The All Quirky, No Turkey Fantasy Cruise Report

There are three aspects of Thanksgiving that many people don’t like: cooking, cleaning, and arguing with relatives for the umpteenth time about unresolvable issues. What if, say, a family was to remove those obstacles by setting sail on the Disney Fantasy over Thanksgiving week? Could that action result in the best Thanksgiving ever?

Yep.

We were thankful for every minute we had that week, and while none of us actually had turkey on Thanksgiving (in our defense it was lobster night), it turned out to be a perfect trip, nonetheless.

Well, near perfect.

There were many, many highlights from the trip, and I’ll cover those. There were a couple of disappointing areas, and in true message board fashion, I’ll be beating those into the ground. I’ll also compare and contrast DCL to WDW.

I’ve blathered on quite a bit already without any pictures, so to satisfy those who hate words, here are a couple of pictures from our verandah:

"Seriously, ocean shots? I’ll be hitting the Back button now.”

 

[GenerationX]

Our journey began over 25 years ago (back when EPCOT was still in all caps and the MK was still open when Johnny Carson did his monologue). My wife and I took our first cruise on our honeymoon in 1987 … clearly not on the Disney line. Let’s just say it was on a line previously known for their low-cost party boats, but now known for an engine fire, five working toilets, and four hour waits for cucumber sandwiches.

Fast Forward 24 years (that went quick!). My wife and I thought it would be fitting to celebrate our 25th on another cruise, but this time with Disney and with the fruits of her labors (sons #1, #2, and #3) tagging along. I contacted @wannabeBelle at Kingdom Konsultants to get the ball sailing. We booked so early we were able to get rooms right at midship (7582 and 7584), which were conveniently close to the stairs and elevators, and we didn’t notice any excess noise.

So, now, rather than give a detailed day-by-day trip log (which, believe me, I have written out and is as long as any NextGen thread), I’ll instead organize my thoughts into categories:

1. Pre-Cruise Travel and Lodging
2. Overall Fantasy Impressions
. a. Lobby
. b. Bon Voyage
. c. Staterooms
. d. Decks
. e. Service
3. Onboard Dining
. a. Breakfast
. b. Lunch
. c. Dinner
. d. Palo
4. Onboard Activities
. a. Games and Contests
. b. Classes
. c. Diversions
. d. Vibe
5. Onboard Shows
. a. Live Entertainment
. b. Movies
6. Ports o’ Call and Excursions
. a. Saint Thomas
. b. San Juan
. c. Castaway Cay
7. Disembarkation and Post-Cruise Activities
8. Final Thoughts

Without any further yammering or table of contentsing, here’s the first installment (with pictures!) …

 

[GenerationX]

Pre-Cruise Travel and Lodging

My wife wanted to spend a day in Nashville visiting her family, so I dropped her off at O’Hare and went back home to pack for me and the boys. We left the next day. We rode the Remote Parking “monorail” to the terminal. Here you see me and son #1 (Tom - 17) in the top picture, and sons #3 (Mike - 13) and #2 (Jack - 15) along with Mike’s ever present #1 plush (Yoshi – 4) in the bottom picture.

Soon, we were flying Spirit Airlines past Lake Michigan on our way to our MCO:

"There’s a colonial woman on the wing. She’s churning butter … There’s something they’re not telling us!!”[/Bridesmaids]

I can always count on Tom for shots out the airplane window. The pictures in this report come from six different phones and cameras. Such is the digital age.

 

[GenerationX]

We met my wife in the airport – her flight from Nashville having arrived just a few minutes after us. We rented a car from Budget and started the drive to Port Canaveral. We figured we’d have dinner along the way, and that turned out to be a bad assumption. Unlike the drive to WDW where restaurants are easily visible at every exit, the drive to DCL’s Port Canaveral is a big bunch of nothing. We ended up at a Wendy’s all the way in Cocoa before proceeding on to the Country Inn and Suites in Port Canaveral.

I cannot say enough good things about the Country Inn and Suites. Perfect place for a pre-cruise night: hot cookies at the main desk, pool, arcade, free wifi, comfortable room, hot breakfast in the morning.

