Best cruise in years!!! The Fantasy.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

 

Snorkeling was included but it was very choppy seas, so they cancelled it, how ever after a couple hours they did offer to take anyone who wanted out snorkeling but nobody wanted to go due to the choppy water.

They let you repel, zip line, rock climb, walk the different bridges all you wanted to.

When people got tired we all stopped. This was a beautiful little area to sit and look at the ocean, swim in their large, empty pool but everyone but us left right away. They gave everyone a free pop and a taxi ride back to the port when ever you wanted to go.

Here are a few photos of the sitting area with a restaurant and bar. it was very clean and everyone was extremely nice.

 

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

 

 

 

We got our free coke (in glass bottles) and bought some chips and salsa for $6. If you wanted guacamole instead of salsa it was one more dollar.

 

There was also a small beach for swimming or playing along the oceans edge. A different tour arrived as we left and thats where they went.

 

 

We had a few minutes to shop after we were done which was nice. We never buy much but it’s nice to browse around some. We really enjoyed this excursion and our guides were very good and helpful.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Then in Costa Maya we did the Segway tour. I have always wanted to try a Segway so this was fun for me. It is fairly easy to drive but the getting on and off was really hard for me. The steering is very touchy and it’s very easy to turn the steering just a bit when you’re getting on or off and that causes a problem.

So I was the last person in line in case I had a problem I wouldn’t cause a crash. LOL!!! But I did just fine and Edwin gave me lots of encouragement. We rode along the road to Mahauhal (spelling?) which use to be a fishing village. It’s right on the beach. We did a 20 minute stop there for shopping and a bathroom break. Then a bit farther down the beach we ended our tour with a 30 minute beach break, before a taxi would take us back to the port. I really enjoyed this excursion.

Edwin was very patient!!

 

All geared up and ready to go.

 

 

 

 

Beach break

 

 

One thing I appreciated about both our tours was our guides didn’t give us the usual speech about how badly they need our tips since they don’t get paid much. I use to hate hearing them tell us about their financial problems to get us to tip them. It happens on almost every excursion we have been on over the years. Nobody said a word about tips on either excursion.

Of course we did tip them because we had outstanding service.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

While waiting to pull out from the port we went up to deck 13 to watch us pull out. We were next to the Norwegian Sun cruise ship. It was dark outside so it was easy to see some of their dining rooms, game room and we heard a band playing on their open deck. So we walked down a ways to see the band. They were quite good and we enjoyed hearing them. As I was listening to them I started looking at other public areas on their ship to see the décor. Boy did I get a surprise!! There were 2 very large windows almost straight across from us and I saw a man walk in and turn towards the windows. I couldn’t believe what he did. It was the Men’s Bathroom, LOL!!!!

No description is necessary I hope. LOL!

Who in their right mind would have huge windows in the men’s room looking out to sea and if you did you’d think they would have a blind to pull down while in port. I was stunned. So I called my husband over to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. He couldn’t believe it either.

The 4th or 5th man who entered the bathroom slowly raised his head up and waved at people on our ship straight across from him.

I can tell you ladies out of 8 men only 2 washed their hands so you might want to remind all your husbands and sons to wash their hands. LOL!

We figured nobody would believe us so here is a photo to prove it. Sorry It’s so dark but it was a quick shot that we hadn’t figured on taking.:o

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Here are a few pictures of lunches and breakfast on the ship:

Rib eye steak at a dinner at Cabanas one night.

Steak lunch.

Corn Beed and Salmon

Roast beef for lunch. Greg set his plate out for me to photograph and didnt realize it was a Mickey shape.:D

[mom x4,grandma x4]

 

 

 

Apple pie (sugar free)

 

IMG]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/sixtoedfrog/DSC02191.jpg[/img]

 

Some fruit and banana bread at Cookies on Castaway Cay

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Castaway Cay was our first sunny day. It was decorated for Christmas which was nice. The only lasting effect from hurricane Sandy was lots of brown vegetation instead of beautiful colorful tropical flowers. They will come back in a few weeks.

We rented bikes like we usually do and rode around the island. It was a bit cool for swimming for us, so we didn’t go in the water. Many did but I guess coming from Florida it didn’t seem as warm to us like someone from Minnesota would have thought it was. So we had a relaxing day exploring the island.

 

 

 

 

The little snow man blows snow out his nose.

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Pelican Plunge water slides

 

 

Next to the Observation tower

 

 

 

This is the Post office on CC. If your going to end a card from there, do it in the morning because they close early. Bring cash, small bills. Thye dont take credit cards or your ship card there.

It usually takes 3 to 4 weeks for your cards to arrive.

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Now it was time to pack up the suitcases so we could be ready to disembark early the next day. It didn’t take me long to pack. We only had 2 suitcases so we didn’t set them out to be collected. Instead we carried them off the ship at 7 a.m. and right out to the car. We were told anyone carrying off their luggage could leave at 7 a.m. and walk directly through customs with no line and that’s what we did. From the time we got on the gang plank to the time we were in our car was maybe 5 minutes.

back at the port and looking out our balcony at 6 a.m.

The gangplank to take us back to reality once more.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Here are a few miscellanious photos from the trip.

 

Here is the photo of the Queens throne that I couldnt find earlier in this report. Look at the mosiac wall, its really nice. I had the King too but i think it must be among the lost photos.:mad:

 

 

Mickey outside the WD theater

 

 

This use to be the crew pool area on the other ships but now its the teen area for pool and hot tubs. It was very popular!!

 

Our tender boat.

