Day 20 - Very Merrytime Cruise
Well the day had come for our first
Disney Cruise. The date was 19 December and we would sail until 26 December. In Disney marketing fashion, this was one of the “Very Merrytime Cruises”
We started the day with breakfast at our hotel, which was included in or rate. It was really busy when we came down which was around 8:30am. A very friendly French Canadian offered to share his table with us. We had a good chat about cruising, which he had done quite a bit of. We also talked about his trip to Australia. It was a nice way to start the day. Breakfast was some hot and cold selections along with a pancake maker which is what DS & I opted for.
After breakfast we went back to our room for final checks and packing. We had tried to pack we thought we would need for the cruise in two suitcases and the others we could just have put away in the room somewhere. It was a good plan, but didn’t quite work out to plan!
We were all eager but the time seemed to be going quite slow. You know when you are waiting at the airport for boarding time and it just drags out. We watched some TV, I think I checked our Boarding documents and passports about 4 times. Eventually the time came and we went downstairs. I settled the account and then we went straight outside to our awaiting taxi. The driver loaded our luggage and we were soon on our way to the Disney Cruise Terminal which was a short a short 5mile trip.
We arrived at the drop off and were met by a porter. He asked us if we had all our documents with us and didn’t need anything else from the suitcases. He checked our bags were labelled and then quickly stacked them on his trolley and said he would take care of the rest. He told us to head up towards the terminal and turn right. We tipped him and off he went. Not quite like an airport luggage check in, but we just hoped we would see all our luggage in our stateroom in a few hours!
As we walked up as directed by the porter, we then reached a port official, I can’t recall if they were a Disney cast member or not, but they directed us up to the next level. I told them that we were told to go in right here and they said no we needed to go up and then across. We happily complied. We reached one “check-point”, we were actually in the carpark which seemed a little odd, but we weren’t alone , we joined the end of the queue which moved quite quickly and were soon at the front where we were asked to show our passports and cruise documentation. Then we walked over a bridge, which seemed a bit like a gangway, we could see the ship.
It was really windy walking across. Here is short video of us getting a good view of the ship. I love the excitement in DS voice as he talks in this video, you can tell he was really filled with anticipation, well at least we can.
The next checkpoint was the security. It was approximately 10:25am now. There were signs up about the amount of alcohol you could take on board. There were a few people around us who didn’t like the new alcohol limit. It didn’t bother, we didn’t take any! We were soon through security which was quite a bit more relaxed than USA airport security and the staff a lot friendlier than TSA staff. We then walked into the main port building.
Now I had a plan all along. I wanted to get to the port early and see if I could get an upgrade on our cabin. We were currently booked in Cat 4A on deck 9 stateroom 9588 which was midship. The next upgrade from our cabin was to concierge or to a suite. The prices of these to book these rooms from the Disney Cruise site were astronomical (over 3.5 times the price of the Cat 4A room we booked) and not something I had ever considered doing given that price. But I’m always one to give an upgrade a go if reasonable. I had been reading various posts and getting early, while not guaranteeing anything, seemed to increase your chances. The down side of that was that you might have a pretty long wait before being able to board. I really thought our chances were slim to none, as I had checked the cruise website and there were no Concierge rooms still available to purchase online, so I thought that was likely an indication it was sold out. I hadn’t told DW or DS that this was my plan, I was trying to surprise them if I could as I thought it would be a nice additional Christmas present, if I couldn’t, well I had tried.
The time now was 10:45am. There were not too many people in line, we joined a short queue and were soon being attended to. We gave over our documentation and I asked if there were any upgrades available and he said that there were but I needed to go to another customer service area after he had finished with us and they could see what might be available after he had finished with us. He processed all our boarding documentation and we were soon given our stateroom key, today's Navigator and boarding group, which was group 5 which he said was quite good.
After we had finished and had been giving our boarding group, DW & DS went to line up to register for the kids club, while I went to the “upgrade” counter. It wasn’t really called this, I think they were just counters 31/32 from memory. There were two positions open with cast members attending to passengers. I waited for a short amount of time and then was served. I enquired if there were any upgrades available, the Cast member took my stateroom keys and looked up on the system. She said we were already in the highest level stateroom, the next level was Concierge to which I replied yes that is what I was seeking. She confirmed that there was stateroom available, a one bedroom suite. She told me the price and I nearly fell off my chair, well if I was sitting down, I would have. I asked if that was the per night price and she said no, that’s for the whole cruise. Without a second thought I said definitely! We paid a little over 10% more that the price we had already paid. I was comfortable with this amount and I am very glad how it turned out.
It was now time to give the good news to the family. The personal service started straight away, the cast member came out from the counter and I told them that my family where lined up to register for the kids club. She said that the concierge would do all that for them, so I got their attention and beckoned them to come back over. I then told them they we had got an upgrade and we would be checking in here with the concierge desk and they could book everything for us. I can't recall if we got our new stateroom keys from the cast member who did our upgrade or from the Concierge cast member we saw, but soon, we were given a new keys, Yellow ones for Conceirge level, new boarding group, group 1 and were shown to a waiting area which also had an exit to a balcony with a great view of the ship. The size of it was still quite remarkable to us all.
At 11:30, a Cast Member came into the area and told us we could now board anytime we liked. We were shown the way down the gang way and though the Mickey Entrance. We walked through and were greeted by a photographer and then had our photo taken. Excitement levels were nearly off the chart by now!