After a great breakfast, we drove .7 miles south of the hotel (Yahoo! Maps claimed it would take less than a minute, but it took at least 65 seconds) to the Budget car location in Port Canaveral. We accidentally left a homemade CD of our family favorites in the car, maybe because we were distracted by this sign in the Budget lot:

After a short wait that did not feature an appearance by a reptilian creature (well, except for the guy waiting in front of me), we were on the shuttle to the dock. The Fantasy had begun …

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm soooo in!

Tell me about flying Spirit. The cheap fares seem too good to be true and their fees scare me. What do you think? Did you check luggage???

 

[GenerationX]

We had no qualms with Spirit. The flights, the service, the checked luggage - all were uneventful. Which is good!

 

[GenerationX]

Overall Fantasy Impressions

Lobby

As we stepped onto the actual ship for the first time, I paused for a brief second to put a marker in my memory that the actual vacation was beginning. We walked through the ship’s “lobby”, which was fantastic:

There always seemed to be music and/or characters in the ship’s main lobby area. The same poppy male female duo was there so often I started to wonder if they were audio-animatronic. But while they occasionally dusted off a disco classic, they had not yeti been lit with disco lights, so I knew they had to be real people.


Bon Voyage

I was the only one I saw with a bottle of soap bubbles for the Bon Voyage party, because apparently I was the only one on board who had done some actual research. People waved to us from onshore as we set sail:

At WDW, when we board the monorail at the TTC, no one ever waves to us.

My cellphone got a signal for about an hour after we left (my cellphone retains its signal throughout all of WDW). I removed everyone’s SIM cards, so they could use their phones as cameras without worry of roaming charges.

You can see the Carnival Dream (with actual power!) in the background of some of the pictures. We seemed to be following it around most of the trip. Maybe our captain forgot his GPS or compass or something.

 

[GenerationX]

Staterooms

We had two adjoining staterooms – one for us and one for the boys. Upon arrival, the boys headed to the Aqua Duck right away, and we toasted our 25th anniversary with a celebratory bottle, provided by @wannabeBelle of Kingdom Konsultants (thanks again, Marie!!).

The rooms were spotless. There were more storage areas than I expected, and the rooms themselves were larger than I expected.

I had to ask three times, which surprised me, before our room steward finally folded back the barrier between our two verandahs. The process required a “special tool” (uh, allen wrench, anyone?). With that done, we had one long verandah:

Here's the verandah - reverse angle.

 

[GenerationX]

Staterooms (part II)

The only real negative comment I have about the staterooms is that we had them for only one week. Four weeks, eight weeks, fifty-two weeks … all seem like better options. Wait, there is one actual negative: the humiliating puzzle that is the shower’s ON setting. Not even remotely intuitive. And I’m being generous. By trial-and-error, I finally figured it out, but I almost gave up and took a bath. For comparison, showers at WDW resorts make sense.

But then we found the towel animals were far more plentiful and elaborate on DCL than at WDW:

"Now, that’s cool.”

The boys kept their TV tuned to the non-stop Disney cartoons channel (a lot of fun), and we were mesmerized by the ship’s location channel:

"Seriously, I’ve got a dozen pictures of these.”

We packed well due to my OCD, though we slightly overpacked food and bathing suits. My advice – bring only one swimsuit each. The pools onboard are not swimming pools per se, but rather bobbing pools. Unless you’re practicing pogoing for a mosh pit or something, you’re not going to spend a lot of time in them.

Speaking of mosh pits, the ship was rocking and rolling quite a bit one night, and my wife felt queasy. The Dramamine and the MyMagic-less Sea Bands wrist bracelets didn’t seem to help her, and we were midship. She struggled to sleep, though the rest of us were fine.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I'm in!! Sounds like you had a great time! I've never stayed at that particular Country Inn and Suites, but we almost always try to stay in one when we travel. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Ariel484]

Cool. I dig your trip reports. Enjoying this one so far!

 

[HopLow]

Staterooms (part II)

The only real negative comment I have about the staterooms is that we had them for only one week. Four weeks, eight weeks, fifty-two weeks … all seem like better options. Wait, there is one actual negative: the humiliating puzzle that is the shower’s ON setting. Not even remotely intuitive. And I’m being generous. By trial-and-error, I finally figured it out, but I almost gave up and took a bath. For comparison, showers at WDW resorts make sense.

LOL!!!! That's hysterical!

What a great idea, to take a cruise during the holidays. I loathe Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc... for all those reasons you've listed. Unfortunately, we will be suffering through them the traditional way for the foreseeable future, but a vacation seems like a fantastic way to actually enjoy the holiday.

