A Fantasy trip Far Far Away

[TestingH2O]

Hello again!

I can't believe I'm planning our THIRD trip! I'm so excited to know I'll be back on a wonderful DCL vacation very soon.

Prologue

Let's start with some background for those who don't know me. As I said, this will be my third DCL trip. My first two were 4 day Dream cruises in Concierge. The first was to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. That was a large group that included my parents (duh!), my husband and daughter, my SIL (my brother's widow), and one of her friends. It was a fabulous vacation to say the least. The second trip was just my parents, my daughter and me. My husband owns a small business and doesn't feel comfortable traveling very often and leaving the store unmanned. My little family lives in St Louis, MO, and my parents and SIL live in Albuquerque, NM. So far these trips have been great grandparent bonding time in addition to family time. If you are interested in our previous exploits, there are links to my Trip Reports in my signature.

Almost immediately after we arrived home from our first trip, we booked our second trip. Then, before taking that one, we booked for February of 2017 when the first part of the year was released. We decided to do a quick 3 day Dream cruise and test out the 8A cabins on deck 5. We were very excited for the split layout. However, after cruising in May and seeing how hard it was for me to wind down when school was in full force (I'm a teacher and administrator,) we decided we'd be better off taking our trip during a proper school break rather than just a 3 day weekend. We also finally convinced my dad that 4 days just wasn't enough time to really enjoy the full benefit of the trip. I mean, it costs the same to travel to Florida to board the ship whether you travel for 4 days or 7, right?!

Present Day Details

After looking at prices, dates, and itineraries we opted for the March 18, 2017 Fantasy Western Caribbean. It had also been designated a SWDAS. I have opted not to look at historical pricing to figure out just how much the price of the trip went up between opening day and getting the Star Wars designation. The trip fit out budget as is, so we are going with it.

After picking a date, we needed to decide on accommodations. We still went in to this with the idea we'd cruise non-concierge. In fact, we made our May cruise in the Cat T as a price threshold. Could we do a Fantasy 7 day in non-concierge for the same price? My guess was yes.

We do have a TA, but I opted to do lots of the research myself. She does good work, but I know how my dad's mind works. This helped me be able to give him the numbers in a spreadsheet form he could better understand. We considered the option of a deluxe family verandah or a combination of a verandah and an inside. Through a bit of poking around, I was able to find that we could get a 7A (Navigators Verandah) and an 11B for just $250 more than all 4 of us in the larger verandah cabin. We opted for this so that we could still have 2 bathrooms, plenty of room to store all of our stuff (we are not light packers,) and everyone would get comfy sleeping spots. I admit that I'm pretty excited about the magic porthole.

Current Trip Overview

Travelers: Me (38), DD (4 at time of travel), My Mom & Dad (70's)
Dates: 03/18-03/25, 2017
Ship: Fantasy
Itinerary: Western Caribbean with Star Wars Day at Sea
Rooms: 7520 (7A) and 7521 (11B)

Things I Have to Learn For This Trip

• Formal wear?
• Star Wars costumes
• Door Decorations
• Fish Extenders
• Booking Excursions
• Whatever else I can't even think about now

Things Still To Be Done

• Transportation To and From Florida
• Overnight before boarding
• Transfers
• Packing

 

[bcwife76]

Woohoo, following!!!

We just recently switched our January 2017 Wonder Bahamas' cruise to a January 2017 Fantasy Easter Caribbean SWDAS cruise! Having only been on the Wonder I don't know much about the larger ships so it's an adventure ;-)

 

[tink1970]

Great start!
We did the 7 day Western 2 years ago. The inside porthole room is great for little ones who still nap and tweens/teens who live vampire lives
In 2012 I did a similar room set up for our AK cruise with my parents (except they were interior, I was in the verandah). It worked very well for us so hope the same will be said for y'all.
Enjoy your planning

 

[chunkymonkey]

Oooh I see you have a PTR and I'm on board!

I found the seller that sells the Mickey head magnets: plumeriaprints on ebay.
Here's the listing for the ones I got. She has other designs too. The heads measure 4.75 by 5.75 approx.
You could probably make something similar yourself but I was short on time and not very crafty so decided to just buy them.

 

[TestingH2O]

Oooh I see you have a PTR and I'm on board!

I found the seller that sells the Mickey head magnets: plumeriaprints on ebay.
Here's the listing for the ones I got. She has other designs too. The heads measure 4.75 by 5.75 approx.
You could probably make something similar yourself but I was short on time and not very crafty so decided to just buy them.

