Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 3 - Boarding the Disney Fantasy

[Scruffette]

Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 3

Index

Saturday 1st September

Boarding the Disney Fantasy

It’s embarkation day! (To be said in the voice of Anna from Frozen when she says ‘it’s coronation day’)



I woke up to a really strange noise that I couldn’t place. I then realised that Ollie was sat next to me in bed eat a doughnut. Standard 6.30am activity! He’d been up for a few hours and was still struggling with jet lag a bit.

We got up at 6.30am to get ready and pack up our stuff. Breakfast was cheesecake from the cheesecake factory and cinnamon buns from Walmart. We had a microwave in our room so heated the buns up.

The cheesecake hadn’t fared too badly being transported.



We had the Weather Channel on whilst getting ready. Must’ve been a slow news day….



We packed the car and drove round to reception to check out, which was a nice quick process.

Off to the cruise terminal! We put the dollar car rental near Cape Canaveral into the sat nav and started our journey.

En route we passed 3 tolls and went through in the sun pass lane. We assumed this had all worked correctly, we had no reason not to. We checked our account when we were back from the cruise and had wifi, and it looked like two tolls had gone through. We assumed that there had only been two tolls in the end. We cancelled the account and the remaining balance was refunded. However, we did screenshot the account information just in case.

Jumping ahead… when we got home, we received a fine from dollar saying we hadn’t paid for a toll. We emailed them to dispute this, sending evidence of a sun pass payment. A few days later we received another letter about another toll on that route!

Eventually, they let us off the fine as they had evidence of one of the tolls going through on our sun pass transponder. The toll that worked was the middle of the 3 and it’s not like we would have gone through one toll without it, attached it for the second and taken it off again for the third!

However, they had already taken the fine money from Ollie’s credit card used to pay for the car hire originally. Although this was refunded, we did occur some foreign transaction fees.

I do find it a bit odd that two tolls didn’t work, but one did. The sceptical part of me thinks that this is dollar trying to get extra money off tourist. Probably just me being untrusting!

Anyway, back to our road trip. We were both feeling a lot more confident and even put on some tunes. We found a station playing noughties pop bangers and enjoyed this tune.



I enjoyed this road name…



This beauty soon came into view!



We stopped off at astronaut boulevard (near the port, but you probably guessed that from the name) for fuel at Racetrck. This was our first experience of using an American gas station. You had to pre pay for fuel, and we couldn’t get the card to work as you needed to enter a zip code.

We headed into the shop there to ask for help. The guy behind the counter said we could pre-pay in cash, which was easier. We asked him how much a quarter of a tank would be approximately, but he said he no idea. Now, if I expect anyone to know the approximate price of fuel, it would be someone working at a gas station!

A woman in the queue took pity on us and said it would be no more than $20. We handed him the cash and went to fill up. It only took $14 in the end – love that American fuel is cheaper. We got a receipt, as this was needed for the car hire return (although they didn’t look at it in the end).

We did have a quick browse in the shop and I was impressed you could get an extra large slushy in any flavour for $1. If we weren’t heading to the port I would have been all over that!

We drove to Dollar to return the car. It was a very small centre, considering it was close to a port. We did remember to remove our toll tag before handing it in – didn’t want to be charged for any one else’s journey!

The attendant here was just as miserable as the lady we picked the car up from. He didn’t even look at the car when we gave it back and it got given to someone else about 5 minutes later. A quick turn around here!

We just missed a shuttle to the port, but he said the next one would be about 20 minutes. It was more like 30 minutes to arrive, and 35 minutes by the time it left, which was a pain. I was amused that there was a lady waiting who had no idea which cruise she was getting on!

The transfer driver was friendly enough. However, most of the shuttle, which was full, were not getting on the Disney cruise and weren’t too complimentary of Disney cruises. Yes they’re expensive, but for just 2 of us in peak hurricane season it’s not too bad!

