Hey everyone!
I know, it’s been a while but Day 3? It’s a lot, man. We start the day at the MCO airport and we end it out on the open sea.
Like this post is a situation.
Our first day on the ship. Our stateroom. Our first dinner on the ship. MEGA-BALCONY.
Thing is a novella.
You have your work cut out for you today.
Let’s just get to it.
Our 2023 Disney Land and Sea Extravaganza: Day 3
Day 3 started before 7AM. On account of we had A LOT to do you guys.
And being that it was so early, I decided to make use of the in-room Keurig to make some subpar-but-still-caffeinated coffee.
Which I took out to enjoy on the balcony. Because that’s how I roll.
And soon enough, I was joined by these two jabronis.
It was looking like a pretty beautiful day to head out on the sea.
You know the old saying –
Blue sky in the morning
Sailor take warning
But blue sky at MCO?
You should probably just go
The embarkation day process at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport is pretty great. When we checked in, they gave us bag tags to put on our suitcases. The bags we tagged we were instructed to leave in the room by the door. Staff would pick them up, get them transported to the ship while we were on our shuttle to the port, and the next time we’d see them would be in our stateroom.
We ended up tagging 6 bags total.
But the catch is that even if we were boarding the ship beforehand, our room wouldn’t be ready until like 2PM and our bags could potentially take even a couple hours after that to make it to our room.
So we did have a couple carry-on bags with some stuff we might need for our first couple hours on the ship and wore our bathing suits. We also had to bring any alcohol we were taking on board with us.
Which we obvs did.
Because alcohol.
We made sure the room was all packed up and went down to the lobby to meet up with everyone and get checked in.
We checked in with the staff near McCoy’s in the lobby at around 8AM.
They put us in the Mickey group. Which like. Guys,
VIP.
NBD.
FTW.
After check-in, we had like a half hour or so until we got on the shuttle so it was back to the airport food court. And since Panda Express has yet to introduce a breakfast offering for some reason, we chose McDonald’s.
But being that we didn’t want to miss our shuttle, we brought the food back up to the bar area across from McCoy’s. The table said “reserved” so we assumed that was for us. Again, we were in the Mickey group. So.
I got an Egg McMuffin, Hash Brown, and Diet Coke.
The kids had their own little morning McDonald’s vibe going on.
At check-in, Mikey was the sole representative for the Pittman clan, but after we finished our delicious – and nutritious – breakfast, the rest of them came to join us as we were getting in line for the shuttle. Look how excited these two were.
Sorry. These three. Look how excited these three were.
And yeah, Steph’s ears ARE awesome. They really Stand Out.
Right?
Because Goofy Movie?
You guys get it.
By 9:15, we were on the shuttle.
All kinds of shuttle shenanigans.
Also? While we were on our own shuttle, the O’Learys were on their own shuttle on their way to meet us at the terminal.
On account of as you might remember from my last post, the O’Learys comically booked the other Hyatt for the night before.
Just a real HIGH-larious misadventure on the part of the O’Learys
Back on our shuttle, we were enjoying some cartoons…
…and lots of over-the-seat conversations.
And at around 10AM, we started to catch sight of our floating residence for the next few days.
You guys see that ship?
That ship big.
Seriously. That’s some crazy ship.
Sorry. I’m kind of a shiphead.
We arrived at the terminal at 10:15AM. I knew that because this sign told me so.
Also this sign.
Yeah. They definitely made it clear. We were there.
We made it through security pretty quickly and were inside a relatively empty terminal by 10:25.
It’s so nice, this terminal. Unlike that movie, The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks. That thing? A real snoozer.
Amirite?
But yah a nice terminal.
Except. I mean. Look at this ship.
What is this? A ship…
FOR ANTS??
Ha, no. That’s a model you guys. Of the Disney Magic. Which I guess got that name because one side of it disappeared.
Abracadabra.
And you know what was awesome? While we were there, the O’Learys showed up. So like we were all together. All 19 of us. Finally.
We all ventured out together onto the outside observation deck. To, you know, observe.
