Let Your Fantasies & Dreams SET SAIL! March 2019 Western Caribbean TR *COMPLETE 9/6

khertz

khertz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Let Your Fantasies & Dreams SET SAIL!
March 2019 Western Caribbean TR

There’s enchantment to be found in every fairytale
There are journeys that await you and your friends
Seize the moment
Let your fantasies and dreams SET SAIL!
Discover a place where the fun never ends!​

Welcome aboard, everyone, to my very first Disney Cruise Line TR! Some of you may know me from my many WDW and Universal trip reports, but since this was our first DCL experience, it’s also my first try at a DCL trip report, so I hope you’ll enjoy! Here’s a quick rundown on our family & our trip details to get started.


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First up is myself & DH in a rare photo of just the two of us. We have been married for 11 years, and have been fans of WDW since we honeymooned there! I have been to WDW 18 times, DH has been 17. He has one up on me for Disneyland, as I’ve been 4 times and he’s been 5. We have also been lucky enough to do an Adventures by Disney trip to Italy together, and we added on a little bit of time at Disneyland Paris. We have been hesitant to book a Disney cruise for a long time, mostly because of the cost associated and it limiting our park trips. But now that the kids are a bit older to enjoy it, we decided it was time to give it a try! We make a great TR team, as I do all of the writing while he is responsible for nearly all of the photography, aside from a couple times I had possession of the DSLR camera or had a few photos on my iPhone.


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Next up is DS. He’s 8 years old, and has been asking to go on a Disney Cruise since he first saw and understood a TV commercial for DCL. He loves the Disney parks also, and has been to WDW 9 times and Disneyland 3 times. As he is getting older, he likes to pretend he’s not interested in meeting characters anymore, but as you’ll see, that’s not really true. He’s still a big Disney kid at heart!


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And finally, there’s DD. She’s 3.5 years old, and loves all things Frozen and Disney Princess related. She’s been to WDW 5 times, but all of those trips were before she was 15 months old, so she doesn’t really remember any of it. Same for her 1 and only Disneyland trip. Although she is not a parks fan (yet) she has plenty of Disney favorites, and she was looking forward to meeting ALL of the princesses possible on this cruise.

We were on the Disney Fantasy for 7 nights on a Western Caribbean itinerary from March 2-9, 2o19 during DS’s Mardi Gras break from school. It’s normally a popular time for families from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast to visit WDW, but it turned out to be a great time for a cruise also. The other time we had been looking at was during Spring Break, and Mardi Gras week was significantly cheaper! Plus, as we found out several months after booking, there was a Star Wars Day at Sea added.

In addition to a weeklong cruise, we had a pre and post night booked at Animal Kingdom Villas-Kidani Village in a studio villa, but unfortunately no time to visit any of the parks.

I hope you’ll join in as I recap our amazing & magical first Disney Cruise!
 
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Chapter Links

Friday March 1st - Animal Kingdom Lodge
Day 1: Welcome Home!

Saturday March 2nd - Port Canaveral
Day 2 Part 1: Welcome Aboard!
Day 2 Part 2: Oceaneer Club & Lab
Day 2 Part 3: We're Sailing Away!

Sunday March 3rd - Day at Sea
Day 3 Part 1: Morningat Sea
Day 3 Part 2: Dining With Disney Jr.
Day 3 Part 3: Sea Day Fun
Day 3 Part 4: Hey There Delilah

Monday March 4th - Cozumel, Mexico
Day 4 Part 1: Chocolate Making
Day 4 Part 2: Pinatas
Day 4 Part 3: Pool Deck Fun
Day 4 Part 4: Pirates in the Caribbean
Day 4 Part 5: A Pirate's Life For Me!

Tuesday March 5th - George Town, Grand Cayman
Day 5 Part 1: A Gathering Fit For a Princess
Day 5 Part 2: Pool & Port Time
Day 5 Part 3: Character Overload!
Day 5 Part 4: Royal Court

Wednesday March 6th - Falmouth, Jamaica
Day 6 Part 1: Jamaica, Mon!
Day 6 Part 2: Beach Fun
Day 6 Part 3: Never Enough Characters
Day 6 Part 4: Animator's Palate

Thursday March 7th - Star Wars Day at Sea
Day 7 Part 1: Trials of the Temple
Day 7 Part 2: The One With All the Food
Day 7 Part 3: Star Wars Fireworks

