Disney Fantasy with Star Wars day at Sea Recap Feb 29

[Jedi Jason]

First of all thanks to @CruiseHabit Bill for the nice compliment during his recent live broadcasts of my Celebrity Equinox Live blog post on the RCB message board.  That compliment inspired a cruise recap for this Disney cruise.

We booked this cruise over one year ago.  The motivation was a few factors.  It was originally scheduled to be on my kids Spring Break which has since been pushed back a week from the prior school year so they will miss a week of school and after returning have another week off school for their actual Spring Break.  Another reason for picking this was it included a themed sea day with Star Wars activities.  Additionally we had a desire to try out a Disney Cruise since we live in the Orlando area and are Disney World passholders, despite the cost of the cruise.   My son's Birthday, February 29 was a great excuse to select this cruise since this will be his second legitimate birthday even though he will be eight years old.

Since all of this is new I will take lots of pictures and do a recap after I return.  There is not an onboard internet plan that is unlimited unless you stay in a suite (concierge class) room.  You must purchase a plan with different amounts of data  with larger packages being cheaper by the MB but it's a use it or lose it plan and the prices are not good and there are rumors of poor internet speeds.

My Equinox blog was all done via my iPhone 7 so hopefully I will do as good or better since I recently upgraded to the iPhone 11.  I look forward to sharing it with all of you.

The itinerary is a Western Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral.  It visits Cozumel, Mexico, George Town, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Jamaica and Castaway Cay which is Disney's private island in the Bahamas with the ports in that order. We have plans to go to El Cozumeleno resort for the day in Cozumel.  In George Town we are going to the Turtle Farm.  In Jamaica we have an excursion to take a raft down the Martha Brae River.  No plans at Castaway Cay other than the 5K race and enjoying the island.  We booked a verandah room.  My Niece who is in her mid 20s and didn't pay for the cruise is with my kids ages 8 on cruise day and 10 for my daughter  in a large interior room with a virtual porthole.  Her parents (my brother in law and sister in law) are in a verandah that adjoins to our room.  We originally booked specific rooms but a month before the final payment deadline a verandah guarantee with restrictions became available that saved almost $1000 for each of the verandah rooms.  We got our room assignments about 10 days before the cruise and we got rooms comparable to what we originally booked.  Originally we did not have adjoining rooms but we were assigned a room on the same deck as the inside room with my niece and kids that was not too far away.

If you have any questions before I go I can try to find out onboard and report back.  The only day I expect to have internet is the Cozumel day but I probably won't post much until I get back.

[karl_nj]

 

Looking forward to hearing about this cruise.  We were on a Marvel Day at Sea sailing on Disney Magic a few years ago, which was a lot of fun.  I always wanted to try the Star Wars sailings, but the timing never worked out with the school schedule.

Disney Fantasy is a great ship too.  My son missed not having the Midship Detective Agency game on the Magic.

[CruiseHabit Bill]

Really looking forward to reading about your trip @Jedi Jason!  It's been four or more years since our last DCL sailing, so while we've sailed with them a number of times, it's definitely not as clear in my mind as it once was.  Your perspective will be interesting as well, given not only your cruising history, but the fact that you'll be seeing so many different family members look at this through different lenses.

Stoked to see pics and updates, but more importantly, HAVE A BLAST!

Oh, and two quick thoughts:

-Get brunch at Palo, it's quite the spread.
-Enjoy a drink at the Meridian Bar, located between Palo and Remy.  Fantastic views and service - my favorite place after Cove Cafe, which I consider my home on DCL ?

[karl_nj]

10 hours ago, CruiseHabit Bill said:

 

-Get brunch at Palo, it's quite the spread.

 

Yeah, that brunch at Palo is amazing,  we've done that several times.  The first time I booked it was because I wanted to try out Palo but didn't want to miss dinner in the MDR.  All the other times where because it's so much fun.

