A College Graduation Celebration Cruise on the Fantasy - May 5 - my review

Thanks for the review.

Fun Read! Thanks!

Thanks for following along - more to come tomorrow!

Does Tropicante have an entrance fee?

 

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No they do not have an entrance fee. All he asks is that you buy some food and drink when you're

there and that's it. Food is very good and reasonably priced and so are the drinks. Even if you don't

drink alcoholic drinks, it's fine. When we cruise with our kids we usually just have sodas and

waters and we usually just snack and not do full meals.

The great thing about it is when you get there they assign you a number and run you a tab for

the entire day. They will also arrange for beach massages (very good ones), snorkeling, paddle boards

and all other sorts of stuff and still keep it all on the one tab. It's so very convenient but they do

only take cash - no cards.

No they do not have an entrance fee. All he asks is that you buy some food and drink when you're

there and that's it. Food is very good and reasonably priced and so are the drinks. Even if you don't

drink alcoholic drinks, it's fine. When we cruise with our kids we usually just have sodas and

waters and we usually just snack and not do full meals.

 

The great thing about it is when you get there they assign you a number and run you a tab for

the entire day. They will also arrange for beach massages (very good ones), snorkeling, paddle boards

and all other sorts of stuff and still keep it all on the one tab. It's so very convenient but they do

only take cash - no cards.

I will have to try Tropicante on my next visit to Costa Maya. We were at the Krazy Lobster, which was a nice area, also, but Tropicante looked much nicer. I love how they were able to help you make it a special day for Whitney.

I will have to try Tropicante on my next visit to Costa Maya. We were at the Krazy Lobster, which was a nice area, also, but Tropicante looked much nicer. I love how they were able to help you make it a special day for Whitney.

You will love it there if you go and won't want to go anywhere else. They are all super nice and the beach area

is beautiful. The last couple of times we've been there the seaweed has been really bad - but they scoop all of it

that they can up and haul it off so it doesn't get in the way of you having a beautiful day. Can't control Mother

Nature I suppose. Be sure and get with Steve ahead of time so he can reserve you some lounges or chairs - you

can take your pick as to whether you want to be in the sun or the shade.

You girls are Gorgeous! Glad you had a great time...we are on the Fantasy in October.

Costa Maya day - continued

We made it back to the ship and showered and headed to dinner. We were seated in another section tonight and the service was better than last night, but still not up to par with our service on the first night.

Whitney wanted to go to the Love and Marriage show in the Universe Lounge and Lindsey said she had never seen one so after we ate dinner we headed that way. They were playing bingo when we got there and we sat down and waited until it was over. Just a few minutes after it was over they started picking couples for the show. They ended up

with 3 great couples and it was a fun show. If you've ever been to these you know all the questions are just about the same each time, but because of some of the answers the couples give it's always a little bit different and sometimes just down right hilarious.

We really enjoyed it. After it was over we headed back for a snack - pizza or ice cream, I don't remember which and went back to the cabin.

I know you're probably thinking we should have been out late every night celebrating but I was still worn out from getting ready to go on the cruise and having 6 kids (even though Whitney and Lindsey are older) I usually go from sun up until way past sun down and am usually asleep by the time my head hits the pillow at 11:00 or so. Whitney isn't a late nighter either so we were usually wound down by 11:30 or 12. Lindsey on the other hand is used to the night life in Atlanta and could have stayed up and partied long into the wee morning hours but since she said Whitney and I were party poopers she usually ended up just coming back to the cabin and hanging out with us.

I read some more on the balcony but not long because we had an early morning on Tuesday since we arrived in Cozumel at 8 a.m.

TUESDAY - Cozumel day

We were up and about early today because we were to be in Cozumel by 8 a.m. We went down for a quick breakfast and then got ready to get off the ship.

As always, when we visit Cozumel we have a driver for the day. His name is Crescencio and he is such a sweet man. He stays with us all day and takes us wherever we decide we want to go for the day. We've driven through town and he has shown us lots of things, we've done the Tequila tours, driven all the way around the island (which is something you should do if you've never done it) and then we usually end up at the beach.

Today was to be no different. Crescencio and I had decided that we would meet at the taxi stand about 8:30 so we could get started with our day. The girls and I got off the ship as soon as we could and started walking that way.

Crescencio was there waiting on us and we got in his van and talked about what we wanted to do. I needed to get the kids that were left at home some shirts or some type of souvenir, get my Mom some vanilla and also needed to make a stop by the pharmacy so we went ahead and knocked those things off our list.

Next up was a stop at the Tequila tour. Lindsey had never done one and Tequila (she says) is her favorite drink so we pretty much had to do a Tequila tour. To be honest though she could care less how they make it, she was just ready for the free samples lol!

