SrisonS
... and that's 'ess-ryzun-ess' (play on my name)
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2007
Pre-Fun
IMG_0663 by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr
This marks our 3rd voyage aboard a Disney Cruise Line vessel. We went on the Magic in 2008, for our honeymoon (Western Caribbean); and again on the Magic in 2009 (Eastern Caribbean). The destinations for this cruise are St. Thomas, San Juan, and Disney's Castaway Cay. This is also our 1st cruise with our 2 year old daughter. So our traveling group is made up of me (Scott), my wife (Mollie), our daughter (Samantha), and my in-laws. Going in, we had planned on doing the 2nd dinner seating with the in-laws, and would just occasionally hang out with them. We still only saw them once in a while; but we thought it better to change to the earlier seating for dinner, in case our daughter wasn't able to stay up that late. My in-laws still kept their original time though. It would've been nice to sit with familiar faces at dinner (the first night of our first cruise was SUPER awkward); but everything for this trip worked out quite nicely.
IMG_0585 by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr
Packing for our weeklong vacation went fairly smoothly on Thursday and Friday. I saw somewhere that there was a 50 lb weight limit per bag; so we had to add another bag to our arsenal. And I also had to figure out a way to pack my not-so-small camera tripod. I'm really into photography, as you will see; and I wanted to get some night shots of the ship, as well as capture some other indoor details. So I would've kicked myself for not bringing the tripod along. But we were able to pack everything without any fuss.
Another pre-boarding circumstance we dealt with had to do with certain necessities for our daughter. We had to think about packing plenty of diapers and wipes, as well as certain foods that we know she likes (shes a really picky eater). With some of the things we needed, there were stipulations stating that they had to be in factory sealed packaging. It wasn't a big deal for small amounts (i.e. things for the diaper bag); but we didn't know how strict they would be with everything else. We eventually ended up just using the service where you could order things online, and a box with your order would be waiting in your stateroom. This helped to keep us in the guidelines, as well as helping to lessen our load. As far as prices for that service were concerned, they weren't really all that bad. The items were a tad more than what we pay in the stores; but not by too much at all. The kicker is the price for shipping (I'm sure it wasn't shipped through a mail service though... its probably just the process of getting it to your room). I think the shipping was about 20-something bucks for diapers, wipes, Cheerios, infant oatmeal, and maybe one other small item. Then again, looking at it all, the overall cost was about as expected. So I could definitely recommend it.
Oooo!!!! I almost forgot another little interesting tidbit about our Pre-Fun& we probably almost missed it. The week before, we were in (or On& whatever) Long Island, New York for a wedding. As most people are aware, Hurricane Sandy was on course to hit that area on Monday. Without making any last minute adjustments, our scheduled flight was set to leave at around 5:40 PM that Sunday before (from Islip airport). We happened to be the LAST flight leaving that day. The rest of the flights for that night were canceled; as well as all the ones for Monday and Tuesday. I'm not sure when Islip opened back up; but we have family that couldn't leave LaGuardia until Saturday or Sunday (they had planned to leave the Monday the storm hit). My in-laws were also in NY, but were able to get an earlier flight than they originally planned. So luckily for us, cruising on the Fantasy wouldn't just be a Fantasy.
My Disney Pics on Flickr!!!
IMG_0663 by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr
This marks our 3rd voyage aboard a Disney Cruise Line vessel. We went on the Magic in 2008, for our honeymoon (Western Caribbean); and again on the Magic in 2009 (Eastern Caribbean). The destinations for this cruise are St. Thomas, San Juan, and Disney's Castaway Cay. This is also our 1st cruise with our 2 year old daughter. So our traveling group is made up of me (Scott), my wife (Mollie), our daughter (Samantha), and my in-laws. Going in, we had planned on doing the 2nd dinner seating with the in-laws, and would just occasionally hang out with them. We still only saw them once in a while; but we thought it better to change to the earlier seating for dinner, in case our daughter wasn't able to stay up that late. My in-laws still kept their original time though. It would've been nice to sit with familiar faces at dinner (the first night of our first cruise was SUPER awkward); but everything for this trip worked out quite nicely.
IMG_0585 by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr
Packing for our weeklong vacation went fairly smoothly on Thursday and Friday. I saw somewhere that there was a 50 lb weight limit per bag; so we had to add another bag to our arsenal. And I also had to figure out a way to pack my not-so-small camera tripod. I'm really into photography, as you will see; and I wanted to get some night shots of the ship, as well as capture some other indoor details. So I would've kicked myself for not bringing the tripod along. But we were able to pack everything without any fuss.
Another pre-boarding circumstance we dealt with had to do with certain necessities for our daughter. We had to think about packing plenty of diapers and wipes, as well as certain foods that we know she likes (shes a really picky eater). With some of the things we needed, there were stipulations stating that they had to be in factory sealed packaging. It wasn't a big deal for small amounts (i.e. things for the diaper bag); but we didn't know how strict they would be with everything else. We eventually ended up just using the service where you could order things online, and a box with your order would be waiting in your stateroom. This helped to keep us in the guidelines, as well as helping to lessen our load. As far as prices for that service were concerned, they weren't really all that bad. The items were a tad more than what we pay in the stores; but not by too much at all. The kicker is the price for shipping (I'm sure it wasn't shipped through a mail service though... its probably just the process of getting it to your room). I think the shipping was about 20-something bucks for diapers, wipes, Cheerios, infant oatmeal, and maybe one other small item. Then again, looking at it all, the overall cost was about as expected. So I could definitely recommend it.
Oooo!!!! I almost forgot another little interesting tidbit about our Pre-Fun& we probably almost missed it. The week before, we were in (or On& whatever) Long Island, New York for a wedding. As most people are aware, Hurricane Sandy was on course to hit that area on Monday. Without making any last minute adjustments, our scheduled flight was set to leave at around 5:40 PM that Sunday before (from Islip airport). We happened to be the LAST flight leaving that day. The rest of the flights for that night were canceled; as well as all the ones for Monday and Tuesday. I'm not sure when Islip opened back up; but we have family that couldn't leave LaGuardia until Saturday or Sunday (they had planned to leave the Monday the storm hit). My in-laws were also in NY, but were able to get an earlier flight than they originally planned. So luckily for us, cruising on the Fantasy wouldn't just be a Fantasy.
My Disney Pics on Flickr!!!