Friday March 8th - Castaway Cay, Bahamas
Day 8 Part 1: Frozen Gathering & Castaway Cay 5K
Day 8 Part 2: Castaway Cay Beach Fun
Day 8 Part 3: Final Evening Entertainment

Saturday March 9th - Animal Kingdom Lodge
Day 9 Part 1: Disembarkation & Disney Springs
Day 9 Part 2: Art of Animation

Final Thoughts

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Day 0: Thursday February 28th

This day wasn’t much. Everyone went to work and school as usual, but DH and I were able to get off of work a bit early to pick up the kids and go home for quick showers before hitting the road. We had a hotel room booked in Crestview, FL for the night so that we could get a decent chunk of the driving done.

Nothing was super eventful about the drive, except that it took MUCH longer than we had expected to make it to our destination. It rained the entire night, and there was a lot of traffic and construction on the roads slowing us down. We finally made it to the Comfort Inn & Suites in Crestview a little before midnight. DD had been fighting going to sleep almost the entire drive, and she finally gave in only about 40 minutes before arriving. So needless to say, she was a bit of an emotional wreck by that time!

Since the beds were a little on the small side, I shared one with DD and DH & DS shared the other. I don’t think any of us got much sleep that night. But soon enough, it was…

Day 1: Friday March 1st

Despite the short night of sleep, the kids were up at 7. We got dressed and went to the lobby to have breakfast. It was a little after 8 when we got back in the car to finish up the drive. Again, we ended up in a day FULL of rain. DH usually does all the driving on vacation, but as we stopped for gas for the first time, he asked me to drive so he could do something on his phone, and of course it was during the WORST of the rain. It was like hurricane winds and water dumping on us in buckets kind of rain.

When it wasn’t downpouring, it looked like this.


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Part of the way down, we stopped for lunch at Chick Fil A. We had finally turned south and thought we had finally gotten out of the rain. The restaurant was PACKED with a bus full of a college team (probably basketball, I don’t know), and suddenly everyone’s phones started buzzing with the emergency weather alert that there was a tornado warning!! We tried to eat as quickly as possible to try to get further south before the weather started up again, but no such luck. We all got soaked running to the car.

Once we were back in the car, we let the kids open the two boxes of Magic Bands we had saved for the car ride.


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DD really had no idea what they were but she liked having a purple bracelet. DS was excited because he knew EXACTLY what they were!! We had decided to surprise our kids with the onsite stay the night before the cruise, so they had no idea we were headed to Animal Kingdom Villas!!

A little backstory on how we ended up staying there…Last summer & fall we were spending a lot of time looking at DVC resale contracts we could purchase. We went through the whole process twice and both times Disney opted to take the contract back. We submitted for a 3rd contract, and in the meantime, there was a Dad in the DIS Dads Facebook group who had a lot of points left over, and was offering to rent them out. DH and I discussed it and thought that would be perfect for what we needed since we knew we wanted to stay onsite if possible for our pre & post nights. The DIS Dad ended up getting us a deluxe studio for each night, with our pre-night being a Savannah view!! So the same day he & I had been talking about this and decided to rent the points, I got home with the kids and DH handed us all some papers he had made with the AKV logo that said Welcome Home! I was confused because we had decided not to tell the kids about the pre & post nights at AKV, but it was really him telling us our resale contract had gone through! We were finally DVC owners and AKV-Jambo House!! So I was even more excited that we’d get a little taste of our new home resort for the cruise!!

There was still a lot of traffic as we got closer and closer to WDW. We got a text that our room was ready at 3:15, so once we arrived a little after 5 we were able to go straight to our room.


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We had no idea where we should park, so we ended up doing so in the Zazu part of the garage. That was WAAAAAAAYY far away from where our room was, so we did a lot of exploring as we made our way to the complete opposite end of the resort to find our room.

We made a stop in the lobby gift shop to check out what kind of merchandise they had.


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Excited elevator selfie!!​

We stopped at a couple of the balconies overlooking the savannah along the hallways. Then we finally made it to our room! There were no animals on our side of the savannah yet.


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We headed back to the car to move it closer now that we knew we should have parked in the Rafiki section, then got our stuff out to bring up to the room.

Along the way we spotted some zebras.


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DS was excited to find the DCL ship replica in the lobby.


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Not too many pics of the room, and we had already thrown some of our junk around . Sorry!