I'm a light weight when it comes to drinking, especially tequila shots before 10 a.m. in the morning so I was ready to go after about 2 or 3 shots but Lindsey still wanted to sample.

After the tour we decided we just wanted to go on to the beach. Crescencio took us to

Playa Palancar. We have been there several times and we like it because the snorkeling

is decent and Crescencio has worked out a deal with the people there that includes 1 hour

of free snorkeling if he takes you to Palancar. We have our own snorkel masks but it's

nice to be able to get the fins and not have to pay for them.

We got settled in and Whitney and I decided we were ready to snorkel. She went

crazy making pictures so I'll just post a few but we did see a lot of fish. The seaweed was

worse than I've ever seen it there as well but it didn't deter us too much.

We snorkeled for about an hour or more then decided we were ready for a rest and some

sun. Later in the day we were getting hungry so we decided to head to a table and order

some drinks and lunch. We had the chicken nachos which were good and Whitney

loves their hot sauce. It's a green sauce and it will set you on fire! I just can't take it -

I'm wimpey I suppose.

We read and dozed after lunch and all too soon it was time to leave. We had to be back

on board by 3:30 so about 2:45 we packed up and told Crescencio we were ready to go.

We got back to the port area and were back on the ship way before our 3:30 deadline.

Here is a picture of us with Crescencio. I highly recommend him if you want your own

personal driver while you are in Cozumel.

When we got back to the ship Lindsey had to check her tequila that she had bought

when we went on the tequila tour. After she checked it we went back to the cabin to

cool off and rest some before getting ready for dinner.

Later in the evening we got ready for dinner and went to eat. We went a little later than we had been going and once again we didn't have to wait. We were seated in a new station tonight as well and service was good.

After dinner we caught the tail end of the music trivia in the atrium. If you've never been to one of the music trivia's I would suggest you check it out on your next cruise. It's not really trivia because as soon as the song plays everyone immediately starts belting out the words. It's a lot of fun though and we had a great time.

We were walking around the ship and Lindsey said she wanted to go back to the casino to play one more time. Whitney said she had lost all she was going to lose in the casino (her $10) but said she would just sit and people watch while we went back. We sat back down at our same machines and played. I think Lindsey put in $10 and I only put $20 in because I had already lost $40 (we aren't really big spenders either). We did really well though - Lindsey was so excited when her machine hit for free spins and she was winning money and not even having to do anything. She ended up about $40 or $50 ahead for the cruise and I ended up being about $70 ahead for the cruise. We were both happy that our

luck had turned to the good.

After a midnight snack of pizza and ice cream we headed back to the cabin. As usual I read some out on the balcony and then turned in for the night.

The next day would be our final sea day and I had plans to get outside very early because I wanted to be sure and get a chair where hopefully we would get some of that wonderful ocean breeze.

Does Tropicante have an entrance fee?

 

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No! No fee and if you email ahead of time he will have your seats set up for you when you arrive! It is also one of my favorite spots! Headed back in about three weeks!

http://www.sandalsandskis.com

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When we got back to the ship Lindsey had to check her tequila that she had bought

 

when we went on the tequila tour. After she checked it we went back to the cabin to

 

cool off and rest some before getting ready for dinner.

 

 

 

Later in the evening we got ready for dinner and went to eat. We went a little later than we had been going and once again we didn't have to wait. We were seated in a new station tonight as well and service was good.

 

 

 

After dinner we caught the tail end of the music trivia in the atrium. If you've never been to one of the music trivia's I would suggest you check it out on your next cruise. It's not really trivia because as soon as the song plays everyone immediately starts belting out the words. It's a lot of fun though and we had a great time.

 

 

 

We were walking around the ship and Lindsey said she wanted to go back to the casino to play one more time. Whitney said she had lost all she was going to lose in the casino (her $10) but said she would just sit and people watch while we went back. We sat back down at our same machines and played. I think Lindsey put in $10 and I only put $20 in because I had already lost $40 (we aren't really big spenders either). We did really well though - Lindsey was so excited when her machine hit for free spins and she was winning money and not even having to do anything. She ended up about $40 or $50 ahead for the cruise and I ended up being about $70 ahead for the cruise. We were both happy that our

 

luck had turned to the good.

 

 

 

After a midnight snack of pizza and ice cream we headed back to the cabin. As usual I read some out on the balcony and then turned in for the night.

 

 

 

The next day would be our final sea day and I had plans to get outside very early because I wanted to be sure and get a chair where hopefully we would get some of that wonderful ocean breeze.

Thank you so much for the great review! I’m from Blue Ridge and sailing on the 16th of June! [emoji4]

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Thank you so much for the great review! I’m from Blue Ridge and sailing on the 16th of June! [emoji4]

 

 

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Wow - we are practically neighbors then - I'm in Dalton. We come to Blue Ridge sometimes for the Swan Drive Inn.

