May 10, 2014 - Embarkation

We all woke up around 10AM and started getting ready. Rachel and I had gotten a lot of sleep (which maybe made up for my lack of sleep the night before?) since we slept well in the car. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS we did not do anything ridiculous and try to cram five adults into one stateroom, because that would have been absolutely miserable. It is quite a challenge for five adults to share one bathroom (sure, maybe the split bath on the Disney ship would have helped, but it still would have been uncomfortably tight quarters).

We weren't ready to go until after noon. Now, I had scheduled Max, Rachel, and myself for a Port Arrival Time of 12:15 PM. However, by the time I told my dad to schedule his, the soonest available was 1:00 PM. So we figured that 1:00 PM for all of us wouldn't be a problem.

But before we could board the cruise ship, we needed to make a run to the liquor store. I had read in Disney's FAQs that you can take on alcohol in a carry-on size bag if you are 21 and older, which is unheard of on all other mass-market cruise lines (most now allow you to bring one bottle of wine or champagne per adult). I have no idea how many times my dad or Max asked, "So are you sure we can bring on alcohol?" YES! Yes, I'm sure!!! *Update: DCL has since revised its alcohol policy.

Rachel asked Siri (on the iPhone) for the nearest liquor store.... and she took us to an Aldi Market. Which didn't sell alcohol. So we moved on... and luckily found a liquor store right past the port. We bought some vodka and rum for mixers and headed on to the port.