 

Lunch at Remy is also very nice.  In some ways, it's the exact opposite.  Set menu, no real choices (vs the infinite choice at Palo).  But the food is amazing.  They change the menu from time to time, but years ago when I dined there one of the courses was some sort of fish on a bed of scrambled eggs.  

I don't really like eggs.  I never order eggs.  When I looked at the menu I figured I would just eat the fish and leave the eggs.  I'm on a cruise, it' s not like i'm going to starve.  The dish came, tried the fish and I thought it was cooked perfectly.  So then I figured, what the hell, the chef intended the two to go together, maybe I should give it a try.  I put a little of the egg on my fish.... wo, it was really good....  By the end I was just eating the scrambled eggs by itself, didn't leave a bit.

You know the chef knows what he is doing when they can make a food that you don't even care for taste amazing...

 

[Jedi Jason]

I just got off the cruise ship today and it was an amazing experience.  I can't wait to share it all with you.  Since it was all of our first time on DCL and we had the Star Wars Day at Sea, we chose some different experiences and activities around the ship.  We were also traveling with my kids so I spent most of time doing what they wanted instead of what I wanted and as a result I may not have been able to get as many photos and experience as many adult oriented activities but I will do my best to recap the trip.  I will probably just go day by day and also give some overall thoughts and observations.  My free time is limited between unpacking and work the first part of the week but I will work on eventually sharing my experience.

[Jedi Jason]

Well I guess it's best to start at the beginning, embarkation day or maybe even before that in the pre cruise booking of character meet and greets and shore excursions.

So, Disney does things a little different as you would expect.  Sometimes it's better and sometimes not so much. 

They don't allow you to book any excursions through them or make any reservations for any onboard activities such as character meet and greets until after final payment.  When you can book them is dependent on your loyalty status with the cruise line.  We were first timers so we had the lowest priority which means about 75 days prior to the cruise that we were able to make reservations.  We made those reservations just after midnight of the first day possible.  We got everything we wanted except one character meet and greet.  We were able to secure that last reservation on the ship immediately once we boarded.  They apparently hold back some of the reservations until cruise day.  I found this to be a bit annoying that you can't book these further ahead especially the shore excursions. 

You also can select your check in time at the port during your online check in.  We were able to get a 10:45 time because we were driving to the port.  We arrived around that time or maybe closer to 11:00.  Upon arriving at the correct terminal there was a bit of a slow moving line.  Once we got to the front of the line we were sent to a specific spot where a curb side agent verified our arrival and gave some instructions.  Next, we pulled up to the bag drop area where a porter took our luggage and advised us of the parking options, preferred (closer but more expensive) and the garage not much further, cheaper and covered unlike preferred.  We found a spot on the third floor which is the floor you enter the terminal.  There was another agent that verified our room number again and then there was a security screening.  We entered the terminal and we were greeted with a typical Disney queue to check in at a counter.  The wait was not too very long but at this point we were in our fifth line already so I was really appreciating Royal Caribbean's expedited arrival and seamless check in process.  We were given a boarding group number at the check in counter which had already been called at this point.  There was yet another line to meet a Disney character but we were tired of lines and ready to be on the ship so we got in the line to get on the ship.  We waited in a line to scan our Key to the World Card and then another line to actually step onto the ship.  So, after seven or eight lines I was more than ready to finally step foot onto the ship.  This was perhaps Disney's biggest opportunity for improvement.  The one thing they do extremely well is make you feel special:  They announce your family name as you walk onto the ship and applaud as your step foot onto the ship thus the reason for the last line.

I will post more as I have time including plenty of pictures.

 

[JLMoran]

Seven or eight lines!?!? Disney does know they have loads of young kids with short patience thresholds going through all this, right? ?

[karl_nj]

10 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Seven or eight lines!?!? Disney does know they have loads of young kids with short patience thresholds going through all this, right? ?

 

Haven't you ever been to Disney World?   They love lines over there too ?

