Day One ~ Getting on the ship!

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 what their bus number was but when Dale checked us in, she didn’t want to share that info. We were told to be down in the lobby by 10am. 

While Dale waiting in this very long line to check us in, I went up to our room to make sure our luggage was getting picked up. I ran into one of the bell services guys and asked but he was doing two other floors. After getting off the elevator I ran into another who was doing our floor. I wanted to make sure that our bags were actually getting on the truck to the port. The gentleman collecting the bags had his list, I asked to make sure we were on that list and lo and behold our room was crossed out!!! He said ‘we called and said we didn’t need pick up’!!! NOT!!! So he was kind enough to make sure our bags were picked up and put on the truck. I of course tipped him for taking care of our luggage and my large box of 5K medals.

After we got checked in, we grabbed a quick bite and coffee and went to the room. We made our way to the lobby just before 10am and were met with EVERYONE else who were taking busses to the port. It took a little bit before they started to call characters to load the busses. While waiting, I realized I had forgotten to put in my DCL earrings that were gifted to me on our Hawaii cruise last fall, so here I am standing in the crowded lobby, putting in my earrings, lol!! Things moved very slowly.  We didn’t actually get on a bus and on our way until 11:15am and to the port after 12:30. We finally got on board the ship just before 1:30.

Instead of heading right to lunch, we stopped at the Soul Cat lounge to meet up with our friends where we started ‘celebrating’ our vacation! The fun of cruising with friends!!! We actually skipped lunch and grabbed a bite after dropping our things off to our cabin. Never have we been heading to our cabin that late but it was nice to not stand around and wait for your cabin to be ready. 

We got to our cabin and checked out our oceanview room. This was our first time booking this type of cabin, actually we did book this the last time we were on the WBPC (Westbound Panama Canal cruise), but due to it being just towards the 'end of Covid' we were upgraded to a verandah (balcony) for free. The second deck at that time was the 'quarantine' deck. Thankfully this time, it was much easier. We loved having the daylight from the oceanview. We survived without the balcony this trip and saved a ton by doing that. 

Dale was so kind to send me flowers, since it was Easter and we weren't home for him to give me flowers he had ones delivered to our cabin. They were beautiful. Unfortunately, they didn't last the full two weeks, but we truly enjoyed them. We also received our Platinum Castaway Club member gifts, which were a tote bag, wet dry bag (great for putting wet bathing suits in) and a beach towel. This time the platinum lanyards were black (since the last two times they looked just like the silver which was disappointing since we waited so long to be platinum). 

After checking out our cabin it was time for the muster drill (emergency drill). DCL (Disney Cruise Line) is one of the few that still do an IN person drill. EVERYONE on the ship must show up. Each person and cabin are accounted for before they will start. They do review the instructions on the tv, but truly in case of an emergency they want you to know what to do.

After the drill, I spent time unpacking until it was time to go to dinner. We were still getting the hang of early dining as we had always done late dining. Our last cruise we did do early and actually really enjoyed eating at a more ‘normal’ time. So after putting all our things away, we made our way to Animator’s Palate for our first dinner on the ship. We were seated with our friends. We met our service team, who were amazing and took such great care of us the entire two weeks.

When we went to the atrium to get photos, we were pleasantly surprised to see these amazing chocolate Easter decorations. Totally blew me away. You could smell the chocolate.

After dinner, we stopped to get our photos, as we so often have just ‘selfies’ so I always make Dale get photos on the cruise. Some are fun, some are the same pose. But overall, we end up with some photos we truly cherish, so in the end, it is so worth it to me.

When we made our way back to our room, we were greeted with our first towel animal and our ‘puggies’ who join us on vacation. They got their own Mickey name tags also (look closely).