Trip Report Finally Back in Our Happy Place. A Three Week Trip With a Cruise Included. Now with a Norway Cruise on the Disney Fantasy *COMPLETED*

We’ve been back for just over a week from what was a wonderful three weeks. There were a few hiccups, but for the most part Disney World was just as we remembered it.

This trip was me and my two youngest daughters, Alice (18) and Lexi (15)

We stayed at Pop Century from July 7th-20th, then sailed on the Disney Magic from July 20th-25th, then French Quarter for the last three nights, July 25th-28th. For the Pop Century part of the trip we had the UK 14 day park tickets which included the waterparks.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 14th and Monday 15th September: Embarkation

Even though I only live about two hours drive from Southampton I like to stay closer to the port the night before. I get very anxious about being delayed and it just gives me peace of mind. This time, for even more peace of mind, I decided to try out staying in one of the Disney partner hotels and taking their transport to the port. Disney offers partner hotels in central London and both Gatwick and Heathrow airports. You can just book your own hotel and then book Disney transport separately, it will be less expensive, but I liked the idea of Disney taking care of everything particularly as I was travelling on my own.

I decided to stay at Gatwick airport because the partner hotel there is the Hilton which I’ve stayed at many times, it was always our go to hotel when flying from there mainly because it’s connected to the airport and you can just walk over there. I think that if you fly in a DCL representative meets you at the airport to direct you, and there is a representative in the Hilton lobby the day before the cruise until about 4.30 and then again the morning of the cruise from about 8am.

Piglet got comfy, he’s got quite used to travelling now

For those arriving at the airport from overseas and needing snacks, I recommend stopping at the M&S foodhall in arrivals. It’s very good for grab and go items, breakfast pastries and to get your two bottles of wine that you’re allowed to take on the ship

I took this boring looking photo of the walkway from the hotel to the airport to send to the rest of the family. When the girls were little, and if the walkway wasn’t busy, they would put their arms out and play aeroplanes running down the slope. There was no one around so I did a little aeroplane

The morning of the cruise, if you stay at one of the airport hotels, the luggage procedure is similar to the one at Disney World. You have your luggage ready inside your door by a certain time and it will be picked up and taken to the bus for you. This was ideal for me because as well as my two suitcases I had two carry on bags, I’m not very good at travelling light. My bus pickup was scheduled for 9am and I was told to meet the DCL representative in the lobby at 8.45. The DCL lady was absolutely lovely and very helpful. The bus picks up right outside the Hilton and there were only about 15 people travelling from the Hilton. If you book a different airport hotel there is a different pick up point at the airport, the Hilton one is just for those who’ve stayed there

I think it took about 90 minutes to drive to the port, and this was the earliest I’ve ever arrived on embarkation day. On arrival another DCL representative boarded the bus to tell us about the procedure at the port. Porters would take our luggage off the bus, we didn’t need to deal with it at all, and we were given paper tickets which would act as our ‘fastpasses’ into the cruise terminal. There are two entrances, I’d used the riffraff one before, but this time I got to use the one for Disney transport people. There was no queue at security or check in and I was waiting in the lounge area in less than 15 minutes, I was boarding group 4 and the ship hadn’t started boarding at all yet.

This was the fastest, smoothest and least stressful travel and port check in I’ve experienced. I highly recommend the Disney transport/hotel combination.

It wasn’t long after the first boarding group was called (the fancy concierge people) that it was my turn to board and I was soon seeing the famous yellow lifeboats

And being announced on board . There were some happy tears

Beautiful atrium

Even the elevators are pretty

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

I followed my usual embarkation day routine and headed straight up to Cabanas for lunch, but I’d got on the ship so early that it wasn’t open yet. So I sat on the pool deck for a while, the weather was quite mild and the sun was trying to break through the clouds

And then my first drink in a Mickey glass

And pretty much the same lunch I always get on the first day. I’ve found that Cabanas has a similar rotation of foods for each day on all the cruises I’ve done, although they will have some of the basic items like pizza and chicken tenders every day.

Dessert including one of the cruise cheesecakes I love so much, first day is always Oreo flavour

I didn’t linger over lunch, the crowds were just starting to arrive as I was eating dessert and I didn’t want to be a table hog. I browsed the yummy looking treats in Sweet On You on the way out

So cute

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

I still had almost an hour to go until the 1.30 room ready time so I spent some time exploring the upper decks and making the most of the warmest weather I would probably have for the next week

There was a huge queue of people waiting to board the ship

Up on Goofy’s Sports Deck

Not as pretty as a Disney ship

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

More exploring. I don’t think it would have been possible to actually play golf because it was very, very windy up there and there is no shelter

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

I made my way to the adult only area at the front of the ship where it was much more sheltered

One of my favourite sitting spots on a sea day

I made the most of being able to walk around the whole of the deck. The starboard side of the deck was going to be converted into a concierge sundeck during the dry dock

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

I’d had my room assignment a couple of weeks before sailing and was very pleased with the room I’d been given, 8676 which is all the way at the back of the ship in a very quiet area. It is my favourite room location on the Dream and Fantasy, hardly any foot traffic but close to the aft elevators where it is straight up three decks to Cabanas and down four to the adult bars area. I like it so much that the room I’d chosen for my transatlantic cruise a few weeks later was the room next door, 8674

Room tour

Piglet loves cruise beds, so comfy

A beautiful rainbow from my verandah, and the lovely view of Southampton IKEA

I sent this photo to my oldest daughter Sophie who was coming with me on the transatlantic. That’s the door to our room

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

Muster drill was in The Tube in the adult district. I forgot to take photos and that was the only time I was in there that week.

