Reflecting on our Disney Fantasy cruise thus far, it has been nothing short of amazing! From our embarkation day, to our two travel days at sea, and followed by breathtaking views and memorable experiences in both Tortola and St. Thomas, it has been an outstanding trip. With St. Thomas now a distant memory, we embarked on the last sea day of our seven night Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Cruise.
After awaking the sleeping zombies in the Hayes clan, we got ourselves cleaned up and ready for our customary Cabanas breakfast. The boys, having just received new Disney Cruise captain hats the night prior from Stateroom Santa, were excited to show them off on our day at sea. We stopped for a quick photo in front of our stateroom door before heading up to deck 11 to curb our morning hunger. We enjoyed heaping platefuls of our favorite breakfast goodies before we reached (dare I say exceeded) our dietary levels for the morning… or maybe the entire day.
The last sea day of the cruise always presents the challenge of trying to spend the day in relaxation mode but also trying to engage in our favorite ship activities for what could be the last time. One of those favorites is the Midship Detective Agency game that we decided to give another go to get us moving around the ship. At this point in the vacation we had completed most, if not all, of the iterations of the game so some of the clues were a repeat. The boys got a kick out of seeing if they could recite what some of the clues were as they were happening.
I always used to wonder why Emily’s eyes would light up when we had a day at sea. I am no FBI Investigator, but I finally realized that a day at sea meant that the merchandise shops would be open ALL DAY. I am pretty sure that Emily would forgo her stateroom if they would let her sleep in the merchandise shops (which is how much she likes shopping). Hunter has taken quite a liking to the shopping experience with Mom, as long as part of the visit is focused on toys. We took our customary spin around the stores on deck three forward, looking for the perfect souvenirs to commemorate our trip. Sawyer took the opportunity to model a C3PO Mickey ear hat.
There was a second purpose for being at the merchandise location at this time, as the ship’s Captain, Commodore Tom, was going to be setting up at a table for a signing and photographs. Just prior to coming down to the stores Emily had the boys open their surprise gifts which were Christmas ornaments from the Disney Cruise. Hunter got the ship in a bottle that he really wanted and Sawyer got a Mickey ear ornament with a ship wheel on it. They were excited to get the gifts as well as get Commodore Tom to sign them. We got the boys’ photo with Commodore Tom, which they thought was pretty cool being in their captain hats and all!
With all of our merchandise signed and put away, the lunch bell was ringing, and we were more than happy to answer. The prior few days on the cruise we have really enjoyed having lunch on deck three at Royal Court. We continued the tradition on our day at sea as well. We wanted to see the Ricky Kalmon show in the Walt Disney Theater on deck three forward, so we thought it would be the smartest idea to have lunch close by the theater. We got a table near the porthole windows and enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing lunch.
We wrapped up our lunch just in time to make it to the Walt Disney Theater to see the Ricky Kalmon show. The boys thought this was so funny as Ricky called guests onto stage so that he could hypnotize them. It was hilarious what some of the guests would do at Ricky’s command. One of the funnier skits was that he told the guests, while hypnotized, that when they woke up they would think that paper napkins were money. When he snapped his fingers he started throwing napkins everywhere and the guests went crazy trying to scoop them up. Some of them were even stuffing the napkins in their pants so they wouldn’t lose them. It was really a funny show and worth checking out if you ever see him on a cruise ship.
With the beautiful weather outside, the water activities were calling our names. We scooted up to our stateroom to change into our swim gear and skipped up to deck 11. Because it was a sea day, the water area was as busy as we had seen it. Our first stop was the Aquaduck to continue Sawyer’s newly acquired ship activity. A couple days prior, when we returned from Tortola, Sawyer went on his first Aquaduck ride being that he finally reached the necessary height. He has been in love ever since. Emily teamed up with Hunter and Sawyer and I went together. Man, is that fun!
The boys wanted to do a few turns on the yellow Mickey slide after we finished the Aquaduck. Emily and I sat at the bottom of the slide with the GoPro to try and capture some of the fun (check out the video at the end of the blog for all of the action). The Mickey slide wasn’t too busy so the boys enjoyed a half dozen or so slides before we moved on to our next activity.
Sawyer hadn’t spent much time in Nemo’s Reef so he strapped the GoPro on his head and took it around. He had a blast going down the Mr. Ray’s slide and running around getting splashed at every turn. Hunter unfortunately is a bit too old for that area so he just came in to watch his brother play.
To keep the water activities going we headed over the the Aqua Lab, where there are various water splashing devices scattered around that basically drench all those in their vicinity. Emily got in on the fun as the boys tried to get her as wet as possible. We finished the water activities with a dip in the Mickey pool before drying off for our round of Goofy Golf.
When we had had enough fun in the sun, we strolled back to our stateroom to change into our dry clothes for the evening. For the grownups, we were getting ready for a dinner at the amazing Palo restaurant. This of course meant that Dad got to head back up to deck 11 to pick up dinner for the boys to eat in the room while the adults got ready. The boys enjoyed some stateroom television while they scarfed down their chicken sandwich, pizza and fruit. They couldn’t have been happier!
I took the boys down to the Oceaneer Club so they could enjoy some fun play time while Em and I went to Palo. Just before we left, Hunter was kind enough to snap a few photos of Emily and I on the veranda in our dress clothes. This of course spiraled into a corny photo session which made us all chuckle.
After I tossed the boys in the Oceaneer Club, Emily and I grabbed a table at the outside deck of the Palo bar while we waited for our table to be called. They came out just as we were finishing up our drinks to bring us to our table, which was situated right next to the window. We were greeted by our server, who was this tiny, smiley girl from Mexico. She introduced herself as Amanda and right away we knew that we were going to have an amazing meal. She took us through the menu and gave us her recommendations. After we had placed our order, we were greeted by their antipasto cart. Amanda scooped some of everything onto a plate for Emily and I to share. Our appetizers and dinners were perfection, as we ate more than we intended. Not to mention they brought us a chocolate soufflé for dessert that we just couldn’t stop eating. I think by the end of the meal, Emily had invited Amanda home for a meal at our house. The details are a little fuzzy. We even got paid a visit from the manager, Luca, who provided quite a bit of entertainment (pictured above).
Disney Fantasy Seven Night East Caribbean Cruise Day 6 Video
We rolled ourselves out of Palo and down to deck five to pick up the boys and return to the stateroom. We were visited once again by Stateroom Santa who brought the boys a keychain and Vinylmation (which they boys were totally into on this cruise). We placed our customary room service order of milk, warm cookies, and a cheese plate while we got ready for bed. After we devoured our late night snack (no idea how we still have room to eat), we called it a night so we could get a good night’s rest for Castaway Cay tomorrow!
If you enjoy following along with our cruise activities be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Adventures page. You can see all of the different locations we have visited as well as more of our photos and videos from past cruises.