But seriously, I do agree that Royal Caribbean has done quite a good job with trying to make embarkation more "frictionless".  I was quite impressed with the new Miami Terminal when boarding Symphony last summer.  I don't think I was stopped for any long period of time from dropping off luggage until I was on the ship.  And their Bayonne terminal is way better then it used to be.  You use to have to get on a bus, and they would drive you the 500 feet to the ship one busload at a time.  Was a nightmare.

 

[Jedi Jason]

Sorry for the gap in the cruise review but let's get back to it since we all need something other than corona virus news.

It has been announced that they have a big construction plan for the Disney terminal at Port Canaveral.  When we left the ship our porter was telling us about it starting in June.  I hope they have plans to make it a more seamless boarding process with less lines.  He did mention that the preferred parking would not be available during the construction but I don't know much about the details of the new terminal.  I did find an article that lacked details on the construction enhancements but it did indicate that Disney would be using terminal 10 instead of 8 during the months of construction.  The link below is to an article about the proposed renovations.  I copied and pasted the highlighted changes.

https://insidethemagic.net/2019/12/disney-cruise-line-port-canaveral-ba1/

 

The Project will include construction, renovation and equipping of Cruise Terminal 8 and Cruise Terminal 10, including terminal and berth improvements and a new passenger boarding bridge. The Terminal improvements include a new luggage screening building, renovation of the first and second floor, reconfiguring seating area and check-in counters, and site, access, IT and electrical enhancements. The berth improvements include structural and deck enhancements and mooring fixtures

[Jedi Jason]

Boarding day especially on a new ship is typically full of exploration and this day was no exception since it was both a new cruise line and a new ship for us. We boarded the ship with them announcing our family name with crew members applauding as we boarded the ship on deck 3 which is one of the main levels and you step into a three level atrium. Since this cruise had Star Wars day at sea theming there were some related photo opportunities immediately after boarding. So what’s another line or two since it’s the Disney way. We are very familiar with being in a queue since we are annual passholders.
 

So we did some exploring mostly indoors because the weather was the coolest I have ever experienced on a cruise day in Florida. The morning low was in the lower 40s and it was only in the lower 50s by now.  One of our first stops was guest services to get registered for character meet and greets we weren’t able to secure a nonconflicting time. It wasn’t too long and we found ourselves at Cabanas, the buffet restaurant. The welcoming lunch was perhaps the best buffet meal of the week.  More about the buffet later.  

Then we went to the kids club which they call oceaneers club to have them registered for the week. I will describe it in more detail in a later post including the various hours and activities. They give them Magic bands which they secure it so it can’t be removed. There is a charge for the band but it is credited back to you if you return it by midnight of the last night. 

We found time for some Goofy golf (mini golf) nine hole course up on the sports deck. It wasn’t long until it was time for the muster drill. Some of us were lucky enough to be seated in the main theater for the drill.  After the drill we rushed to the pool deck for the sail away party. 

[Jedi Jason]

The sail away party was in typical Disney style, family friendly with the classic characters leading the fun including a count down to sail away and the unique horn song “When You Wish Upon a Star”. 

 

Disney uses rotational dining for dinner in the main dining room. That involves going to one of three different restaurants in which you are assigned to go to a specific restaurant each night and your same wait staff accompanies you each night at the same table number in each of the restaurants.  Each restaurant has a unique theme and our first night we went to Royal Court. It was supposed to be like eating in the palace of one of the Disney princess dining hall. There was some mosaics of different princess stories on the walls including Cinderella and Belle. The bread baskets were a royal carriage. The cake was purchased in advance and they brought it out for his Birthday and sang Happy Birthday and served it for us. I don’t have many pictures of this dining room because another large party was seated adjacent to us which blocked the ideal photo area and my wife and I went to a specialty restaurant on the other night we were assigned to go here. 
 

