This trip was planned super spontaneously. I received an email from DCL on October 8, offering discounted verandah rooms for sailing out of San Diego. I decided to book a long weekend cruise, but the dates didn’t work. There was no way I was flying to FL for a 3 or 4 night cruise (for us, it’s a full day of travel each way and there are no nonstop flights anymore), so I was about to say “oh well” when I noticed a cruise date out of Galveston. I quickly checked and saw I could get a non stop flight to Houston. After checking with my dh, the next thing I knew I was booking the 4 night Very Merrytime Western Caribbean Cruise, leaving from Galveston on December 3. It was a little sneaky of me….dh might have said “no” to a cruise, but he loves Disney. Our stateroom is GTY, so we will be assigned a room a day or so before we cruise. Our cruise fare was $792 plus about $79 for taxes, etc. I normally like to choose a room, but for these savings a short cruise, I’m okay.
My dh and I have been on one previous Disney cruise…..in October 2019, a two night Halloween on the High Seas cruise. We tried twice for a weeklong Mexican Riviera cruise with our kids and my mom, booking April 2020 and April 2021. Both were canceled (obviously). I really wanted to reschedule another cruise with my kids, but they are all young adults starting out their careers, and it’s almost impossible to find a full week we could do something. And they don’t really want to go on a Disney cruise anymore, although they like Disneyland and WDW. They want to go to Atlantis or Costa Rica or some other such place.
I also offered to take my mom, but she is having many back problems and doesn’t feel she can travel right now until that is resolved. It turns out she is having a procedure about 10 days after we get home, so hopefully will be better able to travel in the future. So, it’s just me and dh.
I’ve been on multiple other cruises, going back to 1983, on HAL, Carnival, Princess, RCCL and NCL, in addition to my one Disney cruise. Many of my cruises took place before I got married and on my honeymoon. Then with three kids, school tuition and activities, dh and I didn't cruise again until a few years ago. Before Covid, I took my mom and sister on 2 cruises and then dh and I went on two: Alaska and our Halloween Disney cruise. We actually had three other cruises canceled during Covid (in addition to our Disney cruise cancellations), so we are trying to make up for lost time!
Our plans included flying to Houston on Thursday December 2 and spending the night near Hobby airport. If we had no issues, our flight was expected to land at 3pm. This was a source of anxiety for me. I convinced dh to travel with just carry on luggage, in case we had an issue with our travel. This wasn’t an unfounded fear in my opinion. I have booked about 14 flights for travel since July and every flight was changed, sometimes multiple times and every flight but two were delayed or canceled on the date of departure. So while I may sound like I am a little over concerned, it’s not for lack of real experiences.
I booked two tastings on the ships: a wine tasting and champagne tasting. I really wanted to try mixology or the martini tasting, but these were both booked before we even booked our cruise. In fact, within a week or so after we booked, the wine and champagne tastings were sold out.
I was debating what to do (if anything) in Cozumel, so I kept researching. We have been to Nachi Cocum, but couldn’t decide to go back there or try something new. We are leaning towards Paradise Beach.
With a departure on Thursday December 3, we received our GTY room about a week and a half prior (Monday November 22). We were assigned a deluxe family ocean view stateroom with verandah (category 4). It's especially nice since I just became a travel agent and it gives me the chance to experience a room I would never book (since I would just be booking for dh and I). I don't really have status with Disney (only my second Disney cruise), so I am guessing the ship maybe isn't too crowded. Maybe because we used a Disney VISA card? Otherwise, I have no idea why we'd get such a good room. We are located in the front of the ship, deck 8, with the spa and adult pool above us and rooms below us. I think we hit the jackpot!
Sunday November 28 we received an email stating our online check in was complete. So about 5 days before we sailed. I had heard that some people weren’t getting “complete” notifications until right before they sailed, so this seemed early to me. (I add all these dates because I know people often want to know these details).
Thursday December 2
Our flight to Houston was uneventful, in the best possible way. We left maybe 15 minutes late and arrived with the same delay. I called the hotel and their shuttle came quite quickly.
