Super early easter april 19, 2014 fantasy cruise!

[castawaycayfans]

I haven't gotten through all of the posts yet, has anyone looked at excursions yet? I know that it is really early, but I think that we will do St Maarten on our own and maybe a snorkeling or beach one in St Thomas. We did Bernard's Tours last time and really enjoyed it, but want to spend more time in Marigot and Maho Beach this time. DD takes French and we want her to experience some of the town. We ate at a place called Sarafinas last time and they had a beautiful display case of French pastries and sandwiches. Maho was amazing and DS would love it. As for St Thomas, we have snorkeled the past 3 times and want a change, maybe a beach day.

 

[garberathome]

Hello everyone! we booked this cruise while we were on the April 13, 2013 sailing. This will be our 9th Disney cruise - 3rd time on the Fantasy. Please add us to the FE list - DW, DH and DD (15). We joined the Facebook page the first day it was posted but haven't come across any info on FE's on that page. Looking forward to sailing with the many friends we have made on our Disney sailings and meeting new friends.

 

[DeniseMarie526]

Hello everyone! we booked this cruise while we were on the April 13, 2013 sailing. This will be our 9th Disney cruise - 3rd time on the Fantasy. Please add us to the FE list - DW, DH and DD (15). We joined the Facebook page the first day it was posted but haven't come across any info on FE's on that page. Looking forward to sailing with the many friends we have made on our Disney sailings and meeting new friends.

Welcome Aboard!

 

[twokats]

Hello everyone! we booked this cruise while we were on the April 13, 2013 sailing. This will be our 9th Disney cruise - 3rd time on the Fantasy. Please add us to the FE list - DW, DH and DD (15). We joined the Facebook page the first day it was posted but haven't come across any info on FE's on that page. Looking forward to sailing with the many friends we have made on our Disney sailings and meeting new friends.

Glad you are joining us.

I am adding you to the FE list. Right now I am keeping up with the list and as we get a little closer I will send everyone the link to the google.doc I am keeping it on.

 

[twokats]

I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday weekend. This time last year we were at WDW in preparation of boarding the Fantasy for our anniversary. We will celebrate 29 years this Sunday!!

 

[DeniseMarie526]

I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday weekend. This time last year we were at WDW in preparation of boarding the Fantasy for our anniversary. We will celebrate 29 years this Sunday!!

Kathy, Congratulations! I hope you have an excellent weekend also!

This is what I'll be doing...lol

 

[EDH Family]

We are also sailing this year over Easter so I will let everyone know what types of things they offer over Easter sailings once we return.

Sorry for the delay in getting this info out there. We sailed this year over Easter and here what the ship had going on for Easter Sunday. Hope the info below helps.

Easter Baskets: Prior to the cruise, I had checked the cruise gift section and was disappointed with what was offered. They had a few spring type things, but not really Easter Baskets for the kids. I was not sure what was going to offered onboard, so I did opt to bring my own baskets and stuff for the kids. Once onboard, in the ships gift shops, they did have pre made basket available for purchase. You could also make your own basket by purchasing the basket (and wrapping) for $7 and then purchasing any merchandise you wanted to go in it. They would hold the basket until you wanted to pick it up. They also had very nice gift bags (at no charge). Great ideas for next time. Good to know there were options available once onboard. Obviously much more cost effective to bring on your own basket and items, but not as convenient.

They held a few different religious services:
Sunrise Service @6am
Catholic Mass @ 8am
interdenominational Service @ 9:30am

Small bags of candy treats were delivered to the kids during the day into the staterooms from the Easter Bunny

Family Activities: Family Easter Crafts (2 different times)

Activities at the kids clubs: (scheduled 2-3 times during the day at the various different clubs).
Easter Crafts
Easter Face Paint
Easter Egg hunt-For the younger kids (3-11), there was about 3 different eggs hunts available at the kids clubs at designated times.
Easter Celebration

 

[EDH Family]

We are already at 22 cabins and we still have 11 months to go.
My group last year set the cutoff at 40 and any that joined after that we gave the option to who wanted to add them and I kept that list separate.
Even our little cruise in February, we had some join after our cutoff date and we asked who was able to add.

