A long time ago on a Fantasy far far away...Feb 2016 SWDAS TR, 5/17 CRUISE EPILOGUE - The End!

[mlegerto]

Another trick I did was to put conditioner in my hair and sit in the steam room for a while to give myself a deep conditioning treatment. It worked wonders for my frizzy hair!

Awesome tip! I worked at a hair salon for 7 years and a lot of the time when your hair stylist says they are giving you a "complimentary treatment" because they are running behind or something, they are really just putting conditioner in your hair and then applying steam/heat under one of the dryers....so it's like you had a treatment done . How much time do you think you spent in the rain forest room each day? I'm debating buying a single day pass for our trip (which is still forever and a half away) as I don't know how much time I would actually use it throughout the week.

Sad that you cruise is pretty much done ... but excited to hear about the WDW portion of your trip. Will you be doing a TR for that as well?

 

[chunkymonkey]

Awesome tip! I worked at a hair salon for 7 years and a lot of the time when your hair stylist says they are giving you a "complimentary treatment" because they are running behind or something, they are really just putting conditioner in your hair and then applying steam/heat under one of the dryers....so it's like you had a treatment done . How much time do you think you spent in the rain forest room each day? I'm debating buying a single day pass for our trip (which is still forever and a half away) as I don't know how much time I would actually use it throughout the week.

Sad that you cruise is pretty much done ... but excited to hear about the WDW portion of your trip. Will you be doing a TR for that as well?

Haha, yeah I totally gave myself a little salon treatment. I just used the conditioner they had in the locker rooms while giving myself the body scrub. On our last day, I brought some deep conditioner that I had brought with me on the trip. It was great and a really nice way to pamper yourself! I would say I spent at least an hour there each day. Even 45 minutes would still be enough time for a power nap on the benches and a scrub in the steam room. I think a one day pass is a good idea! It's great for sea days although it does get more crowded during those days. Nothing that we weren't able to handle though.

I do have a TR started for the WDW portion! It's right here: The (Foodie) Force is strong with us!

 

[chunkymonkey]

That Vespa is so beautiful. It makes me kind of sad to see it stuck on a ship, rather than flying down an Italian country road Hopefully, it was too damaged to be restored properly and that's why it's a prop now. I actually have a modern Vespa (real gas, not lawn mower gas, and automatic). I would love a vintage one someday, but they are a lot of work and maintenance. I just don't have the time now.

Cool! I think Vespas are so cute! Question, do you need to be able to ride a bike to ride a Vespa? I sadly can't ride a bike (never learned and no desire to) so always wondered...

I need to do more laps around the ship. That's one of my favorite things to do, but I just walk and take photos. It's really fun at night too. You have convinced me that I have to get at least a day pass to the Rainforest Room. Your cruise looks unforgettable.

Haha yeah I only made it one lap around the ship, mostly walking and taking pictures, and then went to the Rainforest room. I have no stamina!
It was definitely unforgettable and I really love the Fantasy!

Another great review! I saw Believe for the first time sitting next to my then 13 year old daughter and I cried like a baby during it, it's quite emotional.
Thanks for posting your reviews, they are always so upbeat and so much fun to read!

Thank you! Yes Believe was great! Really loved all the productions on the ship.
I tend to get really excited and happy when talking about Disney so I guess it translates into my trip reports too! I could be having a bad day and you'd never know, lol. I guess it's like an escape for me writing these TRs!

Oh my gosh, I applaud you for even trying to jog on the cruise But yes, with those gorgeous views who could blame you for wanting to stop every few feet and take a photo?!

Haha yeah, I "tried" to jog, but didn't quite work out. But I got some nice pictures instead!

Love the popcorn bowl you chose and even funnier that you didn't want them to use it lol Actually that's pretty darn smart!!

Haha, yeah didn't want to get Han Solo all greasy as he's already enough of a scoundrel. LOL
Actually I learned you could do that when I bought the Cinderella Carriage popcorn bucket last year and the CM asked if I'd like the popcorn separately and I was all for it so that the carriage could remain pristine!

Ahhhh the last dinner.......waaahhhhhh

I know...sob sob sob.