We stayed at the Springhill Suites near Hobby airport. We chose this Marriott because it had a free airport shuttle. It was quite a nice hotel and even better, had a free shuttle service within 5 miles. We took the shuttle to Ninfa’s and had a wonderful dinner. Because we were there early we got happy hour drinks and the margaritas were excellent. I had one with amaretto and one with a sangria swirl. Their mole sauce was interesting, less sweet and more savory.
Sangria Swirl:
Chicken Mole:
My dh and I have been on one previous Disney cruise…..in October 2019, a two night Halloween on the High Seas cruise. We tried twice for a weeklong Mexican Riviera cruise with our kids and my mom, booking April 2020 and April 2021. Both were canceled (obviously). I really wanted to reschedule another cruise with my kids, but they are all young adults starting out their careers, and it’s almost impossible to find a full week we could do something. And they don’t really want to go on a Disney cruise anymore, although they like Disneyland and WDW. They want to go to Atlantis or Costa Rica or some other such place.
I also offered to take my mom, but she is having many back problems and doesn’t feel she can travel right now until that is resolved. It turns out she is having a procedure about 10 days after we get home, so hopefully will be better able to travel in the future. So, it’s just me and dh.
I’ve been on multiple other cruises, going back to 1983, on HAL, Carnival, Princess, RCCL and NCL, in addition to my one Disney cruise. Many of my cruises took place before I got married and on my honeymoon. Then with three kids, school tuition and activities, dh and I didn't cruise again until a few years ago. Before Covid, I took my mom and sister on 2 cruises and then dh and I went on two: Alaska and our Halloween Disney cruise. We actually had three other cruises canceled during Covid (in addition to our Disney cruise cancellations), so we are trying to make up for lost time!
Our plans included flying to Houston on Thursday December 2 and spending the night near Hobby airport. If we had no issues, our flight was expected to land at 3pm. This was a source of anxiety for me. I convinced dh to travel with just carry on luggage, in case we had an issue with our travel. This wasn’t an unfounded fear in my opinion. I have booked about 14 flights for travel since July and every flight was changed, sometimes multiple times and every flight but two were delayed or canceled on the date of departure. So while I may sound like I am a little over concerned, it’s not for lack of real experiences.
I booked two tastings on the ships: a wine tasting and champagne tasting. I really wanted to try mixology or the martini tasting, but these were both booked before we even booked our cruise. In fact, within a week or so after we booked, the wine and champagne tastings were sold out.
I was debating what to do (if anything) in Cozumel, so I kept researching. We have been to Nachi Cocum, but couldn’t decide to go back there or try something new. We are leaning towards Paradise Beach.
With a departure on Thursday December 3, we received our GTY room about a week and a half prior (Monday November 22). We were assigned a deluxe family ocean view stateroom with verandah (category 4). It's especially nice since I just became a travel agent and it gives me the chance to experience a room I would never book (since I would just be booking for dh and I). I don't really have status with Disney (only my second Disney cruise), so I am guessing the ship maybe isn't too crowded. Maybe because we used a Disney VISA card? Otherwise, I have no idea why we'd get such a good room. We are located in the front of the ship, deck 8, with the spa and adult pool above us and rooms below us. I think we hit the jackpot!
Sunday November 28 we received an email stating our online check in was complete. So about 5 days before we sailed. I had heard that some people weren’t getting “complete” notifications until right before they sailed, so this seemed early to me. (I add all these dates because I know people often want to know these details).
Thursday December 2
Our flight to Houston was uneventful, in the best possible way. We left maybe 15 minutes late and arrived with the same delay. I called the hotel and their shuttle came quite quickly.
We stayed at the Springhill Suites near Hobby airport. We chose this Marriott because it had a free airport shuttle. It was quite a nice hotel and even better, had a free shuttle service within 5 miles. We took the shuttle to Ninfa’s and had a wonderful dinner. Because we were there early we got happy hour drinks and the margaritas were excellent. I had one with amaretto and one with a sangria swirl. Their mole sauce was interesting, less sweet and more savory.
Sangria Swirl:
Chicken Mole:
