BlancaNoir

Or . . . you can save your $100 and show up at 1pm. Walk on, drop off your luggage, no stress.

Also, if you read the reviews on CC you wil notice that FTTF doesn't always work as advertised. Rooms aren't always available early. Ships get delayed coming back to port, or the coast guard does an inspection and EVERYONE waits. Things that carnival can't always control but if you are paying $100 for something special . . . well, for $100 some other cruise upgrades may be a more dependable bang for your buck. Steakhouse, photos of your family that you love, drinks. But to each his own!

Thanks for your review!

Just want to say . . . try catalina island agian sometime when you are not on a cruise ship. It''s a wonderful place to spend a weekend. Plenty to do! Tours of the island and the wildlife, submarine boat tours, that awesome mini golf, movies at the casino, beach, restaurants. One of my favorite places!

Also, for those going to ensendada, try going inland a bit. Ensenada is NOT Cancun, for sure! :) But I took a quick cruise out of San Diego and while in Ensendada I did a wine and olive oil tasting excursion and it was great!!! You just have to get past the sleazy part and there are lots of opportunities!

"So, with extra time off my husband told me to book a family cruise. Disney, quoted me over $ 20,000 for a four day cruise I thought that was ridiculous' and the only other cruise that fit our time frame was Carnival! We were shocked at how much fun our whole family had. The food was better then Celebrity's and Disney's. The service was better then Celebrity's and the price was amazing."

Wow. Unbelievable!

Some of our dear friends have decided to join us on our disney cruise. They booked a verandah room and we are concierge. We'd really like to have dinner with them but I was very excited about the concierge perk of planning the rotation of your meals and getting preferred seating options (like at animators).

Also we are early dining and they only had the option of late. Is it possible to get them linked to our dinner preferences so we can all eat together? Also, can you bring non-concierge into the concierge lounge on Fantasy? We're not trying to "cheat." Just want to enjoy my perks will spending time with our friends.

What is Halloween like on disney? We went on a RCL cruise in october and although there was nothing advertised spcific to halloween they did an trick or treating session that my kids loved. It was a highlight of the trip for them.

Can anyone tell me the hours of the kids club on Fantasy? We are going October 2014, Eastern Carib. (The disney website says "hours vary." I did a CC search and didn't find the answer.)

Thanks!

Blanca

I sympathize with your situation because ours is the opposite. 2 of my 3 kids did not like the structure of the kids club on RCL. Overall we loved the cruise and had a blast but we wished that the kids club allowed more free choice. My oldest seemed to get hit a lot in some game called Gaga ball and my 2nd oldest got bored and didn't like having to particpate in the arts and crafts. The 3rd is very easy going and happy to go with the flow so she made friends and did fine. Now that I think about it, the older 2 do well in school but don't enjoy the structure of most day camps during the summer. One of the things that appeals to me most about disney is how they structure the kids club. My son may want to be hooked up to computers the whole time. We don't allow that in normal life but on vacation if he is supervised and safe and happy and I can have some child-free time . . . OK WITH ME! But I can see how the free choice, multi-age thing would be hard on some kids, especially the little ones.

Autism at sea can be helpful for some families. It's really, really difficult to travel when you have a family member with autism. We went on an RCI cruise because they talked a good game re: autism. Honestly it was a huge dissapointment in that regard. Now we are just more pragmatic. One advantage (I hope) about Disney is that they have a wider age range for the kids club and more "free play" activities. That means my son will not be routed into structured activities he can't do (Gaga ball??) and also that he can be in the same group as his sister. We aren't counting on the kids club. We booked a concierge suite which has board games and stuff, as well as food. We may end up spending 7 days playing board games on our balcony but that is a vacation enough. Other pluses are that they have disney movies on TV (a huge thing for kids with autism, not sure why) and the servers help cut the kids food. I'm hoping disney will be more autism friendly than RCI.

Now this should be interesting to see what rating DCL get after the previous "incident" with one of their "Staff Members".....

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=5747

 

I hope they have to jump through a lot of Disney shoreside hoops before that organization is let aboard again, let alone for them to critique DCL for how they handle Autism at sea.

