Disney Fantasy "Star War's Day at Sea" February 10th - 17th, 2018

[lovingeire]

Joining in! We're doing an Eastern on the Fantasy, but not Star Wars. Super excited to read along!

 

[pezgirlroy]

Joining in! We're doing an Eastern on the Fantasy, but not Star Wars. Super excited to read along!

As are we in three days.

 

[hygienist999]

Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - Phillipsburg, St. Maarten
All ashore: 8:30 am - All aboard: 6:00 pm
Gangway: Deck 1, Midship/Deck 1, Forward
Evening Attire: Pirate or Cruise Casual
Weather Forecast - Today: Partly Sunny - High 80 Degrees
Drink of the Day - Sunken Treasure (Alcohol) - Parrot Song (non-alcohol)

Character Appearances
Stitch - Deck 4, Balcony 3:00 pm & 4:00 pm - Lobby Atrium (Starboard Side) - 9:30 pm
Captain Hook & Mr. Smee - Lobby Atrium (Port Side) 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Mickey Mouse - Lobby Atrium (Port Side) - 3:30 pm - Deck 4, Balcony 9:15 pm & 10:15 pm
Donald Duck - Deck 4, Balcony - 3:30 pm - Lobby Atrium (Port Side) 10:15 pm
Chip & Dale - Lobby Atrium (Starboard Side) 3:30 pm - Deck 4, Balcony - 4:40 pm
Captain Jack Sparrow - Preludes 3:45 pm & 5:15 pm
Goofy - Lobby Atrium (Port Side) 4:00 pm - Lobby Atrium (Starboard Side)
Mickey's Pirates in the Caribbean - Deck 11 Stage - 5:00 pm
Minnie Mouse - Deck 4, Balcony - 8:00 pm - Lobby Atrium (Port Side) - 9:15 - Lobby Atrium (Starboard Side) 10:30 pm
Tinker Bell - Lobby Atrium (Vestibule) - 8:00 pm & 9:45 pm
Daisy Duck - Lobby Atrium (Port Side) - 9:45
Peter Pan - Deck 4, Balcony - 9:45 pm

The Comedy and Ventriloquism of Taylor Mason
Walt Disney Theatre
Deck 3, Forward - 6:15 pm & 8:30 pm

Port - St. Maarten-

We made it to Cabana’s for breakfast around 9:10am. We went ashore right after. The weather was overcast with dark clouds in the sky. It was pretty windy but the temperature was pretty mild, mid to high 70’s.







We took a water taxi to the beach area where the stores are located. You could definitely see the damage from the hurricane and rebuilding was happening all over the Island.



I do not remember the people harassing you as much the last few times I’ve visited there. I understand they need work and money but we almost went back to the ship it was so bad. I mainly wanted to buy a new pair of diamond earrings. I lost one of my diamond earrings a couple weeks before the cruise and I probably had worn them about 12 years with never taking them out. So, I was bummed. We made our way to Diamonds International to see if I could find something I would like. The lady who waited on me was super nice and helpful. I was looking for a specific type of earring and I think we looked at all the store had, before I let my husband buy my favorite pair, which I still think was way too expensive. But I do have a fabulous husband.

We went into a few shops, but made sure to visit a favorite, Cariloha. They were having a fabulous sale, so DH made out pretty good.

We walked around a bit, then made our way back to the ship. Some background info on me, I do not lay out in the sun. I had a Melanoma mole on my forehead years ago, so I avoid the sun as much as I can.

 

[hygienist999]

Once back on the ship we dropped off our bags and went to eat lunch at The Royal Court. This restaurant has the most beautiful tile murals. There wasn't many people eating in the restaurant for lunch so I walked around to take photo's.








We went to Deck 12 to sit and read.

 

[hygienist999]

We found a spot on Deck 12 to view the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck show a bit before 5:00pm. The characters put on a pretty good show. It is always fun to see the people who dress up in costumes.

 

[hygienist999]

We decided not go eat dinner in the Main Dining Room this night. We would have been late anyway since the Deck Party started at 5:00. We grabbed something to eat at Tow Mater's Grill before getting a seat in the Walt Disney Theatre for the Ventriloquism & Comedy of Taylor Mason.



The show this night was Taylor Mason, he was pretty good.



