Beautiful Ship, But May Be Lacking for Adults
The Facts:
CRUISE SHIP: Disney Fantasy.
OCCUPANCY: 2,500 (double occupancy), 4,000 maximum.
PORT & ITINERARY: Port Canaveral roundtrip. Tortola, St. Thomas, Castaway Cay (Bahamas)
WEBSITE: Disney Fantasy
This entire review is written from an Adults Only perspective, we do not have children.
We recently completed our first Disney Cruise aboard the Fantasy and we were excited to see what the “Disney Experience” was all about. We’re seasoned cruisers with this being our 7th cruise aboard 5 different cruise lines; Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and now Disney. This was an adults-only cruise for our 20th Wedding Anniversary, we thought that was fitting since our honeymoon was spent at Disney World. There’s a lot to love about Disney and some things fall short for adults. So here’s our honest assessment of the Disney Fantasy and the overall Disney cruise experience.
BOOKING THE CRUISE
My wife’s research into Disney Cruise Lines showed that they work their cabin pricing on supply and demand. As the supply dwindles, the cost of the same cabin will increase. So the strategy to get the best cabin rate is to book your cabin the same day Disney opens up booking. Disney Cruise Line pricing is generally premium with a similar cabin often costing significantly less on another line, especially during peak seasons. We always book a Verandah cabin as we love having a balcony. For this cruise we booked just off-season, sailing on Sept. 10th and Cabin 7194 was priced at $3,100 for two people. So by booking off-season, we were able to get a cabin rate that’s right in line with a similar cabin level on other ships we’ve cruised. So plan ahead and keep an eye out on the Disney Cruise Critic Forums for Disney booking dates. Repeat cruisers can book their cabins in advance of first-timers, so you’ll see them start posting that they were able to book their cabins, so you’ll know that the general booking date will soon
One travel tip, purchase Disney Cruise Line luggage tags for your luggage. These are actually sized for all Cruise Line tags so they don’t get ripped or damaged in transit from the port curbside to your door. There are versions that are cruise line-specific as well.
PRE-BOOKING DINNERS AND EVENTS
Disney places a premium on return passengers so as a first time Disney guest, we were basically “at the end of the line” for trying to book anything in advance. While every cruise line has incentives for return guests, this was by far the most restrictive of any cruise line we’ve experienced. With every other ship, whether our first or return trip, we’ve been able to book all of the dinners and experiences without an issue. It might come late in the cruise, but we’ve been able to book and try dinners and elements. With Disney, we were unable to book brunch at Palo in advance as that list was full, but we were able to book it once onboard thankfully. Due to the steep price of Remy, we were able to book that for our anniversary dinner.
The same can be said of the cabanas on Castaway Cay, the Disney private island. You can pretty much guarantee you will NOT get a cabana as a first time Disney guest, especially in the adult area, Serenity Bay, where there are only 4 cabanas.
So be aware that as a first time Disney guest, you may not be able to pre-book experiences that you would like to see or do and quite possibly won’t get to do them at all. Especially if you’re sailing on a full ship. You can only hope that there are still some openings when you first board, but again, as a first-time guest, you’ll be among the last to board the ship. With our sailing, I heard we were just north of 3,000 guests so definitely not a full ship.
EMBARKATION AND PORT PARKING – PORT CANAVERAL
Here Disney has it down to a science and this was the smoothest and easiest embarkation of any cruise line we’ve sailed. You will be assigned a specific check-in time to arrive at the Disney terminal along with a boarding group number. Do not arrive too much earlier than your assigned check-in time because Disney will not let you board until your group number is called. This actually creates a really smooth and frustration free boarding process because you’re not sitting around in a huge “cattle pen” waiting with a few thousand of your new friends waiting to board.
We had an 11:45 am check-in time so we arrived at the port around 11:15 and drove directly into the first Disney Check-In. Here they check the IDs of everyone who is going to be boarding the ship before you’re allowed to proceed to the drop off area. At the drop-off area, a porter was waiting to help with the bags and then I drove directly to the parking garage right alongside the pier. Time for all of this was less than 10 minutes. Super easy.
IF YOU ARE PARKING YOUR CAR AT THE PORT, be sure to know your cabin number and have your photo ID with you after you park your car. You will need to show your ID again and they will ask for your cabin number when you walk from the parking garage back to the cruise terminal.
An additional parking tip: If you are driving in from out of town, there are multiple Cape Canaveral / Cocoa Beach hotels that offer parking discounts for the port. We stayed two nights at the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach using one of their Cruise and Park Specials prior to the cruise and got 40% off the cruise port parking.
Once inside it was less than 10 minutes until we were checked in and had our Keys to the World cabin key. So that took us to about 11:35 am and we were boarding group 12. There is great signage around the terminal telling you which boarding group is currently going in and they were at 9 when we finished. About 10 minutes later, group 12 was called it was time to board. About 30 minutes from the time we arrived we were boarding the ship and we never really felt like cattle going through endless lines like every other cruise line.
