3&4 Night Cruises and now finally a 7 Nighter

[crichardson11]

I have previously cruised Disney four times on 3 & 4 night cruises on the Dream and Magic. This May we are taking the plunge and doing our first 7 nighter on the Fantasy! What should I expect? What's different about a longer cruise? Eastern Caribbean personal navigators are few and far between, especially since Irma.

Cruising: Me, DH & DD(8)

Previous Cruise Likes:
The Shows
Dining Room Experience
Oceaneer's Club
BBB
Midship Detective Game (over and over and over again!)
Goofy Golf
AquaDuck
Seeing a movie
Beach time at Castaway Cay
Shutters

Previous Cruise things we could do without or haven't tried
Pools
Palo / Remy
Rainforest Room
Adult Clubs / Bars
The rest of the sports deck
Royal Tea
Pirate Night
My daughter is showing less and less interest in character M&Gs unless it's something really special
Excursions - we've never booked one before but plan on trying some this time on a longer cruise. Thinking maybe the baths at Tortola and Coral World at St Thomas ??? I would love to zipline but I don't think my daughter is big enough.

So other than the obvious that there's more time to enjoy it all and maybe actually relax, what else should we be sure we do?

We have participated in Fish Extenders 3 of the 4 cruises we have done and have enjoyed it. I wasn't planning on doing it this time but my daughter really wants to. But she doesn't have to do all of the work that comes with it! lol. So I am still on the fence about that.

 

[Shanti]

I have previously cruised Disney four times on 3 & 4 night cruises on the Dream and Magic. This May we are taking the plunge and doing our first 7 nighter on the Fantasy! What should I expect? What's different about a longer cruise? Eastern Caribbean personal navigators are few and far between, especially since Irma.

Cruising: Me, DH & DD(8)

Previous Cruise Likes:
The Shows
Dining Room Experience
Oceaneer's Club
BBB
Midship Detective Game (over and over and over again!)
Goofy Golf
AquaDuck
Seeing a movie
Beach time at Castaway Cay
Shutters

Previous Cruise things we could do without or haven't tried
Pools
Palo / Remy
Rainforest Room
Adult Clubs / Bars
The rest of the sports deck
Royal Tea
Pirate Night
My daughter is showing less and less interest in character M&Gs unless it's something really special
Excursions - we've never booked one before but plan on trying some this time on a longer cruise. Thinking maybe the baths at Tortola and Coral World at St Thomas ??? I would love to zipline but I don't think my daughter is big enough.

So other than the obvious that there's more time to enjoy it all and maybe actually relax, what else should we be sure we do?

We have participated in Fish Extenders 3 of the 4 cruises we have done and have enjoyed it. I wasn't planning on doing it this time but my daughter really wants to. But she doesn't have to do all of the work that comes with it! lol. So I am still on the fence about that.

The 7-night on the Fantasy will be very much like the 3 or 4-night on the Dream, except that because it is longer, it will be more relaxing, and you'll feel more immersed in the cruise experience. We found food and service to be the same quality on the Dream and Fantasy.

I did notice that Bingo was more fun on the Fantasy: there were more hosts and they were more engaged & funny, and many of the passengers did the dances, etc., which few did during our cruise on the Dream. The show on your second night in Animator's Palate is very special: don't miss that one. Your first night's show in Animators will just be the same Crush show from the Dream, so it's easily skippable.

I do recommend booking a brunch and dinner (not on the same day) at Palo for this cruise. Before the cruise I would also pre-purchase a 1-day Rainforest Room pass, as it is a really relaxing way to spend an hour or two.

We didn't really enjoy visiting the Caribbean islands (too run down & impoverished ), so I can't strongly recommend excursions. We had planned a Baths excursion via DCL but it was cancelled because the ship arrived late to Tortola. The substitute Tortola excursion was something we really disliked, unfortunately. On St. Thomas, we took a taxi (this is easy to do- bring cash) to Megan's Bay, which was fine but nothing amazing, then did the Skyride to Paradise Point, which had a nice view, but we were still eager to return to the ship. Castaway Cay is the one port we really like...

 

[Madani]

We will be on our first 7 night cruise in May as well - May 5. We did a 4-nighter on the Dream in 2016. DD is 7, so looking forward to any suggestions you get! We missed the Midship Detective game the first time so looking forward to that. I asked DD about Royal Tea and she said no thank you, which I guess saves me some $$.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

What is different? You will never want to do a 3 or 4 night cruise again after your 7 night cruise LOL! I am only half joking. You will LOVE it!

Regarding FE, sometimes there are Pixie Dusting groups or people willing to Pixie Dust your daughter if they know you will have your FE hung up. It means you just bring along small gift items and put them in random FEs. People will hopefully do the same for you. You could always bring along the gifts for your daughter and put them inside your FE. There is a current thread about that very thing right now. I am sure you daughter loves to give as well as receive -- on a 7 nighter you will have more time for this type of activity and you could just head out for a couple of Pixie Dusting sessions. Super fun!

Have so much fun on the Fantasy! I am very jealous!

 

[KarenMP59]

We have done both 3 and 4 night cruises on the Dream and 7 night cruises on the Fantasy. For me half the fun is the planning and anticipation of an up-coming cruise so that part is the same. We have cruised with Disney 14 times so far with a 7 day coming up in April. The main difference is the pace. When we are on a shorter cruise, we fill every day with activities so that we get everything in that we like to do. Obviously with a 7 day there is more time to relax and spread everything out. Plus we get to go to both Remy and Palo brunches, which we love. I would compare it to going to WDW for three days versus 7 days. You do your absolute favorite things in three days but with seven you get to try new things and take more time to enjoy it all. There is no such thing as a bad Disney cruise for us. We love them all, even the two during hurricanes.

 

[jlynch924]

I agree with the other posters... you won't want to go back to shorter cruises. 3 & 4 days just aren't enough to *really* relax and enjoy the ships and the vacation. Everything always seems rushed. On the longer cruises, you truly can relax and be leisurely about walking the decks, enjoying the Rainforest Room, working out and even just lounging in one of the many spots to sit and people watch (or sleep). On a longer cruise, I don't feel guilty about spending two hours in the room watching a movie or taking a nap. You will LOVE it!