On Monday morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the airport to catch the Magical Express to Port Canaveral. We had an early check-in time, which is what was recommended, so we headed over in time to catch the first bus. It was very exciting as we sat on the motor coach and watched Disney the Disney characters “go on a cruise” themselves. It was also interesting to note that there were a lot of couples without children – just like us.
I’ve already talked about getting to the port, the boarding process, and what we did before the ship left port here. To summarize, after we got on the ship, we had lunch at the buffet, sitting where we could see out the window. We then walked around the pool deck to check out what was around there. At 1:30 we were able to go to the stateroom to drop off our carry on items (yes, we had to take them with us to lunch and around the pool deck). We met our stateroom steward, too. Then we explored the ship and when it was time, reported for the muster drill.
After the muster drill, we went back to our stateroom, rather than to the pool deck for the Sail Away Party. We preferred to go out on our balcony and watch in quiet as we left port. We were on the starboard side, so we were able to watch the Disney Cast Members waving as we left. I was surprised at how many people were lined up throughout the port to watch as the ships were leaving. They waved, too. Yes, we waved back! After all, we were excited to actually BE on that ship!
During this time our luggage arrived. We brought them in and unpacked.
We decided not to go to the Broadway Style shows in the evening. Instead, we decided to go see a movie. Classic Disney movies are shown on the giant screen on the pool deck. At night there may be a more current or popular movie shown. Current Disney movies are shown in the theater throughout the day and evening – into the night. We opted for the theater.
While we were watching the movie, the ship went into the open waters. This was when you could start to feel the large swells. My husband never, felt this before. I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t know what to think. I finally whispered to him that we must have gone into the open waters and we were feeling the waves. He was glad to hear that it wasn’t just him feeling the swells. But it wasn’t long before he said he wasn’t feeling well. That’s not what I wanted to hear. He lasted through the movie, then we headed back to our stateroom.
Once there, I told him to go out onto the balcony to see the waves and get some fresh air. After he saw the movement of the ship and water, his brain seemed to understand and he was no longer ill – and didn’t get ill the rest of the trip. I was very happy about that, because I didn’t want to have a seasick husband the whole time.
We then got ready and headed for dinner. Our first night we were assigned to Animator’s Palate for dinner. We meet four of our table mates (two never showed up the whole cruise, and our server told us they were actually on the ship). One of the couples was from Wisconsin, which was exciting to me, since that’s where I was born and grew up. The other two were sisters from Boston. The two sisters and my husband and I really hit it off. We were the last to leave the restaurant. It was good we had the late seating. We talked and talked – every night.
Our server and assistant server were wonderful. They both had a great sense of humor and fit right in with all of us at the table. Our table mates and we enjoyed joking around and they seemed to feel right at home with that. I couldn’t say enough good about them.
By the time we finished dinner, or should I say left the restaurant, it was rather late. We decided to go to our stateroom. We got ready for bed and watched a little TV to settle down. We both slept well that first night.
To be continued…