Our last day on the cruise ship was a day at sea – no ports. We didn’t have much of an agenda and definitely took the morning slow. As we had every morning, we ordered in coffee service. The difference this time was that we didn’t have any place to be, so we were truly able to sit and enjoy our balcony for an extended period of time. I guess I sat and enjoyed it too long, because Paul actually decided he was going to get breakfast without me at Cabanas!
Throughout the day, we walked the ship – up and down, aft to forward – just to explore. I found out later that there was a ship tour that we missed, and will definitely be on the lookout during future sailings. It makes sense that the best way to learn about the ship is through the cast members that work on the ship.
We went to a showing of Avengers: End Game in the Walt Disney Theater. The stadium seating and comfy seats made this a really cool venue to watch the movie in. This is the same theater the Disney Magic has their nightly broadway shows in, which were a huge highlight of our cruise. If you are a movie buff, the Disney ships always have the latest movies released in their theaters. On our sailing, we could have watched Dumbo and Captain Marvel as well. None of the movies showing were more than 3-4 weeks old. We were still a few weeks out from the release of Aladdin, unfortunately, but that also would have been on the ship at midnight the day of release.
That night, instead of our regular rotational dining, we had reservations at Palo. Palo is an additional add-on restaurant that costs $40/person. They offer a brunch on at-sea days as well, but since those days are limited on sailings they will usually go to the castaway club members with more status that can book sooner. For those that are in the know, if you make the customer service desk your first stop after boarding, you may stumble on a reservation for not only that, but the mixology classes that tend to sell out as well.
Palo for dinner was an amazing experience. The restaurant is on a top deck at the front of the ship, so the views would be great during the daytime hours. Our reservation was at 7:30, so it was dusk already when we were seated. Our waiter, Sylvester, was a long-time employee, and he knew how to make the customer’s visit special. He brought us items that he thought we should try, and he made very educated recommendations on food he thought we would enjoy as well, as the wine we should drink with it. We began with an antipasti tray that is put together right at the table. This and wine are generally all that I need for a satisfying meal, but during the course of dinner I had the freshest gnocchi I’ve ever tasted, and Paul still talks about the freshly made pasta that he had. We finished with dessert, of course, but included in this was a lemon bar that put all other lemon bars I’ve ever eaten to shame. The up-charge for this restaurant was well worth it, and I would recommend it to anyone sailing on Disney Cruise Line.
And no, we didn’t hit the piano bar after dinner… dang it.
The next morning was disembarkation. All luggage is left outside the cabins and picked up the night before to go through customs, unless a guest wants to carry it off the ship themselves. Our luggage was actually going straight on to Delta airlines, as Disney has a partnership with them and a few others for ship check-in at some ports and resort check-in at Walt Disney World. We have used the service before at the parks and like taking advantage of it when we can. It’s one less thing to drag around. Because of the whole process, though, you really have to plan ahead on what you will need the next morning – and knowing it will have to go into the carry on, there also needs to be awareness as to what the airport will allow on the carry on luggage. Not too many liquids! Here’s the #1 tip, make sure you leave yourself clothes to wear from your luggage prior to pick up, so you’re not disembarking in your pajamas the next morning.
At best, I would have to describe disembarkation day as organized chaos, but it is very very close to disorganized, in my opinion. People were waiting to exit the ship in a line that stretched all the way to the end of the ship and back around, while people were lining up for breakfast around them. Paul and I decided to go to our rotational dining and have breakfast, in the hopes that some of the line would move out by the time we were done. I would choose to do breakfast again for this reason, but we were the only people who did. The other two couples we had spent the previous evening meals with had decided to skip and leave the ship early.
After breakfast, there was nothing else to do but get in the line and slowly proceed to the exit. Everyone has to go through customs upon disembarking, so the speed of the line is going to be dependent upon how many agents are working the desks that day. It was around an hour to go through the process and leave the customs building, where we were loaded onto a Disney Magical Express bus and taken to the airport. We had several hours to wait for our flight, since I deliberately chose a flight that was not too early, not knowing what the process was to leave the ship and get to the airport for our flight home.
There is some sense of sadness when leaving the Disney ships. You’re going back into the real world with all of your real problems again, and leaving that Disney bubble that all Disney fans know is a real thing. One offer on a Disney cruise to prolong that sense of Disney excitement is the chance to book a placeholder for a future cruise. We didn’t do this, since we have another cruse that isn’t on DCL planned in the near future, but I would have most definitely done this if we didn’t have that cruse, and encourage anyone sailing that thinks there is even a chance they will go on another to do it. There is a discount on the future sailing, plus the low amount to “hold” a booking. The next sailing has to happen in 2 years. In the event a sailing isn’t chosen in that time, the deposit will be refunded.
There are also great rates on DVC points if purchased on the ship, but that is a different story. We didn’t purchase any more…but we did seriously consider it. It was very tempting.
