Today, we excitedly departed our house in Orlando and made the 40 minute drive to Cape Canaveral to board Hunter’s and my first cruise. As we made our way to the Cape we commented on how lucky we were to live so close to the port to take advantage of vacation deals when they arise.
Hunter had been prepped over the previous two weeks and was well aware that we were headed to “Mickey’s Cruise Ship Boat.” I was prepared with the motion sickness patch firmly implanted behind my ear because I am such a wuss. Emily, as always, had the entire house prepared, as our bags were packed and ready to go about 15 minutes after we completed our payment two weeks prior. We were all excited because Emily, having traveled on two previous Disney cruises, informed us that we were both in for a real treat.
We completed the 40 minute drive and upon approaching the Cape we could see the giant Disney Cruise Line smoke stacks across the water. We pulled up, dropped our bags, parked the car and headed to check in. The entire check in process could not have gone smoother. Hunter got to meet Captain Mickey pre-boarding and life was good.
We boarded the ship just before noon and decided we should grab a bite to eat before we explored the ship. After all, isn’t that the reason people come on these things? We headed over to Parrot Cay which was just steps from the entrance and didn’t appear to be too busy. We sat down and stuffed our faces with buffet food and realized that we had indeed arrived!
After we ate lunch we began our expedition around the ship. As we walked back past the entrance, we saw a film crew that was taping a Extreme Makeover Home Edition family as they boarded the ship. The had to do a second take because they didn’t look excited enough. Gotta love television. We were informed prior to leaving lunch that our stateroom was ready so we made our way up to the room to put our day bag away. Our room was absolutely amazing! We had a navigator 
veranda which was perfect for Hunter because he could explore the balcony with no real worry of jumping in after a fish. There was a table with a chair and one whole side bench with all these little cool navigational instruments to look at. Supposedly these are the less desirable balconies but we were easily amused! We were also greeted with a giant cheese and fruit plate from Emily’s Mom and Dad, who clearly know their daughter and her love of a good cheese plate. Hunter must be taking after his mommy because he commandeered the entire platter and started calling it “MY FOOD” after eating three scarce bites of his buffet lunch. Hooray for Grandma and PopPop to the rescue!
Jen, Danny and Lily, our friends from Orlando were also on the ship with us so we met up with them and ventured into the ship. I was absolutely amazed at the amount of cool things that existed on the ship. We walked past a full size movie theater as well as a full size Broadway theater. We walked by Flounders Reef which was a nursery for children under 3 to hang out while mom and dad get a break. There was so much more on board but is was just amazing how well thought out this vessel was and the sheer volume of things that existed on board.
After our brief exploration we headed back to the room, unpacked our clothes, and got ready for dinner. Our first dinner was at the Animator’s Palate. We were lucky and were paired with the Stevenson family (Jen, Danny and Lily). The restaurant was really cool in that you sit down to a dining room that is in black and white and watch it transform to color throughout your meal. Even the servers’ outfits change to reflect the transition. Emily and Jen decided to start slow and only ordered four appetizers between the two of them. They got a bit of a strange look from the waiter but since they were pros at this cruising thing I went with it. The food was good, not great but not bad.
After dinner Emily, Hunter and I made our way down the red carpet to the Golden Mickeys show. We all loved it, including Hunter who got a kick out of it. The show wrapped up at about 9:30ish and we made our way back to the room. Hunter was beat and the boat was swaying a bit more than I preferred, even with my patch. We got into our pajamas and said our good nights. It was a great first day on the ship. I was still a bit amazed that waking up we would be just outside of Nassau, Bahamas!