The evening entertainment was a good introduction to DCL and a preview of the week to come and part entertainment including the characters and some of the singers and dancers and guest entertainment from the shows. It doesn’t have a high repeat value. Our cruise director, Lesley Dallas was a refreshing change to have a female CD but she liked to promote what seemed like nearly activity happening which made for some tremendously long post show and overhead announcements. 
 

it was a very exciting first day. We finally got a chance to experience our first day on DCL and it did not disappoint.  I plan to post more as I can. 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by Jedi Jason

[Jedi Jason]

The next morning we had a sea day so we decided to stay on the ship.  Exploring the rest of the ship was one of the things we did today.  We had a late morning character breakfast in Animators Palate which is one of the main dining venues for dinner. They have quite a few video screens and various colors of lighting that can really change the venue’s appearance. The breakfast had a Disney Junior theme to it with appearances by Vamperina, Fancy Nancy, Doc McStuffins and Mickey Mouse. They made rounds to each of the tables stopping for autographs and picture opportunities. The food was mostly kid friendly but there were some things for adults or kids at heart. 
 

We made it out to the pools since the kids wanted to go on the aquaduck water slide. It’s a two person innertube slide that is mostly a clear tube with two spots in which you are propelled up an incline by rushing water and rollers.   It was still not that warm outside due to the cool Florida weather and a steady strong breeze which caused them to restrict any single riders from using the slide. The kids briefly went in the pools too. They have a toddler friendly Mickey Mouse shaped pool which was fairly shallow and a deeper Donald Duck regular shaped pool. 
 

Later, we found ourselves back in the same restaurant for a character meet and greet that required reservations. We got to meet Anna and Elsa from the Frozen movie.  We ended up here a third time today for our first dinner in Animators Palate and it was a Nemo themed with Crush going around to the different monitors to interact with the guests. We weren’t seated close to any of them so we didn’t get any interaction but you could see and hear others experience. Nearly all tables were clearly intended to be oriented towards one of the monitors.   I’ll include some menu photos. By the way, Mickey premium Ice Cream Bars were on the kids menu for dessert but were a
 

We skipped the evening entertainment which was apparently a regular on the Fantasy. I don’t recall his name but it was part comedy but mostly singing. I’d seen a preview during the first night’s show and it was enjoyable but we had planned a full day at a resort in Cozumel the next day and wanted to get the kids to bed a little earlier. 

[Jedi Jason]

Our first port was Cozumel and we had booked day passes for El Cozumeleno resort. Breakfast was available at the resort so we opted to leave the ship as early as we were cleared which was around 8:30 to be at the resort around 9:00 for breakfast. The Disney ships go to a pier much closer than other lines like Royal Caribbean and within easy walking distance of the main shopping area. The most annoying thing is being forced to walk through the entire shopping area at the port due to an escalator that would’ve avoided all of it was not working and it was barricaded preventing you from walking down it.  The kids got the obligatory picture in front of the Cozumel sign. 
 

The taxi fare to get to the resort was $16 each way. We checked in for our day and got our day pass armbands. We enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant just off the lobby. We ordered off a menu and there were a few buffet items as well. In retrospect we should have claimed a spot first and then had breakfast. Chair hogs on the ship had nothing on the resort guests and it was 10:00 by the time we finished breakfast. We managed to find a couple of loungers but they were in full sun so we eventually moved them when the cloud cover disappeared.
 

My wife and daughter enjoyed the from shore snorkeling that was included. They saw quite a few fish and rays. The mini golf course carpet was being replaced and some of holes were near impossible especially on concrete. They did enjoy the giant chessboard with the pieces on wheels. Overall, the kids complained about the resort. Maybe it was the food not being especially kid friendly or what they were familiar with. There is a lack of a sandy beach here too with much of it being shelly except for the areas with chairs which was towards one end and crowded.   We went into the more casual restaurant for Lunch and got some food from the menu and the buffet. I enjoyed the Mexican cuisine but the kids weren’t thrilled again with the more familiar food like cheese pizza. 
 

in summary of the resort it was just OK due to my kids not being happy with it.  I think I will probably try something with a better and larger beach area or a reserved area for each family like Maya Chan in Costa Maya. Does anyone know if Nachi Cocum fit that description? 
 

