2022 Disney Cruise Report Day 1 - The First Evening
When we last left the 2022 Disney Cruise Trip Report, we had just sailed away from Port Canaveral on the Disney Fantasy. Now, it is time for our first evening on the ship!
Saturday, June 4 (Continued)
The show in the main theater for the first night was an a cappella vocal group, Moonshot. The Luttrells decided to go see the show, while the Burnses decided to skip it. We spent a little more time in our room before getting dressed for dinner. Nothing too fancy for this night, because Formal Night was a little later on. But we still dress for dinner as they recommend, even if many people do not. It just makes things seem a little more fancy and a little more like a fun vacation. We don’t usually dress for dinner at home, so doing so here makes it special.
The Disney Fantasy Atrium Lobby, with a statue of Minnie Mouse in the middle
On our way out of our room with my parents, we met Reeda, our room hostess, who Jaylin had met earlier in the day. I asked again about opening the verandah dividers, and she said that she could not open them yet because of the storm, but she would open them as soon as she could. Reeda seemed very helpful and happy to see us, and we knew that we would be seeing her a lot over the next week.
We did some more ship exploring to see what we could see, although most of the ship is very similar to the Disney Dream that we have cruised on several times. It was still fun to look around and just enjoy being on the ship. We also found a few more photo opportunities with the ship photographers and their backdrops, so we took advantage of those.
Alert: Photo Overload coming ahead! Lots of photos from the ship photographers!
A white background, and our cruise casual wear for the evening
A black and white background. We found this one slightly interesting, but we did not say no to having our photo taken!
This actually looked like a black background when we were there, but we did not see the light that flashed along with the camera flash, adding a little color to the background.
Walking on the water out in front of the ship.
With Mickey and Minnie! And some people waiting patiently in the background. I wonder how many people’s pictures we were in the background for?
We also found the Luttrells for a photo with Goofy and Pluto.
Photo overload over. For now.
We went out on the Deck 4 Promenade to walk for a few minutes and just look at the water. While we were out there, Captain Hook came by for a stroll. It was fun to interact with him for a bit, even if Mom did say something that made him tell her to walk the plank!
Some fun with the Elegant Captain Hook
Once the theater show was over, we met up with the Luttrells, who had enjoyed the show. And we visited the shops on the ship for the first time, but definitely not the last time. This first visit was just a scouting trip where we did not buy anything. But we knew we would be back later on.
Walking in the shopping area. And yes, we were also shopping in the shopping area.
Our first dinner on this cruise was at Royal Court. If you do not know, there are three main restaurants on the ship. You are assigned to a restaurant each night, and you sit with the same people and have the same servers each night. We had chosen the late dinner seating as we almost always do, so our dinner time was at 8:15.
The Royal Court Restaurant, where we ate dinner our first night. This was before all of the people arrived, by the way.
We arrived at Royal Court a little early and found the usual crowd waiting. We usually don’t bother getting there early, because you don’t get any rewards for getting in first. But our timing was slightly off, so we were there with the rest of the crowd.
Laura waiting in the window for our dinner time.
Once we got inside, a server showed us to table 15, where all of us Burnses and Luttrells would sit together. From our side of the table, Laura and I had a good view of the Little Mermaid tile mural. We decided that we needed to try to see more of the murals if we had the chance later on.
The Little Mermaid tile mural near our seats. I took photos of most of the other murals, but I will save those for later. Only one Photo Overload per post.
We soon met our servers for the evening, as well as for the whole cruise. Randy was to be our main server, and Yuni was our assistant server. We also met Nolan, who was our head server. They were all very friendly and helpful, and we would enjoy our time with them for the whole week ahead.
For our dinner that evening, I chose the lobster and shrimp appetizer, onion soup, and pasta with lobster as my main course. It was all delicious, as you would expect. And Coke to drink, of course. That probably goes without saying. For dessert, I had the apple tart, which was once again delicious.
I liked these lanterns in the Royal Court restaurant, too.
While we were eating, we could really feel the motion of the ship. We had felt it all afternoon, but we could feel it even more while we were sitting down. I know that the water was rough because of the tropical storm. And as I mentioned before, Laura and I like to feel the motion of the ship. It doesn’t bother us, although I know it does bother some people We felt like we were really out on the high seas!
As is normal for us Burnses, we were among the last to leave dinner that evening. We like to sit and talk and enjoy our meal, and fortunately, everyone else at our table was the same way. It helps to know everyone so that we never ran out of things to talk about. As we got up to leave, Laura and I went around to find the other character murals. We found Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella. Once I realized how our Little Mermaid mural was off in a corner, I realized that there must be a corresponding corner on the other side, and I found an Aladdin mural there. Pretty cool!
After dinner, we went back to walk through the shops with everyone else in our group. No one was in a hurry, and the shops were not all that crowded, so it was a nice time to be there.
Laura and the Minnie Mouse statue in the Atrium Lobby of the Disney Fantasy
Everyone else decided to go on to bed for the evening. So we three Burnses (Laura, Jaylin, and Steve) decided to go for a walk on the Deck 4 Promenade. It was a fun walk, with the deck either rising up to meet us or falling away from our feet because of the ocean waves. I always know why pirates walk the way that they do after trying to walk when the ship is moving. But it is fun!
Laura saw the jewelry shop through the window, so we decided to go in and take a look. Once we were inside, we quickly realized that it was all way out of our price range. The salesman kept asking Laura what color of gold she liked, what she might be looking for, what was her favorite type of jewelry, or anything to try to get her business, but we didn’t fall for any of it. Because we wanted to be able to eat when we got back home.
Laura by the Cinderella tile mural near the Atrium Lobby on the Disney Fantasy
While we were in the jewelry store, we heard singing coming from D Lounge next door. It was family karaoke night, and things were just getting started. We decided we needed some entertainment before going to bed, so we went in and got seats near the back. Some singers were better than others, and some were just humorous. There was a large group of guys singing when we got there, and they were followed by a large group of girls. I got the feeling that almost everyone in there knew each other, and I guessed that they were part of the large 50th-anniversary celebration group that had several rooms down the hall from us. It was all fun, and we were sufficiently entertained.
But after that, we were ready for bed ourselves. So we went back to our room and found a towel lobster and some chocolates on the bed, left for us by Reeda our room hostess. She had also folded the couch down for Jaylin’s bed.
Our towel lobster left for us by Reeda
As we went to bed, we were rocked to sleep by the ocean waves, thankful that we had not seen any of the storm besides the waves that it created. It had been a wonderful first day on the Disney Fantasy!
Next time, Day 2 on the Disney Fantasy! Check back soon for more from our 2022 Disney Cruise!
