SeanSD
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2022
Sorry for delay in posting but wanted to post before 2022 ended! My girlfriend and I did a cruise with another adult couple. Our ages ranged from 30’s to 50’s. First Disney cruise for all of us. I have done Princess, NCL And RC before.
Flew from San Diego to Orlando. Took Uber to Port Canaveral and stayed at Hampton Inn. Very nice for pre cruise stay. We arrived later at night so didn’t have time for pool or anything but some people were at pool until about 10. Nice breakfast in am and easy Uber to Port.
Very impressed with Disney Port Canaveral operation. Organized with many helpful cast members. As orderly as I could imagine for so many people with everyone anxious to get on board. Lines moved along nicely.
Day one - boarded and went to Satellite Falls pool. Great way to start the trip and when ship is in port Satellite Falls is so calm and relaxing. Grabbed Cabanas lunch after that after 2:00 and crowds died down a little. After lunch we walked around ship, checked out open houses at kids and teens clubs (even though we are all adults). By then rooms were ready. We had a family verandah on deck 8. Other couple had inside room on 9. After changing we hit Sail Away party. Once shops open we did first shopping before dinner. We had late dinner, which we preferred. Dinner was Royal Court where we met our amazing serving team of Guillermo (Server), Harvey (Assistant Server) and Alberto (Head Server). I won’t go into all the food for trip but we really enjoyed the meals and definitely tried many desserts. After dinner did some atrium photos and called it a night. Great first day.
Day two - sea day - I woke up early and hit gym and got Cove coffees. We love Cove coffee and pretty much get it every morning. Today was sea day and we hit Cabanas early and then hit Cove Pool. Couple in party got daily cocktails. My GF went to Royal Gathering and rest hit jacuzzi for a little bit. For lunch we did quick serve with typical chicken strips and fries eating by Cove Pool area. My GF and I got Rainforest passes for the week and we hit the spa and wow so relaxing. The different showers, sauna, steam room, hot tubs and stone recliners, one of our favorite times on the cruise. After that grabbed some quick room service (split salad and BLT) before showering up for show and dinner. Aladdin was the show and just great. Genie obviously a highlight. Dinner was Animators with Crush show. The black truffle pasta purseittes a big hit. We did our routine or atrium pics and wandering ship, then hit Ooh La La for piano singer who was doing 70’s songs.
Day three - sea day - Grabbed Cove coffee, Royal Court for breakfast. We felt breakfast food in dining rooms was better and less chaos. Another Cove Pool morning after that. We got pool chairs on deck above Cove and was a little windy. When we checked out Satellite Falls that day it was very windy In that area. They got quick serve again and I wasn’t hungry and chilled in room before we went back to Rainforest in the afternoon. I grabbed a nice prosciutto sandwich at Flos, we took some pics, soft serve again, then we got ready for dinner. More pics with characters, dinner at Enchanted Garden, very beautiful setting, less “Disney” design. Wedge salad was excellent. They brought pasta purseittes for GF again that night. Called it an early night as we had Tortola plans the next am. Good day to get familiar with the ship.
Day four - Tortola - little cloudy. Cove coffee and room service breakfast for me and GF grabbed takeaway from Cabanas as she wanted something hot. We had booked a non-Disney full day snorkel trip with Aristocat Charters based on recommendations on her and other sites. Would highly recommend. Due to cloudy/sprinkling weather one family bailed so this was an uncrowded catamaran with under 20 passengers. Three snorkel spots and saw cool stuff, barracuda, squid, plenty of fish. Other couple saw an octopus. Due to weather the planned restaurant was closed so they brought aboard a Mediterranean lunch that was very good and didn’t charge us. The captain and crew were friendly and helpful. With weather coming in we had to circle a bit to avoid rainstorm right at the dock but went in after it passed. Hit a few shops near port before getting back on board. Pirate night so we showers and got ready for the first pirate show in deck. Then dinner at Royal Court with fabulous server team. Guillermo is an A+ server and we will request him For our next Fantasy cruise in May if he is still on the Fantasy. Second Pirate show on deck and fireworks after dinner. Soft serve to end the night. Another stellar day.
