My family recently returned from the November 3, 2018 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Disney Fantasy! We booked this cruise in August, which is fairly last minute, at least for us. We typically plan vacations at least 9-12 months in advance. But, I was checking Fantasy prices one day (which I did periodically as the Fantasy was the only Disney ship that we hadn’t sailed on) and noticed that the price for the 11/3/18 sailing was very reasonable for the Fantasy. We often cruise in the fall, as the prices are always lower – likely due to it being hurricane season. But, while you run the risk of a hurricane altering your itinerary, the water at Castaway Cay is still warm, which is not the case December – March. We have had good luck so far and not had a hurricane impact any of our fall cruises (other than having to sail around one in the Gulf of Mexico), so we decided to take a chance and finally get to see the Fantasy!
We had a direct flight to Orlando the night before our cruise, and we landed at MCO about 8:30. We collected our checked bags and walked over to the Hyatt. We love staying the Hyatt the night before a cruise, especially if we arrive in the evening (I have a blog post with all of the details here). It is definitely not the cheapest option, but it is so convenient. Also, I was able to eventually get the price down by regularly checking the website, canceling, and rebooking. When I first booked the room, the total (including taxes and fees) was $431 (this was for a junior suite, not a standard room). I checked about a month later and got it down to $330, and then a few weeks before the cruise I checked again and it was at $258! Quite a savings from the original price!
We have always been happy with the service here, but there were a few very minor issues that evening. When we checked in, I requested a rollaway bed (I had requested one on our online reservation as well). Our room had 2 queens and a sofa bed, but our kids prefer to not share a bed if they don’t have to. The website said that junior suites can have a rollaway upon request, and the person checking us in said it was fine. Well, once we got into the room, I got a phone call from housekeeping saying that a rollaway was not allowed in this room due to the size. I am all for following the rules, but both the website and the person checking us in had said it was fine. Plus, the room was huge – 675 SF according to the website. There was so much open floor space that you could literally have fit 6 rollaways in there. Now this was not a huge deal, our kids can share a bed, but I was frustrated because it just didn’t make any sense and I had the feeling we were getting the runaround. My husband thought that housekeeping was probably just saying that because they didn’t want the hassle of bringing one to us. Anyway, the person on the phone said that they could send someone to open the sofa bed for us. I didn’t see the point, but said sure because I wanted to question the person that showed up one more time about the rollaway bed. Well, no one ever showed up. The whole thing was just really weird for such an expensive hotel.
Anyway, we got a good night’s sleep and ordered room service for breakfast the next morning. We were taking a private transfer to Port Canaveral, and we were supposed to meet him downstairs at 9:30. Our driver’s name is Carlos, and we met him in July when we were in Orlando with my husband, who was attending a conference at the Gaylord. The Gaylord shuttles to the parks are infrequent and not at good times, so we walked out front and asked for a private car, and Carlos happened to be there with his suburban. He ended up driving us from the Gaylord to both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (on different days), and then on our final day, he saved the day after the Hertz location at the Gaylord screwed up our reservation. We had no car and our flight was not until late that evening, but we had already checked out of the hotel and needed to find stuff to do during the day, and somewhere to store our luggage. So we texted him and he came and picked us up and was our driver the whole day, taking us to Sanaa (at Animal Kingdom Lodge) for lunch, then to Disney Springs, and then to the airport. I cannot recommend him enough and we will always use him when in Orlando.
Carlos texted me at 9:20 to let me know that he was downstairs whenever we were ready. First, we had to take a picture of our Disneybound outfits. Our schedule had beed absolutely crazy for the past month, so all but one of us recycled our outfits from our Pacific Coast/Alaska cruise (trip report here). Our middle daughter had worn a large, fluffy Chewbacca vest last time, but I didn’t want to mess with packing it, so she switched to Ariel. By the way, this outfit was born when we went into Target 3 days before the cruise searching for an outfit for any character – we weren’t picky. We were amazed that we found this perfect Ariel outfit!
I failed to get a picture of me and my husband, but he re-wore his awesome Goofy outfit. This picture is from our last cruise:
I was Stitch again, although I switched out the shirt for a short-sleeved one:
On our way down, it was challenging to get an elevator because there were so many cruisers going down with all of their luggage! It took a while, and we almost had to split up, but we finally got down to the parking level to find Carlos waiting. We climbed in and headed to Port Canaveral. My husband sat in front so that we would have more room in the back:
FYI, what we paid Carlos (including tip, but also a previous customer discount) was $2 cheaper than what the DCL transfers would have cost us.
