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We've been to Coco Cay once before, really enjoyed it but the waterpark pricing for our sailing is insane at the moment so we are looking at other ideas. Have you done the zipline? About how much actual time on the lines per ride? Would you do it again? How would you compare it to others you have done before? Also, does Coco Cay ever have parasailing? We did that on Castaway Cay and loved it.

Thanks

Currently showing pricing of $169 pp for our June 2024 sailing on the Wonder. Yikes! Glad we did it once on a previous sailing, will need to see a major drop to consider it this time. 

At that price the over water cabanas should take you to the next port, include a show and a weeks worth of meals

What changed specifically?

If they do start demoting people rather than just the previous requirement for the full number of nights needed to advance status that is a bad choice on their part. It sounds like along with some of the other recent decisions that they have hired some new consultants who were tasked with finding ways to annoy or disappoint as many customers as possible. Hopefully this is just someone not understanding the rules properly and will be corrected. 

Thanks for the information, hadn't sailed since before covid before the last one so I did not have a sense of pricing expectation, will keep fingers crossed for a price drop over the next year. 

Just completed an 8 day sailing on Odyssey, was able to get 100 photo package for $139 precruise, now scheduled for Wonder 7 nights next June and same photo package is $299. Can anyone tell me if the 1st one was an amazing deal or is the pricing for Wonder the outlier?

Thanks

I think your best chance of success is just to politely ask the waitstaff at the meal and I would be surprised if they did not grant it, my experience trying to arrange anything specific to dining in advance of the sailing (other than seating time) is that I have been told to ask the dining team onboard

Also retiring May 2025, hoping to find a good back to back Oasis or Quantum class caribbean option from Florida without paying the upcharge for the Icon or Utopia as brand new ships. They are stubbornly only releasing itineraries out to April 2025 for now.

Were were on Odyssey 3/11 sailing, steak could be ordered med-rare, med, med-well, we did not ask about other options. Usually came as requested but had one med-rare that was very red rather than full pink but they were very apologetic and quickly got us one that was correct.

We though most of the meals were actually pretty good. No issues with asking for second app or entree or dessert if someone wanted it, did not try ordering more than 1 lobster tail per person. The salmon was excellent both versions that I had. Can't speak to the lamb as I was talked out of it due to my kids having issues with ordering something "cute" for dinner. 

Trying to find a thread I replied to a few hours ago on the Royal Caribbean boards, seems to have disappeared and when I look at notifications I see

resetjet, billslowsky and Pratique reacted to a post in a topic Some crew insight on the once daily service
3 hours ago

but when I click that link it says I am not allowed to view that topic, I am puzzled since I replied to the topic in the first place

tried to see it under my profile as a previous post but it does not show there

sorry if I am being dense here, I have looked at the help topics, etc, just cant figure it out and have just returned to logging in actively just recently

Thanks

Can't speak to the whitewall issue but we have found a bothersome degree of engine vibration at times when we stayed in an aft cabin on Fantasy. Did not have the same issue midship or forward. 

Just sailed Allure for Thanksgiving. Can't speak to specialty dining but we were very happy with all our dinners and the desserts in MDR and had very good service there. Found a lot of good lunch options in the windjammer with usually a good interesting Indian food option with each meal, our daughter really liked our breakfasts in windjammer. Lunch desserts were nothing special. All in all we were very happy with the food. Just our $ 0.02

I think it all depends on who is leading the tasting. Did an Amari tasting on Fantasy last October, the bartender leading it was excellent, very informative and I thought well worth my time and $. If I were to do another I would pick something that I did not know a lot about to begin with, then there is more to learn and experience, I wouldn't do a tasting of something you already know well.

Your best price option is usually a Florida resident rate during a non-peak season when kids are in school. If you do go that route then try to book a placeholder reservation while onboard so that if you do want to go again (within 2 years) then you lock in a reduced deposit and better rate.

One way we bring the price down a tiny bit is to wait till Discover runs a 5% cashback on warehouse club purchases and then buy Disney gift cards at Sam's club where you can get $150 gift cards for about $145. It is not a huge savings but if you save $5 on every 150 and then get the 5% cashback it does end up taking a few hundred dollars out of the total cost. Make sure to get some extra gift cards you can apply to your onboard account for gratuities and any onboard purchases and at least get a small savings on those as well.