Anyway, I feel that 40 is a good number and yes 80 was quite large.

Anyway, that is where we stand right now and we have at least 9 or 10 months before a possible cutoff date. It will be up to the group whether we cut off at 30 or 60 days.

Every FE group that i have participated in is ran a bit differently. From past experience, the FE groups on the 7 days seem to be much more popular than on the 3 or 4 day cruises. I think there is more experienced DCL peeps who know about it. So even though we are not too large now, you can expect that the amount of people will grow as the dates gets closer

On the last 7 day cruise, our group was so large that it was split into sub groups. We ended up with about 4 groups with 10-15 cabins each for that sailing. This made it a bit more manageable for everyone participating. Even with 10-15 cabins it was still around 50-60 people per group.

 

[Niebz]

Every FE group that i have participated in is ran a bit differently. From past experience, the FE groups on the 7 days seem to be much more popular than on the 3 or 4 day cruises. I think there is more experienced DCL peeps who know about it. So even though we are not too large now, you can expect that the amount of people will grow as the dates gets closer

On the last 7 day cruise, our group was so large that it was split into sub groups. We ended up with about 4 groups with 10-15 cabins each for that sailing. This made it a bit more manageable for everyone participating. Even with 10-15 cabins it was still around 50-60 people per group.

That sounds like a really good idea. If the large group were split into smaller groups perhaps based on ship location it would be way more manageable. We really want to participate but coming from Canada for a long stay combined with WDW we just don't have the luggage space for tons of gifts, coming down or returning home. I'm going to hold off on joining for now until it's closer and we know how many cabins there are and how it's going to work.

 

[EDH Ducks]

Very excited to be sailing with a few of our neighbors/friends next April. Would you add us to the roll call? We are Kristi (Mom), Robert (Dad), and Andrew (age 9 at time of cruise). I am also interested in the FE festivities.

 

[DeniseMarie526]

Very excited to be sailing with a few of our neighbors/friends next April. Would you add us to the roll call? We are Kristi (Mom), Robert (Dad), and Andrew (age 9 at time of cruise). I am also interested in the FE festivities.

Welcome Aboard.

 

[twokats]

Very excited to be sailing with a few of our neighbors/friends next April. Would you add us to the roll call? We are Kristi (Mom), Robert (Dad), and Andrew (age 9 at time of cruise). I am also interested in the FE festivities.

I have you on the FE list.

 

[castawaycayfans]

Are we on the fe list? I didn't see us on the roll call.

 

[twokats]

Are we on the fe list? I didn't see us on the roll call.

2cme911 is in charge of the roll call. I have you on the FE list.

 

[castawaycayfans]

2cme911 is in charge of the roll call. I have you on the FE list.

Thanks Kathy, I didn't realize that they were 2 different lists, still figuring this stuff out. Can you tell that I need a vacation?

 

[DeniseMarie526]

Thanks Kathy, I didn't realize that they were 2 different lists, still figuring this stuff out. Can you tell that I need a vacation?

Wait till we add the mycology class list...roflol

 

[twokats]

Thanks Kathy, I didn't realize that they were 2 different lists, still figuring this stuff out. Can you tell that I need a vacation?

Don't we all!!!

 

[2CME911]

Are we on the fe list? I didn't see us on the roll call.

So sorry I missed your introductory post. I got it now and your info has been added to the roll call. Thanks for the heads up. I have an excuse, it involves my mother, but I think they have a rules against discussing that sort of thing here.

 

[castawaycayfans]

Don't we all!!!

So sorry I missed your introductory post. I got it now and your info has been added to the roll call. Thanks for the heads up. I have an excuse, it involves my mother, but I think they have a rules against discussing that sort of thing here.

Thanks!

 

[2CME911]

Just an FYI: I will be distracted from this thread for the next month or so due to a parents illness and the June 29 Fantasy sailing. I will check back with you all in late July.
Pete