Oof, you guys. The Disney Wish. Gah. SO PRETTY.
And, being we are all VERY photogenic, we took this opportunity to work it.
Yass queen.
I know for a fact more families took pictures but for some reason, these are the only ones I have here. Just know this:
We are all beautiful.
Since it was hot as crud outside, we quickly went back in after totally slaying. That was at around 10:30. We ended up hanging out in the terminal for another hour or so before they started boarding the ship. And we took that time to ensure we were connected on the Disney Cruise Line app. This allowed us to see our dining rotation and start looking at our Personal Navigator and see all the activities we could look forward to.
I believe we were Group 3 so we started moving onto the ship pretty soon after boarding started.
We were crossing the gangway by 11:35.
And before we knew it, we were being announced on the ship.
I love being announced. I wish I could just have someone announce me wherever I go all the time. Like:
“And now, entering the office, Wayne Goodreau”
Or
“Please welcome to Gas Pump #4, Wayne Goodreau”
Or even
“Put your hands together for Wayne Goodreau, who just finished a whole row of Double Stuf OREOS in one sitting.”
I just wanna be loved.
It’s hard to explain that feeling of first walking onto the ship though. Having your name announced. Seeing that beautiful atrium. And that feeling that you’re about to go on kind of an adventure. I mean, we weren’t like Magellan or anything, but still. Eating ice cream in the middle of the ocean is kind of an adventure.
I don’t know. Like I said, hard to explain.
I mean, seriously. Tiana was there.
I didn’t realize we’d have legit celebrities on this ship.
Since we were already on the ship, we were able to watch some other members of our party board the ship.
Like the O’Learys.
And the Pittmans.
And yeah guys – the Marquados and the Falzones also boarded. But they boarded before us. But don’t get all worked up. They were on the ship. Jeesh.
But seriously, you guys. This ship. Insanely pretty. Like, at every turn. This chandelier is a whole situation.
Even as we walked down the hallways. Everything was so shiny and clean. It was like a giant dentist’s office where I can get drunk.
Unlike a normal-sized dentist’s office where I can get drunk.
On our way, we passed the Bayou, a Princess and the Frog themed lounge.
Our room not being ready yet, the plan was to go get some lunch and check out the pool deck. We toyed with the idea of doing a sit-down lunch but all agreed to try out the Mickey and Friends Festival of Foods.
I know, man. It’s crazy stuff.
We boarded on Deck 3, but the Festival of Foods was up on 11.
To the elevators!
And I feel like I should comment on this now. A BIG criticism of the Wish since its launch has been the elevator situation. Unlike other Disney ships, which have three elevator banks (one bow, one aft, one midship), the Wish only has two banks (bow and aft). And several reviews we saw have stated this created crowds which have made the elevators useless.
Lots of elev-haters out there.
But at no point during our trip did we have any issues when we needed to use the elevator. We always found an open one when we needed it. I mean, full transparency, we used the stairs a lot out of choice but whenever we wanted an elevator? We got one.
OK yeah, back to lunch.
When we got up to Deck 11, it was relatively empty by the Festival of Foods so we grabbed a table around this area.
See? I’m not lying. Here we are. Grabbing a table around this area.
This area? Probably not the best place to grab a table on a hot day. On account of it was essentially a greenhouse but for humans.
But hey, we were already here. So we suffered through it. And I mean, maybe it was a good thing. It felt like we were sweating out calories as fast as we were taking them in.
Science.
Before grabbing lunch, I did want to grab a couple drinks of the day for me and Nickie so I made my way over to the bar near the pool deck. Which allowed me to get my first look at the pool deck.
Ugh. So exciting.
And yeah, this was open-air. Still hot, but there was at least air flow. Would have been a good idea to move out here for lunch.
But nope, we stayed firmly planted in our glass coffin.
Oh right. The drink of the day was a Captain’s Mai Tai.