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While we had been gone getting the luggage, some giraffes had wandered down to our end of the savannah! SO COOL!


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We got to see a few more animals, which DS enjoyed picking out on the animal guide we had in our room. So he stayed out there looking for more animals while DH and I unpacked what we’d need for the night and the next morning.

After we finished upacking, we got in the car and drove over to Jambo House for a quick dinner at The Mara. The sticker shock of how expensive Disney food was really got us when we went to check out! :scared:

We called it an early night after our showers so we could get up a bit early and hit the road for Port Canaveral!

UP NEXT: Welcome Aboard!
 
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I'm here! I can't wait to read about your DCL and see what you thought about the whole experience.
Man, your kids look so grown up now! I can't believe Paxton is 8; I still remember reading your TR when he was 1!

Congrats on your DVC purchase at AKL. It's such a beautiful and relaxing resort and one I'm sure the kids will love going "home" to for years to come.

I think I've mentioned it before, but my parents live in Crestview and I always feel bad for people who stop there on their way to Disney. The traffic congestion around the I-10 entrances and exits are horrendous. It's a mess in that part of town, and I can only imagine how much worse it was with storms rolling through. Sounds like two long traveling days.
 


Following along! A fellow AKV owner here too (did I see you on the ROFR tracking thread?). I’m also doing a western Caribbean itinerary next year so look forward to getting tips!
 
Can't wait to hear about your first DCL experience!

I'm sorry the weather was so crappy driving!

Congrats on being DVC owners now!

Looks like you spotted some cool animals from your balcony!
 
Joining in! I think I remember the DIS Dads FB post about the points. Very exciting that you bought into DVC!
I'm looking forward to reading about your cruise. I have not been on one yet either but of course would like to someday.
 


I've always enjoyed your trip reports, can't wait to see what you thought of DCL!
 
amazingact21 said:
I'm here! I can't wait to read about your DCL and see what you thought about the whole experience.
Man, your kids look so grown up now! I can't believe Paxton is 8; I still remember reading your TR when he was 1!
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I get that, I feel the same way reading your TRs and remembering Landon as a cute little baby in glasses!

amazingact21 said:
Congrats on your DVC purchase at AKL. It's such a beautiful and relaxing resort and one I'm sure the kids will love going "home" to for years to come.
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We really fell in love with it on our trip a few years ago, so when we started looking at resale contracts, it was almost a no brainer! It's definitely the place we can see ourselves staying every time if we aren't always able to trade in to somewhere else. We just booked our very first trip there as owners for next year, and I can't wait!

amazingact21 said:
I think I've mentioned it before, but my parents live in Crestview and I always feel bad for people who stop there on their way to Disney. The traffic congestion around the I-10 entrances and exits are horrendous. It's a mess in that part of town, and I can only imagine how much worse it was with storms rolling through. Sounds like two long traveling days.
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Oh yes, I didn't remember that at the time, but now I do remember you saying that about your parents. It was further than we normally drive, so the fact that it took us such a long time to get there was even more taxing. We were all so exhausted by the time we got there! And driving in all that rain certainly makes the drive more harrowing and stressful.

Lesley Wake said:
Following along! A fellow AKV owner here too (did I see you on the ROFR tracking thread?). I’m also doing a western Caribbean itinerary next year so look forward to getting tips!
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Not me, but probably DH (@DDuck4Life)! He was on the boards a lot researching, asking questions, and stalking ROFR. :rotfl:

missangelalexis said:
Can't wait to hear about your first DCL experience!

I'm sorry the weather was so crappy driving!

Congrats on being DVC owners now!

Looks like you spotted some cool animals from your balcony!
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It made the drive a lot more stressful, but it was nice to be able to reward ourselves after that with a stay at such a beautiful resort! We look forward to many more stays there in the future, and hopefully being able to try out some other DVC resorts as well.

Terra Nova guy said:
Joining in! I think I remember the DIS Dads FB post about the points. Very exciting that you bought into DVC!
I'm looking forward to reading about your cruise. I have not been on one yet either but of course would like to someday.
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It is really exciting! I wish we had done it a long time ago! But I'm looking forward to lots of fun trips in our future, and I'm excited to go back to staying onsite. We definitely LOVE Bonnet Creek, but it will be nice getting all those onsite perks again.

Hopefully this TR will convince you to give the cruise line a try. I don't think you'd be disappointed!