The Buccaneer Blast stage show was a very good production. The cast put on a live performance with Captain Jack Sparrow showing up before the Fireworks went off over the ship. Such a fantastic show to watch from a cruise ship sailing in the Ocean.










After the Deck Show we caught the adult show of Mary Ellen Hooper in The Tube, she was good, but not quite as funny as she was the first night. We then headed back to our cabin. It was a long day.

 

[lovingeire]

We decided not go eat dinner in the Main Dining Room this night. We would have been late anyway since the Deck Party started at 5:00. We grabbed something to eat at Tow Mater's Grill before getting a seat in the Walt Disney Theatre for the Ventriloquism & Comedy of Taylor Mason.

I was looking at Navigator's and wondering how that would work to do the deck show and make it to main dining. My little kids will definitely want to see this show though. How late do you think one would be? If I know my mom, we're cruising for their 50th anniversary, she'll want us to do dinner in the MDR, but I guess if we're a little late we can warn our servers ahead of time. Plus if we have to skip aps or something we'll survive. Or maybe watch from a spot where we can escape quickly to dinner?

 

[pezgirlroy]

I was looking at Navigator's and wondering how that would work to do the deck show and make it to main dining. My little kids will definitely want to see this show though. How late do you think one would be? If I know my mom, we're cruising for their 50th anniversary, she'll want us to do dinner in the MDR, but I guess if we're a little late we can warn our servers ahead of time. Plus if we have to skip aps or something we'll survive. Or maybe watch from a spot where we can escape quickly to dinner?

I am wondering about this as well. Is main dining 5:30 or 5:45? Maybe I will send my parents ahead to dinner.

 

[hygienist999]

I was looking at Navigator's and wondering how that would work to do the deck show and make it to main dining. My little kids will definitely want to see this show though. How late do you think one would be? If I know my mom, we're cruising for their 50th anniversary, she'll want us to do dinner in the MDR, but I guess if we're a little late we can warn our servers ahead of time. Plus if we have to skip aps or something we'll survive. Or maybe watch from a spot where we can escape quickly to dinner?

Dinner does not start until 5:45, so if you go to the deck party dressed for dinner, and people do wear their pirate costumes, you can make dinner. We just made the decision not to go and did not rush ourselves. And we have been as much as 20 minutes late to dinner due to excursions getting back to the ship late, and service was great. The Navigator states the "Mickey's Pirates on the Caribbean - Deck Stage, Deck 11, Mid-ship" starts at 5:00 pm - 5:30. The Fireworks show does not start until 7:30 and last until 8:00, late dinner begins at 8:15. So Disney is allowing 15 minutes to get to dinner.

 

[lklgoodman]

Even though we have been on the Fantasy before, I love seeing all of your pics because there are things that I didn't see when we were on her. Your pirate night pics are great. Disney needs to tweek their pirate night timing, though. We were on the Wonder this past March doing an East Car cruise. We had main dining(starts at 5:45). We ate at Tiana's that night. At 7:30 they did the pirate shows followed by the fireworks. We were really rushed during dinner. We didn't even get our desserts until almost 7:15, so we took quick bites and had to leave. A lot of people were rushing out to get to the pirate show. It wasn't our servers fault, either. There's just not enough time. They were working so hard trying to get our food to us. On our previous cruises pirate night activities didn't start until 10pm. While I like having it earlier, I wish we hadn't been so rushed at dinner. When we cruise next Jan on the Fantasy we'll probably skip the MDRs on pirate night since we've done it several times, plus I don't care for the pirate menu. We had Taylor Mason on our Wonder cruise this past March, he was really funny. We also had the "balloon guy". I don't remember his name, he was also on our Alaska cruise in 2014. He is hilarious!

 

[pezgirlroy]

Dinner does not start until 5:45, so if you go to the deck party dressed for dinner, and people do wear their pirate costumes, you can make dinner. We just made the decision not to go and did not rush ourselves. And we have been as much as 20 minutes late to dinner due to excursions getting back to the ship late, and service was great. The Navigator states the "Mickey's Pirates on the Caribbean - Deck Stage, Deck 11, Mid-ship" starts at 5:00 pm - 5:30. The Fireworks show does not start until 7:30 and last until 8:00, late dinner begins at 8:15. So Disney is allowing 15 minutes to get to dinner.