Hope you have as much fun as we did! We've never cruised in summer months - as hot as it was in May I don't think

I could take it in July or August.

Great detailed review! Looks like y'all had a great time! I saw y'all in Cozumel, well, your ship anyways, I was over on the Miracle :D

Great detailed review! Looks like y'all had a great time! I saw y'all in Cozumel, well, your ship anyways, I was over on the Miracle :D

Thanks for reading! I think I actually got a good picture of the Miracle while it was in Cozumel. If you want me

to send it to you forward me your email and I'll be happy to do it!

Thanks for reading! I think I actually got a good picture of the Miracle while it was in Cozumel. If you want me

to send it to you forward me your email and I'll be happy to do it!

We got more pictures than I know what to do with! But, thanks! :D

WEDNESDAY - OUR LAST SEA DAY

I actually set my alarm for today because I wanted to be sure and get up and out early. I woke Whitney up and she said she wanted to sleep a little longer and Lindsey didn't even rouse up any so I put my swimsuit on and gathered my stuff and headed up to Deck 11 aft. I love it up there because it's so breezy and you can see forever. Our plan was to be right in the very back of the ship so we could see all around and have some room to move around since they don't have the chairs all jammed up right next to one another back there. I got up there and put my towel down and sat down to read. I immediately noticed that not only did I have a good breeze, I had a VERY GOOD breeze. Too much of a breeze. I mean the wind was whipping. I'm not sure what had happened overnight to cause such a change but we weren't going to have to worry about getting too hot today.

Whitney came up about 20 minutes later and tried to get her towel down and sit down. The wind was blowing so hard up there that I had to hold her towel down so she could sit on it. We decided we probably should relocate so we headed down to the Serenity deck area. We had really wanted to spend more time down there anyway, but if it isn't windy it can get really warm and there isn't a pool back there - just 2 hot tubs. I don't know about all of you but if I'm hot the last thing I want to do it get into a hot tub. I've never even been in one on all of the cruises I've taken.

We found lounge chairs right in the back with no one in front of us so we had an excellent view of the water and everything around us. Lindsey made her way on up not too long after and we all took turns going to get breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito but ended up not eating much of the tortilla - it was just too much bread for me.

I'd like to say that we did something exciting today but we didn't. We planted ourselves in our lounge chairs, read, napped, enjoyed the view and soaked up the beautiful warm sun. Actually it was pretty exciting to me because that is exactly what I wanted to do - just relax and do nothing.

Lindsey passed on breakfast but went for an early lunch. I wasn't really very hungry but Whitney and I went down to the Lido deck to see what we might be able to find. They were doing the chocolate fountain so we decided we wanted some fruit and chocolate. It was really good and there wasn't even a line which was surprising.

That was pretty much the extent of our last sea day. Lindsey headed in about 4:15 or 4:30 to shower and get ready for dinner and I stayed out until about 5:15. I wanted to soak up every last minute of that rest and relaxation I could because I knew that once we were back in Mobile it would be full speed ahead. We would have to drive back home, drop Lindsey in Atlanta and head on to Dalton. Thursday night would be spent catching up on laundry, loving on my little boys at home and preparing for Whitney's graduation and graduation party on Saturday.

We got ready for dinner and did some of our packing. We went down to dinner and there was actually a wait tonight but I think we may have gotten there a little earlier than we had been doing the rest of the week. We were given a pager and sat in the Piano bar waiting to be called. While we were waiting I received a text message from my cousin telling me that there was an ambulance at my Mom's house and she wanted to know if everything was ok. Well, here I am on a ship in the middle of who knows where and I don't have any idea if everything is ok or not.

My husband is not technology savy - he still has a Pantech slide phone - no data or anything so I'm trying to figure out how I can find out what is going on. I sent my daughter at home a message through Facebook but no response. I then send one to my friend and ask her to call my husband and see what was going on. Finally I receive word that the ambulance has left and everything is ok. Thank goodness! My Mom is 85 and lives next door to us. She is fairly healthy for her age other than she has very bad Rheumatoid Arthritis and a few other issues. She had been having problems with her blood pressure fluctuating so that is why the ambulance was there. Gave me a scare for a little while. This has always been a huge concern for me when I cruise, that something will happen and I won't be able to get back as quickly as I'd like.

Our pager went off (only waited about 15 minutes or so and they had originally said about 30 minutes) so not bad at all. Once again, we were in a completely different section with different wait staff. Our meal didn't go as fast as we had hoped but it was ok.

