Look! New content on my blog! It’s been a while … I think 3 years since the last post? Anyways, a lot has happened since then. 2 kids have joined the family … ok I guess that’s about it, but I feel like that’s a lot.
We recently took a cruise on the Disney Fantasy. This was my 11th Disney Cruise, Tracy’s 9th, Tommy’s 4th, and Lily’s 1st. Also joining us were my parents (2nd Disney Cruise for both of them). We decided on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean itinerary, with stops at Tortola, St Thomas, and Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. This is not going to be a complete trip report – I tend to ramble, and why should I punish you with that? (But, for the 2 of you that are actually reading, let me know if you have any questions)
Edit: Ok, change in plans. As I started writing everything out, I realized it was getting pretty long (remember how I said I tend to ramble? Yeah, still true.) and so I decided to make this into multiple posts. I’ll put all the photos in a gallery in the last post.
Also on the same sailing were one of my coworkers and her family – we didn’t hang out with them a lot, but we bumped into them a few times.
Embarkation Day – Saturday
My parents picked us up, and the drive to Port Canaveral was uneventful. Arrived at the port right around noon, found a parking space, and proceeded to check in. First minor snag of the trip – I had an email copy of our Port Arrival Form, but not my parents form (even though I had done their Online check in. Maybe I accidentally deleted the email?). The DCL check in folks were able to lookup their reservation, and the crisis was averted.
By the time we checked in, our boarding group had already been called, so we had a minimal wait, and we were onboard. First order of business was lunch. We tried to go to Animator’s Palate, but there was a long wait, so we headed upstairs to Cabanas. After circling the restaurant once or twice, we were able to claim a table. And on to the second minor snag of the trip – 3 different dispensers were out of Diet Coke! Luckily, the 4th one I tried was better. The rest of lunch proceeded without any adventure. I did text my co-worker Iris and say we were in Cabanas, and got a message back that they were too. Turns out, they were only about 4 tables away from us, so we said hi after we finished lunch.
As we were eating, we looked at the Navigator app and realized that the Jack Jack’s Incredible Diaper Dash time conflicted with our Palo Brunch, so I went to the “Talk to the Palo Manager” table, and was able to get our brunch time changed, and we were able to add my parents onto the reservation. Win!
Disney Cruise Line has, unfortunately, gone back to the Pre-Covid muster drill, where everyone has to go to their muster station and wait for everyone else assigned to that station to show up before they’ll actually start the spiel. We much preferred the Covid version, where you just had to go to your station and take a picture with the Navigator App. On the plus side, our muster station was in the Walt Disney Theatre, so we didn’t need to stand outside in the hot sun. Both kids fell asleep while we waited.
We went up on Deck 12 to try and watch the ship leave the port. Unfortunately, the ship was a little delayed (there was a fire truck and ambulance on the dock), and we had to go get ready for dinner before we actually pulled out.
Dinner the first night was at Enchanted Grove Garden. The food was very good. I had the Sea Bass, which comes with a very good fava bean/pea risotto. Neither fish nor risotto are my normal cup of tea, but I enjoyed it.
1st Sea Day – Sunday
We woke up, and went to Royal Court for breakfast. Breakfast was typical breakfast food. Lots of carbs, not much substance. But it tasted good.
This sailing was very full. So much so that they were doing 3 showings each of Aladdin and Frozen. The first show of Aladdin was at 12:45 in the afternoon, so we figured we would try that, thinking it might be better for the kids who would probably be too tired for the later show.
Well, as it turns out, Tommy is going through a “sensitive to loud noises” phase, and the show was a bit too much for him. We had brought some noise-reducing earphones for him to wear, and even with those, it was still too much. So, he and I left early in the show.
After Tracy and Lily were done with the show, we tried to get the kids to take a nap. Lily fell asleep, Tommy did not. (Nor did he stay in one place long enough to even close his eyes for anything longer than a blink.) This would, unfortunately, become a recurring theme of the trip.
After attempting a nap, there was an event called Toddler Time in Andy’s Room, which is one of the kids club areas. Tommy had a lot of fun playing with the life size model of the toy car, and Lily had fun crawling around. After some vigorous playtime, we tried a second attempt at naptime. It still failed.
Dinner was at Royal Court. I had the chateaubriand filet, and it was excellent. This is probably my favorite entree served on the ship. It was prepared very well. For dessert, I got the vanilla creme brulee, and regretted it. I should have gotten the grand marnier souffle. The creme brulee was kinda grainy and lacked any flavour.
After dinner, Tracy and Tommy went back to the room, while my parents and Lily and I went to see Aladdin. We all enjoyed the show. (Well, Lily enjoyed her bottle and a nap in my arms, but at least she was content.) Genie’s improv lines were good, but I actually think the actor playing Iago had some better one liners.