So we sailed on the Disney Fantasy to the Eastern Caribbean for a 7 glorious days. We went May 23rd-30th, 2015 and the weather was perfect the whole time. The ship didn't rock too much, the only time I really felt it a lot was on the way to Castaway Cay, but even then it wasn't bad. We are a family of four, mom, dad and twins that are 6 and one has autism. We traveled with my extended family - my parents, sister and her two girls (ages 5 & 8). There were 9 of us total.
Day 1- Embarkation:
Walking through the big Mickey ears onto the ship was so exciting. They asked our family name and then announced us as we came in and everyone clapped. So fun! The first thing we did was go the kids club, called the Oceaneers Club for ages 3-12. We wanted to check it out and talk to the workers and explain London's situation (London has autism). The kids loved running around in there, it's a really cute club with lots of things to do. There were a lot of workers, all of whom were friendly and seemed happy to be there and happy to help/answer questions. London loved the light up floor and Lyla loved the character dance parties.
After we checked all that out and talked to the workers we went to go get tickets for meeting the princesses and meeting Elsa. They do tickets now because those meets became so popular that you'd have to wait in line for an hour or so. Now with a ticket, you just show up at the time on your ticket and can go right away. After we were all set with our tickets we went to check out or room! We were on the 8th floor, right across the hall from my parents, sister and nieces. Our room number was 8143 and I really loved the location. The room was so cute and even though it's small, it never really felt that small. We had the porthole with real time views and animation - the kids LOVED seeing Tinkerbelle and other characters show up on the porthole. It was such a big hit. Our room was so clean the entire time - our stateroom attendant was top notch! We loved the turn down service every night, the kids especially got a kick out of the towel/blanket animals that would greet us each night. The kids had bunk beds and they were super excited about it.
After we checked out our room we headed up to 11th deck for the Sail Away Party! There was a show full of singing and dancing and it was so awesome. Lots and lots of excitement! We got food and fruity drinks and really enjoyed it.
Our dinner rotation was main so we had dinner at about 5:45 every night starting with Royal Court. Dinner the first night was great, we were all so excited to be there. Our dinner hosts were really good and we enjoyed getting to know them. They did a good job learning what the kids like and what we like and always worked hard to get us our preferences.
After dinner we walked around and explored a little bit. The kids took pictures with Cinderella and Goofy. It was a great first day and we were exhausted and ready for a good night sleep!
Day 2 - Sea Day:
We woke up and ordered some room service because I need coffee to function the second my eyelids open! We got dressed and took the kids to see the princesses. They saw Cinderella (again), Ariel, Tiana and Belle. They both loved it. London got a little overwhelmed and sat with Tiana and Ariel but he was happy and all the princesses were so sweet with both the kids.
After the princesses we headed over to the Enchanted Garden for some Mickey waffles, fruit, and donuts. Then it was time to go meet Queen Elsa. They had her in Animators Palace and all the screens were snowy and the lights were turned to blue. It looked so awesome in there! They both LOVED meeting Elsa of course! The line was long, but went pretty quick. I'd say we waited only 10 minutes total. After Elsa they got pictures with Mickey and then it was time to take Lyla to her appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Oh my goodness, that was worth every penny. Lyla sat in a beauty chair with a pink cape around her. She had two "Fairy Godmothers" as they called themselves and they let her pick her own hairstyle (there were about 5 to choose from), makeup, and nail colors. She choose a half up, half down style and they put a tiara on her with pixie dust in her hair. She had her makeup done "Elsa blue" and her nails were "stardust glitter". She loved every minute of the whole experience. Lexi and Ella did it too and loved it as well!
While the girls were getting pampered, London was riding the Auqa Duck with Nathan. He was in heaven! He loved that slide and would ride it about 10 more times before our trip was done. Next, Dana and I had reservations with a mixology class. Our mixologist was very knowledgeable and super funny. We knew some of the couples from a facebook group we had been in before the trip so it was really fun getting to meet everyone in person. The class was a lot of fun, making them was exciting, and drinking them was the best part! I'm glad we signed up for that class, it was well worth it. That night for dinner was formal night, so we all donned our finest apparel and ate dinner in Animators Palate, which was my favorite restaurant. It was Dana's birthday, so they brought a birthday cake (I had pre-ordered it) and sang to her at the end of our meal. Dana said it was the best birthday cake she had ever tasted, so that was awesome! After dinner, we really wanted to get our picture taken since it was formal night and all but the lines were so long. We waited and the kids were just not having it, so we just took our own pictures. Then, Dana and I went to the adult club to check it out for a bit but I was fading fast from all the excitement and went to bed soon after. Loved the day!
Day 3 - Sea Day:
Day 3 was FULL of swimming, water slides, yummy food, fruity drinks, more swimming, movies by the pool, more water slides, more food, and more fruity drinks! It was awesome! We did that ALL day until dinner. Dinner was at Enchanted Garden which was a beautiful restaurant full of lights and greenery. The sky (ceiling) changes as the night goes on. After dinner we heard about a family dance party happening so we all went. It was so much fun! Both my mom and dad were dancing, and the kids were just loving it! And of course there were more character meets and pictures. We all slept well that night!
