Does MSC Fantasia ever call into Sir Bani Yas Island?

Just back from our cruise MSC Fantasia. Was so looking forward to calling into Sir Bani Ya Island and yet again the ship could not dock. I have seen quite a few posts regarding the ship not calling into the island. The reason, we were told was that it was too windy and yet it did not seem very windy. Infact the sunbeds on the top deck were strapped down and not in use on the previous day due to winds but on this day they were in full use.......would be good to see if people who have sailed on Fantasia since Sir Bani Yas was a port of call actually went to the island.

Please could you let us know if you have been on the island...... many thanks

MSC Fantasia 18th -25th March. Also note that the itinerary was changed on this trip, same ports but different order........

We were on Fantasia on Feb 24 sailing. The ship did stop and people visited the island on our cruise, though we didn't.

We were on the Fantasia on the 5th Feb'17. It stopped at Sir Bani Ya Island, but offshore. They used tenders to take people ashore as the weather was good. I have since seen on the Fantasia webcam the ship docked on the island.

We sailed on Fantasia 4th - 11th and called at Sir Bani Yas on the 9th March. Seas and wind were calm. We tendered over and spent a couple of hours there, having lunch there too.

We were able to visit Sir Bani Yas this past December. We were scheduled to visit the island as our first stop (we embarked in Abu Dhabi). The morning we arrived it was too foggy so they postponed the visit until later in the cruise.

We enjoyed our stay there. It was comfortable and the food was decent. I might add that Disney's Castaway Quay is probably a little better. YMMV.

We were on the cruise before you and did tender at SBY. Was windy and tender did rock on way over and back.

We did a B2B from Dubai 18-24 March and then 25 March-10 April. The problem with the scheduled port call at Sir Bani Yas on 23 March was due to worsening weather conditions. The sea was choppy when we dropped anchor that day and the wind was picking up causing the captain cancel the call and set sail for the port of Dubai. Due to the very bad weather we had to remain there three days before moving to Abu Dhabi on the 27th and our second Sir Bani Yas call was cancelled also. The ship's executive chef told me that day they were supposed to remove all the stores they had left on the island. He hoped when MSC returns for the 2017-18 season they'll find everything intact. The island lacks a docking pier and without this the tendering from the off-shore anchorage will continue to be a problem.

Hi all, just back from the repositioning from the Emirates to Europe, quite a lot to catch up on

We flew to Abu Dhabi, got to the cruise terminal and Fantasia wasn't there! As such we were taken by coach to Dubai (about 2 hours away). Many of the roads were flooded, there had been one heck of a storm.

Following embarkation it was later announced that we would be calling at Abu Dhabi the following day, rather than Sir Bani Yas island. This was a bit of a dissapointment, but over night we encountered very strong winds. It simply wouldn't have been safe to tender to the island. I'd much sooner the ship, crew and passengers remained safe

Hi Tim .................. hope you had a wonderful cruise. Good to see you got home safely. We had bad weather in Abu Dhabi, too. Sorry to hear you missed Sir Bani Yas.

Hi Tim .................. hope you had a wonderful cruise. Good to see you got home safely. We had bad weather in Abu Dhabi, too. Sorry to hear you missed Sir Bani Yas.

We had a wonderful time thanks Bea, no complaints whatsoever. It was my partner Andy's birthday whilst we were onboard, got to know the crew so well, by the end of the adventure a couple of crew members said we weren't passengers, we were part of the family.

On the night before Andy's birthday we were sat in the Transatlantico listening to a wonderful singer, Irena, who had transferred from Splendida; we knew her from last year. Just before midnight I went to the bar to get two glasses of champagne to start the celebrations - when I got back to my seat she started singing a song she remembered us enjoying her singing on Splendida followed by Happy Birthday, when a bar supervisor and some of the senior bar staff came in with a cake and a bottle of Champagne for Andy!

We got back to the cabin and there was another bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate strawberries and Venchi pralines from all of the crew - such amazing memories and a great celebration.

I'll write a full review at some point during the week xoxo

We had a wonderful time thanks Bea, no complaints whatsoever. It was my partner Andy's birthday whilst we were onboard, got to know the crew so well, by the end of the adventure a couple of crew members said we weren't passengers, we were part of the family.

 

On the night before Andy's birthday we were sat in the Transatlantico listening to a wonderful singer, Irena, who had transferred from Splendida; we knew her from last year. Just before midnight I went to the bar to get two glasses of champagne to start the celebrations - when I got back to my seat she started singing a song she remembered us enjoying her singing on Splendida followed by Happy Birthday, when a bar supervisor and some of the senior bar staff came in with a cake and a bottle of Champagne for Andy!

 

We got back to the cabin and there was another bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate strawberries and Venchi pralines from all of the crew - such amazing memories and a great celebration.

 

I'll write a full review at some point during the week xoxo

Oh, wow, what a fantastic surprise - how terrific!!! Looking forward to the review.

Ours wasn't such a good experience, I'm afraid. It's the second time that we haven't enjoyed a cruise on Fantasia to quite the extent we do on other ships. However, repos are much better and we had similar experiences on Sinfonia to Durban in November with the crew. They have more time to get to know you - our waiter was in tears with me on our last night LOL

Hey 1FifthAvenue, were you guys in the YC for the repo?