The Pay It Forward TR-Concierge on Disney Fantasy Eastern Jan. 26, 2013–Complete!

[luvslikepi]

After they dropped us off at the dock, we walked the three ship-lengths back to the Disney ship, although it felt like much longer. Hi, Dumbo!

This picture is so adorable!! And it makes me sad because that's right where our room was supposed to be for our May trip...darn military deployments. I'm living vicariously through your TR. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Linda67]

Looks like you had a lot of fun on your excursion

 

[Poohcandi]

Cabana's does NOT have one single line to go through 10 different stations. There are supposed to be 10 different lines. There will be workers there telling you this...BELIEVE THEM! Getting lunch was a nightmare, because if you tried to do the lines like they told you to, people made snarky comments about how you need to get in the beginning of the line to get your food. It was painful to say the least. We only went back to Cabana's one other time and that was for breakfast. Next time, I will likely go to the rotational dining restaurant for lunch the first day.


Next up: Sailaway Party, the "Mustard" drill, Mad-Dash Unpacking, and Dinner at Animator's Pallette[/COLOR]

Joining in late... Read your pre trip report and loved it. We are going on our 2nd Disney Cruise in February 2014. Just a question about lunch on the first day, are all of the restaurants open right when you board? I didn't realize that was an option. TIA

 

[jilljill]

Joining in late... Read your pre trip report and loved it. We are going on our 2nd Disney Cruise in February 2014. Just a question about lunch on the first day, are all of the restaurants open right when you board? I didn't realize that was an option. TIA

On the first day only the buffet is open and 1 other dining room. On the Magic/Wonder that will be Parrot Cay and on the Dream/Fantasy it will be Enchanted Garden. On the Navigator that is given to you in the port you will see the serving times listed. The dining room will close earlier than the buffet area.

 

[annabug]

Your little girl is tooooooo Cute!!! We will be taking the eastern cruise next May. Cant wait. I am really enjoying all of the details your have included. Thank you for taking the time!!
I was glad to see that you took your little one on an excursion.
You mentioned Kon Tiki. Is that the tour group?
What did it include? How much? How long??
What beach does it go to.
Would you do it again??
I am a nervous mother. I have 2 children, they will be DD9, DS5 at time of travel.
We took a cruise last year, and did not do any excursions. So we are looking foward to taking a few this time.
Thank you!

 

[cblack]

This picture is so adorable!! And it makes me sad because that's right where our room was supposed to be for our May trip...darn military deployments. I'm living vicariously through your TR. Can't wait to read more.

Thanks! So sorry you won't get to go in May. Are you being deployed? I hope to have another installment with beautiful San Juan soon!

Looks like you had a lot of fun on your excursion

We had a lot of fun. It wasn't very long, but allowed time for a nap afterwards.

Joining in late... Read your pre trip report and loved it. We are going on our 2nd Disney Cruise in February 2014. Just a question about lunch on the first day, are all of the restaurants open right when you board? I didn't realize that was an option. TIA

Thanks for joining in! As jilljill said, there is a buffet in Cabanas and Enchanted Garden available for lunch.

On the first day only the buffet is open and 1 other dining room. On the Magic/Wonder that will be Parrot Cay and on the Dream/Fantasy it will be Enchanted Garden. On the Navigator that is given to you in the port you will see the serving times listed. The dining room will close earlier than the buffet area.

Hi, Jilljill! When is your next cruise?

Your little girl is tooooooo Cute!!! We will be taking the eastern cruise next May. Cant wait. I am really enjoying all of the details your have included. Thank you for taking the time!!
I was glad to see that you took your little one on an excursion.
You mentioned Kon Tiki. Is that the tour group?
What did it include? How much? How long??
What beach does it go to.
Would you do it again??
I am a nervous mother. I have 2 children, they will be DD9, DS5 at time of travel.
We took a cruise last year, and did not do any excursions. So we are looking foward to taking a few this time.
Thank you!

Welcome aboard! Kon Tiki was the name of the boat that we went on. The Disney excursion title includes Kon Tiki...something like the great Kon tiki escape. It included a ride on the boat with music, a bit of history about the island, an hour and a half at Honeymoon Beach, and a ride back to the ship in the boat. We left at 930am and we were back around 2pm. I can't remember the price, but we did it through Disney, so the price is on their web site. I think it was around $60/person. I would do it again, but would also enjoy going to Magen's Bay in St. Thomas. Disney makes excursions VERY easy. You meet in a location as a group, they walk you off of the ship to wherever you are going, and you are brought back to the ship. Enjoy your cruise!

 

[jilljill]

We're going for different scenery our next 2 cruises. We're doing the LA-Vancouver repo and the first AK cruise in May. Then we have the first Southern Caribbean, 9/20/14.
When are you cruising again?

