Advice Magic Back-to-back or Fantasy???

[babyt]

Hi! Everyone is such a wonderful source of information here. I am looking for some advice. We have done three disney cruises, two on the Magic and one on the Dream. We are planning to go right after Christmas for a new years cruise and are trying to decide between doing back to back 3 day (Dec 27 and Dec 30) cruises on the Magic, or doing the 7 day on the Fantasy. My DH would prefer the ease of the 7 day, but my DS (age 8) really wants to do the new AquaDunk (he is a major thrill seeker) and the new Marvel Avengers Academy. My DD wants the Fantasy because of the 7 day aspect and it being a newer ship. I agree the 7 day is probably simplier, but I am worried about having 3 days at sea expecially on a holiday sailing. Plus I love Castaway Cay so goign there twice is good with me, and Nassau is always good for a day at Atlantis (especially for my thrill seaking DS) and I don't mind staying on board. I'm less excited about the Fantasy ports too, we have been to all the islands and I know that St Tomas has beautiful beaches but that isn't real exciting for the kids, and St. Maarten is nice but with little ones you have to be okay with the European style beaches there to do many excurions. We are leanign Fantasy just becuase it sounds easier and more relaxing to be on one ship the whole time. If the Dream and the Magic were departing from the same port that week we would have bit the switching ship bullet and done that back to back, but we decided we would not travel back and forth between Maimi and PC. Has anyone done back to back on the same ship? WHat was the process? Do you have to pack and take everything off with you and sit around and go through everything again? Do you miss things becuase you repeat the 3 day plan over again, versus them adding other things to a 7 day sailing (my thought on this that it might be different becuase one is more a Christmas/Holiday sailing and one a New Year's Sailing)? On a 3 day do you get all the best anyway so a 7 day doesn't add much new? I don't know just lookign for thougths from others who have done this! Thanks so much!!!

[CC Help Jenn]

That is tough because technically they would both be "new ships" for you since you have not been on the Fantasy and the Magic will be a bit different.

 

Does price sway you one way or the other? It sounds too, like the Fantasy ports are not thrilling to you - and 3 sea days on what will most likely be a packed to the gils ship could be, um, interesting!

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I did a Fantasy back to back Eastern and Western and it was fantastic, details in my signature line, I love the Magic but there is far more to do on the Fantasy.

[moki'smommy]

OK, I've done a B2B 4/3 on the Wonder (because we couldn't get to the port for a Saturday departure) and several B2Bs on the Magic when they were different ports . There is a HUGE difference between doing 2 different sets of ports (Eastern/Western, Trans-Atlantic/Med, Dover/Med, 2 different Meds) vs. repeating the same cruise twice.

 

The advantage of the 7 night is that you'll have 7 nights of different shows, different menus, and different ports/sea days. If you do a 3/3 on the same ship, you'll have the same shows, same menus, etc.

 

The positive of a B2B is that you are very well treated on the ship--we were called the last day and asked whether we wanted the same or different servers and whether we had any dining requests. You can easily get 2 Palo dinners (one on each cruise) and/or brunches. And you can choose to do the shows the first time and do something else during the second cruise without feeling that you are missing anything. And if you are worried about it, you get 2 cruises to count toward your CC status.

 

The other problem is the transition day. Each time we've done it, the situation has been a little different. The only consistency is that you'll get a letter in your stateroom telling you the details of the changeover. At Port Canaveral, we've always had to get off the ship and go thru Customs. Sometimes we've been escorted off and back on, other times (when there were only 2 cabins doing B2Bs) we were just told to be off at 9:15, go thru Customs and ask them where the stairway was to re-enter the terminal. In all cases, you are the first to check in, before they open the terminal to new comers, and you reboard the ship before the terminal opens. If you are in the same room, you do have access to your cabin and you do not have to pack up. If you are changing rooms, you pack your bags and leave them in the old room on the last day; the stateroom hosts will move them to the new room. You are usually back on the ship by 10, but it has been 10:30 (and more like 11 in Barcelona 2013). There is a location with food available (usually the Cove Cafe), and you can use the pools as soon as they have been cleaned and re-opened. The slides are not open till boarding starts (no life guards).

 

OK, so what would I do? A 7 night cruise. But that's personal decision.

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Yes I was treated exceptionally well on our B2B like royalty and as you have seven nights entertainment when we did things like are my we didn't rush to finish dinner as we knew we could see the show again the following week.