The weather was still quite pleasant so rather than fight the crowds at the sail away party I decided to head to my favourite sitting spot to enjoy one of my favourite cocktails, a mango mojito . I think this was the last time I sat there on this cruise, when we were at sea it was closed because of the high winds

And as lunch had been early, I needed a snack because it was still a few hours until dinner

At some point late afternoon the captain made a shipwide announcement about our itinerary. Because of the sea conditions we wouldn’t be leaving port until much later that night and I think then we had to try to avoid some of worst weather in the North Sea the next day. This meant that it was going to take us longer to get to Norway and that we wouldn’t be there in time to have Fjords viewing the day after next but would instead be having an extra regular sea day. I was a bit disappointed, I’d been looking forward to that as much as the ports and had planned to spend most of the day wrapped in blankets on my verandah looking at waterfalls. But I know that the captain was absolutely putting safety first and at least we were still going to Norway

 

[Baron Von Capybara]

Love the view of IKEA. It means we are going cruising.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Love the view of IKEA. It means we are going cruising.

We always joke don’t go in there before the cruise. You might get lost and miss the ship

 

[Baron Von Capybara]

We always joke don’t go in there before the cruise. You might get lost and miss the ship

Just leave a trail of meatballs to find your way

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

There wasn’t a show in the theatre so I used the time to unpack then get ready for dinner. Before dinner the atrium entertainment was the Disney Victrophonics who I love to watch. They play jazzy versions of Disney songs and on the Fantasy the singers and dancer are part of the Walt Disney Theatre cast so only perform on nights without a main show

Dinner was in Enchanted Garden and I was seated at a table with five other solo cruisers. I’m pretty introverted so I’m always a bit nervous about sitting with strangers, but everyone was really lovely and we were all soon chatting away. I’ve been very lucky on both my solo cruises now to have been seated with nice people. I also met my serving team Kanya and Ayrton who were absolutely fantastic, the best serving team I’ve had on a cruise. The chef on this cruise was very strict about what he would let me eat with my allergy, at first he didn’t want me to have any legumes at all including soy which is apparently in a lot of items, and Kanya had to argue my case with him a few times.

To start I had the ahi tuna and avocado tower. I had asked for the lobster ravioli which I’ve had in the past before having an allergy but I was told that because it isn’t fully prepared on the ship it can’t be guaranteed to be allergy free. I do understand this as I’ve seen pea protein on the ingredients lists of food that you wouldn’t expect it to be in, including stuffed pasta. The tuna was very good though

Luckily I could have my first choice of main course, the scallops and sun-dried tomato couscous

Desserts, which I wasn’t allowed

Kanya told me that if I ordered the rest of my meals the night before, the chef would have time to check what I could eat

My dessert, which was fine

Towards the end of the meal, some music started up and we had characters come around the room. Apparently that was a thing on the European cruises last summer on the first night in Enchanted Garden. It was unexpected but fun

 

[MinnieM123]

Dinner was in Enchanted Garden and I was seated at a table with five other solo cruisers. I’m pretty introverted so I’m always a bit nervous about sitting with strangers, but everyone was really lovely and we were all soon chatting away. I’ve been very lucky on both my solo cruises now to have been seated with nice people.

That's good to hear. Glad that the solo cruisers at your dinner table were all pleasant.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 15th September (cont)

Back to the room

And we were finally moving, it was almost 10.30

I spent some time on my verandah before I got too chilly. Southampton docks are much prettier at night

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 16th September: Day at sea

I hadn’t had the best night’s sleep, the ship had started rocking quite a lot in the early hours of the morning and while the rocking itself didn’t bother me the rattling of the unused hangers in the closet did. I had to get up and put them all on the sofa and then struggled to get back to sleep. I was still up at my usual early time on a cruise, around 6.30, even though we’d put our clocks forward an hour during the night.

I could still see land from my verandah but wasn’t sure where we were, I didn’t think to turn on the TV to see the map

A gorgeous sunrise

Up at Cabanas I sat on the other side of the ship. Looks very Dover-ish, so the lights I’d seen from my room were Calais and we were only just leaving the English Channel

My usual cruise breakfast, @Baron Von Capybara the beans were better on the cruises from Southampton

After breakfast a stroll around one of my favourite places, deck 4. It was much quieter there than is usual on a sea day, there were only a few other people walking and no runners.

