Fantasy Room Advice

skelley12

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 6, 2008
Hi! My hubby and I took our 1st DCL cruise last April to the Bahamas. We had Aft room10166 and loved the extended verandah. However, the 2nd and 3rd day, I spent being nauseated. My hubby is hooked at that room, but I’d like to feel better on the 2nd cruise. He thinks the side rooms might make him sick.:rolleyes2

This time we are taking our kids with us who are 9 and 7. Our daughter is a tall 4’10.

Questions:

1) At 4ft 10 in, Do you think she’ll fit on the pull-down bunkbeds?

2) Would getting a mid-ship room help? Is the regular verandah’s really that much smaller?

3) Want a non-Bahama cruise, during non-hurricane season. Suggestions for cheaper cruises?
 
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1) I'm 5 ft 6 and was fine on the pull-down. It's a full-length twin.

2) I don't get seasick, so I don't know.

3) Limited to school breaks, so again, no real help with cheap.
 
1. We've cruised many times in the CAT 4 midships veranda staterooms on Fantasy. Our 3 kids (14 who is 5'3"; 12 5'1" & 12 4'11") have no problems in either the Murphy bed or the pseudo bunk beds

2. The rooms are 299 ft2 (i think) and it's more than enough room for our family of 5.

3. While the kids were young, we did an early December 7 night Eastern & Western Caribbean. Worked well in that we got the Merrytime decor and whatnot without the huge price gouge of Christmas Vacation prices.

I'm curious, was the nausea from ship's motion or from the odor of stack exhaust. I'm a retired Naval Officer and the smell of stack gas still makes me feel wonky. We've never had any problems with nausea (for any reason) when midships.
 
1) My son is almost 5' and he was fine on the pull down

2) I'm VERY sensitive to motion sickness and I've been fine on the Fantasy (1st time, Aft deck 7, 2nd time Mid deck 9): I take bonine every day. We're VGT for our next cruise so I'm hoping the bonine helps if we end up in a very Fore/Aft room!
As for verandah size, it was perfect for us: 2A/2K (9 & 6). I don't like the extended verandahs because the people above can look down on you.

3) Look for non-school break cruises - we pull the kids for a few days to avoid the high prices of vacation weeks (hurricane season is June-Nov)
 
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Hi! My hubby and I took our 1st DCL cruise last April to the Bahamas. We had Aft room10166 and loved the extended verandah. However, the 2nd and 3rd day, I spent being nauseated. My hubby is hooked at that room, but I’d like to feel better on the 2nd cruise. He thinks the side rooms might make him sick.:rolleyes2

This time we are taking our kids with us who are 9 and 7. Our daughter is a tall 4’10.

Questions:

1) At 4ft 10 in, Do you think she’ll fit on the pull-down bunkbeds?

2) Would getting a mid-ship room help? Is the regular verandah’s really that much smaller?

3) Want a non-Bahama cruise, during non-hurricane season. Suggestions for cheaper cruises?

1 - Yes, they're regular twin size beds. She'll be fine.

2 - A midship room might help. I believe from pictures I've seen the regular verandahs are quite a bit smaller than the extended ones. I haven't tried the extended ones though, just the regular kind. Our kids were too young to be interested in the verandah for more than a few minutes, but only 2 people can sit out there comfortably.

3 - You'd have to look at the itineraries and see what interests you. We like the Caribbean so we're doing a second Wonder cruise, which is also cheaper than a lot of the Fantasy cruises.
 


Adding a few thoughts to give you a little more feedback.

1) Don’t see an issue with the bunk, I am almost 6’ and have splept up there before.

2) We don’t have issues with motion sickness so we have been forward, aft and midship but many folks say the issues are less midship. The extended verandas are very nice and the privacy on the aft verandas really is a bonus. We didn’t have any issue with the extended side verandas on deck 5 but the aft ones are a little quieter.

3) If you are considering a non Bahama cruise then hurricane season is a relatively small concern, if you are also looking at options outside of Florida and other than the Fantasy. The Med, North Europe and Alaska may not have hurricanes but would have different weather concerns. Limiting to Florida you have some good options with Caribbean late winter, early and late spring that might be less than peak pricing. Not sure how you feel, but the kids would likely have to miss some school for the best prices.
 
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Hi! My hubby and I took our 1st DCL cruise last April to the Bahamas. We had Aft room10166 and loved the extended verandah. However, the 2nd and 3rd day, I spent being nauseated. My hubby is hooked at that room, but I’d like to feel better on the 2nd cruise. He thinks the side rooms might make him sick.:rolleyes2

This time we are taking our kids with us who are 9 and 7. Our daughter is a tall 4’10.

Questions:

1) At 4ft 10 in, Do you think she’ll fit on the pull-down bunkbeds?

2) Would getting a mid-ship room help? Is the regular verandah’s really that much smaller?

3) Want a non-Bahama cruise, during non-hurricane season. Suggestions for cheaper cruises?
Outside of hurricane season, January & February (excluding holidays) tend to have the cheapest cruises. The Wonder typically has the cheapest 7-night cruises available at that time of year. The Fantasy only sails to the Caribbean & Bahamas.
 
1. We've cruised many times in the CAT 4 midships veranda staterooms on Fantasy. Our 3 kids (14 who is 5'3"; 12 5'1" & 12 4'11") have no problems in either the Murphy bed or the pseudo bunk beds

2. The rooms are 299 ft2 (i think) and it's more than enough room for our family of 5.

3. While the kids were young, we did an early December 7 night Eastern & Western Caribbean. Worked well in that we got the Merrytime decor and whatnot without the huge price gouge of Christmas Vacation prices.

