Disney Cruise - Western Caribbean

First Moments On Board - The first moments can be chaotic to first timers. You can't go to your stateroom, and you might end up following the crowd. If you want to eat at Palo's or make spa reservations, locate these areas and make those first. Then relax at lunch, visit your stateroom, tour the ship and sign up the kids for the Kids Club or Stack.

Lunch, reservations & life boat drill

Once aboard ship, we headed into the Rockin' D bar to make Palo reservations for my husband and I, and then we made our way to try and find one of the two restaurants that were set up for the Sail Away buffet. We meant to head for the Topsider on Deck 9, but following a crowd of people and not really knowing our way around yet, we ended up outside Parrot Cay and I ended up with a starving husband and son saying they couldn't go any farther or they would faint from hunger. Well... it had been a long day.

So into Parrot Cay we headed even though this was the main dining room of our rotation and we'd be eating here the most of any other restaurant.

We dropped our overnight bag at the door with everyone else's and were seated with several other diners at a large table for 12. The room was loud and filled with excited vacationers, making for a festive atmosphere -- and the food was very good... and included shrimp! Yum! Waiters took drink orders, but everything else was self-serve.

After lunch, we couldn't wait any longer and headed for our stateroom. We are forever spoiled. Having that extra few feet that you get with the deluxe stateroom was noticeable as we felt we were in a hotel room - not a stateroom. And, there was a LOT of storage. The extra few feet gives you room for a comfy chair and ottoman and a blue 'steamer trunk' with several shelves for clothing. And the first of the two split bathrooms had several glass shelves built in, so we had plenty of room to store all our toiletries. As this stateroom was built for 5 people, with just the three of us, there was a lot of space to relax and spread out. I would note that as the 5th bed drops down out of the wall - Murphy Bed style - it would be a challenge to crawl over the bed and out on to the balcony without waking an adult-sized teen or a light sleeper. So, put your early risers or night owls in that spot depending on whether you enjoy sipping coffee on the balcony while a new day begins or a nightcap as the moon glimmers off the water. (Click on the picture to the right to enlarge and you will see the small circle in the wall above the chair - that's where the 5th bed drops down from the wall.)

Curtains separate the queen-sized bed from the other sleeping area which was nice in the evening - and is also handy when you want to change in the room and the bathroom is feeling a little bit too tiny, like on formal night. And, we really loved having a balcony and will have a tough time without one on future cruises. I enjoy sitting on a balcony with a cup of coffee or a cool drink, reading a book and watching the world go by on any vacation. To have my own little place to do just that and relax on this big ship, all by myself or with just my family, was wonderful. Somewhere in this day, we visited the kids club, as well as visiting The Stack to see if they would place him there as he was an 'almost 13'. After much debate, it was decided to try the 10 - 12 group. In hindsight, we think we should have pushed for The Stack more. Our son enjoyed himself at first in the younger group, but quickly became bored with most of the activities. He had hoped to make a friend to pal around with, but that was not to be - and we had so much to do and see - it ended up being just a slight disappointment.

Soon it was time for the mandatory life boat drill - which was hot and a bit confusing in our section... but we got through it quick and were soon back to the room and ready to go up on deck for the sail away party.