The drive to Port Canaveral went by really fast. Before we knew it we were catching our first glimpse of the Fantasy:
We drove up at 10:15 AM, and there was a short line of cars waiting to enter the terminal area. After a few minutes, the line began to move and Carlos was directed to a spot at the curb for us to unload. We handed off our luggage to a porter, settled with Carlos, and walked towards the terminal building. They weren’t letting people in yet, so we waited in line on the sidewalk. At about 10:25, the building opened and the line started moving. We went through security, up the escalators, and saw this glorious sight:
This was our first cruise as platinum for my husband and me (the girls are still gold), so we were able to check in at the concierge/platinum counter:
There was already a line, so we waited for a few minutes. It might have been faster for us to go to the regular line because there are so many more counters over there, but we were already here so we just stayed. We checked in at about 10:40 AM. Here is the entertainment summary for the week:
The full set of navigators from this sailing can be found here.
Since we are platinum, we were automatically assigned boarding group #1:
After checking in, I walked over to the supervisor’s desk to check on the status of port upgrades (post with full details about port upgrades here). The sailing was not full, and there were upgrades available. We were in an 8B Family Ocean View, and there was a verandah room we could have upgraded to (not sure of the category) for $168. I declined as the girls were looking forward to our large port hole, but I did happen to catch a quick glance at the “secret chart” that they use to determine what the upgrade costs are from one category to the next. I saw that for an 8B to upgrade to a category V concierge verandah room, if one had been available (it wasn’t), it would have cost $2450. I didn’t see the cost for a concierge 1 bedroom, but I did see that the cost to upgrade to a Royal suite would have been $11,800! One of the Royal suites was actually showing as available for our sailing up until a few weeks before the cruise, so I knew that the price for our family to upgrade before the cruise would have been $26,000, so I guess this technically would have been a good deal, although not within our budget.
The concierge/platinum check in has a small waiting area, which was almost empty. I think there was one other couple in there besides us. This was nice as the main waiting area is always super crowded and we usually end up having to stand. There were also lots of plugs for charging devices.
At 11:25 they announced the family of the day:
A minute later they announced that group 1 could board. We had a really hard time getting to the boarding area because people with higher numbers were crowding around it and not moving to let people through. By the time we got through, they had added group 2:
Here we are about the scan our cards for the first time:
We skipped the boarding photo as usual (I almost never buy photos from Shutters anymore, but you can read all about the onboard photo service here). Before we knew it we were being welcomed into the atrium!
We wanted to get to Cabanas before it got too crowded, so we headed straight there. I think we were literally the first people there. The food wasn’t even open yet, but we washed our hands and sat down. The food stations opened up just a few minutes later.
This was my first plate – I love the shrimp and fried rice!
While eating, I signed up for our free 50 mb of wifi (you can read all of the details about the wifi options here):
You must sign up on the first day in order to get the free 50 mb, which is typically enough to check my email once a day. After lunch we went to get our first ice cream cones of the cruise:
The pool was starting to get crowded:
There was something burning off in the distance. I found out later that it was a controlled burn.
Next we went to check out the Edge, which is for ages 11-14:
It seems like a fun place to hang out. Then it was on to the Oceaneer’s Club and Lab, which is for ages 3-12. On the way, I admired the chandelier in the atrium:
Our youngest 2 are able to go to the Oceaneer’s Club and Lab, but they never want to. I think some kids love them, and some kids don’t. My kids don’t, but we did enjoy walking around and looking at the Marvel and Star Wars stuff.
After that, we walked around the atrium and I really took everything in. I love the peacock theme throughout.
By this time it was 1:30, so our room was ready and we went to check it out. We were in room 9500 (full stateroom review here), which is on deck 9 at the very, very front of the ship – like, the farthest room forward. We didn’t choose this room, but were assigned it because when we booked, the only option for a family ocean view room (that sleeps 5) was to book a GTY. This stand for “guarantee”, and happens once almost all of the rooms in a certain category have been booked. You don’t get to choose your room like normal, but will be assigned a room anywhere from 60 – 1 days prior to sailing. I think ours was assigned around 50 days out. You are guaranteed to get a room at least in the category you booked (8B in our case), and possible higher. We ended up getting assigned the same category we booked. We walked in, and I was surprised to see the 2 Christmas blanket/pillow sets that I had ordered in September – I had forgotten all about them!
I was very impressed with the quality of the blanket. It is very soft and thick, and the entire back side is the fuzzy fleece that you can see on the edge. These blanket and pillow sets sold out quickly, and are no longer available on the DCL website, although there are other holiday (and non-holiday) in-room gifts that you can purchase before your cruise (click here to see them). If you will be sailing next year during November or December, and want this set, then start checking the DCL website in September and order it as soon as you see it, because from what I understand, they sell out quickly every year.
