Take a Ride on the Fantastic Voyage - Day 3

Day Three - Grand Caymans

This day started like most of them.  Chuck gets up at the crack of dawn and goes to work out while the kids and I wake up leisurely and get ready to go to breakfast.  This time though, Chuck makes it in time to go to breakfast with us.

We eat at Royal Court for breakfast.  I like that you order from a menu instead of a buffet, but the menu is the same each day.  The food is excellent though.

Today the boat is docked in the Grand Cayman.  We did not get off the ship.  Chuck and I have been to the Grand Caymans before and, although it's nice, it was something we felt we could skip.  Most people do the Stingray City excursion in Grand Cayman, but as cool as stingrays are to touch in a touch tank at the aquarium, swimming with hundreds of swimming portabello mushrooms just is not my idea of a good time (plus it would require a bathing suit in public and that's not my idea of a good time either).

After breakfast we go to Disney Trivia.  I should totally have this in the bag!  I mean, really, I am a huge Disney fanatic.  There are 5 teams playing.  I don't know how it happened, but another team beat us....  Ok, so I didn't know the dog in Pocahontas was named Percy or the name of the singer that did the voice for Mulan.  I am super competitive, so that loss was a huge blow.  Oh well... I will have more trivia opportunities this week and I will win one :)

After Trivia, we do the Midship Detective Agency.  Disney hit the mark with this one!  We did the Case of the Missing Puppies and we had the best time find clues and puppies in the enchanted artwork (plus running all over the massive ship was bound to work off some of those Palo calories, right?)  This is really an amazing game and the kids had a blast!

Since the majority of the ship was off hanging with the stingrays, we decided it is the perfect time to hit the Aquaduck.  We put on our bathing suits (ok, I put mine on, but kept my cover up on the whole time) and headed up to the pool deck.  Just for giggles, we decided to get Garrett measured again and we got sprinkled with a bit of pixie dust and the guy let him slide (thank goodness for that crazy bedhead that let him barely scrape by)!  Woohoo!  He gets his coveted red bracelet and we vow not to remove it the entire week.  It was awesome.  He loved it!

That evening we had dinner at Royal Court.  That is a really cool and elegant place!  The food and service was impeccable as usual.

We headed back early and went to bed, after all, we have an early morning tomorrow in Costa Maya!  We are so excited about it since we have an excursion to the Mayan ruins.  


Highlights:


Aquaduck
Midship Detective Agency

Take a Ride on the Fantastic Voyage - Day 1

I was channeling my inner Coolio when I came up with the title of this article...  Yep, there I go showing my age again.

The fam and I just got back from a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on the new Disney Fantasy!  It was an amazing trip and, lucky you, get to hear all about it :)

The down and dirty:

Cast of Characters - Chuck, 45,  Me, in my 30's (Haha, I bet you thought I'd slip up and actually tell you), Caroline, 8 and Garrett, 5
The Itinerary - Port Canaveral, Day at Sea, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Day at Sea, Castaway Cay, Port Canaveral
The Ship - Disney Fantasy
Cabin - Category 4B Cabin # 8098
Dining - First Seating
Sail Date - June 23, 2012

Since we live in Charleston, SC, we drive to Port Canaveral since it's only 6 hours away.  So, on June 23, we wake up early enough to be on the road at 6am!  Yay!  That means we should arrive at the port around noon.  Well, best laid plans and all, we get on the road a couple of minutes late, but nothing to throw us off course too much.  We cross the Florida line about the time both kiddos start complaining of their ears hurting.  YIKES!  I quickly start googling Urgent Care Centers in the area and found one in Jacksonville.  Luckily for us, it was just swimmers ear.  The doctor prescribes an antibiotic and about an hr and a half later, we are back on the road.  Thank goodness I planned on getting there at noon.  We had plenty of wiggle room.  As soon as we got to the port, we checked in and were able to board.  We are way past excited by this time.  The ship is stunningly beautiful.  Disney definitely believes in making you feel as though you have just stepped onto the First Class atrium one of the great luxury liners of days gone by.

We get to our cabin to drop off our bags and to grab some lunch.  I booked a category 4B because we have stayed in a Veranda Cabin before, but I was really intrigued by the extra 50 square feet and round tub.  I will have to say, for us, both were well worth the additional cost.  I am completely enamored with the round tub and rain shower head.  The tub/shower seems small when you look at it, but the round shape makes it the roomiest shower I've ever had on a cruise ship.

