What's new on the Fantasy

[stkgator]

Just off of the Fantasy here are few updates:

1. KTW cards have changed. No longer the teal-colored 25th Anniversary version but back to the light-blue card without the red-border on the left side from the pre-Anniversiary KTW cards. Mickey has also changed: he is no longer saluting, and his uniform was updated. The Concierge KTW cards looked like the previous version, Gold with the red-border on the left side.

2. TV's in the staterooms are being updated: out with the Samsung and replaced with 28" LG's. Larger but not dramatically and I would expect very few would notice the change in size. When leaving the cabin the second morning, the boxed TV's lined the hallway just outside each cabin door - my initial thought was that this was another 25th Anniversary framed print gift

3. Okay, this one if for the tech-geeks: New mooring lines! If you look closely, you can see it still has the tags;-)



4. Castmembers are now provided weekly alotment of Wifi minutes - this has had a dramatic impact on crew moral as many CM's made comments that they are now able to speak with the families daily!

5. When disembarking, I noticed that there are two projector screens that drop down from the the deck 4 ceiling just to the left and right of the balcony next to the Grand Staircase in the lobby. When disembarking, one of the screens had an static image and the words "See ya real soon". These screens may have always been there, but this was the first time that I had noticed them.

Lastly, what was the same: Same Castway Club gifts for Gold, Silver, and Platinum, and the same lanyards that were given out during the 25th Anniversary cruises.

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the update! I hope you had a wonderful cruise.

I love that the CMS get some wifi now. That always seemed so awful they made them pay for that.

And yes, I believe the screens have always been there. I have some photos from a while back (at least 2019 if not earlier). There's always something new to discover on a Disney Cruise!

 

[Lillebelle]

4. Castmembers are now provided weekly alotment of Wifi minutes - this has had a dramatic impact on crew moral as many CM's made comments that they are now able to speak with the families daily!

This is awesome to hear! Any idea if this is a fleet-wide change?

 

[stkgator]

This is awesome to hear! Any idea if this is a fleet-wide change?

I assume so as it would cause a lot of tension if they did not offer it on all ships.

A CM told me that most other cruise lines now offer their employees internet access, thus DCL had to follow to remain competitive.

There is a downside to this: if you are one of those that need internet access while on a cruise, more users will negatively impact the internet performance.

With most other large cruise lines moving to SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet, which provides a dramatically higher speed and bandwidth over the established satellite providers, it is much easier for those cruise lines to offer internet to their employees with minimal impact on their (paying?) customers that are also using the internet while on a ship.

The internet service currently offered by DCL is already constrained by the limited speed and bandwidth (due to the far more distant location of the satellites) - so adding any additional internet users will degrade the on-board internet performance for everyone.

Sadly, I would not expect DCL to consider switching to Starlink as I believe Mr. Iger would not willingly work with a company associated with Mr. Musk - but probably the real reason for not switching is DCL would have to rename one of my personal favorite spots on both the Fantasy and the Dream: Satellite Falls! The antennas used by Starlink are both flat and small (~20 inches x 12 inches) and have no moving parts, thus many of the "satellite" radomes (the large white round shaped object that you see around Satellite Falls as well on the aft portion of the Dream and Fantasy) would no longer be necessary

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

DCL would have to rename one of my personal favorite spots on both the Fantasy and the Dream: Satellite Falls! The antennas used by Starlink are both flat and small (~20 inches x 12 inches) and have no moving parts, thus many of the "satellite" radomes (the large white round shaped object that you see around Satellite Falls as well on the aft portion of the Dream and Fantasy) would no longer be necessary

They could still leave the water feature intact, even if the big bubble part is non-fuctional. After all, they have 2 stacks on the ship but only one is actually working as a real stack.

That is one of my favorite areas of the ship too. I could stay in there for hours.
Less than 2 weeks now until we're there.

 

[JM_97]

They could still leave the water feature intact, even if the big bubble part is non-fuctional. After all, they have 2 stacks on the ship but only one is actually working as a real stack.

That is one of my favorite areas of the ship too. I could stay in there for hours.
Less than 2 weeks now until we're there.

I remember on my first sailing (when I was 9 at the time) being so amazed when I figured out that the funnel between Quiet Cove and Goofy's Pool on the Wonder was not a real funnel.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

They explain it in the video “The Making of the Magic.” It used to be sold in the stores. I’m sure we bought it back then. Lol

 

[Arianabtd]

5. When disembarking, I noticed that there are two projector screens that drop down from the the deck 4 ceiling just to the left and right of the balcony next to the Grand Staircase in the lobby. When disembarking, one of the screens had an static image and the words "See ya real soon". These screens may have always been there, but this was the first time that I had noticed them.

I was on this cruise also and it was my first time noticing it too. I was thinking "have those screens always been there?"

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I was on this cruise also and it was my first time noticing it too. I was thinking "have those screens always been there?"

They were there in 2016, the last time we sailed on the Fantasy. During the “SeeYa Real Soon” show (or whatever they call it) on the last night onboard, they showed photos of various passengers throughout the cruise. They showed one of dh with ds, then 16, on formal night and I took a picture of them onscreen.
Like they’re celebrities. Lol

I was just recently looking at old pics on my phone thinking, “Why the heck did I take a picture of that?”