LittleMissMagic's 2014 Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean Cruise - A Photo Review!

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

Goofy Golf by vshingl, on Flickr

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

Goofy Golf by vshingl, on Flickr

Goofy's Sports Deck by vshingl, on Flickr

We returned to the room to find the saddest thing ever...

Luggage Tags by vshingl, on Flickr

Bag tags! We packed up as much as we could for dinner and were able to slide our packed bags under the bed so that they would be out of the way for turn-down. As we each grabbed a side of the open suitcase to pick up, Max sang, "Teamwork makes the garden grow!"

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

Dinner - Animator's Palate

Tonight's show at Animator's Palate was "Animation Magic". Animator's Palate on the Disney Fantasy has three different animation shows - Finding Nemo (like Turtle talk with Crush), Pirate Night, and Animation Magic. We saw the Finding Nemo show the first time we dined in Animator's Palate that week.

We arrived to these sheets on which we drew our own character.

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

That is not a girl - it is a guy athlete with dreads. Max had first drawn a big '1' on his jersey, but colored over it because the instructions say not to use numbers or letters (perhaps because they might appear reflected?).

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

Dad drew himself.

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

Rachel's animation skills really impressed me this week.

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

You could tilt the menu and the Sorcerer Mickey Animation would come to life.

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

There weren't many options for us, as the appetizer and soup were pre-selected. You only had to choose a main course, or off the Lighter Fare menu. This is because we were eating at Animator's Palate on the final night and had the "See Ya Real Soon" menu.

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

Throughout the meal, Sorcerer Mickey would come on the screens with our artwork, showing him transporting it backstage to make some Animation Magic. I am a huge fan of Mickey Mouse, so I much preferred this theme to the Finding Nemo/Crush show earlier in the week. I also felt that it fit better in the setting - a show about animation in an animation-themed dining room. Makes perfect sense!

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

Much to Max's delight, they sang Be Our Guest to us before serving our appetizer.

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

Appetizer Sampler Platter by vshingl, on Flickr

Appetizer Sampler Platter

Macaroni Cheese and Baked Potato Soup by vshingl, on Flickr

Macaroni and Cheese Baked Potato Soup.... two really good things combined there.

Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington by vshingl, on Flickr

And I had the Filet of Beef Wellington. Notice that the greens are wrapped in bacon!

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

Before dessert, they played the Animation Magic theme. It's really cute because all of our characters came to life and marched in, broomstick style (Fantasia), then danced with Disney characters.

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

Someone drew an impressive Fred Flintstone!

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

There's Max's (left), Rachel's (second from right), and mine (right).

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

And then the fun part...

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

LittleMissMagic · June 18, 2014

And our signatures appeared in the credits!

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

What's in the paint jars? Paint! Not wet paint - they painted the outside of the jars.

Baked Alaska by vshingl, on Flickr

And for dessert! Rachel got the Baked Alaska.

See Ya Real Soon Sweet Temptations by vshingl, on Flickr

I had the See Ya Real Soon Sweet Temptations.

Animator's Palate by vshingl, on Flickr

At the end of dinner, they returned our drawings to us with a seal!

Though you can pre-pay your tip and charge it to your onboard account, Disney still does tip envelopes for your dining team and room steward. We had been given the envelopes and vouchers showing our electronic tip the night before, so we brought them to dinner that night to give to our head waiter, waiter, and assistant waiter. I do like the old-fashioned way of delivering tip envelopes to dining staff, as I think it provides good closure and gives you an opportunity to personally thank them for their outstanding service.

LissyTx · June 19, 2014

Well, I'm glad you found me!!! I tried to advertise on every board, but the Disney board being so underused, this review hasn't gotten nearly as much traffic as my others which is a shame because I believe it is one of my best, yet.

The Fantasy is an amazingly beautiful ship! I have many long exposure photos of the ship at night that I can't wait to share.

And while we're on the topic of long-time followers of my reviews, if anyone sees KPfromCT, I'd appreciate it if you would send her my way!

I've read several of your reviews and thoroughly enjoy them. We actually booked the Southern Caribbean on Royal because of your reviews. :D

chamima · June 19, 2014

Hi Victoria

I'm the one who was talking about taking our kids and grandkids on either Princess or Disney next year.