From our experience in the rotational dining on several sailings if you wear khakis and a polo shirt with a collar or maybe a button down shirt (no tie or jacket) then you will be dressed as well as 75% and better than many. We like the casual atmosphere, feels more relaxing. There are some that will dress up more and on formal night there will be some suits and ties but no one gives any grief to those that go more casual.

We have cruised the Fantasy in early November a few times for our son's birthday, have not had problems with the pools being too cold, water at Castaway was warm enough on some trips and too cold for my wife on others at that time of year. Generally hurricanes would not be that much of a concern in November, October can be another issue re: hurricanes.

Maybe travel back to a time when there was less nickel and diming and constant upselling and when food quality in the main dining room was a priority?

I'm surprised at the embarkation issues. 5 Disney cruises so far, I think the longest it took from curb to stepping onto the ship was 1 hour, usually about 40 minutes. Our last disembark it took us 5 minutes to find our bags in the terminal, 5 minute line to customs, 2 minutes there and done. Maybe we have just been lucky.

While there is a sort of corny component (although to me it is in an enjoyable way, maybe since I am used to it and expect it) to the Disney stage productions on the Fantasy some of my favorite memories are sharing those shows with my kids, particularly when they were elementary school age, watching our daughter scramble around to try to scoop up all the confetti or streamers she could after the show as keepsakes. My main complaint with the Disney stage productions is that they don't change them or rotate them among ships often enough. I definitely think the stage productions we saw on Royal had more to offer for the adults and for a wider range of show patrons.

I would agree on the service issue. Service on our Royal sailing was good but it just did not come across with quite the same sense of warmth and effortlessness as it does on Disney. I don't know if it is a difference in the what they pay or training or their screening process or just a more clearly defined set of expectations for staff but we have always been very impressed with service on Disney. I still remember a few times when our daughter was younger, having a bad day or just in a bad mood and staff in Cabanas would notice and go out of their way to find a way to bring a smile to her, little things but they leave a real impression.

Another vote for late, our kids are now 13 and 11 and we have done late all but one sailing. We feel like it is a rush to get from afternoon activities to early dining. Also, given that my kids are not exactly early risers early dining means we really only get to 2 meals per day and for my wife and I it just seems wrong not to get 3 decent meals per day on a cruise when someone else is doing the cooking and dishes :D

We have sailed the Fantasy 3 times, once on the Dream and once on the Wonder, all out of Florida, for all of that we had 1 "bad" day with a lot of motion and a lot of people feeling seasick on the boat including our daughter , we have 2 other times where we were aware of increased motion but not to the point of getting sick or detracting from the trip. I would not worry about it, just as you could book a vacation on land somewhere and have bad weather move in for part of the trip I would not choose to not book because it was possible.

One tip we found regarding seasickness for kids, while the 1 bad day was rough on our daughter on deck or in the cabin, we found while cleaning her up in the tub the she did not mind sloshing around if she was in water. So we put them in the pool for a couple of hours of the worst ship movement and instead of being seasick she and her brother and the other kids whose parents had the same idea watched their kids ride the waves in the pool from side to side of the pool laughing and having a great time, worked well.

I think that the other difference is that the larger rooms have a different bathroom layout with a rounded tub/shower versus a standard rectangular tub/shower combo. This would be for the Dream and Fantasy. As with most room choices, it depends on how much time you plan to spend in the room and how much being a little crowded matters as to whether the cost difference is worth it.

Last time we stopped at Grand Cayman in October they were tendering based on excursion times for Disney booked excursions, you had an assigned place to meet and then you were given a number and then when your numbers were called you went to the tender boat. As I recall they had general tendering for those not booked on excursions after those with assigned excursion times. I am not sure if you could get one of the earlier tender boats if you had an earlier private excursion. They did seem to shuttle folks to shore pretty efficiently with a steady stream of tenders running.

In our experience the prices go up much faster for weeks where kids are not in school. For off peak weeks the prices seem to go up slowly in the first few months after release. If you don't get the price you want booking early sometimes they will have lower prices for guarantee categories that typically come up less than 3 months before the sailing but these come with significant restrictions. Unfortunately there is no such thing as an "inexpensive" Disney cruise. For us they still offer value for what they deliver. Sailing off peak seasons does make a major difference in price, typically over $2000 for the 4 of us.

It is likely that they will be showing all 3 in January