greensombrero
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2019
Background
We just got back from our 4th cruise which completed us sailing on all the "original" pre Wish ships. We didn't necessarily intend to sail all the ships in the order they were built but that is what we have done. I'm not sure whether the term "grand slam" is technically retired now with the Wish in the fleet but I'm going to call this our grand slam cruise as we've now been on the Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy. Aside from having sailed all 4 of the original ships it was an incredible cruise worthy of the grand slam title!
We booked this cruise opening day for us back when no ships were sailing. We really weren't sure if our October 2021 cruise on the Wonder would sail or not (spoiler it did, but only barely, see the TR here). So we figured we'd book a backup when the Fall 2022 sailings became available. We loved the idea of visiting some different islands and enjoying a 7 night cruise. You can get a good deal booking when cruises first go on sail but it does involve a long wait for cruise day to arrive. We were fortunate that we did get to sail on the Wonder and then got an unanticipated cruise on the Dream in. Nevertheless we were super excited as we approached this cruise date and it actually felt like a reality.
For those who haven't read my prior TR's we sail with my 4 kids: DD 14, DS 12, DD 10 and DS 7 along with my DW. This cruise was over fall break so the kids wouldn't miss any school. That was the main reason for our sailing this particular cruise along with a desire for a longer cruise and chance to see some different islands. It was the typical Western Caribbean itinerary for the Fantasy: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Castaway Cay.
Travel Day
I happened to look at airfare for this cruise pretty early. Normally I've heard booking too early won't lead to the best fares for domestic flights. However the price I saw on a direct flight on Delta was within a couple dollars of the lowest fare we've paid to Orlando in recent years. So I just booked the flight. At first I was excited that it got us in to Orlando pretty early. Then as we approached I realized this early 7 am flight meant leaving the house at a pretty crazy hour, I'm not one to cut things close so that meant leaving at 4:30 AM. Everyone was super excited though so here we are more or less awake and excited to be on the flight.
The flight was uneventful and before we knew it we were taking our obligatory picture on the MCO tram.
Originally I had planned to stay at a nice Marriott resort hotel with a cool pool/water slides since we were getting in early. A month or so before the trip I rethought the approach. I realized with how early we were flying we'd be tired and probably not want to do much once we got in. So we switched to an airport hotel with a free shuttle. I do Marriott's Bonvoy loyalty program and we were able to book two rooms at the Renaissance Orlando Airport on points. We planned to try Disney transfers for the first time from the airport to the port. My kids wanted to try riding on the cruise line buses they had seen and it seemed a convenient option and similar price to the other options I investigated.
Quick review of the hotel it is an older property thought it has been renovated. The rooms though did seem a little on the older side. I failed to take any pictures, nothing was really wrong with them you could just tell it was an older hotel. They didn't have adjoining rooms available which honestly is fine for a night. We just did a boys room and a girls room. When the kids are tired separating them sometimes has its advantages. The service at the hotel was great and for a night it was a convenient option. Their free shuttle had a quick pick up from the airport. What was even better we realized is that their shuttle spot for pick ups was right next to the Disney Cruise Line Bus pickup spot. Their lounge is closed on weekends but with my Bonvoy status they offered us free breakfast in the restaurant and included all my kids along with my wife which doesn't always happen. For our return to the airport they had a regular shuttle schedule ever 30 minutes so getting back in the morning was easy.
We were all tired and hungry when we arrived. They had food options in the hotel but we saw there was a TGI Friday's a quick walk from the hotel. When my wife and I were first married TGI Friday's was our favorite chain restaurant and we ate there a lot. Unfortunately all the locations closed around where we live so we rarely eat there anymore. We couldn't resist giving it a try for old times sake. It isn't incredible food but consistently good and we enjoyed it and had a good late lunch. After walking back we were tired from the early flight and just lounged in our rooms and called it a night early. I probably won't book such an early flight with kids again if I can avoid it. It all worked out but that first day was pretty rough on everyone and not the most exciting start to the vacation.
Embarkation Day - Transfers
The next morning we woke up excited to see this:
We had an early breakfast and took the hotel shuttle back to the airport. Checking in for our Disney transfers was super easy. They even had a photo op for us. One of the cast members gave us a Mickey to pose with and took our photo.
I should mention when we were waiting for the airport shuttle the day before we saw the Disney cast members next to us and talked to them about when to show up the next day. They told us they'd start checking in around 8:30 and the first bus would leave just after 9am or so. We figured we might as well try and make the first bus so that's what we planned for. We had a bit of a wait in the airport but there were comfortable seats and it didn't take long until we were boarding the Disney Cruise Bus.
I liked they showed Mickey shorts interspersed with trivia questions on the drive over. It made the drive go fast and before we knew it we had our first views of the beautiful Disney Fantasy.
One of the advantages of taking a Disney transfer is you don't really need to worry about your port arrival time in terms of when you get to the terminal. You do however still have to wait for your boarding group to board the ship. We had boarding group 8 so we had a bit of a wait. We figured we'd rather wait in the terminal though then back at the hotel or somewhere else. We got to take some fun pictures and connect our DCL navigator app to the terminal's wifi and start looking at the schedule for the week, which was nice.
Before we knew it we were taking our boarding photo.
I'm going to continue the rest of day 1 in the next post.