We've all sailed Princess before (although it was before any of my girls were married so no grandkids involved) and know pretty much what to expect.

I forwarded your thread to them to read about the Fantasy and one of my girls noticed this quote from you (post #145)

Overall, I was disappointed in Palo. With all of the great reviews, I was expecting something exceptional. However, I found Palo to be extremely mediocre.

Sure, the food was above dining room quality (I wouldn't say that's particularly difficult to accomplish), but I don't think it was worth $25 per person.

Was the food not as good as on Princess (which we all love)?

Ex techie · June 19, 2014

A fantastic well written and balanced review!

Loved the pictures, and your writing style, but now I'm sad it is coming to an end!

ex techie

jill1349 · June 20, 2014

Thanks for posting the review - love it and your pictures. Your family seems like such fun and it is great you all get along so well - and Max seems to fit right in.

Love the pictures of Rachel doing her heel touch jumps - wish I could jump so high and be so flexible.

And the picture of your Mom the last night getting ready to draw her character is priceless. She seems more excited than a kid. Actually the camera loves all of you.

Congrats on your graduation and best of luck in your grad studies. Read your Royal review and look forward to reading about your future travels.

Jill

Yorkvillain · June 22, 2014

Wow. Tremendous review as always Victoria. Loved it!

rednose83 · June 22, 2014

Just happened to stumble across your review. Awesome job as usual.

For some reason, I though last review I read you were a party of 6?

Good luck at UCLA!

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

I've read several of your reviews and thoroughly enjoy them. We actually booked the Southern Caribbean on Royal because of your reviews. :D

Thank you! I love to get people excited about cruising. The Southern Caribbean itinerary on Adventure of the Seas was one of my favorites - and that was my first cruise review!

Hi Victoria
I'm the one who was talking about taking our kids and grandkids on either Princess or Disney next year.

We've all sailed Princess before (although it was before any of my girls were married so no grandkids involved) and know pretty much what to expect.

I forwarded your thread to them to read about the Fantasy and one of my girls noticed this quote from you (post #145)

Overall, I was disappointed in Palo. With all of the great reviews, I was expecting something exceptional. However, I found Palo to be extremely mediocre.

Sure, the food was above dining room quality (I wouldn't say that's particularly difficult to accomplish), but I don't think it was worth $25 per person.

Was the food not as good as on Princess (which we all love)?

I don't think that Disney Cruise Line has bad food, but I did find their choices to be a little simpler and more "basic" than other cruise lines. However, I didn't think that food quality was any better or worse than any other cruise line.

Edited June 23, 2014 by LittleMissMagic

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

A fantastic well written and balanced review!
Loved the pictures, and your writing style, but now I'm sad it is coming to an end!

ex techie

Thank you very much! I always get a little bummed when my cruise reviews are about to come to an end, too. It's like reaching the end of a vacation all over again!

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

Thanks for posting the review - love it and your pictures. Your family seems like such fun and it is great you all get along so well - and Max seems to fit right in.

Love the pictures of Rachel doing her heel touch jumps - wish I could jump so high and be so flexible.

And the picture of your Mom the last night getting ready to draw her character is priceless. She seems more excited than a kid. Actually the camera loves all of you.

Congrats on your graduation and best of luck in your grad studies. Read your Royal review and look forward to reading about your future travels.

Jill

Honestly, Max is like part of the family! He's been vacationing with us for about four years, now.

Rachel makes lovely jumps, and I'm pretty good at securing a low angle and capturing them... we make a good team!

Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading along with my cruise review!

Wow. Tremendous review as always Victoria. Loved it!

Thank you - so glad you enjoyed it!

Edited June 23, 2014 by LittleMissMagic

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

Just happened to stumble across your review. Awesome job as usual.

For some reason, I though last review I read you were a party of 6?

Good luck at UCLA!

Well, my family has always been a party of four, but for our Mediterranean cruise, we brought Max's good friend (who also happens to be Rachel's ex-boyfriend), Alec, who roomed with him. For this cruise, we decided for Rachel to not bring a friend since Disney Cruises are a bit pricey, and we also saved a bit of money with three people in a cabin (I wouldn't have wanted to put four adults in a cabin, though). The five of us get along so well that there was no need to throw a sixth person into the mix.