Kari0180 said:
I've always enjoyed your trip reports, can't wait to see what you thought of DCL!
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Welcome along!!
 
Day 2: Saturday March 2nd

We were up a little before 8 am on Saturday morning, and after a year and a half of planning, it was finally…CRUISE DAY!!!


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We got dressed and packed up all of our last few things, then left the room at about 8:45 and headed to the McDonald’s on property for breakfast. Google Maps told the drive to the port would take an hour, but it actually took about an hour and a half because of having to stop for all of the tolls. DH’s original plan had been to stop at the Florida Welcome Center when we had been driving Thursday night to pick up a SunPass, but we had gotten so far behind schedule while driving because of the rain and traffic, and DD had finally given up and fallen asleep, so we didn’t end up stopping. After all the toll stops we made on the way to the port, we were REALLY wishing we would have gotten one! It added so much time!

Our Port Arrival Time was at 10:45, and we weren’t even pulling into the parking garage until close to 11 am. We dropped our checked luggage curbside and then followed a tip DH had found online and parked on the 3rd level of the parking garage. Then you can head right over to the upper level security line, which was very quick. We did get stopped because we had brought an over the door shoe organizer and knew the metal hooks were a restricted item, but DH hadn’t realized there were 4 hooks that came with it so he had only taken out 2. So those were confiscated, and had we wanted them back, they gave us a receipt to pick them up after the cruise was over. Instead, DH had brought a clothes hanger and some zip ties to hang the organizer on the hook in the room.

After security, we entered the port and went over to a very short check in line. They checked our passports, took our photos, and gave their kids the magic bands they would need for the kids clubs. DS got a lock placed on his, but DD did not since she is only 3 and they consider it a choking hazard. They gave us a copy of the first days Navigator, so we hopped over to get in line to meet Captain Mickey and looked it over.


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One of the very first things I noticed was there was going to be Catholic Mass offered daily on board! Unfortunately, it interfered with the Disney Jr. Character breakfast we had booked for Sunday morning, so I knew that was going to be something I needed to try to move around once on board. But I was very happy to see that would be an offering, as I had been expecting we would just have to miss mass that week.

While we were waiting in line for Mickey, they actually called our boarding group, so we knew we’d be able to get right on board after meeting him. Soon enough, it was our turn!


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DD was still hesitant about characters, hence why her face looks less than thrilled in this photo, but I’m happy to say it didn’t last throughout the cruise.


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After waving to Mickey, we got in line to get on the ship!


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DD smiling when they started playing Let It Go

They announced our family as we walked on to the ship, which was very exciting! I’m sure those crew members get tired of trying to look and sound so excited for everyone, but it made us feel very special. I asked the first crew member I spotted where I could go to change a character breakfast and was directed down one deck to Enchanted Garden. I’ll let you know up front, that was NOT correct. But for the time being, I got in line and DH took the kids back up to the atrium where they ended up meeting Ariel.

After waiting in line for the dining managers to come out and for the couple of groups ahead of me to go, I sat down with someone who said he actually doesn’t do anything with character breakfasts, but he would try to make some calls when he had a chance and I could check with our head waiter that night at dinner to see if it had been moved. Well, that wasn’t too reassuring. So I located the rest of the family, and we decided to go get some lunch at Cabanas.

While on the elevator, I was looking out the glass and I spotted it…the Port Adventures desk!! It had up on the sign that it was the place to adjust character greetings & breakfasts, so at least now I knew where I had to go.

It was understandably crazy at Cabanas, so it took us a minute to find a table, but finally we did and we were able to grab some food.


I had a hard time enjoying my lunch at Cabanas though by the time we got there and grabbed some food, because all I could think was my chances of moving it were just rapidly decreasing while I sat their eating. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and I hurried down by myself to get in line while the kids finished eating. After waiting in line a bit, I had no trouble getting the breakfast moved until later in the morning. We originally had it booked for 8:30, but mass was at 8, so I was able to get it moved to 9:30.

DH and the kids found me while I was finishing up, and by then it was almost time that the rooms would be ready, so we made our way to deck 6 aft and had to just wait a few minutes for them to open the ropes so we could get into our state room. We were in 6670, which was a deluxe family ocean view room.


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One of the things that had drawn us to this particular room besides the price was that it would be a little larger, and that it offered the one large porthole. DH and I thought that was a really cool feature, and we knew we made the right decision right away when the kids were instantly drawn to it!