How fun that you got such a big group together!!! I love DisMeets...only had a couple but still...it's so great to meet people in person when you already feel like you know them online!! The pictures were funny...always hard with so many people!! Looking forward to hearing about the last meal on the ship!

Yeah it was a lot of fun and I'm glad we had this camaraderie!

 

[soniam]

Cool! I think Vespas are so cute! Question, do you need to be able to ride a bike to ride a Vespa? I sadly can't ride a bike (never learned and no desire to) so always wondered...

Haha yeah I only made it one lap around the ship, mostly walking and taking pictures, and then went to the Rainforest room. I have no stamina!
It was definitely unforgettable and I really love the Fantasy!

Being able to ride a bike might help. Being able to balance is probably the most important thing. It does have really good balance though, especially once you start moving. I am a klutz, so I wouldn't say I have good balance. However, I used to ride bikes a lot and can still easily hop on one. Your mileage may vary. It's not something you want to fall off of though

 

[mlegerto]

I do have a TR started for the WDW portion! It's right here: The (Foodie) Force is strong with us!

EEEEEK....I know how I'll be spending my afternoon at work today . On my way over there now!

 

[condorthb]

bump

 

[Beth D]

Hello!

I've been lurking on the TR since you began it, but have had so much trouble with the DIS lately, I never posted.

I am enjoying your TR so far! We were in Palo the same day as you for brunch! I looked, but didn't see us in the pics.

I also ordered the SWDAS Dooney, and loved mine! I use it every day, and get so many compliments on it!

As for the CG medevac off the ship - they never actually landed on the ship. We were on 8 forward, directly facing the front of the ship, right under the bridge, and we saw the whole thing from our cabin (room 8004).

The chopper hovered over the flat area on deck 5, and lowered a crew member, a gurney, and a metal basket to this deck via a rope. The Fantasy CM's had a special ladder/steps that they rolled over from the Vibe - the teen deck on 4. It was cleared of all chairs, everything was moved to the side.

They then had a family member climb the steps up to the metal area, and lifted her via the metal basket into the chopper. They dropped the line again, and this time lifted the patient on the gurney up to the chopper, directly from the Vibe area. THey dropped the line again, and this time the CG crew member lifted back up into the chopper from the flat spot on deck 5, and away they went.

The skill of the chopper pilot was amazing, they held it almost perfectly still despite the quite gusty winds that day! I estimate the chopper hovered about 30 feet above the deck, and was there almost 20 minutes. We filmed the whole thing with our cameras, the chopper was less than 50 feet away from our porthole.

 

[Beth D]

Sorry for double post, but if you want a comparison for Disney to other cruise lines in Alaska, look for TR's by Jensieb. She just finished one up from last summer on Norwegian. She's a real Disney lover, so she has great comparisons for what the difference between the lines are.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hello!

I've been lurking on the TR since you began it, but have had so much trouble with the DIS lately, I never posted.

Hi!! Thanks for reading!!

I am enjoying your TR so far! We were in Palo the same day as you for brunch! I looked, but didn't see us in the pics.

Oh that's so funny! Where were you sitting?

I also ordered the SWDAS Dooney, and loved mine! I use it every day, and get so many compliments on it!

Is it the blue Dooney? It's a really cool bag but I decided to get something else. I got another Star Wars Dooney, the Force Awakens print. I bought it at DHS at Watto's Grotto!

As for the CG medevac off the ship - they never ac

tually landed on the ship. We were on 8 forward, directly facing the front of the ship, right under the bridge, and we saw the whole thing from our cabin (room 8004).

The chopper hovered over the flat area on deck 5, and lowered a crew member, a gurney, and a metal basket to this deck via a rope. The Fantasy CM's had a special ladder/steps that they rolled over from the Vibe - the teen deck on 4. It was cleared of all chairs, everything was moved to the side.

They then had a family member climb the steps up to the metal area, and lifted her via the metal basket into the chopper. They dropped the line again, and this time lifted the patient on the gurney up to the chopper, directly from the Vibe area. THey dropped the line again, and this time the CG crew member lifted back up into the chopper from the flat spot on deck 5, and away they went.

