4-night Disney Destiny Maiden Voyage - Days 1 and 2 Travel and Embarkation

Travel to Fort Lauderdale and Embarkation

Back in July, my friend Heather asked me if I might like to go with her on the maiden voyage of the Disney Destiny in November. It had never even crossed my mind to go on a maiden voyage, but it seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity so I said yes, paid my half of the fare and booked my flights. And so it was that I found myself flying solo to Miami to meet up with her in Fort Lauderdale to embark on a unique voyage. 

My flights were uneventful and when I arrived in Miami I jumped onto the Tri Rail to make my way to Fort Lauderdale. The timing of my flight out just worked better for me to travel to Miami. Once in Fort Lauderdale, I grabbed a Lyft to the hotel and met up with Heather and some of the other folks that work at her travel agency (and some of the friends they had brought along with them as well) for dinner. After dinner, we went to our room and organized our belongings for embarkation the following morning.

We woke up and took turns in the bathroom and munched some quick breakfast from the Starbucks in the lobby. Heather has Pearl status with DCL, which meant that we got the first port arrival time (10:45 AM) and boarding group 2. However, it seemed that half the ship also had the same status because the port was absolutely packed. Even so, check-in and security went smoothly and we found some seats to wait for boarding. Heather found some people she knew that were cast members at the call center the TAs use for booking so I got to meet some of those nice folks. Boarding began around 11:30 and our group was called around 11:40 and pretty much the entire terminal got up and headed for the ship. It was just a huge mass of humanity. It’s been awhile since I’ve done the embarkation photo, but we both agreed, as this was a unique situation. 

We got onboard and because the ship had been in port overnight without any passengers (a “dark night”) we were able to go straight to our rooms. We dropped off our stuff and went to Marceline to eat lunch. After lunch, we explored the ship taking photos and seeing all the great themed areas. This ship has the same layout as the Wish, which I was less into than the other ships. Indeed, many things I didn’t like about the Wish I still don’t like about the Destiny, but I enjoyed the theming much more. “Heroes and Villains” is definitely more my style! Heather had some coffee from Cafe Merida and I tried out the interactive Haunted Mansion game which is a scavenger hunt type game similar to the Midship Detective Agency on the Dream and Fantasy. I don’t recall the Wish having anything like that and I haven’t been on the Treasure.

After a while I decided to grab a coffee and went to Cafe Megera (one deck below Cafe Merida, but pretty much in the same spot) and returned to the room to unpack before the muster drill. Our muster station was in the Marvel restaurant which was nice because we could sit down.

After the drill, we went up to the top deck to attend the sail away party. I haven’t gone to one in a while, but again, this seemed like a unique situation so we both decided to go. I’m glad we did because not only did we have a great spot to see all the characters, Susan Egan came out to kick things off. (Susan Egan is the godmother of the ship and you may know her as the voice of Meg from Hercules as well as Belle in the original cast of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.) 

After the sail away party (during which we had already set sail) Heather returned to the room to continue to organize her belongings and I went to the atrium for the “Legend of Loki” in which two storytellers told his story and then he came out for an appearance to tell them they had it all wrong and so forth. These storytellers popped up for various stories throughout the cruise, but this was actually the only time I went to one of their shows. After this I ran into Courtney, who I had learned a few days earlier would be on the sailing—she used to be Emmaline’s theatre teacher at kidsActing. We caught up a bit and then Loki passed by so of course we took a selfie with him. 

I returned to the room and met back up with Heather and we went off to dinner, which that evening was in the Marvel restaurant. We were linked with the other folks from her agency, but we seemed to be the first to arrive. After a while Heather got a message that they wouldn’t be coming and would just grab something in the Concierge Lounge because they wanted to go shopping instead. I guess there was some exclusive Concierge merchandise and they wanted to ensure they could get some before it sold out. They had all been on a preview sailing previously so they had already experienced the restaurants.

Now, let me back up just a bit to a few days before the sailing. Someone in the Facebook group had posted that Susan Egan (who I previously mentioned) would be onboard and there would be a special show she was doing with some other Broadway stars including Jordan Fisher and James Monroe Iglehart. Emmaline and I had seen James Monroe Iglehart on Broadway in Aladdin. In fact, it was Emmaline’s first ever Broadway show, and possibly her first ever live theatre experience. I didn’t tell her who would be onboard, but we had a photo of James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie that we had gotten at the show when we saw it in August of 2014. Before leaving, while she was at school, I rummaged around her room until I found the photo and took it in my bag with me, along with a sharpie, just in case I ran into him. 

Back to our dinner: Heather and I are chatting and I hear a laugh from the next table over. I look over Heather’s shoulder and there he is! I look at Heather, look at him, look at Heather. And I’m DYING. What are the chances? What do I do? I can’t bother the guy at dinner with his family. I’m freaking out though because will there be another chance to meet him? So, between courses I race back to the room, grab the photo and race back. I bide my time and when the meal is over and we’re all getting up, I make my way over. 

“Excuse me, may I ask you a favor?” I say. He sort of looks at me quizzically, maybe wondering where this is going. I tell him about Emmaline and that she’s currently applying to colleges for Musical Theatre. I explain that Aladdin was the first ever show she saw and how much we loved it. I produce the photo and ask if he might sign it for me. He’s delighted. He signs it and is so kind and gracious. He then says, “Do you have your phone on you?” I affirm that I do and he orders me to hand it over, which I do. He opens up the camera and records a video message for her. I’m absolutely dying. I thank him and we take a selfie and I’m just over the moon. What a great guy. 

After dinner, I returned the signed photo to the room and we headed back out to do a little shopping and play the Haunted Mansion game. Apparently the rest of the gang’s shopping was a little crazy. There was a fight over some of the merch (and they had plenty of it so that was pointless). Literally they had to pull two ladies off each other over a bag. There was a line to get into the main shop on deck 5, but it moved quickly. We had pre-ordered a few items that were left in the room for us, but we still wanted to check out all the options. 

We decided to skip the show for the evening and instead made our way to the Haunted Mansion parlor. It was the perfect time because it was really chill inside. This was one of my favorite areas of the ship. The theming was absolutely incredible and it was just so chill and amazing inside. What a huge step up from the bland and boring Hyperspace Lounge on the Wish—what a missed opportunity that space was. I love Star Wars, but Hyperspace Lounge just doesn’t feel right to me. It’s like the empire when really I want to be part of the rebellion. I wish it were more like Oga’s at the parks: gritty and fun. Instead it’s polished and sterile. Back to the Destiny; The Haunted Mansion Parlor is perfection and I loved it. 

We left there and got in line to meet Minnie Mouse in her new Hero costume. The line was already long, even when we got in it 15 minutes before her meet was scheduled to start. She spent a lot of time with each person so things took a while and, spoiler alert, nearly every character meet was like this during the cruise. Long, long wait, but many of the characters were unique and they really tried to make the experience with each person unique and personal so I didn't mind.

After Minnie Mouse, we went back to the room and crashed. We were super tired from the long day!