Even DH decided to get in on the porthole fun.


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The kids were also excited about some of the other features in the room, like seeing our names on the TV screen.


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And the ottoman that they could fit inside of.


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The stateroom was very well appointed. I loved the colors and the décor around the room.

After taking it all in, we put a movie on TV for the kids and DH and I set to work unpacking our carry-on bags and setting up our door hanger. All of the pockets were great for keeping lots of items off of our countertops and off the floor. We used it to hold hair brushes, containers of sunscreen, sunglasses cases, glow sticks, and even our flip flops and water shoes. We were both very impressed at the overall storage available all around the room. There were so many drawers, shelves, closets, and other areas to stick all of our stuff, so it kept the room very uncluttered for the week, which was awesome.

We also went ahead and decorated our door. Some of the graphics we used DH had found online, some he made, and the ones for DD and I were actually requested right here on the DIS boards and someone was kind enough to bring my vision to life! I was having a hard time finding what I was looking for without having to pay for it, and we were trying to keep it cheap. We laminated everything and DH got a roll of magnetic tape. We added a bunch of magnets to the back of each image and brought some extra just in case, but what we had put held up great.


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I definitely recommend bringing door decorations! It was a lot of fun to walk around the ship and see how different people had decorated. And we definitely noticed as the cruise went on, people were maybe feeling left out having not brought stuff in advance and were adding things throughout the week.

Continued in next post...
 
Day 2 Continued: Saturday March 2nd

At 2:30 was the open house at the Oceaneer Club & Lab, and we definitely wanted to check that out to make sure the kids were comfortable. On the way, we ran into DS’s friend from school (“C”) with her family taking part in the Midship Detective Agency, so we chatted with them for a bit, and they directed us to the club. We spotted Pepe’s door!


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We kind of split up once in there because of course DS wanted to check out all of the Star Wars and older kids stuff, so he went off with DH. I took DD to some of the other areas that seemed more geared towards her like the Pixie Hollow area. She really liked the big floor right at the entrance.

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I’ll be honest, I was SO nervous about leaving her in the kids club. She is 3 years and 7 months, so still pretty young for the club. I had even debated a bit sending her to the nursery, but she is totally potty trained so we decided to give the club a shot. Although she is potty trained, I was more worried about her being able to find and operate the bathroom on her own. So she and I spent a lot of time going over where to find it, how to tell which one was the girls bathroom, and how to go in the stall, lock the door, and get herself back out. And I made sure to point out all of the kids club crew members over and over so she would know who to ask if she had any problems.

Then she and I found Andy’s room, and she had a lot of fun in there.


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When I was trying to get her to wrap it up so we could go check out the Lab, she wanted to hug everyone before we left.


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While we had been doing that, DH and DS had been checking out the Marvel superhero stuff available.


They came to find us in Andy’s Room so we could go over to the Lab all together.


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The hallway between the Club and the Lab has all of the tables where the kids eat when meals are served at the Clubs and I’m guessing where they do some of the science experiments and stuff like that. During the Open House time they also had a lot of different Disney versions of board games and puzzles out too. DD liked the Disney Headbandz game.


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Over in the Lab, DS was really excited to see there was a whole area dedicated to drawing and animation.


There was a big backlit table with different pictures the kids could trace. DS did that a lot throughout the week.

There was a bulletin board where you could pick a star and write your name and where you’re from, so each of the kids did one.


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Open House ended at 3:30, so when it was done we went back up to the stateroom and found the rest of our luggage had been delivered. We got everything unpacked and put away just in time to head to the muster drill at I think 4 pm. Our muster location was in The Tube, so that was nice to have an indoor location instead of having to stand outside on deck. I’ve heard horror stories of being stuck on the deck in the sun for the drill!

With that little bit of business done, it was time for some Sail Away fun!

UP NEXT: We're Sailing Away!
 
Captain Mickey is so cute!!

The porthole in your room is a nice touch! And I love how your door came out!

Andy's Room is so well done, I can see why Delilah had a hard time leaving!
 
khertz said:
We did get stopped because we had brought an over the door shoe organizer and knew the metal hooks were a restricted item, but DH hadn’t realized there were 4 hooks that came with it so he had only taken out 2. So those were confiscated, and had we wanted them back, they gave us a receipt to pick them up after the cruise was over. Instead, DH had brought a clothes hanger and some zip ties to hang the organizer on the hook in the room.
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I didn't realize hooks were banned! Your work-around sounds like a great idea!
 
