler alert, there was non stop chat at every meal time
) so Im not sure of the time, but Family of The Day were called, then Concierge, then they started the group numbers. The 3 of us were group 5, so I think we were called about 11.40am.
As we were walking along the glass corridor we discussed what we had done on previous cruises for the Welcome Onboard announcement. We decided to call ourselves The Solo Cruisers and the CMs gave us a great welcome.
Then it was straight down to Enchanted Garden to speak to the Dining Team. There was no other passengers there so we were done and sorted all together on the same table for late dining. We messaged E from England on WhatsApp and told her the table number and when she came onboard she managed to get changed to our table.
Myself and L from France went to Animators Palate for lunch and A from Italy went to Cabanas.
- Pennette Pasta with Tomato-Basil Provençal Sauce, Goat Cheese and a Spinach Peste
- Carrot Cake layered with Lemon Cream
During lunch we were finally able to connect to DCL Guest Wi-Fi and the cruise App changed to the onboard version. Our MDR table had changed and we spent lunch chatting and comparing what activities we each planned to do for the rest of the day.
After lunch we separated and I went up to deck 4 to fill my water bottle and then went up to deck 11 and got a coffee from Cove Cafe.
It was around 1.15pm so I decided to just to go down to deck 8 and wait for the rooms to open.
I had booked the exact same room on The Fantasy as I had in 2023 and 2024 on The Dream, so I was curious to see if there were any differences.
The room was exactly the same except in the wardrobes. The Dream had shelves in the single door but there were no shelves on The Fantasy.
Confirming we got the old bag and lanyard on this cruise
Next it was time to decorate my door.
There was a slight issue in my room, the safe wasn't working. I alerted my room host and a call was put to maintenances. They hadn't turned up by the time I was ready to leave my room so I just told my room host that I would be back later.
It was now time to relax so I went up to deck 11 , filled my drinks cup at the soda machines by the pool and continued up to Satellite Falls. It was quiet and it was nice just to sit in the shade and read my book for a while.
I stayed at Satellite Falls until the Muster Drill announcement and then went down to Deck 4 H. As usual there were many late comers but eventually everyone was checked in, they played the announcements and the crew gave the lifebelt demonstration.
I had decided that I wasn't going to go to the Sail Away Party, so I took my time going up the forward stairs. I took a detour to Cove Bar, the splash up bar at the adult pool and got a Pina Colava. This is not listed on the menu but its a variation of a piña colada, with Bacardi Raspberry Rum, piña colada mix, and raspberry purée.
Then I took the lift back up to Satellite Falls and found a sun lounger right at the front in the shade for the sail out.
I stayed watching the sail out until about 6pm. I went back down to my room to change for dinner and to see if the safe had been fixed. I met my room host and she confirmed that the battery had been replaced in the safe and it was working fine now.
I then went down to the shops as I wanted to check the opening time and to see what merch was available. On previous cruises the shops opened at 6pm and as I had early dining I missed out on some things I wanted. This time as I had late dining, I wanted to be at the shops right when they opened.
Before going to the shops , I went to guest services to add money to my onboard account. I don't put a card on my account so I have a cash account which I top up during the cruise using a Disney Gift Card. When I am in
Disneyland California I load up my Disney Gift Card and then use that for the cruise.
On this cruise , the shops opened at 7.30pm. Maybe they revised the opening times this year, after complaints that people on early dining missed out in previous years.
After guest services I just stayed in the general area of the shops, first sitting on the benches and people watching and then as the area got busier I stood at the door of the shop which had The Fantasy merch. The area really filled up as people from early dining arrived and people came out of the theatre. I managed to be the first person in the shop, I walked with purpose to The Fantasy Spirt Jerseys, selected my size, and picked up the matching ears and was over at the till paying before many people were even in the shop.
Another change for this year, they were not using the
Disney Cruise reusable bags , they only had plain brown paper bags in the shops. Once I had paid I went straight back to my room, left my shopping in the room and then went to dinner.
Dinner tonight was Animators Palate. On the way to the restaurant I went to Bon Voyage Bar and got the Drink of The Day, Paradise Punch.
I was first at the table and was soon joined by L from France, A from Italy and E from England. We were all ladies of different ages and background travelling solo for different reasons, so it made for some interesting dinner conversations. We got lucky and our table was right by a screen , so we had chats with Crush and friends during the meal.
- Tomato Tarte with Glazed Goat Cheese and shaved Radish
- Herb-Crusted Pork Chop Roast Pork Chop brushed with Dijon Mustard and crusted with Herbed Breadcrumbs served with Sun-dried Tomato Risotto and a Borolo Wine Sauce
- Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake creamy Vanilla Cheesecake with a Chocolate Fudge base
During dinner we discussed about going to the adult entertainment in The Tube nightclub. E from England said she wanted an early night but myself, L from France and A from Italy decided to go.
The entertainment host YoYo was brilliant and even though it was a small crowd he had everyone laughing the whole time. The first game was Majority Rules, which we didn't do too bad with, but we really messed up one question, my fault and our answer sheet caught YoYos eye and he had a good laugh at what we / I wrote. The second game was Match Your Mate. Now that was hilarious. One couple married 26 years, one couple married 15 years and one couple married 1 year. All were great sports and honest when they didn't have to be. The married 1 year couple won, although I'm sure they were glad it was a small crowd, as some of their answers were memorable
We decided to leave after Match Your Mate as it was only a silent disco next. I went for a walk around the now empty atrium and took some photos before going to bed.
It had been a long day and I wanted to get up early to watch the sun rise.
. I don’t know it well. However after our trip this summer I can now visualize taking trains and a lot of the other aspects of your journey which is fun.
