We took a trip on the Disney Fantasy in Spring of 2016 to the Western Caribbean. The first full day of our cruise was a restful sea day with nothing to do but explore the awesome ship. We all awoke around 7:30 am and after spending some quiet time as a family we went up to Cabanas for breakfast. At 8:45 am the buffet restaurant was bustling with cruisers, most of them already outfitted in their swimwear and cover ups. Despite the busyness of the restaurant we were able to secure a table relatively easily by a window with a glorious view of the open sea.
Earlier this year we were blessed to board the Disney Fantasy for a Western Caribbean cruise. We are avid Disney cruisers and we were particularly interested in this sailing because:
A: We were able to secure a last minute Florida resident rate, and…
B: This sailing was one of the few sailings with the Star Wars Day at Sea!
The morning of our last day on the Oasis arrived with mild tears from our girls who either didn’t want to get up or were missing their new friends from Adventure Ocean already. We arose around 7:45am and dressed quickly. We discussed our breakfast options for that day (Windjammer, Park Cafe, American Icon Dining Room) and decided to avoid the buffet altogether and head to the dining room.
We absolutely love the Orlando Science Center. It is located downtown in a central location and easy to get to from many parts of the Orlando area. We discovered it prior to our official move to Florida; we used to visit Orlando for a few weeks in the winter each year after our girls were born and we fell in love with the center/children’s museum that offered both learning adventures and play fun for kids.
The third day of our cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas was a sea day; we were slowly making our way back to Fort Lauderdale and would be arriving the next morning. We slept in a bit, thanks to the perpetual darkness of our inside stateroom. Today we decided to go to Johnny Rockets for breakfast and skip the Windjammer. As much as we loved the food offerings there we wanted to avoid the inevitable crowds. Johnny Rockets serves complimentary breakfast every day so we figured we’d give it a try, though we are not typically fans of diner food.
Our second day on the Oasis of the Seas began in a leisurely fashion. This was our first time staying in an inside cabin as a family and we realized inside cabins are perfect for families with kids who “rise with the sun”. Our youngest is an early riser, almost always. The lack of natural light in the cabin allowed her to sleep in until 8 am and get much needed rest from her extended night of excitement the day before. The boat was docked in Nassau for the day.
We were able to board the Oasis of the Seas late morning and since we were relatively early boarders we had lunch quickly at the Windjammer and registered at Adventure Ocean. Afterwards we headed down to the Boardwalk area because our youngest wanted to ride the carousel. Royal Caribbean really did an excellent job of creating a boardwalk atmosphere; my Hubby who spent his childhood in Brooklyn, remarked at how they captured a taste of the Coney Island experience.
One of the perks of working from home and being a homeschool family is that we are blessed with a lot of flexibility in our days. As you can imagine, this totally works for our spontaneous travel style! We’d heard a lot about the Oasis Class of ships by Royal Caribbean, the largest ships in the world. In October we came up a unique opportunity for a 3 day cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas, which usually runs 7 day cruises year round from south Florida. We discovered the cruise two weeks before sailing and were able to book an inside stateroom at a good price (travel agent perks FTW). It seemed like a perfect opportunity for us to experience the incredible ship and see for ourselves if it lived up to the hype.