We left a little earlier then needed  to get back in time for Pirate night and to get ready for dinner. The struggles of having your kids in another room were trying to get them showered and dressed for dinner. Their room was in the same deck and side of the ship but about half the ship away. They stayed with our niece in an inside room with a virtual port hole. We were in a balcony room that adjoined to my wife’s sister and husband. Dinner was in Enchanted Garden. More about dinner and Pirate night in another post. 

[Jedi Jason]

Dinner was at the third restaurant in our rotation, Enchanted Garden. I liked the theming the best in this restaurant as it had a great garden feel including a fountain in the center of the dining room and Lightbulb flowers that opened up after sunset which was during our main seating time. There were some cool looking booths for small parties. I thought the menu was a little more mainstream in this venue compared to the Royal court which was more French gourmet. Apparently there is Pirate themed menus but because we had a Star Wars Day at sea we had a themed dinner that night instead. 
 

Pirate’s Night encourages you to explore the Pirates life. Pirate bandannas were provided to each guest and you were encouraged to wear pirate themed clothing or full pirate costumes that evening around the ship including to dinner. There was an evening show up on the pool deck after both dinner seatings. They are able to cover the pools providing more deck space to gather for the festivities.  There are some pirate songs and Captain Jack Sparrow makes an appearance. Fireworks complete the pirate themed activities.   We skipped the evening entertainment which was an illusionist with some comedy. I had a chance to see a preview of his show on the first night during the evening entertainment. He was good but we took time to get photos in our costumes instead. 

[Jedi Jason]

Day four brought us the Grand Cayman which is a port that you tender into since their is not a pier that can accommodate the cruise ships due to shallow water or a reef that prevents the ships from getting to the island. Disney partners with a local company that provides the tendering service which has dedicated tender boats specifically for Disney guests and not the other ships also. There are boats that take a few or several hundred people at a time ashore. There were some windy conditions that caused our ship to arrive about an hour or more later than scheduled with an already mid to late morning scheduled time. This resulted in everyone trying to exit the ship at the same time and wait times of up to an hour.  This impacted our plans for the day. 
 

Earlier in the morning we had a scheduled and reserved princess meet and greet with Cinderella, Belle Ariel and Tiana. Between my wife’s headache and the late arrival time we canceled our planned outing. We had not booked an excursion but planned on getting a taxi and going to the Turtle farm attraction.  So, instead I took the kids ashore and we wandered around a little and found some souvenirs. We made it back in time for a late lunch being careful to not eat too much because my wife and I had a reservation at Remy which is the premier specialty dining option. 

[Jedi Jason]

Remy is comparable to Victoria and Alberts located in the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World. In fact, one of the executive chefs or at least one of the menus was created by Scott Hummel. There is also a French menu created by a Michelin star awarded chef. So you can order all from one side or even pick and choose.
 

We spoke with our server Matt and mentioned some dietary restrictions (no pork or shellfish) he said no problem and they would make some substitutions. We didn’t know it at the time but he brought one of us the French menu and the other the American menu with the various substitutions. He told us to not worry about it and he would be bringing out the courses and we didn’t need to make any decisions. We ended up each getting something different for almost every course and we would eat half and the swap and eat half of the other dish to try to maximize the variety of our experience. It is a numerous course experience with several surprises like a chef’s creation or palate cleansers.  We were very pleased to have Matt from the UK as our server since many of the servers were from France or other non English speaking countries and they had hard to understand accents especially with a lot of the gourmet food with fancy names. 
 

We had a beautiful sunset just before arriving. I included photos of the setting, dining room, good and water menus and some of the food. There were more things like a cheese trolley that they brought out with samples of about ten different cheeses both soft and firm from mild to really powerful blue cheese. Didn’t care for all of them but it was a good experience. As if it weren’t enough food they sent a box of truffles with you and a rose for my wife.

