DISNEY CRUISE! Embarkation Day!

We went on our first cruise with Royal Caribbean a few years ago and we really fell in love with that way of vacationing.  I looked up many, many cruises trying to book our next adventure but nothing ever felt quite right. Neil and Rebecca went on a Disney Cruise and it sounded amazing but I felt like the price difference wasn't really a possibility. Last spring I was looking and dreaming about cruises for our fall break this year and came across a sailing that didn't seem as astronomically priced as before. Sean had also received several very healthy bonuses and it just seemed to make sense. It may sound funny to some, but I truly feel like I can get revelation about when a trip is a good idea and when its not. Sean and I both felt good about it and Mom and Dad Z and Mom P were all on board. We booked it and the long wait started. 

Our cruise left on a Monday so we found flights that arrived late on Sunday night. The flight was delayed and we didn't end up getting to our hotel room ready to sleep until about 2AM. (of course that felt like midnight to us MST people, but still super late) We slept in a little and then got some hotel breakfast and packed up to take the taxi shuttle. A big bus came and picked us up and took us to the port. The ride was about an hour and it was so pretty to see Florida! Its such a different climate and landscape. I got super excited when we passed the exit for Disney World! It was right there and sad to not be going. The last time Sean and I went was when I was pregnant with Brett. We are hoping to go soon! As we got close to the port we could see the ship and it was super exciting! 

Here are the kids in Salt Lake as we were getting to the airport.

Here we are in Orlando waiting for the hotel shuttle:

On the taxi heading to the port on Monday morning:

We got to the port about an hour before our assigned time and so we got in line with a ton of other people. I had read that it was good to get there early just to make sure and that  you could connect to the ships internet and start looking at the activiites. The kids were a little frustrated with waiting in lines and the ships internet was not connecting. We played some headbands, talked, and chilled while we waited in the shade. Once they called our group forward we just kept moving all the way through security and checking  in with our passports. We had a few minutes to use the bathroom and then they called our boarding group and we zipped right on to the boat. It was so fun to walk into the Grand Hall and have them announce "Welcome Peterson Family!" 

We took some pictures in the main hall and then made our way to the buffet for lunch. It was pretty busy but we found a table for all 8 of us and we all got lots of delicious food! One thing that is pretty stresssful for all our kids, but Lizzie in particular right now is finding safe foods at a restaurant. Lizzie took a tour of the available food and started to panic that she wouldn't find anything she could eat. Sean took her to a quiet corner and they had a prayer and immediately she felt better and was able to find some dinner rolls, a cupcake and some chocolate ice cream. After lunch we went to look at the pool deck and then went to get changed into our swim suits in our room. The rooms were super nice and it was great to have them connected. They even took the divider down between our two verandahs. We had some of our luggage delivered and did a bit of unpacking. We got on our swim suits and went to our muster drill and then to  the pool deck. Sean, Brett and Alana went to right the aqua mouse and Lizzie and I looked for pools. The pools have to close for 10 minutes every hour and then some of them they just close for who knows what reason. It was a bit frustrating to have so many pools closed and to have the pools that were open packed with kids. Lizzie figured it out. They were starting the sail away party which was a lot of fun! I loved watching the characters and listening to the music. Lizzie mostly wanted to swim but eventually decided to dance a little. 

After swimming we went back to our room and unpacked a little more then got ready for dinner. Our first evening was at the Avengers show. It was very fun and interactive! We loved the quantum core thing and it was fun when the lights would all change and when Spider man ran through the dining room at the end. We met our servers. Kira was our assistant server from Ireland and she was just so lovely and kept our kids stocked with endless shirley temples and lemonade. Carlos was our main server who brought us yummy food and did awesome magic tricks every night! And Vesco was the head server who cut Brett's meat and made sure Lizzie had as much pizza as she could eat. The show was fun, the food delicious, and it was just so nice to walk in and already have our table all set with no waiting! After dinner we went out to the deck and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset! We looked through a few of the stores and then went back to the room. Sean and I went to the theater show can Sea's the Adventure and the kids stayed behind and snuggled on our bed watching Emperors New Groove and Raya. We got to read some Masterminds and got to sleep pretty quick. Everyone was super tired! 

Dad Z liked to make silly faces at us through our window:

When we were touring the pool deck we got some soft serve ice cream and found a fun towel walle on the pool deck. 

We ate lots of delicious things and the highlight for Brett was the jello cubes!

I played headbands with the girls while we were waiting to go get checked in. 

Heres our room after it was all turned down for the night. Alana took the top bunk, Lizzie the murphey bed, and Brett the bottom bunk. 

When we got back after dinner, Walle was on our bed and there were chocolates for all of us and they were DOVE! 

The sunset was incredible! 

They brought Brett one steak tenderloin and then he said that wasn't what he ordered so they brought him a sirloin steak. They cut both up for him and he tried both. He liked the sirloin better than the tenderloin. Alana and Lizzie both had pizza and french fries

They had a marble type bread with a roasted garlic dipping sauce I think. It was super yummy. I had gnocci and don't remember what everyone else had. Everything was yummy though! 

A youtube vlog that I watch recommended buying this Cloudem Blue drink. Its non alcoholic and tastes like a blue jolly rancher. The kids were excited to have it and had fun watching the clouds in the bottle and popping the cork and toasting our sail away. 

Brett with his Jello cubes!