cruisefamilyforever

Since your timelime is pretty tight I would save Disney World for another trip. Instead maybe consider a trip to Kennedy Space Center if your kids would be interested or possible and airboat ride in the Everglades.

Also, I would consider a visit to the Blue Lagoon dolphin swim when you go to Nassau. The facility is incredibly beautiful and you really do have a very intimate dolphin experience. It's a short boat ride from the pier to the island cove facility. You will motor past Atlantis on your 20 minute journey. You will never forget the feeling of two dolphins pushing you by your feet across the lagoon. My kids and wife loved it! This was one of the top experiences I've had in the ocean and I've scuba dived all over the world for over 40 years.

If you have every considered swimming with dolphins this is one of the best prices I've seen for this type of hands on experience. Also, we bought the CD picture/video package. Money well spent to capture the experience of a lifetime.

Let me know what Mickey says ;)

 

And it was the assumption that the galleys are a salty damp environment? And that was the cause of the waffles being of a dense and heavy texture (by someone else) that prompted by overly long and sarcastic post. Not your reasonable question.

Given the amount consumed on any one cruise, I would say it is 99% that they are remade on land and frozen, so should be of the same quality and consistency across the DCL fleet.

 

ex techie

I enjoy your insight and most of the time your sarcasm. It keeps the boards interesting.

We have actually been told by the cruise head chief that it is not the same recipe for the waffles served on the ship. The consistency was not the problem, it was the flavor. Thrust me my son knows when something has seen modified. When Burger King modified their chicken nuggets a while back, my son knew it. I asked the manager why they changed the way they made their nuggets and she was shocked. It hadn't been released that there was a change and they had just started serving them. He no longer will eat their nuggets that he loved for over 15 years.

You are posting one of the best trips reports I've seen on the boards. I love the pictures and details. Can't wait to see more and I've been on the Dream. Your review will be benifical to a lot of cruisers.

Here is a little more insight on the fingers. Your son can have chicken fingers and fries served to him at every meal in all of the standard dining rooms. They will bring him as much as he wants. How do I know this? My son has autism and that is exactly what he ordered for every meal on our last Disney cruise. Additionally, there is an endless supply of fingers and fries available all day by the pool deck.

Also, just go to Google and search for Disney Navigators. That will pull up the site I referred you to earlier. Enjoy your cruise!

My son is incredibly picky about the chicken tenders/fingers he will eat. Rest assured your son will be very satisfied with the chicken fingers on the ship. My son said they taste just like the ones at Disney World.

There will be no movies in the theater on the first day until after 6 pm. There isn't really much going on before early dinner except visiting clubs, open houses for kid clubs, one funnel movie, ship tour and swimming in the pools and using water slides. Food isn't technically scheduled to be served until noon, but they usually open a little earlier.

Go to the disneycruiseblog.com and look at the Navigators for your cruise. You will be able see every activity around the clock for your entire cruise.

Don't worry about your 13 year old, unless he hates all things Disney he and your family will have a fantastic time.

No' date=' they are usually bad...and often cold if they come off the buffet. Not the good WDW ones.[/quote']

 

Thank's, that's what I wanted to know. The waffles were our only food disapointment on our previous Disney cruise, so my family will survive. My kids were just hoping they were better now and they just had the good ones when we were at Disney World for Christmas. At least the Mickey bars are the same :).

So if I understand you correctly Ex techie, if Disney would just leave some bags of pixie dust from the storage room on the dock there would be room for the right equipment and some bunks for cooks with names no one can pronounce to make a good waffle.

I'll call Mickey and see if he willing to make this adjustment so my family can have a tasty waffle :D.

Who knew, I just wanted to know if the waffles were any better on the Fantasy lately since my family will be on it in a few months.

Here is a question I don't recall anyone addressing before. Does anyone know if the Mickey Mouse waffles served on the Fantasy are the good ones? If you or your kids have eaten the ones at any of the Disney resorts you know exactly what I'm talking about. We always get Mickey waffles when we stay at the resorts and we all like them. We expected the same good waffle when we sailed on the Dream in 2012, but we were very disappointed. The waffles were not the same batter and they were terrible. My kids wouldn't eat them. My wife researched the issue when we returned from our trip and found out it was a common issue because they were not made with the same recipe used at the resorts.