And while I did buy one for me and Nickie, Larissa became best friends with literally every single person trying to sell her something on the ship on account of she said yes to everything they offered so she grabbed her and Nickie a drink already. No worries though. Tony was there to scoop up that extra Mai Tai.
He’s a superhero like that.
So okay. At Festival of Foods, you have four different food stations to choose from:
- Donald’s Cantina –Burritos, Tacos, and Mexican Bowls.
- Daisy’s Pizza Pies –Duh, pizza.
- Goofy’s Grill – Standard grill items like Hamburgers and Hot Dogs, but also serving Chicken Tenders for some reason also
- Mickey’s Smokestack Barbecue – Pulled Pork, Ribs, Brisket, Chicken, tons of sides. This place was the jam.
Yeah, I went for Mickey’s Smokestack Barbecue.
Look. At. This. Situation.
Yup. I know. That IS an incredible looking plate. I got Pulled Pork, Brisket, Sausage, Ribs, Baked Mac and Cheese, Collared Greens, and a Texas Jalapeno Corn Bread. And a bunch of different sauces, ranging from sweet to hot.
Just like. Got it. No money had to be exchanged. I just said, “hey I would like that food” and they just gave me that food.
Xanadu this was.
And everything was delicious. Like seriously. I enjoyed every single thing on that plate.
And for dessert?
I disgustingly also got some Chicken Tenders at Goofy’s Grill.
I know. Shameful.
But they were Disney Cruise Line Chicken Tenders you guys. I mean. I’m not made of stone.
All of us were either already wearing our bathing suits or brought them in our carry-ons to change into so we made our way to the pool deck next.
The pools were relatively empty, which was nice.
I loved how the Wish had multiple pools to choose from on the main deck and while, yes, they did get crowded at times, I feel like we could always get in them if we wanted to. Most of them were pretty shallow, which I know has also been a point of contention for people. But I kind of dug it. In pools, I’m much more of a “hanging out and not moving” kind of person so I appreciated how these were designed to just sort of sit in. Especially if there was a good movie playing on the Funnel Vision screen.
I will say, though, the pools were pretty warm for the most part. I mean, as mentioned, it was hot out. In fact, the deck? You couldn’t even step on it without something on your feet. And being so shallow, these things would heat up quickly. I get all that. But there has to be a way to cool them a little. No?
I only ended up spending a couple minutes in the pool because Mia, Owen, and I got in line for the AquaMouse. Which I took no pictures of. Because, you know, it’s a water ride.
Really fun though. Kind of a combination water slide/roller coaster/screen attraction type of thing. And yeah, it goes out over the boat. Goes up. Goes down. You get wet. You watch some cartoons. Good time. Recommend.
After we got off the AquaMouse, I met up with Nickie to check out the infinity pool in the Adults-Only area of the ship. Oh yeah.
This was niiice you guys. Plus at least for today, this pool actually had a little bit of a chill to it. Which was needed.
The whole adult area was pretty ritz. They also had this water-seat area set up facing off the ship.
The back of that had a constant waterfall. Yeah, we were kind of living our best lives up there. And you know what made it even better? Larissa came to join us.
We ended up spending probably like 25 minutes out there before heading back to the main pool area to join up with everyone.
That pool up there was one of the deeper ones in the main deck so a good chunk of our party were hanging out in there. While there, Sophia said she wanted to check out the Toy Story Splash Zone so Owen and I volunteered to take her.
Place was a madhouse of course (think Lord of the Flies but slightly more intense) but Sophia enjoyed it immensely so that helped cut through the terrible a little bit.
There was also a little wading pool across the way so we checked out that situation.
When we brought Sophia back to Steph and Mikey, Steph offered to watch the girls for a bit while I took Mikey to check out the Infinity pool.
And while we were there, another couple in the pool started talking to us and they asked us about our trip, were we celebrating anything, et cetera et cetera. I am pretty sure they thought we were a couple.
Pfft. I mean.
They thought I could land Mikey? Flattered obvs.
I think we probably chilled in in the infinity pool for about 15 minutes or so before we decided to head to our staterooms. Because our rooms were ready!!
