20 Random Thoughts from Recent Fantasy Trip

[Keyser]

We just finished a weeklong Eastern Caribbean trip on the Fantasy yesterday; our family's 5th (and my 6th) trip. I have a bunch of random thoughts I'll just dump into this one thread, rather than try to split comments into lots of others (I'll try to comment separately in some others). Sorry it is so long...

1. I had heard that the soaps/shampoos were being replaced by pump bottles. This had not happened in our stateroom. Maybe they are working their way through the ship gradually replacing them, but our room (9502) still had bar soap and tubes of shampoo (which I preferred).
2. You can still get print navigators. Just ask at Guest Services the night beforehand, and they will give you a printed one. After a couple of nights asking, they asked if I wanted one each night, and my stateroom host started leaving it for us. These are only 1-page navigators (mainly just the schedule on one side, and then the list of opening times on the other), but it was still a big help.
3. We did use the app, and liked it fine for marking things we were interested in but, but it's no comparison vs. the print version in getting an overview of what's going on at various times in the various locations. I did find it a pain to have to carry around my phone, though, and I do wish it would let one person mark items for the whole family (my "likes" were different from my wife's, and sometimes we would miss something only the other had marked. And, the "filtering" could be a lot better.
4. We found the chat function on the app just one step above useless. Basically, the chat messages only appear when you open up your app (and even then are not reliable - we had several "not delivered"). It's basically more like email than texting - you send a message, but the person might not receive it for a long time, even if they have their phone with them. They have figured out how to get the app to give notification for time-based events (e.g. warning you 15 minutes before something you liked), so I don't understand why they can't get this to work for the phone.
5. We had (for the first time in 5 trips, other than once when a couple our family got paired with disappeared after one night), a shared table with another family. We had been apprehensive about possibly having to share a table before our trip, but it turned out great - we enjoyed eating with them, and though we didn't actually do anything together on the ship, it was nice to talk about each others' days, and made for good dinner conversation. I've seen a lot of people stress about private tables, and we thought we would have preferred that, but it actually worked out well for us sharing a table (and we are all introverts...).
6. The little costs really do add up. I knew all this was coming, but still, the final bill/cost comes out quite a bit higher than just the cruise and transportation. Paying for: tips for the Disney servers, one Disney excursion, one excursion on our own, renting snorkel equipment on Castaway Cay, a few(!) trips to Sweet On You, a couple of the drinks of the day, more sunblock and aloe vera, some souvenirs, tips for room service/porters/excursion hosts, and... well, it adds quite a bit on to the "all-inclusive" bill.
7. The Aqualab seems really underutilized. I almost never saw other kids there (it was open far fewer hours, also), and I almost wondered if most kids knew it was there. It looked like something lots of kids would like, and my daughter enjoyed the 5 minutes she had there.
8. I think the Oceaneer Lab/Club could benefit a bit from having some activities restricted or specifically geared (and advertised as such) to specific age groups. My daughter, at 10, was on the higher end of the age range, and there were a few activities she was interested in, but found once she got there that all the other kids doing it were younger, and it was too basic.
9. During the Open House, I got to visit the Star Wars area in the Oceaneer Club, which was kind of cool at first. But, it seemed the actual game is not really much of a game - you can't do much but press a few buttons. Given the level of effort that went into building that setup, I would have thought they could make a more interesting game.
10. For whatever reason, I hardly ever got to have lunch at Cabana's. But, in that experience, I found the food was better than I expected. There was a lot of variety and the quality was not bad.
11. Man, the pizza onboard (other than the flatbread at Palo) is really bad. My family complains that I'm a pizza snob, but normally I'm happy with even bad pizza. But, both Luigi's and what I tried at Cabanas were really bad, in my opinion.
12. I actually really liked the fries at Luigi's, and the chicken fingers were a lot better than I expected. I was wishing I'd have had a chance to get them again on the trip!
    
13. Why do they have Coke Zero on Castaway Cay, but not on the ship?
14. OK, I've got to say that for Eye Scream to have the slogan "so many flavors it's scary", I would have thought they'd have more than 4 (Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana). I actually did like the banana, and it's not one I see everyday, but I remember on my first Disney Cruise, there was either Cookie Dough or Chocolate Chip soft serve on Castaway Cay - why don't they have some more variety like that?
15. I asked a question once about how early we needed to arrive to get seating at the WD theater, compared to the Dream (we previously had early dining so late shows), where we found the theater nearly full even 15 minutes before the show. I can report that seeing the early show (this time we had late dining) on the Fantasy, we found that at 15 minutes ahead, we could easily get seats in the front middle section, and 5 minutes before, there were seats in the front side sections, just a couple off the aisle. Even had we arrived right at showtime, there were still plenty of open seats (though mainly on the outside edges).
16. We had Captain Marvel as our evening entertainment one night. While we did really enjoy seeing it on the big screen, we also weren't going to let our youngest daughter see a PG-13 movie, so she went to the kids club that evening. For everything else to be so family-friendly, I wish they'd have kept the "main" entertainment to stuff the whole family could attend. That was, by far, the least attended night's show (only the middle section of the theater was full) There were lots of other chances to see CM in the Buena Vista theater, and maybe if they'd had a late-night WD theater showing (similar to what they do with premieres) plus those, it would have still made everyone wanting the movie happy.
    
17. I'm surprised that the pools are not larger - I know space is limited on a ship, but the pools are really pitiful. They were always packed with kids (so much that they could barely move in the deeper one - I counted over 40 in there at one point). I think a pool of double the size would have double the utilization. I really think this is a shortcoming of the ship design, and I'd hope Disney would improve it in the future.
18. I did manage to go to the gym a couple of times. But, at around 9 in the morning, it was CROWDED. All dozen or so treadmills, and the majority of the other cardio machines were occupied, as were at least half of the strength training machines. Plus, it was stuffy with so many people in there. I think they could have used more space for this (though my wife said that around noon, when she went, it was much less crowded).
19. I don't know why they don't have it in the onboard store anymore (it was available on previous trips, which is how we bought our earlier edition), but I'd highly recommend getting the "Hidden Mickeys" book. Our kids had a ton of fun going around the ship looking for all of the various Hidden Mickeys together (one of them said that doing that and the Midship Detective Agency were her favorite things on the entire trip).
20. One of the oddest occurrences: partway through our trip, they replaced the lid of the chest/table (that opens up and you can store stuff in) in our stateroom. I have no idea why - nothing was wrong with the first one. The earlier one had a pattern (a kind of border outline and I think it was a navigator wheel in the center). The new one was just a plain faux-wood look. They didn't tell us they were doing this, we just came back one night and it had been swapped!?!?

 

[beaglefan]

Thanks for the notes. I too was on this cruise and echo a few points:

7. AquiLab is a waste of valuable space. Fun for younger kids, but not for an extended period of time.
8. Oceaneer Lab is tough for the older age limit. My boys hated going. No activities geared towards them and tons of younger kiddos. Would be nice to have more planned activities for 8-11 year olds. Even Gaga Ball was too crowded and had too many rules.
14. Really crushed that there was no Blueberry or Mango ice cream. In the past (Wonder) this was a special treat the one day they offered these flavors.

A couple of other observations:

Food quality has gone downhill. Cheaper cuts of meat, less expensive fish, and the servers claimed they are driving for cost cutting and many customers notice it too. This was my ninth cruise, and I struggled certain nights to find even one appealing option. Need to step up the quality again.

They could really offer more Open Caption movies at the theater. I applaud that they offer it at times (always on Funnel Vision), but it was mainly during port days. On the last sea day not a single movie was captioned.

The ribs at Cookies are my favorite. The first helping just as I remembered, the meat falling right off the bone. The second helping was not cooked well and I just had to put it down and eat some more banana bread instead!

I was bummed with this itinerary getting into Castaway Cay so late in the morning. No time to run the 5k as we had a morning Port Adventure. Really enjoyed the rigid hull snorkeling and would do it all over again.

 

[LAX]

Thanks for the notes. I too was on this cruise and echo a few points:

7. AquiLab is a waste of valuable space. Fun for younger kids, but not for an extended period of time.
8. Oceaneer Lab is tough for the older age limit. My boys hated going. No activities geared towards them and tons of younger kiddos. Would be nice to have more planned activities for 8-11 year olds. Even Gaga Ball was too crowded and had too many rules.
14. Really crushed that there was no Blueberry or Mango ice cream. In the past (Wonder) this was a special treat the one day they offered these flavors.

A couple of other observations:

Food quality has gone downhill. Cheaper cuts of meat, less expensive fish, and the servers claimed they are driving for cost cutting and many customers notice it too. This was my ninth cruise, and I struggled certain nights to find even one appealing option. Need to step up the quality again.

They could really offer more Open Caption movies at the theater. I applaud that they offer it at times (always on Funnel Vision), but it was mainly during port days. On the last sea day not a single movie was captioned.

The ribs at Cookies are my favorite. The first helping just as I remembered, the meat falling right off the bone. The second helping was not cooked well and I just had to put it down and eat some more banana bread instead!

