Fantasy 9/26/15 Eastern Caribbean

[1153rsmith]

So we are trying to figure out all the DIS board lingo....DS DW.....

DS Dear Son
DW Dear Wife

 

[1153rsmith]

Hey 1153rsmith,

Snorkeling on our own at Sapphire Beach sounds like a great plan. I think we may try that! Was the water relatively calm there? Was the beach crowded? We really enjoy snorkeling and want to take full advantage of the warm Caribbean waters while on vacation.

I have heard of Bernard's Tours and was actually thinking to hire them. How long was your tour of St. Maarten? We just did a 6-hour private guided tour of Bermuda and it was fantastic. Like you, we are interested in visiting both the Dutch and French sides of the island. We especially enjoy learning about the history and culture of the islands we visit (not so much interested in shopping).

We are also looking forward to the sea days. There is a lot to do and explore on the Fantasy. The list of activities on the daily Personal Navigator can be overwhelming! It's important to prioritize because, try as you might, it simply isn't possible to do it all. Our nearly 10-year-old is excited to go to the Oceaneer Club/Lab.

I truly hope we have good weather on CC. It sounds as if you are due a beautiful, sunny day on the island! There is no fee to do the CC 5k. It's a non-competitive "race" - the best part is that all participants receive an official runDisney medal!

Kimberly, Sapphire Beach was very quiet. It is on the other side of the island so not many folks went there. The water was calm and there was a nice reef you could float around. Iguanas walked up and down the beach. From what I remember, there was a small dive shack between two resorts. We got our stuff from there, and just found us a spot on the beach.

When we did Bernard's, there were 13 of us so we had the entire van and the guide did whatever we wanted to do. He was very good. He went to one area, can't remember the name, but it was a shallow area where you could walk out to a small island. In that area, our guide found us star fish to hold, and sea urchins. If you do this, make sure you wear water shoes and not flip flops. The area is really rocky, even in the water. My son wore flip flops and tore his toe nail off. Since they have nude beaches and since we didn't want us or our kids to see that, we asked him to avoid those. He did take us to a very nice spot on Orient beach for a little bit. Beautiful white sand and clear water. We had lunch at Margots. As far as length, we took most of our time there, but that was our choice. You can google him to find out about his tours. He even dropped us off in the town nearest the ship for us to shop and let my mother in law sit in the van with him, then took us all back to the ship.

Yes, we really hope for good weather at CC. We are long overdue. Can you walk the CC 5k?
Looking forward to meeting you and your family.

 

[subwife81]

Aloha everyone!
We just booked this cruise a few days ago. This is our second cruise on the Fantasy, the last time was over Christmas in 2013 in the Western Caribbean. My husband and I have a daughter (5) and a new baby who will be 9 months old at time of sailing. My dad and his lady friend will also be joining us. It's a special cruise as it'll be my dad's first time meeting his new grandson, and my first time cruising with family!
My daughter went on her first cruise at 9 months old 4 years ago on a Christmas cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship and did really well, so it'll be fun now to "indoctrinate" her brother.
We are interested in participating in the FE! Like a few others, we didn't participate last time. I understand I have to get up to 10 posts before I can send a PM so if you see me reply a bunch, I'm not trolling, I'm just trying to make my quota!
I'm excited about the itinerary- 3 at sea days sounds incredibly relaxing to me! I can't wait for the chance to actually open a book for the first time in many, many, months!
Is anyone else bringing their baby along? We already booked him in the nursery a couple of hours a day but it might be fun to meet up with other families with real little ones!
I'm looking forward to chatting with everyone!

 

[NeverSayNever]

Hi Everyone!

Well, we are PIF! So I guess that means we are onboard and going!

We would enjoy participating in the FE - we are a party of 4 - 2 adults and 2 kids (b/g twins 12 y/o) . Please let me know how we can best go about signing-up!

We can't wait.. really in need of a vacation!!

Enjoy,
Never Say Never!

 

[teethlaw]

Hello everyone, we are long time cruisers but first time DCL. Really looking forward to our first disney cruise, as we have been DisneyWorld fanatics as well. Family of 4, Kids are 12 and 5. Hope to see everyone soon! We'll be trying to join FE shortly as well.

