Our 6-day cruise on the Disney Fantasy started January 2nd. Before the cruise my husband and I spent a few days in Disney World celebrating New Year's Eve in Epcot. As much fun as that was, I’m going to skip that part of the trip and focus on our adventures aboard the Disney Fantasy. Just a bit of background: This was my 14th Disney cruise, 2nd Disney pandemic cruise, and 30th cruise overall. So I’ve been on my fair share of cruises. I blame my parents, who also joined us on the cruise, for giving me the Disney/ cruise/ travel bug early on in life.
So let’s start off on Day 1: Port Canaveral.
We boarded the motor coach for the port around 9:20 in the morning and before we knew it our home for the next 6 nights was in site.
All in all, the ride went by pretty quickly except for one large family of 12+ on board who took their masks off as soon as the bus departed. I mean I get it, no one wants to wear masks but those were the rules. Anyway, getting off the bus we were ushered to the makeshift testing village. The whole process was orderly, we were in a line, took our tests with the representative, then were directed to a sitting area to wait for our results. By this point we had already seen a few families get the dreaded secondary screening message which was code for someone in the party tested positive. So my anxiety was already heightened. After which felt like the longest 45 minutes of my life, we got the “Clear to Sail” as did a bunch of other people in the tent at the same time. Never have I felt a sense of relief and we were on our way to check
Off the bus and onto testing...
Leaving testing "Clear to Sail" in hand!
Unfortunately, we did see the family of 12+ from the bus get the dreaded message and we never saw them again. So it was clear just in the short time, a ton of people were not going to be making the ship that day.
The process to check in has been completely simplified thanks to the online check in. Rather than checking in upstairs, you check in prior to security. And it is much simpler than previously. All they do now is scan your port arrival bar code and take a picture of your passports. Then it is through security and up to the waiting area, which at this time had hardly anyone waiting. Before we even had a chance to sit down and wait for our boarding number, a lovely cast member asked us if we wanted to go ahead and board. From testing through check in, we were on board in under an hour!
Rather than the sail away party, they now do a short show in the lobby welcoming you aboard. I really enjoyed the quick show. It doesn’t replace the sail away party but it was a nice change of pace. One difference we already picked up on by this point from our previous covid Disney cruise was with pictures. In September, we could briefly take our masks off for the professional photographers but not anymore while inside. Any pictures they take inside the ship, you have to be wearing a mask which kind of stunk but we completely understand.
Another great improvement to the cruise experience is the updated muster drill. Once you leave the welcome aboard show, you now find your muster station and then take a picture of it in the DCL navigator app. So much better than the old way of having to fight your way through a crowd when getting to and leaving your muster station.
From there, it was time for lunch ...
So let’s start off on Day 1: Port Canaveral.
We boarded the motor coach for the port around 9:20 in the morning and before we knew it our home for the next 6 nights was in site.
All in all, the ride went by pretty quickly except for one large family of 12+ on board who took their masks off as soon as the bus departed. I mean I get it, no one wants to wear masks but those were the rules. Anyway, getting off the bus we were ushered to the makeshift testing village. The whole process was orderly, we were in a line, took our tests with the representative, then were directed to a sitting area to wait for our results. By this point we had already seen a few families get the dreaded secondary screening message which was code for someone in the party tested positive. So my anxiety was already heightened. After which felt like the longest 45 minutes of my life, we got the “Clear to Sail” as did a bunch of other people in the tent at the same time. Never have I felt a sense of relief and we were on our way to check
Off the bus and onto testing...
Leaving testing "Clear to Sail" in hand!
Unfortunately, we did see the family of 12+ from the bus get the dreaded message and we never saw them again. So it was clear just in the short time, a ton of people were not going to be making the ship that day.
The process to check in has been completely simplified thanks to the online check in. Rather than checking in upstairs, you check in prior to security. And it is much simpler than previously. All they do now is scan your port arrival bar code and take a picture of your passports. Then it is through security and up to the waiting area, which at this time had hardly anyone waiting. Before we even had a chance to sit down and wait for our boarding number, a lovely cast member asked us if we wanted to go ahead and board. From testing through check in, we were on board in under an hour!
Rather than the sail away party, they now do a short show in the lobby welcoming you aboard. I really enjoyed the quick show. It doesn’t replace the sail away party but it was a nice change of pace. One difference we already picked up on by this point from our previous covid Disney cruise was with pictures. In September, we could briefly take our masks off for the professional photographers but not anymore while inside. Any pictures they take inside the ship, you have to be wearing a mask which kind of stunk but we completely understand.
Another great improvement to the cruise experience is the updated muster drill. Once you leave the welcome aboard show, you now find your muster station and then take a picture of it in the DCL navigator app. So much better than the old way of having to fight your way through a crowd when getting to and leaving your muster station.
From there, it was time for lunch ...
