The Final Frontier (DCL without Young’ens)

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 4: Attractive Forces

Attractive, wouldn’t you say…


Yes, in the visual sense, but then again…
something like that also exerts a physical pull as well.
If not exactly on the body itself (though one could argue the point),..
then certainly on the psyche.


Just looking at it makes me want to get back aboard the ship and languidly sink into those cooling waters while simultaneously asking the nearest CM if they would be ever so kind as to bring me a nice tall glass of whichever drink of the day just happened to be on hand.

Good show, ol’ chap…


By the way, if you hadn’t already figured it out, that’s the adult’s only pool up on Deck-11. It’s nestled conveniently in a spot ahead of the forward funnel which blocks nearly all the sound from the more rambunctious main pool area, and right beside the adult’s only hot tubs (which look directly out on the water)…

And mere steps from the adult’s only coffee shop…

You can see that same very attractive force just out the windows here (or would those be port holes?) Those who are observant will also notice there is even an attractive little bar built directly into the side of said attractive little pool. And if for some reason they can’t find precisely what you looking for at that little bar, they’ll just head up to the massive full service bar that overlooks this pool from two decks above.

The whole thing is starting to approach a critical mass here.
A state of blissful fusion; is the description I believe nuclear physicists might use to describe this part of the ship (were they smart enough to be on board). It could conceivably implode in upon itself from the potential forces of attraction that it relentlessly applies to a large segment of the adult population


It could be an even larger portion of that population, but unless one’s young’ens have
got some serious age on ‘em, the typical parent can’t just plop them down at one pool and frolic
willy-nilly off toward another that’s completely out of ear shot and sight line.
Now can they?

Well… yes they can, I suppose, so the better question may be:
Ought they?



As attractive forces go this spot on the ship’s deck plans is near as enchanting as any of the potions and wiles that Circe might ever have imagined to offer up to Odysseus.

And though it does seem to be “all that” (and it is),
there’s still more to it, and I’ll get to that a bit later on.


But first we need to back up just a smidgen.



Yes, I know…
I hear all y’all saying: “Good Lord, not another tangent.”


But…

In order to fully research and exploit the potential reenergizing properties of this spatial phenomenon…
We’ll first need to establish as viable base camp.




And I know just the place.





= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Command Module
A place to call home

Out of necessity, most living spaces onboard a ship
(be it one that travels through a vacuum or one that plies the great Terran oceans)
can often be describe as: tight.

To be sure the Apollo Command Module up there is making use of just about every available inch of space, but with only 210 cubic feet to begin with, there just ain’t a whole lot of room to work with in the first place.


The cabins on a typical cruise ship aren’t near so tight as that (well, most of them), but the place where you’ll be hanging your hat also won’t necessarily be what you would call palatial either.

Unless you’re among those happy few that can afford the apartment sized suites, that is.

That said, Disney’s ships actually pioneered a bit of a change in the industry. They purposely made the standard cabin size a bit bigger and the rest of the lines have been following suite. Even still, with staterooms averaging in at about 200 square feet, a group of four or more may still find the accommodation a bit cramped.

We were able to improve a mite on this reality in two ways.
First, there were only three of us
(yeah, I know… I’m a smart-a$$).

Second, we opted for a bit larger space and then offset the expense by not having a veranda
(win some, loose some).


The booking agents refer to cabin: 7676 on board the Dream and Fantasy as a Category-8C Stateroom.
DCL chooses to refer to it as being a “Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom”.

To us it was an extra 40 square feet of floor space for not a whole lot of extra bucks…
and our command module for the voyage.


Would a veranda and its promise of a bit of outdoor privacy have been nice to have?
Well, yes but I could still go out on deck any time I pleased and we still had a rather decent view of what was going on outside as well…

Granted, the view of the parking deck isn’t exactly what I’d call stunning…


But the quality of the visions presented on the other side of that glass would be improving greatly in short order.




Well, since we’re here I might as well give y’all the rest of the nickel tour.

Well, that’s the long view and as you can see, while it’s a little narrow, it’s fairly deep
(and there’s a decent chunk of it to my back as well).

Here’s a better view of the desk area off to the right there…

There’s a decent amount of storage and counter space there.

The fridge is behind the door at the far end and the little 22” telle above that is mounted on a swivel arm so it can be adjusted as needed.

You can see the connecting door just up the way as well. If you need to get a couple of rooms and want to have everyone be able to share all the space, then those can be useful. If you’re only taking up one, and are unlucky enough to be next to a cabin with a good number of often unsupervised and often rowdy young’ens, than this can be an enticing nuisance that apparently needs to be regularly thumped on and have the locks and handles jiggled. That feature may not be listed in the brochure, but it’s an extra bonus that you do have a decent chance of receiving none the less.

So we had that going for us…
“Which is nice?”

Errr… Ummm…

Anyway…



Ok, here’s a view looking back down the other way
(but mostly at the queen bed)…

That was surprisingly comfortable for what is basically a hotel mattress
(and even without a box spring).

