Review: Disney Fantasy - Ship & Stateroom Review (with pictures!)

Review: Disney Fantasy - 7 Days - September 13, 2014 - Western Caribbean

I am super excited to finally publish this post reviewing my experience (as well as experiences from family) aboard the Disney Fantasy.  I hope this review helps anyone reading it, and please feel free to ask questions in the comments!

**This will only be a review of the ship, what we did on board, and our staterooms.  There will be another blog posting which details what we did on our excursions while on this cruise**


Departure Date: September 13, 2014
Departure Port:  Port Canaveral, Florida
Cruise Length: 7 days

Itinerary
Day 1	Embark/Sea Day
Day 2	Sea Day
Day 3	Cozumel, Mexico
Day 4	Grand Cayman
Day 5	Falmouth, Jamaica
Day 6	Sea Day
Day 7	Castaway Cay
Day 8	Disembark

Stateroom Review #10664 (Aft Balcony)
We were very excited about our stateroom on this cruise!  It was the first time we ever booked ourselves a balcony, and we opted to book an extended balcony at the rear of the ship.  The room itself was amazing, and the balcony offered great views of Port Canaveral.

One of our favorite features of this room was the split bathroom.  The toilet was separate from the shower, allowing more than one person to get ready at a time.  Both rooms had a sink, as well!  Another nice feature on this ship was that the beds were elevated off the ground, enabling some extra storage space underneath the beds.  This is particularly nice when sharing a room with 3 other people!

**The Negatives About This Room**:  While this balcony room was pretty amazing, it had some negatives that caused us to eventually change rooms the next day.

• Noise: This room was literally right below Cabanas; as a result, we enjoyed chairs scraping across the deck around 6:00am every morning as first Disney employees arranged/cleaned the buffet area in preparation for breakfast, and then as passengers scooted their chairs forward/backward while eating.
• Diesel:  We had previously read some mixed reviews online that this room was downwind of the diesel engines exhaust; some people had a problem with this, others didn't, so we risked booking this room.  This was a secondary reason for why we would not choose this room again, as the smell was very strong during certain parts of the day, and there was black dust/fallout from the diesel engines that we woke up to in the morning, coating our deck and lounge chairs.
• Vibrations: There were subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) vibrations in this room.  We aren't sure why, but it's probably due to this room being at the rear of the ship above any propellers or propulsion system the ship uses.

Stateroom Review # Starboard Balcony (deck 10, room #10536 mid-ship)
This room was nearly identical to the first, except the balcony was much smaller (your standard 2 chairs and a table balcony).  Being midship, we also decided the motion of the ship swaying was slightly reduced as well, compared to our last room.


Ship Review - Disney Fantasy
"Building on the classic style of her sister ship, the Disney Dream, the Disney Fantasy™ is the regal fourth cruise liner in the expanding Disney Cruise Line fleet". This 130,000-ton vessel offers: 

• 14 towering decks 
• 1,250 staterooms 
• The capacity to comfortably accommodate 4,000 passengers—along with the over 1,450 Cast and Crew Members who tend to the needs of every cruise Guest each day
• Total ship length of 1,115 feet and a maximum width of 125 feet

This ship has some amazing amenities done exceptionally well in the Disney style.  Some of the things I enjoyed the most on this ship are:

• Goofy's Sports Deck:  Besides actually having a basketball hoop (2 I believe), they also had several ping pong tables and foosball.  These were fun ways to pass the time for my family; we had some very intense table tennis matches!

• Pools/Spas: Contrary to popular belief, Disney cruise's are NOT just for kids!  They have multiple areas on the ship that are exclusively for 18+ years of age, including pool areas.  We loved discovering that the spas had a "window" in the bottom that allowed you to see out over the edge of the ship while relaxing in them!

• Mini-Golf:  The mini-golf course was adorably themed and fun for all ages.

Disney Fantasy - Restaurants
I cannot say enough good things about their restaurants and wait staff on this ship.  Two members of our party have food allergies, and one in particular has multiple severe food allergies.  After learning this on night one, each evening they would send out the next days menu, and my sister (the severe food allergy person) would select things she would like to eat on the menu, and the chefs would work miracles to try and adapt them to fit her needs.  There were a couple of times that they couldn't make what she wanted, so they would call our room and ask if there was something else they could make for her.  They went above and beyond to make sure my sister didn't get sick (or worse) from eating food prepared for her by them.  She never once complained about the food upsetting her, which she says is the first time this has happened in YEARS, even including cooking her own food for herself!


Food Quality:  Let me just put it out there - I am a very picky eater, and even I found something I liked every single night, regardless of the restaurant.  Each night there was a theme to the food (such as "Prince and Princess" where they had foods various Disney royalty might have eaten or Pacific Rim Cuisine, Continental Market, French Dinner, etc).  They had new items each night, and standard stuff they had every night, such as steak and come kind of chicken.  Personally, I loved the desserts...they were so well presented and tasty!  So mostly what I'll be grading the restaurants on is ambiance.

  

Cabanas:  Your typical buffet (bumped up many notches Disney style), we didn't eat here except mainly for breakfast, because the main dining restaurants are so beautiful.  However, I really loved the breakfast they did serve here.  All kinds of pastries, juice, milk, chocolate milk, coffee, tea, soda, water, cereals, fruits, eggs, sausages, donuts (Krispy Kreme), toast, pancakes, hash, potatoes, french toast, waffles (mickey shaped!), eggs benedict...you name it, they had it.

 

Animator's Palate:  One of the coolest restaurants on the ship, particularly when they had their design a character night.  At your table, your waiter brought everyone a large paper where you were to design your own animated character that would come to life later that night in a show that took place on the video screens around the room.  It was awesome!