Does anyone know if the Mickey waffles on the Fantasy are like the one currently served at the resorts?

Go to the top of this boards page and select cabin reviews. Under the Reviews tab, select Disney Magic. Then look at each deck you wish to consider. If the cabin has a small dark triangle in it, then it has the bed configuration that you are looking for. Also, simply ask the travel agent or Disney Rep that you are working with. They can confirm your choice is the configuration that you want.

I definitely remember electric scooters in the hallways and a few running kids, but those were the only obstacles we encountered. Somehow we missed the stroller crowd.

I just checked with my wife to confirm and I can honestly say in our 5 cruises including the Disney Dream we never saw anyone use a stroller on a ship. I would definitely recommend bringing the smallest one you have if you really think you need one for the reasons previously stated by our seasoned posters.

My family did the 5 day Nassau and Castaway Cay double dip on June 10, 2012 on the Dream. We had a wonderful time. We had a deluxe inside stateroom and loved the virtual porthole. Plenty of room for the four of us. We also stayed at Disney World the week prior to the cruise. We were in Disney Heaven:)!

Although I've read that boarding is starting earlier these days' date=' I've never seen it start as early as 10:30. OK, that's MY experience, and others may well have other experiences. The terminal officially opens for check in at 10:30 although like most things Disney, in reality it opens a bit earlier than that.

 

Our personal situation was that the food outlets on the pool deck were open as soon as boarding started, despite the later times listed on the Navigator. Again, don't know if this was standard, but that's the way it was. Since we are platinum, we were in boarding group 1 and got to the food rather quickly.[/quote']

 

So you think as soon as they allow people on around 11:00, Cabanas is open which makes sense. Have you experienced the Enchanted Garden being opened that early too?

I just looked at a recent Navigator and it listed 12:00 p.m. as the opening time for Cabanas on the first day. I thought it would already be open when the first passengers started boarding. I know the Enchanted Garden opens at noon, but I thought Cabanas was open when the first guest stepped on at 10:30 (at least I think that's when the first boarding is). Can some of our seasoned Fantasy cruisers clarify please.

Please refresh my memory. What is the earliest port arrival time you can select?

I would not recommend having the busiest dining room on the ship above your cabin. I always book cabins aft, but I like having at least 1 or 2 floors of cabin rooms above and below me. I've never had a problem with common area noise using that guidance so far. I recommend you at least go down to deck 8 which I have had a cabin aft on the Fantasy's sister ship the Dream. No noise generated from above. I'm booked in May on the Fantasy aft on deck 7.

As usual moki'smommy is giving great advice. In addition, Cabanas dinner service is 6:30 to 8:30 pm and you can get almost everything that is served in the rotational dining rooms, so the only thing your are missing out on is the ambience.

However, if you are persistent and follow moki'smommy's pointers I think you will be sucessful in getting changed to early dining ay 5:45.

Amyh13, I have no doubt you had some not so good experiences on the Fantasy. Each cruise experience is what it is to that person. The last cruise I was on was the RCI Freedom of the Seas last summer. I thought the room was subpar, the food was actually terrible for the lunch buffets and subpar for many meals in the main dining room. The ship was not kept clean to my standards and some of the staff was down right rude. I wrote a review and of course no one else had this experience and the Freedom is also one of the highest rated ships.

 

I will be doing a detailed trip report for the Fantasy when I get back so look for it in early June 2016. Don't worry I will brutally honest regardless of the experience.

 

My food on both the Carnival Miracle and Freedom was wonderful. The cabins were nice and the staff was great. My only problem was with passengers acting the fool.

 

On Disney the higher prices, lack of a casino and Disney atmosphere seem to keep passengers behavior in check better. Maybe it's because their in a financial coma because the bill will be coming due soon:).

I meant June 2015:D.

Amyh13, I have no doubt you had some not so good experiences on the Fantasy. Each cruise experience is what it is to that person. The last cruise I was on was the RCI Freedom of the Seas last summer. I thought the room was subpar, the food was actually terrible for the lunch buffets and subpar for many meals in the main dining room. The ship was not kept clean to my standards and some of the staff was down right rude. I wrote a review and of course no one else had this experience and the Freedom is also one of the highest rated ships.

I will be doing a detailed trip report for the Fantasy when I get back so look for it in early June 2016. Don't worry I will brutally honest regardless of the experience.

