Halloween on the High Seas aboard the Disney Fantasy!

Over the MEA break (and a few extra days we took off school), we headed to Florida and took off on a Disney Cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy for a 7 night western Caribbean cruise.  We left home on October 12th, boarded the ship October 13th at Port Canaveral, then sailed to Cozumel, Mexico, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth, Jamaica, before heading to Disney's island Castaway Cay and then back to Port Canaveral.  We had an amazing trip!

After an early start to the morning to get on our flight, we ended up waiting about 1.5 hours in the Orlando airport for our shuttle to take us to our hotel in Port Canaveral. We passed the time by playing SkipBo. 

The kids were pretty excited that we could see the port and another Disney ship (the Dream) as we rode to the hotel in Port Canaveral on the shuttle bus.

Our hotel had an astronaut in the lobby.  We didn't have time to check out Cape Canaveral, but Trevor thought the astronaut was pretty cool.

After we settled in to our hotel room, we took a quick Uber down the street to a restaurant on the water.  We got to watch the Disney Dream embark while eating our dinner. (You can see the Dream very small behind Sarah and Trevor in this photo)

The Dream drove right by us.  It is the sister ship to the Fantasy (same size, 1 of the 2 bigger ships - the Wonder and Magic are the smaller ones). The ship horns played "A dream is a wish your heart makes" as it embarks.

Austin got vacation eating started with lobster tail for dinner!

The next morning, we headed to the port to embark on our adventure!

Arriving at the port with our ship in the background.

We got a picture with Captain Mickey while waiting to board the ship.

Boarding the ship.

We entered into the beautiful lobby atrium of the ship with the crew applauding as they announced our family.  This was a "Halloween on the High Seas" cruise because it is in October, so they had a pumpkin tree in the lobby.

The port holes were also decorated with pumpkin faces or cobweb decorations.

We went to one of the main dining rooms, Animator's Palate, right away for lunch. Trevor was excited to have a Mickey plate and the server made a Mickey Mouse out of ketchup for his fries.

After lunch, our room was ready and we went to drop our carry on bags and check it out. There was another ship across from us before we headed out of port.  Here is Trevor checking out our verandah. 

Trevor lost his wristband for the kids club before we were even done with lunch the first day, so we headed to the kids' club to get him a new one and explore the fun they have there. 

Trevor found a game in which you get to steer the ship.  He loved being the captain.

Then there was a the sail away party up on deck 11 (where the pool and "funnel vision" is).

Fun song and dance with the characters celebrating our embarkation!

The Fantasy plays "When you wish upon a star" for its horn (and can play 6 or 7 others too!)

Watching us pull away from land from our verandah.

Trevor was a little shy to meet Minnie, so I had to hold him.

We got to meet Donald Duck the first day too. 

Our first dinner was at the Enchanted Gardens restaurant. Enchanted Garden is a pretty restaurant with green and white coloring, a garden fountain, and lighting that changes colors throughout the dinner.  There are also flower lights that bloom during dinner.  We met our servers, Ignacio from the Phillippines and Aswald from St. Vincent.  The first dinner, I couldn't decide between 2 entrees, so I asked Ignacio which he recommends, and he brought me both!  Apparently, you can have as many things on the menu as you want.  Austin definitely took advantage of this throughout the cruise.  He often would have 2 soups or entrees or desserts. One night, they kept bringing him more apple pie and I think he ate almost 3 pieces of pie!  One night, they brought our table every dessert on the menu, even ones we hadn't ordered.  Needless to say, we ate very well that week!

Sarah was excited that her dessert had a chocolate on top that said the name of the restaurant. 

After dinner each night, we attended the show in the Walt Disney theater. Throughout the week, there was a magician, a ventriloquist, 2 Disney themed "Broadway style" shows (Disney Wishes and Disney Believe) as well as an adaptation of Aladdin. The only show that was not so great was the hypnotist. The rest were entertaining and the kids loved them! 