We decided to splurge on this experience since we thought our cruise might be a one and done for us on Disney Cruise Line due to their premium price. We have been to Victoria and Alberts previously and it was a similar experience. Some of the items I might not have chosen but every dish was delicious. For example, I wouldn’t normally choose a dish with beets but those were the best beets that I have ever tasted.  So, the $125 per person price was quite high but the experience and quality of food was  exceptional and unmatched especially when compared to any dining experiences at sea.  I can’t think of a land experience that has been better except for possibly Victoria and Alberts.   The non alcoholic cocktail pictured was an alternative to a complimentary sparkling wine or champagne  it was a fruit purée that was super delicious.  We opted to save the money and not purchase any adult beverages to accompany our meal.  The restaurant we missed by going to specialty dining was Royal Court  

 

[Jedi Jason]

Day five brought us to Falmouth, Jamaica which we had a fun excursion planned that we purchased through the cruise line. I was also realizing that we were more than half way through our cruise and I was trying to make sure I tried as many things as possible before the end of our cruise.  Anyway, we purchased a rafting trip on the Martha Brae River which also included a brief tour of some local sights and a stop at a beautiful church that has some history. I have struggled selecting an excursion when traveling to Jamaica because Falmouth is not very close to the most attractions and I have climbed the Dunn’s River falls a few times.  I definitely recommend both excursions.  

We had a very modern motor coach bus with good A/C.  It took us towards our rafting stop.  If you haven’t experienced Jamaican roads then you might not want to sit too close to the front.  There are a lot of curves and the roads aren’t typically very wide especially in more remote areas.  Drivers frequently honk the horn to alert other drivers that I’m coming around the corner in the middle of the road and there isn’t room for both of us.  As we got close to the rafting spot we had a time or two when the road was too narrow for both our bus and an oncoming vehicle so since our bus was bigger we waited for the other vehicle to back up to a straighter or wider spot where it was safe to pass.  
 

Once we arrived we were offered a fruit punch which was very tasty and given the option to purchase other beverages.  We were given life jackets and walked down towards the river.  Each raft is made of bamboo and is about 36 feet in length and several feet wide.  There is a bench seat for two towards the rear and the guide stands towards the front third of the raft and uses a bamboo pole to guide the raft.  The rafting portion of the tour takes about an hour.  Our guides allowed our children to have a try at guiding the raft down the river.  It is a fairly slow moving trip down the river.  This was a perfect excursion since it was relaxing, unique, fairly close to the port and something we really enjoyed. This morning excursion that was only four hours or less allowed us to get back to the ship for lunch. 
 

[Jedi Jason]

Dinner was in Animators Palate for the second time.  We were asked to draw people’s head, arms, legs, feet and body within some boxes in papers that we were given with some markers. Then, we were presented our dinner menu. I must have been distracted by the change in routine and forgot to snap a picture of the menu. Later in the meal they used our people drawings to entertain us. They were animated on a specific screen that we were directed towards to view our creations come to life.   Waiting in our room was some Star Wars Day at sea swag to get us excited about tomorrow’s Star Wars festivities. There was a “secret event” in the atrium tonight also to kick off the Star Wars fun. The event was not in the Navigator, ship’s daily activity listing, but was mentioned by the wait staff in the dining room and the entertainment staff. Darth Vader made an appearance along with some storm troopers at the event to get everyone amped up for the unofficial start of Star Wars Day at Sea. 

[Jedi Jason]

Star Wars day started out early with a trip to the main theater for a reserved activity for the kids, Jedi Training. They were trained to use the force and practice with a light saber. They later got to use their skills against either Darth Vader or Kylo Ren.  I decided we should take advantage of the sea day and have the experience of eating in the dining room for breakfast so we went to the Enchanted Garden which served mostly buffet options. It was a little disappointing since I could’ve had a similar experience in the buffet restaurant with the exception of a dedicated server to bring drinks.
 

