Trip Report Come Along and Sail the Shimmering Seas!

Wicked Sisters · May 28, 2023

Sorry you had all that illness to go through beforehand but pleased you all recovered ready for this fabulous cruise. Cannot wait to hear about your adventures. Plus I am first here

Tiki Traveler · May 28, 2023

Mickey Mouse Party GIF by Amo Cruzeiro Disney

#2 - What a wonderful family picture from your cruise! Glad your illnesses abated and looking forward to hearing more about cruisin’

littleroo · May 28, 2023

I take bronze!! I can't wait to read all about it! I am glad everyone is healthy!

MickeyCB · May 28, 2023

In and looking forward to following along on your adventures on the high seas!

ajrwdwgirl · May 29, 2023

Looking forward to seeing your cruise!

joshsprincess921 · May 29, 2023

Travel Day
We were flying to Orlando the Friday evening before we were set to board the cruise. That Friday would be Cam's last day of school. He would be missing the last 3 days, but they were done with everything by then and grades had already been turned in. Once we found out that Friday would be Field Day, I gave him the option to go or stay home that day as well, but he said he really wanted to go to Field Day, so I would have to go and check him out early. I spent the day doing some cleaning, laundry, bringing the dogs to the dog sitter, a stop by the bank and the last of our packing.

All packed and ready to go!

Before long, it was time to go get Cam from school. I knew he'd have to take a quick shower before we left for the airport since they were doing a color run for Field Day. This is what he looked like when I picked him up.

Straight to the shower he went! He still had a green scalp for a day or two. :hilarious:

Josh had to work all day. He works about 15 minutes from the New Orleans airport, so my Mom was generous enough to drive Cam and I to the airport and Josh would park the car and meet us there. We got there and checked our bags then found a seat to wait on him. We were there maybe 30 minutes before he arrived.

Josh hadn't eaten all day from being so busy at work, so he grabbed a Nathan's chili dog. I wanted to get some Cafe Du Monde beignets but the line was too long, so just grabbed a couple snacks from the store.

We had to wait a bit for our boarding time, but when that time came nothing was happening. It was about 15 min past boarding time before the lady came on the speaker announcing it was time to line up. While in line some of the crew came and said the pilot was running behind. Finally he walked up with beignets and coffee in hand. It seems as if he waited in the long line at Cafe Du Monde. :joyfull:

We took off 30 minutes late.

As we got closer to Florida, we went through a storm. That was wild seeing the lightening in the clouds, but turbulence ironically wasn't too bad and we even landed ON TIME! Those beignets and coffee must've gave the pilot a little extra push!

I was so happy we had decided to stay the night at the Hyatt Regency in the Orlando Airport because after waiting a long time for our bags and checking in, we were so tired and hungry. The hotel restaurant was still open so we popped in there. The food was edible and filled our bellies.

I took some pictures of the hotel room.

I was really happy about the ceiling fan. I wouldn't have to pull out my travel fans for the night!

This was the view from our room, however, the balcony doors were locked, so you are unable to utilize that.

joshsprincess921 · May 29, 2023

I didn't get any photos of the bathroom, but it was pretty standard. Overall, we were pleased with the room. It was comfortable and quite large. In the early morning hours, you could start to hear the hustle and bustle downstairs, but that was ok, because we were only there for a short visit and up and getting ready early ourselves!

joshsprincess921 · May 29, 2023

Wicked Sisters said:
Sorry you had all that illness to go through beforehand but pleased you all recovered ready for this fabulous cruise. Cannot wait to hear about your adventures. Plus I am first here

Can't wait to share!!

Tiki Traveler said:
#2 - What a wonderful family picture from your cruise! Glad your illnesses abated and looking forward to hearing more about cruisin’

Thank you!

littleroo said:
I take bronze!! I can't wait to read all about it! I am glad everyone is healthy!

MickeyCB said:
In and looking forward to following along on your adventures on the high seas!

ajrwdwgirl said:
Looking forward to seeing your cruise!

Thank you all for joining! I can't wait to share more.

donaldtoo · May 29, 2023

joshsprincess921 said:
Hi everyone!

We just returned from our first Disney Cruise and I can't wait to relive the memories through this trip report.

