Disney Fantasy May 12, 2012 Review!

[cde48]

Once again, Disney failed to let us down. The ship was absolutely amazing, the crew was wonderful, and the food was pretty good! The Aquaduck was so much fun for us and the kids, and the Aqualab is a great addition. We had an Inside Stateroom with the digital porthole, and it was pretty awesome. I'd actually rather have the digital porthole, than the actual porthole. So many awesome things that come up on it.

 

The sailing itself went amazingly, and the ship was not full. We did have to return just outside of Port Canaveral after two hours of sailing, to take off an ill passanger, which was a great decision by Captain Marco. The Coast Guard met us, and we were back on course after handing over the ill passanger.

 

We have done the Western Caribbean sailing so many times, so we got off everywhere except Cozumel. Grand Cayman is still one of our favorite islands, and Castaway Cay is the best private island of any line. The shows were excellent and the kids really enjoyed the Oceaneers Club, and lab. We couldn't get our son out of the Lab. He loved being there, and the crew working there were really good with the kids. The Muppets detective game is pretty wild as well. So much fun!

 

The only thing that I would stay away from doing on the ship, is booking a future cruise directly on the ship, because they say you get 10% off the sailing, and up to $200 shipboard credit, but the price quoted was almost $3,000 more onboard, than it is on their site! You'd save a lot more cash by booking on line, and/or waiting a bit.

 

I also would stay away from booking too far in advance, unless you want a specific room, because they let people book "ghost" dates and can change/cancel up until the cancel date, and it alters the amount of rooms truly available. For instance, "Joe" books a 7-Night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy for next May as "ghost" date, just to get his supposed 10% discount and shipboard credit. He is then allowed to cancel that cruise, without penalty up until the cancel period, or change it as many times as he wants into the future, as long as it is before the cancel period.

 

Now, I go onto to the site to book the same cruise for next May, and it shows that the ship is almost full, and forces me to pay a higher price because the system shows that there are not many rooms left. I can cancel up until my cancel period without any penalty, but if the price goes down after the cancel period, I'd be stuck with the room that we originally booked and also paid more for, while the price drops and better rooms become available.

 

This happend to us this year. We booked an inside cabin last March for the May 12 sailing for this year. The day after the cancellation period, Deluxe Verandah rooms opened up for about $1,000 LESS than we paid for an inside cabin. We asked to get upgraded or shipboard credit, and they couldn't do it because it only applied to new bookings. So our advice would be to just wait until right after the cancellation period is, for the cruise you are looking to sail on.

 

In Closing, Disney is still, by far, the best line that we have been on, and we have sailed NCL, RCI, Celebrity, HAL, Carnival, and Princess! They just do everything right, and really take care of their guest. Can't wait to go again, soon!

[Friend100]

Thanks for the report. I don't follow your logic about the OBB. It is a perk for repeat cruiser. You can lock in ther 10% discount and OBC regardless of what your next cruise is, which as you said can be switched to other ones.

[vivavegas]

Thanks for your review! I've never been on Disney, but would love to try it someday.:)

[cde48]

Thanks for the report. I don't follow your logic about the OBB. It is a perk for repeat cruiser. You can lock in ther 10% discount and OBC regardless of what your next cruise is, which as you said can be switched to other ones.

 

It sounds good, until something happens like what happened to us this year. We booked 14 months out, and then a day after the cancellation period for our cruise without incurring penalties hit, the price for a Deluxe Verandah was roughly $1,000 cheaper than our inside cabin. We couldn't switch to the verandah because it was for new reservations only.

 

Thus, if you booked a cruise at the future cruise desk while on board at $4,900 for a inside cabin, and the price drops to $3,900 for a Deluxe Verandah as it did on our sailing, your $200 OBC is peanuts compared to the $1,000 you could have saved on the sailing alone, by waiting, and would've had a verandah instead of an inside cabin. Remember, the $3,900 Verandah price was for new bookings only! They won't apply it to bookings that you changed from your "ghost" date.

[Friend100]

It sounds good, until something happens like what happened to us this year. We booked 14 months out, and then a day after the cancellation period for our cruise without incurring penalties hit, the price for a Deluxe Verandah was roughly $1,000 cheaper than our inside cabin. We couldn't switch to the verandah because it was for new reservations only.