[rstout]

I would do the 7-day on the Fantasy. 7-day cruises feel more relaxed...there are more activities/shows throughout the week (as opposed to just a repeat of the same activities from the first cruise). And you are getting an extra night if you are considering B2B 3-day cruises. Although the Magic upgrades seem great, you really do lose the morning the day of the transition.

 

We did a B2B on the Dream and it was a good two hours by the time we met the group, were escorted through customs, and had to wait in the Concierge Lounge before getting back on. Luckily we brought activities to entertain the kids. But it disrupted the flow of the cruise...and we were just sitting back in Port Canaveral, instead of sailing or at another island. My kids were not very happy that morning. Yes, you are treated well, but I would have readily chosen a 7-day cruise instead of the B2B, if given the option. The nice thing was that we were able to relax more on the second leg...we had seen the shows already, so we just did the things we missed the first time around, caught a movie, hit the pools more when everyone else was at the shows, etc.

 

The Aquadunk seems fun, but it's really not any different than what you get at amusement park (at least that's what I'd tell my DS if I was trying to lean towards the Fantasy!)

 

It's a nice problem to have!

[Talex831]

We were looking at the same situation for April. However when the Fantasy came up $3000 more, the decision was made!

 

 

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[MESH]

We have done numerous back-to-back Disney Cruises. That said, my standard rule is that I will not do a back-to-back unless I am in the same stateroom. I know that packing should not really be an issue; however, nothing beats not having to repack to go to a different cabin. Also my mom goes with us and has mobility issues; thus, staying in the same cabin is a real plus.:) Also we have enjoyed the treatment as previously mentioned about being back-to-back cruisers. In January we will be doing a back-to-back on the wonder, which will be our 19th and 20th Disney cruise.:):)

[bear3412]

That's a great point PP made about the feel/mood aboard on shorter cruises compared to the 7 nighters. The short ones are a completely different atmosphere. Rush, rush, rush. Everyone's trying to get everything in and accomplished, which is a futile effort. lol.

Even the crew is more relaxed and engaging on the longer sailings.

 

Something to consider. Good Luck with your decision.

 

Now maybe we would consider a 4/3, 3/5, 5/5, B2B. But never a 3/3 B2B.

 

Of course schedule, dates, price, and ports are always, as should be, a consideration.

 

We, given a choice, would always choose the newest, biggest, and bestest, Fantasy. ;)

 

HTH

[babyt]

Thanks for all the great responses. We did go ahead and book the Fantasy. The final deciding factor was when I thought about full days we spend of un-interupted vacation. On a 3 night we would feel like 2 full days of all the activities open and available per trip for a total of 4 days, on a 7 night we get 6 full days with everything open all the activities planned. In my head before I was thinking I would only lose one day doing 3+3=6, versus 7, but then I realized the transition day lots of "open house" time for the kids and stuff . . . I thought 6 full days of fun versus 4 was too much to give up! Thank you everyone for nudging me in the right direction!

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Thanks for all the great responses. We did go ahead and book the Fantasy. The final deciding factor was when I thought about full days we spend of un-interupted vacation. On a 3 night we would feel like 2 full days of all the activities open and available per trip for a total of 4 days, on a 7 night we get 6 full days with everything open all the activities planned. In my head before I was thinking I would only lose one day doing 3+3=6, versus 7, but then I realized the transition day lots of "open house" time for the kids and stuff . . . I thought 6 full days of fun versus 4 was too much to give up! Thank you everyone for nudging me in the right direction!

 

Fantasy is a great cruise, enjoy it, if you want to see more photos look in my signature line for a link from 2012.

[hackif]

We've had the same dilemma both previously and as I am now planning for the future. There are pros and cons to both. For the last time that we ended up doing a B2B on the Magic it came down to dates and timing. For the next one that I'm still in the process of planning, it may come down to timing or flipping a coin. At the end of the day, I'm still on vacation, still on a DCL ship, still having someone cook and clean for me and relaxing somewhere warm.

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Similar.

 

School holidays a two week window, so we booked and Eastern and Western Fantasy run and had 14 nights in the same stateroom.

 

The main thing was doing it all first week and having a complete relax last week.

 

Remy dinner and brunch first week and for dinner we were relaxed and ran it over a number of hours and missed the show knowing we had the same show next week.