I was bummed with this itinerary getting into Castaway Cay so late in the morning. No time to run the 5k as we had a morning Port Adventure. Really enjoyed the rigid hull snorkeling and would do it all over again.

My family & I went on our first DCL cruise (actually first of any cruise) last summer, so I have nothing to compare with. However, I was certainly not impressed by the food onboard overall (some items were good, some okay, a few actually bad). I think it was partly because of the high expectations I had after reading many glowing reviews here. Perhaps it was also partly because of the "premium" in fare we paid compared to other lines. What I really don't understand is why would the quality go downhill when demand remains strong and fare continues to rise? Why is there a need for cost-cutting? I don't think the overall cost of the cruise is rising faster than the fare charged if not reined in.

LAX

 

[squirk]

Other than the Aqualab’s “out of sight, out of mind” location, we’ve found that the water is just too cold to be enjoyable.

Nemo’s Reef and Spring-A-Leak never seem too cold, so I don’t know why they can’t warm up the AquaLab’s water a little.

 

[Dug720]

Regarding the Club/Lab, once upon a time they were separated into younger and older (I forget the exact breakdown). But the people complained that their children simply could NOT be separated, and after enough complaints, Mickey decided to combine them into one big mass. Perhaps if there begins to be a loud cry to separate them again, the pendulum will swing the other way.

 

[Van Houten]

after enough complaints, Mickey decided to combine them into one big mass. Perhaps if there begins to be a loud cry to separate them again, the pendulum will swing the other way.

There is still a tendency for the activities in the Club to be targeted to a younger audience, while the Lab seems to cater for 7+ group, but it is much less obvious these days than it was in the past.

 

[Dug720]

There is still a tendency for the activities in the Club to be targeted to a younger audience, while the Lab seems to cater for 7+ group, but it is much less obvious these days than it was in the past.

Right. But before it was strict age ranges for each area. Not the going back and forth there is now.

 

[ivanp91]

Why do they have Coke Zero on Castaway Cay, but not on the ship?

OK, I've got to say that for Eye Scream to have the slogan "so many flavors it's scary", I would have thought they'd have more than 4 (Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana). I actually did like the banana, and it's not one I see everyday, but I remember on my first Disney Cruise, there was either Cookie Dough or Chocolate Chip soft serve on Castaway Cay - why don't they have some more variety like that?

For some reason both of these seem to be ship-dependent - I believe it's the Magic (and maybe the Wonder) that does have Coke Zero/Coke No Sugar in the on-board dispensers. Just like it's only the classic ships that I've seen the more "exotic" flavors of softserve - mango, blueberry, etc. The Dream class ships do certainly have a more boring selection (I can't stand chocolate ice cream).

I'm surprised that the pools are not larger - I know space is limited on a ship, but the pools are really pitiful. They were always packed with kids (so much that they could barely move in the deeper one - I counted over 40 in there at one point). I think a pool of double the size would have double the utilization. I really think this is a shortcoming of the ship design, and I'd hope Disney would improve it in the future.

The size of the adult pool in particular on the Dream class is a sore spot for me, and indeed other posters on here, and I've barely used them as a result. The classics are much better.

 

[cheermom2four]

Thanks for the review from your point of view! My dd is the exception when it came to the aqualab LOL She loved it for some reason but she was only 5 on her first cruise on the Fantasy. The pools I definitely agree with. They are just too crowded and why she loved the aqualab. We will try it during main dinner since we have second seating and hope its less crowded. Last time we were on the fantasy kids were having accidents left and right and they constantly closed the pool. Kind of pisses me off as parents really need to either follow the rules (one had a diaper on but they dont hold poop) and also make their kids take bathroom breaks. My daughter hardly got to go in the pool because there was constantly accidents. After the fifth one, we just gave up as I was starting to get paranoid not knowing if someone had already peed in it LOL.

Glad to hear there were still the smaller bottles of shampoo and conditioner. I love those too.

 

[gotomu212]

Regarding the Club/Lab, once upon a time they were separated into younger and older (I forget the exact breakdown). But the people complained that their children simply could NOT be separated, and after enough complaints, Mickey decided to combine them into one big mass. Perhaps if there begins to be a loud cry to separate them again, the pendulum will swing the other way.

The problem now is that with Open Houses the kids can’t self segregate like they used to and Disney would need to stop Open Houses to put the age limits back (unless they just closed the clubs at random throughout the day). OHs can range from 4 hours a day to over 9 on port days. I’m not a fan of the number and length of Open Houses and while I appreciate why they started I think it’s lessened the experience as all secured programming is pushed together in one space.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I also think there's too much time as Open House. A few hours a day seems more than enough. I would much prefer segregated ages, and am concerned for my oldest who will be newly 10 and prone to that tween boredom. It's both good and bad that his brothers will be with him.