I’d also like to point out – everything from boarding the ship until this point happened in around two hours. It was a lot. Is what I am saying to you now.
And we were excited to finally get a look at our stateroom. But on our way? Ice cream #1 of the trip. Dude. We could just have ice cream whenever we wanted. Again, you can just be like, “I would like some ice cream” and then they just like hand you ice cream.
And the flavors changed daily. Well, I mean, there was always chocolate and vanilla but on most days there would also be another flavor available.
Except for today though. First day was just chocolate and vanilla.
Pfft. JUST. What am I talking about?
By 2:20PM, we were in our room. And you know what that means – room tour!!
Here’s where the magic happens. And by “magic,” I mean “sleep.” Because dreams are magic.
But yeah, that was where Nickie and I would be sleeping. Behind which was this illuminated painting.
The boys were sleeping to the right of that bed. The couch in the room turned into a bed and there was another bed that could be brought down out of the ceiling. Essentially, these two worked as bunk beds. Our room attendant would come in every night while we were out at dinner to set the boys’ beds up and in the morning, after we would leave the for the day, he would come in and put their beds away so we could have the run of the full room.
Dude was a miracle-maker.
And no worries – there are some pictures of this whole setup later. So chill out, man. It’s coming.
The art behind our bed wasn’t the only piece in the room. And everything in our room was themed to the Princess and the Frog.
The bathroom was split into two separate areas – the one closest to the door held the toilet and a sink.
And in the other room was a surprisingly roomy shower and another sink.
We had a verandah room, which meant.
Well, it meant we had a verandah.
Keep up.
We were still docked, so our view at the moment was of the cruise terminal.
But soon enough, our view would be nothing but open ocean. And what was especially awesome was that a bunch of us (us, the Pittmans, the Falzones, and the O’Learys) all had rooms right next to each other so they opened up our balconies to connect. Which, I mean.
MEGA-BALCONY obvs squad.
And yeah, unforch the Marquados booked a little later than the rest of us so while they were on our same floor with a verandah, they weren’t right next to us.
Since we were 2nd-time cruisers on the Disney Cruise Line, we were already Silver Members in Disney’s Castaway Club. Which meant we were welcomed to our stateroom with free shizz.
Which is the best kind of shizz.
Free.
All four of us got special Silver Castaway Club lanyards. To show we were better than a lot of other people. Not ALL the people. But a lot of them.
And there was a rull nice tote bag. For toting things.
But wait.
There’s more.
We also pre-ordered the Luxury at Sea for One: Romance Package. We ordered it for only “one” because while I wanted the plush Disney Cruise Line robe to take home…
Which I mean. Thing is plush AF.
Nickie wanted the rose and bottle of Bottega Spumante. And I mean, we all wanted the chocolates.
We also ordered the boys two Captain Mickey cupcakes.
On account of we are incredible parents and deserve some sort of Incredible Parents that Buy Their Kids Cupcakes award.
I mean, it SHOULD be a thing.
By this point, it was around 2:45. Wow. I’ve written like 11 pages in Microsoft Word and it’s only 2:45?
I really need a new hobby.
So yeah though. It was 2:45 and we hadn’t gotten our bags at this point yet so we settled in and looked over the library of Disney content available to us. We landed on this gem of a gem.
Goofy is without a doubt the best example of what a father should be across literally every piece of media or content in the world ever created. How DARE you take him for granted, Max.
After the movie was over, a decision had to be made. Do we make our way up to Deck 11 for the Sail-Away Party? Or do we avoid the heat and the crowds and just watch the ship pull away from the verandah?
The answer was….
While most of the crew were gonna stick in the room, Sophia and Mikey joined me and the boys up on Deck 11 for the party.
And the Marquados joined us up there as well. So, like, at least some of us knew how to party.
And yeah man. It was hot as crud up there. Like, instant sweat. Thankfully, there were cast members walking around with these drinks that started out frozen but became not frozen within a matter of seconds.
But I mean, if we were hot, I can only imagine how the performers were feeling.
