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]

Cruise Day 5 (cont).

We needed to get up Mystic Mountain, and no better way of doing that than with the chair lift. Here we were in line to get on the lift.

We're almost next!

And off we go!

The view of the surroundings just kept getting better and better the higher we went.

It was quite a long ride, but no one was complaining. I'd go there just to ride the chair lift. But soon we reached our destination.

And no, I did not enhance the photos in any way, Everything there DID look THIS green!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 5 (cont).

Our first activity once we got up there was the bobsled. Here we were in line waiting for our turn to get on it.

I did plan on taking pictures and videos of the ride. Unfortunately, right when our turn came, it started to rain quite heavily. In fact, when I started the bobsled run, it was almost coming down hard and right into my face! So I couldn't snap photos or take any videos of our ride. It didn't rain that hard when the tracks got into the rain forest (ha, ha), but it was still coming down. So you just have to trust me when I say that it was quite thrilling. You actually control how fast you want to go, because each bobsled car came with its own breaks.

After the bobsled, they provided us with lunch, which consisted of jerk chicken (natch!), fried catfish, all served with coleslaw and rice and beans. They certainly tone down the heat in the jerk chicken for the tourists, but it was still delicious. I went for a second helping, I'm not ashamed to say.

After lunch, it was time for our zipline. We were suited up with a harness, and then walked to the starting point for the zipline.

We were accompanied by two guides as we went through 5 different zipline segments.

By the time we did the 3rd or 4th segments, people were getting the hang of it (pun intended), and a few even rode it hanging upside down! Here, I think the husband was snapping a photo of his wife dangling upside down on the zipline.

This was a hoot, something that I'd do again. Maybe next time, I'll attach a GoPro to my forehead or something so that I can get a video of the entire thing.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 5 (cont).

Unfortunately, that was the end of our activities over there. It was already mid afternoon and we had to get back to the ship. Yup, I definitely wished we could spend a lot more time there.

We took the chair lift down and got one last look at the beautiful scenery.

And we're about to reach the end of the chair lift line.

We got back to the port in plenty of time, so we decided to just chill out, do some shopping. The port area is amazing, and they certainly know how to cater to visitors/tourists.

As before, we weren't the only big fish in the ocean at that time.

A bit more of the shopping area.

I had a stalk of sugarcane from this guy, and also drank from a green coconut (something I also did in Grand Cayman). Perfect thing to do on a warm day.

But soon enough, it was time to get back onto the ship.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 5 (cont).

That evening was Pirate Night on the Disney Fantasy. The guests and crews all came with their pirates paraphernalia during dinner.

We staked our seating area on the starboard side of the ship on Deck 13 for the fireworks.

Soon, the fireworks show on the ocean started.

It was a fun, but loooong day. We were up since 5 am, and I was exhausted by then. So after fireworks and a nightcap, I went back to our state room and crashed!

Zz.

 

[Trisha Lynn]

Did they do the fireworks on the boat every night? Or only certain nights?

 

[Tiggerish]

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.

During a recent Art of the Theme tour on the Disney Magic, our guide compared the other big ships to floating milk cartons. Your photo shows how right he was!!

 

[Tiggerish]

Did they do the fireworks on the boat every night? Or only certain nights?

They only do fireworks on Pirate Night.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 6.

Day 6 of the cruise is a day at sea as the ship made its way to Castaway Cay from Jamaica. It gave me a chance to wonder about the ship once again and snap photos.

Here is another photo of the portholes decorated for the Halloween cruise.

Another look at the lobby atrium.

Mid morning, we got to see the Oceaneers Club during their open house. During other times, adults guests are not allowed into this area.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 6 (cont).

A day at sea also gave plenty of time for relaxation. Aaaaaahhh.... lounging on one of the deck chairs on Deck 4.

Still, there were lots of things to do as well. We took a tour of the ship where the various themes and signs were explained. There were, of course, characters meet-and-greet all through the day, just like this one.

I sat in another cooking class in their Anyone Can Cook series. This time, it is a dessert, a chocolate spider cake/mousse. It was presented by the ship's pastry chef. We got a sampling of the mousse.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 6 (cont).

After dinner, there was one more surprise with the Halloween tree - the lighting of it.

The tree appeared to stay lighted for the remainder of the cruise.

We ended the day with a nightcap at the Skyline Bar. We spent more time trying to look for the hidden characters in the skyline background as it changed scene from one city to another. I We spotted Darth Vader in one of them, with the help of one of the crew.