Day five - St. Thomas - Quick room service breakfast and Cove coffee before heading to meeting station for Disney excursion. We did the St Johns champagne catamaran snorkel excursion. We boarded our open air “taxi” for the windy, hilly ride to the catamaran. The sail over was nice and the we moored off the beach and some jumped in to snorkel while my GF took our towels and beach bags in the dinghy over. this was a half day excursion so we only got about an hour and half snorkel and beach time. We had great turtle viewings on this one. A nice sail back, followed by the windy drive back to port. We then grabbed taxi to Charlotte Amalie. I had read about a good lunch place and we finally found it. Stone House Cafe, wow really good. Chicken tacos, grouper sandwich and great dessert I think it was pie. Highly recommended. We hit a few shops in town and port area then went back to Rainforest Room for some R and R. grabbed soft serve on way back to room to get ready for dinner Did more character pics, then Animators for the awesome drawing show. We did walking track that night to check that out and stretch the legs. Fantastic day.
Day six - sea day - I hit gym and then grabbed coffees at Cove, then breakfast at Royal Court. Did some pool time at Cove Pool, then watched the baby race in the atrium that was amusing but packed! We did RC at lunch and had great chicken salads along with short rib. After lunch we finally hit the Aquaduck as lines were only about 20 minutes. It was so fun we grabbed our other peeps and did it again with them. Then some soft serve, we played trivia (got smoked) and went to a couples match game that was funny. went back to room for shower and get ready for Frozen show and dinner. Frozen was also great. I think the shows are Broadway quality and the hour or so run time is very manageable. Hit Azure for drink and then Enchanted Garden for dinner. More character and background pics in Atrium and the guys called it a night and ladies went to check out adult areas and also saw silent disco and a capella group. Fun day.
Day seven - Castaway Cay! - They announced we would be a little late getting into Castaway (we had dodged a storm the last couple of days) and so I hit gym. I grabbed us coffees at Cove and then we hit Royal Court for breakfast. We had time for trivia after breakfast (got smoked again) then finally disembarked a little after 11. We chose to walk down to take pics of characters, Mount Rustmore and other sights as well as hit the shops. Got settled into chairs down at the far end of the regular beach, went to rent our snorkel gear and floats and did the long kick out to the snorkel statues. Saw some fish and a ray swimming by but the best snorkeling for wildlife was definitely on Tortola. Lunch at Cookies and ran into our server buddy Guillermo. GF got her hair braided by the Bahamian shops, then we did floats for a little while and took pics of ship and beach. Another soft serve as we headed back and also shop for last Castaway Cay items. Note that if you want to shop earlier they will send it back to your room so you don’t have to carry it all day. Walked back to ship and the refreshing cold towels. Back to room for showers and dressed for show and dinner. The show that night was Believe and went back to room to start packing
. Dinner at Royal Court which was lobster night. The guys had lobsters and they would keep bringing more until we said no mas. After dinner took last character and other pics in atrium. Our fave photographer Veronica mentioned that we needed to go by Shutters later for something. When we went by she gave us a “Magical Moment” award that cast members get to pick a family for each cruise. This may have been due to how many pics we got lol but she was super nice and always had a big smile when we saw her. Perfect way to end the day and now I know why they say Castaway is the best and saddest day of every cruise.
Day eight - disembarkation day - Went to Royal Court for sad goodbyes to our amazing server team of Guillermo, Harvey and Alberto. Disembarkation was very easy and quick and we had Uber in under 25 minutes of getting outside port building. Other couple had earlier flight so we said goodbye to them and since we had a few hours to kill took Uber to Disney Springs for a few shops and lunch. Our flight was scheduled for about 4 but delayed to about 5 so the security lines had calmed down a bit by then.
Also forgot to mention during most sea days we also did fish extender and pixie dust dropoffs, which gave us bonus of seeing other parts of the ship and all the cool decorated doors.
We really loved the cruise and did a placeholder for future cruise, did a Merrytime cruise on the Wonder in December, have a second Fantasy cruise in May 2023 (western Caribbean this time) and placeholder waiting for another cruise. The serving team and Cast Members were all so nice. We didn’t see our stateroom attendant all that much but he did a nice job of keeping room shipshape. I think most everyone remembers their first ship fondly and we loved the Fantasy.
