Trip Report: November 3, 2018 7 Night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy – Day 2

Day 2:  At Sea

(you can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here)

I woke up this morning about 8:30.  The previous night had been the night that most of the US turned their clocks back an hour for Daylights Savings, but Peter, our cruise director, told us the previous evening at the show that the ship would not be turning the clock back an hour.  This was because we were about to visit the US and British Virgin Islands, who do not observe Daylight Savings, and we needed to be on the same time as them (we did turn the clocks back an hour at the end of the cruise, before returning to the US).  Peter had also cautioned us that most phones will automatically turn back an hour, so I checked my phone with the stateroom TV and sure enough, even in airplane mode, mine had changed and I had to adjust it.

My husband and I had a reservation for Palo Brunch at 10:30 so we did not eat breakfast, but we wanted coffee so we went up to the drink station on deck 11.  We grabbed the girls some breakfast from Cabanas while we were up there and brought it back to the room.

Our kids are not early risers (one of the joys of homeschooling) so we knew they would want to lay around in bed watching TV most of the morning.  From 9:00-10:30, we just relaxed in the room.  I did make a quick trip down to guest services to apply some gift cards to our onboard account.

At 10:30, we went to Palo for brunch.

When we arrived I asked if one of our favorite servers, Susana was onboard.  She had been on the Wonder for ages (our favorite ship) but told us she was transferring to the Fantasy for her next contract.  The hostess told us that she was in between contracts right now, but when she returned, she would be at the hostess table (for Palo & Remy) and no longer a server.

We were seated and welcomed by our server, whose name I cannot remember, which is strange because I am typically really good with names.  He was nice, but not memorable.

This was our first time in Palo on either the Fantasy or Dream, so I spent some time looking around.

I will admit that while this was lovely, I much prefer Palo on the Magic/Wonder (you can read my post about brunch on the Wonder here).  The buffet on the Fantasy was sort of tucked away in a dark corner, which is a big contrast to the Magic/Wonder buffet which is spread out dramatically in the center of the room with lots of natural light.  This buffet was much more compact, and the selection was actually even smaller.  I was disappointed that one of my favorite things on the Magic/Wonder – the cheese table – was nowhere to be found.  They had a few plates of cheese scattered here and there, but nowhere near the selection.  They did not have the soft boursin cheese, honeycomb or fig preserves at all – I even asked.  I guess I was expecting to be wowed and I wasn’t.

Despite that, the food was great as always.  Here is my plate from the buffet:

From the menu, we ordered the Lasagna Bolognaise and the Artichoke Ravioli.  I forgot to take pictures, but here are some from a previous cruise:

We enjoyed brunch and then met the girls in La Piazza at 12:00 for Disney Charades (we used the chat feature on the app to communicate with them).  La Piazza is basically the equivalent on the Promenade Lounge on the Wonder, where all of the games/trivia/crafts take place.  The room layout is not as good though, as the bar is right in the center of the room and all of the activities have to take place on the edges.

After charades the girls were ready for lunch, so we went up to deck 11 so they could get pizza and chicken tenders.  Deck 11 on sea days was always really, really crowded.  I thought maybe since this cruise happened while school was in session that there might be fewer kids on board, and maybe there was compared to a summer or holiday cruise, but I still thought there were tons of kids.

Of course they finished it off with an ice cream cone.

This window was shattered the whole cruise:

Next, the girls went off on their own while my husband and I visited the future cruise sales desk to reserve our placeholders.  I tapped my card and was put first on the list:

It only took us a few minutes to meet with the CM and reserve our placeholders (full details about the onboard booking benefits here).

At 1:45, our youngest and I went to Disney Cruise Line Trivia in La Piazza.  Our middle daughter went to the “Disney Dance Camp” activity that was taking place in the Edge and Vibe, and I’m not sure what my husband and our oldest did.

We have done Disney Cruise Line Trivia before, and some of the questions are really hard (how many staterooms are on the Magic???).  But, this time, the questions were a bit easier and we actually won!  The prize was 2 DCL calendars.

At 2:30, the kids who participated in the “Disney Dance Camp” activity performed in The Tube.  Basically, this activity consisted of 2 of the Walt Disney Theater performers teaching the kids a dance to Step in Time.  My daughter does musical theater, and had just been in a production of Mary Poppins Jr, so this was right up her alley.  She loved getting to talk to the performers.

After this we went back to the room for a bit, and passed through the Tiffany store on the way.

During our cruise, there was a Bvlgari store under construction, and I heard that it would be opening during the following sailing.

Next we went to Disney Tunes Trivia at 3:30 in La Piazza.  I think out of all of the trivia that they do, this one is my favorite.  And, they always change it up so you can go to it multiple times on the same sailing and the songs will all be different.  We never come close to winning this one, but there is always 1 or 2 obscure songs that we manage to get correct.

Pictionary was happening right after trivia, so we stayed for that.  It was actually really fun! They team one side of the room against the other side.

After Pictionary we went back to the room to relax for a bit.  At this time I noticed this new heating mat in the desk drawer for curling/flat irons.  This is a nice addition.

It looks like we watched some Hunchback of Notre Dame.

We also went up to deck 11 to get a snack and watch the sunset.

At 6:15 we went to the Walt Disney Theater to see Wishes.  Since this show is unique to the Fantasy, we had never seen it before.  We all enjoyed it, but it doesn’t rank towards the top of our favorites. When the show was over, we went back to the room to change because it was formal night.  We didn’t go all out this time, but we did try to spiffy up a bit.

After we changed, we went to check out the action in the atrium.  It was the Captain’s Welcome Reception, so free drinks (both alcoholic and non) were being served, and lots of people were lined up for pictures.

At 8:15 we went to Royal Court for dinner.

The children’s menu:

I love the bread baskets!

And the napkins!

The Breaded and Deep Fried Brie with an orange and cranberry chutney (very good):

The Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp – one of my favorites!

The Red Wine Bosc Pear Salad (very good):

The Chateaubriand-roasted Filet Steak (very good):

The dessert menu:

The Classic Opera Gateau (very good):

The Strawberry Shortcake Sundae (very good):

The Duo Chocolate Slice – simple and light but one of my favorites!

We finished dinner right before Family Karaoke started at 9:30.  We all went to karaoke and then went to bed.

Up next:  Day 3 – At Sea