The English side of the ship was shaded with a lot of sea spray so I found a spot to sit on the sunny French side

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 16th September (cont)

Later in the morning I wandered around the inside of the ship. I’d avoided it at shop opening times because the Southampton cruises are notorious for people going crazy over merchandise at the beginning of the cruise, usually the first night but as we’d left so late the shops hadn’t been able to open. I was in a WhatsApp group chat for the cruise and the stories and photos were of crazy queues and the shops already running out of some merchandise, like ship specific loungeflys.

I found a nice spot to sit in Quiet Cove. We were passing a Belgian offshore wind farm

Cabanas lunch. Raspberry cheesecake today

Some verandah time

All day there was significant movement of the ship, I had to hold onto the handrails quite a few times while walking around. The captain’s midday announcement said we would be experiencing waves of up to 7 metres (23 ft), not as bad as my crossing of the Bay of Biscay in October 24 where the waves were 10 metres (33 ft). I had felt a bit ill on that cruise even with bonine, but this cruise I was fine. I actually like feeling the ship move so much. I know from the group chat that there were quite a few people who were seasick though

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 16th September (cont)

The show in the Walt Disney Theatre was Aladdin and this was my first time seeing it. I’d only been on the Fantasy once before and the last time was when the girls were quite young and one of them was having a time out in the room so I’d missed it. I real enjoyed the show, Genie was very funny and the acrobatics from the guy playing the magic carpet were amazing.

I hurried back to the room to get changed for dinner, it was formal night and I’d wanted to watch the show in comfy clothes.

The only photo of me on this cruise, I can’t do selfies. I was happy, I just have resting grumpy face . I was also trying to coordinate taking the photo with keeping the door open because the ship was still moving a lot

Walking down to dinner was funny, trying to walk in heels on a swaying ship is not easy. I opted to take the elevator down rather than stairs and had a wonderful character interaction. It was just me in the elevator when Daisy and her handler got in and we were complementing each other’s outfits, I always think it is so funny that you can have a conversation like that with a character that doesn’t speak

I had a little while to enjoy the atrium before dinner, I love Minnie’s dress for formal night.

Dinner was in Royal Court which as the fanciest of the main dining rooms seemed appropriate for formal night. I forgot to take any food photos, the downside of having nice people to chat to, but remember that I could have everything I’d asked for including my favourite dessert the Grand Marnier soufflé

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 17th September: Day at sea 2

I don’t have many photos from this day, it was mostly another lazy, relaxing day. The ship wasn’t rocking nearly as much as the day before and the weather, although not very warm, was dry and mostly sunny. I spent most of my time outside, there are lots of indoor activities taking place on a sea day but I’m a very outside-y person on a cruise.

I had my usual deck 4 morning walk

Managed some atrium photos with hardly any people

I found a lovely sheltered spot in Quiet Cove and got warm enough to take my hoodie off

This was the day my booking window opened for dining for my November trip. I managed to get Topolino’s breakfast, Space 220 dinner (I’d tried for lunch but couldn’t get it) and the very hard to get Beak and Barrel

I had some verandah time in the afternoon

Some more deck 4 time in the early evening

Discovered my new favourite bar on a Disney ship, Ooh La La. I’ve been to Pink, it’s equivalent on the Dream but Ooh La La is much nicer. The drink is a Pomegranate Passion (Pama Pomegranate, Passion Fruit Purée, Moêt Imperial), I’ve had it before on the Dream but they didn’t do the smoke bubbles there

Dinner was in Animator’s Palate. I couldn’t have the pasta purseittes that I like because they are made off ship so had the smoked salmon tartare instead which was good. I could have everything else I ordered, beef tenderloin and lemon icebox pie, but I forgot photos again

An early night after dinner because the next day was the first port day and I had an early excursion booked

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September: Olden

Another early morning so that I could watch our approach into Olden. It’s times like this that I really appreciate having a verandah

A quick breakfast then off to the Walt Disney Theatre which was the meeting point for my excursion, a walk to the Briksdal glacier. This was quite a popular excursion and there were quite a few times available, I’d chosen the first one of the day

I was on the bus by about 7.30 for the approximately 45 minute journey to the start point of the walk. As it was raining there were crew members handing out ponchos as we left the ship. I took one to cover my backpack but I was completely waterproofed up already

Some beautiful views on the journey there, but unfortunately blurry photos

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

More blurry photos from the bus journey

I could see lots of waterfalls on the way there

 

[MinnieM123]

The only photo of me on this cruise, I can’t do selfies.

Your dress is gorgeous!

Walking down to dinner was funny, trying to walk in heels on a swaying ship is not easy. I opted to take the elevator down rather than stairs and had a wonderful character interaction. It was just me in the elevator when Daisy and her handler got in and we were complementing each other’s outfits, I always think it is so funny that you can have a conversation like that with a character that doesn’t speak

I can't even walk in heels as it is -- let alone, on a swaying ship! Glad you opted to take the elevator versus the stairs. (Your character interaction with Daisy was amusing.)