The skill of the chopper pilot was amazing, they held it almost perfectly still despite the quite gusty winds that day! I estimate the chopper hovered about 30 feet above the deck, and was there almost 20 minutes. We filmed the whole thing with our cameras, the chopper was less than 50 feet away from our porthole.

Oh wow, that's awesome!! I couldn't see if it landed or not, but I thought there must be some special chopper landing pad somewhere, but what you're describing sounds pretty amazing, like movie sequence amazing. I hope the patient got better, I can't imagine having to go through something like that at sea!

Sorry for double post, but if you want a comparison for Disney to other cruise lines in Alaska, look for TR's by Jensieb. She just finished one up from last summer on Norwegian. She's a real Disney lover, so she has great comparisons for what the difference between the lines are.

Oh yes I've read some of her great TRs! I've yet to read the NCL one so looking forward to it! I really don't know if the Alaska cruise next year is for us yet. I mean, I really want to go and Alaska is a bucket list item, but I think I may want to go elsewhere first. Maybe in a few years!
Thanks for the recommendation! Gonna check it out now!

 

[Dugette]

Wow, that is just so beautiful.

Well now it was time for some pure bliss...

And, yes, that is quite acceptable as well.

grilled brie and tomato sandwich

Sounds delicious! Mmmmm.....

Cute picture and I love your dress!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 7 Part 3: See Ya Real Soon!

Before dinner, we put our luggage outside our stateroom, already packed and with luggage tags attached. I had done most of our packing the day before, especially since I had done laundry so we packed all the clean stuff very easily.

We entered our final Main Dining Room, Enchanted Garden, kinda sad that it was our "last supper" of the cruise but we were excited to have dinner here. The menu was actually almost exactly the same as our last dinner on the Magic last year.

This was CS's second to last night of vacation. She was set to go back home after a night at the Polynesian after the cruise, so she won't be going to the parks with us, but she'll be around for my actual birthday and we were excited to do some shopping at Disney Springs!

This was the last night we'd have our drinks brought to us without asking...were we spoiled or what? #firstworldproblems

To start DH and I both got the Sesame Crusted Tuna Sashimi. It was good and I enjoyed it! I thought the tuna on this trip was better than last years.

Probably as close to real sushi as I can get on this cruise!

I also got a salad with some of my favorite ingredients, dried cranberries and blue cheese. It was yummy!

CS started with the Lobster and Crawfish Bisque. She enjoyed this.

As an entree, both CS and I got the Shrimp Linguine Pasta. It was pretty good, but I still think they overcook the pasta in the main dining rooms a tad. I do like the flavors in the pasta though and the shrimp were well cooked.

DH got the Filet of Beef Wellington.

He enjoyed it!

Enchanted Garden is a cute dining room but compared to Royal Court and Animator's Palate it's probably my least favorite. That doesn't mean I don't like it, I do, but if I were to pick a night for Remy or Palo I'd have to choose Enchanted Garden to miss (which we did).

Now it was time for dessert!

I ordered the apple pie. It was ok, but I was kinda full at this point.

CS got the Baked Alaska which she liked. You can't go wrong with Neapolitan ice cream!

And DH got the Sweet Temptations trio which he enjoyed.

We said our thank yous to Nyoman, Joseph. We gave them their tip envelopes and thanked them for a wonderful cruise. They were very busy at every meal but they really took care of us every chance they got. We got one final picture with them!

We were going to miss all the exceptional service on the Fantasy! We'd still be having breakfast with them tomorrow before we disembark though so at least we have another meal to look forward to before they kick us off the ship.

Back in the stateroom, we saw our final towel animal, and of course, no Navigator for tomorrow...WAAAH.

We headed out to the Atrium to watch the See Ya Real Soon festivities.

One last group selfie!!

Here's the atrium before the show started. As you can see, Shutters was packed and will be like that all night.

At the start of the See Ya Real Soon show, the characters came down for their final good-byes including some of the princesses. It was really cute but also really sad because this marks the final night of the cruise. They showed some picture highlights from the cruise, especially from Star Wars Day at Sea.

See ya real soon! At the finale, little Mickey head confetti rained down. It was fun! CS collected a bunch to use in her scrapbooking.