One other great perk from Disney, they had a separate line if you wanted to avoid the obligatory terrible photo before you board the ship. Loved that. Now the cabins are not ready to enter until 1:30 pm so we prepared for that by only bringing on board a few small bags of necessities including swimwear in case we wanted to hang out by the pool. We did end up going near the stairwell for Deck 7 (our deck) around 1:15 which was a HUGE mistake. Just a mass of bodies loitering waiting for the ropes to drop so they could get to their rooms and then we were basically stuck. DO NOT go near your room until 1:45 pm if you can help it. You’re just going to be in a warm mass of bodies. Go sit in Cabanas or out by the pool or really just anywhere except the stairwells. After 1:45 the areas should be clear of all the early loiterers and you’re good to go to your cabin.
If you are traveling without children, note that Embarkation is about the only time you’re allowed as an adult to just wander and explore the Oceaneer’s Club which features an oversized Andy’s Room from Toy Story, a Monster’s Inc room, and various other rooms that really do bring out the kid in you. I encourage you to go explore and take some pictures of this area before the ship sets sail, it really is an awesome space to take some memorable pictures.
CABIN
As I mentioned previously, we were in cabin 7194 which is in the center of the stern of the ship. The cabin itself was a good size with lots of storage in both of the dual closets plus plenty of room under the bed for all our luggage. Easily the most standard storage space of any ship we have sailed so far. There was a chokepoint between the end of the bed and the wall where only one person can get by, that was a bit of pain at times, but not awful. It’s not uncommon to have this in verandah/balcony cabins as the beds are almost always sideways in the room.
We really liked the split bathroom design with the toilet and shower split into two rooms, however, we both hated the positioning of the light switches between the doors. When going into the shower, the switch was behind the door so we were constantly stepping out of the doorway, closing the door, turning on the light, and then back into the shower room. BUT we did like the split bathroom concept which gave us two sinks and plenty of room for toiletries. These were also the first bathrooms we’ve had finished in tile. Most ship rooms are usually that plastic paneling prefab look. Definitely made the bathrooms look a bit nicer. Towels were a bit thin and not as absorbent as other ships, but functional. My wife loved the dual drying lines over the tub, usually, you just get one, but it’s nice to have the two especially after pool and beach visits.
If you have mobility issues, be aware that the step into the tub for the shower is quite high. The tub sides basically came up to our knees and we’re in the 5’ 6” height area so if you have mobility issues, you might want to consider a handicap cabin.
Inside the cabin, you’ll find a good-sized fridge and the TV features most all Disney and Pixar films on demand. This is especially great when you’re getting ready in the mornings or before dinner to have a fun film playing in the background.
We usually try to book an aft cabin because we enjoy the vibrations from the engines which help us sleep, we love the sound of the prop wash which is a waterfall-like sound and we especially love that the aft balconies are usually a bit larger than the other cabins in the same category. This was easily the largest balcony we’ve ever had on any ship, even when we’ve booked a junior suite on other ships. Plenty of room for two full lounge chairs plus two regular chairs and a small table. That being said, the design of the aft meant that HALF most of the balcony was uncovered. We prefer ships that have a different angle on the back so most of the balcony is covered, but that’s not the Fantasy was designed. In addition to being more exposed, the balcony was exceptionally dirty from exhaust soot from the main engines. So there was a trade-off with the aft balcony. Larger space than many other cruise lines, but less cover and dirt from the exhaust.
Our room Hostess (also known as a room steward or cabin attendant on other ships) was Gaeliza and she was simply AWESOME. We felt her service was the best we’ve received on any ship, with Celebrity service being a close second. She was incredibly friendly, personable, took care of all our needs, and really had a great time with the towel animals, even giving me a momentary scare one evening with the monkey on the toilet. That was absolutely hilarious and we were very sad to say goodbye to Gaeliza at the end of our cruise.
A great tip for extra storage in the room is to get a wall hanging, canvas shoe rack like this one, and hang that on the bathroom door. Disney does NOT allow over-the-door hangers to be used in the cabin so you’ll need to get some magnetic door hooks like these if you want to use a canvas shoe rack. We’ve used that for almost every cruise we’ve been on. Also, there’s generally just one or two outlets available in a cabin and most cruise lines have now outlawed power strips, power squids, and extension cords that have a cord on them. So get yourself a power cube like this one that also features some USB outlets to charge up your various devices. Another handy dandy storage tip are these 12” x 12” folding cubes that can be placed in cabinets, under the bed, or elsewhere in your cabin.
INTERNET and DISNEY CRUISE APP
Disney has set the internet standard that I wish everyone in the cruise industry would follow. They charge by the data usage, NOT the time spent online. I paid less than $100 for 60MB of usage because I only planned to check emails. So instead of charging me for the time I was online, Disney only charged me for how much data I downloaded. Since it was all emails, 60MB was more than enough for the entire cruise. On every other cruise line I’ve had to add extra internet service because the service is so slow I always run out of minutes by the 5th day of a 7-day cruise.
For speed, I had no issues downloading emails or updating Facebook and a friend who had unlimited internet service said she was able to stream Netflix shows with minimal issues so the speed is plenty fast on-board.