That is very helpful thank you. We will get in our outfits ahead of time then. It has been great to follow along with this as we will be on the Fantasy in three days !!!!

 

[hygienist999]

Wednesday - February 14, 2018 - St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Valentine's Day
All Ashore: 7:45 am- All Aboard: 4:00 pm
Gangway: Deck 1, Midship/Deck 1, Forward
Evening Attire: Cruise Casual
Weather Forecast - Today - Partly Sunny - High 80 degrees

Drink of the Day - Love Potion #9 (Alcohol) - Mango Crush (Non-Alcoholic)

The Magic & Illusion of Kyle Knight & Mistie
Walt Disney Theatre
Deck 3, Forward 6:15 pm & 8:30

Character Appearances
Goofy & Max - Preludes 3:15 pm
Stitch - Deck 4, Balcony 3:45 pm
Pluto - Preludes 4:00 pm & 5:00 pm
Pinocchio - Deck 4, Balcony 4:15 pm
Daisy Duck - Preludes 4:30 pm
Mickey & Minnie - Deck 4, Balcony 4:45 pm & 7:15 pm - Preludes 9:00 pm
Chip & Dale - Preludes 5:30 pm
Donald Duck - Preludes 6:00 pm
Cinderella - Lobby Atrium 9:30 pm

Our port this day was St. Thomas, one of our favorite ports. The views all over the island are great, but we booked an excursion for St. John, another favorite island. I highly recommend taking a boat ride over to St. John, if only to see Trunk Bay.

We were not leaving for our excursion until 10:30, so we slept in a bit then headed for breakfast. The views from our table were gorgeous.



Our excursion left from the D Lounge.



Our excursion was the St. John Echo Hike. I would not do this one again. We took an excursion a few years ago while in port at St. Martin and it was fabulous, this one not so much.

We boarded a two-tiered boat, named The Island Girl, that holds a lot of people and sailed about 30 minutes to St. John. At lease we did not have to walk far to board the boat.



We were sitting on the outside bench watching the Fantasy as we sailed by when one of the crew came up to all of us and told us we may want to go inside the boat as the wind and water will come on board and soak us. So, we went inside.



We made it to St. John and after we got off the board we gathered with our excursion and followed our guide over to the bathrooms that were not very far away.



Our trail started within walking distance of the pier we got off the boat. We already had limited time, so it was a bit irritating that it took about 15 to 20 minutes for everyone to go to the bathroom.



Finally we were on the trail, although there was not much of a view because the Ocean was obscured by the trees that had grown up. The guide stopped a few times to point out a caterpillar, foliage, and trees.

 

[hygienist999]

A few more photo's from our 30 minute hike.







Then Honeymoon Beach came into view. Such a private, secluded beach. Absolutely beautiful.

 

[TestingH2O]

Our excursion was the St. John Echo Hike. I would not do this one again. We took an excursion a few years ago while in port at St. Martin and it was fabulous, this one not so much.

Your photos are beautiful! Can you share what you didn't like about the excursion?

 

[hygienist999]

Your photos are beautiful! Can you share what you didn't like about the excursion?

The hike itself lasted about 25 minutes. There were only a few places where you could see the Ocean clearly along the trail. You had nothing to look at on your hike but the trees and foliage around you. The guide was good and he stopped the group about 4 times to show us a worm, tree, or a fern. Honeymoon Beach was gorgeous but you only had 30 minutes to spend at this beautiful place. The whole afternoon just felt like a waste of time, except for the 30 minutes at Honeymoon Beach. The water was not working at the beach and people were having to wash off their feet with bottled water.

 

[hygienist999]

Here are a few more photo's from Honeymoon Beach.




This is where the trip for me took a bad turn. In the following photo's you will see where I set my camera up with the timer set to take our photo. In the last photo you will see the picture my camera took just before or as it began to fall down the embankment of rocks.





It was windy and with my lens extended, the wind blew my camera off the rock and it fell over several rocks down to the ground. I swear it happened in slow motion. The lens had half broken off the camera body and there was sand inside the camera. To say I was upset was an understatement. I had the use my iPhone camera for the rest of the day until we returned to the ship. Thankfully I brought my backup camera, a Canon 6d, so I was thankful for that. But I truly did not know if anything could be done for my Fuji XT-2 camera, which I've had less than a year.