When we got back to our room, we discovered our room host had left us treats (chocolates), and our blanket folded into a "towel animal". 

Excited kids were up early the next morning, sitting on the verandah enjoying the sunrise and checking out a shipping boat they spotted in the distance.

The 2nd day was an "at sea" day while we travelled from Port Canaveral to Cozumel, Mexico.  The kids wanted to spend some time in the kids club, so they were there for a couple hours in the morning, while Steve and I explored the ship and found Pepe the Prawn's door, stateroom #5148 1/2. This ended up being useful in our later detective case.

Some pretty pics of the ship...

The chandelier in the atrium lobby looks like peacock feathers.

Minnie's statue by the grand staircase.

 The pumpkin tree.

Mickey pumpkins on the Guest Services desk.

Panels with characters between the floors of the lobby.

While the kids were in the Oceaneers Club, Steve and I got to go to an "Art of Animation" session and learn how to draw Mickey and Donald.  Here's what we made:

After that, we picked the kids up from kids' club, had a quick lunch, and headed to the pool to play!

We went on the AquaDuck waterslide that takes you around the edge of the ship, looking over the ocean below and Trevor tried the Mickey slide.

The freely available ice cream dispensers on deck were a big hit!

Sarah with her new friend Mya, whose family sat at our table for dinner with us throughout the cruise.

That night was formal night, so we all dressed up for dinner at Royal Court.

At Royal Court, Sarah was excited that the dessert menu had Cinderella's carriage on it.

At Royal Court, the lights look like Cinderella's carriage too.

 Off to the Walt Disney Theater for the show!

Another blanket animal, this time wearing Daddy's sunglasses.

On Monday for our first port, we landed at Cozumel, Mexico.

I tried to take a photo of Daddy and the kids on the pier, but even though the sun was behind them, they couldn't seem to open their eyes to smile for a photo because it was "too bright."

We took a ferry to the mainland, landed at Playa del Carmen, took a bus into the jungle, donned wetsuits and helmets, hiked a mile in the jungle, then climbed down into an underground river cave, the Rio Secreto (Secret River).  It was an amazing adventure!

Hiking above ground.

When rock falls down into the cave, it makes these openings for the sunlight to come through (or for people to climb down).

Here we go into the cave.

After our adventure in the Rio Secreto, we headed back to Playa del Carmen to catch the ferry back to the pier in Cozumel.

 

The ferry was the only time we had to use Dramamine on this trip. We definitely could feel the big ship rocking a few days on our cruise, but it never bothered us.  The ferry was much smaller and was really rocking on rough seas (right after a big breakfast), so we broke out the Dramamine.

Back on the pier to head back to our beautiful ship!

We had dinner that night at Animator's Palate. The dining room is decorated like an artist palate with the columns being paintbrushes and the walls filled with sketches from varoius Disney movies. There are screens on the walls that turn into fish tanks for Crush the Turtle from Finding Nemo to come converse with diners, for different characters to swim by, and for games with the fish making different shapes. As dinner progresses, the blank colored spots on the ceiling light up with different colors on the artist's palate.

Trevor in the blue light enjoying the entertainment.

 Austin and I with Nemo swimming by in the background.

 More Nemo friends. 

Trevor smiling like Bruce as he swims around behind him.

Trevor still LOVES sharks!

Trevor was also excited to find a sketch of Bruce on the wall.

We met some princesses, too.  Austin was being a party pooper and didn't want to join us to meet Belle.

He acquiesced to meeting Cinderella though.

This wall has a cool Cinderella mosaic. There were some really beautiful tile mosaics around the ship, even in some of the bathrooms!  There was a really amazing bathroom that was circular shaped, had round sliding doors, and the entire room was covered in beautiful mosaic artwork. 

 Sting ray!

