What no August posts??!
Just wanted to pop in and say we had a FAB cruise!!
Thx a mint again to the bracelet donor and the distribution organizers. Was fun to meet a few of you picking them up!
The bracelet worked as we met Brian after the 12 meter regatta as we waited for the return ferry shuttle to the ship. Remember meeting Tony in the theatre during the Imagineer presentation - recognized his tats! Also met Amy's mom & Amy (and having fun playing Words With Friends with her still
). Wished we met more of you but alas...there was so much to do.
My 2cents...
Who were your servers?
Pasocek (Phillipines) & Marseilles (Dominican Republic). After 3
DCL cruises I've decided that the serving staff may be fun and able to cut food for kids but they are a far cry from the ones I've experienced on Princess, who take pride in their profession as fine dining servers and learn the skills of their trade. Most of the DCL servers are friendly but lackadaisical in their serving skills. For example, our Main Server was friendly and nice and all but if I ordered something followed by something, he'd reverse the order of the courses. I intentionally say I'll start with [something light on the palate] followed by [something spicy]. Not a big deal but something to which a Princess server would pay attention.
The Asst Server definitely needed more training. If after having a sip of soda, your guest suggests that you brought a diet Coke instead of regular coke which is a simple mistake and no big deal (the other fella at the table drinks Diet) just bring the guest a new Coke. Don't tell him, "No, I brought you a regular Coke." and NOT bring him another one! DH had me taste it and I knew right away it was not regular coke, so I told him just to let the Asst Server know. Because she said she was right and he didn't want to push it, he just drank water that dinner
As for me, it took so long for her to bring me a drink on the first nite, I ended up getting one every nite at the Skyline Lounge and bringing it in with me (boy, I sound like a lush typing that
). These are just 2 examples but there were more service-lacking things with her. First time ever on DCL that I gave less than the recommended tip to anyone. I gave her some and added the balance to our Cabin Steward's grat - boy was he happy with his haul (On the first day, I made one of those customized MouseKeeping tip envelopes for him and he was such a sweetie, he didn't even take it the first 2 times I left it for him. We tracked him down in the hall and gave it to him - he looked completely surprised, and then he rec'd his suggested grat + a portion of the Asst Server's!)
Where there any non-tipped staffers that made your cruise more special?
No one in particular but Lea in the Skyline Lounge was fab. He explained their "drink passport" where you pay for it upfront (7 drinks for the price of 6) and every time you redeemed one, they gave you a chop/stamp on one of the velum pages for each of the World Cities represented in the sky lines. Fun! DH already added tip when he bought the passport for me so Lea had little incentive to treat us well. DH can't drink alcohol at all but kept me company in the Lounge, sometimes ordering a Coke. When he passed on a Coke, Lea always asked if he wanted a glass of ice water and greeted DH by surname by the 2nd nite. We purposely went back to give him an extra tip on our last nite and it was the one time he wasn't there when we arrived. Luckily his shift started before our 2nd seating and it was nice to be able to thank him in person.
What did you have signed?
Nothing this time. I had pillowcases done a couple of cruises ago but didn't want to take up their time this cruise. They are so special I might do a mat or blank vinyl as PP mentioned.
What do you regret not doing?
Really slathering sunscreen on when we went to Serenity Bay to snorkel. It was fabulous and we spent most our time in the water. DH didn't put any on the back of his legs and was downright crispy! I slathered some but missed near the bottom of my boyshort bottoms and my achilles area. DH was in pain for days - we never even went back on the Aquaduck cuz he thought it would be too painful.
What did you splurge on?
Shockingly DH surprised me with a spa hot stone massage - he's never done this before and I believed he didn't even know the spa existed! I was delighted but knew I had to cancel it because parts of me were so sunburnt I couldn't imagine someone touching me let alone with hot stones! I hope my cancellation (which was problematic even tho I phoned to cancel it only 30 minutes after he'd made it, and required me to worry about it and check back the next day 3 times to ensure I would not be charged) will not discourage DH from trying to surprise me in the future!
If you've sailed other DCL ships, how did the Fantasy compare?
Fantasy is such a beautiful ship - most thoughtful interior design of all the ships I've been on including Princess & Celebrity - truly stunning. Thankfully the dining room food quality (apart from that pesky Pirate night menu) is much better than the Wonder's. However, it seems like their snack wrap CS place was just using iceberg lettuce for filler in everything. That was my fave snack item on the Wonder with lots of excellent and creative fillings. On the Fantasy, I stopped sampling them when multiple visits yielded the same poor fare. Room service seemed to overwhelmed on this larger ship - after one port, when I called to order 2 hotdogs, I was told it would be an hour.
Favorite part of the ship?
Just wandering around and seeing all the amazing textures, colors, fabrics, wonderful art and whimsy. We also spent a lot time watching the city scenes change in the Skyline Lounge - was fun to see the "secret scenes": costumed Jedi, Mickey dancing and waving from an apartment window, Gusteau's and an outline of Remy, etc.
Favorite rotation restaurant?
Easily Animator's Pallette - loved the shows, food, decor. And yes, I bought one of those paint brush butter knives as a momento!
Favorite excursion?
For me, riding the safari bus with locals and heading to Serenity Bay: fab snorkelling!
DH, loved watching the planes land from Maho Beach - I scored points for setting that one up!
Favorite activity?
Midship Detective, Aquaduck, clubs at nite having people in them past midnite so we could dance and hang out; on other ships it has been dead after 11pm.
What was the highlight of the week for you?
Just relaxing with DH. Both other DCL cruises were part of a on-line community cruises so there was a lot of running around to events, etc. This cruise we took time to explore the ship, stop when we stumbled on something fun (like DH playing Kinect Wipeout in the pub), went to a couple of trivia and animation classes, geeked out at Imagineering presentations, played mini golf, helped Kermit solve a case, dropped off random FE gifts, saw a food demo, went to all the deck parties, danced at the clubs, and built time into the schedule for DH to have pool time everyday (I discovered it's his fave thing to do and happy DH = more cruises! ;
Who did you want to meet but didn't get the chance?
I was hoping to give John a hug - glad to hear he had a good cruise.
What picture (that you took or was taken) do you like most? (Share!)
Loved the new Shutters set up - was surprised to see a shot of us on the Aquaduck: of course a must buy!
Anything that you regretted doing? (what happens on the sea.....)
Not going to get a Dooney & Bourke purse sooner in the cruise - I left it to the very end and there were none left that had any reasonable "Fantasy" placement left.
We had a wonderful time on the cruise - I'm really happy we took a 7-day cruise on our first Dream-class ship; it took us that long to check it all out. It was the first time we'd had an Oceanview cabin and were pleasantly surprised at how large the porthole was - I could completely stand up in it! We also perched on the built-in seat quite a bit so while we were completely satisfied with our cabin, it made us realize we enjoy our usual verandah more than we think. (Actually we booked so late that if we'd just waited a few weeks we could have booked a verandah cabin for a couple hundred LESS - but DH wanted to ensure I got to sail the Fantasy & that was the only week that worked for us so he told me to just book it. We have no regrets and were appreciative of the 4 level upgrade.)
Thx a mint to all those who participated in this thread - it was fun to share the pre-trip excitement, the trip tips were very helpful, and it was amusing to read your post-trip thoughts. Hopefully we'll meet again onboard - please don't make me the thread killer!
cheers,