{"id":7249,"date":"2016-07-20T20:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T01:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hayesvision.com\/home\/?p=7249"},"modified":"2019-04-17T19:08:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T00:08:53","slug":"disney-fantasy-7-night-summer-cruise-st-thomas-day-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hayesvision.com\/home\/disney-fantasy-7-night-summer-cruise-st-thomas-day-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Fantasy Seven Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise – St. Thomas (Day 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 5 Morning – Breakfast at Cabanas<\/h3>\n

After an absolutely amazing day four at Tortola<\/a> in the British Virgin Islands, we were equally excited for another port day on beautiful St. Thomas.  We have truly enjoyed our cruise thus far.  Embarkation day<\/a> provided a perfect opportunity to get settled into the ship.  The two days at sea<\/a> gave us ample opportunity to explore all of our favorite ship activities.  With a great day at Tortola<\/a> behind us, St. Thomas provided another exciting adventure ahead!  This was our second time visiting St. Thomas as we visited it a few years back on another Disney Cruise.  Because we enjoyed our excursion to Coral World so much the last time we visited, we decided that we would give it another go.  <\/p>\n

If you have been following along thus far you most likely anticipated that we would be enjoying another breakfast and island view at Cabanas on deck 11.  Although the buffet style breakfast is relatively similar every day, there are enough options to keep it interesting during the seven night cruise.  Since today was another planned excursion it required us to wrap up breakfast sooner than usual to be at our meeting location in the D Lounge on deck 4.  At the D Lounge they rounded up the groups that were headed out for the day and we caravanned off the ship to our meeting posts.  I am always impressed at how efficiently the crew is able to organize all of us clueless, wandering travelers to get us to our destination on time.<\/p>\n

Day 5 Afternoon – Coral World, St. Thomas<\/h3>\n

We disembarked the ship and boarded our open air van for our scenic tour of the island of St. Thomas, en route to Coral World.  Having just been on an open air van tour on Tortola the previous day, the boys were less than excited about the 45 minute drive.  The drive did provide a few unique photo opportunities that we of course took advantage of.  Sawyer was not a huge fan of the sticker he had to wear as part of the excursion group.  I was unaware that such a small sticker could cause such animosity.<\/p>\n

\"Disney<\/p>\n

Ultimately, we were all ready for our arrival at Coral World and were excited for the familiarity of the park.  Coral World is a small park that sits on the ocean with several different exhibits including a shark tank, stingrays that you can pet, a sea turtle habitat, an underwater observatory, and a short nature walking trail.  One of our favorite memories of our previous visit were the oversized lizards that freely roam the property that are as big as house cats (see photo below).  Hunter has always been a huge fan of reptiles and lizards, so he was in heaven spending time with these creepy creatures.<\/p>\n

\"Disney  <\/p>\n

One of our favorite exhibits is the underwater sea observatory, that sits at the end of a long dock.  You enter the observatory and take two spiral flights of stairs down underwater, where there is a 360 degree observatory dome that looks directly out into the ocean through big windows.  There are amazing fish and coral that you can see in their natural habitat – the ocean!  They also had a really cool scuba tour that you could see through the window (maybe for when the boys are a little older).  The highlight of the observatory experience was when we spotted a barracuda out of the window and Hunter almost fainted with excitement (see video at the end of the post for the full experience).  He was looking for one the whole time, and wouldn’t you know, one gave us a perfect view.  This is Emily’s favorite kind of underwater adventure because it lacks, in her words, danger and claustrophobia.<\/p>\n

\"Disney<\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be an official visit to, well, anywhere, without a stop at the gift shop.  We were once again amazed by Hunter as he recalled a stuffed sea snake from our visit two years prior that he really wanted.  Sure enough it was still there (probably the same one).  We wrapped up at the gift shop just in time to board the van for our trip back to the ship.  Another excursion that was perfectly timed as the boys were ready for some lunch and some ship time.<\/p>\n

Back on the ship we were hungry but wanted to find an alternative to Cabanas, which we had eaten the previous few days.  Having enjoyed a lunch at Royal Court a couple days prior,  we thought that a nice sit down lunch would be ideal.  The food was good, and the best part about it – it is all included!  <\/p>\n

When you are on the ship it is a delicate balance between trying to relax and trying to see and experience as much as possible.  Sawyer had his heart set on another round of Midship Detective Agency so the idea of relaxing was not an option.  We scaled our 3 dozen staircases before solving yet another crime, then headed to deck 4 for some shuffleboard.  Hunter had been asking to play several times when we passed by during our travels around the ship so we seized this opportunity.  What better place for a shuffleboard game than overlooking the ocean and St. Thomas!<\/p>\n

\"Disney<\/p>\n

As the afternoon wore on the kids were excited to revisit the Oceaneer Lab, visit Andy’s room, and play the ship game.  Em and I were happy to oblige as we were ready for happy hour.  Our first stop on our happy hour ship tour was deck 12 forward, acquiring two Captain’s Mai Tais and planting ourselves in a couple of deck chairs to enjoy the view.  It didn’t take long before our glasses were empty, and we were ready for another view.<\/p>\n

\"Disney<\/p>\n

The previous day we went to the bar outside of Palo restaurant as the ship departed Tortola.  Since you can’t beat the location we headed back again with our GoPro and GorillaPod in hand to try our luck at another sail away video.  The view, atmosphere, and weather were absolutely perfect as we sipped our cocktails and waved goodbye to St. Thomas.  Emily graciously offered to get the boys from the Oceaneer Lab as I captured a time lapse video of the ship sailing away from the island (I included the timelape in the video at the end of the blog). <\/p>\n

Day 5 Evening – Pool, Aquaduck and Funnelvision<\/h3>\n

On the last couple cruises we really enjoyed taking a night off of the dining rotation, slapping on our swimming suits, and spending the evening on deck 11.  Since the rest of the ship is normally attending their dinner rotation, it presents the perfect opportunity to ride the Aquaduck without a wait.  Tonight was our night to play dress-up hooky, and we quickly changed into swim attire and headed to deck 11 while the rest of the suckers… er, guests, suffered in their cruise casual.  We took advantage of riding the Aquaduck a few times with short waits before grabbing some burgers and chicken fingers for dinner.  I am pretty simple when it comes to dining so the quick service food is often one of my favorite meals.<\/p>\n

We washed our dinner down with some ice cream cones and made our way back to the Aquaduck for a few more raft rides.  The nighttime Aquaduck rides are fun because the entire tube lights up creating a totally different experience.  The boys splashed around in the Mickey Pool as well as the hot tub which has a glass bottom and overlooks the ocean.  <\/p>\n

\"Disney<\/p>\n

Disney Fantasy Seven Night Cruise – St. Thomas Video<\/h3>\n