I though it a might squishy at first, and because of that flipping over required a little extra effort (and being a fairly large critter myself didn’t help that prospect either), but I generally slept very well and better still my back didn’t start troubling me a mere few days into the stay
(which is often the case with hotel beds for us).


The couch folds down to make a twin bed and most cabins also have a bunk that folds down out of the ceiling. The cabins of this size though have an extra cabinet at the far end of the room (just beyond the couch there). That is actually a murphy bed offering up even more sleeping space.


We had our steward set that up once to compare it to the couch bed. While it certainly works well at providing extra room by day and needed sleeping space by night, it wasn’t the best choice for a party of three. Once made up, it’s not quite as long as the couch is and cuts off the walkway between the bulk of the room and the port hole (and prevents easy access to the set of drawers at the far end of the room).

As such, Max stuck to the couch for the most of our cruise

OK, now it’s time to get to the really classy part of the discussion…
The bathrooms.


Well…
That is assuming you actually care to hear me ramble on about such.

If so
(God help you)

Go on ahead and give that button below a click to expand the “little” section that I’ve conveniently hidden away so as not to detract any farther from what is already a right ponderous narrative…

Spoiler: (but I wouldn’t do it if I were you… you have been warned)

Really???

You’re going to actually spend time reading my commentary on this ship’s Heads?


You know…
I was actually serious when I said that you ought not be worrying about spending any time on this foolishness.








Still here, huh?



Oooooookay.
You asked for it…


As with nearly everything Disney does, this aspect of their ships is in a class all by itself.
They not only offer up more space for this facility, they split it into two sections in most of the available staterooms. Part of it is basically a half bath containing a sink, counter with a little bit of storage and of course that legendary cruise ship staple:

the infamous supercharged barking vacu-suck loo.
(I’ll spare you pictures in this instance)

The second space is a shower room containing another sink/counter unit and the tub.
But the tub in the “standard” and “deluxe” cabins is quite different from the ones that show up in the “family” staterooms. If you’d like to take a gander at how the others are laid out
(and learn a few other general cabin details that I’m probably going to just gloss over here),

Then you’re just plane nuts.

Errr…
I mean…
Then check out the space we had on our last cruse in this old chapter:


A Room With a View

(of course those of you that foolishly already read that TR can just skip on ahead here)
(oh, and those of you that had no intention of doing so are dismissed as well)



Now since I’m pointing you elsewhere for that detail…
it stands to reason that there must be some differences relating to the tub in our cabin this time around.

And you’d be correct in the assumption. The regular tubs are about the length of a normal one, but a bit on the narrow side (while still being larger than you’ll find on most other ships).

In this type of room, however, what you get looks more like this…

A round tub with a rather useful oversized ledge.



Ya’ know…
I did say that you don’t have to be spending time reading this part of the TR.

Really!
I meant it; just move on.
I won’t mind one bit.


Not still here, are you?


Bless your heart…


Now then, what was I on about?
Oh yeah, the goofy tub…

This version of the contrivance is more than large enough for a shower, but certainly not the kind of thing you could stretch out in for a soaking bath. But then again, there are hot tubs up on Deck-11 (that look out on the water, remember) and for that matter there’s an entire spa if you care to check that out, so…

who needs a soaking bath in their cabin?


This whole arrangement is a bit of a compromise to offer more room for spreading out without taking too much room away from the rest of the cabin.
I rather liked it myself.

The other thing about it was how different the controls were.
If you (foolishly) read that old post, you might remember the unusual workings of the pluming in those tubs.

Well this was even different from that.
You can’t see the handles form the picture so I hunted down where someone took a rather clever overhead image of the thing and then pulled this bit of detail out to show you what’s going on here…

Ok now, that top knob determines the mix between hot and cold and there is a “limit” to just how hot you can get it.

I say “limit” because it’s easy to override.
As you turn it counterclockwise it will come to a stop gate, but if you put just a bit of force behind it, the actuator will roll over this gate and you can continue raising the temp level.

DCL does that for two reasons:
first to stop young kids from really fouling up and scalding themselves (which is entirely doable) and second to try and convince you to lay back on the heat a bit. It’s not that the ship can’t generate enough hot water; it’s that we’re dealing with a fairly small space and it is harder to ventilate excessive condensation

(but it does save them a bit on fuel costs if everyone cuts back on the heat a mite).


The bottom knob controls the flow.
Pull it away from the wall to get things going; the farther out the more pressure (easy enough).

Pull it out and turn it in one direction and the water is diverted to the detachable showerhead.

Turn it the other direction and it flows to the overhead rain-shower.
Something that if you were unaware was there might just startle you a bit
(and might also be shockingly cold at first),
but once discovered, may well become you favorite feature.


If you actually want water to flow directly into the tub, there’s another trick for that.
Notice what looks like a stopper/overflow control attracted to the side of the tub?
That has an additional slide valve that diverts water either to the tub or up to the shower heads.

Now I don’t know if this type of arrangement is unique to cruise ships of if it might be common in other parts of the world,

but it’s right different from what I’m accustomed to
(and that’s why I wasted so much time on it here).