Doing God’s work up there.
Sophia and Mikey were deffo impressed.
But it WAS fun and I was glad we went. I especially loved the part where we all counted down to the ship pulling away from the dock. It was all very exciting.
And the best part? We made it back to the room to have some champagne on the verandah as we cruised out into open ocean. Like rich people.
Here we go, you guys.
It was a pretty awesome moment. Filled with so many things I love.
Good friends.
New adventures.
Boats.
Drinking.
All the things.
While we were sailing away, our bags finally made it to our room. So we quickly unpacked before getting ready for dinner. Like, real quickly. Because we had the early seating, which meant we had dinner at 6PM.
And by 5:50, we were walking across the atrium on Deck 3 towards dinner. I can’t EVEN with this place.
Dinner tonight was at 1923 and we were being seated in the Roy Disney section of the restaurant.
And this restaurant? Pretty schwank stuff. Named 1923 after the year the Walt Disney Company was founded, the whole place is a sort of celebration of all things Disney. Props from Disney films and drawings of Disney characters fill the entire space.
OK you guys. So. There wasn’t much to complain about on this cruise. Honestly. Spoiler alert – this was a near-perfect experience.
However, our dinners were a bit erm…not the best. Now the food was incredible throughout. I loved a lot of what I ate on this cruise. But the surrounding experience wasn’t the best. And it came down to two things – the seating situation and the service situation.
So first, the seating situation. Now I get it. We were 19 people. That’s a lot. So we expected to be split up. NBD.
However, every night, as part of our table assignments, there was always a table of six. We had four families of four and one family of three in our group. In no possible way would a table of six make sense. We tried to talk to our team about fixing this each night.
Yet there it was. Every night. That stupid table of six ripping families apart.
It was a situation literally every night at dinner.
Secondly, the service situation. So for those who don’t know, your serving team follows you through every dinner. The waitstaff you have on the first night is the same waitstaff you have on the second night. And the third night. And et cetera and also the other nights. Which is usually a great thing. On our last cruise, we loved our team. They learned what we liked, they got to know us. They were a big part of our cruise.
This time around, because of our large group, there were two main servers taking care of our group. I don’t wanna share names but there was a man and there was a woman. The woman was taking care of some members of our party and the man was taking care of the group that included us.
And he wasn’t the best. I get that timing is everything in these cruise dinners but he rushed us constantly and made us feel like we were a bother simply because we were a larger group. Every night, we got our food before we even saw our drinks. Which, like, is craptastic. He wasn’t great.
And that was a shame. Literally every other person we interacted with on the ship was awesome. Super friendly. Super helpful. But this dude. Picked the wrong line of work.
I know. I hated writing all that. But I wanna be completely honest with you guys. And again, this was it. Everything else was great. And this trip still ended up being one of my favorite trips but it did kind of suck that dinner, which btw is something you are supposed to be looking forward to, ended up being less-than-stellar because of the service.
But the food? Still incredible. So let’s get on with it.
Here’s a look at the menu.
And here’s a look at me and Tony, who was bummed they didn’t have blue cheese stuffed olives at 1923.
And here’s a look at me and Nickie, who had no opinion on the blue cheese stuffed olives.
They started us off with some fig and olive bread and whipped honey butter.
Being that I knew how to cruise, I ordered three appetizers.
The Alameda Porcini Spiced Ahi Tuna (with Pickled Lotus Root, Oyster Mushroom, Black Sesame Brittle, Wasabi & Yuzu Mayonnaise).
I honestly don’t think there has ever been a more artistic picture of tuna taken ever before.
The Kingswell Duck Confit Pastilla (with Dates, Apricot, Finger, Red Pepper, Saffron, and Black Raspberry Jam).
And the Burrata Mozzarella Cheese & Prosciutto di Parma, served with a Crisp Cranberry and Sunflower Seed Phyllo.
All three were excellent. I think of the three my favorite was the Ahi Tuna but I wouldn’t hesitate to order any of those apps again. The tuna was insanely fresh. The duck confit pastilla was super flavorful and the saffron came through hard. And that burrata was all sorts of creamy.
