Westbound Panama Canal Cruise

We have taken Disney transportation to the ship in the past, typically when we are in areas we’ve not been to before (i.e. London, New Orleans and now Galveston). Disney is typically a well oiled machine and things run so smoothly (TYPICALLY, being the key word)! There were two transportation options available for cruising out of Galveston, one being from the Marriott hotel we were staying at, the other from the airport right nearby. Well, Disney fell short on this one. There were I believe over 300, maybe over 400 people at the hotel alone. They had ONE person checking in people that were concierge or pearl castaway cay members (those that have cruised 25 times already with DCL) and ONE person checking in everyone else. When the one gal was done, she did start to help the other but this was chaos. People waiting in line for more than an hour to just ‘check in’ for the bus, not actually get on the bus. After checking in, you are giving a boarding character, not a bus number. Some knew ...

Here we go again!!! So we booked this cruise last year as we absolutely loved this itinerary when we did it in 2022. Who wouldn't love to spend 14 nights on a Disney cruise ship!!!?? The price per night is so much more affordable on these longer cruises that it just 'makes sense' to do them! (you see that 'Disney' logic there, lol)! I am one who doesn't like to 'wait' to see if airfare will come down since it so rarely does, so we booked our flights last August. Of course come November, American did away with our 'non-stop' flight from Philly to Houston, so we were rebooked on a connecting flight for that same day, getting us into Houston the afternoon before the cruise. Well, March of 2026 hit and TSA had a shut down, airports were so crowded for people waiting to get through security that many were missing their flights. When this went on for a bit, we realized we needed to do something, fly in a day earlier. So, first things first, before I ch...