 

Thus, if you booked a cruise at the future cruise desk while on board at $4,900 for a inside cabin, and the price drops to $3,900 for a Deluxe Verandah as it did on our sailing, your $200 OBC is peanuts compared to the $1,000 you could have saved on the sailing alone, by waiting, and would've had a verandah instead of an inside cabin. Remember, the $3,900 Verandah price was for new bookings only! They won't apply it to bookings that you changed from your "ghost" date.

 

But this can happen regardless of whether it was an onboard booking or not. It largely depends on the demand of the particular cruise you are booking. You can choose to secure a price and cabin booking early so that you won't need to run into the risk that the cruise could be sold out or close to sold out before payment deadline and that you won't have an option to book the category you want, or you can take the risk of getting a cabin at a relatively reduced price after payment deadline but there is no gaurantee there will be any availability. I just don't see there is any correlation between the OBB and the IGT/OGT/VGT that is available.

[indychristine]

Friend.... Thank you! Reading this I was a little worried and ready to call my TA since we always book on board and did on this cruise ( we also sailed the May 12 cruise)

Anyway after reading your subsequent posts I feel a lot better! We always BOok on board for OBC ( we got 350 this time) and discount and for our choice in a room. We worry about it being full. As it is we booked for March 9th on the Fantasy and could not get our exact choice , but pretty close. And had to wait list for Main dining!

Anyway thank you for the conversation you two!!

Glad you enjoyed the cruise OP... We did too!

[cde48]

But this can happen regardless of whether it was an onboard booking or not. It largely depends on the demand of the particular cruise you are booking. You can choose to secure a price and cabin booking early so that you won't need to run into the risk that the cruise could be sold out or close to sold out before payment deadline and that you won't have an option to book the category you want, or you can take the risk of getting a cabin at a relatively reduced price after payment deadline but there is no gaurantee there will be any availability. I just don't see there is any correlation between the OBB and the IGT/OGT/VGT that is available.

 

I agree 100% that it can happen regardless if it is onboard on online. Even the Disney rep that was at the future cruise desk said that a lot of the prices that are driven up and people pay, are because of "ghost" bookings dates that people only plan to change, and therefore results in the ship showing more cabins filled, than actually will be. Working in the airline industry it is much better to book sooner rather than later, as the prices tend to be cheaper. If the price of the flight goes down, airlines will issue a credit for the fare difference. This is not the case with cruising. Cruise lines generally discount their rooms closer to the sailing date, because they want the ship full.

 

There is no guarantee that rooms will be available, but generally we wait until the last 2-3 months before the sailing, because that's when we have found the deals to be the best. Last year, we booked early because the ship was new and the Disney rep said that the ship was pretty full. That was last March for this May. Most of those rooms that were showing full were "ghost" date rooms, and thus we ended up biting the dust and paying a higher premium. I am just saying that I honestly don't think that it's worth forking out the money so far in advance, knowing that the system is manipualted by "ghost" reservations.

 

It's just our opinion that the savings would be more substantial if we wait. The May 12 sailing had a decent amount of rooms left.

[cde48]

Friend.... Thank you! Reading this I was a little worried and ready to call my TA since we always book on board and did on this cruise ( we also sailed the May 12 cruise)

Anyway after reading your subsequent posts I feel a lot better! We always BOok on board for OBC ( we got 350 this time) and discount and for our choice in a room. We worry about it being full. As it is we booked for March 9th on the Fantasy and could not get our exact choice , but pretty close. And had to wait list for Main dining!

Anyway thank you for the conversation you two!!

Glad you enjoyed the cruise OP... We did too!

 

Glad you had a great time! The ship is amazing isn't she? Christine, is that the day you guys plan on sailing? Let me know after the cancel period, if the ship opens up, and the price falls. Keep us posted. :)

[Gatrcruzer]

Just want to thank the OP for the review, as well as the info about the pricing system. That is good to know! We have a reservation we are going to cancel because the price is just too high for us, but I think we will keep our eye out for price drops after final payment, Florida resident rates, and if none of those pan out, we'll see about doing the Dream for a 4 night (although I hate going on such a short cruise). For what it's worth, I do think that most of the cruise lines do the same thing regarding future cruises - many people "ghost" reservations. That said, most cruise lines show lower prices over time (as they try to fill their ships), but Disney is one of the few that shows price increases over time, with the exception of last minute deals to fill the ship. Thank you for the info and perspective.

[Friend100]

It's just our opinion that the savings would be more substantial if we wait.

 

I agree, and this really applies to any cruiseline/cruiseship in general if the particular sailing is not selling as good as the cruiseline would like to when they set the price, and/or when they adjust the price up/down throughout the booking period before final payment. Any sailing is subject to the possibility that customers can cancel/switch their booking before final payment, and there can be various reasons triggering that to happen.