We sailed on the Disney Fantasy from May 20th - May 27th out of Port Canaveral.

So who is WE??
Myself (Heather), My husband (Josh) and 10 year old son (Cam)

View attachment 719168

We originally had a cruise booked and it was cancelled in March of 2020. I'm sure we all know why! It took awhile, but we were finally ready to try it again.

However, leading up the cruise, I started to wonder if maybe we were cursed and not meant to go on a Disney Cruise. A month or so before the cruise, Josh came down with a virus that caused him to have fever for 10 days and some other symptoms. He had every test under the sun run, but they could not figure out what was going on. Around day 9, he lost feeling on one side of his face. We thought he was having a stroke, so we rushed the ER. It turns out the virus caused him to have Bell's Palsy. Eventually the fevers stopped and after 2 weeks his face was back to normal. Then, Cam and I both got a stomach bug, then right after he got a bad cold. A few days before we were set to leave, I was feeling horrible. After a visit to the walk in clinic, it turned out I had an ear infection. After a shot and a z-pack I was feeling much better 24 hours later! So needless to say, I was stressing a bit. I just prayed that everything would go smoothly and we would be able to relax and enjoy our vacation as planned.

I hope you will all join in on the fun as I tell you all about our first experience on DCL and it just so happened to be during Disney's 25 years of cruising celebration!

Wow, that is just crazy about the fever, and the other illness, to boot…!!!
But, glad everybody fully recovered and everything eventually aligned so y’all could have a wonderful cruise…!!!

We finally did our first DCL cruise last December out of the Port of Galveston on The Magic, with our 3 grown children, SonIL, and 2 young granddaughters, and it was a hoot…(our children and SonIL even surprised us with a Palo 34th wedding anniversary brunch)…!!!!! :inlove:

We had cruised 3 times previously on Carnival, and those were great cruises, as well…!!!

Anyway, following and looking forward to more…!!!

donaldtoo · May 29, 2023

joshsprincess921 said:
Travel Day
We were flying to Orlando the Friday evening before we were set to board the cruise. That Friday would be Cam's last day of school. He would be missing the last 3 days, but they were done with everything by then and grades had already been turned in. Once we found out that Friday would be Field Day, I gave him the option to go or stay home that day as well, but he said he really wanted to go to Field Day, so I would have to go and check him out early. I spent the day doing some cleaning, laundry, bringing the dogs to the dog sitter, a stop by the bank and the last of our packing.

All packed and ready to go!
View attachment 719375

Before long, it was time to go get Cam from school. I knew he'd have to take a quick shower before we left for the airport since they were doing a color run for Field Day. This is what he looked like when I picked him up.

View attachment 719376

Straight to the shower he went! He still had a green scalp for a day or two.

Josh had to work all day. He works about 15 minutes from the New Orleans airport, so my Mom was generous enough to drive Cam and I to the airport and Josh would park the car and meet us there. We got there and checked our bags then found a seat to wait on him. We were there maybe 30 minutes before he arrived.

View attachment 719377
View attachment 719378

Josh hadn't eaten all day from being so busy at work, so he grabbed a Nathan's chili dog. I wanted to get some Cafe Du Monde beignets but the line was too long, so just grabbed a couple snacks from the store.

We had to wait a bit for our boarding time, but when that time came nothing was happening. It was about 15 min past boarding time before the lady came on the speaker announcing it was time to line up. While in line some of the crew came and said the pilot was running behind. Finally he walked up with beignets and coffee in hand. It seems as if he waited in the long line at Cafe Du Monde.
We took off 30 minutes late.

View attachment 719379

View attachment 719380

As we got closer to Florida, we went through a storm. That was wild seeing the lightening in the clouds, but turbulence ironically wasn't too bad and we even landed ON TIME! Those beignets and coffee must've gave the pilot a little extra push!

I was so happy we had decided to stay the night at the Hyatt Regency in the Orlando Airport because after waiting a long time for our bags and checking in, we were so tired and hungry. The hotel restaurant was still open so we popped in there. The food was edible and filled our bellies.

I took some pictures of the hotel room.

View attachment 719381

I was really happy about the ceiling fan. I wouldn't have to pull out my travel fans for the night!

