Quick review of DCL (Fantasy)...and any questions?

[MUN]

Bad to me is unable to find a spot to sit or room in the pool. That is how I define bad.

Were others able to find spots?

 

[piglet1979]

piglet1979-mine was fine at WDW as well (and even at busier parks). I think the difference is she was being dropped off and left to her own devices. I think if I had prepared her more (in that way), she would have been better. Counselors are great, but the ratio simply does not allow for a lot of hand-holding. I met up with 3 other moms to find her a friend and this was great, BUT we never seemed to drop off and pick up at the same time. I will say, it is chaotic, but I tried to drop off at the less insane location and that worked. They are real close to each other. I also started telling counselors at drop off and that seemed to help. I thought things would be more structured. Club was really, really nice! It was just a bad combination for my kid. Hope this helps!

Thank you! This does help. She will have my son with her too as he will have just turned 12 a few months earlier. She is very out going once she is used to a place. She still has issues at times with drop off at school but that is not often and if her dad does it she is fine. It seems to be with just me. I am ok if she stays with us but would like to go every once in awhile too to have fun in that area and give DH and myself a short break. We have been talking it up so hopefully she will be good but I won't be surprised if she wants to stay with us.

 

[Starwind]

Thanks for the review.

Did you do any of the Christmas activities? How were they?

I am most interested in the gingerbread house making - I was wondering if it is more geared to kids? From what I understand, you sign up for it on the first day but wasn't sure if I should just sign up DD11 or both of us. If I just sign up DD11, can I watch and help her?

You sign up your cabin for the gingerbread house making, not individual people. My adult sister and I did it [just the two of us] and had lots of fun. It is geared to families, however they are made up. Each family/stateroom gets sat at a table in the MDR hosting it, and on the table is a gingerbread house kit including the house pieces, icing, and candy to decorate it. A chef gives some instruction on how to assemble it, and then you are left on you own to have at it. You can leave when you are done.

SW

 

[Shanti]

I have a question with the kids area. My daughter (10 will be a week or so away from 11) does not like loud noises or a lot of people. She has always been fine at WDW though. She does not like when things are more chaotic. Would you say the kids area was more like this? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.

We cruised on the Fantasy during Christmas break last year and while the clubs were crowded, they were never chaotic or really loud. It's as active as you would expect with plenty of kids around, but there is ample staff and everything is orderly. Don't expect lots of one-on-one time for your child or handholding. If your child can be independent at school or daycare, they'll be fine at the clubs, but it's not a private babysitting service where everything is structured around the needs of your child. That's the best way I can explain it.

Too many people expect their kids to want to spend all day or hours upon hours at the clubs, so they can have a lot of adults-only time on the cruise. I don't recommend going in with that expectation. The clubs are nice, but the group activities are only for those kids who make the independent choice to take part, the most popular computer stations can have waits for use, and some kids (like mine & the OP's) won't want to spend long stretches of time at the clubs alone. The open house hours are a nice way to try it together with them first, to see if they might like it.

 

[Shanti]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would appreciate a bit more specificity around your opinions on food and service. This would help me a great deal.

Example - were you served food that was spoiled, under or over cooked, too salty, tasteless, greasy...? Were the portions too small?

Did the servers ignore your requests? Were they slow? Rude? Was this shipwide? Or just the food places? Did your cabin stewards not provide you with clean towels? Again, specifics will help me.

I am about to go on my first Disney Cruise, and your experiences will help me make better decisions, and perhaps better manage my expectations.

Thank you again.

Just putting in my 2-cents that we sailed on the Fantasy last year, and the meals were good. They also accommodated my son's dietary restriction very well. The pool deck food is uninspiring fast food, but the MDR food was always a nice meal. Definitely not just "cafeteria" standards. Palo and Remy were good, and as specialty restaurants they offer more of a fine dining experience. I noticed that the OP mentioned that nothing was bad but that she expected more for the price. A lot of people say that- mostly adult-oriented cruisers who expect DCL to really shine in areas like dining as do the up-market cruise lines. Well, the high price is because it's Disney, not because the food is any better than any other mass-market line like RCI. Know that going in, and I think you'll enjoy.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Thanks for the heads up on the gingerbread house making. I will look at the line but if it's that long, I won't plan to do it.

