Highs and more highs of Disney Fantasy 2-9/11

[Guest]

We flew home on Monday after an amazing 17 nights in Florida, including a 7nt Eastern Fantasy Cruise. We had an amazing time, the whole trip thoroughly exceeded our expectations in every sense. The highlight was our cruise! To put some of these highs in prospective my dh is an injured soldier and is a wheelchair bound double amputee, going on any holiday requires stealth planning and organisation and often still results in some form of disappointment. This holiday was a real success story and demonstrates how much more wheelchair friendly the states are(well Disney anyway!) than the uk.

We booked a taxi transfer through Florida Magical Tours quoting the DiBB, very reasonable compared with DCL bus transfers. The taxi had a DVD for the children and the driver was animated, very talkative and helpful. We arrived at port at 10.30, handed our bags over and went straight through the terminal.

We sailed concierge so had the benefit of concierge check-in where we walked straight up to the desk. Check in was quick, efficient and only issue was being unable to sign the children into club due to computer failure but that was quickly resolved on board. We waited for a very short time in the concierge waiting area before boarding started. We were inboard by 11.30.

Our concierge were Tracey, Alice and PJ. All were fantastic. All our requests were met, nothing major just a few schedule changes;Palo dinner night, spa treatments etc. we had an issue one night where dh and I were due in palo but he was in too much pain to go so they rearranged for us and ordered mdr room service without a fuss. Always greeted by first names going into the lounge and children got lots of fuss.

Food was amazing all week, we didn't have one bad meal. Our service team were great-even cutting the children's food for them!

BBB-our girls did this on formal night and I preferred the hairstyles to the park ones. Hair down with tiara and lots of sparkle(so much sparkle I'm still washing it out almost 2 weeks later! )

Children's clubs - the girls loved these. They never wanted to leave, the clubs never seemed overly busy and there was plenty of staff. Our 7 yr old enjoyed the structured activities whilst our youngest enjoyed crafting in pixie hollow and the numerous character interactions!

Photos- yes they were incredibly expensive compared to the parks but the photographers did an amazing job and we got some amazing family pictures that we would have paid a fortune for in a studio.

Stateroom 11006 was the one we called home for the week. It was truly stunning, large balcony, plenty of storage, bed was out of this world comfy! Only small issue was when the pull down bed was out dh couldn't get to the balcony as it blocked the way. As we were out most evenings it didn't really bother us.

We didn't disembark at st Maarten as it wasn't greatly accessible for wheelchairs and it was extremely hot that day. We used the quiet ship time to take advantage of the pools and aqua duck. We had booked the land and sea excursion on at Thomas' but they cancelled the accessible one due to lack of numbers which was disappointing so we just wandered down to the shops. It was a shame we didn't get to see more of the islands but we did get more time to explore our beautiful ship. On Castaway we were fortunate enough to have secured the hc Cabana(no1), the weather was stunning and we had the most amazing day possible. We never wanted to leave, it really was quality family time that we never get the opportunity to have elsewhere. According to my daughter I also swam right over a stingray over by the slide which the lifeguard was desperately trying to discreetly warn me about without making me panic! Was funny afterwards!

In our last night returning to PC we sailed through a tropical storm and it was incredibly rough and rocky! Staff obviously had been alerted that this would happen as all glass and fragile a were removed from shelves and concierge were told to secure crockery things in the lounge. The first we knew about it was the monsoon rain whilst sitting on deck at 10pm quickly followed by storm force winds for the remainder of the night! Sliding doors were banging everywhere Nd I had to put all the coat hangers on the floor in the wardrobe and all bottles in the bathroom sinks as they were all over the floor! However I'm the only one in our room who was still awake at 3am! I see it as part of our cruise experience and it didn't make me view cruising in a different light it was an interesting experience!

I am happy to answer any questions about our cruise experience or elaborate further where needed. We did explore the majority of the ship, did most meet and greets and met some fantastic people. We can't wait to go again!

[Twentyyears]

So glad you had a wonderful time, making those family memories are so important and must have been doubly so when you have to plan in so much detail.

[lottie89]

Sounds absolutely incredible! Glad you had a lovely time

[Guest]

Hi, Your cruise sounds amazing. I was wondering if you had any other advice or tips. We are hoping to do our first cruise in April 2015 on Fantasy. Can you please tell me if you can get really dressed up on the formal night? I'm old school and love any excuse to wear a long gown and see my hubby in his dinner suit. To me there are so few occasions where you can dress like that these days, and if we book the cruise, this will be one of the things I'll really look forward to. I hope you don't mind me asking you. Many thanks

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by laurat

Hi, Your cruise sounds amazing. I was wondering if you had any other advice or tips. We are hoping to do our first cruise in April 2015 on Fantasy. Can you please tell me if you can get really dressed up on the formal night? I'm old school and love any excuse to wear a long gown and see my hubby in his dinner suit. To me there are so few occasions where you can dress like that these days, and if we book the cruise, this will be one of the things I'll really look forward to. I hope you don't mind me asking you. Many thanks

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Some people get really dressed up, tux and ball gowns etc, other don't dress up at all, you'll see everything and anything on formal night.

[Guest]

What a great review thank you for taking the time to post it

We are on the same cruise this year for our honeymoon, also staying Concierge but we are on deck 12 I think.

Any tips as to how to get the most out of sailing concierge?

Were you contacted by the shoreside Concierge at all, or did you get in touch with them? It will be my hubby (oo he will be then!)'s birthday on board so want to make it as special as I possibly can!

[Guest]

Hi, just brought back lots of very happy memories bumping this back up! My eldest daughter, who's 7, still has weekly tears because she wants to go back and my 5 year old is saving her pennies!
With regards to dressing up we saw people go all out with ball gowns, tux's and military mess dress and others who barely bothered. I have to say for early sitting most people in the lobby for captains drinks beforehand had made an effort and it was lovely.
Concierge contacted us by email at about 150 days and we put in our requests and we got them all: Cabana, palo, BBB etc. I have to say there was lots if palo slots still available when onboard and the restaurant was half empty for brunch.
What I wouldn't do right now to have another booking... Patiently waiting for the rest of 2015 to be released!

[Minniemom801]

fantastic trip report, thank you for the in-depth info. Hoping to jog & bring back amazing memories again for you !

We have just decided to upgrade to 1 Bed C. Suite. We are in room 11002, the same deck you were on. Were you & your children allowed to go through the adults only pool area to access the main pools/cabanas etc? or were the kids no allowed?

Few more questions relating to concierge, can you arrive at PC anytime or were you given a slot? We will be leaving the Poly after 7days prior to DC so after reading your report I think we will get a cab and get there asap, and make the most of the day. Did the children have a private meet & greet throughout the cruise?
Sorry to bombard you with all this, would love to speak to anyone with 'real' experience of disney cruise & concierge also, TIA

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Minniemom801

fantastic trip report, thank you for the in-depth info. Hoping to jog & bring back amazing memories again for you !

We have just decided to upgrade to 1 Bed C. Suite. We are in room 11002, the same deck you were on. Were you & your children allowed to go through the adults only pool area to access the main pools/cabanas etc? or were the kids no allowed?

Few more questions relating to concierge, can you arrive at PC anytime or were you given a slot? We will be leaving the Poly after 7days prior to DC so after reading your report I think we will get a cab and get there asap, and make the most of the day. Did the children have a private meet & greet throughout the cruise?
Sorry to bombard you with all this, would love to speak to anyone with 'real' experience of disney cruise & concierge also, TIA

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Yes you can walk though (answered in your other post).
You can arrive whatever time you like after 10am as concierge .. no earlier as the terminal is not open.
Children don't have private meet and greets in the lounge, it's for everyone sailing concierge. You'll get invites in your room to these get togethers. In the childrens clubs, they do have characters going in (with photographers too), but these are not advertised normally, they are just magical things that happen.

[Minniemom801]

again thanks Bats!