Ok, time to welcome back all those folks that were wasting their time…
I mean…

Learning about the intricacies of the unique DCL cabin bathroom arrangements


So…
Now that we’re all back on the same page…
What’s the next thing I can do to waste your time here?


I’ve got it!
More stuff you probably don’t care about

So here goes!





= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Flight Plan




Fair warning;
don’t click on that last picture…
it’s really not in your best interest.





Upon arrival in your stateroom, among the first things that will great you should be an envelope containing your dining and excursion tickets and a copy of the Navigator (which I’ll get back to in a moment). We however ended up with two envelopes full of excursion tickets. One was ours and one should’a been delivered to one of the other cabins. Luckily, the cabin numbers were written on them so I was able to take that one down the hall to cabin 7666 where it belonged and deliver it to a fellow traveler. One that was somewhat surprised to have a random passenger banging on their door…


“Who’s pounding on our door; some drunk that got lost already?”

“Could be, but we’ve only been on the ship for an hour or so…
how many Bahama Momma’s can one idiot consume in that short a time frame?”


Y’all are welcome.


Anyway…
Good Samaritan deed now completed, we can get back to our plan for the day.


"The average Ruskie, son, don't take a dump without a plan."


Nor does the well-seasoned cruse junkie.

Well maybe except for the ones that are just here to drink as much high octane fruit juice as possible, but the rest of us need to know what’s going on and when it’s going on so that we can partake of the offerings that best suit our sensibilities. The best way to figure that out on board Disney’s ships is to refer to…


The Navigator

That’s the front page of the old school version of it a least.

Like everything else in the world, even this is going digital.
There is an app you can download that lets you view the “Navi” and its grid of upcoming daily activities on your cell phone but given the small scale of phone screens, I find having the real thing on hand actually supplies one with a better picture of the day’s events.

And luckily for little ol’ antiquated me (being an anachronism par excelant), they do still print them up for the next day and leave them on your turned down bead every evening;
along with those lovely little chocolates.

Here’s what the rest of the pages looked like for us that day…







(They’re fairly large files so give each one a click to see the enlarged images)



If I remember, I’ll probably post the Navigator for each new day at the beginning of that section of the TR
Along with the daily magnet images.



Magnet Images?



Yep…


Like the Fish Extender Exchanges, this is another Dis related thing.

Since the cabin doors are metal. Folks have taken to covering them with various homemade and store bought magnetic images. It’s a little like the way we all cover our home refrigerators with kitschy souvenir-store magnets and elementary school kid’s art. The fad has gotten so popular that Disney picked up the notion and even sells simple versions of these down in the ship’s stores for those new passengers that were unaware of the “tradition” and want to play along. Myself, I’m quite aware of these goings-on and enjoy putting together my own images for this very purpose. In fact, I tend to make so many of them at I’ll generally put up a whole new set for each day of the cruse. I doubt anyone else walking the corridors of Deck-7 noticed the changes…
but I still had fun with it.

Anyway, since we were now in our cabin, it was time to make ourselves at home…

If any of you want a bit better look at one or all of those bits-o-fluff, just say so and I’ll include ‘em in a separate post on down the line




= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
E V A


I wouldn’t be clicking on that picture either.
Just don’t do it.





Well, now that we’ve gotten settled in it was time to get out of our comfy little shelter and get busy.
First things first; we explored the ship a bit.

But since I wrote about everything out of order, most of that exploration you’ve already seen back up at the top of the chapter and parts of the previous one. So I guess that in truth, all that exploring was more like seconds things second.



While we were out and about though we did make certain to partake of one of the few ways to save a buck or two (or maybe just spend a couple fewer bucks) during the cruse…



Alcohol is pricey on all cruise ships and not included in the way that meals are.
But for DCL passengers the “Drink of the Day” is several bucks cheaper than any other cocktail and so long as it’s not something that you dislike…
A decent bargain.


Today’s offering…

The Bahama Mama



So we ordered up a round of those puppies.


Well, two of us did anyway.

The young’en ain’t a young’en by law any more,
but being “only” 20 years of age at the time, he wasn’t yet allowed to imbibe in the US
(which is utterly idiotic, but I digress)


None the less…

Being both in a US port and on one of DCL’s very family conscious vessels,
the US drinking age applies while aboard this here ship.


After that bit of exploration that I started off this disaster of an update with, we headed back to the cabin to retrieve the rest of our bags which were by that time sitting outside our cabin door. Retrieval was summarily followed up with a bit of organizing all that gear and paraphernalia. Which in turn was interrupted by the requirement of attending the Muster Drill, and of course after that we had to spend some time enjoying our ships progress out of port…

And before we knew it, the first major scheduled event of the cruise was upon us.


Dinner!

OK, I’m a bit ahead of myself again here, so let’s back up a smidge and pick up the details.


There are two dinner seating’s on DCL ships and up until now, we’d always chosen to partake of the second round later in the evening. The idea being that it gave us more time to get settled and properly presentable beforehand after a long day out on a port excursion or other such activity.