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

See Ya Real Soon

After dinner, we returned to our staterooms to add some final things to our bags then put them in the hallway (the requested deadline was 10:30 PM). We then headed to the atrium for the See Ya Real Soon final character meeting. They introduced the entire gang, and then they dispersed around the lobby for photos and autographs.

I had a prime location for photographing the characters, but I regretted that I didn't bring my exterior flash because my shutter speed wasn't quite fast enough. You can see a bit of motion blur in the photos below.

See Ya Real Soon by vshingl, on Flickr

We then did what we love to do... go shopping! We picked out four 8x10 photos to purchase. Rachel got herself another Alex and Ani bracelet. I contemplated getting a lot of things, but never make a final decision (I want it all!), but I did get a plush Captain Mickey Mouse and a Donald Duck pin. Rachel got a plush Sailor Minnie Mouse.

DCL Merchandise by vshingl, on Flickr

Our motto.

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

Towel Animal by vshingl, on Flickr

Just a little nightcap before bed...

3 Liter Bacardi by vshingl, on Flickr

Max had purchased a 3-liter Bacardi and a 3-liter Crown Royal on our Carnival Breeze cruise. He purchased one for a friend when he was in Cozumel. They run about $38-40. Except on DCL, we were able to take the bottle straight to our cabin, so we could have been sipping out of it all week!

Rachel, Max, and I sat down that evening and filled out our post-cruise evaluation. I really appreciate that Disney Cruise Line does this and that they give you a hard copy. So many cruises have moved to emailing surveys after the cruise. After cruising the Carnival Breeze in March, I was expecting to be emailed a post-cruise survey, but never received it. Anyway, it was fun and interesting for me as a blogger to get to go through and discuss each category with Rachel and Max. We were able to reflect back on certain events that stuck out in our minds. It was an enjoyable conversation.

After filling out our survey, Rachel decided to watch a little on-demand television before going to bed, and Max went with me on my long exposure photo walk of the ship.

LittleMissMagic · June 23, 2014

Starting on the Royal Princess over Christmas, I've made it a habit to bring my tripod and remote so that I can take long exposure photos in the late evening or early morning around the ship. Between 11 PM and 6 AM, most guests are in their staterooms which allows for the opportunity to take photos of large public spaces without people. Not only that, but the lighting design on the latest cruise ships has become quite beautiful, and taking photos after dark allows you to really showcase the light both indoors and out on deck.

I was especially excited to photograph the Disney Fantasy because the ship is so beautiful. On the first night of the cruise, Max and I were walking back from the hot tub late at night, and he even admitted that he was excited to photograph the ship because the lighting on the Disney Fantasy is so incredible.

Well.... in all of the fun that I was having with my family, enjoying activities that the Disney Fantasy had to offer, I put my long exposures off until the last night. This was a mistake, and I will never be so careless again because on our way from Castaway Cay to Port Canaveral, we sailed high winds, rough waters, and periods of rain. I was really upset with myself and concerned that I wasn't going to be able to take the photos I wanted.

Cabanas

Cabanas by vshingl, on Flickr

We started in Cabanas because I absolutely love this mosaic and wanted to make sure that I photographed it.

Creating a 'correct' exposure is balancing the three elements of the exposure triangle - aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The idea behind long exposures is that setting your camera on a tripod for stability allows you to lengthen the shutter speed so that can have a higher narrower aperture (meaning greater detail is rendered) and lower ISO (meaning less noise), and light is allowed into the camera over a longer period of time.

I am not an expert, I am simply a hobbyist photographer who enjoys improving my craft. I'm also not the best teacher, as I've taken Max with me several times to take long exposure photos, and I still can't seem to explain it to him so that it makes perfect sense. So if you are interesting in photography and how to create manual exposures, I strongly recommend that you read Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure. It's the book that really taught me how to shoot in manual mode.

Cabanas by vshingl, on Flickr

Pool Deck

Mickey Pool by vshingl, on Flickr

Max volunteered to go with me, and thank goodness for him! Like in Aruba on the Carnival Breeze, Max helped me block the wind from the camera and steady the tripod. He also really enjoys clicking the remote and helping me with the composition of the shots. I've learned that Max has an eye for detail, and he'll give me suggestions on how to compose each shot.