After breakfast I wandered around the pool deck and atrium to encounter some of the Star Wars characters. Unlike the other characters they did not have specific times and locations to meet them. Some of them would pose for photos but not all of them every time. Star Wars music could be heard throughout the ship and there would be occasional announcements from the First Order. Jawas would potentially make trades with you if you had something that interested them. There were quite a few themed events today but the random character encounters were just as enjoyable. 

[Jedi Jason]

Those are the droids we are looking for. We had a scheduled meet and greet with C3PO and R2D2. As with all the character meetings the crew would take a picture using your camera or cellphone. The characters that required reservations also had a ship’s photographer to take your photos. 
 

Trying to take advantage of our sea day we went to the dining room again this time it was for Lunch. The Royal Court was the venue that was open. I enjoyed the food including trying some different options but everything took incredibly long and it was painfully frustrating to sit there for so long. since it was at the end of lunch service we decided to start getting into our Star Wars costumes and get some pictures before dinner.

My outfit didn’t fare too well since it didn’t make it out of the suitcase until now. So it was off to one of the laundry rooms. They have washers, dryers including detergent that can be charged to your card. I wasn’t able to confirm this but apparently the app will notify you when your laundry Is finished. I did make use of the complimentary irons to get the wrinkles out of my costume. It was time to head towards dinner and enjoy a special themed menu. 
 

We were scheduled to go to Animators Palate again for dinner. When we arrived there was Star Wars theming on the screens but there wasn’t any animation this night. I remember the Lord Vader’s Ribeye steak being one of the best ribeye steaks I’ve enjoyed. Overall, it was an amazing meal and I would love to have that meal again. 
 

 

[Jedi Jason]

We had some other photos scheduled with characters. For all meet and greets I recommend that you arrive a few minutes early as a line will start to form and the wait could be a while on popular characters that don’t have another scheduled appearance regardless of whether it is one with a reservation or not.  We got a chance to meet Chewbacca and Darth Vader and a bonus of Ray and Chewbacca because we completed a Porg scavenger hunt. 
 

Another nighttime production on the pool deck capped off our evening. Similar to Pirate night there were Star Wars characters putting on a brief show of the dark versus the light side. Fireworks once again capped an amazing Star Wars day at Sea. I wish I could’ve done and seen more but it was amazing regardless. 

[Jedi Jason]

Evening entertainment has been pretty good but I’ve failed to mention it for some of the days. There was a Frozen Broadway style show that is based on the original movie. We saw most of it as we were in a later and longer dinner that night at Remy. Aladdin has a similar high quality show based on the movie and the genie with jokes that have modern references really steals the show. The genie also appears in the last night‘s show entitled Believe which is a compilation featuring scenes from several Disney movies. There was another outside entertainment duo that I don’t recall their names in part because I skipped it because I was trying to take in everything on Star Wars Day. There are two shows each night with the first one during main dinner for the late dinner guests and the second show for the main dinner guests.

There have been various Disney movies shown throughout the week at three different venues. There is a poolside screen, the main theater (Walt Disney Theater) and a dedicated movie theater (Lake Buena Vista Theater). If any movies are currently in theaters you will be able to see them onboard complimentary. Onward debuted at 11:15 PM on Thursday on our ship and didn’t hit theaters until the next day. 

[Jedi Jason]

Castaway Cay was our last port of call. My brother in law and I decided to participate in the 5K race. We picked up our race bibs and signed our waivers the day before but there is an opportunity to sign up at the event.  The term race is used loosely.  It is timed but all finishers are given medals and there aren’t any other awards given. 
 

Unlike previous Castaway Cay 5Ks you are now asked to meet at the starting line on the island about a half hour after the ship is cleared. We just missed the start of the race since it is a stretch to make it there on time especially if you have to wait for a tram or walk. We walked at a steady quick pace for the entire race which takes you around the bike path twice and down the airstrip towards the adult beach and back to the starting line near the second tram stop and towards the end of the family beach. We managed to finish in less than an hour. 
 

