Vibration on Disney Fantasy

We were on the fantasy last week and I actually asked one of the officers during the captains party why the fantasy vibrates so much worse than the Dream and he said it’s only really bad when they have to run all 4 engines. (When they are going fast). He said the dream will vibrate too under the same conditions but the dream very rarely has the need to go fast so they rarely run all the engines together.

Not sure how much of this is true and how much of this is a “Disney answer” but I thought I would share.
 
We have been on Fantasy 3 times in aft cabins 6690, 8684 and 9174. While we have felt vibrations, as others have mentioned, it seems most noticeable when the ship is moving at high speed, bucking strong current or pulling into port. It has never really interfered with our sleep (pulling into port might wake us up earlier than normal) and certainly hasn't had an adverse impact on our cruise experience. We prefer extreme aft cabins and will continue to book them whenever possible.
 
We were on the Fantasy in 9614 in April, which is considered an AFT room but it's not super AFT, if that makes sense. We felt some vibration in our room occasionally but it didn't bother us. I felt more vibration on the Wonder the year before and we were in 6608 Mid-Ship.
 
We stayed in an aft room deck 9 in march on the Fantasy. The only time we felt vibrations was coming into port. We felt the movement of the ship more (than we have on previous cruises) and had to move the hangers onto the floor of the closet at night.
 


We just booked our cruise for next year on the Fantasy, aft 6128, currently 3 rooms left to book forward if I want to change. Is it really that bad? Should I change? Hubby already tends to be Grumpy, don't need him to be Grumpy and Sleepy. Have only been on the Dream and the Wonder previously, and it's been 8 years since our last cruise. Would really like this to be memorable for the right reasons.
 
With all due respect, we have sailed RCCL many times and have sailed DCL 6x now and NEVER experienced vibration like this. Perhaps it was the deck and/or stateroom specific, but NO ONE should have to put up with sleepless nights on a cruise especially after paying Disney $$.

We always sail aft (on RCCL as well) and have never had any issues EXCEPT for on the Fantasy. :(
 
Last summer we stayed in 9166 and only felt vibrations when the ship was docking at port. We took the hangers out of the closet on the last night and wrapped them in a bath towel just in case- but it wasn't an issue. I booked another aft room on deck 5 for this summer. Maybe it bothers some worse than others. I honestly would not have even noticed it except that I had read about it on here prior to our cruise.
 


On our Fantasy cruise this past March, we stayed in cabin 8174 which is 5 rooms from the aft.
We heard the noise created by the vibrations, but we quickly remedy the problem.
Like others who corrected the issues with the hangers
had to move the hangers onto the floor of the closet at night.
and
We took the hangers out of the closet on the last night and wrapped them in a bath towel just
we folded one of the many sales flyer numerous times and wedged it between the door and the jamb of the connecting door.

No other door was making noise.

Hope this helps.
Enjoy,
glen
 
There is a reason why you were able to find availability on these aft cabins at the last minute.

A function of speed - that is, how hard the engines are working - but, yes, it's a real issue. Fantasy and Dream both are flawed ships when it comes to speeding up. Dream doesn't have to speed up, so it never comes up.

The scenario where you will most likely feel the aft vibrations is on the Eastern Caribbeans itineraries in the rougher winter waters between St Thomas and Castaway Cay.
 
Could be totally unrelated but DCL is modifying the current itinerary for the Fantasy, skipping Falmouth and offering credits to guests onboard. Word is that speed is being limited to 16.5kts due to an ongoing mechanical issue.
 
I'm not sure how far aft you have to be to feel it. We were in 8658 - close to the aft elevators. We certainly didn't feel anything so perhaps you have to be closer. Next cruise we're in 7168 so a bit closer to completely aft. We'll see if we feel anything. Maybe I just ignored it or tuned it out last trip.
 
We were in 5688 (Aug 2017) overlooking Dumbo and it was horrible! The vibration was bad enough but the noise was worse. On top of that there was a horrible smell from the bathroom that took them 2 days to figure out what it was and repair. It was a DVC cruise (so extra expensive :-) ) and there weren't any available rooms to move us to. They were well aware of the issue - they were in the room when it was happening. They did give us a 15% off a future cruise, which we were not able to use in the allowed time frame.
What a ripoff!
 