Flew from San Diego to Orlando. Took Uber to Port Canaveral and stayed at Hampton Inn. Very nice for pre cruise stay. We arrived later at night so didn’t have time for pool or anything but some people were at pool until about 10. Nice breakfast in am and easy Uber to Port.
Very impressed with Disney Port Canaveral operation. Organized with many helpful cast members. As orderly as I could imagine for so many people with everyone anxious to get on board. Lines moved along nicely.
Day one - boarded and went to Satellite Falls pool. Great way to start the trip and when ship is in port Satellite Falls is so calm and relaxing. Grabbed Cabanas lunch after that after 2:00 and crowds died down a little. After lunch we walked around ship, checked out open houses at kids and teens clubs (even though we are all adults). By then rooms were ready. We had a family verandah on deck 8. Other couple had inside room on 9. After changing we hit Sail Away party. Once shops open we did first shopping before dinner. We had late dinner, which we preferred. Dinner was Royal Court where we met our amazing serving team of Guillermo (Server), Harvey (Assistant Server) and Alberto (Head Server). I won’t go into all the food for trip but we really enjoyed the meals and definitely tried many desserts. After dinner did some atrium photos and called it a night. Great first day.
Day two - sea day - I woke up early and hit gym and got Cove coffees. We love Cove coffee and pretty much get it every morning. Today was sea day and we hit Cabanas early and then hit Cove Pool. Couple in party got daily cocktails. My GF went to Royal Gathering and rest hit jacuzzi for a little bit. For lunch we did quick serve with typical chicken strips and fries eating by Cove Pool area. My GF and I got Rainforest passes for the week and we hit the spa and wow so relaxing. The different showers, sauna, steam room, hot tubs and stone recliners, one of our favorite times on the cruise. After that grabbed some quick room service (split salad and BLT) before showering up for show and dinner. Aladdin was the show and just great. Genie obviously a highlight. Dinner was Animators with Crush show. The black truffle pasta purseittes a big hit. We did our routine or atrium pics and wandering ship, then hit Ooh La La for piano singer who was doing 70’s songs.
Day three - sea day - Grabbed Cove coffee, Royal Court for breakfast. We felt breakfast food in dining rooms was better and less chaos. Another Cove Pool morning after that. We got pool chairs on deck above Cove and was a little windy. When we checked out Satellite Falls that day it was very windy In that area. They got quick serve again and I wasn’t hungry and chilled in room before we went back to Rainforest in the afternoon. I grabbed a nice prosciutto sandwich at Flos, we took some pics, soft serve again, then we got ready for dinner. More pics with characters, dinner at Enchanted Garden, very beautiful setting, less “Disney” design. Wedge salad was excellent. They brought pasta purseittes for GF again that night. Called it an early night as we had Tortola plans the next am. Good day to get familiar with the ship.
Day four - Tortola - little cloudy. Cove coffee and room service breakfast for me and GF grabbed takeaway from Cabanas as she wanted something hot. We had booked a non-Disney full day snorkel trip with Aristocat Charters based on recommendations on her and other sites. Would highly recommend. Due to cloudy/sprinkling weather one family bailed so this was an uncrowded catamaran with under 20 passengers. Three snorkel spots and saw cool stuff, barracuda, squid, plenty of fish. Other couple saw an octopus. Due to weather the planned restaurant was closed so they brought aboard a Mediterranean lunch that was very good and didn’t charge us. The captain and crew were friendly and helpful. With weather coming in we had to circle a bit to avoid rainstorm right at the dock but went in after it passed. Hit a few shops near port before getting back on board. Pirate night so we showers and got ready for the first pirate show in deck. Then dinner at Royal Court with fabulous server team. Guillermo is an A+ server and we will request him For our next Fantasy cruise in May if he is still on the Fantasy. Second Pirate show on deck and fireworks after dinner. Soft serve to end the night. Another stellar day.