After dropping our bags off and admiring our home for the next 7 days, we head to Cabanas for lunch.  Lunch was a good buffet.  I think Garrett might have eaten his weight in shrimp.  That kid loves three foods: steak, shrimp and bacon.  After lunch, we swing by the Oceaneers Club and Oceaneers Lab to check it out and get the kids equipped with their Mickey Bracelets (aka Oceaneers ID aka Lojack, as I affectionately call it since it has a GPS locator in it).  Yes, you can do this at the port, but when the lines are long, skip it and do it onboard.

That night we went to dinner at Animators Palate.  We met our Server Tiziana from Italy and her assistant, Camille from Trinidad and Tobago.  We loved, loved, loved them both.  Animators Palate the first night is much like Animators on the Disney Dream.  It features an interactive show featuring Crush from Finding Nemo.

After dinner, Garrett and I went on to sleep since we had had an early morning and long day, while Chuck and Caroline caught the show, A Fantasy Come True.  Chuck said it was a Glee-esque kinda show.  I don't care for Glee, so it wouldn't have been a show I would have cared for.  Caroline loved it.

Highlights:

Category 4 cabin with extra 50 sq feet and round tub/shower
Animators Palate
The ship itself

Seeing things through your eyes

This blog post was written by my good friend and client, Krista Nevarez.  It is a trip report from her cruise on the Carnival Triumph.

Carnival Triumph March 2012

Prior to this, I had been on one other cruise.  I went on the Disney Dream last year for Spring Break.  I loved it!  It was a wonderful experience, but it was definitely expensive!  One day I got an email from Carnival advertising cruises, so I decided to check out the prices.  For less than half of the cost of my four night cruise on Disney, I was able to go on a five night cruise on Carnival.  I contacted Jill, and she made the arrangements and I was booked at six weeks out to sail on the Carnival Triumph from Galveston, TX for spring break.

We drove six hours from Wichita, KS to Fort Worth, TX on Thursday after work.  We stayed overnight at a friends house, then drove another six hours from Forth Worth to Galveston.  I definitely think that cruising out of a port within driving distance was a real money saver!  Although we had to pay for gas and a hotel the night before the cruise, it cost about half of what it would cost to fly to Port Canaveral in FL.  

On Saturday morning, we took a taxi from our hotel to the cruise terminal.  We had stayed at a hotel that had free parking for the duration of the cruise.  I highly recommend doing this.  It was a time and money saver!

The boarding process was much quicker than what I had experienced on the Disney Dream.  We had gotten to the port early and were in the third boarding group.  We were on the ship within about 45 minutes of arriving at the terminal.

My first impression of the ship was that it was TACKY!  It definitely looked like a floating Vegas casino.  Where the main lobby on the Disney Dream was beautifully decorated, the Carnival Triumph's main attraction was a bar.  Although the decorations were tacky, the ship was quite clean and comparable to Disney in that aspect.

We went first to have lunch at the buffet on the ship.  We also had a couple drinks of the day.  

The buffets were nothing to write home about, but we always managed to find something to eat.  If the food was any better, I probably would have eaten a ton and gained a lot of weight so I was fine with the food that was served.  

When we were able to go to our room, I was impressed with the size.  We had booked a verandah stateroom, and we were very happy with our room.  We had a lovely view everyday.

I would highly recommend getting a stateroom with a verandah.  We enjoyed ordering room service and having a private meal on our verandah.  We would read out there almost every evening. 

Our cruise went to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico.  We did not make plans through the cruise line for port activities.  I researched on cruisecritic.com and found activities for both ports.  This saved us money and gave us more flexibility.  

Dinner on the ship was amazing!  We had the my time dining where you can go anytime between 5:45-9:00.  On our second night we had a great waitstaff so we requested them each night after that.  The Caesar salad on the ship was so good that sometimes I got it as an appetizer and for dessert!

Overall, we had a wonderful time on our Carnival cruise.  As a huge Disney fan, it was hard for me to stray from the Disney brand, but the price made it too enticing.  However, I am still on the fence about whether I would take my son who will be three this summer on a Carnival cruise.  I think Disney is definitely superior when it comes to kids clubs and activities.  Carnival seemed very adult focused and this was evident from the many bars on board, risque music that was played, and crass games that would happen on deck.  If I found a cruise that was the right price, I would probably take my son, but for now I will consider Carnival to be an adult vacation for Mommy and Disney to be our family cruise line.