I took a little video of some of the show. It's a nice way to see the characters for the last time and know that you just completed a DISNEY cruise!

After the show is the best part...CHARACTERPALOOZA! You have about 25 minutes to take pictures with as many characters as you possibly can. CS and I went nuts while DH said he was gonna play some midship detective.

A really cute story, as one of the CMs was taking a picture of CS with her selfie stick iphone, he flipped the camera around, gestured for me to come over, and took a picture of us instead. CS had no idea and she was still posing with Cinderella.

Here's CS posing with Cinderella:

And here's the picture the CM ended up taking!

It was funny because CS had no idea until she saw the picture on her phone! BTW, this CM is one of the actors in the Walt Disney Theater too. He played one of the teenagers in the Wishes show the night before. He was awesome!

Here are more pictures from Characterpalooza!

Best night ever or what!?!?!

Soon the characters were done, and we headed back to our stateroom. I decided that I wasn't done with the night yet! It was my birthday eve and I wanted to stay up! So I explored up on Deck 11 myself. It was soooo cool to be up here all alone. It was a little windy but it was just gorgeous!

I went back to the stateroom before it hit midnight, and found DH there already in bed. He had gotten some pizza earlier and it was in the room waiting to be eaten. And CS was nowhere to be found. I said to DH, hey it's only 20 minutes before my birthday, celebrate with me! He said ok!

I changed into my pajamas ready to have some sort of midnight pajama party...

And this is what happened when it struck midnight...

I guess it's a party for ONE. Happy birthday to me!!!!

Well, I did enjoy myself with a pizza and the last of our wine!!

CS finally came back. She was at Shutters trying to find our lost pictures. They found them and added them to our account. We were supposed to pick up the flash drive tomorrow morning before we disembarked. She said Happy Birthday! and them promptly fell asleep. #familyrocks

Well, since we had an early start the next day, I might as well sleep now and do the celebrating the next day, as we head to WDW and the Poly!

Good Night!

Coming up...our last breakfast and heading to WDW, plus my trip epilogue!
​

 

[chunkymonkey]

Wow, that is just so beautiful.


And, yes, that is quite acceptable as well.

It was sooo pretty! You can see why I was distracted!

Sounds delicious! Mmmmm.....

I love anything with cheese!

Cute picture and I love your dress!

Thank you!!

 

[bcwife76]

Awwww sad last night but it looked like a good one!!!

I love the empty ship late at night.....how can it be so peaceful with so many people aboard? But alas, it was!

Ha, DH asleep when the clock struck midnight, there's a fine how-do-ya-do men haha! Glad you had your own little celebration

 

[mlegerto]

Well...HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY - since we just arrived on your actual birthday in the TR!

What an amazing last night you had....great way to ring in the start of your birthday.

Now that you've been on a couple of cruises, what would you select as your preference for dining rotation for a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy and which night would you select as your Palo/Remy dinner?

 

[schmass]

Just caught up and really enjoyed the last few updates!

It's too bad that your Castaway Cay day wasn't a little warmer. I'm glad you still enjoyed your time there! You got some great pictures!

I'm glad you posted the selfie of your run - it reminded me I need to pack headphones! I can see why you got distracted, those are some great pictures of CC!

I love the Rainforest Room so much. What a great idea about the conditioner. I will definitely have to try that this time!

The last dinner is such a bittersweet meal. Saying goodbye to the servers is SO HARD!

Fun character pictures, and cute story about the CM taking your picture.

Happy belated birthday!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Awwww sad last night but it looked like a good one!!!

I love the empty ship late at night.....how can it be so peaceful with so many people aboard? But alas, it was!

Ha, DH asleep when the clock struck midnight, there's a fine how-do-ya-do men haha! Glad you had your own little celebration

It was a great day thank you! I loved exploring the ship late at night by myself. And sigh...DH...of course, he can sleep anywhere and at anytime so of course he picks that time.

Well...HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY - since we just arrived on your actual birthday in the TR!

Thank you!!

What an amazing last night you had....great way to ring in the start of your birthday.

thanks! It was a great day despite it being the last day of the cruise.