We wanted to catch the final music trivia in the atrium with Ben our cruise director and it was just getting started when we left the dining room. Tonight's theme was country music and once again it did not disappoint. Ben is full of energy and it was fun.

Afterwards we headed back to the cabin to finish packing -ugh, I hate that chore. That always means that your cruise is basically over except for the horrible part of debarkation and the trip home.

Whitney decided she wanted to stay in the cabin but Lindsey and I ventured back out to the 10:30 comedy show. It was John Floyd again and his rated R show was a little better than his PG-13 show. After the comedy show we stopped by the casino to cash out our winnings and then went back to the cabin for our last nights sleep.

THURSDAY - DEBARKATION DAY

I set my alarm for about 6:30 or 7:00 and got up and showered and dressed. The girls didn't want to go for breakfast so I ran down and got something quick and while I was on the Lido deck Ben announced that it wouldn't be long until they would start the debarkation process.

Since we had a suite we received a letter in our cabin stating that if we wanted to do self assist debark to meet in the Universe Lounge at 7:45 a.m. so that was our plan. As I was leaving the lido deck heading back to our cabin he was already starting to call regular self assist so I knew that we had missed debarking with the other suite, Platinum and Diamond guests. I got back to the cabin and told the girls to hustle up because we could go ahead and go.

Our cabin location was wonderful when it came to debarkation because all we had to do was take a short walk up the hallway to the atrium elevators and take the stairs up one deck to the Empress deck and we were there- right where we debarked from the ship.

We were literally off the ship within 5 minutes of leaving our cabin. It was great! One thing I noticed that was different (well, maybe it was the same in December when we cruised but I don't remember for sure) was that we never received the paper that you have always had to fill out in the past for customs.

There was a line to get through customs but one of the workers announced that if all of your party had passports you could go to one certain line and that's what we did. He took a look at mine and asked me if my hair had changed and I told him yes and gave it right back to me, glanced at Whitney and Lindsey's and off we went. We were in the car and on our way home by 8:00.

We had an uneventful trip home until we got near Atlanta when the traffic started getting bad. We dropped Lindsey off at her apartment and headed on to Dalton. I had really missed those little ones I had left at home (and hubby too) and couldn't wait to see them. We ended up losing about an hour's time by dropping Lindsey off and in traffic and with the time change we didn't get home until about 5:00.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I know the Fantasy is an older ship and I did see some areas where she might need some TLC but when you think about how many people are on her day in and day out and the beating the ships take from the elements all in all she is great.

We really had a great time on the Fantasy and I'm certain that I will be sailing on her again if she stays in Mobile. I love the size of the ship especially if it's just adults and the drive isn't bad either.

It's funny how different our cruises are now in comparison to the first ones we took. We didn't even go into the showroom on this cruise except for the Love and Marriage Show (besides for Muster) and on our earlier cruises we thought we had to see them all. I still enjoy the shows but if I've seen them once unless they were really good I don't care to see them again. I used to think I needed to "do it all" - Bingo, t-shirt sales, jewelry sales, shows, trivia, you know the drill and when I did that and got back home I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation. Now we tend to really do a lot of nothing and enjoy our down time. I don't get a lot of down time at home with 6 kids.

I guess that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed my review and got something out of it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I'll certainly try to answer.

I'll leave you with a couple of final pictures - Whitney's Graduation Day. She did it and we are so very proud. Her goal is to teach middle or high school honors History. She has already been on a few interviews so please say a prayer for her and keep your fingers crossed that something will open up for her. She has a great heart and loves kids and will make an awesome teacher (ok so I may be a little prejudice) but she really will be a wonderful teacher.

The proud Mom, Dad and siblings!

Thanks for following along everyone!

Nice review and beautiful family!

Nice review and beautiful family!

Thank you!

Fantastic Review. We will be sailing Fantasy in August and your review just heightened my anticipation :)

Great review! Thank you so much!

Very much enjoyed your review! We are sailing on the Fantasy in September for my birthday. This will be our first time on the Fantasy, and your review was informative! Congratulations to you all on the graduation! You have a beautiful family.

Thank you for taking time to review your cruise, and share your super photos.

Congratulations to Whitney on her graduation, hope she will soon successful with the job applications and enjoys a teaching career.

Wow - we are practically neighbors then - I'm in Dalton. We come to Blue Ridge sometimes for the Swan Drive Inn.

 

 

 

Hope you have as much fun as we did! We've never cruised in summer months - as hot as it was in May I don't think

 

I could take it in July or August.

Thank you! Yes, you’re just over the mountain from me! [emoji4] Counting down the days! I’m a teacher, so I’ve almost always sailed in the summer heat. I LOVE to cruise! This one was a last minute, need a cruise now, kind of booking! [emoji322][emoji924]

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