Trip Report 2016 Disney Cruise To Western Caribbean and F&W Festival

Hello Friends!

It feels like it has been ages since I post a complete trip report on this forum. My last one was an abbreviated report on the Wanyama Safari that we took during one of our trips. And before that, my last complete trip report was on the Trade City, USA pin trading event back in 2010! That was 6 years ago! Whoa!

So I thought it is about time I do another report. This will be ongoing that will include a visit to the Kennedy Space Center, a 7-night cruise on the Disney Fantasy, and finally, a few days at WDW. We leave for FL tomorrow heading off to Orlando. Then, after a quick stop at Disney Springs to renew our annual passes, we'll make a quick hop to Epcot, and then we'll pick up a couple of our friends who will be arriving mid afternoon at MCO before heading to Cocoa Beach.

We will visit the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, and then our cruise will commence on Saturday. We will get back to Port Canaveral the following Saturday. Our port-of-calls will be Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and of course, Castaway Cay. I have been on a few Disney Cruises before (all of them on the Disney Dream). This will be my first time on the Disney Fantasy, and it will also be my first Halloween Cruise!

And yes, I am very looking forward to it. I have my costume ready!

We will do a number of planned excursion at the various port-of-calls. I'm planning to tour the ruins at Cozumel, and we will do the zip-line plus the bob-sled run in Jamaica. Yeah!

When we get to WDW, we have tickets for the Star Wars dessert party and MNSSHP. And of course, we will be doing F&W festival.

So this will be a packed and exciting trip! I will try to post my reports whenever I can during the trip, but as you can guess, not much during the cruise since I won't have an internet connection (maybe at the port-of-calls since we have international roaming on T-mobile). I hope no one will mind if I also include a report on the Kennedy Space Center on here.

Still have a few more things to pack before our early morning flight tomorrow. I just know that I won't be able to sleep much tonight!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

OK, so it is taking me longer to recover from this trip than I expected. But better late than never.

I'll pickup the reports for the cruise, since I couldn't post daily report while I was on it. So here it is:

Cruise Day 1.

We arrived very early at Port Canaveral. They directed us to Level 3 of the parking ramp while we wait for the departure hall to open. There was already a line of people there, and we can see the Disney Fantasy from the parking ramp.

They let us in between 10:30 am and 11:00 am. We checked in, and got our lanyards and Key to the World. The departure hall became busy very quickly.

We were in Boarding group 4, so we got called on quite early in the boarding process. Here we are, on the gangway, about to board the ship.

This is the atrium of the Disney Fantasy for this Halloween cruise.

More on the evolution of the Halloween Tree in the atrium later.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 1 (cont).

Soon we made our way to Deck 11 and to the Cabanas for our first lunch on the Disney Fantasy. This is my first plate of food, the first of many, MANY plates!

We got our state room around 2:30 pm, and got our gift as a returning Castway club members.

We then attended the DVC welcome reception, got our DVC hats, and a glass of champagne. A very good start to the cruise already!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 1 (cont)

Soon, it was time to sail away! We were on Deck 13, waiving at the crowds viewing our departure. Our cruise had started!

Our first dinner that evening was at the Animator's Palette. Along with our interaction with Crush, we also had very good food!

We did some shopping, but by then, I was dead tired since it had been a long day. So instead of partying on Deck 11, I decided to turn in after a quick walk around the ship and taking some pictures. That was the end of Day 1.

Zz.

 

[Mrhappyplace]

Thanks for the pictures of The Fantasy, hope to see it for myself someday!

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 2.

The second day of the cruise is a day at sea. We all met at the Cabanas for breakfast and ate like pigs. Steak and eggs, omelette, croissant, hash browns, and of course, Mickey waffles!

At the end of our breakfast, we heard an announcement from the captain that we will have to make a quick stop at Miami to transfer a sick passenger. So our day at sea had a detour. If you read this thread in the beginning, you would have read my quick post. I was outside overlooking the skyline of Miami when I realized that I could get cellphone signal. That was when I posted.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 2 (cont).

There were lots of activities during this day at sea. Of course, we did a lot of shopping! DVC members get 10% off for any purchases above $50, which was a cinch to achieve!