It also offered a cushion of time in case one was a bit late getting back form said excursion.
Additionally, there is anecdotal evidence that a later supper also means a less noisy dining room and a less rushed experience (since they don’t need to turn the room around for the next seating).


But…

we’d done enough Disney cruising to know that generally you’re back aboard ship in plenty of time.
So we decided to change things up a bit and test that anecdotal stuff while we were at it.


With the ship leaving port at about 4:30 and with the first seating starting at 5:45
It wasn’t very long after clearing Jetty Park that we needed to get ready and head on toward our first signature dining experience of the cruise…

The Royal Court



This is the swankiest of the rotational dining venues and the one that relies most on traditional French offerings.
Not that that’s a bad thing.

Now I’ll go on ahead and warn y’all here that I succeeded in taking very few pictures of the dining rooms (which will be a bit of a problem when I get to talking about tomorrow night’s offering)

Basically, we just kind of scooted up a chair, leaned back and relaxed each night. Taking time to enjoy the meal without remembering to do anything strenuous, like taking lots of pictures of the décor and perfectly framed food porn (and most of the food offerings were obscenely good).


I started off with good intentions…



Really…




I got a shot of the high falutin’ meu cover

But then I opened it up and started reading,
Annnnnnd…

Well you get the idea.

Now there are plenty of images of the Royal Court out on that there interwebs thingy so all is not lost.
Or if you’d rather, you can take a look at what we thought about this place’s sister restaurant
over on the Disney Dream:
The Royal Palace


by following that little link back there.

It’s up to you.


What I can do though is recreate the menu so that you can decide for yourself just what delicacies you’d have been choosing if it was your turn at Table-53

That might be a bit hard for some of you to read
(folks such as myself, to be sure)

So I also went and transcribed the whole thing as well



Just to be ornery though, I then went and hid it so that it’d be easier to ignore
But it’s all right there if you want to take the time.

Spoiler: (Royal Court Menu)

Specialty Drinks
Double Crowned
Crown Royal, Chambord, Cointreau, Cranberry Juice, Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice

Impérial Illusion
Absolut Mandarin, Apple Pucker, Blue Curaçao liquor, Pineapple Juice

Princess Delight (Non-Alcoholic)
Passion Fruit Juice, Mango Purée


Appetizers

Duck Confit
Slow Cooked Duck Leg pulled and garnished with Crasins and Walnuts

Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp
With Green Asparagus, Horseradish Cream and Dill dressing

Gaston's Escargots Gratinée
Marinated Snails with finely chopped Mushrooms, topped with Garlic Butter

Breaded And Deep Fried Brie
With an Orange and Cranberry Chutney


Soups and Salads

French Onion Soup
With Gruyère Cheese Crouton

Portage Parmentier
Leek and Potato soup

Farmhouse Salad
Baby Spinach, Asparagus, Cherry Tomato, Fingerling potatoes
Served with a Goat Cheese Crostini and a Olive Vinaigrette

Red Wine Bosc Pear Salad
Arugula, Sliced Red Onion and Crispy Lardons dressed
with a Sherry Wine Dressing and served
with a Red Wine Poached Bosc Pear


Bread Service
Warm Herb Brioche with an Olive Spread


Main Courses

Conchiglie Pasta
with Buttered Lobster, tossed in a Tomato Shrimp Taragon
Brandy Sauce with Lemon Basil

Crispy Roasted Duck Breast
with Cabbage, Shallots, Honey Parsnip Mash
and a Duck Red Wine Jus

Oven-Baked Salmon Royal
Crowned with King Smoked Salmon and Horseradish Crust
accompanied by sautéed Swiss Chard, truffle-infused Cauliflower Purée,
and White Wine Beurre Blanc

Roasted Rack of Lamb Medium
with Dauphinose Potatoes, Buttered Brussel Sprouts
And a Burgundy Rosemary Sauce

Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak
Crushed New Potatoes with Shallots, Buttered Green Beans, Red Wine Jus
and a Béarnaise Sauce on the Side


Vegetarian

Wild Mushroom-Stuffed Pasta in a Vegetable Broth
topped with Watercress, Shaved Parmesan Cheese and Paprika Oil Drizzle

Grilled Marinated Tofu, Roasted Zucchini, Eggplant and Red Peppers
on Israeli Cous Cous and a Lime Cilantro Drop

Breaded And Deep Fried Brie
With an Orange and Cranberry Chutney


Lighter Note Offerings

Ahi Tuna Nicosie
Seared Ahi, with Green Beans, Potato, Olives, Red Onions,
Sliced Egg and Parsley-Garlic Vinaigrette

Grilled Grain-fed Sirloin Steak

Slow Roasted Breast of Chicken

Oven Backed Filet of Salmon


Dessert

Sweet Temptations
A trio of Raspberry Mousse Slice, Mango Cheesecake, and Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée

Grand Marnier Soufflé
Infused with fresh Orange Zest and served with Grand Marnier Crème Anglaise

Apple Tart Tatin
Caramelized Backed Apple served with
Vanilla Ice Cream

Strawberry Shortcake Sundae
Strawberries, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped cream and Shortcake

Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée
With Almond Biscotti


No Sugar Added Dessert

Mango Cheesecake
With Whipped Cream and Fruits

Raspberry Mousse Slice
with Green Tea Cream

As we were looking over the menus we also got a bit of time to get to know your servers for the duration.