I was booked in a cat 7A aft before reading about the vibrations and switched to forward and upgraded to a 5B because the 7As were booked by the time I realized it.

It seems hit and miss but seems worse in winter months on the Eastern itinerary, which has others have pointed out has some of the top speeds for most distance covered hence the fastest speeds. It seems one remedy they offer if the ship is not completely sold out is to offer an inside "sleeping cabin" separate from your regular cabin so that you can sleep at night in spite of the vibration but still enjoy your balcony.

I have a child with sensory issues and for whom routine is important and this would be a huge disturbance so I just sucked up and paid for a more expensive verandah cabin between forward and midship elevators. I wish I had done more digging before picking my original stateroom - kiddo had wanted to stay aft due to proximity to cabanas but now he is happy to be closer to the Edge so it works out. Good thing Disney offers prices across the categories at the same as they were the day you booked as I booked opening day for gold and it wasn't so horrible pricewise to upgrade. I was pretty ticked off at first when I thought I'd have to pay prevailing prices.
 
We just got off the Fantasy and eating in Cabana's when the ship was at sea was not fun. Our room was midship so we didn't have any issues sleeping at night but dinner at Palo's was not a good experience. The constant shaking of the ship would make me think twice about ever sailing her again.

MsA
 
I have just changed my cruise from Dream to Fantasy. Now I am in a category 6B, room 6180, which is AFT. There are rooms available on other decks and/or midship/forward.

To lower our chances to be bothered by vibrations, what would be better, stay aft and move up, or move to a different part of the ship?
There would be a payment involved of about $50 or $100 depending on the category. I have booked this cruise with a placeholder, I take it if I change my room to a higher category online, my discount and down payment are taken into account?
 
We were on the fantasy last week and I actually asked one of the officers during the captains party why the fantasy vibrates so much worse than the Dream and he said it’s only really bad when they have to run all 4 engines. (When they are going fast). He said the dream will vibrate too under the same conditions but the dream very rarely has the need to go fast so they rarely run all the engines together.

Not sure how much of this is true and how much of this is a “Disney answer” but I thought I would share.

This makes total sense now. We sailed on the Dream and the vibrations were so bad I couldn't sleep on the last night, but everyone always said it was only the Fantasy that did that, so now I know I was not imagining it and I guess they had to sail faster that particular day.

I have just changed my cruise from Dream to Fantasy. Now I am in a category 6B, room 6180, which is AFT. There are rooms available on other decks and/or midship/forward.

To lower our chances to be bothered by vibrations, what would be better, stay aft and move up, or move to a different part of the ship?
There would be a payment involved of about $50 or $100 depending on the category. I have booked this cruise with a placeholder, I take it if I change my room to a higher category online, my discount and down payment are taken into account?

Move to mid-ship or forward. The problem is aft, and it doesn't sound like moving to a higher floor makes any difference (people have said it is even a problem in Cabanas/Palo and they are on deck 11 and 12 respectively, so deck 10 is not going to be better).

Since you booked as a placeholder, all modifications must be made by phone to preserve your discount and placeholder terms (e.g., onboard credit). If you modify online it will revert to full price/non-placeholder booking. It is very easy for them to change your room on the phone; I've done it many times and it only takes a couple minutes.
 
There is a reason why you were able to find availability on these aft cabins at the last minute.

A function of speed - that is, how hard the engines are working - but, yes, it's a real issue. Fantasy and Dream both are flawed ships when it comes to speeding up. Dream doesn't have to speed up, so it never comes up.

The scenario where you will most likely feel the aft vibrations is on the Eastern Caribbeans itineraries in the rougher winter waters between St Thomas and Castaway Cay.
We were on the fantasy last week and I actually asked one of the officers during the captains party why the fantasy vibrates so much worse than the Dream and he said it’s only really bad when they have to run all 4 engines. (When they are going fast). He said the dream will vibrate too under the same conditions but the dream very rarely has the need to go fast so they rarely run all the engines together.

Not sure how much of this is true and how much of this is a “Disney answer” but I thought I would share.