 

[Quellman]

Why do they have Coke Zero on Castaway Cay, but not on the ship?

That's been a complaint for a while. I can't believe it isn't on the fantasy still.

 

[JWG]

Great thoughts. We just got off the Fantasy the week before you (western) and had some simliar opinions:

• The gym starts to fill up fast around 6:30/7:00am, no rest for exercise committed I guess
• The chat feature of the App is ridiculous - we started having to put the time we sent texts in front of whatever we said as to not confuse people later when they finally got the message and then ended up taking our wave phones onto Castaway so we could call to find each other. We complained about this heavily in the surveys
• The pizza "IS" bad... didn't try the roomservice version but Flo's and Cabanna's was rough (we felt the same way about donuts, but to be fair they are trying to store those and if it's not fresh it's not good regardless of where you are)
• You're not counting the "twist" flavors at Eye Screem , there's chocolate banana, strawberry banana... those flavors haven't changed in years either.

 

[lahobbs4]

Thanks for the updates! We will be on this itinerary in September. Did you get off of the ship in Tortola and/or St Thomas? If so, what were your comments on those?

 

[hcox31]

We also just did this itinerary. I agree with everything you said. My son loved the aqua lab, but dang that water was cold. He was the only one in it a lot of the time. On the dream last summer we got body lotion, body wash as well as the shampoo/conditioner. On the fantasy last week we got a bar of soap and the shampoo/cond.

My biggest complaint is the app. My son was in the club one afternoon and had asked to be picked up. For some reason, our wave phones did not receive the message, nor did it go through the app. He ended up waiting over an hour to be picked up (and was pissed and distraught when we finally got him). The message on the app from the club didn't come through until 2 hours later on my phone and 3 hours later on my husbands. The only way we knew he wanted to be picked up was I happened to go into the room after my mixology class as the phone was ringing and he was calling from the club. And yes, we complained to guest services AND the club about this AND put it on our comment card at the end of the cruise.

We had to ask for paper navigators at guest services and felt like we inconvenienced the staff when asking for it. We much prefer the paper to get an overall at a glance look at what is going on.

The Royal Court really needs a menu overhaul. Totally not a fan of the options in that MDR.

 

[dclpluto]

11. Yes the pizza is really bad. They can make good pizza but they choose not to. Use to have good pizza on the wonder and magic. Now I think everywhere the pizza is very thin like a cracker.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

We just returned from the Fantasy March 9th. We had the room service Margarita pizza and thought it was very good. We did not have pizza from any of the quick service places. The food quality in the main dining rooms, YUK, this was our sixth cruise and the first time that we were seeking alternative places for dinner. The app "chat" was a joke. I sent my husband a message to meet me in the laundry room. He received it hours later.... Not happy about the decrease in amenities, lotion, shower gel, having to "ask" to have soap replaced. Our stateroom host was great so I think the CMs are being told to be stingy with the shampoo/soap, etc. Still love to cruise Disney but the experience has definitely declined over the years. And having to buy a "reusable" bag with one's store purchase is just tacky. If they want people to buy a bag it should at least be made out of recycled paper so it is biodegradable.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

The size of the adult pool in particular on the Dream class is a sore spot for me, and indeed other posters on here, and I've barely used them as a result. The classics are much better.

Yikes! The Dream class adult pools are even smaller than on the Classics??? Double yikes!

 

[LizGirl]

We've been on Fantasy 3 times but that's our only cruise experience so far - just to frame my opinion! We are trying RCCL this summer.

2. Paper Navigators are so much more convenient. We have to request them now? I wish they'd cut back on the shopping papers and make you request those instead!
7. My kids (11 & 8 on last cruise) love the AquaLab. It is freezing and I dread going over there to look for them but they don't seem to mind. Warmer water would be very welcome.
8. Same kids won't touch the Oceaneer's Lab or Club with a 10 foot pole. It's never held their attention. DD11 enjoyed a few activities at Edge but didn't stay there for any extended length of time.
11. Disney has a pizza problem in general. The only good one I've had is Via Napoli. The grilled chicken sandwich has been good.
14. Mango would be heavenly.

 

[CalifornianOrangeBird]

Yikes! The Dream class adult pools are even smaller than on the Classics??? Double yikes!

I'm pretty sure the Dream class adult pools are bigger than the pools on the Classics, but may seem smaller due to the larger amount of people on the Dream class ships. Plus, the Dream class ships have Satellite Falls.