This shot was actually entirely Max's idea -

Mickey Pool by vshingl, on Flickr

Because the wind was so fast and strong, a really long shutter speed just didn't work, as the wind would shake the camera a bit over a period of 30-45 seconds. So I bumped up the ISO and was able to use a shutter speed of around 1-3 seconds while battling the wind.

In hindsight, I think my aperture was a little too narrow, and I could have opened that up to f/8 or f/11 and used a lower ISO.

Disney Cruise Line by vshingl, on Flickr

The shot pictured above was almost dangerous! The wind was really fast, so we were really cautious while on the top deck. We decided that trying to take photos on Goofy's Sport Deck would be unsuccessful and dangerous.

LittleMissMagic · June 24, 2014

Nemo's Reef by vshingl, on Flickr

Nemo's Reef is the shaded splash area for small children.

Aqua Duck by vshingl, on Flickr

The photo of the Aqua Duck entrance might be my favorite shot, even with the carts and the cones in the background (which I would have attempted to move out of the frame if the wind wasn't enough of a battle). I really love the up-lit staircase.

Quiet Cove Pool (adult-only)

Quiet Cove Pool by vshingl, on Flickr

The Quiet Cove Pool was protected from the wind and a much easier location to shoot. They must put the net up early on the last night because normally the pool stayed open until midnight.

Quiet Cove Pool by vshingl, on Flickr

LittleMissMagic · June 24, 2014

Shutters

Shutters by vshingl, on Flickr

I really like how Disney Cruise Line designed "Shutters" their photo store. Each guest has a folio book which is stocked with hard copies of the photos they take on the ship throughout the cruise. Disney uses face-matching software, as well as Key To The World cards (room keys) to assign the photos to the appropriate folders. The folders look like library books and are stored on shelves. This keeps the lobby area a bit controlled and organized. I also suppose that this works well for Disney because there is such a high demand for photos with the character photo ops around the ship, so they aren't really losing out on a marketing opportunity by displaying all guests photos for everyone to see.

Shutters by vshingl, on Flickr

There is beautiful art in this gallery. I picked out a Captain Mickey original canvas that I really wanted.

Vista Cafe

Vista Cafe by vshingl, on Flickr

The Vista Cafe is where we met Jesse, our wonderful bartender at the Captain's Reception!

Vista Cafe by vshingl, on Flickr

LittleMissMagic · June 24, 2014

Atrium

Atrium by vshingl, on Flickr

And the most grand lobby that I have ever seen on a cruise ship. Disney Fantasy, you have stolen my heart.

Atrium by vshingl, on Flickr

LittleMissMagic · June 24, 2014

Bon Voyage Lounge

Bon Voyage by vshingl, on Flickr

Royalty by vshingl, on Flickr

Preludes

Preludes by vshingl, on Flickr

Preludes is the atrium connecting all of the shops. We were told on the second day when we took a ship tour that Preludes is actually the name of the snack bar outside of the Walt Disney Theatre (which was showing Million Dollar Arm, so I couldn't photograph), but whenever the Navigator says to meet at Preludes, it means here.

LittleMissMagic · June 24, 2014

Europa (adults-only)

After 9:00 PM, Europa is the adults-only (18 and older) nightlife district on the ship. It consists of four distinctly themed lounges and a nightclub.

La Piazza

La Piazza by vshingl, on Flickr

La Piazza is the Italian-themed lounge with classic Italian drinks like prosecco, wine, grappa, and limoncello. There is often live music, and the lounge has the capability to serve as overflow seating for The Tube, equipped with a drop-down projector screen. Also at La Piazza is a small bar with self-serve hors d'oeuvres.

La Piazza by vshingl, on Flickr

Ooh La La

Ooh La La by vshingl, on Flickr

Ooh La La is the French champagne lounge offering exclusive champagnes, as well as delicious champagne cocktails. The lounge is restricted to guests 18 and older at all times of the day.

Ooh La La by vshingl, on Flickr

We really enjoyed Ooh La La as a quiet getaway for great pre-dinner cocktails. I also love the decor in Ooh La La. The ceilings are beautiful.

LittleMissMagic's 2014 Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean Cruise - A Photo Review!

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