 

[Disney_Mousketeers]

Which shore excursions have you booked? We just returned from a cruise to Bermuda and now we need to take a closer look at the options for Port Adventures on St. Maarten and St. Thomas. We try not to overschedule as far as shore excursions go - we have often found it very enjoyable to simply hire a taxi/local private guide for 4-6 hours in order to explore the different areas of an island, stopping along the way wherever and whenever we choose.
I'm looking forward to a warm, sunny day at Castaway Cay! We plan to do the 5k.

Hi DisneyAgentK,

This is our first Cruise (Disney or otherwise), but we are huge WDW fans especially Run Disney events. My husband has participated in several events, including The Dopey challenge and C2C. Our girls have always wanted run in a Disney 5K, but it was cost prohibitive at $55 per entry so a FREE 5K on CC is amazing! I keep telling my husband how cost effective the cruise is becoming

 

[mhconley]

Looking forward to cruising with all of you in just 73 days from today!

By now everyone should be PIF, checked in with Disney and have chosen their dining, spa, on-board and port adventures.

DisneyLove58 is closing FE sign-ups on August 14, 2015. Send me your information if you want to participate. We have 5 groups completed and are now working on the 6th. See this post for information on how to sign up: http://www.disboards.com/threads/fantasy-9-26-15-eastern-caribbean.3281505/page-10#post-53902029

I am closing orders for cruise lanyards on July 31, 2015. This will be a great way to identify yourself and fellow cruise group members on board. Place your orders today. See this post for more information: http://www.disboards.com/threads/fantasy-9-26-15-eastern-caribbean.3281505/page-7#post-53550909

There is also a cruise meet planned on embarkation day on deck 11 near Eye Scream & Frozone Treats, time TBD.

Thanks,
Martin

 

[GirlMama3]

Hi! New cruisers here, first Disney cruise ever, celebrating our 10 year anniversary. Our three girls, ages 7, 3 and 10 months will be joining us. We have no idea what to expect or do- any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[ksibillia]

Is anyone on the Fantasy 9/26/15 cruise going to DisneyWorld prior to the cruise? The last time we cruised, we shared the memory maker at DisneyWorld with other couples and saved a lot of money. I'm not sure if that's still possible, but I thought I would see if anyone is interested before I look into it.
Kristine

 

[wulfgang513]

Is anyone on the Fantasy 9/26/15 cruise going to DisneyWorld prior to the cruise? The last time we cruised, we shared the memory maker at DisneyWorld with other couples and saved a lot of money. I'm not sure if that's still possible, but I thought I would see if anyone is interested before I look into it.
Kristine

We are looking into possibly doing something the day before. Maybe we can keep in contact for something like that

 

[NeverSayNever]

We are considering a two night stay before Also.

 

[DisneyAgentK]

Is anyone on the Fantasy 9/26/15 cruise going to DisneyWorld prior to the cruise? The last time we cruised, we shared the memory maker at DisneyWorld with other couples and saved a lot of money. I'm not sure if that's still possible, but I thought I would see if anyone is interested before I look into it.
Kristine

Hi Kristine,
We'll actually be at WDW for an 8-night stay prior to cruising on the Fantasy. We may be interested in sharing a Memory Maker package with you. Currently, the advance purchase price is $169.

 

[DisneyAgentK]

Hi DisneyAgentK,

This is our first Cruise (Disney or otherwise), but we are huge WDW fans especially Run Disney events. My husband has participated in several events, including The Dopey challenge and C2C. Our girls have always wanted run in a Disney 5K, but it was cost prohibitive at $55 per entry so a FREE 5K on CC is amazing! I keep telling my husband how cost effective the cruise is becoming

You're going to love sailing on the Disney Fantasy - she is an amazing ship!

Yes, the Castaway Cay 5K is FREE! It's an unchipped race, but normally all participants receive a race bib and an official runDisney medal at the finish line. By the way, how old are your girls?

