Halloween on the High Seas Cruise Review Part 1

    I'm not really sure how to start this blog other than saying last week was quite the different vacation experience for me. Historically I come back from a vacation and type an extensive blog on all the ins and outs of what I liked and didn't like about a theme park I went to. Don't get me wrong, I will do that in another blog soon, but this blog is going to focus on something different. Today's blog will be my thoughts on the Disney Cruise Line. Specifically I will be sharing my thoughts on the Halloween on the High Seas Cruise I went on onboard the Disney Fantasy. Keep in mind that this is my first cruise so all of this will be coming from a first timer's perspective. Rather than ramble on and on about each day I am going to break down the cruise into a few categories and review them there. I'm going to share my thoughts on entertainment, dining, excursions/ports, and the ship itself. Before going any further I do want to say that I gained a massive appreciation for the staff (in this case cast members) of these ships. I had never thought of what went into working on a cruise ship and all I'm saying is five months straight on the seas working is a long time and my hat is off to all of those workers. 

The Ship

    What better way to kick off this blog than talking about the ship itself. The Disney Fantasy has been in service since 2012 and my goodness what good shape is this ship in. From the time I got on board until the time that I got off the ship for the last time I was in awe of just how magical the ship itself is. I did a guided tour of the ship that only enhanced this feeling. Much of this brand new appearance is thanks to the diligent work of the cast members. Granted, I have no idea what the cast area of the ship looks like, but the cast members kept all public areas squeaky clean. Even the outside of the ship looked incredibly clean. This was really evidenced at one point where we were next to a Carnival ship that had a massive rust spot on it's side.

    The stateroom had a veranda and was just the perfect size for two people. I know this is a general cruise ship statement, but I cannot imagine having multiple children and adults in a singular stateroom. The room contained the usual suspects in a hotel room. Closet, cabinets, bed, tv, desk, couch, etc. It also featured a pull down bunk bed that revealed a starry sky on the ceiling, a nice touch. The bathroom was pretty much split in half with the toilet in one small room and the shower in another. I'm told that is pretty much a cruise ship standard. I ended up spending a lot of time on the veranda watching the water. At nine floors up, it is safe to say the view was incredible.  

    The ship is equipped with two theaters. One for stage shows and one for movies. I did not go into the movie theater, but the aptly named Walt Disney Theater could easily be mistaken for a small Broadway theater, but more on that later. The shops were well stocked with merchandise throughout the journey aside from a couple limited edition items such as a Minnie Mouse dressed as Winifred Sanderson sipper. Those were all scooped up within the first couple days. The pool deck was a lot of fun and kept up with very well. There were constantly cast members going by drying the walkways, clearing food plates, etc. Again, I cannot speak enough to the efficiency and hard work of those cast members! Overall, the Disney Fantasy is 100% a ship that I would feel comfortable and happy cruising on again. I literally have no complaints about the state of the ship at all. 

The Walt Disney Theater

Excursions/Ports

    The ship made stops in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Castaway Cay. All three ports offered incredibly different experiences. The first was Cozumel. Once off the ship I participated in an excursion that would center on Dia De Los Muertos. The excursion is listed on Disney Cruise Line's website as A Mexican Halloween Celebration and Beach Adventure. Our tour guide was really great. Interestingly his last name was legitimately De La Cruz and boy did he ever play that up. He had his face half painted to match that of Ernesto De La Cruz from the movie Coco and even donned the white suit and sombrero. He was great, but the amount of content on this excursion honestly left me wanting a bit more. 

    On the trip from the port to the Mayan Cacao Company we passed by a moderate amount of police or military wielding some serious firepower. It was slightly concerning, but there were no incidents. De La Cruz talked a good chunk of the way there about Cozumel and Dia De Los Muertos. Upon our arrival we got to sample some chocolate before being given a chance to create an alter with the knowledge from the bus ride. From there we had a small lunch of tamales and headed to the beach. The water was nice, but without snorkel gear, it wasn't as great as it could have been. There were things to do at the beach for an extra price, but I did not do any of those as the excursion was already around $80.

