We had essentially the most unbelievable time and know deep in our hearts the 5-night cruise we took with my mother and father and my sister’s household is a cruise we’ll keep in mind and treasure endlessly. Did I tear up a number of instances on the cruise? You guess I did. As I become old, I solely additional respect each second I’ve with my mother and father and being on one ship with my mother and pop and my sister and her fantastic household — all of us in a single place, undistracted and totally having fun with one another — was a real present. Swirl these emotions round with the gratitude I really feel for my mother and pop and the childhood they gave to me and my sister and this Disney cruise was the right storm of nostalgia, pleasure and household.
Disney Fantasy 5 Day Cruise
I toyed round with the easiest way to share our expertise on our first Disney cruise on the weblog and settled on a common recap of our five-day cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy ship with little ideas, highlights and suggestions included. Buckle up as a result of it is a very lengthy weblog put up however it’s additionally the type of put up I’d’ve needed to learn earlier than our journey after I was craving allllll the information and particulars a couple of Disney cruise aboard the Fantasy!
Our first Disney cruise was a 5 day journey we chosen primarily as a result of my mother was the queen of cruise analysis and every little thing she learn led her to imagine the Fantasy was an amazing ship for households with younger children. Our itinerary for our 5 day Disney Fantasy cruise seemed like this:
- Day One: Board the Fantasy at Port Canaveral in Florida + Embarkation
- Day Two: Disney’s Castaway Cay (Disney’s non-public island situated within the Bahamas)
- Day Three: Lookout Cay (non-public peninsula situated on the southern finish of the island of Eleuthera within the Bahamas)
- Day 4: Nassau, Bahamas
- Day 5: Day at Sea (no stops)
- Day Six: Arrive again at Port Canaveral and disembark
Three stops within the Bahamas felt manageable, enjoyable and not-too-intense for our crew of 13 that included seven children ranging in age from 10 months to 10 years previous.
Disney Fantasy Cruise Day One: Embarkation on Disney Fantasy
We break up up the 8+ hour drive from our residence in North Carolina to Port Canaveral by driving to my mother and father’ place in Jacksonville, Florida the day earlier than we had been set to embark on our cruise. We noticed sufficient individuals expertise cruise journey disasters throughout our Alaska household trip to plan for a buffer day earlier than our cruise was set to go away and this labored nicely for us.
On Sunday morning, the day we set sail, we drove to the port and arrived mid-morning. Up first was baggage drop-off and we discovered the curbside baggage drop-off system to be fairly environment friendly. We had been then directed into the terminal the place we went by safety with our carry-on bag (which we primarily full of swimsuits, goggles and water bottles) and waited till it was time to board, as we arrived a little bit earlier than our boarding time. (This was the one time in the course of the journey that we had been requested to current our passports.)
The best factor occurs whenever you board a Disney cruise ship: Your loved ones’s title is introduced and also you’re greeted by smiling crew members and Disney characters waving to you from the balcony. It instantly units the tone for such a magical expertise!
Oceaneer Membership + Oceaneer Lab (Disney Fantasy Youngsters’ Golf equipment)
Up first for our household was making our solution to the Oceaneer Membership and Oceaneer Lab, the 2 connecting children’ golf equipment for potty-trained youngsters ages 3-10. We had been strongly suggested to make this a “first cease” after boarding to keep away from lengthy strains and we had been glad we did.
We toured the services and registered our youngsters for the magic bands that may give them entry to the youngsters’ golf equipment on board the ship and at Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay all through the period of the cruise. (Youngsters membership is included in the price of the cruise, as are the youngsters’ membership magic bands except you fail to return them and then you definitely’re charged $25.) This was a BIG a part of our household’s motivation to ebook our Disney cruise this yr because it’s the ultimate yr Chase (10 years previous) may attend the youngsters’ membership with the youthful children earlier than he would age out to the older children’ golf equipment.
Our children’ first impressions of the Oceaneer Membership and Lab had been all extremely optimistic, they usually fortunately would’ve performed there all afternoon if we allow them to. My first impression was additionally optimistic (services had been clear and nicely organized and crew members had been partaking) however as a really screen-light household, the sheer variety of screens within the children’ golf equipment shocked me. There are screens far and wide — iPads with Disney video video games, Star Wars simulators, MarioKart, and many others. — and I notice I could also be within the minority with this gripe, however it could’ve been actually fantastic to see extra screen-free play areas. I say this as a mother or father who retains scre…
