Winter Break 2025. Part 4. Disney Fantasy, Please Welcome Aboard the Kaplan Family!
Hooray! It’s cruise day!
This morning we were supposed to receive a call at 745am just to confirm we wanted our bags picked up by 8am. We had booked Disney Cruise Line transportation so basically they would pick up our luggage and we wouldn’t see it again until later in the day in our rooms. On Shabbos I had spoken with the bellman and told them to NOT call any of our 3 rooms before 7:45 and he said no problem. Well, guess whose phone rang at 7:07. I asked the guy what happened and he said that he had a note that said “do not call” but he checked with his manager who told him to call anyway. So, I told him yes, we would still like our bags picked up by 8am, as we said yesterday. I also asked if he had called my parents room and he said yes but someone just hung up. I said that sounds about right.
We got some coffee on the Boardwalk and met at 8:45 in the hotel lounge to check in with the cruise representative. I realize that we haven’t really shown any photos of the hotel or the Boardwalk, so here’s a last look before departing.
We made our way onto the special Disney Cruise Line bus that is decorated as a ship on the outside and then had an hour drive to Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal. Check in was going smoothly until they asked Hadar for her Visa information. It looked fine, except the specific line that said she was allowed to travel was not actually signed. Pretty sure she was supposed to have sent the paperwork to the au pair agency before we left but we all forgot about this step. Kind of surprising considering we had so many issues with Inbar coming on the cruise last year. The guy checking us in called over his supervisor and was basically like “this needs to be signed,” and then turned around. Well, by some Disney Magic, when he turned back around there was a signature on the paper. All was well and we were moving forward. We waited a few minutes in the terminal, then stepped through the giant Mickey and we were on the ship!
When you get on the ship you give them your name and they announce your family. We were welcomed as the “Feit, Kaplan, Cohen family.” We walked into the main Atrium, which is three stories and very grand, something you don’t’ see as much on the newer huge ships. The décor is classically elegant and timeless, a stark contrast to the modern décor we’ve seen on Celebrity. It’s gorgeous.
Of course, once you step onto the ship you are in fight or flight mode figuring out what you have to do. The first was to run down to the desk that dealt with restaurant reservations. Already people were getting feisty about the lines. I think people are stressed when they get on the ship, but honestly after that I never saw people complaining.
We were hungry so we went to the buffet for lunch, but not before my parents figured out the internet situation because obviously the most important part of coming on vacation is figuring out how you are going to work on said vacation. Tzvi was able to connect but my mom was having trouble so decided to wait on the very long line for guest services. Obviously it was the worst time because everyone was on line dealing with their immediate needs. Tzvi wasn’t having that, so he took her phone and was able to figure it out within a minute. The problem? She was trying to connect to the crew wifi.
Lunch was at the buffet, Cabanas, which is, you guessed it, beach themed. It was a pretty solid buffet. Hallie actually likes the pizza which is good because she hated the Royal Caribbean pizza last year. Also, there are beverage stations everywhere. Disney does not sell beverage packages, mainly I’d guess because they don’t want drunk people all over, but soft drinks are included in the price and there are fountain soda machines all over the place. Unlimited fountain Diet Coke. It’s glorious.
We checked out the kids club, which is amazing, not that my kids will go. But it’s huge. There’s one room that is totally Toy Story themed, a Star Wars room, a marvel room, and a lot of craft areas. I think the coolest thing they had was a special hand washing station that you put your hands in and the water spins around and washes your hands.
After that we had to go to the muster drill. It’s been a while since we had to sit through a real muster drill – most of the ships now just make you check in at your muster station and click something in the app, but we had to spend a half hour in the theater. I guess they want to make sure the kids actually get it.
(our room)
We stopped by the sail away party. It was cute and the most people I’ve ever seen at a sail away party, but it was so cold and on and off raining. We checked out the spa and gym and were given raffle tickets. Basically it was a hundred people packed into the little gym, sitting around waiting to hear the raffle called. Of course they didn’t just call the raffle and be done with it, they had to introduce each “specialist” because they want to sell you things. Eventually Tzvi got fed up so he took the kids and left. 30 seconds later they called his name. He won $75 off a spa treatment, except the treatments started at like $250. Fun to win, but pretty useless.
At 4pm we opted to go to a “make your own door hangar” activity. The kids loved it. Tzvi unpacked a bit while we were at the crafts, which was nice of him, but because we didn’t get our bags until 5 we had to eat dinner tonight in more casual clothes. We met our Stateroom attendant Romeo, and he was amazing and managed to get us robes, which are usually reserved for Concierge class, which we are not.
There are three main restaurants on the ship and you rotate through them each night. Your servers follow you each night so once they meet you on night one, you have them for every dinner. Tonight’s dinner was in the Enchanted Garden, which isn’t themed to any movie or anything but is decorated as a beautiful Garden. Over the course of the meal the “sun” sets and it’s really beautiful. We met our two servers. Raphael was our waiter and he is from Brazil, and our Assistant Waiter is Christopher from Italy. Madeleine asked him if he’s ever been to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My mom had told her about it a few days ago and she’s very concerned that it might fall over. Christopher told her he hasn’t actually been there, but plans to go one day.
Before and after dinner there were characters around the ship. You mainly wait in lines for the characters, but the princesses are moving around. It’s so fun and the girls were so excited. There wasn’t a show tonight so we just walked around, met some princesses, and went to the store. The store is fun, but dangerous. It’s like having a huge Disney store on board with all cruise line merchandise that you can’t get in regular stores. Tzvi bought a t shirt, a pin, and we bought an autograph book for the girls. I was never into those, but Hallie saw a girl with one, and knowing that they would constantly be with characters on the ship we felt may as well have the autograph book. My parents and Hadar opted to go to the theater to watch Mufasa, which was just released in theaters. They enjoyed.
We got back to the room and got the kids to bed around 10:30, then Tzvi and I took a stroll around. Once again I’ll complain that you can’t get food late. I just wanted a cookie or a piece of cake. I think Celebrity is the only line that keeps the buffet open until midnight. We did find this little section near the bars that has a little buffet of late night fried food you’d want to eat if you were drunk at midnight, but mostly meat stuff. There is 24hr room service, but that’s too official. Anyway, we got back and went to sleep. Good day!