My food on both the Carnival Miracle and Freedom was wonderful. The cabins were nice and the staff was great. My only problem was with passengers acting the fool.

On Disney the higher prices, lack of a casino and Disney atmosphere seem to keep passengers behavior in check better. Maybe it's because their in a financial coma because the bill will be coming due soon:).

Sorry I was a little off. More like $2500. We booked the cruise in February 2013. 2 adults, 2 kids in an 8D balcony. This is the confirmation from Carnival. Eastern Caribbean out of PC.

 

ITEMIZED CHARGES

All Charges are quoted in USD

CRUISE CHARGES

CRUISE RATE $2,196.00

GOVERNMENT TAXES/FEES* $328.48

SUMMARY CHARGES

 

 

GUEST BALANCE DUE PAID IN FULL

I thought you were talking about summer pricing, so now I understand. Disney does not discount very much in the off season, because of their extreme high demand year round. According to Cruise Critic reviews, the Fantasy carries the highest rating of any ship. That is why you pay way more. I think Disney is worth a few cruises, but there are better deals out there with different experiences. I'll be staying at Disney World Christmas week, so you know the mouse's hands stay deep in my pocket.

Here are the latest prices for similar cabins and itineraries sailing in the first week of Feb 2016 for 4 people midship with a unobstructed balcony.

Carnival Dream $2,570.56

Disney Fantasy $5,180.76

The price disparity is less in the summer when everyone is cruising. Again, my whole point was to compare everything on as close to equal turf as possible. My next cruise after the Fantasy may very well be on the Dream.

We did a 7 day Eastern on the Carnival Dream in 2013. Did the exact itinerary on the Disney Fantasy (except Castaway Cay for Nassau), same week in 2014. 3 x the cost ($2100 4 people balcony Dream/$6200, 4 people balcony Fanstasy).

Wow, sorry you had a bad cruise experience. However, your Carnival price of $2,100 doesn't add up unless you are getting some special deal that most people can't get. If I could pay that price I would always sail on Carnival Dream too! I just called Carnival and had them quote me a price for a 7 day cruise on the Dream for 15 Jun 2015 with a guaranteed balcony room midship for four people. They even gave me a military discount and it was $4,325. I almost sailed on the Dream last year, but my family wanted to try the RCI Freedom of the Sea. It was OK, but my Disney cruise was better.

I'm not loyal to any cruise line, I just like a good cruise. My parents have been on 39 cruises on almost every line, except Disney. His favorite cruise was on the QM2.

I have high expectations for my next Disney cruise, but if it does not meet them, rest assured I'll seek another cruise line.

I have sailed on the Disney Dream and I'm currently booked on the Disney Fantasy in late May 2015 on a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. With a party of 4 in a category 8c (Deluxe Family Oceanview), which I specifically picked my room the cost is $5,000. If I would have sailed a couple of weeks earlier the cost would have been a $1000 less and if I would have gone in June it would have been a $1000 more.

The room has a 5 foot porthole made to sit in and the room is 241 sq ft. I also have two bathrooms and a tub. A room in a similar category on Carnival would be at least 60 square feet smaller. You have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples, but indeed Disney does cost more, but for my family the difference is worth it.

We have been on the two Carnival, one RCI and one Disney cruise so far and had a combination of balcony and inside rooms. They all were good cruises but for us the service, cleanliness, food quality and overall feel of the ship, Disney wins our favorite vote so far.

Thanks for the clarifications for the drinks moki'smommy.

Also, I had to smile when you and bear3412 made the bathroom comments, because that is one of the first things I tell someone about that hasn't been on a Disney Cruise. I've stayed at five star hotels on my travels and what I saw on the Disney Dream impressed me. I make a point to explore every area on the ship that I'm permitted to go. I'm amazed by the décor and design!

Disney touches just can't be beat!

Thanks moki'smommy. Your knowledge and detail are incredible! My goal is to snag two drinks after our early dinner. I'll let you know if I pull it off. I plan on writing a detailed review after our May cruise. I should have written one for our cruise on the Dream back in 2012, but I wasn't active on the boards then.

My wife found several posts on another site stating that on formal night there are complimentary cocktails served in the atrium. Can anyone verify that this still happens on the Fantasy? If so, how long does it last and what drinks are they giving away?