Day 4 - St. Maarten:
We got off the ship once we docked at St. Maarten and just decided to walk around a bit and check things out. We took a water taxi over to the downtown shopping area. St. Maarten is pretty, but more run down than I expected - to be honest. The vendors/taxi drivers/tour givers are VERY pushy too so that was a little annoying. We shopped a little bit and then decided to head over to Orient Beach. I had heard such great things about Orient Beach that I really wanted to check it out! We took a taxi and our driver dropped us off at a really good location. There was hardly anyone there and we had nice beach chairs (we had to pay for of course). Orient Beach is GORGEOUS! Blue clear water and soft white sand. The kids loved playing in the ocean. We stayed for a few hours and then headed back to the ship pier via taxi (our same driver). When we got back on the ship it was time to get ready for pirate night... ARGHH!!! We all had costumes so we got ready and headed to dinner at the Royal Court. Our waitstaff were in their pirate garb and the menus and food was all pirate themed. It was very cute! The kids menus turned into little pirate hats for them to wear as well. After dinner we decided to go see Tomorrowland in the theater. It was a good movie, but I had to take London out after awhile because he was tired of it. He has trouble with movies in movie theaters. We waited up in the room for Nathan and Lyla but ended up falling asleep, which is too bad because we missed the pirate deck party! It didn't start until 9:45 so it was hard to make it for the kids. Lyla fell asleep in the theater, but ended up rallying to catch the fireworks with Nathan. Next time London and I will try to make it too!!
Day 5 - St. Thomas:
We got off the ship in St. Thomas and walked around and shopped. I really enjoyed the shopping in St. Thomas and the island seemed in better repair/condition than St. Maarten. We bought a few things and just explored on our own and then went back to the ship. When we were back onboard we enjoyed the pool and water slides because there were NO lines! We really took advantage of going down the Aqua Duck, because that's the slide that usually has a long wait. After swimming we ate dinner at Animators Palate. We were given sheets to use to draw our own creations and then they were put up on the screen and were animated with other characters in movies! It was so awesome to see our own drawings dancing around! All the kids LOVED that, they thought it was so exciting. At the end they roll your name in the credits as a "guest animator", then they give you your drawing back with a official gold Disney Animator seal. Very cool!! After dinner Dana and I went to the adult clubs and played some fun pop trivia. After the trivia games, the DJ put on some fun dance songs and we danced and danced until our feet hurt and we couldn't stand anymore!! We also made some new friends who also danced the night away with us! I think it was 3 am by that point! SUCH a fun day and night!!
Day 6 - Sea Day:
We were back to sea and the kids wanted to swim and slide and swim some more so that's what we did all morning. Later that day they wanted to go play in the kids club so Nathan and I took the time to walk around exploring the ship. We went to all the adult pools, the top levels of the ship and went to both the bow and stern to look out at the ocean. Beautiful views!! It was really nice to have that time for just the two of us. Finally, it was time for dinner again and it was semi-formal so we dressed up and headed back to the Enchanted Garden. After dinner Lyla and the girls participated in a really cool detective game that leads you to clues and treasures all over the ship. They loved it!
Day 7 - Castaway Cay:
We took our time getting off the ship because we could see from deck 11 that the lines were insane going onto the island. Once we got off it wasn't bad at all. Castaway Cay is really beautiful! We found a nice spot on the beach and let the kids play in the ocean. We rented tubes and it was really relaxing to chill in the water. There are NO waves in the water, so unless you rent a tube you're kind of just sitting there wading, haha. The tube gives you something to mess around with. Once we smelled the BBQ being prepared we went to eat lunch. We ate until we could barely walk back to the beach! We did a little exploring, and finally went back to the ship. Since this day was mine and Nathan's 10th wedding anniversary, we had reservations for just the two of us at Palo (an exclusive adults only Italian restaurant on the 12th deck). We got all dressed up, dropped the kids off at the kids club and went to eat. It was so nice!! Gorgeous views, wonderful food (seriously the best chicken I've ever had) and super yummy dessert. We had a great experience. Our waiter was fantastic and really made it special for us. Finally it was time for bed, we were all tuckered out from all the food and fun in the sun!
Day 8 - Dembarkation Day :( :
All good things must come to an end I suppose. We had one final and wonderful breakfast at the Royal Court and were off the ship by 9 am and onto fly out of Orlando later that day.
Wow. Wow. And one more Wow for good measure. We had SO much fun!!! It was such a great experience. So great in fact we booked a placeholder while onboard for our next cruise! We're thinking next May to the Western Caribbean this time.
Disney sure knows how to make a good cruise that's for sure!! Can't wait to do it again. That was definitely one for the books and the kids had such a fantastic time having new experiences, and so much fun with the family.
We also saw a couple of shows, but I've lost track of which nights we did it. The Aladdin show was my favorite but Wishes and Believe were both good! Along with seeing Tomorrowland, we also watched Cinderella and Avengers. :)
We didn't use the kids club as much as I thought we would, but the times we did use it the kids had a great time.
If you're considering taking a Disney cruise, DO IT. You will NOT be disappointed!
Have questions about something I did or didn't cover? Ask away! I also took over a thousand pictures and I wish I could fit them all but obviously I can't! :)
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