I waited about 10 minutes in line, but I boarded fairly early. Ended up not going though because we overslept!! If for some reason you don't get tickets, maybe you can ask if you can show up and go if anyone cancels or no shows? It is one kit per family regardless of size (we did it a few years ago). It was fun, but my kids weren't really interested in going this time, they were going to do it to make me happy, but again, I just slept in.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Peter is awesome! Guessing Captain Gus was the Captain...

We were on the following week as OP (just got off 2 days ago) and it was Captain Fabian.

This was my 8th DCL food and to me the food was great! For the first time I ate the crab legs from Cabanas - I don't usually because I like them with drawn butter and they don't have it on the buffet, but I asked and they were able to get me some. Also, don't usually get the steak in Cabanas at lunch, but I did this time and it was pretty good! The main dining room food I had was great - salmon, pork tenderloin, steak. I eat GF so couldn't eat many of the desserts, so that was a little disappointing but I was pretty full by dessert time. I am really shocked that all of your meals were horrible. I could understand an occasional bad meal, but for the whole cruise, that is really a surprise to me.

I have 2 kids with 2 different reactions to the kids clubs for their whole lives (we began cruising when they were about 4 and 7). They both went to pre-school and had friends and did fine. By my oldest (now 13) has had issues with kids club on almost all of the 14 cruises (DCL and non-DCL) that he has been on. Usually by the end of the cruise he loves it, but it takes him a while to warm up as he is kind of shy. My younger one usually doesn't want to leave the kids clubs. On other cruise lines (like Carnival and Hal and NCL) we find the kids clubs very structured - for some that is better, for others it is not. I guess what I am saying is don't give up on kids clubs for your child (whether on DCL or other lines) as kids attitudes can flip.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

piglet1979-mine was fine at WDW as well (and even at busier parks). I think the difference is she was being dropped off and left to her own devices. I think if I had prepared her more (in that way), she would have been better. Counselors are great, but the ratio simply does not allow for a lot of hand-holding. I met up with 3 other moms to find her a friend and this was great, BUT we never seemed to drop off and pick up at the same time. I will say, it is chaotic, but I tried to drop off at the less insane location and that worked. They are real close to each other. I also started telling counselors at drop off and that seemed to help. I thought things would be more structured. Club was really, really nice! It was just a bad combination for my kid. Hope this helps!

You PERFECTLY summed up our experiences at the kids club. They did have some fun there--met Thor, and to this day like to teach me how to march like a green army man. However, overall, your impressions exactly match mine. And our kids are outgoing and easily occupy themselves and each other. That said, almost every time we dropped them off we got a call within an hour that one of them wanted to be picked up. I was barely able to finish a shower, and never got to go to the adult pool area/coffee shop. We also did get a full meal when we went to Remy. That said, we were so used to having them call us to have the kids picked up that we were kind of on edge for the whole meal.

We've never had that experience with babysitters/preschool/the Walt Disney World kids clubs--when we'd come to pick them up it would sometimes look like kids just overwhelmed and milling about, and any time one would wander up to the front, one of the counselors said "do you want me to call your parents?" At one point when we were trying to watch a show and they called about 15 min after we dropped off, I asked "can you direct her to an activity?" and they said yes. Our kids are NOT the clingy type, so we were mystified. They like daycare so much they usually beg to stay at pickup time, so I really don't think it was them. It might have been the girls age (4), because they do like/enjoy structured activities. C'est la vie. I see why they'd want to call parents readily, but I think maybe they should have some kind of notation as to whether the parents are the "call me the second she's bored" type or the "please actually keep this kid occupied" type. The ENTIRE reason we booked DCL was the kids club and the idea that they'd have tons of fun and we could actually relax.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

....

I have 2 kids with 2 different reactions to the kids clubs for their whole lives (we began cruising when they were about 4 and 7). They both went to pre-school and had friends and did fine. By my oldest (now 13) has had issues with kids club on almost all of the 14 cruises (DCL and non-DCL) that he has been on. Usually by the end of the cruise he loves it, but it takes him a while to warm up as he is kind of shy. My younger one usually doesn't want to leave the kids clubs. On other cruise lines (like Carnival and Hal and NCL) we find the kids clubs very structured - for some that is better, for others it is not. I guess what I am saying is don't give up on kids clubs for your child (whether on DCL or other lines) as kids attitudes can flip.

