WorldofLauraJane

Disney Fantasy is a ship which is able to carry 4000 passengers and has 14 decks, her maiden voyage was in 2012.

Upon boarding Disney Fantasy you are greeted with the magnificent three level atrium with a statue of Mademoiselle Minnie at the bottom of the staircase as well as a Swarovski crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. On the stern of the ship there is a Dumbo figure.

 If you are someone who does cruise regularly with other cruise lines, you will find cruising with Disney is a completely different experience. 

There are three main dining restaurants onboard which you rotate around each night and your servers move with you each night too. Once onboard you will find out which restaurant you are dining at each night, there are two different times for meals which are 17:45 and 20:15. The three restaurants onboard are:

Royal Court: a restaurant which takes inspiration with its design from Disney princess films as you will see chandeliers, marble cased columns and throne style chairs. 

Enchanted Garden: as you walk in to the restaurant you are transported to the dreamy French gardens of Versailles. Located in the middle of the restaurant is a splashing fountain and blooming flower lamps can be found too. 

Animator’s Palette: a colourful restaurant which is filled with an animators studio tools such as paintbrushes. As you are seated you are able to immerse yourself in the underwater world of Finding Nemo as you see some of the well known characters from the movie and you can catch up with Crush, the totally tubular turtle. 

There are two speciality restaurants where you have to pay a fee for:

Palo: modern Italian cuisine

Remy: French gourmet

There is a buffet style restaurant located on deck 11 known as Cabanas which you are able to go for breakfast and lunch. This is where you will find the Disney famous Mickey waffles. Whilst eating at Cabanas you will find coffee for free as well as a soda machine for free drinks such as coca-cola and sprite. Soda machines are also found near the pool so that you are able to grab a free soft drink. Another option for food is Flo’s Cafe which is quick service style located near the pool. Here you will find different ‘windows’ serving pizza, chicken tenders, hot dogs, burgers as well as sandwiches and wraps. If you are then wanting some dessert there are two different options, there is soft serve ice cream machines available offering various flavours including banana, chocolate and vanilla. Next to Cabanas is Sweet on You where you are able to go for various flavours of ice cream or sorbet for a fee and there is sweet treats available to buy including Rice Krispie treats, cake pops and cupcakes. At Sweet on You there is a sundae available to buy in a keepsake Mickey or Minnie bowl for a charge of $10.99 which includes 3 scoops of ice cream and 5 toppings of your choice. 

Onboard there are two main places to go for a speciality coffee Cove Cafe and Vista which is where you will have to pay for your coffee but there is a special treat as you will find character art on the top of your coffee. 

There are some bars onboard which are located on deck 4 all with a European theme leading from one bar to another.

O’Gills:  Irish Pub 

La Piazza: a venue with live music and Italian cocktails.

The Tube: nightclub inspired by 1970’s London

Ooh La La: a Paris champagne bar. 

There is no shortage of activities to do whilst onboard Disney Fantasy. Some activities to participate in include towel folding classes, forky making, animation classes as well as friendship bracelets making sessions. Onboard there is mini golf located at the back of the ship. For water lovers there is a water slide known as Aquaduck which goes around the ship.  There are also water stations onboard for the little ones which are known as Aqua Lab and Nemo’s Reef.

There is a theatre onboard called Walt Disney Theatre which will have shows on nightly which will have two showings. Onboard the mini cruise that I did the shows were Frozen the musical, Aladdin the musical and Believe. 

There is a cinema onboard which will show various movies and some of them may even be movies that have only recently been released in the cinema at home. At the time of my sailing they were showing Freakier Friday in the cinema which was only released a week previously. 

Something Disney cruises are famous for is there pirate night, this is one night onboard where the characters will be dressed in their pirate attire as well as holding a pirate themed deck party later in the evening which was 22:15 during our sailing. Cruises that depart from USA will often have fireworks during pirate night. Passengers are encouraged to wear pirate attire for this evening, this doesn’t have to be fancy dress if you don’t want to as some people opted to wear a pirate t-shirt. I chose to wear a black and white striped dress with a black belt as well as pirate Mickey ears. When you go back to your cabin during the day on pirate night the stewardess will leave a pirate bandana which can be worn that evening. 

If you are travelling with children there is the opportunity for an extra fee to visit Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. This is where they are able to have a makeover to look and feel like a princess, there is also the option to buy a princess dress. 

The ship horns play seven different Disney including when you wish upon a star and it’s a small world. 

Onboard there is the chance to meet some of the famous Disney characters in various outfits such as Mickey in his captain outfit or pirate outfit. Other characters that could be found to meet onboard included Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Belle. Character timings could be found within the DCL app. There is also a princess gathering which has to be booked in advance, this is popular so does fill up. The princess gathering is the opportunity to meet some of the princess from the movies in the atrium, during my cruise the princesses were Snow White, Mulan, Tiana and Cinderella. 

There are some shops onboard selling Disney merchandise but be prepared to potentially have to queue for shop opening for the first time. Some of the stock onboard sold out and wasn’t replenished during my cruise onboard.

There is often the assumption that Disney cruise ships are for families only and are not for adults travelling alone but I find this to be wrong. Something that did surprise me onboard is the amount of adult only areas as there is a large adult only pool area as well as some bars that are adults only. If you are travelling during school holidays then you should expect to find a large amount of children onboard. 

For my cruise I booked a verandah stateroom which was lovely, there was plenty of storage within the cabin which is often hard to find on cruise ships. Within the cabin there was a large verandah, a sofa which also converted to a bed, a desk area with a chair, a tv with limited channels, a king size bed as well as a large wardrobe and drawers. Within the cabin the bathroom set up was split with a toilet and sink in on its own whilst there was a separate with area with a sink as well as a bath with a shower over.  Within the cabin there are lot of small Disney touches in the decor and upholstery. 

Each evening your cabin steward will do a turn down service as they get you cabin ready for when you return for bed, they will leave some chocolates on the bed as well as a towel animal which will be different each evening.

Overall I found Disney Fantasy to be the perfect ship for my first Disney cruise, it’s a small ship but there is plenty to do onboard. It’s a different style of cruising to what I’ve been used to lately but that wasn’t a negative thing as it was good to see that there is still some of the old style cruising. 

Would I cruise with Disney again? 

Yes I would but the only issue I have is the cost of them compared to other cruise lines.