It was 5 minutes to the port and we were the first drop off. Our port arrival time was 10.30am-10.45am (we got up at 5am 90 days before to get that first slot). However, we were just after our slot and I was worried that this would mean we had a late boarding group. After getting boarding group 3 last cruise we had been spoiled!

Security was a lot tighter than last time we cruised in 2015, which wasn’t surprising. I had a bottle of water and was allowed to take this through as long as it was sealed.

After security we walked straight through the return cruiser line to check in. We signed to say we were healthy and had our security photo taken. We were then handed our boarding group – group 2! I was so happy with this. I love having an early boarding group, as it means you can have a relaxed couple of hours on board and aren’t rushing to get everything done before the lifeboat drill.


Do we like the not so subtle suitcase ribbon?



Once checked in we took a look at the ship model and found some seats. Mickey and Minnie were out taking photos, but the lines were crazy long and we knew would have plenty of opportunities to see them on board.











We spent time perusing the navigator, and of course Ollie had another of his magical doughnuts. We couldn’t connect to the navigator app yet, which was a shame as we were able to last cruise and thought it would be a good use of time to pick out some activities.



I did get really excited when I went to the toilet and they had the Haunted Mansion music playing in there! Good ship views from the window by the toilets as well.



Boarding started about 11.45 and group 2 was called shortly after this.

Through the ears we go!



I must admit, just before we got onto the ship I had a little moment. We’d been planning this trip for a long time and it suddenly felt real that we were here, married and about to have this amazing adventure.

So close to the ship!



I just about pulled it together! We were introduced as our new family name and applauded onto the ship.

The ship had been decorated for Halloween. Although it was only 1st September, this was the first Halloween cruise. There was a big Halloween tree, but most of the decorations were quite tasteful.

The first stop was to guest relations to pay some money off our balance. Our on board limit was $500, as we chose to pay off as we go so we could pay off on a mixture of various cards and cash. Due to our prebooked shore excursions, we’d already exceeded this limit. (For the first time, we exclusively prebooked our shore excursions with Disney. Partly for convenience, and partly for flexibility in case there were changes due to hurricanes)

Actually, Ollie queued up and did the grown up job. I got distracted snapping pictures instead!













They must get tired welcoming guests onto the ship after several hours…



It felt a bit weird that we didn’t have to go and book anything now. On previous cruises, we’ve gone to book drink tastings or looked to rearrange our Palo times. However, we could now prebook tastings online and we managed to get the Palo time we wanted. That meant… it was lunch time!

We decided on lunch in Animator’s Palate, as Cabanas can feel busy on embarkation day. Instead of a buffet like last cruise, there was now an a la carte menu.

I do like Animator’s Palate and it was nice to take a look at the restaurant when it’s not busy. Our server was friendly and got us some drinks. However, my diet coke tasted a bit watery, which I noticed the next few times in this restaurant.

[Scruffette]

I love these knives. They sell them onboard in the shop and I may have purchased one!











We both had the beef empanada to start. This was the main reason Ollie wanted to eat here rather than at Cabanas.





For mains, we both had the pennette pasta – with tomato-basil provencal sauce, goats cheese and a spinach pesto.



I would have liked a bit more goats cheese in mine, as the few pieces I did have were delicious. I didn’t finish my pasta as I found it a bit plain after I ate all the cheese.

We declined dessert, and the server made sure to let us know that we could order as much food as we wanted. Don’t worry, we really know how to eat!

I’m not sure if next time we’ll go for the sit down lunch on embarkation day as the menu was a bit limited. I’m planning on going to Cabanas instead.

Still with a bit of stomach space, we decided to check out Cabanas for dessert. We had our hand luggage, so I found a table while Ollie went to get some food and drink. Instead of dessert, he came back with a full savoury plate!



Cabanas really is a big buffet! There is loads of choice. On the Fantasy, there is a port and starboard side to the buffet. The food options are also repeated within the same side, so I do find it a bit hard to navigate and know where to start.

Not to be left out, I also got myself a savoury plate.



A little bit smaller but very tasty. I enjoyed the salmon but found the mac and cheese a bit sweet (but I often find this anyway).

