Disney Fantasy Ship

[skbrewer]

This was our 14th Disney cruise, one where we booked 2 staterooms for 1st time ever for our adult daughters. I was HUGELY disappointed as we walked into our stateroom 5664 on the Disney Fantasy on May 18th, 2024. The room smelled immensely like urine. We have never witnessed this ever. I walked into our daughter’s connecting stateroom and it was normal, smelt good like previous cruises. Contacted customer service, they sent hotel manager who looked at us like we were crazy and said the stateroom host would wipe down walls, spray something, bring air purifier, etc. Got back from dinner, there was an air purifier in room but not hooked up and back was off of it lying against the wall and room still smelled like urine. They ended up giving us a new stateroom host as she must have not been doing her job. She had left a book with notes in it in our room. So, I glanced at it and it showed where previous passengers complained about the smell as well. I ended up not sleeping in stateroom 5664, the room I paid for to sleep in. I stayed in cabin 5662. The new stateroom guy was nice but couldn’t speak a bit of English. It affected our stay in this room as he kept knocking on door as we were sleeping after we even told him someone was sleeping. Next day, contacted guest services and told them we could still smell urine the next day. They claimed the ship was full, but upon getting to Port terminal one of the Disney workers told me there were only 3600 passengers booked. This shop can host 4,000 passengers. After 3 days sailing, they finally steam cleaned the carpet. This is a pure shame we take our hard earned $ and put towards a Disney vacation and we are treated like this. In fact, when I was boarding this ship, walking the hallways down to deck 5, I noticed the carpet had looked like it had been flooded. Sure as the day, I got back home after our trip and googled issues for the Fantasy ship and there were posts where rooms on deck 10 had flooded Feb 2024 and they showed video footage of their rooms while walking in water. So now, my theory is there could be a connection. Disney only gave the passengers with the flooded room 15% off a future cruise or 17% of the existing cruise. This is a joke. Even Disney doesn’t care about us either. HUGE awakening for us as well. Getting ready to cancel next year’s cruise. If you routinely sail with Disney, it’s just a matter of time when this will happen to you. Oh, and one more thing, the vibration in room’s 5662 and 5664 was horrible as well. Made it hard to sleep. And, minor but noticed the decks for our rooms were rusted and paint coming off alot.

 

[Mommb]

I am sorry you had this experience. Clearly both of the stateroom hosts you had, one who didn't clean well and left a book listing complaints and one who kept knocking on your door, were unacceptable. I'm not sure flooding on Deck 10 in February would be affecting Deck 5 in May, but it's possible there's some connection.

I do want to point out this it is possible both that you couldn't change rooms because the ship was full and that there were only 3600 passengers on a ship that can hold 4000. The total number of passengers is based on number of rooms and lifeboat capacity. If many rooms had 2 or 3 people but could sleep 4 or 5 people, then all rooms could be occupied even though some room could hold more people.

 

[bakerworld]

I would be finding out who at DCL you could register a complaint. We've never had a truly bad time on DCL - little things but nothing big. I room smelling like urine is really bad.

 

[cvjw]

We’ve had something similar happen on the fantasy. In a forward cabin on deck 7. Our stateroom host worked some magic and got the smell out of the cabin.

Having 3600 cruisers on the fantasy doesn’t mean the ship isn’t sold out. There could be lots of cabins of 2 people, which would fill the ship, but not the passenger capacity. We have sailed the fantasy 10 times since 2021. Starting in late 2022, every sailing has been full, but no where near max people capacity.

The fantasy is our most favorite ship. Not all sailings are perfect, but we just roll with it.

 

[bbn1122]

Wow 14 cruises and I am guessing this is your first bad experience. It is unDisney like what happen to you. I am about to take my 10th cruise. I have never sailed on the Fantasy. So, far the only thing that every was unpleasant were rough seas and a few unruly kids.

It must have been a pretty bad experience for you to write off Disney after 14 cruises. I agree with previous poster. You definitely should registering a formal compliant with DCL.

Thanks for sharing, even if it a bad experience. Hopefully, by bringing these kinds of incidents to the people incharge, they will happen less often. Because as we all know, sometimes bad things happen to good people and businesses.

 

[JM_97]

That's unacceptable. I would call DCL and tell them. Not sure what they could do but you never know.

 

[FastPasser.]

The Fantasy does have aft cabins that vibrate excessively. The Dream does as well but just under certain cruising conditions. They’ve known about it for years but haven’t done anything about it.

Unless I’m assured of a non aft cabin I will not sail on either ship.

 

[MickeyD]

We were on the Fantasy in February when deck 10 flooded. Apparently, a pipe burst and flooded the back/aft area. Several of the cruisers displaced were on our FB group and not one of them said Disney was indifferent or didn't handle it well. We were on deck 7 aft and did not notice any moisture, so I doubt deck 5 would! I am sorry you feel after 14 cruises that Disney is no longer for you. There are a lot of things Disney can do to step up their game that is for sure, but in this instance, I don't think anything they do/did will help.
And yes, aft has vibrations, that is a well-known fact, however, I was shocked in February that it wasn't as bad as it used to be.

 

[WB1971]

The bathroom floor drains near the toilet can dry up allowing sewer gas to escape. Pour a cup of water down there, problem generally solved. It sounds like your issue may have been more significant, but an evaporated trap can be smelly.

