Dina's and Peter's FANTAS(y)TIC First!!

Here is the overview Navigator we received at check-in, so as we were waiting we perused it and devised our strategy for scoring a Palo brunch reservation...bee line to Enchanted Garden!
 

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Thanks for your TR! We just did our first cruise about the same time as you but Bahamas on the Magic. We have a Western Caribbean booked now for Dec so I’m following along.
 
Thanks for your TR! We just did our first cruise about the same time as you but Bahamas on the Magic. We have a Western Caribbean booked now for Dec so I’m following along.
Thanks for following! We are thinking of using our placeholder for a 5 night Bahamas MDAS next winter. First I have to finish this report!
 


I'm going to apologize in advance for the weird pictures I seem to have of our boarding moments. I thought I took so many more photos but I can't seem to find them so maybe I didn't actually take many. The thing was, Pete and I were SOOOO super excited to be finally boarding this beautiful ship!

Anyway, we left off still in the terminal, awaiting the boarding calls to begin. It finally began a little bit after 11:30, and the first 2-3 groups were called in rapid succession. Like really quickly, less than 3 minutes apart or so. I was thinking at that point that we would easily be on board before noon. Then it started to get a little longer between numbers and the line started to build through roped off area. I also noticed there seemed to be a lot of people in each boarding group number, and I'm not sure if this is standard. At 11:55, there was a chime for another announcement, and we thought "this is us!" But instead, it was stating something to the effect of "we are sorry for the delay, but we are experiencing technical difficulties with check-in right now. We are working hard to resolve this problem, thank you for your patience." Not sure what the problem was with check-in specifically, and I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the building line at boarding, or if this is what it's always like; again, this was our first time. In retrospect, I started to wonder if this check-in technical glitch had anything to do with our low boarding number, as I thought a port check-in time of 12:15-12:30 would mean a number in the teens at least. Or if it was the reason for large numbers of passengers in each boarding group?

The calling of the numbers did resume very quickly, and our group number a few minutes after 12. We still had to snake through the line a bit, but we were scanning our cards by 12:15. We love the Disney touches throughout this process.
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We were touching ship (the butt, Nemo!) and they were calling our name by 12:15!! There's nothing like hearing your own name and stepping into that breathtaking atrium for the first time. Wish I had a proper photo, but I will always have the memory.

Here's where my photo-taking starts to go down hill, folks! There's something about being on vacation that both makes me want to take more photos but also makes me forget, because I want to live in that moment. As you see, not a single photo of the gorgeous atrium or the lovely cast members who welcomed us aboard?! I do, however, have a few photos of the customer service desk (not sure why, we didn't stop there yet)
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I assure you, we were not trying to upgrade our cabin! Maybe I wanted proof that the ship was fully booked?
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Why oh why did I take this photo?
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Upon boarding we apparently swung by the Customer Service desk (so I could take some really odd photographs, see above) and headed then to the Enchanted Garden restaurant, which was where our navigator had indicated we should go for Palo reservations. I was sure I took some photos here, because I wanted to chronicle the situation. As I mentioned, we boarded around 12:15 and were there by 12:20 at the latest, with the podium supposedly opening at 12:30. Some cast members were there to greet the people making their way down there and directing us to one of two lines. The line on the right was for changes to dining assignments (tables, times, rotations) and the one on the left was for Remy and Palo reservations. They tables set up so guests could sit and talk to agents instead of having to stand at podiums. At 12:20 there were only a few people (one or two parties) ahead of us on the left line, which I'm pretty sure opened a few minutes before 12:30, at least by my clock. We had our pick of times for Palo brunch on our first sea day (which was great because the first one offered would have cut into our Couple's Choice spa experience, so we snagged the noon reservation. Yay! We were so happy we would have brunch at Palo! After the big score, we realized we were hungry! so we headed straight up to Cabanas!

I love the decor on the fantasy, including the elevators

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Going up!
 
We experienced delays on our B2B in 2017.
We got off the ship just to then resign in for the second cruise and the system went down.
We were stuck in the port for almost 2 hours before we could re-board, we missed getting to be onboard in-between the 1st cruisers leaving and the new cruisers boarding.
Sometimes technology works against us!
 