Your door decorations turned out great! Love the Mickey heads for each family member. Seeing the creativity of families as you walk past the rooms is one of the best parts.

I hadn't even thought about the whole bathroom situation with a 3 year old in the kids club. That would be a little nerve-wracking, expecting a three year old to find the bathroom and lock the stall door, etc all on her own. Glad they had that preview time to allow you to show DD how to handle it.

Sounds like there were so many awesome features and activities in the clubs for DS to enjoy. Did it get to the point where he wanted to stay at the clubs all day? I've heard that can happen with the kids.
 
Following along! We took our first cruise in 2014, after going to the parks 5 years in a row. We fell in love with the cruise! We are going back this October, and cannot wait!
 
missangelalexis said:
Captain Mickey is so cute!!

The porthole in your room is a nice touch! And I love how your door came out!

Andy's Room is so well done, I can see why Delilah had a hard time leaving!
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Isn't he?! He's so adorable!!

The porthole was really nice. We decided not to upgrade to the verandah but we didn't want an inside stateroom, so it was the perfect in-between choice for us, and the kids loved it.

It is super cute for the younger kids to go in and play! She seemed really drawn to that area during the open house for sure.

Lesley Wake said:
I didn't realize hooks were banned! Your work-around sounds like a great idea!
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Yes, I think because they are metal and can scrape the paint off the doors taking them on and off. The work-around worked out perfectly and it was totally worth having one of them in the room. It made it so much easier to keep our surfaces free of clutter.

lizzyb said:
Great start! Joining in!
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Thank you for joining!!

amazingact21 said:
Your door decorations turned out great! Love the Mickey heads for each family member. Seeing the creativity of families as you walk past the rooms is one of the best parts.
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Thank you! DH and I had fun picking out different designs. We loved looking at other door decorations as we walked the ship, and I think we have pictures of a few that will be spread throughout the TR.

amazingact21 said:
I hadn't even thought about the whole bathroom situation with a 3 year old in the kids club. That would be a little nerve-wracking, expecting a three year old to find the bathroom and lock the stall door, etc all on her own. Glad they had that preview time to allow you to show DD how to handle it.
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I was SO nervous about it, but she did fine! Only once did she forget where it was, but it was a time DS was in there with her so she asked him to bring her over to them. Who knows if she remembered to lock the door & all that, but she survived. lol

amazingact21 said:
Sounds like there were so many awesome features and activities in the clubs for DS to enjoy. Did it get to the point where he wanted to stay at the clubs all day? I've heard that can happen with the kids.
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Surprisingly, no! Neither of them really wanted to stay all day long. Most of the time we'd ask them if they wanted to go and they'd say no. But every time they went, they did have a great time. So by the end of the week, we didn't feel bad for "making" them go because we knew they were really having a lot of fun.

oopsiDAISY said:
Following along! We took our first cruise in 2014, after going to the parks 5 years in a row. We fell in love with the cruise! We are going back this October, and cannot wait!
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Welcome!!

It's VERY addicting!!! We are doing the parks next year because we haven't been since 2016 and are itching to go back, but I'm really hoping we can do a cruise the following year. An October cruise with the Halloween stuff sounds so fun! I'd love to do that or one of the Merrytime cruises.
 
Day 2 Continued: Saturday March 2nd

As soon as the muster drill was over, it was time to head up to decks 11 & 12 for the Sail Away party! DH had read being on Deck 12 was a little better so you could see everything from above, and we could see when we arrived that there was still some railing space available, so that’s where we went. One of the crew members tapped me on the shoulder while I was walking up the stairs to compliment me on my dress…it was the same red and navy blue stripes that the entertainment crew wears! Lol It was funny and unintentional, but I’ll have to be sure to do that on future cruises from now on!


The Sail Away party was a lot of fun, and definitely got us pumped for this cruise to start! The kids enjoyed seeing all of the characters coming out, and the weather was great because it was overcast so it was perfect for enjoying it without sweating or burning up.

After the party, we decided to jump right into cruise mode and get some pre-dinner ice cream cones!


After our ice cream, we went back to the room to relax and freshen up for dinner. DH and DS wanted to change, and it gave us some time to wash up a bit.