On Tuesday, we anchored at Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  The pier can't accommodate a ship as big as the Fantasy, so we anchored and took a tender boat to the pier. There were 4 other ships anchored nearby. Sarah's dance studio owners/directors were there at the same time. Here is Sarah on our verandah in her dance studio tank with their ship behind her.

Looking back at our ship as our tender takes us to the pier. What a beautiful ship!

We got some SnoCones while we waited to take off on our next adventure.

Off to our dolphin swim!

Steve getting a belly ride.  The dolphin turns over on her back and you can hold onto her fins and go for a ride.  It is amazing how strong these animals are!

We each took another ride on a wave board. You hold your leg out straight with your foot flexed and the dolphin comes behind you and pushes the bottom of your foot with her nose.

Smiles with our dolphin Luna

Dolphin kisses!

 When we returned to the ship, we met Ariel in the hallway and got her to sign our book.

Trevor got to give Goofy a big hug

 This one wore Sarah's sunglasses.

We went to "Haunted Stories of the Sea" up on deck before bed (and of course, had some ice cream cones - which Trevor made a giant mess of!).

On Wednesday morning, Austin lost a tooth at breakfast.  It had been wiggly for a little while, but was hurting him when he ate, so he finally pulled it out while we were on the ship. Unfortunately, he forgot to leave it under his pillow for the tooth fairy until the next morning, but our room host put the bunk bed away during the day and the tooth was lost before the tooth fairy could find our ship.

After breakfast, we landed in Falmouth, Jamaica.  We took a bus to the Mystic Mountain first and took a chair lift up the mountain.

Gorgeous views

 Daddy, Trevor, and Austin on the chair behind Sarah and I

At the top, we had lunch and watched some dancers and drummers perform.

Then we waited for our turn on the bobsleds.  Trevor's was hooked to mine and Sarah's was hooked to Austin's and we sped down the mountain!

Chairlift ride back down.

Then we headed to Dunn's River Falls.

We walked down to the beach to start the climb up the waterfall. 

Up we go!  The cool water felt good after the heat at the top of Mystic Mountain.

That night was pirate night and we all dressed up to join in the fun!

Before dinner, we met Captain Jack Sparrow.

He wasn't in our Disney characters book, so he signed in the front cover.

Dinner was a pirate themed meal and Trevor's kid's menu even turned into a pirate hat!

We met Captain Hook and Mr. Smee

Arrrrrr Matey!

Chip and Dale (and all the characters) were in their pirate gear too.

Up on deck that night, there were pirate parties, the 2nd one at 10:15pm complete with fireworks off the side of the ship.

Trevor in particular thoroughly enjoyed the pirate festivities.

Captain Hook and Mr. Smee tied up the ship's crew and tried to take over Mickey's ship.

Mickey's crew saved the day.  The fireworks were cool, but it was quite crowded and on deck and hard to find a place to see everything.  There was another whole dinner buffet afterward, but we headed to bed instead. 

This time, the blanket animal wore my sunglasses and brought us gold doubloons instead of the usual chocolate squares.

Thursday was another "at sea" day and it was the Halloween celebration day.  During the day, the kids dressed up in their costumes for the trick or treating.  However, it was insanely crowded for the trick or treating, so we escaped up to deck 11, had ice cream cones while waiting out the crowds, then returned later for the kids to get some candy.

Daisy spotted them as Huey, Dewey, and Louis and stopped to praise their outfits.  She is rather fond of their Uncle Donald.  Despite it not being a regular character meet and greet, she was kind to sign our book for us.

The characters hosted a Halloween party in their costumes.

We spent the afternoon running around the ship doing the Midship Detective Agency mysteries.  Each of the kids got a badge and a case to solve and we went around to the artwork throughout the ship that actually activates and moves or plays a video clue.  We solved all 3 mysteries and had fun exploring. Here are my Huey, Dewey, and Louis with the moving picture (the 3 ducks are rowing the canoe across the screen).

The Mickey statue outside the Walt Disney Theater at the balcony level.