     On a scale of one to ten, I'd give this excursion a 6. I think I would have preferred a less educational bus ride with more learning being done in the actual atmosphere of Dia De Los Muertos. While most people seemed happy with the extended time on the beach I found it to almost be too much time. For a excursion that was advertised to dive into the history of the holiday.... and the history of chocolate, I felt that I left with not much more knowledge than I went in with which is a bit of a shame. De La Cruz clearly has a deep knowledge for the holiday and I wish he was able to spend more time with us discussing the holiday versus having to make sure we get maximum beach time. It was a nice excursion to do once, but I don't think I'd do it again.

    Grand Cayman offered a unique experience in that the ship does not actually make it to the port. Rather the ship floats offshore and smaller tender boats transport you to and from the island. Once on land I got explore the little market place. Once it was time for the excursion to start my hype level kind of jumped as this was the Nautilus Undersea Tour and Reef Snorkel! Easily my most anticipated excursion, this one, generally, did not disappoint. After a bus ride of two blocks (seriously and I have no idea why) I got on board the Nautilus. For those who do not know, this ship features a lower level where passengers sit and look out multiple undersea windows. The guides told the tale of two doomed ships, the Callie and the Balboa, and showed us to Cheeseburger Reef. It was a really neat experience to see all of that. Then came the best part, the thirty minute snorkel. Unfortunately nature was not happy so I can say that this was my first snorkel in a thunderstorm. The weather I think impacted the wildlife that was seen as no sharks, turtles, or stingrays were seen where they frequently are. I can't knock an excursion due to the weather so I give this a super solid nine out of ten. The disorganization at the marketplace and some confusion with the bus prevents it from being a perfect experience, but for the $70 I paid, I thought it was well worth it.

Outside of the Nautilus

Inside of the Nautilus

    Lastly was Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas. Of the three ports, Castaway Cay would prove to be the most laid back. Once off the boat it's pretty much free reign as to where you go on the island. There are excursions that you can book such as snorkeling, parasailing, feeding stingrays, etc., but none of those require much effort to get to and it's all hosted by Disney as opposed to the previous two ports that featured companies that work with Disney for their excursions. I participated in the feed and snorkel with the stingrays and also rented snorkel gear to snorkel in the lagoon. Both experiences were great. I admit that when it comes to things like feeding stingrays that I am a bit jaded since I get to do that pretty much weekly at my part time job. Swimming with them was a lot of fun though. The lagoon you can snorkel in is netted off, but that does not prevent all wildlife from getting through. In addition to a variety of tropical fish I saw a few small barracuda, a southern stingray who was certainly not an escapee from the stingray pool, as well as upside-down jellyfish. Also throughout the lagoon you can find sunken Disney easter eggs such as a sunken Dumbo car that can be seen on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland or Disney World, a statue of Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid, and Boo's Door from Monster's Inc. Overall the lagoon is quite sizable and provides a couple hours worth of snorkeling if you take your time. 

    Castaway Cay also offered a barbeque lunch for all on the island. The good news is this barbeque acts just like the buffet on the ship which means there is no additional fee. I'll go more into food later, but the selection of food was quite good. It was also nice that the same people whom had been helping people with food all week were the same people on the island. Again, shout out to the cast members! Getting to and from the ship was as easy as stepping off the boat and taking a tram or walking. Either way provided ample opportunity to see some of the beauty of the island. Oh! and apparently there was a 5K going on too. So that's interesting. Castaway Cay I give a ten out of ten. By far the easiest and safest feeling of the three ports, perfect weather, and an overall great experience made this the best port day. That said, I honestly have to give the Castaway Cay's Stingray Adventure a six out of ten. I was surprised that the only species of ray there were southern stingrays despite a variety of rays being discussed during the briefing. Additionally the instructors were not super clear as to when to let go of the food to avoid getting nipped by a ray. Multiple people had struggles with this which led to small bites by the rays or the rays not being able to get their food thanks to other fish swooping in and stealing it. Lastly while the snorkeling with the rays portion was a lot of fun, it too felt like it could have been better should a couple other species of ray had been present.

    Wow that's a lot already. I honestly was not expecting the first two categories to take up so much.... text? So I'm going to break this blog up into at least two parts. Next time I will hit two of the biggest categories of a cruise. Entertainment and food. I suspect the entertainment portion will be a bit lengthy so I will also throw out there that my thoughts on Halloween Horror Nights will be it's own blog as opposed to being tied in with the cruise stuff. Thanks for reading everyone!!!