It was a very relaxing day at sea.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 7.

Day 7 is our final full day of the cruise, and it will be at Castaway Cay.

We pulled in to Castaway Cay quite early in the morning. I was, as usual, up on Deck 13 to see Castaway Cay come up on the horizon and then watching the Disney Fantasy pulled into port.

I had a quick breakfast at the Cabanas, and then waited for the announcement that we can get off the ship.

I got a closer look at the rear of the Disney Fantasy and Dumbo+Timothy.

I was still early, and I was among the first to get off the ship, so Castaway Cay wasn't crowded just yet.

Still, I wanted to enjoy the peace and tranquility while it was still there, so I hopped on a shuttle and to Serenity Bay.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 7 (cont).

I got to Serenity Bay and almost had the entire beach to myself.

I soon found a spot and plopped myself down. It was quiet, windy, warm, and oh-so-peaceful. I may have snoozed off here and there.

It didn't take long before the rest of my party, and other guests, to show up at the beach. By the time we were ready for lunch, the place was getting quite packed.

We didn't stay very long after lunch. We decided to take the shuttle back to Pelican Bay, did some shopping and look around, and started to make our way back to the ship.

It was late afternoon when we said goodbye to Castaway Cay.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 7 (cont).

Back on the ship, there was a "See Ya Real Soon" send-off celebration that evening. The characters were out in full force giving guests one last chance for a meet-and-greet. I only have a few still shots for this because I was videotaping. When I get the chance to edit it out, I'll link the video here.

The sadness came upon the realization that our cruise was about to end.

Zz.

 

[Trisha Lynn]

A friend of mine just posted her pictures from Castaway Cay and she said it was the most perfect thing ever. I'm so glad you had a chance to see it without all the people.

 

[ZapperZ]

Cruise Day 8.

It was the final morning on the ship. Disney Fantasy pulled into Port Canaveral around 5 am in the morning. I was already up and dressed, so I went to Deck 4 to get some last-minute photo shots.

Soon it was time to leave our state room for the last time. Since our state room attendant had left all these cute towel creations throughout our stay, I thought we should leave something behind. So I made my usual Mickey head towel arrangement on the bed.

Our final breakfast was at the Royal Court restaurant. I'd like to say the breakfast was delicious, but it wasn't. In fact, it was the worst food that I had in the entire cruise. No wonder so many people skipped breakfast on the final morning.

As soon as breakfast was done, we joined in the throngs of passengers heading towards the exit.

Here we were in line about to disembarked from the ship. Our cruise was officially over!

It was the best cruise that we've had, even better than the first cruise that we had for my 50th birthday. A group of us are not plotting our next cruise in the next couple of years. Can't wait to go back!

Zz.

 

[DznyRktekt]

Great report! Thank you for sharing your trip. Looking forward to taking a Disney Cruise in the future.

 

[Mrhappyplace]

Great trip report, love the look at all the excursions you did!

 

[ZapperZ]

Since the title of this trip report includes F&W, here is a brief list of things that I sampled during this past F&W Festival. I've posted a few of the photos already when I was doing my live reporting, but here they are again. I wish I remember what many of these were, and if I were smart, I'd snap a photo of the menu list before I snap a photo of the food, but hey, this is what you get when you're in a hurry to gobble down the food.

Beef skewer from I-forgot-where

Ravioli from the Farm Fresh stand.

Can't remember what this was because I didn't get it. Someone in our group did.

I believe this was the pork belly. People were fighting over this.

Mac and Cheese, probably from the Farm Fresh place again. And no, I didn't get this.

A stew (sorry, have no idea which one. They all started to look the same after a while).

Empanada, from a booth labelled "Patagonia". Really? It used to be "Argentina".

Beef skewer with chimichurri, also from Patagonia.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

F&W (cont).

Another stew. They were all good, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't record which was which.

I saved the best for last, because to me and my taste, this was the hands-down winner. It was from Africa, and it is beef with Berbere sauce.

I have a similar dish at a couple of Ethiopian restaurants before. While they certainly tamed down the heat for the F&W dish, it still has the distinct flavor which I liked. So to me, this was the winner. It didn't hurt that I was having a lovely sangria to wash it down.

It was a fun F&W Festival.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Great report! Thank you for sharing your trip. Looking forward to taking a Disney Cruise in the future.

Great trip report, love the look at all the excursions you did!

Thank you, thank you! It was a wonderful trip, and best cruise that I've had so far.

Zz.