What's still magical vs. now frustrating post-COVID? 12/26-1/2 Disney Fantasy

[gstdog]

Hello everyone! We just returned from the Disney Fantasy that sailed 7 nights in the Eastern Caribbean. I find so much value in the trip reports from others, and I wanted to share my first cruise in the post-COVID world.

THIS REPORT: This review is really for those who want to understand how the Disney experience has changed post-COVID. That said, this is just a snapshot in time. The experience is changing constantly, so next month (or next week) could look completely different. I’ll share a short overview of our experiences on the ship and ports, but there are others who have reviewed them far better than I can, and likely with better pictures.

OUR FAMILY: We sailed with our family of four, including myself, my wife (DW), my 10-year-old son (DS), and my 7-year-old daughter (DD). My wife and I have sailed four times on the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic over the past 20 years, including a Mediterranean cruise back in 2019 (see previous trip report). We also traveled with some family friends, a party of four that also included their 10-year-old son and 9-year old daughter. They ended up being in the cabin just two doors down from ours, which made it even more fun for the kids to have friends on board.

OUR CRUISE: We sailed on the Disney Fantasy on a 7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise sailing from Port Canaveral. You can see the itinerary below:

Day Date Port Ashore Onboard Sunday 26-Dec-21 PORT CANAVERAL 3:45 PM Monday 27-Dec-21 AT SEA Tuesday 28-Dec-21 AT SEA Wednesday 29-Dec-21 TORTOLA 7:30 AM 5:45 PM Thursday (CANCELLED) 30-Dec-21 ST. THOMAS,U.S. VIRGIN IS 7:45 AM 4:00 PM Friday 31-Dec-21 AT SEA Saturday 1-Jan-22 CASTAWAY CAY 10:00 AM 5:15 PM Sunday 2-Jan-22 PORT CANAVERAL 7:30 AM

MINI REVIEW: Disney Cruise is still a great vacation experience, even with COVID mucking up the works. I cannot deny that COVID has lessened what is normally an amazing experience, but our family still had a great time. Do I recommend that you go on a cruise right now? It depends on what’s most important to you. My observations on the biggest challenges with COVID are as follows, in no particular order:

• COVID testing at the port, and managing anxiety of potentially being turned away at the port
• wearing masks on the ship, except for when eating food, outside, or in your state room
• reduced capacities at the entertainment venues, which forces you to arrive early for a seat
• less variety in the entertainment offerings, plus no sail-away or Pirate parties on the top deck
• limited capacity for the pools, which means you may have to wait in a queue to get in the pool
• less flexibility for kids club with scheduled drop-off times, plus harder to get the times you want
• risk of cancellations due to COVID, including excursions, on-ship offerings, and even ports of call (e.g., the Vibe and Edge weren’t offered on multiple days, many excursions were canceled by tour operators, and we were not allowed off the ship in St. Thomas due to COVID)

Reading that list makes it seem like a lot! But, there are a lot of things that haven’t changed and are still magical! Here are those things that my family felt was still amazing:

• service levels similar to the past; Cast Members are still amazing and make the experience magic
• seated dining is fantastic; the magic of slowing down to spend time with the family over a meal
• beach activities haven’t changed; snorkeling, playing in the sand, or whatever you want is still there
• my children still loved the kids club; they looked forward to their time in the club each day
• self-serve ice cream and soda; still a favorite for the kids, plus the quick-serve pizza & burgers
• it’s still a vacation!! …I was able to relax on ship and disconnect from the day-to-day

You’ll have to balance those two lists to decide if it’s worth it for you. For our family, it was absolutely worth it!

More to follow. I'll follow-up with some additional details on our experiences tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[MsSimone]

We were on that same cruise. It was a our second cruise and while we had fun, I definitely wouldn't cruise again until covid slides from pandemic to endemic. It's very much a situation where everyone's experience is going to vary.

 

[gstdog]

As promised, here are more details on how COVID impacted the experiences on the ship.

SHOWS: In general, get there 30 minutes ahead of time for great seats, and 15 minutes ahead of time to make sure you get in. Because they are reducing theater capacity, they have multiple shows. If you wait for the 'second showing', then you don't need to wait nearly as long.