 

DCL has basically more than doubled their cruise supply in the last 16-month period. This is a lot of new capacity that they have to fill. It takes a lot of marketing effort to acquire new customers. It is my opinion that when they set the initial Fantasy's (and Dream's) price it was at their traditionally high level when there were only the Magic/Wonder. Now we are seeing quite a lot of IGT/OGT/VGT prices for the Disney Fantasy (and some Disney Magic from New York too which are also competing many of the same customers who're deciding about the Disney Fantasy) for these unsold cabin as previously-booked cruise switch or cancel before final payment deadline as they feel at the price they book they have other alternatives (Allure, Oasis, or whatever) which offer better value at a lower price. Contrary, you don't see much IGT/OGT/VGT being offered for the Disney Dream Bahamas cruise nor the Disney Wonder Alaska cruise from Seattle. Looking more forward to the late Dec 2012 to April 2013 period when all 4 Disney ships are loaded and somewhat competing against each other in the Bahamas/Caribbean market, expect more IGT/OGT/VGT for all ships.

 

From the customer's perspective, it depends on how flexible or strict you are with your cruise. Do I need/want to be on a particular ship, a particular date and itinerary, a particular cabin category, location, or even specific cabin #? Do I need a quad occupancy, or can I do 2 double anything? Do I have to book air, and/or other land arrangement? For our next cruise, I want to have one of the aft facing cat 5E with the extra-large verandah. I'd prefer to choose the specific cabin, at a price that I feel comfortable now, and then just keep on watching the price before final payment when I can have choice to do what I want to do at that time - keep it, or take a chance for a VGT, or something like that if it is offered.

[cde48]

Just want to thank the OP for the review, as well as the info about the pricing system. That is good to know! We have a reservation we are going to cancel because the price is just too high for us, but I think we will keep our eye out for price drops after final payment, Florida resident rates, and if none of those pan out, we'll see about doing the Dream for a 4 night (although I hate going on such a short cruise). For what it's worth, I do think that most of the cruise lines do the same thing regarding future cruises - many people "ghost" reservations. That said, most cruise lines show lower prices over time (as they try to fill their ships), but Disney is one of the few that shows price increases over time, with the exception of last minute deals to fill the ship. Thank you for the info and perspective.

 

Yeah, keep an eye out. Like I said, we had an awesome time, they only gripe was about the steep price reduction after the cancel period. Most lines will let you either upgrade to a better cabin if its cheaper and available, or give you OBC. Disney doesn't do either.

[PathfinderEss]

Glad you had a good cruise.

[msbmommy99]

Could you explain the inside stateroom closet and desk area? The pictures show a desk with a door next to the chair. What is inside the door - shelves or drawers? We are booked on the September 22 cruise and I am trying to decide what all to take. How many outlets were there on the desk? Is there plenty of space for unpacking everything and putting the suitcases under the bed. Did your room have the fold down bunk? We are traveling with 2 kids and I only see a sofa in the pictures. I am worried my 12 year old and 7 year old will not fit on the couch together. Any information or pictures you could share would be greatly appreciated. :)

[GBChicinMaine]

Could you explain the inside stateroom closet and desk area? The pictures show a desk with a door next to the chair. What is inside the door - shelves or drawers? We are booked on the September 22 cruise and I am trying to decide what all to take. How many outlets were there on the desk? Is there plenty of space for unpacking everything and putting the suitcases under the bed. Did your room have the fold down bunk? We are traveling with 2 kids and I only see a sofa in the pictures. I am worried my 12 year old and 7 year old will not fit on the couch together. Any information or pictures you could share would be greatly appreciated. :)

 

I have never sailed an inside stateroom because I suffer from seasickness and my husband is a smoker...however I can answer some of your questions! :)

 

1. The Dream and Fantasy were designed with beds that are high enough off the floor to easily fit luggage underneath. It's a BRILLIANT space saver.

2. I'm not sure if the inside stateroom is set up the same way, but the usually there are a set of drawers down either side of the "opening" of the desk and then a series of shelves with doors that close (which is probably what you saw in the picture.)

3. Some, but not all of the staterooms have the pull down bunk. If you're unsure, I would call Disney to verify. The couch flips over to a (rather comfortable) bed, but I can't imagine 2 children being comfortable sharing it.

[msbmommy99]

Thanks so much!