 

ex techie

Cheap

West coast cruises

WCMC

Solo cruising is wonderful. People on carnival cruises are very friendly. I'm a bit shy but never felt lonely. People always seemed open to conversation but I was never bothered. I also never felt weird reading in a public area or sitting in a bar. It's very liberating and safe at the same time. Also, as a married person it is important to find your own space once in a while. I missed my husband and children but it was awesome to have the space and time to reconnect with myself. Give it a try!!

I prefer inside over OV. Inside cabins feel like a cozy little nest. OV makes me feel claustrophobic. My first choice is balcony because I love the fresh air. But if you don't use it, why pay the $?

So Disney just needs to an ice skating rink and some more adult entertaiment to the Fantasy, and . . . perfect! :)

Can you clarify the issue with the bed sheets? The breakaway looks like such a cool ship but dirty sheets upon arrival...?

Yes' date=' there is a way for those with cabins on deck 11 and 12 to not walk thru the adult only area, but it would involve taking an elevator down to another deck. If the kids were going to the midship pool, they would then ride/walk back up. I can honestly see the logic that for those kids only, that is out of their way.

 

All kids with cabins on other decks had to come up to the pool deck from somewhere. There is no reason that they couldn't have walked to the midship or aft elevators on the deck where they were (their cabin deck, Edge deck, or wherever) rather than CHOOSING the forward elevators and a walk thru the adult area. It is no farther to walk from forward to midship on the pool deck than it is on any other deck, so why walk thru on an area that should be off limits.

 

Sorry...we always enforced the concept of "adult only." My now adult daughter has commented on when she wasn't allowed to walk thru "those doors." At one point there were signs directing kids with or without parents to use only the starboard side as a walkthru. Of course, the parents objected to that since the starboard side is the smoking area. Ummmm, again, there was no reason they had to walk thru on deck 9 (classic ships).

 

Bottom line, it is a choice for a child to walk thru the adult only area, and it is a choice for the parent and DCL to not enforce the designated area. I've seen the ACD stop an adult only show when a parent brought in a young child! They can enforce rules when they choose.[/quote']

 

I really appreciate this info! We have booked a concierge room on deck 12 and will have our 2 kids with us. We will insist they do this elevator route instead of walking through the adult area. Although I can make sure they are well-behaved when the walk through an area, I don't think that is the point. If I get the opportunity, I will take an hour or 2 of kid-free time on our cruise. An hour of kid-free time would be AMAZING. A vacation in itself!!!!! Many parents would also appreciate this break to be in an adult-only area. (I love kids. Love my kids! But because my son is special needs we don't have the opportunity to park the kids in the kids club all week. An childless hour of break in the adults only area, while my husband is with my son, would be fantastic.)

We booked a concierge room in the fantasy ( 7 night). Just a family verandah not the royal suite. But I was shocked that when I booked 13 months in advance the cabins I wanted were taken. We did book a concierge room that seems pretty good but I was struck by how quickly the best (but expensive!) rooms were booked.

I would love an elegant adult high tea at Remy. That would be great. High tea at the ritz is nothing like "tea parties" for little girls. The kids should have their own event. They can't handle the china, spill, wiggle, giggle, and don't like the more upscale tea sandwiches and condiments. Ok, I'm generalizing. My 7 year old loves tea parties. We host, go to them, and go out for fancy tea. But really she wants to feel fancy and eat cupcakes and drink lemonade. I love the calm, refined and elegant aspect of a nice adult high tea.

Actually, the meatloaf wasn't bad at all (to me). :)

I don't eat mashed potatoes, period, so I can't comment there.

I ate two of the onion rings, foregoing the one that had potato 'residue' on it. :o

I cut off a piece of the dessert, smeared it around in the caramel drizzle to coat it, and gave it a try. Not impressed, so that's all there was to that experience.

Thank you for including pictures of the beautiful dishes (like the teppenyaki sizzling!!) and the gross (meatloaf and phallic eclairs). The honesty in the pics and review makes your praise for the Epic even more impressive.

NCL should pay you for this review! I was incredibly excited about theEpic until all the reviews came rollling in. This is the first Epic review, good or bad, that has rekindled my interest in sailing the Epic. I was feeling like Epic sucked and why would anyone bother when Oasis and Allure were in the picture. But now I am intrigued and can also see why people don't mind paying for all the speciality restaurants and such. They look awesome!!!

Tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whooooohoooooooooo!

(can you tell I'm excited????)

Blanca

Mariner of the Seas, Mexican Riveria 7 night cruise