It was then pudding time, where we had some fruit, cookies and cream cheesecake and a diy ice cream sandwich to share.



We sat by the window with a view of a Carnival cruise ship. Definitely not as pretty…



It was just after 1.30pm now, which meant our stateroom was ready.



We had room 8658, a stateroom with verandah on deck 8 aft.

Our luggage was also waiting outside which was nice.

Obligatory stateroom pictures….















Our castaway club gift.



We had a split bathroom – one with a bath/shower and sink and one with a toilet and sink.









I really like this shampoo, but I didn’t have space to take one home with me this time 



The view from our verandah in port – not the prettiest view, but we’d have a lot nicer views over the next few days.







We’d originally booked a navigator verandah for this trip as a treat (having had an inside stateroom in the Med in 2016 which was fine). When Disney then introduced a 25% off rate for this sailing for Europeans (result!) we had to cancel and rebook and managed to lose our stateroom in the process. We ended up booking a normal verandah room two doors up, which still worked out a lot cheaper than what we booked originally.



We also met our stateroom host. He seemed a bit shy but was perfectly nice. We requested the ice bucket to be filled each day – needed to make sure the prosecco was properly chilled.

Our first priority was to decorate the door – we really went to town with the magnets this time!



We also got on and did some unpacking. It felt nice to be a bit organised!

We still had a little time before the muster drill, so went for a tour of the kid’s clubs. We like to visit the open house each cruise as the kid’s clubs look so much fun!

I also love the handwash machines they have in there! My favourite section is always Andy’s room. You can really see why the kids don’t want to leave the kids clubs. Ollie had a go on the Star Wars simulator.







It was then time for the muster drill. Our muster station was P, which was inside The Tube.

We were glad to be sat inside in air con, as we’ve had an outside muster drill before and that can be very hot with all those people crammed in. However, in an actual emergency I’m sure I would much rather have one of the outside stations right next to the life boats!

The staff did a great job at entertaining while we waited for all the families to turn up.

I was sat in The Tube for a good 10 minutes before I realised why it was called ‘The Tube’. It was themed around the London Underground (ish). However, the ticket printed on the floor labelled £1.90 was a bit optimistic…

After the drill it was time for the sail away party.



First, we stopped off for some drinks on the pool deck. Clearly I felt the need to document this! Maybe noting the fact that they didn’t have coke zero (my preference to diet coke), although they did on the Magic.



I did enjoy the Halloween cups.



There were now no lids or straws available. We did bring some metal reusable straws with us from home, as I do like to use a straw with soft drinks. We never ended up using these on the cruise, but they are very useful to have at home.

We decided to watch the sail away party one deck up on deck 12.

Our spot…



Having watched three sail aways now, I have to say this was my favourite as it didn’t feel too crowded at all. I know the ship had rooms still available for this sailing and a section of deck 5 was closed for refurb.













We had a great view of the bay as we sailed away.



It was a long way down!




We also took a wander around the satellite falls area on deck 13. It was pretty windy at the front of the ship, but a great view of the ocean. We said we must come back to spend some time at satellite falls, but we never really got around to it.









We also did a tour of Goofy’s sports deck and played a game of table football, which I lost disastrously.



How cute are Mickey and Minnie?



We headed back to the room after this to change for the evening and enjoyed some prosecco on the verandah. We may also have poured some prosecco to take with us in the soft drink cups to the show, being the classy people that we are!

Show time at 6.15pm was fast approaching. Being in an aft room, but the theatre being forward, we found the easiest way to get to the theatre each night was to walk to the front of the ship on deck 8 past all the rooms and then take the forward stairs down. It meant we missed the business of the atrium and got to see all the fun magnets on other people’s doors!

The balcony seating entrance on deck 4 was roped off, so we entered the theatre on deck 3. They did this with the non-Disney/ variety act performances, although we later found you could still get to the balcony from inside the theatre.

Tonight’s act was Jeff Civillico, who did physical comedy. Lots of juggling and balancing objects, including one of the sun loungers. He was also very funny and did some great audience interaction. He was my favourite of the variety acts on board.

