Let me give you a little bit of a background about our stateroom. I usually am very picky about what room we have, whether it’s port side or starboard, forward or aft, which deck, etc. etc. etc. however, for this particular cruise, there was a special offer at a nicely discounted rate where you booked either an inside, ocean view, or verandah category, and Disney puts you in whatever room they choose for you, but within the category you paid for. So I booked the verandah category and hoped for the best. I normally like to be on the starboard side mainly because the ship usually backs in to Castaway Cay and the view from that side is spectacular! I had my fingers crossed! Imagine my pleasant surprise and shock at our room. It was HUGE, especially by cruise ship standards. I mean HUGE! In the picture of me sitting on the couch, there is actually a pull down bunk bed right above where I’m sitting that is for kids. Way cool!
And the verandah was ridiculous!!! I could have done cartwheels out there!
Any how, we were starboard aft on deck 8. I loved it! We quickly unpacked and hung up our “fish extender”. A fish extender is kind of like a secret Santa that we do on every cruise. It’s basically a stocking, we bring small gifts from home and fill up other cruisers’ fish extenders and they do the same. So every time we come back to our rooms there’s always a little surprise waiting for us. It makes the trip that much more fun. We got a ton of gifts from chocolates, to calendars, to picture frames, homemade magnets, Disney tattoos, all sorts of things! And why are they called fish extenders? Well, these things hang from a fish….usually. The new ships have fish on the port side, and seahorses on the starboard side. So ours is technically a seahorse extender! The fish are actually little hooks with a clip where cast members leave notes and mail for us (and the bill at the end of the cruise, doh!). Oh 8682, how I miss you!
The Disney Vacation Club welcome reception was at 2pm so we head down to the D Lounge. They always give out gifts of some sort to members so we always go. There was also a drawing for $200 in onboard credit, but we didn’t win. We sat down with a glass of sparkling cider, (skipped the champaign for now) and listened to our guide talk about Aulani, Disney’s latest vacation club in Hawaii. We weren’t adding more points this time so we just chilled, got our gifts, and left. We got DVC hats and a nice folio.
By this time it was almost time to do the muster drill. Every passenger must attend these, but we no longer have to wear our life vests to them. However, we need to bring our room keys so they can scan for our attendance. I put my hand in my shorts pocket and they were empty! What?! I’d only been on the ship for a couple of hours and I had already lost my room keys?! I was so embarrassed. I had to go to guest services and have another one made. We were almost late to the drill. The drill was uneventful and probably took about 20 minutes. Afterwards we back tracked to the D Lounge and low and behold, my card was wedged in between the couch cushion I was sitting on! I felt like a fool! Those cards are your everything on the ship…room key, ID to embark and disembark, and most importantly they are for ship charges! After that episode I put my card on a lanyard, which I normally do but just hadn’t gotten to it yet on this cruise.
After that fiasco we headed up to the top deck for the sail away party at 5. It’s great to watch the show, the music, characters, and the dancing as the ship starts sailing away from the port and the horn blasts “When you wish upon a star” and “A dream is a wish your heart makes”. Everyone is happy and excited. The energy is amazing.
We love sailing out of this port because there is always a ton of people on shore waving at the huge ships going by. I always feel a little guilty that they are stuck on land and I’m going out to sea, but hey, I’ve worked hard and saved up for this for a long time! I wave back, and I’m officially in vacation mode.
Next up: The Golden Mickeys awards show and….dinner!
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