We just got back from our 4th cruise which completed us sailing on all the "original" pre Wish ships. We didn't necessarily intend to sail all the ships in the order they were built but that is what we have done. I'm not sure whether the term "grand slam" is technically retired now with the Wish in the fleet but I'm going to call this our grand slam cruise as we've now been on the Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy. Aside from having sailed all 4 of the original ships it was an incredible cruise worthy of the grand slam title!
We booked this cruise opening day for us back when no ships were sailing. We really weren't sure if our October 2021 cruise on the Wonder would sail or not (spoiler it did, but only barely, see the TR here). So we figured we'd book a backup when the Fall 2022 sailings became available. We loved the idea of visiting some different islands and enjoying a 7 night cruise. You can get a good deal booking when cruises first go on sail but it does involve a long wait for cruise day to arrive. We were fortunate that we did get to sail on the Wonder and then got an unanticipated cruise on the Dream in. Nevertheless we were super excited as we approached this cruise date and it actually felt like a reality.
For those who haven't read my prior TR's we sail with my 4 kids: DD 14, DS 12, DD 10 and DS 7 along with my DW. This cruise was over fall break so the kids wouldn't miss any school. That was the main reason for our sailing this particular cruise along with a desire for a longer cruise and chance to see some different islands. It was the typical Western Caribbean itinerary for the Fantasy: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Castaway Cay.
Travel Day
I happened to look at airfare for this cruise pretty early. Normally I've heard booking too early won't lead to the best fares for domestic flights. However the price I saw on a direct flight on Delta was within a couple dollars of the lowest fare we've paid to Orlando in recent years. So I just booked the flight. At first I was excited that it got us in to Orlando pretty early. Then as we approached I realized this early 7 am flight meant leaving the house at a pretty crazy hour, I'm not one to cut things close so that meant leaving at 4:30 AM. Everyone was super excited though so here we are more or less awake and excited to be on the flight.
The flight was uneventful and before we knew it we were taking our obligatory picture on the MCO tram.
Originally I had planned to stay at a nice Marriott resort hotel with a cool pool/water slides since we were getting in early. A month or so before the trip I rethought the approach. I realized with how early we were flying we'd be tired and probably not want to do much once we got in. So we switched to an airport hotel with a free shuttle. I do Marriott's Bonvoy loyalty program and we were able to book two rooms at the Renaissance Orlando Airport on points. We planned to try Disney transfers for the first time from the airport to the port. My kids wanted to try riding on the cruise line buses they had seen and it seemed a convenient option and similar price to the other options I investigated.
Quick review of the hotel it is an older property thought it has been renovated. The rooms though did seem a little on the older side. I failed to take any pictures, nothing was really wrong with them you could just tell it was an older hotel. They didn't have adjoining rooms available which honestly is fine for a night. We just did a boys room and a girls room. When the kids are tired separating them sometimes has its advantages. The service at the hotel was great and for a night it was a convenient option. Their free shuttle had a quick pick up from the airport. What was even better we realized is that their shuttle spot for pick ups was right next to the Disney Cruise Line Bus pickup spot. Their lounge is closed on weekends but with my Bonvoy status they offered us free breakfast in the restaurant and included all my kids along with my wife which doesn't always happen. For our return to the airport they had a regular shuttle schedule ever 30 minutes so getting back in the morning was easy.
We were all tired and hungry when we arrived. They had food options in the hotel but we saw there was a TGI Friday's a quick walk from the hotel. When my wife and I were first married TGI Friday's was our favorite chain restaurant and we ate there a lot. Unfortunately all the locations closed around where we live so we rarely eat there anymore. We couldn't resist giving it a try for old times sake. It isn't incredible food but consistently good and we enjoyed it and had a good late lunch. After walking back we were tired from the early flight and just lounged in our rooms and called it a night early. I probably won't book such an early flight with kids again if I can avoid it. It all worked out but that first day was pretty rough on everyone and not the most exciting start to the vacation.
Embarkation Day - Transfers
The next morning we woke up excited to see this:
We had an early breakfast and took the hotel shuttle back to the airport. Checking in for our Disney transfers was super easy. They even had a photo op for us. One of the cast members gave us a Mickey to pose with and took our photo.
I should mention when we were waiting for the airport shuttle the day before we saw the Disney cast members next to us and talked to them about when to show up the next day. They told us they'd start checking in around 8:30 and the first bus would leave just after 9am or so. We figured we might as well try and make the first bus so that's what we planned for. We had a bit of a wait in the airport but there were comfortable seats and it didn't take long until we were boarding the Disney Cruise Bus.
I liked they showed Mickey shorts interspersed with trivia questions on the drive over. It made the drive go fast and before we knew it we had our first views of the beautiful Disney Fantasy.
One of the advantages of taking a Disney transfer is you don't really need to worry about your port arrival time in terms of when you get to the terminal. You do however still have to wait for your boarding group to board the ship. We had boarding group 8 so we had a bit of a wait. We figured we'd rather wait in the terminal though then back at the hotel or somewhere else. We got to take some fun pictures and connect our DCL navigator app to the terminal's wifi and start looking at the schedule for the week, which was nice.
Before we knew it we were taking our boarding photo.
I'm going to continue the rest of day 1 in the next post.