The Disney Fantasy is the fourth, and newest ship, in the Disney Cruise line fleet. Her maiden voyage was on March 31, 2012. On July 14th, my family boarded the Disney Fantasy for a Fantastic cruise in the Eastern Caribbean.
We were celebrating my in-law’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. Our sailing party included: my in-laws, my brother-in-law’s family, and my family. 11 of us in all, ranging from 10 years old to 78 years old. There were so much to do, there wasn’t a dull moment (unless that is what you wanted).
The bus picked us up from Disney’s Animal Kingdom at 11:15am and took us directly to the port. We were worried we’d have to stop at other hotels to pick up passengers but this did not happen. We were at the port quickly and on the Fantasy by 1pm. We headed to deck 11 to eat at Cabana’s and ride the Aquaduck. The kids wore their bathing suits under their clothes so they could ride right away.
The Aquaduck was fun, but the line was usually about 20-30min, unless you rode at night, which was pretty cool. After lunch, we went to check out our staterooms. Our luggage was already outside our rooms so we quickly unpacked then heading back to deck 11 for the Sail Away Deck Party.
After the Sail Away Party it was already time to get ready for our first dinner on board. We had the earlier seating, and tonight we ate in the Royal Garden. The next morning the adults headed to Palo’s for brunch. It was delicious and worth the extra $15 per person.
Sunday, Monday and Thursday were days at Sea. Which meant a lot of ship activities. For the adults there were alcohol related activities such as Mixology, Wine Tasting, Beer Tasting and more. These tastings cost $15 per person and they were worth it.
We all loved playing mini-golf, more so at night when it wasn’t so hot or sunny and it was less crowded.
The Mid-Ship Dective Agency was really cool. You had to register at a kiosk where you receive your card and a ship map. Then you followed the map to different pieces of art. The art is a computer screen that comes to life when you stand in front of it with your card. Then you need to perform a simple task to receive your clue. There were three different mysteries, and lots of different clues so it’s not the same each time.
The adults loved to spend time in the 18 and over areas when the younger kids were busy. My 18 year old son spent a lot of time in the fitness center, I didn’t make it there, so no photos! I did stop in at the quiet cove a few times. Love the layout of the pool, seats in the water, a deep section and then a shallow section. Guess Disney figured out most adults like to get wet but not necessarily swim.
We checked out The Vibe during the open house, but since my niece and nephew weren’t old enough to go in, my daughters didn’t go in either. They would rather spend time with their cousins, but they did agree that it looked pretty cool and would have gone if their cousins could.
The Disney Cruise Line has rotational dinning. Each night you are assigned to eat in one of the three main restaurants: Animator’s Palette, Enhanced Garden or Royal Palace. They are all beautiful, but our favorite was Animator’s Palette.
Of course a high point of the cruise was the food. Every night the menu was different and we were all able to find something we would like to eat each night. The kids all tried new foods and found some new favorites, especially the dessert souffles.
Our first stop was in St. Maarten. We choose the Mountain Downhill Rainforest Trek as our Port Adventure. It sounded like fun, “It’s not uncommon to see green monkeys, iguanas, mongoose or other wildlife as you pass through this mysterious jungle-like environment. …..Descending further on well groomed, gently sloping trails, you are greeted with an ice-cold rum or fruit punch at the end of the hike.” Well, the only animal we saw was one butterfly, and it was steep and rocky. Much harder than we thought. Although the view was nice and the punch was ice-cold, can’t say I’d recommend this to a friend.
Our second port was St. Thomas. Here we opted for a Full Day Caribbean Sail & Snorkel to Turtle Cove & Honeymoon Beach. It was amazing. Half of the passengers on this Port Adventure boarded a pirate ship and our half boarded a catamaran for our sail. We were so happy to be on the catamaran. We hung out anywhere on deck we wanted and then went snorkeling with turtles. After snorkeling, we sailed to Honeymoon beach where we had a barbeque lunch and swam in the clear blue water for a couple of hours. Then back on the catamaran to sail back to port. We all loved this Port Adventure.
Our last stop was Castaway Cay. What an amazing island. Our only Port Adventure was snorkeling. We saw all the Disney treasures and lots of fish. The rest of the day we lounged in hammocks and lounge chairs, swam and ate lunch. The adults did take a short trip out to Serenity Bay where we sat in the shallow water enjoying our drinks. What a great day!
Castaway Cay is the final day of the voyage. Time to pack up because tomorrow morning the cruise is over.
We had a FANtasic voyage and hope you enjoyed this overview. I’ll be back with more specific in future posts.