More correctly though, they got a chance to get to know us.


Which makes the rest of the cruise all the more enjoyable and they pretty quickly get a sense of you personality, the general vibe of the table and pretty much the way you like to be treated.

Most DCL serving teams are rather good at this trick
And Nenad and Paul were no exception to this rule

That rather poor picture there (and I apologize for that) was from later in the journey actually,
but it was in the same dining room.

And as a bonus for his mother, includes our not so young young’en doing what he does naturally…
Tolerating mom and dad’s wishes so that we’ll go ahead and get it out of our system

Quickly if at all posible…


Not a bad job on his part of hiding the rolled eyes in that one
Wouldn’t you say?


Now I did take one more picture during dinner…

Makes it pretty plain what I chose off the menu, don’t it.
I’m pretty predictable (most times)

I… R… Carnivore!



As such, nine times out of ten, my dinner will look a lot like that picture there.
And believe you me, it was dang tasty.

Of course I rounded it off with the French Onion Soup and the same appetizer I’d had back on board the Dream
(which I’m sure you didn’t go back and read about, and I don’t blame you)

As for desert…


Crème Brûlée



Truth be told,, I don’t remember what Tam and Max had (being as I didn’t write it down) but I know that everything was considered to be excellent with moments of greatness scattered in.



Now on prior cruses, having just finished dinner meant that it was just about bed time and we’d often just fall back into our cabin to chill and end up bring pretty much done for the day.

With the early dinning option though, there was still a good bit of daylight left to burn.
Time for a bit of promenade…

Well, a stroll along the promenade at least.

It was rather quiet out on the boat deck and a leisurely lap pretty much settled dinner
and had us in the mood of a bit of entertainment.




Must be time to head to…

The Walt

The Walt Disney Theater

that is

Tonight’s show was titled

A Fantasy Come True


Basically, this was a get acquainted type of gathering.
There was a quick opening medley by the main acting company,

the introduction of the Cruise Director and all the Ship’s Officers,

and then some teaser routines from several of the entertainers that we would be seeing
across the rest of the week.


DCL has clamped down a bit on camera usage since our last cruise though, so that shot up there is about the last picture that I was able to take in the theater.

Something that could have some impact on how much detail I can go into about each evening’s show
(which might be a good thing as far as you’re concerned).


After the cast and crews little hi-there-nice-to-meet-ya’ session
We dropped back by 7676 to finish the settling in process.

Our Steward had already turned the beds down and left us the first requisite TCD
(Towel Critter of the Day)

Oh, and the hard copy of the next day’s Navigator
(and Chocolates on all the pillows, of course).



At first we were considering calling it a wrap for the day and a successfully one at that, but Max noticed that the film that would be starting up down in the movie theater in a bit happened to be one we’d not yet gotten ‘round to seeing. It also happened that this evening’s showing of the flick in question was about the only time that would be convenient for us if we wanted to see it at all.

What the heck, We’ve done paid for it (so to speak) and tomorrow was a sea day, so it wasn’t like we had any pressing engagements requiring anything as obnoxious as an alarm clock…

So - like I said - what the heck…
Hay Everyone!
Let’s go see a Disney movie!

Who’s with me!

You know that even if we’re pretty much walking zombies in the morning, the entire crew is still going to go out of their way to ensure that we’re satisfied with our care.

The only real question is simply weather or not we’ll have enough strength left to get back up the stairs to our cabin afterward….

Next up: The wayward satellite, trivial pursuits and a lack of Crush
​

 

[Steppesister]

Well, that's certainly going to take some time to digress.... errrr.... I mean digest.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Well, that's certainly going to take some time to digress.... errrr.... I mean digest.

I did warn you that you ought not be reading it in the first place.

My advice...
Run.
Run away.

(oh, and don't be clicking on the various links; that'll just wast even more of you time)

 

[Steppesister]

A can smell a disguised invitation from a mile away.

Comments at some point....

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

A can smell a disguised invitation from a mile away.

Comments at some point....

Nope... I'm serious.
No one should be reading any of this.


The CDC has classified all my ramblings as known carcinogens.

 

[Steppesister]

Nope... I'm serious.
No one should be reading any of this.


The CDC has classified all my ramblings as known carcinogens.

 

[pkondz]

Mayhem you want, then it's mayhem you get.
Worse yet, I promise ridiculous amounts of absolute pointlessness.

See what you did Liesa? See?

what is about to occur may well be one of the single worst TR updates in recorded history.

I believe you.

Awwww... Soft kitty.