Seriously. All three appetizers. I love you.
As mentioned, we got our drinks after our apps arrived. Yes, tonight too.
Here is what was supposed to be a dirty vodka martini but instead turned out to be a regular vodka martini. But still I mean.
Vodka martini.
For my main entrée I went with the Italian Flat Parsley and Rosemary-Crusted Rack of Lamb. Served with Dauphinoise Potato, Roasted Petite Turnip, Carrot and Zucchini, and a Zinfandel Rosemary Sauce, this thing was bomb. Insanely good.
I also snagged a pic of Nickie’s 1923 Peppered Filet Mignon with Buttered Long Green Beans, Smoked Bacon, Crushed Fingerling Potato Hash, and Pink Pepper Café Au Lait.
Which I did have a bite of. And which was a tasty filet. But that lamb you guys. Oof, so good. In fact, it was so good Mikey ordered another dish of it.
Yup. Second Entrée. Real proud of that kid.
The lamb ended up kind of being the talk of the table, so Terry also made his way down to our side of the table to try some of Mikey’s second-helping.
To go with dessert, I ordered a Cappuccino. Which was fine. Nothing spectacular but it had foam and caffeine so it checked the boxes.
And for actual dessert, Nickie and I made the decision to order two desserts and split them. We went with the Hollywood Hills Hot Chocolate Fudge Sundae (Vanilla Ice Cream, Fudge Brownie Bites, Fresh Whipped Cream, and a Glazed Cherry).
And the Atwater Fuji Apple Cheesecake (Sweet Dough Shell, Caramelized Apples, Cinnamon Cheesecake, Rolled Oat Crumble).
And both were excellent choices. I mean, the sundae was a sundae. Of course it was good. It’s a sundae.
But if I had to only get one dessert at 1923 (thankfully, that is NOT the case), I would go with the Fuji Apple Cheesecake. It was insanely good. I mean, I love cheesecake all the time, but this was really really good. The apple flavor was good but left room for the cinnamon to come through as well. It was just a very well put-together and beautiful dessert.
Really. I mean the service aside….dinner was incredible tonight. From app to entrée to dessert, everything I ate was good.
And after we finished dinner, looking out of the portholes in the restaurant told us we were properly on the ocean now.
It was around 7:30 at this point. And as we walked back into the Grand Hall, we walked right into a performance by Disney Victrophonics, a jazz ensemble that plays both jazzy versions of Disney songs as well as mainstay jazz standards.
I just said “jazz” far too much.
Jazz.
They.
Were.
Amazing.
So fun. They even had a tap dancer up there.
And speaking of dancing, we danced our way out to the main floor. All of us. Got jiggy with it.
But most especially? Sophia. She was killing it.
Yeah. I know. That picture is a little blurry. But it’s the best I could do. She could not stop slaying long enough for me to take a proper picture.
Since we had an early seating for our dinners, the nightly entertainment followed dinner at 8:30. So we eventually left the dance floor and went up to our room to get show-ready. And I mean, obvs squad check out the view off the verandah.
And to check out the view on the verandah. Rawr.
The whole “getting ready” thing was quick because we had to get down to the Walt Disney Theater for the show.
Of course, though, before the show, we had to stop off at the concession stand.
Because I mean, did you even see a show if you did so without popcorn?
Also, did you even see a show if you did so without a Coors Light?
Oh and yeah, of course I bought the refillable popcorn bucket. Because, duh, I was gonna have a lot of popcorn on this trip. And, like, not only can you use that bucket on the ship but you can also use it at the parks. So it just made sense.
It really is, nice clown person. Why don’t I come down there and we can talk about more snacks we love?
And I gotta say – I had a pretty great seat for the show.
Well yeah, it provided a nice view of the stage for sure. But also I had this bit of awesome to my right.
And this ball of cute to my left.