• On day 1, we saw the Aladdin performance. They're only filling maybe about 40% of the theater, as they seat every other row, and also leave three seats between parties in each row. The show started at 8:30pm, and it filled the capacity probably by 8:20pm. For larger parties, it was difficult to be able to sit together especially coming towards the end.
• On day 2, we wanted to see the movie, Eternals. I got to the theater with my son at 12:45 pm, about 15 minute ahead of time and got okay seats for the 1:00pm show. We had wanted some of our friends to join us, but the theater filled up pretty quickly and was ‘at capacity’ by 12:55pm. There were some people that were frustrated they had waited in line and didn't make it in, but there are multiple showings of each movie on the cruise.
• On day 4, we saw the Frozen performance. We went to the balcony at 7:35pm and got great seats for the 8:00pm show. As a side note, the Frozen show was one of the best I've ever seen on the ship, and the two leads playing Anna and Elsa were fantastic!
• On day 7, we saw the Believe performance. We went to the balcony at 7:30pm to get a good seat for the 8:00 p.m. show, but it wasn’t necessary to be there that early. There were plenty of open seats that were actually available even after the show began.

BINGO: A line starts to queue up about 45 minutes before each show. If you want be assured a spot, I’d recommend getting there at least 30 minutes ahead of time. Some guests can get afterwards, but it was usually at capacity with 15 minute left before showtime.

GYM: I went to the gym twice, and it was never crowded. On day 2, I got to the gym at 6:15am, and I was the second one there. They allowed you to take off your masks while working out on that day. By the time I left at 6:45, there were about 6 people in the gym. On day 6, I got to the gym at 8:00am, and there were only four people. However, after our ‘COVID’ scare in St. Thomas, they were no longer allowing you to remove your masking while working out. I was only lifting weights, so that wasn’t a big deal for me.

POOL: They only allow 13 Guests at a time in Donald’s pool in front of the funnel vision TV. Guests waiting to get into the pool wait in a queue. They allow Guests to be in the pool for about 10 minutes, and then blow a whistle. Everyone gets out and has to get in the queue if they want to go back in. From what I observed, most of the time there was only about 5-6 people in the queue, which meant half the pool could get right back in. During busier times (e.g., early afternoon during days at sea), the queue could be up to 15 people, which meant having to wait two ‘whistles’ to get into the pool. During Castaway Cay day, there was no queue at all, with less than 13 people in the pool at any given time.

Compliance: In general, I observed mask wearing compliance was extremely high. Guests do not wear masks outside on the decks, but inside, I saw most everyone wearing one at all times. That said, I did not see much social distancing. They have some markers in the ground where to stand and a few places, but that doesn't seem to be enforced. When guests are queuing up to go into a show, they tend to bunch together the way they normally would, which didn't bother me too much.

I'll share tomorrow the specifics on our Remy dinner and our snorkeling excursion in Tortola. Thanks!

 

[gstdog]

We were on that same cruise. It was a our second cruise and while we had fun, I definitely wouldn't cruise again until covid slides from pandemic to endemic. It's very much a situation where everyone's experience is going to vary.

I would tend to agree with you. We will likely wait until masks are no longer required before we book the next cruise no that we've 'scratched the itch' of doing a cruise. That said, if the pandemic stretches on for too long, we'll probably break down and do another one next year regardless.

 

[gstdog]

Here is a more detailed report of the snorkeling experience in Tortola. My short review--okay for the price paid, but not amazing.

Excursion: We booked Snorkel at Norman Island (TT20). I normally do things on my own, but wasn't in the mood to be a big planner this trip and decided just to go along with the flow. The excursion was not scheduled to leave until 11:30 a.m., so we dediced to spend some time in Road Town vs. just waiting on the ship. We had breakfast at Royal Court, and then I joined the virtual queue to leave the ship on our own. The virtual queue was super easy to use, and I was testing it out at various points and it looked like the max wait time to get off the ship could be up to 15 minutes, but for the most part it was almost as soon as you joined the queue you were able to go down and get off the ship.

We disembarked around 9:00 a.m. and walked into Road Town. I have to admit, that it's not really worth walking around. Right when you get off the ship, there's a small outdoor mall, but it has tourist style shops that were not unique (e.g., Crocs, Diamonds International). I had gone into Google Maps and marked a couple of local shops and a grocery store but I thought the kids would enjoy seeing. The local shops sell mainly clothing, like tennis shoes and t-shirts. At the grocery store, Bobby’s Supermarket, we let the kid buy some candy and cookies, because Disney only lets you take pre-packaged food on excursions (i.e., you cannot bring fruit or anything else from any of the buffets on the ship).