Now the Disney Cruise App, well that was outstanding. First off, the app is FREE TO USE ONBOARD without the need to pay for internet service. Simply log into the WiFi system as directed by the app and you can use that app for the entire cruise at no additional cost. The biggest thing the Disney app includes is in-app messaging to anyone else on-board so you can stay in contact with people in your party or anyone else you meet. So you can text anyone on-board, for free, which is OUTSTANDING when you’re on a 1,000+ foot ship with 15 decks. That’s an awesome way to easily stay in touch with everyone. The app also includes the entire daily schedule, the restaurant menus, the ability to select ‘favorite’ activities and receive notifications that they’re about to start. So you’ll never miss an activity or event on-board because you forgot to write it down. Your smartphone will give you an alert and off you go.
DINING (including Vegetarian options and Coffee)
We typically don’t use assigned dining times on our cruises opting for “anytime” dining, but with Disney, you have to follow a dining rotation. Disney is also the first ship we’ve sailed on without a buffet option for dinner. There are reasons to both like and not like Disney dining.
I start with coffee because I LOVE COFFEE and that’s always one of the things I test right away on a ship, the free coffee. The free coffee that is available at most of the drink stations has a chicory flavor to it that I really didn’t enjoy. The coffee on Celebrity and even Royal was better. BUT there are plenty of places to get a good coffee, for a fee including Cabanas bar, Cove Café, Meridian bar, Vista bar, and any place where you see an espresso machine. Fees are not bad averaging between $4 – $8 for cappuccinos and lattes. I also recommend a shot of Godiva dark chocolate for your evening coffee or cappuccino.
Breakfast we usually had in Cabanas each morning. This buffet is much smaller than other cruise ships we’ve sailed of the same size, but the quality of the food is quite good. We never had a problem finding a seat in Cabanas either and sat inside each day. There is a “made to order” omelet station where they deliver the omelet to your table. I tried this twice, the first time it worked, the second time the wrong omelet showed up at our table after 15 minutes and the server disappeared before I could tell her. I gave up on that option after that second time and simply went with whatever was available. You can order specialty coffees, cappuccinos, and espressos at the bar in the back of Cabanas. Zhang made some great cappuccinos for me over the course of the week.
For dinner services, we were lucky to have been assigned Marlan and Eddy as our servers for the week at Table 65 along with Head Server Howard. They made us feel like family from the first evening in Enchanted Garden. Enchanted Garden was by far our favorite dining room with the decor and ambiance just a lovely space to eat dinner. The Royal Court was the most uninspired dining room and felt like a “standard cruise ship dining room” that you would find on older cruise ships. Animator’s Palette felt very much like a large diner, a very whimsical and fun diner. The choices for each meal, including vegetarian options were numerous except for one meal which I’ll mention shortly.
With our dining rotation, we ended up eating at most of the dining rooms twice with a specialty dinner taking up the 7th evening. We found the food consistently very good, some of the best food we’ve eaten in our years of cruising, and would put it on par with Celebrity. There were a few misses in the dining rooms of course but overall, the dining experience was great both for us meat-eaters and vegetarians.
I’ll mention the two dining experiences at Animator’s Palette because they are different and honestly we would have skipped the second meal had we realized what it was like. For the first meal, it’s a standard dinner and you’re joined by Crush the turtle from Nemo. He goes around the entire room via video monitors over the course of the meal interacting with the guests which is quite fun. Now the second time through the meal, it’s an animation themed dinner with a limited menu where the first thing you’re asked to do is draw characters on supplied paper. Those characters will be animated later in the meal during a show on the video monitors. The problem is that you’re given that limited menu so they can rush you through the meal and get to the “animation show.” I’ll say that the animation show is clever how it’s put together but it’s only about 5 minutes and there’s no need to rush us all through dinner so they can get to the show. I don’t understand why they can’t simply pause the meal between appetizers and main course or main course and dessert to run the “show.” Additionally, there no vegetarian options for appetizers, soup, or salad on the menu at the second Animator’s Palette dinner. We just felt like the entire meal was rushed and the menu limited for no reason. The second Animator’s Palette dinner would be a good evening to schedule a specialty meal at Palo or Remy.
Again, I’ll mention that there is NO buffet for dinner. Cabanas is open for dinner, but it is a sit-down, served meal. Sometimes after a long day or for whatever reason, a buffet is nice in the evenings because it’s flexible, but you won’t get that here.
Luigi’s Pizza / Tow-Mater’s Grill / Filmore’s Favorites / Eye-Scream are all part of the Flo’s Cafe, quick service area. Except for Eye Scream which stays open pretty much all day, the others all have various open and close times so check the Navigator each day for their hours of operation. Luigi’s Pizza had great toppings, but the crust had the flavor of cardboard. Tow-Mater’s Grill had decent fish sandwiches, veggie sandwiches, and french fries. Filmore’s Favorites actually had some really good wrap sandwiches that took care of hunger without weighing you down. Eye-Scream has soft-serve ice cream and usually has a mix of three different flavor combinations. Depending on when the machine was last loaded, you might get a frozen treat or you might get something that’s more like a smoothie consistency, but the flavors were decent for soft serve. One smart little girl brought over a drink cup and had her ice cream in that, so it didn’t matter what consistency came out.
