Arizona Rita
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 3,636
Hi!
We returned late Saturday night from a week on the Fantasy on a eastern carribbean cruise.
Yes, it has taken me this long to get on here because I'm really not a writer but I did feel I wanted to say a few things.
My family had an incredible semester, I live in semesters as I'm sure many others do. We are also a theater family and so with school, work, my sons senior project was putting on an entire play in which he wrote, produced, directed, at times acted, had a hand in every decision, worked box office and everything else including a fund raiser in there to boot, which meant that the other three of us were totally involved. The play ran for three weeks.
So needless to say, we were all mentally tired.
During this time DVC ran their special, so instead of going next year as planned we went last week. Why not? so we went for it.
The cruise included St Martin, St Thomas and Castaway. And 3 glorious sea days!
Our last two Dis cruises had been port intensive, being the Baltics and Med.
Thus the title, "Our Do Nothing Cruise Fantasy"!
So, it wasnt perfect, but it was exactly what we needed.
The first two and a half days were at sea and it was get to know the ship time and sleep time.
St Martin~ we did the Oriental Beach Break. Nothing to write home about but we played in the ocean and that is a treat being from Az. It was a clean beach and the vendors didnt come by to often so they werent obnoxious. The rum punch could have been better, but we dont drink that much so it didnt bother us.
The point is~ it was a clean beach.
St Thomas~ My DH and DD went snorkeling and had a great time. My DD loves turtles and she got to swim with them. Perfect. They were very pleased with the company that took them and would reccommend them. I believe they were called "Captain Nautilus". I will check on that.
My DS, who due to Europe does not want to see another museum for a loooonnnggg time! (hs grad) and I went on the "Screaming Eagle"!
OMG! we both absolutely LOVED it! His response was "finally a shore excursion for me!" Basically it comes down to being a high spped boat ride around St Thomas bay, but it was exactly what we needed!
If you have teens, thay do offer in the teen club a ride that is just for the teens and if you love high speeds and believe me, you WILL get WET!, I reccommend it! I would do it again in heart beat!
Shopping~ I didnt shop at either port except for buying a few postcards. There was nothing I wanted.
I shopped on the ship a little and at the end DH said when we checked the bill that it was the least he had ever spent on a cruise!
I was not happy with any of the Shutters photos this time (DH calls it "Shudders" because I usually do buy the package!
)
Castaway~ We just have never gotten into Castaway. There is no allure to it for us. We walked around the island with DD, took some pics and shopped a little.
Now there is something that I do do while Im ther and that is parasailing.
We had the best captain, name was Wentzel?, who was really cool. We (myself and DD) had some good boat mates, a dad and his 2 kids from Oregon and another family.
Wentzel asked if we wanted to be dipped, we could get our feet or waist and I said at least the waist and he said we could go all the way and I said ok, sure. When he would talk to us he kept saying "ya Mon" and getting us to say it to him. Well, when it wes out turn, we were the last to go up, he took me seriously and dipped us all the way under the water!
We get back on the boat and people were applauding us and he said "Ya Mon?" to which I replied with a resounding "YA MON!" He told us it was called a "Torpedo"!
When we got back to shore, DH took DD back to the ship and then we went to Serenity Bay, for the first time! We waded in the water a bit and finally had a Konk Kooler. He was worried about the sea lice and so we didnt stay in the water long.
Food~ I have read alot of complaints about the food. We usually dont eat lunch and as long as there is a donut or bagel and lox, we are uaually good. Dinner on cruises are our big meal.
I will agree that the portions are smaller. But I am ok with that. You can get 2 dinners, my son would be able to have both cuts of meat and try different things. I am a soup and appetizer person because of stomach problems and I could try both. This is American, home of the supersize, and we really dont need that imho.
I dont think the problem is in the food. I think the problem is that we were disappointed in the layout of the resturants, bigger ship,more people, less intamacy! Thats what we didnt like. Our servers didnt seem to have the same amount of time as on the Magic to get to know us or us them. They tried. Our assistant server really sttod out. Jelena from Croatia was wonderful.
Animators could do a show on the Magic, no show here. I dont consider Crush talking to a few people a show. The animation thing at the end was cute and done well though.
Fast food is fast food. The different flavors of ice cream is nice and the come they use is my favorite cone. The chocolate chip cookies are still there and they seem bigger in size!
I wish the Pirate buffet could still be outside but is now located in Cabanas.
The shows were good~ Wishes was my favorite. Believe and Aladdin were good. I like that they bring different characters not usually used. I didnt get to see the closing show. DD said it was a little about Walt but then kind of a highlight.
I think some of the clubs are good and I like the decor especially in the Tube.
Ooh La La is pretty but I cant see it being used that much. OGills they should have a piano in there and I think it would be more fun.
The spa was ok. Massage was nice but I like Vista's lay out more.
AquaDuck was cool! DH and I rode it like 4 times. Didnt really do they deck shows.
The mosaics around the ship were Beautiful!!!
We met a young man in Mickeys Mainsail named John, from England. He was the best sales clerk in all 5 cruises. Such a nice guy. Made friends with DD and made her an honorary official pin traded, and when all the officers left they all gave her their lanyards to keep trading! She had so much fun.
The Fantasy is a beautiful ship. She lacks the intamacy of the Magic, which we still consider home. Cms that we talked to even would say tis to us before we said it to them. The Magic carries 2400 and the Fantasy carries 4000. Would we sail on her again? It depends on her itenerary. I would say yes.
We were so in need of a do nothing trip and this got us off the ship just enough to say we did something but if we had never left her it would have been fine also.
So if you stuck with me to the end, thanks for reading!
When you are in need of it, I hope a Do Nothing Cuise will happen to you too!