Where we found more clues...

That evening, we all dressed up together. We had a Duck Tales theme, with the kids being Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Steve being Scrooge McDuck, and me being Magica deSpell.

Austin was an adventurous eater, trying a lot of things he hasn't had before. This time, he tried oysters..and made a really funny face after he tasted them.  These weren't his favorite! Ha!

Trevor was pretty worn out by this point in the cruise. He fell asleep on the table at dinner!

But then Ignacio brought over a game for them to play and they all perked up playing "Bad Dog".

More Halloween festivities that night!

The characters came into the crowd and all of them were pretty close to where we were standing.

Trevor made his way closer to the front with the little kids (in front of the taller adults) and was dancing up a storm with the characters and the cast.

Then off to the show - a 3D movie presentation (with extra lives special effects) of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". 

A pumpkin for our towel animal that night!

The next morning, we were at Castaway Cay (pronounced "key"), which is Disney's private island in the Bahamas.  We had breakfast in the dining room, looking out a port hole to see the beauty of the island.

We headed first to Stingray Ray's for a stingray encounter.

Trevor just wanted to play in the sand.

We waded out to the feeding platform first.  Here is one with our ship in the background.

We got to feed and pet the sting rays as they swam up to and around the platform.

Then we put our snorkel gear on and got to snorkel with the rays.  

Unfortunately, Trevor wanted nothing to do with it, so he stayed on the beach right next to where we were and played in the sand while the rest of us had fun seeing the rays.

After that, we went over to another beach and went down the water slide and played on the beach until lunch time.

Austin up on the water slide platform with our ship docked in the background.

After lunch, we had some melty ice cream cones and headed back to the beach to do some snorkeling in the snorkeling lagoon.

Again, Trevor wanted absolutely nothing to do with snorkeling, even though he said he wanted to do it when we rented his gear.  He got in the water with me, but then wouldn't put on his goggles or even let me hold him up out of the water.  He got away, went up the beach while I was trying to get my flippers off, and disappeared over the ridge to the other beach, where it took us a while to find him.  He wanted to go play at the kids club, so we let him do that while the rest of us snorkeled.

It was a long swim out to the clearest part of the lagoon, but there we found Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and sunken shipwrecks.  (Thanks to Jenna for letting us borrow her waterproof camera!)

Austin and Sarah on the surface above Minnie

Heading back to the ship after a fun day on Castaway Cay!

Heading to our last dinner. The kids still love the port holes.

For our last dinner at Animator's Palate, they had clips from all sorts of Disney animations that involved food.  The kids were thoroughly entertained.

They also had us drawn people at the beginning of dinner and they put them together as an animation show later during dinner.  Sarah's is the 2nd from the right in this pic.

Mine is the far right in this one. 

Trevor's is the black one in this group.

I didn't catch everybody's because I wasn't sure which ones were ours and they were always moving.

Trevor continued his 7 night streak of having a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar for dessert every night.

And got messy every time too!

The last night's show.

Our blanket crab hanging out with Sarah's Castaway Cay souvenir, a stuffed sting ray she named Sharpie.

The "See Ya' Real Soon" party as we finish our last night on the ship.

All the characters came to say goodbye.

We got up and had breakfast early the next morning and got off the ship, went through customs, took the shuttle to the airport, went through security, waited about 1.5 hours before our plane boarded, arrived safely in Minneapolis, got picked up by Nanny, and finally arrived home Saturday evening.  We cleaned up, unpacked, started the first of many loads of laundry and got everybody to bed.  Trevor snuggled his plush Disney ship to go to sleep.  He was so tired the next day that he laid around the house, put himself to bed for a nap, and tucked himself in to go to bed at night while we were waiting for Sarah to be ready for story time.  I think vacation wore him out!

I'll end with a beautiful shot of a double rainbow one of our fellow cruisers caught. 

We had a magical vacation and look forward to cruising with Mickey again someday.