View attachment 719382

This was the view from our room, however, the balcony doors were locked, so you are unable to utilize that.

View attachment 719383

View attachment 719384

The last time we were at Cafe Du Monde was in Sept. of 2015, when our youngest DD wanted to spend the weekend of her 21st birthday in NOLA…!!!

Delicious beignets, no doubt…!!!!! :hungry:

I’ll just never forget there was a young family at a table near us with a little girl, and there was a lot of powdered sugar that went uneaten…!!!!! :hilarious:

Tiki Traveler · May 29, 2023

joshsprincess921 said:
View attachment 719388

View attachment 719389

I didn't get any photos of the bathroom, but it was pretty standard. Overall, we were pleased with the room. It was comfortable and quite large. In the early morning hours, you could start to hear the hustle and bustle downstairs, but that was ok, because we were only there for a short visit and up and getting ready early ourselves!

Thank you for including the airport hotel in your report. It’s good to know what it’s like in case we ever have to stay there too.

joshsprincess921 · May 30, 2023

donaldtoo said:
Wow, that is just crazy about the fever, and the other illness, to boot…!!!
But, glad everybody fully recovered and everything eventually aligned so y’all could have a wonderful cruise…!!!
We finally did our first DCL cruise last December out of the Port of Galveston on The Magic, with our 3 grown children, SonIL, and 2 young granddaughters, and it was a hoot…(our children and SonIL even surprised us with a Palo 34th wedding anniversary brunch)…!!!!!
We had cruised 3 times previously on Carnival, and those were great cruises, as well…!!!

Anyway, following and looking forward to more…!!!

It was certainly a stressful time, but glad it turned out to be nothing serious.

This was only my 2nd cruise with the first one being Carnival out of New Orleans. I had a great time, but the organization at the Port was horrendous. Port Canaveral was a breath of fresh air!

Thanks for following!

joshsprincess921 · May 30, 2023

donaldtoo said:
The last time we were at Cafe Du Monde was in Sept. of 2015, when our youngest DD wanted to spend the weekend of her 21st birthday in NOLA…!!!
Delicious beignets, no doubt…!!!!!
I’ll just never forget there was a young family at a table near us with a little girl, and there was a lot of powdered sugar that went uneaten…!!!!!

Never wear dark colors while eating beignets! :joyfull:

They are readily available where I live so we hardly ever have them, but there is a place called The Cajun Village and Coffee House. Their beignets are my favorite and they have some fun shops to go in. We usually go around Christmas time before we go view the bonfires on the levee. They filmed a Hallmark movie there last year!

joshsprincess921 · May 30, 2023

Tiki Traveler said:
Thank you for including the airport hotel in your report. It’s good to know what it’s like in case we ever have to stay there too.

Sure! It was a comfortable room for the night.

belledream · May 30, 2023

Oh my goodness! What fun!! I can wait to read. This is totally going to be good for my DCL pining…

joshsprincess921 · May 30, 2023

belledream said:
Oh my goodness! What fun!! I can wait to read. This is totally going to be good for my DCL pining…

I thought of you when I started the report because after just finishing yours I remembered you saying how you really wanted to do a cruise!

joshsprincess921 · May 30, 2023

Day 1 - Boarding Day
What turned out to be an everyday occurrence on this trip, I was up way before my family, so I went ahead and made my way through the dark room, dragging a suitcase with me to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Now I am very much a Type A plan ahead for everything kind of person. I had lists made for each one of us and began packing well before the trip, but some how I always seem to forget at least one thing. I started putting on my face and realized I hadn't packed my liquid foundation and my bronzer powder had broken into a zillion pieces. Thank goodness it actually stayed in the container and wasn't all over my makeup bag. I made do and finished getting ready before waking up the guys. Once we were ready and packed up the few things we had taken out, we put our cruise luggage tags on and made our way down to the rental car area. This was our first time renting a car. We rented through Budget and it was as breeze and we even got a free upgrade to an SUV.

