We made our way to our room since we had access a little earlier than others. Unfortunately, our luggage had not arrived yet. I was a bit panicked since we did not bring it ourselves to the port and were relying on the hotel to drop it for us. I did have AirTags in each suitcase and could tell that they were STILL on the dock somewhere!!! This was driving me crazy. But, that’s ok, I shouldn’t have worried, it all worked out. We checked out our room and the goodies that were already in there.
Our cabin could in fact sleep five people, not that we would ever put five people in one cabin this size but you could. Disney cabins are a nice size.
The room has a split bathroom, so the toilet and a sink in one room and the shower and a sink in another room so it makes getting ready so much easier. We had some gifts in our room because we are platinum Castaway Club members and a couple gifts I purchased to celebrate our trip. As concierge we had some soft drinks and waters in the fridge (which were restocked each day) and a nice fruit platter. I also had asked for a fan to be in our room, granted we did not need this when we left Canada but we certainly used it when we got closer to Hawaii and it makes a great white noise. Dyson fans are amazing!!!
After we checked out our room we made our way to the Concierge Lounge to check it out. We were having a ‘meet up’ with people from our Facebook group in a little bit so we wanted to check things out while we had a few minutes.
We quickly made our way to our meet up where we finally met the people we've been 'talking with' for the past year or longer in some cases. We chit chatted for a while, had a nice drink on deck in the beautiful sunshine. It had actually got much warmer than when we first boarded the ship and I was regretting the decision to wear jeans. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of our meet up.
Right after that, it is time for the muster drill. This is the emergency drill that Disney still does in person, so every single person must report to their appropriate muster station and check in before they go over the emergency information that we hope to never, EVER have to use. Thankfully, they have this down to a science and we didn't not have to wait for any late comers this time. We were 'dismissed' very quickly and went to our room to see if our luggage had finally arrived as I was getting a little nervous at this point. Three of our four bags had shown up when we got there.
I quickly put things away, and we made our way to the concierge lounge, for some light bites and drinks. Alcohol drinks are included between 5pm and 10pm, soft drinks, waters (sparkling and three different still) and juices; along with an amazing coffee machine (and teas) are available all hours the lounge is open (7am to 10pm).
Way back in April when I booked the concierge cabin, one of the things that you can request is to have certain liquors in the lounge. Dale had requested Woodford Reserve and Sazerac. I had requested my Rosa Regale since it is something I hardly ever drink at home. Dale didn't see the Sazerac when he ordered his old fashioned and was initially disappointed, but found out later in the evening that the rack that holds the various alcohol cannot possibly hold everything and they did indeed have the Sazerac he wanted. So we sat there an enjoyed just being there! Relaxed, somewhat as I was still waiting on that final bag to arrive. We chatted with another passenger who also was waiting on a bag so it was good to know we were not the only ones.
There used to be a 'sail away' party when the ship left the dock, but that has changed and totally threw us, but it was nice to not have to feel like we had to rush to go see something we have seen so many times. We finished our lite bites and went back to our cabin and were so very happy to see our final bag had arrived. I finished putting everything away!!! I need to be 'organized' so I can enjoy our vacation. We had several events planned for the sea days and did not want to forget anything.
With all of my researching before we got on the cruise, I read over and over again to stop at the lounge before dinner or the show and get a drink to take with you. You can even take two drinks, if you want, which some would do if heading to their cabin for a bit. If grabbing a beer in a can, this was a bit easier to do. So we changed for dinner since I do not wear jeans to the dining room! I will let Dale wear jeans and I'll wear a jean skirt on rare occasions, like night one when we are still getting settled. We stopped back up to the lounge to grab our dinner drink and then it was off to the atrium for photos. Because it's just us two, we have so many 'selfies' and I purchase the on board photo package since it is one of the rare times I get photos of the two of us that are not selfies.
It was off to Animator's Palate for dinner. It doesn't matter where you eat dinner the first night as all restaurants on the ship have the same dinner. Disney had 'rotational dining' meaning that you and your dining team will move to each restaurant in order so you'll have a chance to have all the menus throughout your trip. Your dining team, server, assistant server and head server (who we saw twice this trip) travel with you to each of these restaurants.
I will say, the food this trip was not the Disney food we were used to. It was 'ok'. It was not great! The menus have been virtually the same for years with minimal changes. Our server would continually ask if everything was ok and I do not feel this is the servers fault in any way. If I can eat the food, I will, if it is something I cannot, then I will say something. Food came out just warm, if that often, which is a shame, because I do remember a time when it did come out 'hot'.
After dinner, we stopped by the lounge for a nightcap before heading back to our cabin for the evening. I love when we go back to our cabin after dinner to see what creation our room host has made with the towels. The little purple things next to our 'bear' are some amazing Spongelle lavender buffer body scrubber that leaves your body feeling amazing. I should have asked for more that I did (I brought those two home). Yes, you can buy them on Amazon, but having them in your bathroom on the cruise (only in the concierge cabin) was such a treat. Of course some chocolates are on your bed each night (and they come home with us, since we already had other chocolates to enjoy). Overall, I would say day one on the ship was amazing (after our luggage was delivered!)
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