Happy Sailing!
Rita
We returned late Saturday night from a week on the Fantasy on a eastern carribbean cruise.
Yes, it has taken me this long to get on here because I'm really not a writer but I did feel I wanted to say a few things.
My family had an incredible semester, I live in semesters as I'm sure many others do. We are also a theater family and so with school, work, my sons senior project was putting on an entire play in which he wrote, produced, directed, at times acted, had a hand in every decision, worked box office and everything else including a fund raiser in there to boot, which meant that the other three of us were totally involved. The play ran for three weeks.
So needless to say, we were all mentally tired.
During this time DVC ran their special, so instead of going next year as planned we went last week. Why not? so we went for it.
The cruise included St Martin, St Thomas and Castaway. And 3 glorious sea days!
Our last two Dis cruises had been port intensive, being the Baltics and Med.
Thus the title, "Our Do Nothing Cruise Fantasy"!
So, it wasnt perfect, but it was exactly what we needed.
The first two and a half days were at sea and it was get to know the ship time and sleep time.
St Martin~ we did the Oriental Beach Break. Nothing to write home about but we played in the ocean and that is a treat being from Az. It was a clean beach and the vendors didnt come by to often so they werent obnoxious. The rum punch could have been better, but we dont drink that much so it didnt bother us.
The point is~ it was a clean beach.
St Thomas~ My DH and DD went snorkeling and had a great time. My DD loves turtles and she got to swim with them. Perfect. They were very pleased with the company that took them and would reccommend them. I believe they were called "Captain Nautilus". I will check on that.
My DS, who due to Europe does not want to see another museum for a loooonnnggg time! (hs grad) and I went on the "Screaming Eagle"!
OMG! we both absolutely LOVED it! His response was "finally a shore excursion for me!" Basically it comes down to being a high spped boat ride around St Thomas bay, but it was exactly what we needed!
If you have teens, thay do offer in the teen club a ride that is just for the teens and if you love high speeds and believe me, you WILL get WET!, I reccommend it! I would do it again in heart beat!
Shopping~ I didnt shop at either port except for buying a few postcards. There was nothing I wanted.
I shopped on the ship a little and at the end DH said when we checked the bill that it was the least he had ever spent on a cruise!
I was not happy with any of the Shutters photos this time (DH calls it "Shudders" because I usually do buy the package!
)Castaway~ We just have never gotten into Castaway. There is no allure to it for us. We walked around the island with DD, took some pics and shopped a little.
Now there is something that I do do while Im ther and that is parasailing.
We had the best captain, name was Wentzel?, who was really cool. We (myself and DD) had some good boat mates, a dad and his 2 kids from Oregon and another family.
Wentzel asked if we wanted to be dipped, we could get our feet or waist and I said at least the waist and he said we could go all the way and I said ok, sure. When he would talk to us he kept saying "ya Mon" and getting us to say it to him. Well, when it wes out turn, we were the last to go up, he took me seriously and dipped us all the way under the water!
We get back on the boat and people were applauding us and he said "Ya Mon?" to which I replied with a resounding "YA MON!" He told us it was called a "Torpedo"!
When we got back to shore, DH took DD back to the ship and then we went to Serenity Bay, for the first time! We waded in the water a bit and finally had a Konk Kooler. He was worried about the sea lice and so we didnt stay in the water long.
Food~ I have read alot of complaints about the food. We usually dont eat lunch and as long as there is a donut or bagel and lox, we are uaually good. Dinner on cruises are our big meal.
I will agree that the portions are smaller. But I am ok with that. You can get 2 dinners, my son would be able to have both cuts of meat and try different things. I am a soup and appetizer person because of stomach problems and I could try both. This is American, home of the supersize, and we really dont need that imho.
I dont think the problem is in the food. I think the problem is that we were disappointed in the layout of the resturants, bigger ship,more people, less intamacy! Thats what we didnt like. Our servers didnt seem to have the same amount of time as on the Magic to get to know us or us them. They tried. Our assistant server really sttod out. Jelena from Croatia was wonderful.
Animators could do a show on the Magic, no show here. I dont consider Crush talking to a few people a show. The animation thing at the end was cute and done well though.
Fast food is fast food. The different flavors of ice cream is nice and the come they use is my favorite cone. The chocolate chip cookies are still there and they seem bigger in size!
I wish the Pirate buffet could still be outside but is now located in Cabanas.
The shows were good~ Wishes was my favorite. Believe and Aladdin were good. I like that they bring different characters not usually used. I didnt get to see the closing show. DD said it was a little about Walt but then kind of a highlight.
I think some of the clubs are good and I like the decor especially in the Tube.
Ooh La La is pretty but I cant see it being used that much. OGills they should have a piano in there and I think it would be more fun.
The spa was ok. Massage was nice but I like Vista's lay out more.
AquaDuck was cool! DH and I rode it like 4 times. Didnt really do they deck shows.
The mosaics around the ship were Beautiful!!!
We met a young man in Mickeys Mainsail named John, from England. He was the best sales clerk in all 5 cruises. Such a nice guy. Made friends with DD and made her an honorary official pin traded, and when all the officers left they all gave her their lanyards to keep trading! She had so much fun.
The Fantasy is a beautiful ship. She lacks the intamacy of the Magic, which we still consider home. Cms that we talked to even would say tis to us before we said it to them. The Magic carries 2400 and the Fantasy carries 4000. Would we sail on her again? It depends on her itenerary. I would say yes.
We were so in need of a do nothing trip and this got us off the ship just enough to say we did something but if we had never left her it would have been fine also.
So if you stuck with me to the end, thanks for reading!
When you are in need of it, I hope a Do Nothing Cuise will happen to you too!
Happy Sailing!
Rita