I'm curious, was the nausea from ship's motion or from the odor of stack exhaust. I'm a retired Naval Officer and the smell of stack gas still makes me feel wonky. We've never had any problems with nausea (for any reason) when midships.

I think it was from the motion because as soon as I was on land, it went away. There was only one time I honestly smelled the smoke stack gas. We didn't have any issues verandah wise with exhaust being on the furniture either.
 
I think it was from the motion because as soon as I was on land, it went away. There was only one time I honestly smelled the smoke stack gas. We didn't have any issues verandah wise with exhaust being on the furniture either.

FWIW, midships - even up on deck 10 - has much less movement than at the stern or on the bow.
 
If you got motion sickness on the cruise definitely try and get a balcony room as close to midship as possible. That area will feel the least amount of movement. Also try the sea sick patch or pill, that might help you.
 
If you got motion sickness on the cruise definitely try and get a balcony room as close to midship as possible. That area will feel the least amount of movement. Also try the sea sick patch or pill, that might help you.

Seconding this. I felt sick on the Dream every single time I went far forward or aft, and felt instantly better whenever I was mid-ship. The verandahs mid-ship are considerably smaller as they have chairs, not loungers. But tell your husband he can go stretch out on the loungers on the promenade on deck 4 if he wants to sit and look at the ocean--it's not worth your suffering sea sickness in my view.
 
My husband gets incredibly seasick and he was absolutely fine in our midship verandah room on the Fantasy

He was very sick on the aft sections of the ship.
 
I am prone to seasickness and wear a patch every time we cruise and we always get a mid-ship room. They have always worked great for me - and in fact when I am aft on the ship can often feel the motion much worse than when I am mid-ship. I would highly recommend a mid-ship room. The verandah's are very nice. As far as the pull-out beds or the Murphy beds, I have tall children (my daughter is 5-6 and my son is 5 feet) and they both fit fine in those beds without any difficulty. And although now I only travel on school breaks (2 kids in middle school), before then I would have said late January was cheaper and a great time to cruise!!

https://magicaladventureswithdrmom.com/
 
The verandah size is very noticeable from a 5e to a standard balcony, with exception to concierge bumpouts.

The standard balcony gives you a straight down look to the ship and the glowing lights at night. It also seems to give you a better idea of where you are going and where you have been. The width is probably 4-5 feet and as wide as the rooms are, so probably like 9 feet wide. There are two standard chairs and the small table.

The aft verandah gives you a more sigular view of where you have been and the wake trail. They typically also provide more shade throughout the day as the upper decks provide cover. And as you know are sometimes wider than the actual stateroom and considerably deeper. In 8188 we have had 2 standard chairs, a table, and 2 low boy chairs where the back piece can be adjusted to different angles. We have had 5 people comfortably enjoying food from cabanas on this balcony. In 8682 we had the above AND two actual laydown loungers. The room wrapped around the side of the ship, we could have thrown a cocktail party for 10 without issue.

Size of the balcony might matter less, as you have mentioned you can't enjoy it if feeling sick the entire time. People still mention that the aft rooms may experience soot on deck, occasional burning smell, and particularly in the case of the Fantasy, a shudder from the propeller.
 
I am on the Fantasy this week and I am very prone to motion sickness (sea sickness, car sickness, altitude sickness). I take a full Bonine the night before boarding and I split one every evening with my daughter everyday of the cruise and I am fine. This week we even had some rough seas during our sea days and I did not get queasy at all. I felt more queasiness in our Oasis sailing last year. We are staying in a fwd 4E stateroom on deck 5. These have extended verandas. I was worried about being forward, but we love it. We are in room 5050 and it is awesome. We have family in the connecting room 5048. Even though the room is next to the elevator, it is not noisy. The rear side by the kids club is a zoo. We are also close to the theaters and have not heard any noise. This is now our room of choice.
 
A "shudder"?

We found it more of a vibration (a really bad vibration).

I know you and I discuss this frequently. Sadly, I won't be sailing on the Fantasy again until next year. It'll be an aft room, so I'll hopefully be better able to tell the tale as we have done the Dream Aft on two crusies, and near the Aft on the Fantasy. My in-laws just got back from 8188 on the Fantasy and didn't mention any vibrations, and they were quarantined for 24 hours.

I think the only thing we can do is remind people who book the Fantasy that aft rooms have been reported to a have a vibration from cruising at speed that isn't present on the other ships.

I wonder what scientific equipment we could use to gather specific data.
 
I know you and I discuss this frequently. Sadly, I won't be sailing on the Fantasy again until next year. It'll be an aft room, so I'll hopefully be better able to tell the tale as we have done the Dream Aft on two crusies, and near the Aft on the Fantasy. My in-laws just got back from 8188 on the Fantasy and didn't mention any vibrations, and they were quarantined for 24 hours.

I think the only thing we can do is remind people who book the Fantasy that aft rooms have been reported to a have a vibration from cruising at speed that isn't present on the other ships.

I wonder what scientific equipment we could use to gather specific data.

I also think some people are just more sensitive. When we were forward on the dream I was woken up several times a night with engine vibrations, and when I mentioned them to my husband the next day he said he didn't feel a thing.
 

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