We met in D lounge right at 11:30 a.m. There were probably about 30-35 people total, and most were families with younger kids. This was the only snorkeling excursion that I found that allowed children younger than eight. DD is seven, so we needed one like that. There was a short walk of only maybe 200 yards from the Disney Fantasy to the dock for the charter boat. We only had to wait about 10-15 minutes before the boar arrived. The charter boat was comfortable with some seating up front that was uncovered, and then some seating in the shade as well. The weather was surprisingly warm. Even though the highs of the day were 79, the sun felt a lot hotter than it did in Florida at the same temperature.

It was a 30-minute ride on the ship over to Norman Island with the caves. It was not rough water for us, just a little bit of rocking but not bad at all. While we were heading over the boat, they walked around and fitted everyone with snorkel mask and fins. Once we arrived, they gave us 45 minutes in the first snorkeling area with the caves until they blew the horn to get back on the ship. I have to admit, that it was okay, but not great. I enjoyed the allure of snorkeling in three caves, but the novelty of that wore off pretty quickly and you are left with the fact that you're swimming in the dark without anything to see. There are some beautiful fish that we saw in the area, and the water was amazingly clear. However, this wasn't the best snorkeling area versus those have done in the past. That said, it was a great intro for our two younger children into snorkeling. The water temperature was surprisingly good. It was a little cold when we first jumped in, but it warmed up immediately and was very comfortable, even for my wife who normally hates cold water.

We had a short drive about 15 minutes to the next place for our second snorkeling stop. Having food was clutch, as our kids ate some gummy worms and cookies while in the boat to recharge their batteries. I highly recommend bringing some of your own food if you can. DS shared a gummy worm with one of the workers on the boat, and he came back and trade a shell with him.

Our second stop was at a small private beach with a little restaurant. You actually park at a dock and so you don't have to jump off the boat (i.e., you can walk off). The snorkeling there is about the same as the first stop. Not a lot to see, but some fish to look at. There are some limitations of how far you can swim out, so the snorkeling there was underwhelming. That said, the beach was nice, especially for kids that were done snorkeling and just wanted to play in the sand and the water. I didn't order anything from the restaurant, but some people did get a drink or some food. I was just starting to wonder how long we’d be at the beach, but then they blew the horn to get back on the boat.

We got back on the Disney Fantasy right at 3:00 p.m. after having left at 11:30 a.m. All in all, I think it was okay for the price paid, and a good intro to snorkeling for younger kids, that not something I would recommend for people that really love snorkeling. I enjoy snorkeling at Castaway Cay a lot more, plus it's less expensive.

 

[Nemos2010]

Enjoying your report. Were there fireworks? if so, do you remember if they were starboard?

 

[gstdog]

Enjoying your report. Were there fireworks? if so, do you remember if they were starboard?

Yes, there were fireworks on New Year's Eve, and they were off the port side of the ship (left side of the ship if you are facing the front of the ship). They had two shows--one at 8:45pm and another at 10:30pm. They seemed longer than I remember from my last cruise, but that could be because it was a special occasion with NYE.

 

[mlayman7]

What type of on board activities are they still not doing? I have two daughters who would love to do the BBB or the royal tea party. Do you know if those are still happening?

 

[Cat15]

We are cruising in March and both of those were available to book.

 

[lizzyb]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[DebbieRN]

Did they have the pirate's theme night? Or is that just on the Dream?

 

[Annabell]

Enjoy reading your trip report, thanks for sharing

 

[gstdog]

We will likely wait until masks are no longer required before we book the next cruise no that we've 'scratched the itch' of doing a cruise. That said, if the pandemic stretches on for too long, we'll probably break down and do another one next year regardless.

...and 35 days later, we officially broke down. We're going on the Dream for the 4 Night Bahamian on March 14. We thought about other options for our Spring Break vacation, but none that we'd prefer more than a cruise. Excited to be going back!

 

[gstdog]

Did they have the pirate's theme night? Or is that just on the Dream?

Yes, that had pirate's themed night, but it wasn't well advertised. The characters dressed up in their pirate gear, photo back drops were pirate-themed, and several of the shows were pirate-themed. However, because it wasn't really talked about in the navigator, I'd wager that only 10% of Guests dressed up as pirates. The family that we traveled with dressed up and still had fun, but it lacked the energy of past cruises since they didn't have the big pirate party top deck.

 

[JM_97]

How were the adults areas?

 

[gstdog]

How were the adults areas?

We didn't spend a ton of time in the adult areas, but whenever we walked through, they were not crowded. There always seemed to be chairs available and not many people in the pool.