 

[pkondz]

Wayyyyyy too tired to read now, so I'll swing back around when I have more of a will to live. This should sap that quite nicely.

 

[Steppesister]

See what you did Liesa? See?

Yes. I recognized that this is going to look a whole lot like both of our TRs. Pointlessness must always be given a platform.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Attractive, wouldn’t you say…


Yes, in the visual sense, but then again…
something like that also exerts a physical pull as well.
If not exactly on the body itself (though one could argue the point),..
then certainly on the psyche.


Just looking at it makes me want to get back aboard the ship and languidly sink into those cooling waters while simultaneously asking the nearest CM if they would be ever so kind as to bring me a nice tall glass of whichever drink of the day just happened to be on hand.

Especially since it's currently rainy and 40 degrees outside as I type this.

It could be an even larger portion of that population, but unless one’s young’ens have
got some serious age on ‘em, the typical parent can’t just plop them down at one pool and frolic
willy-nilly off toward another that’s completely out of ear shot and sight line.
Now can they?

Well… yes they can, I suppose, so the better question may be:
Ought they?

Even still, with staterooms averaging in at about 200 square feet, a group of four or more may still find the accommodation a bit cramped.

What about six?

OK, now it’s time to get to the really classy part of the discussion…
The bathrooms.

Ya’ know…
I did say that you don’t have to be spending time reading this part of the TR.

You keep saying that, and we keep ignoring you.

Fair warning;
don’t click on that last picture…
it’s really not in your best interest.

Maybe not at work?

The fad has gotten so popular that Disney picked up the notion and even sells simple versions of these down in the ship’s stores for those new passengers that were unaware of the “tradition” and want to play along.

Disney is always up on ways to cash in on a fad.

I started off with good intentions…



Really…




I got a shot of the high falutin’ meu cover

The dining room is proud to present... your dinner.

Makes it pretty plain what I chose off the menu, don’t it.
I’m pretty predictable (most times)

I… R… Carnivore!

That's what I would have chosen as well.

You know that even if we’re pretty much walking zombies in the morning, the entire crew is still going to go out of their way to ensure that we’re satisfied with our care.

See any hairy babies?

 

[Steppesister]

Well, that was certainly an entertaining chapter. (That's where I"m starting)- a little food, a little entertainment, a bunch of tangents. ...

Thanks for the time you've invested in entertaining us.

 

[franandaj]

Well now I'm crashing the party too! All my other friends have been too busy with family and other holiday ramblings to update (although I do owe @Captain_Oblivious a reply to his latest chapter with the Toddler serving Room Service), but since I was on my phone and looking for entertainment, I popped over to the DCL board to see if there were any new reports on cruises on the Fantasy that I could use for research on my upcoming cruise. I happened upon this report and took the last couple days to read through it and while I'm not sure that I will glean a lot of information before my upcoming cruise, I couldn't help but get sucked in much the same way that you slow down on the freeway to look at an accident. Not that this report is an accident, but the way the content is presented I had to slow down and take a look.

First off, I envy and pity Max for his choice of Major. I majored in saxophone performance back in the day. Basically what that means is that I was learning to teach others to be unemployable except as "saxophone performance" majors, because we rarely learn jazz which is probably the only way that saxophonists could make a living. Even that is a risky business and I live in LA where studio musicians (those who could do it) can make a decent living. I assume that you all are brass or percussionists, but probably brass players given your comments and propensity towards Drum Corps. I did work for a few decades in the industry, but ended up in sheet music before giving it all up for the "family business" which turns out to be much more lucrative, and less labor intensive.

Thank you for the history on the Oceanic, I was one who sailed on that ship. My honeymoon was on that ship and we had the highest level cabin on the ship, but the fact that a couple twenty-somethings could afford that cabin certainly said something about the line. It was nothing like DCL. It was my first cruise and quite substandard to DCL. I remember the carpeting in the grand suite, was similar to what you found in the HS band room. I'm glad Disney took over their own line because it is quite an improvement!

Your Drum Corp post was interesting. I haven't been to a Drum Corps show in years. The husband (with whom the honeymoon mentioned above was shared with) got kicked to the curb 20+ years ago. He was Blue Devil Alumni and I think the last time I saw a Drum Corps show was with him. So Cal's only Drum Corp folded many years ago so we rarely get visiting corps, although there are lots of folks here who love it. Since they never admitted my kind, I never got very attached.

The Fantasy is the last ship we have to explore (until the next one is released), and I'm looking forward to hearing more if you can share any more updates! I've enjoyed reading and hope you can put out some more. So far yours has been the most interesting of all the reports I'm subscribed to as you are not interested in the parties, you brought your own liquor (although this is no longer allowed), and you don't care to be paired with others. I'm especially interested in your take on the various adult spaces and how the kids impact things.

We sailed on the Dream a year ago and it was awful kidwise. Most of our cruises have been on the Wonder and we have been easily able to avoid noisy and obnoxious children, even though we like character meets. On the Dream kids were everywhere, even the adult areas, parents thought it was OK to walk through the pool area with their kids and dawdle, and the CMs let them. I never saw that on the Wonder and I hope that it's better on the Fantasy!

