Our Disney Cruise adventure began with our arrival at Cruise Terminal A, Port Canaveral. Porters greeted us curbside to take our checked luggage to the ship, reminding us to remove anything we needed before 4:30pm that afternoon. That was the approximate time your luggage could be expected to arrive in your stateroom. Next we faced security at the gates to the terminal. It was a breeze! All we did was hand over our passports for verification. Then came security inside the cruise terminal itself. Your day bag go through x-ray and you walk through a metal detector. Finally, it’s time to hand over your paperwork.
I’m happy that I completed all my paperwork online before the cruise. This way all we had to physically fill out was a health questionnaire to determine if we might be currently ill. It’s worth noting that Castaway Club members (those who have previously sailed on Disney Cruise Line) and Concierge Level passengers have separate check-in lines than the rest of the cruise passengers. Being that we were neither at this point we went through the regular line, which was a painless procedure. When we stepped up to the desk we once again presented our passports for scanning and a security photo of each of us was taken. Then we were presented with our Key to the World Cards (which serve as your room key and charge card) and a boarding number. Since we arrived at the port at noon they were already at open boarding and there was no wait at that point.
If you’re traveling with children, now is the time to register them for Youth Activities. The sooner you get in that line the better…it never got any shorter before we boarded. A character may be greeting passengers in the terminal and we were actually lucky enough to see Minnie! We had our picture taken before we whisked ourselves off to board the ship…I could hardly stand the wait to get on board! As you enter the Mickey shaped tunnel to board, don’t bypass your pre-cruise photos! Simply present your Key to the World card to the photographer to record your photo. This works similarily to Disney’s PhotoPass Service in the Parks. This was a nice opportunity, but frankly, I was so anxious to get on board the process was a little tedious for me. Even though it literally only took minutes. Now that I’ve cruised, I’ll probably be able to relax a little more for the photo.
As you step across the threshold to the atrium of the ship your family’s name is announced for all in the area to hear. The atrium took my breath away, it was simply beautiful! A Cast Member steps up to greet you and informs you that stateroom will be available at 1:30pm, in the meantime you are free to explore the ship, swim or get lunch on Deck 11 in Cabanas. Remember those day bags you dragged on with you? Keep in mind that you can’t drop them anyplace until your stateroom is available…so don’t pack a lot to carry around in the day bag. You have to keep them with you!
Stay tuned for further Day 1 adventures….coming soon!