Loving the trip report! You guys are so cute! Thank you for posting the Navigators, so helpful to get an idea of some of the activities.
 
Joining a little late, but excited to read your report. We were the cruise after you, so excited to see your experience!
 
We experienced delays on our B2B in 2017.
We got off the ship just to then resign in for the second cruise and the system went down.
We were stuck in the port for almost 2 hours before we could re-board, we missed getting to be onboard in-between the 1st cruisers leaving and the new cruisers boarding.
Sometimes technology works against us!
So sorry to hear this! It's ridiculous how dependent we are upon technology and how everything comes to a standstill when it fails us! Glad you're reading!

Us too! Can’t wait!
Lucky ducks! Such a great cruise!

Loving the trip report! You guys are so cute! Thank you for posting the Navigators, so helpful to get an idea of some of the activities.

Aw thanks!! So glad we could be of help! Thanks for reading!

Joining a little late, but excited to read your report. We were the cruise after you, so excited to see your experience!

I've been following you two cuties, too. We had some rough seas during our cruise, bit I don't think it matched what you experienced!
 
January 4 - Embarkation Day Cabanas Lunch

Pete and I were really looking forward to lunch at Cabanas on Embarkation Day, mostly due to the numerous vlogs we have followed, especially the DIS's own Two Dudes on a Cruise. So, as you can imagine, we headed up to deck 11 immediately after having scored that Palo brunch reservation!

Oh, wait. I lied. Kind of. Well, we ended up taking the forward elevators because we knew they'd be faster, and found ourselves at the Cove Pool Bar...where I had to grab a drink of the day, a Paradise Punch. I'm on the ship, after all. You know, on vacation. A girl's gotta celebrate being in Paradise, and what better way that with a Paradise Punch! This was delicious, reminded me a little of my favorite Lapu Lapu from the Poly, but just a little sweeter.

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We are still basking in the awe of the ship, so gorgeous. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I will remind you even if I did. We are not totally new to cruising. We have been on a few Celebrity, a few Royal Caribbeans to the Caribbean and Bermuda, and also 1 Holland America to Alaska. The Fantasy is by far the most beautiful ship we have seen, by our taste anyway. It was hard to stop gawking and do practical things, for example, order a drink, but the bartender was extremely accommodating and patient, lol!

I took the drink to go and we headed to Cabanas. We found seats immediately and actually didn't find the place too crowded or chaotic at all. Maybe we were ahead of the big crowds due to the check-in technical difficulties, or maybe everyone was at the sit-down lunch, but we were happy! We instantly loved the vibe of the place, with the beachy feel and Disney touches. But sadly, I only took pics of the food!

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The seafood and salad plate. I gotta say, the crab claws were delicious but so messy! I really needed a seafood fork, but there weren't any out. I supposed I could have asked a cast member but I didn't see one at the time I needed it. The shrimp were SO GOOD!! We've all had peel and eat shrimp before, but there was something special about these, not sure if it was the pixie dust!

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I had to have a second plate that included the famous chicken tenders, lamb chops and macaroni and cheese. The salmon, pizza and mac and cheese were unremarkable, typical buffet fare IMO. But the lamb and the chicken fingers! So good!

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We were stuffed after our full savory courses plates, but decided we wanted to at least try some of the desserts as we had read and seen great things about the Oreo cheese cake and the carrot cake. Both were...meh! Not at all worth the calories, so we didn't finish them. The WORST thing about Cabanas, which we learned with this dessert course, was that the coffee, which purports to be Joffrey's, is...how shall I say this mildly without getting hysterical and going on a rant? Virtually unpotable. Please, DISers, if you like coffee and you think you're not picky about it, listen to the advice of the experienced DCL sailors and either bring yourself some portable pods or buy the specialty coffee card at the Cove Cafe. Here's my thing. Honestly, Disney, for what we paid for this cruise, we should get a cup of drinkable free coffee with meals. I'm not asking for Starbucks. I'm asking for acceptable enough that I don't shudder with every sip.

