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- Sep 8September 2019 - Disney Fantasy 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 1Cast of Characters: Deb (my twin), Darla (myself), and Loretta.
We had a great stay at the Country Suites and Inn, it had 2 queen beds and a sitting area. I was up before anyone else and I was able to take my shower while the others were sleeping. They did not even hear the water running. And there was a door separating the seating area and the sleeping area. At 7 AM, I decided it was time to open that door and see when my two sleeping beauty sisters were planning to wake up! The opening of the door did the trick, both were surprised they slept till 7 AM. Once Deb was ready, she and I headed over to the breakfast area. They had eggs, sausage, waffles, bagels, toast, and I'm sure more. It was very good, and while we were eating we got to watch the coverage of hurricane Dorian. Things were looking a little brighter this morning, but still no way of knowing where the hurricane was going to hit.Loretta joined us a little later, and we relaxed watching the storm coverage and drinking our coffee. Loretta headed back to the room and Deb and I went up to the 4th floor to check on the ship. We had a great view of the port from the hotel and saw the Disney Fantasy and the Carnival Breeze just waiting for the passengers to come on board!
Our suggested port arrival time was set for Noon, but we decided we would head over around 10:30 AM. The hotel posted a note in the elevator that they were closing the hotel at noon. Not sure what they did with guest who had reservations, but no one would want to stay where a hurricane was expected to hit. We lounged in our sitting area till 10:30 then headed over to the port. Things were not clearly marked, at least for us, I completely missed the exit and we went past both ships. We turned around and came into the port from the other direction and followed the signs, making sure we paid better attention.
The entrance is a little confusing, they had Disney go to the right, terminal 8 and 10 went right, but cars were blocking the writing on the lanes. We ended up in the terminal 10 lane and had to go around and come in the other way. It seemed to be faster than waiting in the terminal 8 line, but again, if we could have seen the markings on the road, we would have waited in that line.
It was not long before we were pulling up to the cast members taking our luggage and then we headed over to the parking garage. We did not want to park on the ground level, fearing that we might come back to a car that had been under water. We started heading up a level and skipped some spots on deck 2 and ended up with one of the last spots on deck 3. We unpacked the van and walked over to the terminal and put our luggage through the x-ray machines and headed to the Disney Vacation Club line at the terminal. We got all checked in and were in group 15 to board.Around 11:30, they started calling numbers and we were on the ship before noon. They still announce families as you walk onto the ship, but no one told us where to go after that. So, we had to ask and were directed to either Animator's Palette for a sit down lunch or Cabana's buffet on deck 11. We opted for the sit down lunch. When having the sit down lunch we get an appetizer, entree and dessert. Portions were smaller, so we did not feel overly stuffed after lunch (At least I did not). After lunch it was 1:30 PM and our staterooms were ready. We headed up to Deck 9 and checked out our quarters for the next 7 nights. On the Disney Fantasy, they do not split the beds, which we knew before coming, but, I really wish they had this option. We have the queen bed on the back wall and the couch in the middle of the room. We also have the split bath, which is nice with 3 of us sharing a stateroom.
We hung out in the room and watched the storm news, and it looks like Florida may not get hit as hard as they were expecting, so that is good news for Cocoa Beach, but, not great news for other cities up the coast. At 4:00 PM they had the mandatory drill and we headed down to deck 4 in the bar area and got to sit inside while we went through the drill. With that out of the way, we went back to the room and watched more storm news. Our steward knocked on the door and introduced himself and we let him know our preferences. They still do two services to the room and we asked for ice each time.
At 5:45, it was time for our Main Dining in the Royal Court dining room. We are at table 47, which is a table for 4, so we will not be dining with anyone else during this trip. Dinner was very good, I will not go through what everyone got, because, I'm not sure what all it was, but our wait staff was great and everything I ordered I would order again. The one thing we did not care for was the olive oil and garlic that we were suppose to dip our bread in. We asked for butter instead.
After dinner, we headed to the shops and looked around. Loretta ended up buying a T-shirt, but they do not offer you bags, unless you want to buy one :-(. Loretta just took the shirt without a bag and decided to head back to the room because she was starting to feel the motion of the ship, Deb and I explored the ship some. The Welcome Aboard show was set to start at 8:30, so Deb and I headed over there. We did not get there till close to 8:30, because I hate waiting for the doors to open. But, the cast member informed us that they open the doors 1/2 hour before the show starts. Good to know for the future.
The show was very good, however, I was disappointed when a cast member came over and told me that I cannot take pictures of any of the shows. I don't mind that, it can be bothersome when someone has their light on the entire show. No need to bring the camera along with me to any more shows. This show was good and entertaining. They have one comedian/magician that had us all laughing so hard. He had invited 3 kids to come up and help him with a trick, and for some reason 4 kids came up. He kept saying he had to figure out what to do with the 4th kid. He will be appearing on another night on this cruise, so we will be sure to go and see him. Hopefully, his show will be just as good as his short preview he did tonight.