The one activity that did that day was a cooking demonstration called "Anyone Can Cook" (a line from Ratatouille). It was done by a Sous Chef from Remy, and he was hysterically funny! The demo was on cooking sea bass served with risotto. We all received a copy of the recipe and a sample of the dish being prepared, all accompanied by a nice white wine. Life was really, REALLY beginning not to suck at all!

The rest of the time, I just walked around the ship or simply had a relaxing time on one of the many decks. This is a photo from the aft of the ship.

I went into the lobby and did a few extra shots.

I mentioned about the Halloween tree in the atrium in my post yesterday. This is a clearer look at it. It looked bare at that point, but as the day progressed, more and more pumpkins were added to the tree until the Halloween party the next day when it was filled with hanging pumpkins.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 2 (cont).

That evening, we had dinner reservation at Palo, which has always been one of our favorite indulgences whenever we go on a Disney cruise. So we dressed up and promptly showed up at our appointed time. This is the blown-glass sculpture in the ceiling that met us at the entrance to Palo. It is supposed to represent spaghetti and meatballs.

Soon we were seated at our table. I tell ya, I often wonder how much they will charge us if I steal one of their plates!

After placing our order, we were given some antipasto and a basket of bread.

Soon the food arrived. I order the chioppino for my appetizer. I know, I know.. it is not authentic italian, but hey, it was on the menu, and I happen to love any kind of seafood stews or soups. And this one was delicious!

My entree was the lamb chops. This was good, but I've had this dish at least 2 other times before on previous cruises, and it has changed over the years.

Of course, for dessert, everyone at our table automatically (and I mean, AUTOMATICALLY) got the chocolate souffle, along with whatever dessert that we want from the menu.

We ended up with a lot more food than we ordered. Our server brought us a sampling of the caprese salad that had italian mozzarella cheese made from buffalo milk, and he also brought us the amaretto souffle to add to our desserts. I was complaining that I was full, but I kept on eating and eating the stuff he brought out.

I had to be rolled out of the restaurant at the end of our meal.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 3.

Day 3 is the first day that we arrive at a port-of-call, Cozumel. Due to our unplanned detour to Miami, we arrived late, and our excursion had to be delayed by at least a couple of hours.

This is the Disney Fantasy pulling in to Cozumel, and the view of Cozumel from the ship.

Soon we began our excursion as we were escorted off the ship to get to the vehicle. It also allows us to get a good look at the Disney Fantasy, especially with the sunlight in the perfect angle.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 3 (cont).

We boarded a bus with our tour guide, Luis. The first stop is the Mayan ruins of San Gervasio. It was a fascinating, guided tour of the ruins, and how the Mayans on the island lived way back then.

Here, our tour guide Luis explained that, even for a small foot size like him, the steps here are narrower than usual. It turns out that the Mayans climbed up these stairs sideways so that they never have their backs towards the leader or their families. Luis demonstrated how the Mayans would have climbed these steps.

It was a very fascinating tour, even though the day was rather hot and humid. I'd come back again to spend more time to explore the grounds. It only wet my appetite to visit the Yucatan Peninsula one of these days to visit other Mayan and Aztec ruins.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 3 (cont).

After the visit to the ruins, we had a quick lunch and a visit to a local museum, where we got to see many art pieces made locally.

For the last one, the rooster's body is made up of dried peppers. Peppers, as most of us know, came from this part of the world before it spread out elsewhere.

Again, this is another one of those places where we wish we could spend a lot more time exploring.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 3 (cont).

We then visited another product that originated out of this part of the world - Chocolate! We visited the Mayan Cacao Company, had a tour on how cocoa is grown, how it is processed, and how chocolate is made. We also had a demonstration on how the Mayans would process chocolates and how they would have been consumed back then (hint: it wasn't turned into milk chocolate).

Of course, we had samples, including a sampling of a hot chocolate drink the way the Mayan would have drank it. At the end of the tour, just like a Disney attraction, it ended in a gift store. We bought several bars of the Mayan Cocoa Company chocolates and cocoa powder. Again, I'm repeating myself, but I wish we could have stayed longer and get to explore a bit more. Unfortunately, because we started our excursion late, everything had to be done quickly for us to get back to the ship on time.

We got back to the ship in time, got cleaned up, and got dressed for the Halloween party that evening. I was dressed as "Linguini" from Ratatouille, except that I was wearing shorts with my chef's jacket and chef's hat (I had Remy in my chef's hat). I was dressed that way when we went for our dinner, but no one told me to go back to the kitchen.