Day five - St. Thomas - Quick room service breakfast and Cove coffee before heading to meeting station for Disney excursion. We did the St Johns champagne catamaran snorkel excursion. We boarded our open air “taxi” for the windy, hilly ride to the catamaran. The sail over was nice and the we moored off the beach and some jumped in to snorkel while my GF took our towels and beach bags in the dinghy over. this was a half day excursion so we only got about an hour and half snorkel and beach time. We had great turtle viewings on this one. A nice sail back, followed by the windy drive back to port. We then grabbed taxi to Charlotte Amalie. I had read about a good lunch place and we finally found it. Stone House Cafe, wow really good. Chicken tacos, grouper sandwich and great dessert I think it was pie. Highly recommended. We hit a few shops in town and port area then went back to Rainforest Room for some R and R. grabbed soft serve on way back to room to get ready for dinner Did more character pics, then Animators for the awesome drawing show. We did walking track that night to check that out and stretch the legs. Fantastic day.
Day six - sea day - I hit gym and then grabbed coffees at Cove, then breakfast at Royal Court. Did some pool time at Cove Pool, then watched the baby race in the atrium that was amusing but packed! We did RC at lunch and had great chicken salads along with short rib. After lunch we finally hit the Aquaduck as lines were only about 20 minutes. It was so fun we grabbed our other peeps and did it again with them. Then some soft serve, we played trivia (got smoked) and went to a couples match game that was funny. went back to room for shower and get ready for Frozen show and dinner. Frozen was also great. I think the shows are Broadway quality and the hour or so run time is very manageable. Hit Azure for drink and then Enchanted Garden for dinner. More character and background pics in Atrium and the guys called it a night and ladies went to check out adult areas and also saw silent disco and a capella group. Fun day.
Day seven - Castaway Cay! - They announced we would be a little late getting into Castaway (we had dodged a storm the last couple of days) and so I hit gym. I grabbed us coffees at Cove and then we hit Royal Court for breakfast. We had time for trivia after breakfast (got smoked again) then finally disembarked a little after 11. We chose to walk down to take pics of characters, Mount Rustmore and other sights as well as hit the shops. Got settled into chairs down at the far end of the regular beach, went to rent our snorkel gear and floats and did the long kick out to the snorkel statues. Saw some fish and a ray swimming by but the best snorkeling for wildlife was definitely on Tortola. Lunch at Cookies and ran into our server buddy Guillermo. GF got her hair braided by the Bahamian shops, then we did floats for a little while and took pics of ship and beach. Another soft serve as we headed back and also shop for last Castaway Cay items. Note that if you want to shop earlier they will send it back to your room so you don’t have to carry it all day. Walked back to ship and the refreshing cold towels. Back to room for showers and dressed for show and dinner. The show that night was Believe and went back to room to start packing
. Dinner at Royal Court which was lobster night. The guys had lobsters and they would keep bringing more until we said no mas. After dinner took last character and other pics in atrium. Our fave photographer Veronica mentioned that we needed to go by Shutters later for something. When we went by she gave us a “Magical Moment” award that cast members get to pick a family for each cruise. This may have been due to how many pics we got lol but she was super nice and always had a big smile when we saw her. Perfect way to end the day and now I know why they say Castaway is the best and saddest day of every cruise. Day eight - disembarkation day - Went to Royal Court for sad goodbyes to our amazing server team of Guillermo, Harvey and Alberto. Disembarkation was very easy and quick and we had Uber in under 25 minutes of getting outside port building. Other couple had earlier flight so we said goodbye to them and since we had a few hours to kill took Uber to Disney Springs for a few shops and lunch. Our flight was scheduled for about 4 but delayed to about 5 so the security lines had calmed down a bit by then.
Also forgot to mention during most sea days we also did fish extender and pixie dust dropoffs, which gave us bonus of seeing other parts of the ship and all the cool decorated doors.
We really loved the cruise and did a placeholder for future cruise, did a Merrytime cruise on the Wonder in December, have a second Fantasy cruise in May 2023 (western Caribbean this time) and placeholder waiting for another cruise. The serving team and Cast Members were all so nice. We didn’t see our stateroom attendant all that much but he did a nice job of keeping room shipshape. I think most everyone remembers their first ship fondly and we loved the Fantasy.
