I guess I was just too excited for our cruise to begin, as I was wide awake by 8:45 AM (15 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off!). I dragged Steve out of bed and we walked the two blocks to the beach, where we went for a run! Steve doesn't run and I do (every other day), but he kept up quite nicely and it was so great to have the smell and sound and sights of the beach while I was running. Just a great change of pace
Upon check-in the night before, we had discovered that our plans to sleep in and meander over to the port around noon or so were foiled. The Comfort Inn only sends one shuttle to the port, and it leaves at 11 AM
So after showering and moving the car to their long term parking lot, we boarded the van and were
finally on our way to board the cruise!
The Disney Wonder was the shuttle's first stop, which meant we arrived at about 11:20 AM, and as we gathered our things and headed into the terminal I snapped a couple pictures. They came out okay, I guess...I just wish there hadn't been so much construction blocking our views!
There was no line to get through security, and when we got to the top of the escalator we saw our friends Jonathan and Jen right away! They were in line to get pictures with Mickey. We decided to check in for the cruise, and again, no wait at all! This is by far the smoothest boarding process I have ever experienced, and this was my fourth cruise and fourth cruise
line.
After we got our boarding pass (group 10, eh) we reunited with Jonathan and Jen so that the four of us could get a picture with Captain Mickey!
That took up a little bit of time, but we still ended up hanging out for maybe 20-30 minutes before they finally called group 10 to board. We walked right up and through the Mickey-shaped entrance, and then...we were finally on the boat!
As we made our way to lunch, we were distracted by the cast members selling beer mugs. Steve and I went ahead and purchased them (I'm a beer girl myself), but in the end...I just don't think they were worth it. (a) because we simply didn't need any more souvenir beer mugs, and especially didn't need two of the
same souvenir beer mugs, and (b) because we didn't really get our money's worth on the 3-day cruise. Had this been a week-long cruise, I absolutely would have drank enough beer to justify the $18 or $19 cost of the mug, since the refills are bigger and cheaper than buying a bottled beer...but on such a short cruise, we barely broke even on the cost. Ah well, lesson learned, and at least we got a silly picture of Steve, who was obviously more than ready for the first drink of the cruise...
However, I convinced him that we didn't want that drink to be beer! Thankfully Disney sure does know how to cater to adults as well as children, because within moments we encountered a server with a tray of rum runners. We bought a round and made our way to the buffet. I was honestly surprised at the fact that the selection and quality of everything was SO good! I've been on cruises in the past that had less-than stellar buffets
We sat outside and enjoyed our food and our first drinks...
...and then left to explore the ship! First stop was the spa. Steve and I had heard about the Rainforest Room passes from a close friend of mine. $42 per person later, and they were ours. I definitely think that, like all spa services on this and every other cruise, these passes were overpriced...but we definitely enjoyed the steam rooms and aromatherapy showers! They even convinced us to take advantage of the $20 off first day promo and book a couples cabana massage for
Castaway Cay...and I'll get into that later
We hung out on the adult deck for the next twenty minutes or so, until our rooms were ready--at one point there was a woman there trying to get her kids in the pool, but a cast member immediately approached her and politely asked that she make her way to the family pool. Nice to know firsthand that they really do take the adults-only area seriously!
And then our rooms were ready! Steve and I headed down to deck 2 and were surprised and pleased to see 2 of our 3 checked bags waiting outside our door. We lugged everything inside and I breathed a sigh of relief at the size of the room. Having never stayed in an inside stateroom before, I had concerns about the size...but this room was bigger than my oceanview on Monarch of the Seas and about the same size as my oceanview on the Carnival Valor and my balcony on the Princess Sapphire!
We did some quick unpacking and decided to make our way back outside for more drinks and fun. First things first, though--hang that FE outside the door!
The next couple of hours were spent relaxing outside, having a few drinks, and for me--checking out the pizza situation. I'm somewhat of a pizza nut! Sadly...I was disappointed by the
Disney cruise pizza. It was kind of...gummy and just not very good. I've honestly had better food at the quick serve places on Carnival cruise line
When the warning whistle blew for the muster, we all headed back to the room to gather our life jackets and go to the theater. The muster was quick and painless...for whatever reason, I can't remember the muster on my Princess Alaska cruise, but my two Caribbean cruises had their musters outside and we had to stand around in the summer heat for about 30 minutes. This muster lasted maybe 15 minutes at most and was at least in the air conditioned comfort of the theater!
Obligatory look-how-silly-we-are-in-our-life-jackets picture:
As soon as the muster was over, it was time for--you guessed it--more drinks!!! Steve was basically carrying a bar around in his backpack, but on that first day we kept forgetting to grab those trusty
Disney Cruise Line drink cups we had purchased first thing (the ones with the rum runners, not the beer mugs). Which meant that he ended up buying another drink, this time a frozen Strawberry Daiquiri/Pina Colada mix of deliciousness! (I drank most of that one
)
The sailaway party was pretty fun, but we didn't stay for the whole thing...it was a bit stifling in the sun and it got really crowded after a while. We ended up going back to the adult area and were relaxing in the shade when the ship blew those five sweet notes of "When you wish upon a star"...and began making her way out to the open sea!
To be continued...