When I got the opportunity to cruise on the Disney Destiny with a fellow travel agent (Hi, Beth!), I knew I had to jump on it. What a great learning opportunity! My cruise was a 5-night western Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on the Disney Destiny, which is currently the newest ship in the line’s Wish class (although the Believe is coming soon!). The Destiny is heroes and villians themed and I thought it was perfectly done. There were also still plenty of your classic Disney characters and princesses throughout the ship too, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Something for everyone, for sure!
As any good travel agent would advise, I flew down to Fort Lauderdale from Boston the night before embarkation day. My flight ended up being delayed about an hour, so I landed around 9:30pm. Beth and I decided to stay at the nearby Fairfield by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport, since it has complimentary airport shuttle service. We knew we wanted to do Disney’s Cruise Transportation, which only services the airport and select hotels. We decided to shuttle back to the airport in the morning (just about a 5 min ride) and get the DCL shuttle from there. This worked perfectly and I would definitely recommend. The biggest advantage to the DCL shuttle is that you get an earlier boarding time, but to me it just seemed seamless and easier overall.
At the port, you will go through a security line, similar to the airport, where they check your ID and port arrival form, which DCL will send you ahead of time. They will also send you luggage tags so any luggage you don’t want to carry with you through port security can be delivered directly to your state room. My suitcase was waiting for me when we got into our room around 1:30pm but I know it can sometimes take a little longer. Here’s a tip! Carry as little with you as possible during embarkation. I had my carry-on tote bag, which would have been ok except I just had too much in it, so it was pretty heavy. I really could have gotten away with just my wallet, phone, hat, sunglasses and maybe some sunscreen. You really don’t need much. Also, if you’re 21+, you can carry-on up to two bottles of wine or a six pack of beer, which I thought was nice, since DCL doesn’t have a package for adult beverages that you can purchase. I’ll talk about this more in a later post but I actually really like that DCL doesn’t do drink packages.
We were boarding group 3 and walked onto the ship just before noon. It was so exciting to finally enter that beautiful atrium and have them announce us by name. We walked around the ship a bit, checked out the pool deck and then went to Pride Lands: Feast of the Lion King for a sit-down lunch. It’s a bit sensory overload when you first get on the ship and there’s so much to look at so I loved that we took time for a sit-down meal versus grabbing something quickly on the pool deck. This restaurant also ended up being my favorite on the ship. It’s so beautiful, the food is delicious and I loved the dinner show. This first lunch is also a perfect time to go through the app and get acquainted with how it works. You really can’t access much until you are on the ship’s Wi-Fi so there’s no way to review anything ahead of time. I highly recommend going through all the activities and shows and “hearting” ones you’re interested in. That will ensure they show up in your daily plans and you’ll even get reminder notifications. It’s a good way to make sure you don’t forget because believe me, it’s easy to do with so much to choose from!
After lunch, we were able to get into our room (7624!). We had a deluxe family verandah stateroom and it was gorgeous with Hercules theming. The rooms are themed differently throughout the ship – Hercules, Mulan and Brave are some of the different ones you may get on the Destiny. I was so impressed with the room size and layout. For just two people it was spacious and I think it would definitely be comfortable for a family of 4-5. We met our stateroom attendant (Mawardi) who was so sweet. DCL has housekeeping twice daily, which was wonderful – no wet towels for us! The stateroom attendant takes out whatever additional beds you need each evening while you’re at dinner and leaves a towel animal and chocolates. In the morning, they put the extra bed(s) away and make the main bed, switch out towels, take any trash, etc… I don’t know any hotels that provide that level of service anymore!
After getting settled in the room, it was time to check out the spa and kids clubs. Embarkation day is the only time that adults can tour the kids clubs so you for sure want to do that if you’re hoping your child(ren) will go…and honestly, I don’t know what kid wouldn’t want to. They are basically dream play spaces with everything from art supplies to toys, to video games. They are also extremely well maintained, clean and staffed by trained DCL staff. It’s all very impressive! The spa is also a must visit on embarkation day as they do give aways! You can enter a raffle and they’ll give away lots of different prizes including spa gift credits. We didn’t win but it’s always worth a shot! This is also the time that you can tour the spa including the gorgeous Rainforest Room, which is an adults-only area with sauna, steam room, ice room and private sun deck that you can access with either a day pass or a pass for the length of your cruise. I would recommend it! I will admit we missed most of the sail away party, which I know is a must do for most people but I was ok with it. I had seen videos of it several times and the deck is very busy and crowded during that time too. I would for sure go if I was with my kids because I know they would love it.
We were assigned to the early dinner seating and were at Pride Lands again for dinner that night, which I didn’t mind one bit! I had the prime rib, which was excellent. After dinner we saw the Disney Seas the Adventure Show, which was adorable. We walked around the ship where we saw Mickey and Minnie (characters are everywhere on the ship!), made a pitstop in one of the lounges for 80’s music trivia and grabbed some late-night pizza on the pool deck before heading back to our stateroom. We filled out our room service card for the next morning’s coffee and donuts and put it outside our door before going to sleep. The 24-hour complimentary room service felt like such a treat!
Our next day would be our first full day at sea! Thanks for reading and happy travels, friends!