The show tonight was Seas the Adventure. I couldn’t take any pictures during the show, but the overall plot was that Captain Minnie had to turn the job of steering the ship over to Goofy for a little bit and, like, I mean. He’s Goofy. So things don’t really go according to plan. He ends up steering the ship through different scenes featuring Disney characters (such as Tiana, Hercules, Crush, Moana, Elsa, and Merida) and iconic songs.
And man, I LOVED this show. It was so well put-together. It was a perfect blend of familiar and new and I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time.
And yes, I cried. Of course I did.
Plus, Scarlett was legit killing me this entire show. She loved everything about it – from the chair that folded up to Tiana to the end where we all got up and danced. She was a super duper theater companion.
After the show, Robyn and Terry had a bourbon tasting so they headed off while the rest of us looked through our Personal Navigator to see what activities were available for the rest of the night. We toyed with the idea of trivia, maybe going to see a movie, but Myles, Owen, and Jimmy wanted to check out a drawing class so I volunteered to take them while the rest of the crew went up to Deck 11 to watch Enchanted on the Funnelvision screen by the pools.
The drawing class was in Triton’s Lounge. The four of us grabbed some seats in the back row.
Tonight, we were learning how to draw Captain Minnie.
And it was a pretty fun situation. There was a live host but she played a video of a Disney animator taking us step-by-step through the process of drawing Captain Minnie. And yeah, I think we all did a pretty great job.
And after we finished? We were still able to join everyone else to catch the end of Enchanted.
Which would have obviously been an awesome end to an awesome day.
But the night was not over just yet.
After Enchanted finished, we headed back down to our staterooms. And as I mentioned before, our stateroom attendant worked miracles. He cleaned our room for the second time today and set up the kids’ beds.
Cozy AF, right?
And check out the ceiling above the top bunk.
But not only did he get all that set up for us, he also left us this crab-shaped towel animal and some chocolates.
And those weren’t the only surprises we came back to tonight. We also got our first fish extender gifts!
I can hear you saying, “Fish extender gifts? What’s a fish extender? I don’t know what that is. What is it? Answer me. ANSWER ME!!”
And it’s like. Wow. Patience isn’t your strong suit. I’ll answer you but I’m gonna need you to calm down.
…
…
OK.
So a fish extender is the little hook thing outside your stateroom door where they leave your key or your bill or something like that. And people use that hook to hang these pockets off for each person staying in their room. And then, these people (us included) join Facebook groups with other people on the same cruise and essentially exchange gifts with each other. You let people know who your favorite characters are and what not and who is in your room and they let you know the same thing and then, like, people leave you gifts and you leave them gifts.
It’s pretty great. Here’s what our fish extender looked like. Also, what our door looked like. Because, yeah, of course we had magnets.
And for tonight’s gift…
…we got a whole bag of awesome.
Candy and koozies and a picture frame and some glow bracelets and some reusable straws. All tied up with an ornament for our tree.
Presents are legit my love language.
At this point, it was about 10:45PM. So OBVIOUSLY it was time to order some late-night room service.
OBVIOUSLY.
We ordered the All Hands on Deck cheese platter.
Look at this Babybell tho.
And like, get comfortable with this cheese platter. Because we became really good friends with it this trip.
We also ordered a couple Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars.
And Owen, interestingly, ordered some Chicken Noodle Soup.
I paired my cheese platter with some Oban of course.
And we brought everything out onto the MEGA-BALCONY.
Dude. Come on. This was awesome. It was pitch black outside. We were surrounded by open water and good friends. And we were eating cheese.
How can you NOT want to go on a cruise now?
And this was only Day 1 of the cruise. Cuh-razy.
Everyone packed it up around 11:30ish I think. A little earlier, we started watching Lady and the Tramp while we were waiting for the room service to arrive. So we finished that up before heading to bed.
And yeah, I mean. That was Day 1 of the cruise but officially day 3 of our full trip. A great day legit filled to the brim with all the stuff.
And tomorrow? We get to wake up on the ship. Get excited!
Until then – take care you guys.
Last post – Day 2
Next post – Day 4
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