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Pirate excursion ship

 

 

We bought this painting at our last stop. We watched the man making them with cans of spray paint and newspaper and cardboard. No paint brushes. He had all kinds of things he had painted that way. It was so different we decided to buy one. They like to dicker the price so he went from $50 to $30. I know we could have paid even less but they have to make a living too.

 

The lighting was amazing on this ship. Most lights were huge!

 

 

Norweigan sun docked next to us.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I loved this huge lobster our host made for us.

 

 

 

 

Peacock

 

 

Another colorful carpet.

Scarf they give you for pirate night

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I forgot the Till we meet again show. It has laways been like 10 or 10:30 at night which is way too late for tired kids.

On this cruise they had 2 meets. One early, and one late.

Its just where several characters come down the stairs in the atrium for a final chance for photos and autographs.

 

The early meet wasnt crowded at all.

 

We found Cinderella all by herself. It took me 22 DCL crusies but I finally got my photo with a Princess!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Costa Maya had this man with his parrots.

 

 

 

Everytime I think I am done I think of something else!

This si the floor where you enter Shutters Kiosks. You can view and even order photos there or put them in a family album to view later.

 

 

Above this Shutters when you look up is a giant camera lens looking down at you.

 

These are the Kiosks and through the door you see if a Art Gallery.

 

 

These are the family albums you can view when Shutters is open. When you operate the Kiosks they tell you a color and number of your book.

 

[FloridaGram]

From there you can go up more stairs to deck 13. This is adult only. There is a bar at the top of the stairs and lots of tables and chairs on both sides of the bar. Around the very front of the ship there is a place to stand up front for watching us pull out or just to stare at the sea. Then they have a plexi glass wall to block wind and a roof over your head to block the sun with lot of loungers to relax on.

This is where the Satellite pool is located. You sit in the center of it and every so often water comes down from the top so it’s like you’re sitting behind a water fall. If it’s very windy they don’t turn it on because the water would be blown all over the deck.

 

 

 

There is also an enclosed area there for Concierge people to go to. I don’t know what it is like because only Concierge people are allowed in.

 

Hi kathy,

 

Nice to see you on here. Great trip report. I remember you on this board for all the info I gleaned from you 5 years ago before our first Magic trip. Last May we went on the Fantasy and will be going again in April 2013.

 

This was my favorite area of the ship. I loved that I could get cooled off here without getting in a pool that a thousand kids had been in!

 

Thanks for the great pictures to build my anticipation for my next cruise. Do you prefer the Fantasy or smaller ships? Now that they will all be in FL for 2014 I am thinking of returning to a classic ship. I missed several things on the Fantasy, like the character breakfast.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi kathy,

 

Nice to see you on here. Great trip report. I remember you on this board for all the info I gleaned from you 5 years ago before our first Magic trip. Last May we went on the Fantasy and will be going again in April 2013.

 

This was my favorite area of the ship. I loved that I could get cooled off here without getting in a pool that a thousand kids had been in!

 

Thanks for the great pictures to build my anticipation for my next cruise. Do you prefer the Fantasy or smaller ships? Now that they will all be in FL for 2014 I am thinking of returning to a classic ship. I missed several things on the Fantasy, like the character breakfast.

Yep, I'm still hanging around here.:D I just didnt post reports from our last 2 or 3 cruises. Your posting name does sound familiar to me.

 

Its funny you asked about which I prefer. I always thought the larger ships would seem too crowded and I wouldnt like that. But i never felt really crowded accept by the kids and family pools and those are crowded even on their smaller ships.

 

I love the Fantasy but I also love the smaller ships just as much. I think which ever ship I am on will be my favorite until the next cruise. Ha Ha!! Each one has something special about them. I am hoping for some new ports we havnt been too.

 

I must admit this cruise was the best of the last few. I think it was the combination of the new ship, the Christmas decorations, excellant crew and awesome excursions too.

 

I agree they need a character breakfast on the new ships. Plus we didnt have the Gingerbread house decorating on this cruise. On the older ships we always had that during the Christmas season. A galley tour would of been nice too.

Glad you liked the report.

 

Hope your next cruise is as Magical as ours was.

 

Kathy

[clwalkermn]

Thanks for the great report as always. We are sailing on Fantasy in November 2013 - can't wait!

[sarbah77]

Wow, I loved your photo diary of your trip! We're on the Fantasy in 44 days (woohoo!) so this is helping me get more excited!

[Rambler5678]

Wonderful trip report. Our cruise started the day yours ended. The fantasy is a beautiful ship.

[PathfinderEss]

Great review, thanks for posting it.

[PreacherMan1977]

Looks amazing! Thank you so much for sharing! God Bless!

[horric29]

Excellent review! Thanks for sharing... I'm going to forward onto my wife... She'll go nuts!

[918baker]

Thanks for the awesome review!! Thinking about taking an extended family vacation on a Fantasy next year! :)

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Thanks for all the compliments everyone,

I am happy you enjoyed all the photos.

I had fun putting it all together.:D

 

Kathy

[CariBear]

I enjoyed your review! I have not had the chance to sail on the Fantasy, but have been on a couple of Dream sailings. I was also told that I could not ride the Aquaduck as a single rider one time. We were leaving Castaway Cay and I was told it was too windy. I thought it was pretty funny considering I probably weighed 3x the amount of the 2 kids in front of me! I went back to my cabin and called Guest Services about 30 minutes later. I asked them if the Aquaduck was still on restrictions with single riders. They put me on hold and then said they did not have any reports of restrictions at this time. I raced up to the Aquaduck and was able to ride a couple of times before getting ready for dinner. I don't see how a single rider who weighs 175lbs cannot ride...while 2 kids who weigh a total of 100lbs is safer? My legs hanging over into the front seat of the tube probably weigh more than the little kid who would be sitting there!