So there you have it. I had to get it off my chest. Couldn't stop the rant. Warning: It might happen again during the rest of this report. I promise to try to avoid the conversation about the utter badness of the "coffee" in Cabanas. I will focus on the greatness of everything else. But it might come up again, because I'd like to emphasize that this was our first meal in Cabanas and we thought, well, maybe the coffee was having an "off" kind of day. Tragically, not so! Anyway, coffee aside, it was an extremely satisfying lunch and by now it was well after 1:30 and our room was certainly ready! We may or may not have stopped at Eye Scream on our way out of Cabanas since our dessert course was not so satisfying and we needed some meal closure. Like I said, we may not have, since I don't have any photo evidence!

Next up...stateroom gorgeousness!
 
So you didn't like the coffee in Cabanas? Perhaps I will need to pick up a couple of Disney gift cards for our trip just to make sure I can get my day started right! :coffee:
 
The WORST thing about Cabanas, which we learned with this dessert course, was that the coffee, which purports to be Joffrey's, is...how shall I say this mildly without getting hysterical and going on a rant? Virtually unpotable.

It was seriously bad, and I've had construction-site coffee in The Bronx (which is not to be confused with uber-delicious bodega coffee in The Bronx.)

There was ONE occasion where the coffee was passable. Perhaps it was the specific Cabanas location? We always seemed to go to the first port side Cabanas beverage station for our coffee. Maybe this coffee was "oldest" because it was made earliest since it was the first coffee station upon entering from this side? Idk.

However, this was also clearly a mistake in another way, as our station had apple juice and orange juice, and a casual stroll to another station the next day revealed a gem I did not expect to find -- POG JUICE!!! So now I'm on my first DCL cruise AND you're hitting me with delicious Poly memories?!? I am sooooo good by this point! Seriously.
 
Yes, the coffee is mud!
I usually have hot tea in the morning and that's fine, but my husband makes a visit or two a day to Cove Cafe for the good stuff.
Glad you snagged a brunch!

LOVE THE POG JUICE in CABANA'S
That and my oatmeal and my day starts off right!
 
So you didn't like the coffee in Cabanas? Perhaps I will need to pick up a couple of Disney gift cards for our trip just to make sure I can get my day started right! :coffee:

I was warned, but I just didn't believe it would be as bad as they said. I mean, I'm not that picky. But yeah, I'm glad you got my drift that I wasn't a fan of the coffee! LOL Just plan Cove Cafe into your budget. There's a discount card.

It was seriously bad, and I've had construction-site coffee in The Bronx (which is not to be confused with uber-delicious bodega coffee in The Bronx.)

There was ONE occasion where the coffee was passable. Perhaps it was the specific Cabanas location? We always seemed to go to the first port side Cabanas beverage station for our coffee. Maybe this coffee was "oldest" because it was made earliest since it was the first coffee station upon entering from this side? Idk.

However, this was also clearly a mistake in another way, as our station had apple juice and orange juice, and a casual stroll to another station the next day revealed a gem I did not expect to find -- POG JUICE!!! So now I'm on my first DCL cruise AND you're hitting me with delicious Poly memories?!? I am sooooo good by this point! Seriously.

The lesson here is not all beverage stations on the same ship or the same venue are created equal. Shop around!

Yes, the coffee is mud!
I usually have hot tea in the morning and that's fine, but my husband makes a visit or two a day to Cove Cafe for the good stuff.
Glad you snagged a brunch!

LOVE THE POG JUICE in CABANA'S
That and my oatmeal and my day starts off right!

Cove Cafe next cruise for sure! The POG juice!! We couldn't get enough once we found it! It made great mimosas with the Prosecco we brought on board, too!!
 
Saturday, January 4 - Embarkation Day

I left off with us leaving Cabanas to head to the stateroom. By then it had started raining BUCKETS and we started to see the gale force winds that had been predicted. I snapped these pics to text to our kids, since we were still in port and still had 4G.

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The Carnival Breeze through the rain as shot from Deck 11. I actually almost booked a cruise for November on that ship when we returned, but we had to reorganize dates and decided on something else. She looks like a great ship and the prices are amazing!

