monty913

I was on the Fantasy in Sept 2013. Outside it was hot hot hot. I found inside to be chilly in the AC. So if you are a person that is often chilly, pack a sweater for your indoor activites too, no matter what time of year. :rolleyes:

Did our first DCL cruise last Sept. I am a super planner. When I plan WDW trips i plan almost down to the minute. So when we planned the cruise, I tried to do the same thing, spreadsheets, charts, the whole 9. Looking back now, I wish I didnt. There was so much on the ship to do and see, i felt like i missed some stuff because i had planned other things for that time. Obviously excursions need to be booked if you have one you really want. Or if you want to try Palo or Remy those need to be booked ahead. But otherwise I enjoyed drinking coffee on the balcony, reviewing the navigator and seeing what we wanted to do that day (very out of character for me, planning something just hours ahead!)

We are going again in Dec and I really have nothing planned. I want to just get on board, plop myself in a pool chair and enjoy the day. :)

I ran the 5k in Sept 2013. We had to meet in the Tube the morning we docked at Castaway. You had to have an ID on you. They gave everyone a bib and went over the running route. It was very very hot and very humid. Hardly any shade. Definetly keep yourself hydrated. We got a little plastic medal at the end and bought the t shirt at the gift shop, I think they were $15-$20 each.

We were glad we did it, but probably wont next time. We will most likely get off the ship early and get more time on the beach. We didnt really think ahead, we ran the race and then had to go back to the ship, change and get our beach bag for the rest of the day. Keep in mind the start/finish of the race is not at the ship, you have to walk a ways to the start line.

Don't buy or bring bottled water. The water tastes fine.

 

The Cove Cafe on the Wonder has desserts downstairs and appetizer type snacks upstairs. It was usually deserted upstairs on our Caribbean cruise.

Are the Cove Cafe goodies included? or do you pay extra for them? :confused:

I sailed in Sept 2013. I requested a table for 2 because we were on our honeymoon. Our request was granted. But we sat at a table for 4 with only 2 people. On this particular cruise, the ship was not at capacity. Our waiter explained that is a big part of the reason we had our own table. There were 2 other couples that sat near us every night that also only had 2 people at a table for 4.

I saw some guys with these big travel coffee mugs out by the pool and i highly doubt there was coffee or water in them. But they werent being rowdy or rude. I think as long as you dont have a handle of Jack Daniels out by the pool and you mostly keep to yourself, no one is going to bother you.

We were on the Fantasy in Sept 2013. We headed to Flo's Cafe and had chicken fingers. I think we might make that tradition. We then headed to a bar, got a drink and scoped out a spot for the sailaway party! We made sure to stand on starboard side deck 12 and wave to the camera at Fishlips. My parents watched live and we gave them a big wave!

Plenty of people wore jeans in the main dining rooms on "cruise casual" nights, myself included. :D

I had several Disney Gift cards and i paid down my balance. I also used my Chase Visa Disney Dream Reward Dollars card to pay it down. We went down on day 5 of a 7 day cruise and paid off most of it with the gift cards/rewards we had accumulated. Totally made that final bill a little easier to stomach. :o

Also, I am a Disney Movie Rewards members, sometimes they have $10 Disney gift cards you can buy with accumulated points.

My husband was having trouble deciding between two entrees. You should have seen the look on his face when the waiter said he could have both! He was like a kid in a candy store after that. Every night he made sure to try a little of everything.

The waiter was also able to get him a soup he liked several nights in a row even when it wasnt on the menu :cool:

I gave my passport to the guest services desk and thay stamped it for me. :cool:

I mailed a post card from the Castaway Cay post office, it literally took months to get to my parents house. :confused:

I am assuming i cant do "express walk off" if i am using DCL transportation to get to MCO. I am trying to figure out what time i should book my flight home. I am worried that a 12:45 flight from MCO could be pushing it. :confused:

I was there Sept 26, 2013. It was a very warm day, very sunny. We docked right on time. But it was very windy. Most water excusions were cancelled (including our parasailing). It didnt seem that windy on the beach or anything, but i guess it was too windy for them to do watersports. Water was warm, but refreshing. It was a little choppy. We were at the adult beach and did not go to the family beach.

