Trip log, day one. Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise on Disney Destiny
August 1, 2026
Guests Onboard: 3:00 pm
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Welcome back to the start of another trip report as we embark on the Disney Destiny in Fort Lauderdale for a 5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise with scheduled stops in Cozumel and Castaway Cay. This cruise is our seventh DCL Blog Group Cruise, which will include a number of planned activities, games, excursions, and spontaneous adventures. Our captain for this cruise is Jason Preston. As for our onboard entertainment, Trent Hitchcock is our Cruise Director.
Kinda like my age, I’ve lost track of the number of cruises I’ve been on in my life. I’ve been fortunate to sail as much as I have. However, it is not a data point I keep at the ready, and you can ask my family. I never remember how old I am. I’m more of a ballpark guy on age and cruises. With regard to Disney cruises, I just know I am a bit away from getting the family name up on the sign at Castaway Cay. During this sailing, I was asked more than once, and I think this is a good data point to include here at the start of a brand-new trip report. This is my 42nd, my wife’s 41st, and our daughter’s 39th Disney Cruise. Plus, add another 6 non-Disney Cruise sailings over the last few years (5 for our daughter) bringing my nights onboard to over 250, which have opened my eyes to how things are done similarly, worse, and better by other cruise lines – some “things” are 100% subjective. I strive to make it clear when it is subjective and from time to time I may reference the way things used to be or how things are done on other lines.
Our morning started at home before our friend drove us over to Orlando International Airport (MCO), where we boarded the Brightline train to Fort Lauderdale. We love everything about the Brightline experience…..except for the cost. Often, it is cheaper to drive, pay the turnpike tolls, port parking for the duration of the voyage and the tank of gas than it is for a family of 3 to take the train between Orlando and South Florida. Luckily, Emily is very good at waiting for deals and booking accordingly. Of note, we always do the Smart fare and find it to be perfect for us.
If you are looking for the best value, it is better to drive, however, this is stress free and it is 3 hours of productive time if you need to get things done.
We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale Brightline station a little before 12:25 PM and requested a rideshare. Our Lyft driver arrived, I kid you not, within 2 minutes and he took a different route through the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel (New River Tunnel) to Port Everglades than every other driver we’ve had to date shaving off a good 10-15 minutes. Now, I am curious why this isn’t the way for all drivers as all others have gone a route with countless stop lights and traffic since we’ve taken rides since the tunnel renovation project completed.
We handed over our luggage to the porters on the ground floor of the parking garage and bypassed the multiple full queues based on port arrival times (PAT). Since our PAT was much earlier, we were allowed proceed without an additional wait.
Now, I am happy to report a major improvement since our November sailing from Port Everglades. There is now a dedicated exterior line for Pearl Castaway Club Members and Concierge guests whereas before, all guests were loaded into the queue and only inside was a breakout of the lines.
I’ll break this down based on timestamps of photos. Our driver pulled into the garage at 12:36, we were walking towards the line at 12:41 and by 12:54 we were checked-in, through security, and headed towards the Mickey ears to board the ship.
That is until Emily spotted something on the other side of the terminal… a Collectable Penny machine and a medallion machine. I was not planning to take photos in the terminal so this is the best I have at the moment. The machines are in the bottom left of this image or back left of the terminal opposite side of the Mickey Ear entrance to the ships.
These pennies are different from the versions we’ve gotten at Port Canaveral. The pennies are $1 each or all 8 for $5. Tap of my phone and viola, 8 tiny souvenirs.
The Collectible Medallion designs were ok but I didn’t feel the “need” to get all 4 for $20. I decided to just get the version with Captain Mickey and captain Minnie since I liked the back that was unique to Port Everglade. Well, there is no way to tell the machine you only want 1 for $6 when you tap a card on the reader. It just assumes you want all 4 and thus charges you for all four. So, now I have the full set for $20.
Not even onboard and I spent $28 on souvenirs. At least I can repurpose the medallions as golf ball markers or give them out to folks on the course who don’t have a marker.
Anyway, after being sidetracked by something shiny, we corrected course and boarded the Disney Destiny and proceeded directly to Donald’s Cantina for lunch.
The Heinz sauce dispensers were spotted near Goofy’s Grill as part of the Walt Disney Company’s recent long term strategic alliance with Heinz.
Someone asked me about the survival beer packages, and for the life of me, I could not remember which social media platform nor could I locate a private message where this question was asked. I apologize to the individual and hope you see it here or in the social media post I put out. Also pictured below are the beers that were available.
Another reason we prefer to arrive later in the day to board the ship, is that once lunch is over, our staterooms are available.
