Natasja’s Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean Cruise (May 2012)

Our client Natasja from the Netherlands send us this report after her family’s Disney Fantasy cruise in May 2012.  A veteran cruiser of the original Disney ships, Natasja makes some comments comparing the new Fantasy with the old. “We had a great cruise. Wow, wow, WOW!!” she writes.

We liked all our Disney cruises and to me the christmas ones are still very special. But this ship … WOW. Truly amazing. You can tell they have improved many things by lessons learned.

We loved our stateroom. We had a private verandah. Very nice to sit outside and we took lots of pictures. The extra space was very nice, and we thought it was also nice that we were able to put all the suitcases underneath the bed. We also liked the bigger bathroom. Our Stateroom Hostess was lovely and did an excellent plus job!!

I could go on and on about the ship! We loved Animator’s Palate. Great ambiance. What a show! And creating your own magic was great fun, also for us adults. It is a lot of fun to see your own character back in the cartoons. This is our favorite restaurant. Enchanted Forest and the Royal Court were also beautiful. Lots to see. The better placement off the serving stations is a big improvement (less noise and smell and looks way better).

Big improvements at Cabanas (vs Topsiders buffet). Better routing, no trays anymore and cutlery at the table. So you only have to take your plate. More space and tables and beverage stations everywhere. Great variety, good quality.

We didn’t think our servers were excellent. Actually the least couple of all our cruises… The server was not friendly from the heart and we didn’t get a lot of attention as the other (bigger) tables in their section did. They seemed to be in a rush all the time. The assistant server was very shy and insecure and after a couple of day he was very nice. But they made mistakes every night (forgetting the desert or wine, bringing the wine after Mark finished desert, small things but really every night). The headserver was very nice and attentitive.
I thought the food was very good (not excellent), but not every day. Also very good choices for the kids.
All our other cruises we were with a large group on a large table but now it was only the four of us. The tables are very close together.

We missed the character breakfast. They don’t do that anymore. Too bad, because it is so nice when all the characters come to your table. And the singing and dancing was so much fun for the little ones. We also missed the gala desert buffet. We thought we heard the cruise director mentioning it one time, but we didn’t see it in our Navigator and the dining staff didn’t mention it. So we are still not sure if we just missed it or that Disney changed that.

The Aquaduck was great fun. Too bad our youngest missed by some inches and was not allowed. He did like the Mickey slide a lot. To me it seems the Pools didn’t get bigger. Especially the Donald Pool is very small. It is fun to sit in the hot tub and look through the glass windows and bottom. The adult area is very nice, quiet and spacious. I only went there 2 times at night.

The Spa is great. Nice views, very good massages, treatments and lovely ladies. I didn’t go in the Rainforest but it all looked very tempting. I thought the sales talks were a bit too pushy. I think they could sell more products if they would also give you some samples to try. I was interested in several things but couldn’t try. Here in European salons they do give samples especially when you spend as much money on treatments and products as I did…

I didn’t work out (hey I am on holiday) but that area sure looked well equipped and way bigger.

Our boys loved the Eye Scream Station. Too funny!

Good we don’t have girls. I love the Bibbi Dee Bobbi Dee Boutique. Too cute. And many girls (and their parents) did!!

Bigger and better shops. More little coffee places and more places to sit down. Lots and lots of characters around the ship. Lot’s of new characters and the Princess Parade is priceless when you see all the little girls happy faces looking up in complete adoration. Funny to say, but I loved all the different washrooms around the ship. All uniquely decorated and very pretty. With our little one and only Mark and me we didn’t go to the adult section at night. Looked all very good.

Victor (age 12) thougt the Edge was even cooler than last time and Vince (age 3) went to the Oceaneers Lab and Club 3 times for about 1,5- 2 hours. This was sooooo cool. Looked like fairy-tale/Toy Story etc. WOW, a true children’s paradise!!

Shutters was very neat. All your pictures in your own private storage album. Looked very pretty, was very handy and also nice deal to buy all your digital pics (including artistic framework/backgrounds) on a cd and get a free print of all. I think they do an excellent job. Very friendly and patient. I love making photo albums and scrapbooks and I am still waiting on software to download to make your own Disney/Cruise album/book. (In a co-ship with Apple…) I think Disney would make many people very happy and I would be really willing to pay for that opportunity.
(I have many, many ideas to improve the turn-over on the ship).

The Pirates in the Caribbean Party and the Fireworks were very good. I didn’t see the buffet with all the Pirate food but maybe we just went back to our stateroom on the other side.

All the interactive stuff (paintings, cartoons, pictures) are very neat.

The shows were great. We had the same cruise director as last time, Brent, and he did an excellent job. We liked Aladdin and Disney Believe the best. The midnight premiere of the Avengers in 3D was a big surprise. Victor and Mark went together and loved it.

7 nights went way to fast. We hope for the longer cruises to come on this ship. So far we really liked the 10/11-night cruises the best when it comes to the duration of the cruise. There is so much to see and so much to do. And I think most guests would like to spend more time on Castaway Cay. It is the best beach of all on the last day and it is sad to realize it is really your last day . So please Disney expand this place with another day!!!

Shore Excursions
In Costa Maya we went on a trip to the Mayan Ruins. Very interesting, well organized, good guide. We were interested in more excursions but they were not suitable for Vince. I would recommend this one for sure. Disney does a great job to organize all different people to different excursions.

I think the beach break excursions are way too expensive. We like to go on our own. That is the only thing I miss in all the info or on the Navigator. What are great beaches to go to and why? What are the costs etc. If you ask a taxi driver they don’t always give you the right info.

I also think that the shopping terminals are everywhere the same. Same stores, same stuff, same brands and pretty boring. We are interested in the local (nice) stuff and not the watches, diamonds etc. And it is everywhere the same. Too bad.

Overall

We had such a great time. We will sure go again. Maybe next year! I have some friends interested in the Disney cruise who I am referring to you, and another interested in a non-Disney cruise.  I told them you are THE specialist!  Thanks again Tim for your excellent service.