DCL19 01-052 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We had main dining which was at 5:45 pm, and for our first night we were at Royal Court. I had debated many times if we should request a table just the 4 of us, and ultimately decided to just leave it up to chance. When we got down to the dining room, we saw we were at a table for 8.


DCL19 01-053 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​
The other family arrived soon after. They had a daughter just a bit older than DD and a baby girl who was about a year old. It was a bit awkward at first, but overall we enjoyed them throughout the cruise. I think just because of our own awkwardness though on future cruises, I’d probably go ahead and request a table just for us. They were a really wonderful family though, so most nights we had a lot to talk about.

Our serving team was our server Francis from India and our assistant server Vaneza from Colombia. Soon enough they had taken the kids’ orders, and they got their food quickly. DS had eyes bigger than his stomach and asked for both the chicken tenders and the macaroni and cheese, while DD went with the pasta marinara.


DH and I both got the same appetizer.


DCL19 01-056 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Breaded and Deep Fried Brie with an Orange and Cranberry Chutney​

We also went with the same entrée!


DCL19 01-057 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak Roasted filet steak, crushed New Potatoes with Shallots, Buttered Green Beans, Red Wine Jus, and a Béarnaise Sauce on the side.​

We had read online about the Dine & Play offered for second seating where the counselors from the Kids Clubs would come get the kids part of the way into the meal and take them to the club so the parents could enjoy the rest of the meal. However, when we got on board we saw in the Navigator it was actually offered with the main dining as well. So when the kids had finished eating, they saw the counselors walking around the dining room and asked to go, so DH took them to the front of the restaurant to drop them off.

Once the kids were gone, it was time for dessert. Our tablemates were dealing with a crabby baby, so they ended up leaving after the entrees and skipping dessert, so DH and I had that course all to ourselves.

DH wasn’t playing around. He ordered 3 desserts!!


DCL19 01-058 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Grand Marnier Souffle served with Grand Marnier Crème Anglaise


DCL19 01-059 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Duo Chocolate Slice layers of Brownie and Truffle Mousse with a Berry Crème


DCL19 01-060 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Strawberry Shortcake Sundae Strawberries, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, and Shortcake​

I ordered one of the Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes for myself and just had a taste of DH’s other two desserts. They were all delicious!!

After we were done, DH took a couple more photos of the room we were seated in. Royal Court is themed for all of the Disney princesses, and we were in a Princess & the Frog themed room, appropriately enough!

He got some photos of the other princesses as we walked out of the dining room.


DH and I decided to go to the gift shops since we were kid-less and could look a bit without them begging for one of everything!


DCL19 01-066 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

There were some live singers performing in the atrium as we passed through.


DCL19 01-067 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​
We picked out a painting of Castaway Cay we wanted, and when we went to check out, the CM informed us since we have a Disney Visa, we could get 10% off if we spent more than $50, so we looked around again and picked out a shirt I’d had my eye on to get the discount. DH stopped at guest services to register himself for the Castaway Cay 5K. Then we went up to the room to drop off the purchases, and I was ready to shower while DH went to get the kids from the Club. Our turndown service had been done while we were out, and we knew the kids would love it!


The kids came back from the Club SO excited about all of the fun they’d had! It was so cute to listen to them go on and on about all the stuff they had done while we’d been finishing dinner. It was hard to get them to settle down and go to sleep, even though it was already 9 pm and WAY past their regular bedtime.

My overall takeaways from embarkation day was that it was a LOT busier than I had expected. We just jumped from one thing to the next and suddenly it was bedtime! It had seemed to fly by. Maybe as we become more seasoned cruisers we won’t be trying to do it all.

UP NEXT: A Day At Sea
 
Eating with strangers has to be my one complaint about cruises. It's just a little awkward, trying to get to know people while also eating dinner.

I love that your husband ordered three desserts. That's awesome. I was always too self conscious to do that on my cruise, but I wish I had. That souffle looks amazing, too!

All right, curious minds want to know. Is the ice cream on board going to be like the icees at Universal? Was there a tally? (I know if it were my husband and kids there totally would need to be.:rotfl:)

Looking forward to hearing about the 5K experience.


How sweet that the kids were too excited to sleep. Not so fun in the moment, I have no doubt, but looking back I'm sure it was nice to know the trip was starting off on a high note.
 
Sounds like a busy but fun first day! Everything you had at dinner looks tasty! And it's nice that the kids were able to go play a little while you and DH had some alone time!
 
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