Ive been trying to wrap my head around the issue for a few days now, as this subject came up somewhere else.
I know for a fact that the issue exists, as I experienced it on the maiden, and have seen reports that it seems to vary, but what I am seeing is that people are confusing normal operating vibrations with the consistent vibration on the Fantasy. What I mean by that is all of the ships have some kind of vibration on them when coming into port. This is from the thrusters as they work to turn the ship or try and keep her in the channel. Sometimes they will work harder then normal, some officers have a heavy hand on the thrusters. We were on the Magic once, and pulling away from PC, the officer using the thrusters spooled them up so fast, the ship actually rocked coming off the dock.

The issue on the Fantasy, and Ill say the Dream does not have the same issue or at least to the same degree, relates to something in the drive train. (Why do I say that? Easy, coming home from CC the ship is running at or near full speed to make it to PC on time. If the Dream had the same issue to the same extent, someone should have noticed by now. She also runs pretty quick to Nassau from PC) If it were bearings, they would have been corrected by now, as the ship has been out of the water already. Shafts, prop alignment, nicked blade, out of balance, that would have been corrected also in water or at her drydock.

I do not think its the mains, (theres 5)as the mains are all constant speed diesels, that turn generators. Typically they will rotate the mains so they can do maintenance on them, and also even out the hours on them. The power, for those that dont know, goes into a switchboard, and a computer decides how much power goes where etc. and track the usage, and will recommend starting or shutting down additional engines. They spin at the same rpms, whether they are supplying 100% of the ships rated power, 10% of the ships rated power, or sitting in standby mode running. Typically when moving, 2 mains are dedicated, 1 to each drive motor and additional mains are started based on power usage. So in theory at any given time at sea, probably at least 3 mains are running at any time.

The only thing I can come up with, is its something in or with the electric drive motor, that is connected to the shaft. These will turn at different speeds, based on need. Which would mean that the issue is more or less noticeable, and theses engines will work harder or easier based on sea state current direction etc. IIRC the issue seems to be more on the starboard side then port, which to me, seems like there is something not quite right with the stbd drive motor. It could be something internally not balanced right, or some balancer may be bad. To me, this is the most likely issue, as who gets to pay for the fix? If it was there from day 1, and they signed for the ship, its Disneys problem now. If its a manufacturing issue, then it falls to the maker. If MW didn't install it correctly, its on them. Its entirely possible, that in the last drydock, they did find an issue, but these motors are not off the shelf, and sometimes the fix isn't easy. It could be that if something internally is bad on the motor, and needs to be replaced, either there looking at a very lengthy time frame to acquire the replacement part, or it could be the whole unit needs to come out of the ship, and it was something that the yard and DCL weren't ready for. Its doable, but its not like changing a car engine where you can be done in a day. I saw a documentary where they added a genset (diesel main) to a cruise ship and it took them like 5 days from the time they drained the dock, cut a hole in the side of the ship, removed all of the obstacles, like pipes, wiring, walkways, put in the new support deck, slid the engine in, closed up the ship, and had the engine ready to run.
 
Just got off the Fantasy in room 6674 (aft). It was horrendous from the moment we left St. Thomas to arriving at Castaway. I am not exaggerating. It was BAAAAAD. Constant, non-stop hard vibrating. Literally everything in the room was vibrating, and in the hallways. Couldn't sleep (even using white noise) the bed vibrated and it was loud rattling from the cabinets, tv and closets. Couldn't enjoy our cabin at all. I even took video of the hallway and our room. You would probably be shocked, I was when I just re-watched it. We were more exhausted getting off the cruise than we were after 5 days before the cruise in WDW.

If this is in-fact due to speed, the Fantasy needs to alter it's plans to go slower rather than making their guests miserable for days at a time.
 
I would think that if it was a speed issue, there would be no reason they couldn't switch the Dream and Fantasy itineraries so the Fantasy wouldn't have to work that hard in most cases. It does make one wonder if they've pushed the Dream as hard and found the same problem. Or maybe people just aren't complaining all that much. It would only be experienced cruisers that would know the difference, as well as the crew.
 

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