----- Once home I took my camera to the store I use all the time for camera needs. Thankfully my camera’s body only needed cleaning. My lens had to be sent off to Fuji and after a few weeks I got it back, good as new, yay. --------------

With the Island Girl in sight we would be back to St. Thomas before long. The boat ride is about 30 minutes long. Thankfully the ride was not too bumpy on the way back.



Once back at St. Thomas DH and I headed straight for The Fantasy. DH and I have been to St Thomas, St. John, and St. Maarten many times, so The Disney Fantasy was really the main reason we took this cruise and for the Star Wars Sea Day. We much prefer the itineraries of the Disney Magic over the Caribbean. The Caribbean is gorgeous but we have been so many times over the years that one island looks like another and we are not beach people.



We went to Deck 11 to grab something to eat then walked around Deck 12 and took some photo's.

 

[hygienist999]

After taking photo’s from Deck 12 we rushed to The Tube for the DVC Mixer. Years ago the DVC people would ask questions, like who had been members the longest, or was new to DVC. I really liked how it used to be done. I’m not knocking how they did this Mixer, they do provide Champaign and Mimosa’s as well as non-alcoholic drinks, it just isn’t as personable as it use to be. We were there about 15 minutes then we left.



We sat on our balcony a bit until time to change for dinner.



Dinner this night was in Animator's Palate. This was the night we drew our stick figures that would be incorporated into a cartoon at the end of the dinner.







After dinner we walked around the shops before heading to the Walt Disney Theatre for The Magic & Illusion of Kyle Knight & Mistie. The show was good, but I prefer the Broadway Shows the most.



It is always great to see the classic characters about the ship.

 

[hygienist999]

We were told there would be something special happening in the Atrium about 10:15, so about 10:00 pm we found a spot to stand to wait. Let me just say that Disney did a fabulous job introducing Star Wars. Fine Whines was playing in the Atrium when they started to play the song from the bar scene of Star Wars. Everyone went crazy. Some kids started dancing to the music. The lights turned a reddish color and the music that introduces Darth Vader began to play and after a few seconds the Storm Troopers followed by Darth Vader came out onto the Balcony. After Darth Vader gave a warning speech about helping the Resistance the Storm Troopers went out into the crowd and harassed the people. It was so cool. We loved this.













After getting something to drink from Deck 11 we went back to our cabin to the Happy Valentine Towel Display our Room Attendant made. I just loved this. Although I broke my camera, this was a great day.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I feel your pain. So glad that you were able to get your new camera up and operating again!

 

[hygienist999]

STAR WARS DAY AT SEA
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Evening Attire: Star Wars or Cruise Casual
Weather Forecast - Partly Cloudy, High 80 Degrees
Drink of the Day - Galaxy In a Glass (Alcohol)- Planetoid Punch (Non-Alcohol)

Star Wars - The Last Jedi
Walt Disney Theatre - Deck 3 & 4, Forward 4:30 pm & 7:30 pm

Character Appearances
Look out for some of your favorite Star Wars Characters roaming on Decks 3 & 4. Between 9:00 am and 5:30 pm.

Pool Patrol - Deck 11 Stage - 9:30 am, 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 3:00 pm, & 4:30 pm.

Outdoor Character Appearances - Weather Permitting



Star Wars - The Last Jedi - Buena Vista Theatre - 2:15 pm
Star Wars - The Last Jedi - Walt Disney Theatre - 4:30 pm
Star Wars - The Last Jedi - Buena Vista Theatre - 5:15 pm in 3D
Star Wars - The Last Jedi - Walt Disney Theatre - 7:30 pm
Star Wars - The Last Jedi - Buena Vista Theatre - 8:30 pm

Premear - 12:01 am - Black Panther - Walt Disney Theatre
Premear - 12:01 am - Black Panther - Buena Vista Theatre - 3D

After breakfast we grabbed a Diet Coke, which we did multiple times during the day, and waited for the Pool Patrol to start around the pool. This was such a cool idea. Once a hour Storm Troopers would come out after a little show on the deck to harass people around the pool. Loved this.













The Storm Troopers also harassed people around the Atrium .