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Looking down at the wind and water...here's where we pretty much lost hope for an outdoor Sail-A-Wave party!

Down to deck 8 forward to find our stateroom...8536
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We had a seahorse, which means starboard...fish means port. Remember the number of letters match (starboard and seahorse 8, port and fish 4).

This was a category 5B - Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. It was AWESOME! Best balcony stateroom EVER! It was just a few doors forward of the forward elevators and we loved the location and everything else about it!! We would request this stateroom again and again if sailing on the Dream/Fantasy. That said, I bet we would have also loved almost any other cabins on this ship. If you've listened to the Dreams Unlimited Travel 8 reasons DCL is better than other cruise lines, the #1 reason is staterooms. WE TOTALLY AGREE!

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Bathroom(s) on left, huge closets on right. I'm standing in front of the second doors of both the closet and bathroom so they didn't make it into the photo. Sorry I didn't stand out in the hall to get the full effect.
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Heavenly bed! Best sleep ever!

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If I could find one flaw with this room, it would be the narrow hallway. Two people could barely pass each other. And you couldn't open a bathroom door if someone was at the closet. Minor gripe, we figured it out, we're adults.

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The huge rest of the room. So comfortable and roomy.
 
Saturday, January 4, Embarkation - continuing room tour

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Sofa bed but we never saw it opened

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Inside that top desk drawer is where you find postcards and pens. You can write postcards and mail that at Castaway Cay...theoretically...if you were able to dock there.

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Loved seeing our names on the TV. So Disney! We don't mind the smaller, older TV. We don't use it much on a cruise, except to find out more about what's going on around the ship, and to us, it was fine for our purposes. I could see how it could be a gripe for people who want to watch a movie or their favorite show for entertainment or to distract the kiddos.

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Toilet - not much room for long legs there. Not a problem for me personally!

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Shower/tub. We only used the shower. SO GOOD! The water was hot with amazing pressure. It took me about 3 days to figure out the controls, though LOL. Peter and I don't really care personally to have a split bath. We share a tiny bathroom at home and we're used to it. So we probably would have preferred a larger one-room bath. That said, we didn't mind it (except for forgetting all the time and accidentally opening the wrong door until day 3!) and we could totally appreciate how great this would be for families traveling together.

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Our balcony was spacious enough and comfortable. Loved the every moment. We are kind of snobby about balconies and would probably have a hard time without one. I know the verandah thing isn't important to everyone, and that's great, but for us, it makes such a difference in our overall experience.
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While we waited for our bags to be delivered to the room, we sat and stood out there and watched the DCL buses arriving from MCO and the parks. Could have sat there all day as hundreds of excited other passengers made their way to the beautiful terminal!

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I'm pretty sure that's the Norwegian Breakaway. I know it's one that we see regularly in Manhattan and you can see her NYC art on the hull.

We didn't wait very long for our 3 bags to arrive, and we were fully unpacked, our door was magnetized, and we even rested a bit before the mandatory muster.
 
Great room, we love 5B's.
That is desk becomes mine on a cruise, I put all my stuff in the desk area and do my hair and make -up there.
I bring a portable make-up mirror with me, works perfectly.
 
Great room, we love 5B's.
That is desk becomes mine on a cruise, I put all my stuff in the desk area and do my hair and make -up there.
I bring a portable make-up mirror with me, works perfectly.
I always pack a make-up bag but never end up using it (except for maybe formal night), but yeah, I can see that would be the perfect place to do make up. It's exactly where I used my hair iron! Loved that desk area, so large! Plenty of room to spread out.

Spoiler alert...we used our placeholder to book a 7A on the Magic (5 night Bahamas) for next winter! It was a whopping $500 cheaper than the 5B, and I wasn't sure the difference was worth it for 5 nights...I'm sure we will enjoy the 7A and can use that extra $$ for some shore excursions or drinks in the Snuggly Duckling!
 
My mom and I are also not fans of the coffee!! We bring the little Starbucks Via packets with us around the ship and to dinner. It's not fresh coffee but it's definitely a bit more enjoyable! TY for your report!
 

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