Thank you!

 

[TestingH2O]

I ran in to Joann today and bought material for my FE! With coupons, I only spent $8.33 plus tax!

Now to start sewing.

 

[condorthb]

Like the first 2 reports and on board for #3.

 

[lillygator]

signing up!

 

[TestingH2O]

Well, July is almost over and the countdown ticker is reading 233. That's not so awful!

As I mentioned, I purchased fabric for my FE and the supplies for the gifts I plan to give. I enjoy being crafty, and I've got plenty of time to get organized.

In other news, I went on a work trip to Wyoming. I've never been there before, and it is SO beautiful! We went hiking in the Tetons every day and got to spend one day in Yellowstone. Heaven on Earth.




Grand Prismatic. The colors are so amazing! I fully anticipated that they wouldn't be as amazing in person, but nope! It is just as incredible as the pictures lead me to believe.

We also saw Old Faithful and a few other geysers. The pictures really don't do those justice.


Bradley Taggart Lake in Teton National Park.


Snake River


Canoeing on String Lake. This was my first time in a canoe and I loved it!


While it was a work trip, it was still a lot of fun and I hope I get to go back at some point. I mean, you get to see this getting on and off the plane!

There were some serious wildfires in the area while we were there.


Look at that smoke! The town next to us was evacuated for a day or two. As much as I'd like to live out west, I don't mind not having to worry about fires.

But now, it's back to the grindstone. Just a couple days before I left town, one of my coworkers quit. Quit! And she was the lead on a couple things, one of which starts in just a couple weeks. That means I am now the lead AND I have to train a new person to help me as opposed to the other person training me.

Everything is so overwhelming right now that I don't even know how I'm going to handle it all.

Just gotta make it till March, right?

 

[TestingH2O]

I made my fish extender! I used this tutorial to guide me. I have to say it was easy. The worst part was the pleats on the pockets.


Backing fabric.


Pockets are cut with bias tape on the top. I opted to leave the excess in the pocket to make it a bit stiffer once I ironed the pleats.


Pockets attached!

Now I just have to get the hanging rod sorted out. That will require a saw to cut the dowel.

I'm also considering adding a second cruise on after our week on the Fantasy. We shall see if that works out.

 

[TestingH2O]

I told myself I'd only update once a month, but I suspect I'll end up breaking that plan this month because today we booked Alaska!

I knew I wanted to do Alaska at some point but my family talked me into Disney. Eeeeek!

Very excited. I'm sure I'll start looking into stuff, but obviously we've got to get SWDAS sorted out first. Booking window opens December 18!

 

[TestingH2O]

Just found out our family friends are coming too! Grandparents (my parents friends since college,) 2 daughter (my friends since childhood,) and our 3 daughters (10, 7, and 4.) Oh yeah, and one extra husband.

We won't have rooms super close, but this will be so fun!

My one concern is FE though. I've signed up, started making gifts, etc. Our friends won't do it. Think it's weird if we still participate and they don't?

 

[chunkymonkey]

I love your FE! It looks really elegant and love the colors you chose.
Your Wyoming pics are gorgeous. I'd love to see that in person one day.
That's great that you are going to book Alaska! For 2017 or 2018? It's on my bucket list for sure.

Fun that your family friends are on board! I think it'll be fine if the don't participate in FE. Maybe they will realize how cool it is when they see your loot and will do it next time. Hehe.

 

[Flossbolna]

Just found your pre trip report! I loved your trip reports and am happy to catch this one early! We will be going on a Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy later this year as well - not Star Wars though...

Seems like you are going to have a great travel party - and hopefully lots of fun with your friends! I think cruising is such a great vacation to do which a larger group as it is easy to spit up and then get together again.

I don't think it is strange to keep doing the FE if they don't want to do it. But if you want to be generous, you could always get them a Fishextender and fill it with a few things. They might even get pixie dusted from other people (there always seem to be people on board who bring extra to put into whichever FEs they see around). This way the kids might not feel so sad when they see that your FE has all kind of goodies in it. I don't think it is necessary to bring loads, but a few small things? And it looks like you have the FE production down perfectly! Yours looks very stylish!

 

[TestingH2O]

I love your FE! It looks really elegant and love the colors you chose.
Your Wyoming pics are gorgeous. I'd love to see that in person one day.
That's great that you are going to book Alaska! For 2017 or 2018? It's on my bucket list for sure.

