Disney Fantasy Review
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May 2013 we decided to take a cruise to celebrate our 1st Wedding & 12th Anniversary in October, as well as my Husband's 47th birthday, but it had to be a Disney one according to our 6 yr old daughter. Fantasy's Eastern Itinerary was a perfect choice for us.
Embarkation: We did the online check in, saves you so much time from what I hear, we had a port arrival time of 10:45 11am, unloading luggage and parking the car (all was relatively painless and quick) the wait to get through security was a bit long, but it wasn't as bad as some say it is, with all the excitement (especially listening to the little ones detailing all the characters they want to see) around you it does go fairly quick, I don't think it was any worse than waiting at airport security. The check in process upstairs in the terminal was very efficient, fill out the medical form, verify id’s, get pics taken and sent on our way. We even got my daughter her Mickey band for the Kid's activity areas(no line up at the time) We were given boarding group 5, and groups 1 - 4 were called very quickly, so before we knew it we were walking down the hallway to the first of many photo ops!! DO NOT turn down an opportunity to get your pic taken by the pros!! Especially if you want to purchase the picture cd from Shutters at the end of the cruise.
As we entered the ship they personally welcome each and every family, which right from the get go makes you feel like the special guest you are!!! We were welcomed aboard by Caitlin, who also does a lot of the kid’s entertainment activities and is one of the bubbliest girls I have ever seen (and she has super awesome hair). The moment we walked on the ship and had our first look around. WOW... I don't think we will ever forget it!! Beautiful ship!! There is so much attention to detail in the decorations and art work; I spent a few hours just wandering the ship admiring the art and pics. Our room was not ready til closer to 2pm but we had lunch at Cabanas, did some wandering around and amused ourselves til it was ready. Once we got in our room, hubby went for a nap and daughter and I went swimming! Our luggage was all at our room by 4 or so.
Cabin Review
This cabin is mid-ship Starboard side. We booked a Deluxe Family Ocean view Stateroom with Verandah on Deck 10(Sleeps 5). I was a bit apprehensive about our stateroom location once I realized this deck was right below the pool deck. But despite some reviews I had read about noise we were pretty much unfazed by any noise. You did hear the odd lounger/chair scraping, but we didn't hear the footsteps or running feet day and night like some had said they hear. We were not that far from mid-ship elevators and stairways but far enough away to not hear the noise. There were the odd bunches of kids running through the hallways but that's to be expected. We had the BEST stateroom host, Ederson. His blanket and towel art awed us, especially my 6 yr old daughter...she couldn't wait to get back to the room to see what he had made that night. He always had our room spotless and we would leave for an hour or so and would come back and it would be once again spotless. As a few reviewers have mentioned they do not replenish the toiletries as they do at a hotel, but that was fine with us as we do not use the toiletries due to allergies and sensitivities so we always use our own toiletries. I did bring them home though for our guest bathroom! Having the split bathroom (toilet/sink - sink/shower with built in seat/round tub) made it so very convenient for getting ready for dinner. Was nice to be able to shower and not have to worry about someone needing to use the potty!! Our daughter loved the round tub as well as the built in seat. The retractable clothesline was so handy for the swimsuits. The shower is a rainforest one with a detachable shower wand, made washing daughter’s hair so convenient. Plenty of water pressure, which was an added bonus. The controls for the shower and bath can be a bit confusing at first, it has a separate one for water temperature and then the other knob controls the rainforest, shower wand or the bathtub faucet.Our stateroom was incredible, so clean and more than enough storage room for our luggage and clothes. As well as there is steamer trunk that doubles as a coffee table for even more storage (our host moved ours out of the way so my daughter wouldn't hurt herself on it. There was plenty of room in our closets for all our clothes. There are a few drawers and shelves in the desk which came in handy for things you don’t hang. When you enter the stateroom you will need to put one of your 'key to the world' cards in the master control panel. It controls the lights, TV, climate control. If you are going out and taking the card but leaving someone in the room BE SURE to put another card in there, otherwise the TV and lights go out. I was in the shower when hubby left to get a coffee and pick up daughter from kids club!! It gets pretty dark in there ;) The bed was super comfortable, very soft linens and comfy duvet, my husband loved the pillows, he is very fussy with his pillows and he didn't have any complaints about these ones! Our daughter slept on the sofa pullout and the times I laid on it I could have easily fell asleep there, the mattress is very comfortable. There also is a pull down bunk and a hide a bed in the wall behind the chair but we didn't require them so I am not sure what they are like. Overall we were more than pleased with our stateroom!