 

[kiford]

hey claimed the ship was full, but upon getting to Port terminal one of the Disney workers told me there were only 3600 passengers booked. This shop can host 4,000 passengers.

Just so you know - if every single room had the maximum number of people possible in it, there would be 4000 passengers. But that doesn't happen. Lots of rooms have fewer than the maximum number of occupants. I'm not even sure it's possible to have every room completely maxed out because I don't believe that the lifeboats can actually accommodate that. That's sometimes why it seems like a room can accommodate 4 people but you can't book it if you have four people. So it's entirely possible to have fewer than 4,000 passengers but have the ship full, i.e., all rooms are booked.

 

[john1012a]

We also were on the Fantasy in Feb 2024 but never heard about any flooding but might be a different sailing. However, didn’t care for the Fantasy too much , although we hear from crew and other guests that it is there favorite ship. The room was fine except for the verandah which had peeling paint and paint chips everywhere. Our host tried to keep up but by it just keep peeling. Rainforest room on fantasy is a waste. The hot tubs are built for two and always crowded and chair hogs ruin the experience.
These are minor complaints. We loved our cruise, the shows, the food everything else was great. Although we would not go to Magens Bay again.

 

[babyruth]

So far Fantasy is our least favorite ship due to the service. We just sailed in April and it was not the level of service we are used to on DCL by any means. We won't ditch DCL but won't sail Fantasy until she gets to Europe where hopefully the crew will change or at least be more educated/amenable/NICE/experienced...

 

[dreamer17555]

So far Fantasy is our least favorite ship due to the service. We just sailed in April and it was not the level of service we are used to on DCL by any means. We won't ditch DCL but won't sail Fantasy until she gets to Europe where hopefully the crew will change or at least be more educated/amenable/NICE/experienced...

Wow. I was on the Fantasy in April and the service was outstanding! Our room host, serving team and guest services were all just heads above. And Yoyo is SO good as Adult Entertainment host. We were on the April 27th-May 4th Eastern and it was amazing. We were on the Fantasy in Feb as well and same thing. Love Warren and Steph too from the Entertainment crew.

Our serving team had been working with DCL for YEARS and I don't think you get much more experienced than Yoyo as far as time put in with DCL.

Sorry you had a different experience

 

[babyruth]

I don't know who Yoyo is or the other people you mentioned. Ashley the cruise director is quite obnoxious though. My daughter is a big fan of David the assistant after meeting him on the Wonder. We had a very different experience. Actually changed our plans over it to avoid that ship.

 

[cvjw]

I don't know who Yoyo is or the other people you mentioned. Ashley the cruise director is quite obnoxious though. My daughter is a big fan of David the assistant after meeting him on the Wonder. We had a very different experience. Actually changed our plans over it to avoid that ship.

We don’t love Ashley. Always talking about “her” staff. My husband cringes when he hears her voice. We love the fantasy. Sailed in November, January and a few weeks ago. Top notch service on every cruise.

Love that DCL has different ships - something for everyone. We hated the magic when we sailed a few years back. Will probably never sail that class ship again!

 

[babyruth]

We don’t love Ashley. Always talking about “her” staff. My husband cringes when he hears her voice. We love the fantasy. Sailed in November, January and a few weeks ago. Top notch service on every cruise.

Love that DCL has different ships - something for everyone. We hated the magic when we sailed a few years back. Will probably never sail that class ship again!

haha "I gotta know cuz I gotta know" my husband was so over it also. We still had a great cruise and DCL is the best.

 

[enzy65]

The only real complaint I have about the fantasy is that we felt out of place, like we had crashed someone’s wedding. I will presume that was probably because all of the “regulars” on board. It was just so bizarre.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

The bathroom floor drains near the toilet can dry up allowing sewer gas to escape. Pour a cup of water down there, problem generally solved. It sounds like your issue may have been more significant, but an evaporated trap can be smelly.

We have experienced this on Magic and Wonder as well. It always surprises me that the stateroom hosts are not on top of this situation, since it can easily occur. Instead, they tend to close the door to the toilet room, trapping the bad air inside the room.

 

[dreamer17555]

I don't know who Yoyo is or the other people you mentioned. Ashley the cruise director is quite obnoxious though. My daughter is a big fan of David the assistant after meeting him on the Wonder. We had a very different experience. Actually changed our plans over it to avoid that ship.

Oh I love Ashley! She did such a great job with that ill fated PC sailing in 2020 and is so kind when you speak to her. Her and Carly are my favorite cruise directors by far.

Yoyo is kind of a staple of DCL Fantasy entertainment staff and is normally the host for all adult evening entertainment in the Tube. I am a bit surprised you didn't bump into him. Did you go to Match Your Mate or those sort of events?

 

[dreamer17555]

The only real complaint I have about the fantasy is that we felt out of place, like we had crashed someone’s wedding. I will presume that was probably because all of the “regulars” on board. It was just so bizarre.

I think since the Fantasy is 7 nights if you sail her regularly guests get to really know the crew vice versa and you might be picking up on that. I actually love that part about sailing her. They know my son upon sight by name and are always outstanding to him. There is one server that we adore and we know all about his life back home and he is like extended family at this point.

If you sail the Fantasy again it is so worth taking a few moments to talk to the crew when they aren't busy. They are outstanding.