By the time we made it back to the ship the rest of our group was getting to The breakfast buffet. We changed while they finished eating and joined them to find a spot on the beach. At this point it was after 11:00. We found a spot towards the middle but far away from the water. Due to windy conditions they were not allowing you to put up the provided umbrellas. Some of our group had purchased or brought snorkeling equipment so that was the main activity. They reported finding a good number of sea life including near the submerged submarine from the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride that was previously an attraction at Walt Disney World.   Other entertainment included an area that had shuffle board, foosball, ping pong and more. 
 

Lunch on the island is typical BBQ and picnic type food. There were some cold salads, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs and some fruit, cake and cookies. There were also the drink machines similar to what was on the pool deck on the ship as well as the soft serve ice cream. I am not a big fan of this type of food and thought it was just OK. It was enough to keep me from being hungry until getting back on the ship but not especially enjoyable. 

[Jedi Jason]

Unfortunately the weather started to decline in the early afternoon. There was a large wave of dark clouds headed towards us so we realized that our time on the island was limited. We started prepping to leave. It became obvious that a good rain shower was headed towards us. Avoiding the worst of the rain we managed to find cover about the time the strongest rainfall came through. About 20 minutes later it slowed down considerably and we resumed our trek back to the ship. Giving up on the rest of the day on the island seemed like the right thing to do since everything was quite wet now and it was still very windy.  Around 2:00 we had made it back onboard. It was disappointing to have a shortened and non ideal time on the island since we didn’t get to explore very much or fully take advantage of our first time here. 
 

The remaining time in port was spent cleaning up and spending some time around the ship.  The wind was so bad that playing shuffle board on deck 4 became a water sport since ocean spray and waves were splashing us as we attempted a game.  There were two more opportunities to get a chance to meet those Disney characters one before dinner and one late at night as a farewell and a see you soon so the kids got their remaining desired autographs and photos.  
 

Our final dinner was in Enchanted Garden. It was sad that our cruise was ending and so was the reality that we would soon be home shopping, cooking and cleaning instead of just showing up to the dining room. We really enjoyed our wait staff as they worked really hard. They were easy to talk to and always made sure we were content. We did ask for a few things during our cruise for my son that wasn’t on the menu and it was accommodated either that same night or the next night. Before the end of the week they were very attuned to our preferences and it really enhanced our experience. 
 

[Jedi Jason]

On our last night we sent the kids to the kids club to give us some room to get all of us packed. They wanted the bags out by 10:30 so we didn’t have time for all of us to see the evening show. We did manage to get to the last character meet and greet in the atrium to get any desired photos and autographs. We found out that our last dinner would not be our last chance to thank our dining room service team. They have an optional disembarkation day breakfast. Main seating for dinner is served first and late dinner service is served later. The buffet restaurant is open for those that don’t want this option. 
 

Enchanted Garden was the venue for our final meal onboard the Fantasy. There was a fairly limited menu and some things that had been available for breakfast weren’t an option this last morning. Overall, it was a great option if you aren’t rushing off the ship. I appreciated not having to find a table in the over crowded buffet or being served by different wait staff. We were at our usual table with our normal servers. 
 

By the time we finished the breakfast and gathered our things we were able to leave the ship. There was a line getting off the ship that I think we unknowingly cut in line because we came off the elevators right at the disembarkation point. This lead to another line after leaving the ship but before reaching the luggage area. The luggage claim area is organized by Disney characters naturally instead of by number. We took advantage of a porter to help with all our luggage. He got the majority of our traveling group’s luggage on his cart. Using a porter allowed us to go to a separate line to get to the Border agent who checked our passports. It seemed to save us some time.  The porter took the luggage all the way to our car in the parking garage and after a few minutes we were on the way home. 
 

I have some random observations including food and kids club information yet to come.