We were picked family of the day !!!

[castaway3]

We arrived at the port later than usual for us. This was our 6th Disney cruise and we had went to Mickey's not so scary the night before to get good and tired. We are locals and didn't get home until almost 2:00 am. We got to the port at 11:00 and received boarding pass 13 !!! We have never gotten anything over a 5. Oh well, that is what we get for running late. We got up to the next person to be called to a window to check in and the lady said you can go down to number 6 but I said that is not for Castaway Club Members and number 15 is just standing there waiting for something to do. She said Fine go there. We proceeded to do our check in when I noticed that a cast member was standing beside us. I look up and read her name and said HI Heather, she introduced herself and said congratulations you have been chosen family of the day..wow we were surprised. She said give me your key to the world cards and follow me..We were shocked..she then asked if we needed to get our pager for the kids club for our son. Yes, we did..the line was soooo long she said don't worry you get to go the front of the line..wow really??? she then walked us up introduced us and we received our pager and our son got his bracelet. Then she said come sit right down here..in the roped off area just for concierce people..WOW COOL..then she said hang on I will be right back and then said who is your favorite character and we all said Mickey Mouse..so once again we followed her and she took us to the front of the line with Mickey Mouse and then Goofy came out. We were the only ones to pose with Mickey and Goofy and then Mickey left ..Mind you we were getting some looks from other people lol probably thinking who are THESE people?? then she said have a seat and they gave us a nice certificate for the moment and then she took us to the front of the line for our pictures that they now do on the ship..then she tells us that we will be the first people on the ship..WOW COOL..so in about 10 minutes she tell us ok, time to board...we get to the huge ears and she says turn around, and we face 2000 people waiting to board, a litte more than intimadating..they introduce us over the loud speaker and they all clap and in we go..it was such a great experience and totally shocking and what a wonderful way to start vacation.

I don't know how we were picked. She says it is random and comes up a certain time at a certain window.

 

[OurOhana]

Congratulations! I hope you had a great trip.

 

[Stitchnut]

How fun. That is the kind of thing that makes Disney stand out. We took our first cruise in July and got several surprises along the way. One being a stretch limo instead of a sedan to the port and a room upgrade. It sounds like you have some special memories.

 

[ua1992]

Wow -- what a great experience and a great bon voyage gift.

 

[KaM mom]

What a fantastic memory. Looking back at all those waiting people, knowing there is no wait for your family.

You mentioned in your post that you were lead to the front of the line to check in and get your pager for the Kids clubs. Am I assuming correctly that there is a check in window in port that you can do this at? I have been thinking that we has to rush to the clubs once we were on board.

First time DCL cruiser, Please advise

DH Jim

 

[FLPrincessMom]

They have a check-in for the kids club in the terminal. It's great to do if you are there early. But on our cruise in May they couldn't get the computers to "switch over" from the last cruise so there were really long lines and all check-ins had to be done on the ship.

 

[Baseball-Mom]

Due to airline delays we were the LAST family on the ship in February. Everyone at check in at the terminal was waiting for us.As soon as we were done everyone left. The photographer that takes your picture coming on to the ship was even gone. We did make arrangements to have the embarkation background in one of our pictures later in the week. Couldn't come home without that picture to put with all the others.
Wouldn't it be great if we were chosen to be first this cruise? First and last on board.

Mary