A Room with a View...of the Sea!

I really liked our stateroom on the Disney Fantasy. We had room 9662, which was on the ninth deck, starboard side (the right side), in the aft (back of the ship). It was a great little room, and very well-designed. We decided not to get a room with a verandah because of Sam's tendency to throw objects, and I had horrible visions of the kids trying to climb the verandah wall and falling to their deaths into the sea below. (It turns out that that is very difficult to do, but still, I didn't want to worry about it!) So we got a room with a big porthole window, and we were happy with that. For our next cruise, we'll be ready for a verandah!

Those heavy drapes on both sides of the window blocked out the light really well in the morning, which was important since we were going to bed late every night.

There was enough space to store all of our things, which was pretty impressive because I over-packed and everything still fit in the drawers, closet, and shelf space. There was plenty of room for our suitcases and bags to go under the bed. And do you see that blue-and-white striped curtain in the picture above? It was genius, and I wish every hotel room had one of these. At night you pull it across the room and it effectively creates two bedrooms. So when the kids were in bed, we didn't have to go to bed at the same time or hide out in the bathroom reading by the light of our cell phones. I loved that curtain!

You may be thinking, there's only one bed--where did the kids sleep? In the bunk beds of course! But where are they? That was pretty genius too. Every evening the room attendant came in and turned the couch into a twin bed, and pulled another twin bed down from the ceiling, creating bunk beds. He took care of the blankets, sheets, and pillows and everything was perfectly turned down and ready for the kids (and us) to hop into bed each night. In the morning when we left, he put everything away and made the bed and cleaned everything up. He kept our room and bathrooms so clean and neat. I wanted to take him home with me. The Disney employees and the quality of their work are amazing!

Couch by day...

Beds by night!

   Our bed was so soft and comfortable. I liked feeling the very slight, gentle rocking of the ship as I lay in bed at night. It was nice to literally be rocked to sleep. I guess I've missed that since my baby days.

A perfect decorative pillow for the bed, Disney-style.

Do you see the monkey towel hanging from the drapes in the picture with the bunk beds above? The room attendant left us a different towel-animal creation each evening. They were so cool! I got pictures of the monkey, swan, and elephant. There were also a cute dog and a lobster that he made but the kids were too fast for me and flattened them out before I got pictures of them.

We really liked the way Disney designed the stateroom bathroom. Or bathrooms, I should say, because there are two of them. One has the toilet and a sink, and the other one has the shower (which also contains a little round bathtub for young kiddos) and another sink. It was such an efficient way of using the space in a family-friendly, very practical way.

And the free bath products, like the soap, shampoo, and conditioner, were really nice! They're from the ~H2O+ brand so they were high-quality and they worked well. I may have taken a few extras home with me! 

When the room attendant turned down the room in the evenings, he'd leave a copy of the Navigator for the next day, which was full of really helpful information, describing all of the activities, showtimes, character appearances, information about the island we'd be visiting, food and dining information, time changes, etc. for the next day. It was our daily guide and it was essential for helping us to plan and organize what we wanted to do each day. And the copyeditor in me didn't find one grammatical or spelling error in any of the Navigators. Now THAT is impressive!  

He also left yummy chocolates for each of us every night, which I enjoyed very much...probably too much since I was the one who ate most of them! 

When we just wanted to chill out and relax in our room, we enjoyed the On-Demand shows and movies on TV. Especially Sam, who got to watch his favorite episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

This was the little hallway to the door out to the hall. The two doors on the right are the bathroom doors. Opposite them were two spacious closets.

This is what it looked like in the hallway. I always wondered what the hallways looked like on cruise ships. They're not super-long corridors like I was imagining. Actually, they are, but there are twists and turns, so you can't stand at one end of the hall and see all the way to the other end. They were bright, warm, and homey, not strictly utilitarian like I'd imagined. 

I really liked the window seat. I stretched out on it and read my book, and the view of the ocean was about as unobstructed and perfect as you can get.

The room also had a mini-fridge which was great for keeping our many bottles of water cold--perfect for the excursions to Grand Cayman and Mexico, where it was very hot. More to come about the excursions later!

See the top row of circular windows towards the back of the ship? Our room was the second circle in from the left. 

 Our room was the perfect room for a family of four, or three. Most of the families on board seemed to have two kids, and many had three or one. Only a few had four kids and I didn't see any families with more than that. I'm not sure what the rooms are like for families with more than four people, but I'm sure they're bigger (and more expensive) to accommodate another bed (or two). We fit the bill for what I believe is the Disney ideal of a family of four. We would have totally fit it if we had one boy and one girl, but close enough!

There really isn't anything I would have changed about our stateroom! It was the perfect little home away from home.

Next cruise post: Some of my favorite places and sights around the ship. Stay tuned!