 

[Steppesister]

Well now I'm crashing the party too! All my other friends have been too busy with family and other holiday ramblings to update

And don't you forget it!

(As I waste inordinate amounts of time on here tonight.)

 

[Flossbolna]

I am so happy that this trip report was revived!

We had the same stateroom type as you on our recent cruise and loved it. As to the bathroom and especially the water dial: this is actually fairly common here in Germany. Which is not surprising as the Fantasy was built in Germany and all the faucets and such are from a well known German company.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Ah good you're back I needed some light reading.


(the agency may have a slight problem an agent has not reported in his secretary was found locked in her office with a monkey dressed in persian robes playing the cymbals. still trying t find the whereabouts of the agent and also how the monkey got in.)

 

[pkondz]

Attractive, wouldn’t you say…

I reserve that term for women. But... well.... yeah.

something like that also exerts a physical pull as well.

No kidding!

Just looking at it makes me want to get back aboard the ship and languidly sink into those cooling waters while simultaneously asking the nearest CM if they would be ever so kind as to bring me a nice tall glass of whichever drink of the day just happened to be on hand.

I could go for that right about now.


Who am I kidding. I could go for that anytime.

Good show, ol’ chap…

Cheerio. tut tut.

By the way, if you hadn’t already figured it out, that’s the adult’s only pool up on Deck-11.

I think I got that. Was pretty sure anyway.

It’s nestled conveniently in a spot ahead of the forward funnel which blocks nearly all the sound from the more rambunctious main pool area, and right beside the adult’s only hot tubs (which look directly out on the water)…

Nice.

You can see that same very attractive force just out the windows here (or would those be port holes?)

Are you referring to the male CM? Then no.

And if for some reason they can’t find precisely what you looking for at that little bar, they’ll just head up to the massive full service bar that overlooks this pool from two decks above.

Not bad!

It could be an even larger portion of that population, but unless one’s young’ens have
got some serious age on ‘em, the typical parent can’t just plop them down at one pool and frolic
willy-nilly off toward another that’s completely out of ear shot and sight line.
Now can they?

Well… yes they can, I suppose, so the better question may be:
Ought they?

Mine are old enough. See ya kids!

As attractive forces go this spot on the ship’s deck plans is near as enchanting as any of the potions and wiles that Circe might ever have imagined to offer up to Odysseus.

Nicely said.

I hear all y’all saying: “Good Lord, not another tangent.”

I hate these laptop microphones.

Cool!

To be sure the Apollo Command Module up there is making use of just about every available inch of space, but with only 210 cubic feet to begin with, there just ain’t a whole lot of room to work with in the first place.

210? So about twice the size of a NYC apartment?

The cabins on a typical cruise ship aren’t near so tight as that (well, most of them),

Heh. Most of them.

That said, Disney’s ships actually pioneered a bit of a change in the industry. They purposely made the standard cabin size a bit bigger and the rest of the lines have been following suite.

Did not know that.

a group of four or more may still find the accommodation a bit cramped.

We were able to improve a mite on this reality in two ways.
First, there were only three of us
(yeah, I know… I’m a smart-a$$).

To us it was an extra 40 square feet of floor space for not a whole lot of extra bucks…

Not a bad deal.

Would a veranda and its promise of a bit of outdoor privacy have been nice to have?
Well, yes but I could still go out on deck any time I pleased and we still had a rather decent view of what was going on outside as well…

I've been told that a lot of people insist on the veranda for their first cruise... not so much after that.

Well, since we’re here I might as well give y’all the rest of the nickel tour.

You had to post that, didn't you.

I think my favourite part was when he said "Neil Armstrong who will be the first man on the moon."

Well, that’s the long view and as you can see, while it’s a little narrow, it’s fairly deep
(and there’s a decent chunk of it to my back as well).

I like it. Looks inviting.

The fridge is behind the door at the far end and the little 22” telle above that is mounted on a swivel arm so it can be adjusted as needed.

I can see why you thought of the lunar module...

If you’re only taking up one, and are unlucky enough to be next to a cabin with a good number of often unsupervised and often rowdy young’ens, than this can be an enticing nuisance that apparently needs to be regularly thumped on and have the locks and handles jiggled. That feature may not be listed in the brochure, but it’s an extra bonus that you do have a decent chance of receiving none the less.

Don't tell anyone. You got a freebie. They may retroactively charge you extra for that.

but I generally slept very well and better still my back didn’t start troubling me a mere few days into the stay

Good!

OK, now it’s time to get to the really classy part of the discussion…
The bathrooms.


Well…
That is assuming you actually care to hear me ramble on about such.

If so
(God help you)

Too late!!!

You’re going to actually spend time reading my commentary on this ship’s Heads?

Yeah. Actually. I am.

Still here, huh?

Nope!



Yes.

the infamous supercharged barking vacu-suck loo.
(I’ll spare you pictures in this instance)

awww.... darn

A round tub with a rather useful oversized ledge.