At 7.30pm there was something listed in the navigator as ‘The Pumpkin Tree’, so we decided to check this out. We watched from Deck 4 and Stitch randomly turned up! Although I’m not a Stitch fan, I love how characters randomly appear at times on the ship.



Great chandelier view from here.



Anyway, the pumpkin tree was a man telling Halloween stories. It was ok, but the highlight was the orange mickey confetti being released!

[Scruffette]

We just had time before dinner to go and meet Mickey. He was due out at 8pm and we joined the queue about 10 minutes ahead of this, so we weren’t too far back. We like to make the most of meeting characters on the ship as it’s never as busy as in the parks. Mickey was in his cruise captain outfit. Cast members with characters are always happy to take pictures on my camera.

It was then time for dinner, which tonight was in Enchanted Garden. This was a new restaurant for us, as we missed dinner here on the Dream previously due to a Palo reservation.

The restaurant is beautiful, but you’ll have to take my word for it as I don’t seem to have any pictures!

We were led to a table with two other couples already sat down at either end. So we sat in the middle and introduced ourselves. We got lucky again and really got on with our table mates and had great fun with them at dinner. Both were couples of a similar ages and also on honeymoon. One of the couples actually got married one day before us!

One couple was form Nebraska and the other from Virginia. We spent the meal talking about our plans for the upcoming week. Both the men had never cruised before so we were keen to hear what they thought so far. Both the ladies had cruised before. One of the women made a joke about her new husband ‘marrying into gold’, as she had gold status from cruising as a teenager!

Talking about our trips reminded us how little annual leave they get in the States and made us feel very lucky to have such a long honeymoon.

We also met our server Ana from Portugal and assistant server Elton from India. Both were lovely, but Ana was particularly friendly and efficient.

We also met our head server, although I can’t remember her name. I found on previous cruises we barely saw our head server, apart from on the final night (aka tip night!). This time we saw our head server every evening and she stopped for a conversation with us. We felt like she was making a real effort.

I was so happy when one of the other couples ordered first and ordered something from each course. On the last cruise our companions went just for a main course the first night and we felt a bit awkward eating our starters in front of them!

One of our tablemates also photographed all her food, so I felt right at home!

To start with, I had the Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart – With Creamy Leeks which was nice, and Ollie had the North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli – With Roasted Garlic and Sweet Basil in a Tomato Broth. I felt a bit envious when his arrived as it looked lovely. He really enjoyed his.







For the next course we both had the Spinach and Raspberry Salad – Baby Spinach tossed with fresh Raspberries, Toasted Pine Nuts, crumbled Gorgonzola, and a Raspberry Vinaigrette.



Now, I’m never going to get too excited about a salad, but I do love gorgonzola!

For mains, I had the Seared Pork Tenderloin Medallions – With Rosti Potatoes, Collard Greens and a Morel Cognac Sour Cream Sauce.



The sauce was delicious and there was a lot of meat here. One of the medallions was a little tough, but the others were fine.

Ollie went for the Pan Seared Sea Bass – With Fava Bean and Pea Risotto, sliced Fennel and a Dill-Chive Riesling Wine Sauce.



Again, he chose the better option. I had a bite and the sea bass melted in your mouth. Most of our table mates ordered this as well.

(One couple worked in cattle farming, so never chose any beef!)

For desert, I had the Southern Style Pecan Tart – with Bourbon Caramel Sauce.



I chose this as it sounded just like the signature dessert at Tiana’s Place on the Wonder. Although this isn’t what I’d normally go for, I really enjoyed trying something different.

Ollie had the Warm Sticky Date Pudding – served with butterscotch sauce, vanilla ice cream and phyllo crunch, which he enjoyed.



After we had finished, the head server, Ana, Elton, plus various other servers came out with two cakes with candles. They asked whose honeymoon it was, and we said it was all three. One of them then ran off and came back with another cake.