After dinner, it was the Halloween party!

The Halloween tree has now been fully filled with pumpkins.

The party itself was a lot of fun, with all the Disney characters dressed up.

There was also a lot of trick-or-tricking, and I got bags of candies that I won't eat! Even the ship's captain, Captain Fabian, was down in the Atrium enjoying the party. It was a fun night on the ship.

Zz.

 

[Sans Souci]

I love the Halloween cruises. They are so much fun.

 

[ZapperZ]

I love the Halloween cruises. They are so much fun.

I totally agree.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 4.

As usual, we started our day with a big buffet breakfast at the Cabanas. Since we were there rather early, we got a very good table overlooking the ocean.

It was still another hour or so before we reach our next port-of-call, the Grand Cayman. So I spent some time walking around the ship and snapping more photos of the top deck.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 4 (cont).

It wasn't long before we saw the Grand Cayman approaching on the horizon.

The ship did not pull into any docking port. Instead, it anchored off-shore, and tender boats were to bring passengers onto shore,. Our excursion didn't start till early afternoon, but we left the ship mid morning just to look around and do some shopping, eat a bit, and then meet up for our excursion.

Here we were on the tender boats, and we also got a good look at the Disney Fantasy as we headed to shore.

We are on The Grand Cayman!

We were not the only big fish in town at that time. I know I'm rather bias here, but honestly, these other big ships are architecturally boring! This side-by-side comparison alone shows how so much more interesting a Disney ship is to look at. There is just a certain elegance to it when compared to the floating box of the other ship.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 4 (cont).

Soon it was excursion time! We got on a tour bus and had a guided tour of a part of the town. Then, we were taken to Hell!

I kid you not, this place is called Hell. It looked like it too, minus the flames.

And of course, there was a gift store. As tempted as I was to buy a t-shirt from Hell, we settled for buying a few postcards, and mailing them from Hell. Now I can honestly tell people that I've been to Hell and back!

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 4 (cont).

Our next stop was a turtle farm. This was quite fascinating, and I certainly could spend many more hours there.

They breed turtles for food, of course, but they also rescued and released turtles into the wild. These are HUGE creatures, and the pictures here do not do justice on how big they were.

There was also a nursery pond where baby turtles are kept (awwww....), and we got to grab them out of the water and hold them.

This is another shot of a few of the adult turtles that might give you an idea of how big they were.

After that, we stopped at a sandy beach, and got a tour around another part of Grand Cayman before we headed back to port. We had to be back on the ship by 4:30 pm, so the curfew time was coming up. Here we were back on the tender boat to go back to the ship.

It was a fun day at Grand Cayman.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 4 (cont).

That evening was our second dinner at Animator's Palate. And any 7-day cruisers can tell you, the second dinner at this restaurant is special because, this is where you get to bring out the buried animator in you!

It started by you drawing your own caricature on the sheet of paper that they gave you once you sat down at your table. This was mine. I have a TV antenna sticking up from my head in this drawing.

Our drawings were collected, and then we proceeded to have dinner. Towards the end, they dimmed the lights in the restaurant, and the TV screen started to show every animations, including the ones that the guests had drawn.

Look at the last one. Can you spot mine? It was fun and clever, because these characters were moving and dancing, etc. This is definitely something not to be missed, and those who did Palo or Remy on that night missed out!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 4 (cont).

But the fun for this day wasn't over by any means. Right after dinner was Pin Trading night with the ship's Officers!

We rushed out to the Atrium with our trading pins, and waited for the Officers to descend the stairs and started trading. I got quite a few good pins out of their lanyards.

It was a fun end to the day.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 5.

We pulled into Falmouth, Jamaica very early. In fact, our excursion for the day started at 7:15 am! Luckily, they adjusted the restaurant hours on the ship, and Cabanas opened for full breakfast by 6:15 am that day. So we had a chance to load up before being staged for our excursion.

We were escorted off the ship and onto a tour bus to take us to Mystic Mountain.

It was actually quite a long drive from the port, but we got to see the local neighborhoods and quite a bit of the terrain.

When we got to our destination, it was a lush, green, tropical jungle paradise.

Zz.