Looks like a commode.

Bless your heart…

Thanks!
Wait... that's an insult in the south, ain't it?

Ok now, that top knob determines the mix between hot and cold and there is a “limit” to just how hot you can get it.

Limit? What????? I want my money back!

I say “limit” because it’s easy to override.

Oh. Nevermind.

As you turn it counterclockwise it will come to a stop gate, but if you put just a bit of force behind it, the actuator will roll over this gate and you can continue raising the temp level.

Kid control. Got it.

Turn it the other direction and it flows to the overhead rain-shower.
Something that if you were unaware was there might just startle you a bit
(and might also be shockingly cold at first),

Notice what looks like a stopper/overflow control attracted to the side of the tub?

Now I don’t know if this type of arrangement is unique to cruise ships of if it might be common in other parts of the world,

but it’s right different from what I’m accustomed to
(and that’s why I wasted so much time on it here).

And thanks for that. I actually found that interesting.

Fair warning;
don’t click on that last picture…

Would you stop doing that?!?!?

it’s really not in your best interest.

But thanks for that one!

how many Bahama Momma’s can one idiot consume in that short a time frame?”

I'm going to guess..... lots?

"The average Ruskie, son, don't take a dump without a plan."

Cruise ship. Not a sub.

Nice job! This ain't your first rodeo.

I wouldn’t be clicking on that picture either.
Just don’t do it.

You're doing this to torture me, aren't you?

Alcohol is pricey on all cruise ships and not included in the way that meals are.
But for DCL passengers the “Drink of the Day” is several bucks cheaper than any other cocktail and so long as it’s not something that you dislike…
A decent bargain.

Good to know, if I ever do a Disney cruise. May not.

This is the swankiest of the rotational dining venues and the one that relies most on traditional French offerings.
Not that that’s a bad thing.

Because they surrender their food to you?

Now I’ll go on ahead and warn y’all here that I succeeded in taking very few pictures of the dining rooms

That's okay. Enjoy the trip for Pete's sake.

And as a bonus for his mother, includes our not so young young’en doing what he does naturally…
Tolerating mom and dad’s wishes so that we’ll go ahead and get it out of our system

Well, good on him.

Of course I rounded it off with the French Onion Soup

Excellent. It doesn't get better than that.

Crème Brûlée

I stand corrected.

Our Steward had already turned the beds down and left us the first requisite TCD
(Towel Critter of the Day)

Nice. Not getting that anymore at the World.

Hay Everyone!
Let’s go see a Disney movie!

Who’s with me!

Me!

 

[lilysgigi]

Just found this piece of literary genius..wetting my whistle for my up coming cruise..hope to see more

 

[icesk8abc]

Yay! I caught one of your reports in progress and can actually comment! I've read your last 2 Disney reports and your report about New York. I enjoy the bonus features you include.

I'm using this report to reminisce about our Fantasy cruise (aka babymoon) and keep my hopes alive that we can squeeze in another cruise before the end of the year (though it would be on the Wonder since she comes to Galveston which saves us from having to fly).

The adult pool area does look relaxing, though I found it crowded during much of our Fantasy Cruise. I totally missed it during most of our last cruise aboard the Wonder as we had an 18 month old in tow.

We went with the inside room on the Fantasy because the Magic Portal was enough pretend outside to keep us happy. On the Wonder we went with the oceanview, but I like the look of the extra space you had in the deluxe. Since we have a pack n play set up all the time (napping babies & toddlers and all), being able to move a bit better would be nice. Thanks for the pictures.

I'm glad you had an enjoyable evening on your 1st night aboard and hope your schedule allows you to continue with your story.

 

[Steppesister]

And.. did we peter out again...?

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Whoa…
Folks actually took time to comment on this nonsense?

Have any of you considered counseling?
I’m told that there is no social stigma attached to such actions.
(not sure I believe it but…)

Truth is, I should probably consider such myself.
But then again…

They’d just tell me that I’m completely whacked and I can’t really see much sense in spending mortgage sized amounts of cash just to have a learned individual or two with a medical license tell me something that’s both common knowledge and a condition that I’m already completely aware of.

Anyway…
If it seems like about two months have passed since I posted anything here – well - there’s actually a very good reason for your perception.

That reason being: it’s the truth.
(and I don’t even need any alternate facts to better explain it)


Sorry, ‘bout that folks.

A little bit more truth:
December tends to be a bad month when it comes to battling the “monster” so I tend to check out (and November certainly didn’t do much good at preparing me for it).

Good news though, January is so busy at work that I can’t really find time to think or dwell on the things the voices have to say; much less accomplish anything outside of the standard routine of work-sleep-repeat…

Tell ya’ what, though…
I’m going to at least try and respond to everyone who’s chimed in on this last update in the next little bit, here. The next chapter might be another week or two off, but I think that things are starting to clear up enough to at least try and get a bit of conversation moving.




Assuming y’all haven’t already gone out and gotten that therapy I was talking about and now know better than to engage in discussions with kooks and loons.

Time to get busy.