After the show, Deb and I wondered around the ship. We decided to head up to Cabana's to see what they had up there, and it was being cleaned and closed down. They said they have open seating, and they serve a meal up there, but no buffet for dinner. I just find that strange :-(. You can eat your meal without dressing up, but it's still a sit down meal. Not sure I like that...oh well. I'm am usually at the dinner, so no big deal for us.
We decided to head up to Palo's and see if we could switch our night from Day 3 to later on, since the first 3 nights they have a special dinners in all 3 restaurants. Since were have Enchanted Garden restaurant 3 times this trip, we decided to switch to one of those night, and choose to skip pirates night. We had no plans on dressing up like a pirate, so this should work out great.After this, we headed back to the room. Loretta was still up and we let her know we switched the Palo dinner and she was fine with the change. We are all in for the night.
Day 2 - Sunday, Sept 1, 2019 - Since I can't take that many pictures and share them as I go, I have been leaving the camera in the room. I will try to take it with me more tomorrow, but I did not take one picture today... I was up early today, around 6 AM, but breakfast was not till 7:30 AM, so I watched a little TV. Deb and Loretta got up shortly after me and we hung our in the room till close to 7 AM, when Deb and I went up for coffee. Loretta came up at 7:30 AM and the breakfast buffet was open. They have made to order eggs and omelets, bacon, toast, donuts, Danish, eggs benedict, pre-made omelets, sausage, Mickey waffles, and more (but no French Toast! :-( ).
We each got whatever we wanted for breakfast and headed down to the Buena Vista Theater to see the 2019 movie Aladdin. It started at 8:30 AM and there were about 10 others there to watch also. I did not think I would like Will Smith as the Genie, but I think I like this version of Aladdin better than the cartoon. After this, we headed back to the room, but our steward had not done the room yet. We had been gone for 3 hours, so we were not happy. He said he would make sure he did it while we were out at lunch time. :-(.
We checked out the storm info more, and they were talking about it heading over Northern Western part of Bahamas, not sure if that will change our stop for Castaway Cay or not. Have not heard anything about any changes so far. We headed up to the buffet for lunch and I have to say, it is confusing.... It looks like everyone is suppose to go to the station they want food from, but for some reason people are lining up at the first station and getting upset if they think someone is skipping line. Hopefully, by the end of the trip they will all figure it out and it will get easier. Plus, I think more people were at the buffet at the same time, since this is a day at sea.
After lunch we went back to the room and put on one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, because they tend to put us to sleep, even though they are action packed! And, sleep we did. :-). Tonight is a formal night, but it was too early to get ready, so we decided to watch the Descendants movie that Disney made with the kids of the Disney Villains. It was very cute, did not even know it existed. The TV has a lot of videos to choose from if you want to watch a Disney movie.
At 4 PM we all started getting ready for our first formal night. Had to start earlier, since there are 3 of us sharing a shower. By the way, we have a bath tub with the shower, and I thought I would like this more than other cruise ships with the tiny walk-in shower. But, I don't, I actually prefer the smaller walk-in shower. Maybe I will change my mind further into this trip.
We were all ready by 5:45 PM and we headed down to Animator's Palette for dinner. On the Disney Wonder, for this restaurant, they would start out with black and white pictures an add more and more colors as the dinner progressed. Here, they change the videos to under the sea and had Finding Nemo Crush and other characters displayed and talking to the guest. It was cute, the video is much nicer than the pictures were, but I kind of miss the room changing colors as you eat. And, at times, it was distracting to have them do the wave and talk to us while we were trying to eat....Dang, I think I am getting old! Dinner was great, but again, we did not care of the olive oil and seasoning they had for dipping our bread and we asked for butter. We all just prefer butter.
After dinner, Deb and I headed over to see the Live Action Aladdin in the Walt Disney Theater and Loretta went back to the room deciding she had enough of Aladdin for the day :-). The theater was packed. We got a seat near the back because it is hard to walk down the stairs without any hand rails. One lady was walking down and fell.... There are a lot of places on this ship where there are steps, that are not obvious, with no railing, unless you go all the way to the side. Guess I just need to watch my step!
Aladdin was good, we did have a baby / toddler behind us that seemed to be trying to sing along, it sounded more like screaming, but it made me laugh. The show was less than 1 hour long, so it was a condense story of Aladdin. After the show, Deb and I went back to the room. Even though it is early, we are very tired. We move our clocks back 1 hour tomorrow, so even though it is 10:30 PM when I'm typing this, it is more like 9:30 PM. Too early to go to bed, but I probably will be falling asleep soon.
That is it for day 2.