They put them in the middle of each couple and sang a happy honeymoon song (to the tune of happy birthday). Every time they said honeymoon (which they got in extra times in the third line), you had to kiss over the table. The head server would shout ‘kiss’ at us each time.

This was genuinely hilarious and made us feel really special.

We didn’t manage much of the cake as we were quite full.

After dinner we stayed back and chatted to one of the couples for another 15 minutes and were the last ones to leave the restaurant.

Ollie and I then headed over to The Tube in the adult’s only area.

La Piazza, one of the other adult bars, was themed around a Venetian carousel and was beautiful.



We found a seat and watched the end of The Quest game, which seemed to involve men running around in bras trying to find women’s shoes. Tisa, the adult club host, was hilarious, if a little intimidating to us reserved brits!

We bought two cocktails of the day, which came to $11.50 including tax and tip. Not bad at all for two drinks!



Today’s drink was a Paradise Punch. This was made up of coconut rum, pineapple and veev, whatever veev is. (Just googled it – a spirit made from acai?). Anyway, both were very tasty. Rum is always my spirit of choice.

Buckets and Boards were doing a set at 10.30pm. It was described as ‘rhythm and comedy’ and I was looking forward to this. We saw Junnk on our med cruise two years ago, who are a rythym and comedy group and were very funny.

I know lots of people rave about Buckets and Boards, but they just didn’t do anything for me. There didn’t seem to be very much percussion, just singing. I really didn’t find them very funny.

I spent some of the show distracted by a wisdom tooth that had starting coming through and wondering if this would impact the large volume of food I was planning on eating during the cruise (fortunately it didn’t). I think I might have fallen asleep briefly at one point….

After the set we decided to do a quick walk of the ship. I love exploring the ship late at night. It’s so peaceful and you can appreciate all the beautiful details.





Tonight’s towel animal – or is it technically a bed runner animal – was a swan. I loved that they now gave you ghiradelli chocolate squares!



Our Palo invitation for brunch the next day was also waiting for us.



Once back in the room, we decided to order room service. We weren’t that hungry, but we love the novelty of room service and always get it the first night.

And what was our order? 8 chicken tenders with dips. No chips.



I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned yet, but I have a bit of a thing for Disney Cruise chicken tenders. Honestly, these things are magical. I’m pretty sure I had at least one every day on the cruise.

Whilst eating, we found various ‘behind the scenes’ cruise short videos on the tv.

We went to bed with happy stomachs and were both so happy to be back on one of these beautiful ships.

Day 4 - Day at sea

[MrsSilverStar]

Sounds like a fantastic first day on board. Disney chicken tenders are the best...I’ve only had them in Paris so far but they were awesome there too

Good news that your table mates were friendly.

Loved all the photos of the details on the boat, looks gorgeous.

[Cinderella]

Great day👍

[Palm trees]

What a lovely first cruise day. I've also been watching the Tim Tracker cruise vlogs he's posted recently and I'd love to try one at some point. Looking forward to reading more of your time at sea.

[collybird]

ove your Stateroom door! Glad to see you went to town at Cabanas, we absolutely loved it when we were on the Dream. I very much approve of all of the food consumed today.

[mick]

Great day

Joan

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

Sounds like a fantastic first day on board. Disney chicken tenders are the best...I’ve only had them in Paris so far but they were awesome there too

Good news that your table mates were friendly.

Loved all the photos of the details on the boat, looks gorgeous.

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Thanks for reading It really is a beautiful ship with so much to discover.

Originally Posted by Cinderella

Great day👍

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Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by Palm trees

What a lovely first cruise day. I've also been watching the Tim Tracker cruise vlogs he's posted recently and I'd love to try one at some point. Looking forward to reading more of your time at sea.

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I would definitely recommend a cruise - I've already got the next one booked! Thanks for reading

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by collybird

ove your Stateroom door! Glad to see you went to town at Cabanas, we absolutely loved it when we were on the Dream. I very much approve of all of the food consumed today.

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Got to start as you mean to go on with all the food! Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by mick

Great day

Joan

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Thanks for reading