Now that you've been on a couple of cruises, what would you select as your preference for dining rotation for a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy and which night would you select as your Palo/Remy dinner?

Our cruise was a little different since they had the Star Wars day at sea, so they moved Pirate Night to Day 3. I think on the Western it is usually Day 5. I would actually not skip Pirate night on a regular cruise because it's a big night for festivities and begins right at dinner and all through the night with fireworks. On this cruise it was obviously dumbed down that's why I picked that night to miss it.

Still, I think our same rotation would work then.
RAERAAE - This is the one we had. I think I would still skip Day 3's dinner at Enchanted Garden for Palo or Remy.

These are the other possible rotations (I think) for the Western Caribbean. Eastern would have a different rotation.
ERAERRA
AERAEER

I think it's up to you what would want to miss. I'd not miss any of the Animator's Palate shows though because they are interactive and fun! And Day 2 is formal night, Day 6 is usually Captain's Gala (semi formal and with lobster at dinner) and the last night is always See Ya Real soon. I don't mind missing See Ya Real soon (unless it was at Animator's) but I'd still want to say good bye to our servers.

Hope this helps! I think either way, you'll have an amazing time! Oh and we liked 2nd seating as opposed to main seating which was very early, around 5:35 each night. It let us eat more during the day and there were less kids at night.

 

[Dentam]

Just got caught up on your TR! This time while in the waiting area for jury duty, lol!

Castaway Cay looks really nice! I think you have convinced me to look into a Disney Cruise after reading this TR!

Looks like an excellent end to your cruise - and with WDW to look forward to still - hooray!

 

[disnygirl55]

Hi Su-Lynn!

I'm all caught up, and I've started reading your WDW portion of your birthday trip. Bring on the food!

We had a fantastic time on our SWDAS cruise, and have been back almost a week and a half now. WHAT??!!! Pretty sad when you get post-cruise depression before you even leave - but we had mostly great weather and did a few new things, so it was an amazing time, and it actually didn't even feel all that short. It felt just perfect. I haven't checked with DH about whether he prefers main or late seating, but I could go with either one, I think. I like eating early and not going to sleep on a full stomach, but on the other hand, we actually caught a couple of the late-night adult shows in the clubs while giving our food some time to digest, which we usually miss because we don't generally stay awake that late. (early risers, we are, as Yoda might say) This has been a super trip report, and gave us some good tips to maximize our fun - I hope you continue to write trip reports for many years to come.

I'm also going to be checking out your blog for Hawaii tips, since that is our next big adventure next spring. I'm feeling so lost, since I know nothing, zero, zilch about Hawaii - so I'm just starting to begin my research.

Have a fantastic day!

 

[starousse]

Loved this report and looking even more forward to sailing on the Fantasy in December. Now I'll continue reading about the rest of your trip on land

 

[soniam]

Hi Su-Lynn!

I'm all caught up, and I've started reading your WDW portion of your birthday trip. Bring on the food!

We had a fantastic time on our SWDAS cruise, and have been back almost a week and a half now. WHAT??!!! Pretty sad when you get post-cruise depression before you even leave - but we had mostly great weather and did a few new things, so it was an amazing time, and it actually didn't even feel all that short. It felt just perfect. I haven't checked with DH about whether he prefers main or late seating, but I could go with either one, I think. I like eating early and not going to sleep on a full stomach, but on the other hand, we actually caught a couple of the late-night adult shows in the clubs while giving our food some time to digest, which we usually miss because we don't generally stay awake that late. (early risers, we are, as Yoda might say) This has been a super trip report, and gave us some good tips to maximize our fun - I hope you continue to write trip reports for many years to come.

I'm also going to be checking out your blog for Hawaii tips, since that is our next big adventure next spring. I'm feeling so lost, since I know nothing, zero, zilch about Hawaii - so I'm just starting to begin my research.

Have a fantastic day!

I have not checked out Su-Lynn's Hawaii blog either. However, I would recommend to her and you Chef Mavro's in Honolulu. The food was amazingly awesome. I still get the email updates almost 3 years after our trip, just so I can dream and drool I don't think it's as well-known as some of the other places, but it felt very quiet, quaint, and romantic.