Part Two: The Disney
Fantasy – Day One ARRIVAL
This is our first cruise – I had truly never even considered
a cruise as an option, but last summer my co-worker Craig bent my eyeballs
showing me exhaustive pictures of his first cruise, and he promised me that
they are actually amazing now. So in the
fall when we started thinking about spring break I tossed out the idea of a
Disney Cruise and Pamela was caught unawares (actually thought I was joking…). But I let her know I wasn’t actually joking,
and she let the idea sink in for a day and then reached out to a number of
friends, including a scrapbooking friend who is a huge Disney fan (and arranges
trips), and got the lowdown. Working
with her, we got the whole trip planned.
But until we set foot aboard the Fantasy (which celebrates
its 2 year birthday on this trip) none of us really knew what we were in store
for. After being dropped off at the
terminal in the looming shadow of the ship, we made our way through the chaotic
boarding lobby, quick got a family picture taken, and walked across the
gangway, where they announced our family (got it right too!) to a round of applause
– we walked into a 3 story atrium in a beautiful art nouveau style. 11 main decks, with smaller decks 12-13 for
fancy restaurants and the tweener club…
We hightailed to get the kids registered for the play zones
– the Oceaneers Club has play structures, computers, and a bunch of camp
counselors to lead games, sing alongs, dance competitions, and art
projects. We registered for a ship-wide
detective game (similar technology to what I described for the Magic Kingdom,
but instead of casting spells, you use your card to shine flashlights and open
doors in innocuous paintings throughout the ship). We walked the decks to get a feel for the
place, and I’m here to tell you, it’s BIG.
Full sized movie theater. A live
stage. A huge waterslide. And of course, unlimited food everywhere –
only espresso and liquor are chargeable.
It’s a bit odd and nice to walk up to the coffee bar, get an espresso,
and then help myself to a brioche. There
is no money here – it’s all on our “key to the world”, and I’m sure the charges
will be stunning at the end, but the prices for add-on items aren’t really too
bad. Espresso is 2 bucks, and a pour of
Dalwhinnie is just $10.
Our room is a good sized stateroom with a queen for us, and
in the evening a bunkbed magically appears (we had to flip a coin to see who
got first upper – switching nightly) We
have a veranda and we’re on the 7th level, so Pamela and I have
taken to having our morning coffee out watching the world cruise by.
We had our first buffet lunch Saturday and met a very nice
Serbian man named Vladimir whose stony demeanor was completely apropos, though
he did surprise the kids with a trick of turning a napkin into a bunny. But I couldn’t shake the thought he might be
undercover, scoping the room for a target.
Ok, I’m not going to blog meals – that’s just too old man
behavior – let me just say the food is uniformly fantastic and there’s great
variety – I haven’t had a bad forkful in 3 days. Isaac has had either a hamburger and fries,
or pepperoni pizza for every lunch and dinner, and waffles and bacon for every
breakfast. Bella has been surprisingly
adventurous, trying a lot of different foods – I’m very proud of her!
On Saturday night, we learned of our seating time (545) our
table number (1!) and met our servers, who will be with us the whole trip,
moving from restaurant to restaurant with us, learning our favorites. Pamela ordered an Arnie Palmer her first
night, and an Arnie has been waiting for her every dinner since.
Isaac asked for some extra Maraschino cherries with his
drink on Saturday – it took a while and we were wondering if they forgot, but
all of a sudden a bowl appeared with a full jar of cherries in it – 40 cherries
or so. Isaac’s eyes lit up and he devoured
them. And for the past 2 meals, a bowl
of cherries was waiting at his spot.
What a wonderful touch!
After dinner we checked the kids in to playzone and wandered
the ship – Pamela and I found a quiet corner a French champagne bar called “ooh
la la” – and we were some of the only people in there – plopped down on a cozy
couch and enjoyed some Veuve Cliquot and toasted the start of a wonderful
voyage. We only had half the bottle and
the rest is corked and waiting for our return to the bar this week.
The ship is massive, but not immune to the waves – there’s a
definite roll and pitch and your abs and calves are always compensating! As we went to sleep that first night, we let
the ocean literally rock us to sleep… and
it was delightful.
As I write this, the kids are at the Oceaneers Lab in a
guided activity, Pamela is at a hypnosis seminar (more on that later), and I’m
sitting back enjoying a quad espresso, blogging, and watching the ocean pass
by. I’ll post more updates about days 2,
3, and today (day 4) later on – but I wanted to get a few details out
there.
ALSO – this is amazing.
I would totally do this again.
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