 

[cblack]

We're going for different scenery our next 2 cruises. We're doing the LA-Vancouver repo and the first AK cruise in May. Then we have the first Southern Caribbean, 9/20/14.
When are you cruising again?

We are on the second southern Caribbean, so we will just miss you. We are also planning a WDW trip for December of this year.

 

[jilljill]

We are on the second southern Caribbean, so we will just miss you. We are also planning a WDW trip for December of this year.

I'm heading to WDW on Tuesday, actually to visit my daughter and bother her. I haven't decided how much time I'll spend down there this summer.

 

[cblack]

In the month leading up to our trip, I religiously checked the 25-day forecast, and then the 10-day forecast to see if we would get good weather. I was so afraid that we would have a lot of rain, but we really didn't. The rain was timed very well. Today, we are visiting San Juan. Something woke me up around 7, so I got up to see if we were in port, and we were pulling in. It was a bit rainy, so I went back to sleep until we were planning to get up around 8am. When the alarm went off, I headed back out to get a better look at San Juan and it had just stopped raining and the sun was peaking out...so here is the treat I got for sleeping in a bit:

San Juan is BEAUTIFUL!!! The forts look amazing from the ship, so I can only imagine how cool they are to visit! Next time, we will, for sure! Jayden woke up well-rested for the first time on this trip, which for every parent out there, you know that this is a win! We decided the night before that we would have breakfast delivered to our room for this morning. I believe you need to be in a 1-bedroom suite or the Royal suite to have hot food delivered, but I could be wrong. We just told Kemisha the night before what we wanted and it was all delivered right on time. We had pastries, pancakes, Mickey Waffles, eggs, bacon, and to my surprise, we had a nice bowl of Strawberry soup. I commented earlier in the week that I love it, so I think Kemisha may have added it to the order

We met at the The Tube for this excursion around 9:30 am. By 9:40, we were all there and walking off of the ship to the bus. The bus was waiting for us right at the end of the dock. Here are a couple photos as we walked to the bus:

The bus ride was short -- approximately 10 minutes or so. While we were driving, our tour guide explained what we would have access to at the resort and gave us all green armbands to wear while we were there. For this excursion, you go to the Courtyard Marriott on the Isla Verde beach. At the resort, you have access to the beach, each person has a beach chair and there are umbrellas for every few chairs, you have access to the pool, and you get lunch. The waves were CRAZY today (it was a "red flag" day, meaning we weren't supposed to be in the ocean, but here are our photos to prove we can't follow directions):

As you can see, Jayden quickly escaped to Mom on the sand and Jeremy got beat up by the waves. I decided I would go in with Jayden, but hold her so she felt safer. About three waves in, the sand collapsed below my foot, and my big toe and the inside part of my foot somehow folded underneath the rest of my foot. Needless to say, I was done with the ocean at that point and so was Jayden. We tried to play in the sand, but it was really sticky. I know that sounds weird, and maybe it was because of the crazy waves, but the sand just wouldn't come off. There was also quite a bit of debris in the sand, as this is a public beach, and apparently isn't cleaned often. Another downside here, the incline of the beach near the water is really steep, so it is more difficult to navigate (I supposed all beaches can't be nice and flat like Castaway Cay). This sounds like we didn't have much fun, but we really did; I just want to make sure folks know what to expect when they go. The good news with this excursion is that we could escape to a wonderful pool where they had floaties and rings you could "rent."

Another good thing about the excursion was the food - it was really good. I would say it was tamed-down Puerto Rican food, but good! After lunch, we had about an hour to swim before leaving. FYI - take a watch or phone on this excursion, as no one will tell you when it is time to go. We watched closely and followed people around, but our tour guide did not ensure we headed back to the bus.

 

[cblack]

We made it back to the ship around 2. When we arrived at the dock, there were quite a few vendors setup selling items and selling the chance to have your picture taken with various animals. We skipped all of that and headed back to the ship. We got all cleaned up and went out to see a few characters. Tinkerbell was out this afternoon. Let me just say that this woman is incredibly tiny...for a while, I thought they had recruited a 10 year old to fill this role:

We also saw Aurora again, because, you know, her and Jayden are on a first-name basis:

Jeremy and I were going to Palo for dinner tonight, so we grabbed Jayden something from Flo's Cafe and went out to our verandah to eat it while we sailed away from San Juan.

We dropped Jayden off at the Kid's Club and went off to dinner. I didn't take any pictures at Palo, but everything was amazing. I did get two chocolate souffles, but couldn't finish them. They were really good, but not as good as last time -- I probably escalated their goodness in my mind over the last two years

When we went to pick Jayden up, she was having a blast! Pluto was there for the pajama party and Jayden was shakin' her groove thang for sure! It took me a while to get her out of there, and I quickly realized that she had picked up some serious dance moves from her friends in the club.