The porthole was awesome!
We could see part of the bridge from our window:
Waiting for us in our room were our reminders for our Palo and Remy reservations:
Our room was right across the hall from this laundry room, which was both good and bad (full details in stateroom review here):
When it was time for the safety drill, we went to our assigned station outside on deck 4, in the direct sun. Thankfully because it was fall, it was not super-hot, but it was still hot enough to break a sweat. We have been spoiled and had indoor stations on our last several cruises.
After the safety drill, we went up to deck 11 for the sail away party. This was the first time that I noticed the larger number of people onboard, compared to the smaller ships. On the Magic and Wonder, we can easily get a spot right next to the stage for the sail away party and it’s one of me and my husband’s favorite things to do – we love singing and dancing along. This time, however, there was no way we were getting anywhere near the stage, even though we got up there as fast as we could after the safety drill. It was so, so crowded.
After a few minutes, we threw in the towel and left. It was shoulder-to-shoulder, and we couldn’t see much. I fully admit that I am more averse to crowds than the average person (something my husband is always reminding me of), and there were lots of people there having a great time, but it was just too crowded for me. The girls are kind of indifferent to the sail away party, and could take it or leave it, so they were fine leaving.
Instead, we went to check out Sweet on You, the specialty sweet shop. They have ice cream, gelato, candy, cupcakes, and other assorted goodies. Everything in this shop is an extra charge.
I think the girls each got a scoop of gelato.
I’m not quite sure what we did next. I didn’t take notes this day, so I am relying on photos to jog my memory and I didn’t take any more photos until the evening show at 6:15. We had late dining on this cruise, so we would go to the shows at 6:15 and then have dinner at 8:15 each night. This night’s show was “The Comedy and Ventriloquism of Taylor Mason”.
Guess who was selected to help out during the show?
The show was cute – my kids loved it, and I thought it was entertaining enough (I wasn’t checking my watch or anything), but I wouldn’t call it a must-see.
After the show, we went to Disney Tunes Trivia in the D Lounge at 7:30. We knew a lot of them and did fairly well, but not enough to win.
At 8:15 we went to Enchanted Garden for dinner. Our dining rotation was ERAERAE, which means the order of our dining rooms was Enchanted Garden, Royal Court, Animator’s Palate, then repeat. This was our first time ever to have late dining. Because we booked this cruise only a few months before, early dining was already full so we were forced to do late dining (you can read all about the dining times here). I was kind of glad, in a way, because I had always wondered what late dining would be like, and if we would possibly like it better, but have always been too chicken to try it. The verdict: I don’t have a strong preference one way or the other, although it did make port days much easier in terms of getting everyone showered and cleaned up after a swimming/beach excursion. On our day in Tortola, all aboard was not until 5:45, and I think we returned to the ship about 5:00, so there would have been no way that we would have been able to make early dining that day. However, the rest of my family strongly preferred early dining, even though it might mean skipping the main dining room on some port days. I think in the future we will stick to early dining unless it is a port-intensive itinerary with later all aboard times.
We were seated at table 10, a 6 top, and met our serving team of Melroy (India) and Isabel (Mexico). Later we met our head server, Englebert (India), who had been our head server a year and a half ago on the Wonder on our Panama Canal cruise. We had also seen him 6 months ago on the Wonder on our Pacific Coast/Alaska cruise, although he was not our head server for those. He told us that he had been on the Wonder for something like 17 years and had just switched to the Fantasy a few weeks ago.
The children’s menu:
The Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart. I loved this!!!
The North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli (very good):
This was the Cucumber Garden Roll. It was just a bunch of vegetables rolled up, but it had the most delicious sauce – very fresh, light and lemony. My husband didn’t see the point of even eating it, but I loved it. Melroy told me it was one of his favorites.
My husband’s Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower. I didn’t taste it because I don’t do raw tuna.
The Pan-Seared Sea Bass (very good):
The Prime Rib (good):
The dessert menu:
The Chocolate Brownie Sundae (very good):
The Warm Sticky Date Pudding (one of my daughter’s favorites):
The Southern Style Pecan Tart (good):
The Lemon Raspberry Mousse Bomb. This one is a little different but one of my favorites. I love anything lemon and I also love light and fluffy desserts, and this combines those two things. No one else in my family would even dream of ordering this, but I love it!
The Chocolate Garden Torte. I don’t remember this one, so it must have been good:
By the time we finished dinner, it was about 9:30. Our middle daughter and I waited up for family karaoke at 10:15, but I think the others went to bed. After karaoke, we went to bed too. When we got back to the room, our onboard credit statements had arrived:
If you want to read all about they ways you can earn “free” money for your onboard account, I have a blog post about it here.