 

[DisneyAgentK]

Kimberly, Sapphire Beach was very quiet. It is on the other side of the island so not many folks went there. The water was calm and there was a nice reef you could float around. Iguanas walked up and down the beach. From what I remember, there was a small dive shack between two resorts. We got our stuff from there, and just found us a spot on the beach.

When we did Bernard's, there were 13 of us so we had the entire van and the guide did whatever we wanted to do. He was very good. He went to one area, can't remember the name, but it was a shallow area where you could walk out to a small island. In that area, our guide found us star fish to hold, and sea urchins. If you do this, make sure you wear water shoes and not flip flops. The area is really rocky, even in the water. My son wore flip flops and tore his toe nail off. Since they have nude beaches and since we didn't want us or our kids to see that, we asked him to avoid those. He did take us to a very nice spot on Orient beach for a little bit. Beautiful white sand and clear water. We had lunch at Margots. As far as length, we took most of our time there, but that was our choice. You can google him to find out about his tours. He even dropped us off in the town nearest the ship for us to shop and let my mother in law sit in the van with him, then took us all back to the ship.

Yes, we really hope for good weather at CC. We are long overdue. Can you walk the CC 5k?
Looking forward to meeting you and your family.

Sapphire Beach sounds lovely. I think it's always worth the effort to travel to a more remote, less crowded beach. And iguanas are a definite bonus!

I checked out Bernard's SXM Tours website and it looks great, but we've decided to just hire a taxi for a few hours in the morning to tour the island and then have lunch in Marigot before our 1:00 PM snorkeling tour in Grand Case.

Yes, you can absolutely walk the CC 5K. There are sure to be folks of varying fitness levels, so no worries at all. I for one certainly won't be running the entire 3 miles. It will be HOT!

Looking forward to meeting you and your family as well.

 

[DisneyAgentK]

DisneyAgentK I did not know that the show for AP is not until the second night. On the Wonder it has always been on the first night sitting with them. So on the Fantasy the second night/time you dine in AP is when they do the show? I just want to make sure.

Also, dining rotation is as follows:
RAERAER
AERAERA
ERAERAE

 

[DisneyAgentK]

DisneyLove, the dining rotation schedule you posted is accurate. I just wanted to clarify that if you are on Rotation #2 (Animator's Palate), Crush will appear on your first night/time (Day 1) at Animator's and the Animation Magic show will happen on your third night/time (Day 7). The 7-Night Eastern Caribbean "Itinerary A" sailing is apparently unique in that it differs from all the other Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings in terms of the Animator's Palate dining rotation show.

 

[DisneyAgentK]

We're nearly at the 60-day countdown mark for this sailing!

Anyone else doing Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure?

Palo and/or Remy?

 

[mhconley]

We'll be in WDW for a week in just under 4 weeks. We just received our MagicBands in the mail today.

For those that have ordered lanyards I sent payment requests from PayPal. If you have not ordered yet but would still like them you have until the end of July to place your order. Just send me a private message for instructions on how.

Thanks,
Martin

 

[NeverSayNever]

We are getting closer! YAY!

We are thinking of doing a Palo Brunch, I have booked it, but need to make sure it does not conflict with the tastings we want to do!!

Excited about the lanyards - hoping you received my payment yesterday Martin. Also, when or where do I see the listing for the FE group we will be a part of? I would like to get started on this, but it helps to see how many kids and ages etc first.

Our stay at the world is very short... but we may still be interested in sharing a memory maker depednign on the price etc.

Thanks everyone!

Enjoy,

Neve Say Never

 

[scrpbookr]

We have lanyards:
View attachment 91337

Lanyards are black on turquoise, made from recycled P.E.T., 3/4" x 35", have a break-away (for safety), a buckle (to remove the ID holder) and a horizontal ziplock ID holder. If we can get a minimum order together they'll be right around $3 each. We're selling them at cost plus the cost of postage ($1-$2 for a set). Payment will be via PayPal. Taking orders until the 75 day mark, July 13, 2015. Please PM me for details on how to order.

Wear your lanyard, stand out in the crowd and identify fellow DISboard group members!

Martin

I just booked and see I missed the July 13 cut off. Any chance there are a couple lanyards left?