We transfered from Port Orleans to the ship in Sept 2013. I believe we got picked up between noon and 12:30. There were already people on the bus and we made one more stop. I am pretty sure we got right onto the ship though, because we had done online check in and had all our paperwork was in order. At Port Orleans, they had left us a letter with the info. We had our bags ready to be transfered and didnt see then again until they showed up at our cabin.

We loved the potato cheese soup from Animators Palette. My husband enjoyed the wild boar. And we really loved the chocolate soufflé at Palo.

YUM! :)

I will in bermuda next week. We have heard so many things about cell phones and what to do. We are a large group traveling and we mostly want to be able to communicate with each other on the island (in case we split up)

Someone told us to buy Bermuda SIM cards, someone else told us to just use Wi Fi and communicate using a messaging/texting app. :confused:

I have verizon wireless. Some of us have iPhones and some have samsungs.

Any experiences? Advice? Thanks!

I was picked up from Port Orleans FQ around noon. There was already a lot of people on the bus, so it must have stopped at other resorts. I believe we then stopped at another resort to pick up more. We didnt actually start driving the ship until about 1pm. I am sure it varies depending on where you stay, so check the paperwork or ask at concierge.

This was a Saturday in September 2013.

oh and HAVE FUN! :cool:

Hoping to do a 7 day Western on the Fantasy in Sept 2015. Planning on booking from the Dream in December! Already excited!

We were in 6556. We loved the room and location. I believe it is a category 05D. We did have a life boat directly below our balcony. It didn't really bother me, but if you dont want a life boat there, deck 6 mid ship is not where you want be.

I attempted to attach a photo of me on the balcony....you can clearly see the boats right there.

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Good choice. We just booked a back-to-back on the Dream Jan 30th to Feb 6, 2015 just so we can get out of the Northeast Winter for a while. Last year was brutal, and we did get out to get on the Dream Feb, 2014 but Central NJ where we live was plummeted with SNOW.

We are frequent cruisers and love DCL.

Was that winter just the worst??? :( Ugh!! Fingers crossed for a better winter 14/15!

Woo hoo!! You will have so much fun! I went last september for my honeymoon. We were on the ship for maybe an hour and my husband was already ready to book another!!

Have fun!!!! :cool:

The Hyatt MCO is definitely the most convenient' date=' but the prices are high--typically over $200 per night for the hotel and then $70 per person for round trip DCL transfers. There are several hotels in the MCO area that offer cruise transportation. These include the Hyatt PLACE NW (different from Hyatt MCO), Hampton MCO, and Wyndham. Of those we've used, the Hyatt Place was the nicest, most efficient, and least costly.

 

Basically, you get to MCO and collect your luggage. Then phone the hotel and their shuttle will be there within a few minutes to take you to the hotel. On cruise morning, you eat the complimentary breakfast (good at Hyatt Place), and meet the bus in the lobby at the appointed time (10:00 for us). On return, they will do a single pick up at the cruise terminal, usually about 9:00 and take you to either the hotel or MCO, your choice. You'll find this package under "specials" on the web site.[/quote']

 

 

Thanks so much for the info! I will check it out!

Do they have the 5K on every cruise that goes there or just select ones?

As far as I know, they do it every trip to Castaway. It is in the navigator. You go down that morning and register. :cool:

p.s. might be weather pending???

We honeymooned on the Fantasy last September. We had a total blast!! There is so much for the kids to do, that you hardly see them. We spent a lot of time in the adult area and forgot their were hundreds on kids on board. There isnt a huge party/drinking scene, but there are plenty of bars.

I have only stayed in a balcony room. It was also mid ship. The stairs and elevator were right there, but we didnt hear any noise from people coming and going. Besides the balcony, I loved being mid ship-easy access to almost everything. We stupidly spoiled ourselves and will probably never want anything but a mid ship balcony now.

And if there is concern about the 5 year old opening the slider onto the balcony-I remember there is a special lock way up high on the door-out of reach.