We went back and forth on what kind of transportation we wanted to use to get to Port. We decided we wanted to be on our own time and get down there early, so in the end we went with the rental car and it worked out perfectly for us. Price wise, it was a little more than Disney transportation, but cheaper than private car transfer. It was a really nice, easy ride from MCO to Port Canaveral. We stopped at a place called Southern Charm Cafe to have breakfast It was actually right next door to the Budget rental place where we would be returning our car. It really was a cute, charming place. Lots of people had the same idea as us, so we had about a 20 minute wait before we were seated. It felt like forever before we got our food and even to get our ticket at the end. We were thankful that we had come early and had the extra time. But the food was delicious despite the long waits.

Cam was even able to order a Mickey Pancake!

No pictures of our food because by the time I got it I was starving, haha! Josh ordered blueberry pancakes and I ordered regular pancakes. Had I known they were as big as my head I would have ordered one, but I got two and was only able to eat one. After spending quite a bit of time at Southern Charm, we still had a little bit of time left, so I requested a stop at the CVS to pick up a new foundation. We did that quickly and arrived to the Budget place. Again, this was so smooth. We dropped off the key, they loaded our bags in the shuttle and were soon off to the port. We had a really nice guy driving us and chatted with him as we went on our way.

It was raining a little, but nothing major. There was our ride for the week!

I mentioned this in a comment above, but I've only cruised one other time (Carnival) and that was out of New Orleans. When I tell you the boarding process was horrific, I am not exaggerating. We were hoping this would be a better experience for us. We were in Boarding Group 8 - 11:45 to 12:00 so we were prepared to drop our bags and wait a bit. Once we arrived, the baggage porters took our luggage and pointed us in the right direction. We walked up and Disney had different signs up with the different boarding times which started with 11:00 - 11:15 and so on. We found our sign and got in line there. Shortly after a castmember walked up to us, picked us out of the line and told us she was moving us to the 11:00 boarding time sign. Literally a minute later we were walking into the Port and checking in. It was all so easy. He checked our passports and gave Cam his kids club band and off we went through security and then found our way to the waiting area and waited for our boarding group to be called. Sooooo smooth!! Everything was off to a great start!!!

So not sure if you can see that spot low on Josh's shirt, but on the drive over, he was saying his shorts felt sticky then he started getting these spots show up on his shirt. I had packed our clothes for this day separately so we didn't have to unpack our big luggage and had put Cam's liquid Zyrtec in the same bag. Even having it in a ziploc, we later found out it had leaked and that is what got on his clothes. OOPS!! I was secretly happy it hadn't got on mine.

I know I'm bad, ha!

We found a seat and watched this little girl, probably about 7 or 8, throwing herself on the floor and yelling at her parents that she was not going to do what they told her while the Mom repeated very softly and gently that this was not ok. Props to her because while obviously I didn't know anything about that situation, I would have never been able to keep my cool like that. But then again, I'm very blessed that Cam has always been a well behaved boy.

It didn't take long at all before our boarding group was called. We were SO excited. Josh made fun of me because everyone had their boarding passes up on their phones, but I went old school and printed ours out. He said I'm not up with the current times. Hey you never can trust technology in my opinion and we all know how Disney technology is!

It was time!!

I spot another lady who was old school like me in this picture!

I thought it was cute that they were both walking in the same with their hands in their pockets. Cam might look like me, but he definitely has a lot of his Dad's mannerisms.

Hey Cam! Are you excited?

Almost there!

Josh didn't know about them announcing your name as you walk on the ship, so he thought that was cool.

I was mesmerized and soaking it all in, so this was the only picture I got as we walked in! There were lots of times during this trip where I didn't think to even take pictures because I was living in the moment, but still have many, many to share.

It sounds silly, but of all the years I've dreamed of going on a Disney Cruise, I couldn't wait to board and go straight to Cabanas. I've literally dreamed and waited for this moment for so long. So off we went to make my silly dreams come true. The hustle and bustle of Cabanas and the excitement everyone had to finally be on the ship was everything I thought it would be and more! Again, no pictures of the food, but it was actually really tasty. Especially the crab legs! I also tried lamb for the first time and it was much better than I expected also. We ordered the drink of the day from the waiter walking around and were able to keep the glasses as a souvenir.

This was very good. I don't usually do drinks like this because those premix type drinks are too sweet for me, but this was like fresh fruit juices. It was delicious!