I'm hoping this is the case for us! We did book another DCL cruise--the kids will be about 2 yrs older so hopefully they'll be more into it.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

I also started telling counselors at drop off and that seemed to help.

What did you tell them that helped?

Also, thank you so much for these reflections. I just reached out to my cruising group and suggested a younger kid meetup early on. I think if they knew other kids there, they'd look forward to going and seeing little friends. When we drop off at school, they are always thrilled that their classmates are there Every morning. It's like a daily reunion. Great idea, one that I'll try to employ!

 

[Caren]

I must say that comments about the kids clubs in this thread are making me anxious. My grandson will be just turning five when we cruise on the Fantasy in April. He’s autistic and does well with organized preschool activities but does not do well with free play or noisy environments. We had hoped to be able to leave him for at least an hour or two each day, so mom, dad, and grandma can have some adult time. Are we being overly optimistic?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I must say that comments about the kids clubs in this thread are making me anxious. My grandson will be just turning five when we cruise on the Fantasy in April. He’s autistic and does well with organized preschool activities but does not do well with free play or noisy environments. We had hoped to be able to leave him for at least an hour or two each day, so mom, dad, and grandma can have some adult time. Are we being overly optimistic?

Possibly. But I'd suggest you try taking him to one or two Open House events (where mom & dad &/or grandma can attend with him) to introduce him to the space and the CMs. Then give leaving him a shot for, say, 10-15 minutes and see how it goes.

 

[hanscarlet]

I must say that comments about the kids clubs in this thread are making me anxious. My grandson will be just turning five when we cruise on the Fantasy in April. He’s autistic and does well with organized preschool activities but does not do well with free play or noisy environments. We had hoped to be able to leave him for at least an hour or two each day, so mom, dad, and grandma can have some adult time. Are we being overly optimistic?

My ODD is on the spectrum and we like the classic ships for this reason. My ODD was fine at age 8 on the Dream in May but I don't leave her in there more than one hour. There are quieter spots in certain sections of the clubs but the nighttime and at sea days is when it can be busy. Try and schedule some of your adult time during non adult time peak hours like mornings and lunch. I think he'll be OK though if you take him to open house and show him around. My ODD has been going to the clubs since she was 6 and now she loves them.

 

[SDJEL]

I must say that comments about the kids clubs in this thread are making me anxious. My grandson will be just turning five when we cruise on the Fantasy in April. He’s autistic and does well with organized preschool activities but does not do well with free play or noisy environments. We had hoped to be able to leave him for at least an hour or two each day, so mom, dad, and grandma can have some adult time. Are we being overly optimistic?

The clubs are very loud. My daughter who does not like noise really doesn’t like the clubs.

 

[DnA2010]

I must say that comments about the kids clubs in this thread are making me anxious. My grandson will be just turning five when we cruise on the Fantasy in April. He’s autistic and does well with organized preschool activities but does not do well with free play or noisy environments. We had hoped to be able to leave him for at least an hour or two each day, so mom, dad, and grandma can have some adult time. Are we being overly optimistic?

We've cruised on Royal, Disney and HAL and Disney and as others have said, Disney doesn't have the structured activities going on all the time that the others did...I would suggest talking to the staff to get an idea of when good times would be (ie when there is lots of involvement/structure)

 

[Neptune's Fork]

My ODD is on the spectrum and we like the classic ships for this reason. My ODD was fine at age 8 on the Dream in May but I don't leave her in there more than one hour. There are quieter spots in certain sections of the clubs but the nighttime and at sea days is when it can be busy. Try and schedule some of your adult time during non adult time peak hours like mornings and lunch. I think he'll be OK though if you take him to open house and show him around. My ODD has been going to the clubs since she was 6 and now she loves them.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is ODD? I tried to search in order to find the answer, but of course it thinks I'm searching for 'odd' (not the abbreviation) so you can imagine the results.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is ODD? I tried to search in order to find the answer, but of course it thinks I'm searching for 'odd' (not the abbreviation) so you can imagine the results.

I'm thinking it's this:

ODD = Oldest Dear Daughter

 

[Neptune's Fork]

I'm thinking it's this:

ODD = Oldest Dear Daughter

So that's not a commonly used abbreviation?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So that's not a commonly used abbreviation?

I think most of us just use DD, regardless of which kid she is.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

I think most of us just use DD, regardless of which kid she is.

Right, I've never seen ODD used before so I just wanted to make sure I had an accurate understanding.