Fun that your family friends are on board! I think it'll be fine if the don't participate in FE. Maybe they will realize how cool it is when they see your loot and will do it next time. Hehe.

We are doing the July 3, 2017. I'm so excited! It's strange though because I think we need to start planning some of that stuff before we even do the SWDAS cruise. Since it is also Canad Day weekend, I know we will need to get our hotels in order.

Just found your pre trip report! I loved your trip reports and am happy to catch this one early! We will be going on a Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy later this year as well - not Star Wars though...

Seems like you are going to have a great travel party - and hopefully lots of fun with your friends! I think cruising is such a great vacation to do which a larger group as it is easy to spit up and then get together again.

I don't think it is strange to keep doing the FE if they don't want to do it. But if you want to be generous, you could always get them a Fishextender and fill it with a few things. They might even get pixie dusted from other people (there always seem to be people on board who bring extra to put into whichever FEs they see around). This way the kids might not feel so sad when they see that your FE has all kind of goodies in it. I don't think it is necessary to bring loads, but a few small things? And it looks like you have the FE production down perfectly! Yours looks very stylish!

Thanks for following! I hope you'll give a TR for your Fantasy trip. I'm excited to learn a new ship and see some of the differences.

And thank you both for reassuring me about the FE. I will stay signed up and I'm already planning to do some small gifts for everyone, so hopefully that will be enough. I found these great Star Wars glow necklaces to give all the kids for the deck party. We also put in the request for the big table in the MDR. That would be fun to have! Even if we don't get the special table though, it will be great to know we have meals together.

So much fun!

 

[bcwife76]

Sorry I haven't been noting much but I have been reading along!

Our booking window for our SWDAS cruise is in less than a month so I'm furiously trying to get my ducks in a row for excursions and such!

Woohoo for booking Alaska!! We just recently changed our Alaskan cruise from the 5 night at the beginning of August to a 7 night at the end of August, can't wait!! The sooner you book your Vancouver hotel the better for sure. Are you planning on exploring Vancouver for a couple of days before or after the cruise? I live just outside Vancouver so let me know if you've got any questions (though I'm sure you're already in a cruise group and have a wealth of information there, too!)

 

[TestingH2O]

Are you planning on exploring Vancouver for a couple of days before or after the cruise? I live just outside Vancouver so let me know if you've got any questions

I'm not sure about Vancouver. I've got two good friends in Seattle, so I think we might spend time there first. If we decide to spend time in Vancouver though, I'll definitely ask. Any specific hotel suggestions close to port?

 

[bcwife76]

Well so many people love staying at the Pan Pacific because it's right there at the port but it's an expensive hotel and honestly, there are so many downtown that are a couple of blocks walk from the port or a 5-10 minute cab ride. Delta Suites is only 5 minutes from the port and is a great hotel. There is a Hyatt less than a 10 minute cab ride away and it's also very good.

 

[TestingH2O]

Hmmm, I haven't updated in a while. Work is insane and I'm job hunting. Have you ever worked at a place that you realize just makes you a worse person? That's how I feel at my job. The competition and cutthroat atmosphere are making me a person I'm not. Plus, I miss spending quality time with my family. When I'm not at work, I'm answering emails. It's just too much.

Phew. Sorry. End rant.

Oh yeah. I'm so over this election too. I feel like I can't have the regular radio stations on for fear of what DD will hear. Same with tv, especially the ads. Ugh.

Enough negativity. Check out my cute Luke Skywalker fighting Vader at the neighbor's house.



I haven't done much concrete cruise planning. I need to get transportation worked out. We are such a big group now! But, if we look just at individual families, DCL transport still makes sense. We will see what quotes from private transport look like.

I haven't finished my FE yet, but I'm not panicked since they are all started. What I need most is to figure out welcome gifts for our friends who are cruising for the first time. I've got a short list that I need to finalize.

In terms of excursions I think we are only going to schedule something in Grand Cayman. We really want to do turtles and DCL doesn't do that anymore. We will get off the ship in Cozumel and Falmouth, but I think probably just wander around. Honestly, we are all thinking ahead to Alaska and saving up for lots of stuff there.

Oh! I have been following early reports on the new Wonder. I can't wait!

Halloween is always the beginning of holiday fun. Thanksgiving should be quiet and more relaxed this year. And I just love Christmas.

Hope everyone is having fun planning!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Joining in!!! I was booked in 7520 on the Dream and we changed it to 9512 when that room opened up since we had stayed in it before and loved it! We love the perk of having an "almost" full verandah without the cost of a full one!