We also got our letter explaining our platinum benefits:
Up next: Day 2 – At Sea
Can’t wait to here more about the Fantasy, it is the only ship we also have not sailed on. We are also assigned late seating on our next cruise. How was it eating so late at night? Is the buffet open as an option to eat earlier? Being 65 kind of hard eating that late in the evening.
There is not a buffet for dinner, but Cabanas is open (except for the first and last nights of the cruise) as a table-service restaurant and you can go at anytime. The menu will be posted at the door. We did this once on our Panama Canal cruise and we were practically the only ones in there. My husband had the best steak he has ever had on a cruise, because they cooked it right next to us after he ordered it. I highly recommend it if you don’t want to wait for your assigned dining time.
I can’t wait to see your Remy Review!!
First time commenting but found your blog a couple months back when doing research about the Cruise (going next month just before Christmas with my parents on the Dream)
My gosh Oldest and Middle are becoming young ladies! Youngest is so adorable! Going to be sad when they grow up completely.
Kind of weird that this was the first time you’ve had bad service at the Hyatt considering you’ve had good service in your other reports.
Can’t wait for the rest, especially Palo and Remy.
Douglas, don’t forget to sign up for the character breakfast with your folks. Free with cruise but you need to pick the time and day asap (you can do it when your excursion window opens). Adults really enjoy it and all the one on one with the characters photo ops during breakfast. It is one of our highlights when we do Disney for adults.
We’ve done the character meals at the parks and they tend to be hit or miss. Did Hollywood & Vine once and didn’t know they did a character lunch with the Junior characters which I’m not a fan of. Do enjoy Cinderella’s Royal Table though.
Also we’re doing a Land & Sea trip with Disney World after with stuff planned there and just want to get a taste of DCL first.
Hooray for this report! We are taking the exact same cruise on the Fantasy in late February with our two daughters. We also love the Wonder, and are excited to try the Fantasy but slightly worried about crowds at the pools, etc. Can’t wait to hear how Castaway Cay goes with a bigger boat. Also, can anyone ask at the terminal about port upgrades for rooms? We are only silver members.
Hi Jeff! I definitely felt the Fantasy was more crowded, but we still had a great cruise. The larger number of people was also noticeable on Castaway Cay, but we still had a fantastic day! I prefer the smaller ships given the choice but still enjoy the larger ones, and I think everyone needs to experience them all so that they can form their own opinions as people’s tastes differ. I am curious to hear what you think after you experience the Fantasy! Oh, and anyone can inquire about a port upgrade – just go down to the supervisor’s desk (far right end if you are facing the check-in counter) after you check in and they will let you know if anything is available.
We are doing Palo brunch (our favorite), but haven’t done Remy since we’ve only cruised on the Wonder. Are we missing out on something amazing?
We did Remy brunch but not dinner. I didn’t love brunch and don’t need to do it again (but I LOVE Palo brunch!) but my husband loved it and would want to do it every time. I would be willing to give dinner a try – I suspect I would like it better. I’m getting ready to do a full review of Remy brunch within the next couple of days so keep an eye out for it.
Can I ask what you paid for the transfer from MCO to the Port? Thinking of using the car service you recommend.
We paid $174 total, but that included a nice tip as well as a previous customer discount (I don’t remember the cost breakdown). DCL transfers would have cost us 175, although the price just went up so today it would have cost even more. If you want an exact quote, just call or text Carlos and I’m sure he will be happy to help you.
I read this post a while ago and thank you so much! because I decided to use Carlos for our car service on our trip to Disney about two weeks ago! His car was super clean and made us feel very welcomed considering it was my Husband and I’s first trip to Florida. Very humble guy and I highly recommend him to anyone planning a trip to Orlando.
Hi Mia! I’m so glad you loved Carlos. He really is awesome!!!
Hi!
We fly out from London for our first ever cruise with DCL on Friday for 7 days on the fantasy around the Caribbean
I was just wondering about the theme night….is it fancy dress costume for the children and something semi form for adults?? Also, the hubby isn’t really a suit person – is chinos and jacket acceptable in the family dining rooms? ( we have a toddler so know now we won’t be doing adult only dining)
Also, any last minute tips for the English 🙂
Thanks. X
Hi Jo! There will be both a formal and semi-formal night on your cruise – these are 2 separate nights. However, dressing up on either night is optional and many people do not. But, many do so if you choose to, you won’t feel out of place. For the main dining rooms on the other nights, chinos and a jacket would be fine. In fact, most people do not wear jackets, just collared shirts (and sometimes not even that!). But, a jacket would be perfectly acceptable.