[OldGiants]

What with all the negative news about Carnival Cruise Lines, I thought I'd post a bit about the Disney Cruise we took over Thanksgiving on the new Fantasy.

We left from Port Canaveral at the same time as a Carnival Liner boarded and left. Parked offsite and took a van to the port with a bunch of folks who were going on Carnival. They ragged us about Disney not having booze (not true) and gambling (other than bingo, true but so what?). Coming back, we also had a (different) Carnival crowd on the van, and they were rather jealous of our stories. So, no comparison.

First, if you Google Disney Sandy, you will see some videos of Fantasy when it was tossed about by the fringe of hurricane Sandy. If you see the fixtures in the stores being tossed around, those were designed by my daughter. She was amazed at the damage we could still see, and vowed they'd be bolted down in the future. The German shipyard wanted fixtures that could be moved around. Again, don't be put off, the Fantasy is amazing.

Our cruise was terrific: St Thomas, San Juan and Castaway Cay were the three stops on a Sat to Sat cruise that included Thanksgiving. That meal was turkey and a lobster tail, and wasn't even the best. Too much great food, liquor cost (a few free drinks) but wasn't required for enjoyment. Tremendous amount of programs for adults (cooking, travel, crafts, contests--won lots of hats) and tons more for kids. Free first run movies, we saw Wreck It Ralph and could have seen Lincoln but for other things to do. Characters all over the place. The Aquaduck is terrific, if a short ride. I was on it about ten times while most were ashore in St Thomas.

You rotate dinner over three main restaurants and can pay about $25 per head to eat in the two fine dining places, Remy's or Palo's. But reserve ahead of time for these. They are filled.

The Artist's Palette Restaurant had a terrific feature one night. When you came in, you drew a character. Head, torso, arms and legs were in five big boxes, easy for kids to figure out. Then, about 40 minutes later, they showed an animated movie in which each person's figure danced on the screen. To say kids loved this is like saying they kind of like Christmas morning.

Suffice to say, everyone had a great time and wanted to come back soon. You can't do everything on a one week cruise. Go if you can and bring kids.