Disney Fantasy Trip Report Part 6: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Trip Report Links:
Part 1--Getting There
Part 2--Embarking the Disney Fantasy
Part 3--First Sea Day
Part 4--Second Sea Day
Part 5--St. Maarten

Part 6: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

This was probably my favorite day of our entire vacation. Even though I was really starting to feel sick (with coughing), this was our most relaxing day of the cruise.

We had pre-purchased tickets for one excursion on St. Thomas, the skyride to Paradise Point. We could use the tickets any time during the day. So other than that and the Halloween party at 4:30 p.m., we had nothing on our schedule.

We slept in until 7:45 a.m. When we looked out the window, we were already docked in St. Thomas.

We could see the Paradise Point sky ride from our porthole. But we would save that for later in the day.

We went up to Deck 11 around 8:30 a.m. to Cabanas for breakfast. We were already in our swim suits, ready to spend the morning at the pools. And this is what the pool deck looked like around 9:00 a.m.:

We almost had the entire deck to ourselves! And A Bug's Life was playing on the funnel vision.

After a few rides on the Aqua Duck, I sneaked off to the Rainforest Room in Senses Spa. I had pre-purchased a day pass for $16, and today was the day I would use my pass.

When I arrived at the spa, a staff member took my room key and gave me a bracelet I could use to enter the Rainforest Room. She showed me where the locker room was where I could stash my stuff and get a towel and robe.

When I entered the Rainforest Room around 9:30 a.m., there was no one in it. I started my time there by reading on a heated tile lounger. There was relaxing music on the speakers (like Yanni). I found that I didn't want to read, I just wanted to close my eyes.

I tried the different showers...one was cold, one was not as cold, and one was warm. And there was a cool mist shower across the way. I also tried 2 of the steam rooms.

Lastly, I sat in one of these hot tubs. The top windows were open, so I could hear the sounds of St. Thomas. While I enjoyed these private hot tubs, they were more like bath tubs in that there weren't benches on the inside. It was like sitting in a bath tub.

I enjoyed my time in the Rainforest Room, and since my pass was good for the entire day, I planned to go back in the evening. (Here is a blog post devoted to the Rainforest Room).

I went back to join my family in the pools. Some of us decided to try out the funnel puddle pool, which wasn't on the Disney Dream. This is a small wading pool on Deck 12 that overlooks the adult-only area, but the pool is for all ages. There was nobody there or even around that area. The pool had a fountain in the middle that wasn't working. I'm not sure why, but my younger kids loved this pool. They asked if they could go back the next night, but it closed early.

Later in the morning, we went back to our stateroom to shower and change. We ate lunch on the ship, and then headed off the ship around 1:00 p.m. We had a short walk to the sky ride and got in a cable car soon after arriving.

Going up!

The view from the top was spectacular! The photos don't even do this island justice...it's just gorgeous.

When we got to the top, there was a small bird show going on, but it was too crowded to see. The kids wanted to buy something from the shops, so we started to go into a store. And then I heard someone call my name. And who did we see? My brother and his family. They live in Colorado, but they happened to be on St. Thomas that day, too. We did not realize that we would be there on the same day.

So we decided to sit down and have a drink. I had a fabulous key lime pie drink that felt good on my throat.

We visited for about an hour, and then we realized we had to head back down the mountain to get back to the ship and change for the Halloween party.

When we returned to our cabin, we found 3 Halloween goody bags on the bed. They had some candy in them.

We changed into our costumes and headed to the atrium for the Halloween party. The official start time was 4:30 p.m., but we got there early and found there were already some small games going on. This cast member was training kids on how to be a good monster.

I wish we would have gotten there a little earlier, because at 4:30 the games stopped and the Halloween dance party began. The characters were all dressed up in their Halloween costumes.

They danced around the atrium in various spots. And there were also 2 trick-or-treat stations where the kids could get more candy.

We were dressed as a royal family--King, Queen, Princess, Knight and Jester.

We took the kids to the clubs in their costumes for dinner. Brian and I went back to our room to change into regular clothes before we had dinner by ourselves. Tonight was the Prince and Princess menu in the Enchanted Garden restaurant, and we had not eaten off this menu on previous cruises. Brian had a duck quesadilla, and I had a turkey dinner (like Thanksgiving food).

Our servers seemed disappointed that we were not bringing our kids to dinner. I mean, they really seemed heartbroken. After 4 cruises, I think we figured out that the servers must fear we're not going to tip them as well if our kids don't eat in the dining rooms. We always tip as if they are there, but dinner is just better for all of us if they don't have to sit through a long meal every evening.

Our main server brought us 3 desserts to-go for the kids--Halloween spider chocolate cakes!

We picked the kids up from the club after dinner and took them up to the top deck to eat their special cakes.

Brian then took the kids to see a variety act in the main theater--he was a singer and comedian. While they saw the show, I went back into the Rainforest Room. This time, I ran into 3 other people there, but it still wasn't crowded at all. I met a lady in the steam room that suggested I go to the front desk and ask for a sample of a scrub--you're supposed to put it on in the steam room and shower it off. I tried a lavender scrub, and it left my skin so soft.

It was nice to relax in the Rainforest Room at the end of the day. I would like to go again if we cruise on the Dream or the Fantasy in the future (the Rainforest Room on the Magic and Wonder is smaller and doesn't have as many amenities, so I've heard). I wish I could go for more than one day, but realistically I don't think I'd have the time. I had to skip the evening show to work in the final evening visit.

We all met back in the room around 9:30 p.m. The two younger kids went to sleep while Brian and Nathan went searching for food.

It was nice to slow down a bit today.

Next up: Royal Court Royal Tea