First Disney Cruise - Fun and worth the price overall.
Disney Fantasy Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 43
11 Night Southern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 30, 2018
Ship: Disney Fantasy
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 8058
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
First Disney cruise. We have done many with Carnival, one with NCL and one on RC. Disney is very family friendly and we really liked not smelling smoke anywhere on the ship. The ship was very nice, service good and food mostly good. Although we have some complaints - they are minor and will definitely do again.Embarkation
The process was fast. We arrived at the set time we were given, and just a short wait to get into a boarding group. Really appreciated that Disney had porters that directly took our luggage from the curb.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Bar drink options were very good. There were multiple "micro" type beers on tap (varied from bar to bar) which I really enjoyed. I did the mug "club" which gives you a bigger beer for the price of a short one - which I recommend for beer drinkers. The main buffet - Cabanas - had great selection for breakfast and lunch. The breakfast choice were huge - fresh made omelettes were tasty. At lunch, the carved meats were very good too - liked that they even offered some dark turkey for my son (5) who "gobbled" it up. The on-deck burgers & sandwiches (Flo's) were good too. They also offered different options from the main selections based on the day. For example, one day they had pulled pork sliders etc. Their fries there were hot and delicious - close to McDs in my opinion. For us, the pizza was not that good - no real flavor - and the choices were limited. I was disappointed the couple of times I tried it. For main dining, although it doesn't pertain to the food quality question, we liked the alternating dining rooms, although we weren't as impressed by Animator's Palette as others have been. We were in a middle table, away from the screens, so perhaps that played into our kids being only semi-interested in some of the more interactive aspects of that dining room. The food selection was very middle of the road as were the flavors. Not bad, but just okay. There was always a pasta, fish, chicken, beef, or vegetarian dish - in addition there were safe "always" present options for chicken breast, sirloin, salads etc. The kids choices were very minimal and very boring - our kids wanted something with more flavor like tacos or stir-fry. My daughter (7) even asked if she could get Kung Pao Chicken later in the trip -- alas, no you cannot. In general, the options had no real strong flavors, or even ethnic-themed options. It would be great if they offered at least one option a night with some featured cuisine like Caribbean, Italian, Chinese or Mexican.
Onboard Activities
The Aquaduck - raft ride tube - was fun. My son (5) loved it and lines were not bad at all. Main water play areas and pools were nice too - liked that they were fresh water (vs sea water). However, the pools could get very crowded, especially the Donald Duck pool where people would just sit around the edge watching the movies and blocking access for real swimming/playing. Lots of movies (2 main inside venues), which for some is great. The selection of movies was limited - they kept duplicating the same movies ("Incredibles 2" was on at least 8 times). It would have been nice to include some older classics for the kids (at kid friendly times!) to see on the big screen (i.e. Mary Poppins or Beauty and the Beast). In any case, for us, we wanted more family inclusive / interactive time activities... there were the occasional craft times which overlapped with main show times, so we only did a couple of those, which were fun. The children's program included some too, which I will cover in another section.
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Bar and service staff were great. Main dining room service was inconsistent. Had to flag down servers multiple times to get items like ketchup or drinks for the kids. Also, they messed up our seating order every single night - we had to move our children's stuff to be near us or via-versa.
Ship Quality
Plates & trash were always cleared away fast. Room service trays in hallways seemed to be picked up quickly too. The main areas seemed to be well kept.
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Did our own tour here - just hired a touring jeep truck at the port. Saw all the sites on the island, including the high point and the light house. Also had a stop on Eagle beach at Coco Loco Beach Bar .. unfortunately the only bar/restroom in the area. The service and food were awful. The beach was beautiful though. Would try to go some other part of the beach if I go back.
Thumbs Up
3
Did DCL excursion for Beach Break - Carlisle beach area - included chair, umbrella and drink for each of us. Nice beach and amenities. Would do again.
Did DCL excursion here - Greg's Safari . Good tour of island through the interior of the island with brief history, followed by beach break. Greg actually provided some of the commentary at the stops. There is an obvious passion he has for St Kitts and it shows in the way he conducts the tour. One downside it that our beach time was truncated due to being an afternoon tour and certainly was not a 5 star resort. It was a nice beach however and it had great views.
Did our own touring here. Went to La Fortaleza - which was very short walk from port - well worth the time. And, as a bonus, the kids liked it too.
Castaway Cay (Disney Private Island)
Really liked how they set this port up. Very clean and BBQ was tasty. Beaches were beautiful - we visited all of them. We even got out to the adult beach area after dropping the kids for a couple of hours at the kids play area.