Anyway, I am very much enjoying your trip report so far - looking forward to segment 3 of your vacation outline

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I always enjoy your trip reports and am so excited to see you post one for your cruise! Can't wait to read more of your thoughts on the Disney Fantasy. My cruise on the Fantasy is now just 57 days away and I am so excited to see this ship! We loved the Dream so I can't wait to see it's sister ship.

 

[GenerationX]

I'm in!! Sounds like you had a great time! I've never stayed at that particular Country Inn and Suites, but we almost always try to stay in one when we travel. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for the comments! I think it was our first time at a Country Inn and Suites, but certainly not our last.

 

[GenerationX]

Cool. I dig your trip reports. Enjoying this one so far!

Thanks! I haven't written a report in a while, but I'm glad you remember them. I took my oldest son on a father-son trip in 2011 and my middle son in 2012. I've written trip reports for both, but never posted them. I'm taking youngest son in the summer for his father-son trip. I'm thinking of posting them in one thread as a trip report trifecta!

 

[GenerationX]

LOL!!!! That's hysterical!

What a great idea, to take a cruise during the holidays. I loathe Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc... for all those reasons you've listed. Unfortunately, we will be suffering through them the traditional way for the foreseeable future, but a vacation seems like a fantastic way to actually enjoy the holiday.

Anyway, I am very much enjoying your trip report so far - looking forward to segment 3 of your vacation outline

Glad you like it! Being away for Thanksgiving was a little strange, but quite a bit more relaxing than usual! I'll get the next segment up soon.

 

[GenerationX]

I always enjoy your trip reports and am so excited to see you post one for your cruise! Can't wait to read more of your thoughts on the Disney Fantasy. My cruise on the Fantasy is now just 57 days away and I am so excited to see this ship! We loved the Dream so I can't wait to see it's sister ship.

Thanks for the comments! We have not been on the Dream, but it would be difficult to top the Fantasy. Enjoy your trip!

 

[GenerationX]

Decks

The decks were clean, spacious, and fun. My wife and I were shocked at how empty the adults only section of deck 13 was, even on days at sea. There always seemed to be open deck chairs:

You can see the sports bottle next to my chair in one of the pics. Thanks to a tip from @sweetpee_1993, I packed it. I’m always thirsty, and it was very handy having a large bottle for pop.

It did not take long to figure out how to navigate (heh) the ship, even without knowing which side was port, starboard, galley, steerage, or octant. Signage next to stairs and elevators made it easy, too.

"Really, another sign picture?”

 

[GenerationX]

Service

The ship was always clean, and the CMs were constantly busing tables at restaurants. The service was top notch and friendly throughout every corner of the ship.

Many of the CMs were not American, and they happily talked to us about their home countries, which we found fascinating. We even found the CMs from Epcot countries interesting, despite us knowing practically everything about those countries through our many Epcot World Showcase tours. Heh.

Tom, in particular, hopes to see the world first hand (while Jack and Mike are fine with seeing the world through The Amazing Race’s lens). All CMs were extremely friendly.

I was curious as to how time changes would be handled. We were travelling from the Eastern time zone to the Atlantic time zone overnight, and there were at least three notifications:

1. By the wait staff at Dinner
2. Within the Personal Navigator
3. On a card that night before:

"In a post about Service, you’ve keyed on how time changes are handled. Freak.”

 

[GenerationX]

Onboard Dining

Breakfast

We are a family of early risers. We were all generally up by 6:00am and were typically “the first team to arrive” [/amazing race] at Cabanas for the breakfast buffet. We ended up having breakfast there every morning except for the day we disembarked.

The options (both food and tables) were always plentiful. Our favorites were the eggs, hash browns, and Fruit Loops. Actually, the Fruit Loops were just middle son Jack’s favorite, as he ate six(!) boxes each morning. The kids loved the fresh doughnuts, but I found them too glazey. But then again, I’m a Dunkin’ guy, not a Krispy Kreme guy.

The views out the windows at Cabanas were always wonderful, and my wife and I spotted three dolphins during one breakfast. No kidding. Not that we had a camera available, dammit. Here is an (unfortunately) dolphin-free picture from Cabanas:

I noticed our assistant server and table host one morning. It seemed like most of the CMs working on the ship had multiple jobs and shifts.