Let me just start by saying what I learned from reading reviews and participating in forums on Cruise Critic prior to the cruise was extremely helpful in our planning. Hopefully, something from this review will help others. My wife and I are DVC members and therefore love everything Disney.
Just returned yesterday from our Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Fantasy. Our party consisted of 7 people; my wife and I are the grandparents, our daughter and son-in-law, and three grandchildren, 15, 13 & 6.
We started our vacation with a two night stay at Saratoga Springs, then took the Disney transportation from the resort to the terminal. This is one of the very few complaints I have. Our pick-up time was not until 12:15pm at the Saratoga, then the motor coach had to make another stop at Caribbean Beach. This put our arrival on the ship about 3:00pm. Talking to others on the ship, we had already missed out on several activities. I think Disney would take better care of loyal Disney people.
Our room was on the level 6, near rear of ship. The layout of room makes it very comfortable, even for me, who is not crazy for ship cabins. Only complaint about this room is the vibration felt from the ship's engines at higher throttle, particularly the first night and last night.