We are staying in stateroom 6696 a 4E Deluxe Family Oceanview with Verandah located on deck 6 starboard, aft featuring quite a unique layout; it is the same room we stayed in during our first sailing (the Christening cruise) back in November of last year. It is a quasi-one bedroom ‘suite’ that sleeps four with plenty of space for activities; so much space that I wish there was an arm chair in the main room and a proper coffee table. The verandah space is narrow but wraps around the aft corner with sliding doors in the bedroom and the main room.
There is one lounger that is in somewhat of a fixed orientation due to the narrow width, but there are now 2 deck chairs and a table on the opposite side, which were not here previously and are a welcome addition in my opinion.
This is our first sailing with the new Castaway Club gifts and while you will never EVER catch me wearing that backpack, the travel blanket with the embroidered logo folds up, and packs up with a zipper to form a pillow, which is awesome. The Mickey carabiner is a lovely touch.
Finally, the Castaway Club Pearl lanyards. Emily have gone to using mag wallets on our phones and have not used lanyards in several cruises (including non-DCL sailings).
We unpacked our carryon bags and then headed to the Sanctum for a meet and greet and passing out of welcome gifts including a Tervis Tumbler with the cruise logo.
I want to start out by thanking the team at our group cruise travel partner, Storybook Destinations, led by owner Tammy Whiting, for the heavy lifting leading up to the cruise and sorting out all the logistics along the way with agents Heather Jarrett and Misty Watkins, who were also onboard helping throughout the trip.
We headed back to the stateroom to find all of our suitcases waiting outside! After unpacking, it was time for the in-person muster drill, which starts with a video playing in your stateroom.
Screenshot
We descended the stairs to our muster station in Worlds of Marvel and the drill felt a little better than previous and seemed to a bit shorter in duration. Pictured below, new-to-us drink of the day souvenir cups.
Initially, the plan was to meet on deck 12 for the sail away, but Mother Nature had other plans which moved the festivities into the Grand Hall.
Now, this was a perfect storm of the deck 4 doors being open during the muster drill allowing humid air to enter, add in guests on decks 3, 4, and 5 for the party and it was a bit unpleasant in terms of temperature and humidity with little air movement. Honestly, I am not sure if there is even a fix because physics and nature finds a way and there is only so much an HVAC system can cycle. Looking around it did not deter guests, but there were a few that decided to skip it since it was in a sardine can.
Our dinner rotation this cruise is Pride Lands, 1923, Worlds of Marvel, Pride Lands, and 1923. Tonight’s dinner in Pride Lands features the Lion King show.
It was a bit difficult to see the menus with the lights turned down, and a number of us at the table resorted to using the lights on our phones. The first Pride Lands rotational menu (kids’ menu) is the same as we’ve experienced before just re-organized a bit, so expectations were high based on two prior dining experiences. Isabelle enjoyed her first experience in this venue.
The food was flavorful, but in some dishes spent too much time under the heat lamps. The chicken dish I raved about back in November was lack luster this evening which is a shame, as it was a wonderful dish when the ship launched.
I do not know why I keep ordering dessert. The dessert plating is always top tier, but more often than not, it is nothing more than style over substance. The Creamsicle Cheesecake was not worth the calories, and it looked like Shenzi and the rest of the hyenas were fighting over it before it made it to the table.
Disappointing dessert aside, we had a lovely first dinner onboard after a long travel day for some.
Afterwards, we headed up to Triton Lounge for 80s Music Trivia, which was set up for success with clipboards!
After a long day of travel, and the excitement of embarkation day, it was time to call it a night and head back to the stateroom. As we were winding down for the night, Emily & Isabelle started sorting a travel puzzle on the stateroom vanity desk.
Below is a look at Disney Cruise Line’s internet packages available for both daily 24 hour periods, and per voyage. Internet only starts at $27/per device/day and Internet + Streaming runs $36/per device/day.
There is a savings when you purchase the voyage package, for example this dropped the per day/per device of the Internet + Streaming option down $6 or $30/per device/day.
The use of the Disney Cruise Navigator App does NOT require a paid internet plan, and there are a number of complimentary Disney websites available to browse for planning other Disney vacations.
Disney Cruise Free Websites
NCL Prima Free Websites
During our last cruise on the Norwegian Prima, I noticed they included CruiseCritic.com as a free site (screenshot above right). Dear DCL, how about adding DisneyCruiseLineBlog.com? I’ve always been told that if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true. I could go on and include the full fleet here, but I’ll stop and go to bed and enjoy that extra hour!
Did you think I forgot… Another time lapse from the back of the Disney Destiny showing the port in the afternoon and our sail away. I also started to experiment with nightlapse for a cool overnight video.
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