After this, we had pictures taken with some more characters. Jayden finally got to see Tiana, and she was very pleased. We also dropped by to see Aurora (again). I died laughing because Jayden was the only one in line when Aurora made it there, and Aurora got down on her knees by Jayden and said, "well, hello, Jayden...what have you done in the last two hours?" Ok, Ok, I get it Aurora...we are stalking you. The Shutters guy asked if I wanted a photo, and I told him, "no, at this point, Aurora is in more of my photos than I am." We also saw Cinderella and Lilo and Stitch.

We closed the night by going swimming until around 11. When we came back to our room, we had a nice little cabana and bracelets waiting for us for our day at Castaway Cay:

We also had this nice guy waiting for us:

Next up - our last sea day! Even getting to this point in writing about it makes me a little sad. I think you would really need to be set on having a bad time on vacation to not feel a little sad at this point in the week.

 

[MomToPrincePhillip]

Beautiful photos of San Juan! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Thanks for the great reporting about The Kon-Tiki and Isla Verde. Your photos are beautiful. What a nice rainbow greeting in San Juan. My favorite photo is the fort in San Juan. Looks like the view from up there would be magnificent. What was the name of it? I may want to head over there when we arrive. Jaden looks so happy and cute in the pool riding her floating penguin!

Well, I can't wait to see a paper cabana in our room on the night before we're castaways, because I was just lucky enough to suddenly see one become available while online a couple days ago! Just 12 days before we fly to Orlando for our cruise on the Fantasy! Hope to hear about your cabana experience before we leave. Thanks for your great TR!

 

[Conorama]

Another good thing about the excursion was the food - it was really good. I would say it was tamed-down Puerto Rican food, but good! After lunch, we had about an hour to swim before leaving. FYI - take a watch or phone on this excursion, as no one will tell you when it is time to go. We watched closely and followed people around, but our tour guide did not ensure we headed back to the bus.

I agree on the food - made better by the company!

 

[cblack]

Beautiful photos of San Juan! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

Thanks for the great reporting about The Kon-Tiki and Isla Verde. Your photos are beautiful. What a nice rainbow greeting in San Juan. My favorite photo is the fort in San Juan. Looks like the view from up there would be magnificent. What was the name of it? I may want to head over there when we arrive. Jaden looks so happy and cute in the pool riding her floating penguin!

Well, I can't wait to see a paper cabana in our room on the night before we're castaways, because I was just lucky enough to suddenly see one become available while online a couple days ago! Just 12 days before we fly to Orlando for our cruise on the Fantasy! Hope to hear about your cabana experience before we leave. Thanks for your great TR!

I don't know the name of the fort, but hope to visit it while in San Juan next year. If you visit it, please report back!

Awesome score on the cabana! I will try really hard to get to CC before you leave. I will tell you that it probably won't happen until next weekend. Sorry!

I agree on the food - made better by the company!

Couldn't agree more...the company was awesome!

 

[lizzyb]

Loving the report!
Did you by chance scan your navigators? Hoping to see a more current version.

 

[sarbah77]

We are on the second southern Caribbean, so we will just miss you. We are also planning a WDW trip for December of this year.

I just booked my trip! Our trip. Me and... someone else TBD. I can't wait to see Disney in December.

Thanks for the great reporting about The Kon-Tiki and Isla Verde. Your photos are beautiful. What a nice rainbow greeting in San Juan. My favorite photo is the fort in San Juan. Looks like the view from up there would be magnificent. What was the name of it? I may want to head over there when we arrive. Jaden looks so happy and cute in the pool riding her floating penguin!

Castillo San Cristobal! I believe it cost... $5 to get into that one El Morro, per person. My husband and I did both; we walked EVERYWHERE. It was just amazing.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Sarbah77, Thanks for the name of the fort in the photo. When you said you walked everywhere, did you mean right off the ship and no taxi? How far from the ship was the fort in the picture ?
Thanks! I leave in 11 days!

 

[jilljill]

Actually the fort shown in the picture is El Morro. Castillo San Cristobol is located in town and can't be seen from the ship easily when leaving port.
The walk from the ship to San Cristobol is about 10 minutes and El Morro is about 10-15 minutes from there - it's all uphill to get there. Old San Juan has free trolleys that run on a continous basis and stop at both forts.

The forts cost $3/per adult for entry into 1 fort. If you want to go to both you can buy the 2 fort pass for $5/person. This info and more is located on the US National Parks website since the forts are past of the US National Parks. The National Park Service also offers other types of passes, such as annual or lifetime - that info is also found on their website.

 

[Conorama]

Thanks!

Couldn't agree more...the company was awesome!