Enchanted Garden:  This room was incredibly beautiful, and made you forget you were at sea.  The garden decor was peaceful and relaxing, with large flower-shaped lights that slowly opened as the evening meal progressed.

Royal Court:  The general theme of this restaurant was that of Prince and Princess. This was the "fancy" restaurant on the ship, where people tended to dress up regardless of whether it was formal night or not.  Probably my least favorite of the restaurants in terms of ambiance, because it was in general just a fancy opulent look.  However, they had some sort of "side" dining rooms (it wasn't just one large room) that we ate in, and that room had some beautiful artwork featuring princesses and their princes.

Eye Scream:  Your average frozen yogurt machine with cones available.  They had at least 2 machines, and besides chocolate and vanilla, they also occasionally had banana flavored ice cream.
Flo's Cafe:  You know those amazing cream-cheese filled pretzels you can buy in Disneyland or Disney World?  Or how about the Mickey Mouse shaped pretzels with cheese dipping sauce?  Both of these were served (free of charge) at this cafe on one of the days.  They also had your typical burgers, salads, chicken, wraps, pizza and fruit.
Room Service:  You can get just about anything delivered (free of charge) from room service.  The only down side was that it could take 30 minutes plus to receive your bowl of macaroni and cheese and 3 cookies (I would know...we ordered this on several occasions!).
Remy and Palo: These are two adults only restaurant venues and we never felt like we needed to pay more to eat food when in the main dining food was already incredible.  They run $25 per person and up.

Rotational Dining:  This cool feature ensures that you experience each dining venue at least once, and that your wait staff follows you from venue to venue.  You won't have to change waiters when you go from Animators Palate to Royal Court, and so on!  The only time you will not have your dining staff is for lunch in the main dining restaurants or if you decide to go to Cabanas instead.  However, your waiters have made extensive notes on any allergies or preferences you might have, so those substitute waiters will already know lots about you.  It's a very nice dining feature!




Entertainment
There were many activities to do on sea days, and amazing shows to see at night.  This was our second Disney cruise, so some things (like Mickey's 500 Race Cars) we skipped, since they are geared more towards children and we had all adults with us.  Here are some of the things we did on our cruise, and what we enjoyed most.

Midship Detective Agency:  This is a nifty way to pass the time.  There are several "cases" you can solve that involve you going around the ship and looking for clues in artwork.  These pieces of art will come to life and send you on your way towards your next clue and so on, until you solve the mystery.


Character Meen'n'Greet:  Besides the classics like Mickey, Minnie. Goofy, Pluto, Donald and Daisy, you could also meet Elsa and Anna, Jack Sparrow, Aurora, Cinderella, Aladdin, Jessie, Woody, Genie, Chip & Dale, Tinker Bell, Doc McStuffins, Sofia, Stitch (also Pirate Stitch!), Hook & Smee, Peter Pan, and many others.

Shows:  On this cruise, we had the shows called Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular (almost identical to the Aladdin show you can see in Disney's California Adventure), Disney's Wishes, and Disney's Believe.  Believe was easily the best of the bunch, but all of them were really well done, so do not miss these shows!


Pirate Night/Fireworks:  This was one of the coolest things I have ever done at sea.  The entire day is pirate themed, from the food to the decor to the uniforms that staff wear.  Guests of all ages are actively encouraged to dress up in pirate gear, and in my family we went above and beyond!  Pirate games for the whole family started at 7:30 on deck 11 & 12, followed by a pirate themed show involving the Fab 5 and Jack Sparrow, and then the fireworks show was shot off on the starboard side of the ship.  The show isn't as lengthy as the shows in the park, but this is still something worth doing.  Get a good spot early on near the stage where they do the show, as they get taken up very fast.

First-run Movies:  Not only do they have midnight premieres if a movie is coming out while you are on the cruise (I saw Maleficent on a Disney cruise back in May at a midnight premiere) but they show movies that are currently in theaters such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Million Dollar Arm, Guardians of the Galaxy, Planes: Fire & Rescue and Disney Nature movies like Bears.


AquaDuck/Pools:  Easily the coolest thing on this ship is the AquaDuck.  Easily visble from anywhere on the top decks, this giant tube slide is called a "water coaster" and circles the ship and takes you on a 765 foot journey, part of which extends you out over the ocean.  Aqua Lab is for families, with leaky pipes and water fun, and Nemo's Reef is for toddlers and younger children.  Mickey's Pool and Donald's Pool are for families, while Quiet Cove Pool and Satellite Falls are for adults only.

Halloween on the High Seas
During a specific time of the year (September-October generally), Disney Cruises celebrates Halloween on the High Seas.  This fun event means that there will be specific Halloween themed events, such as Mickey's Mouse-querade Party, which involves trick-or-treating for all ages, costumes and your favorite Disney characters in their Halloween costumes.  Halloween themed activities include mask making, pumpkin carving, scary stories, and more.  There is also a special adults-only costume party, where prizes are given for the best costumes.

Overall Experience Rating:  9/10
Quite honestly, it would be a 10/10 if not for a couple of things.  One, we were very disappointed to have to change rooms from our initially over-sized balcony room to the smaller balcony.  Two, there were literally so many people trying to fight for a spot to see the fireworks on the starboard side of the ship or watch the pirate show, it just felt overwhelming and claustrophobic.  Other than that, we really had no complaints.  The food was great, the service great, the shows great...everything was really fantastic.

If you are an adult thinking Disney is only for families with kids, think again!  This party of 4 adults had a blast with no children present.  Plan on participating in things like dressing up like a pirate, or you will feel very left out and wishing that you had brought the appropriate attire.

Thanks for reading my review, and if you have any questions, please ask!