This might take me sometime to type up but I'll start with arriving at the Port.
We had a PAT of 11:45am. We arrived around 11am, as we knew we wanted to take some photos. Even though Disney says you can't drop your bags off until 11am, you can actually drop your bags off from 9am. Once our bags were taken, we were able to line up. There was several lines outside the port with signage. 11:15am, 11:45am and 12pm. You could get in line 15 minutes prior to your PAT. Open boarding if you had checked in online was 1pm. Open boarding if you had not online checked in was 2pm. By the time we lined up at 11:30am, we could already enter the port. Our PAT was scanned and we were directed inside. The lines were quite short, we spoke to someone to check in quite quickly. They checked our ID, given Boarding Group 6 and then we were told to go upstairs to security. There were Shutters Photographers there taking your family photo before we went upstairs. Security was fairly smooth, your items had to go through an x ray machine and once you were cleared, you could go straight onto the ship. No photos were permitted until you went back outside.
We were boarding by midday. Since there had been no guests the previous evening, we were told our rooms were ready. Characters were not meeting yet but there was a character or two on the stairs when you entered the lobby and welcomed onto the ship. We had Goofy and soon after we had boarded, they swapped out to Chip and Dale. We also saw Donald and Minnie during the afternoon.
We explored the ship for half an hour. The pools were quite but some people were already swimming. We went for coffee first. They have several milk alternatives for people full cream, skim, oat, lactose free, almond, soy, rice and were not charging extra for swapping milks.
We went to French Quarter to speak to the Dining Changes Team. We always go on the first day so speak to the team about our allergies but we were turned away, saying that we would just need to talk to our servers that night. It was unusual, as we have always spoken to them at boarding and ordered our meal for that night but we were told it wasn't necessary.
No characters were meeting (no one met until 5pm) and the pools were getting busier as open boarding had started for anyone that had checked in online. We went to Tianas for lunch. It was quite and our server was fantastic with our allergies (gluten free, soy free, nut free including coconut) We had the Sliced Smoked Salmon and were offered gf bread. It was one of the few times our dining went well - more on that later.
We visited the kids clubs for their open hours, stopped for ice cream (we had to ask for attendant for gf waffle cones which they had), entered the spa raffle (won a $30 voucher!) before it was time for the drill. Once this was done, we went up on deck. There was only one photo opportunity with the bridge and a Shutters photographer. It was the first time we had seen a photographer after the port.
The Sail -A -Wave Party wasn't happening until 10:30pm that night but we left port at 5:30pm. It was a little anti climactic without the party and we weren't given any warning beyond the horn being sounded and then we were moving. We had asked crew when we were leaving and had been told 'they didn't know'
Golden Mickeys started at 6pm and it was quite rushed given that many people wanted to wait to see us leaving the Harbour. We went to check the line for Mickey, intending to meet him. He had started meeting at 5pm and it was a 2 hour wait to meet him. The line wrapped all the way around the balcony, back to the mid elevators and beyond. We laughed. Goofy had a shorter line so we jumped in and met him within 10 minutes. We left to get drinks and popcorn for the Golden Mickeys. They delayed the show for 10 minutes. The theatre was half empty for at least half the show, as people were watching us leave the Harbour, were in line for Mickey or waiting for Merchandise (which opened at 6:30pm)
Meals have been pushed back and we were given a push notification on our phones from the app. While it's usually 5:45pm and 8:15pm, on our sailing and for all since dinner is now 6pm and 8:30pm. These changes had a flow on effect and caused many people difficulties through the evening in regard to getting to deck parties on time.
Mickey was still meeting people after the show had finished and we went to trivia. There was hardly anyone at trivia as they were still in line for characters or the shop. We visited the shop but it was shoulder to shoulder so we left before we went to Animators.
This was the first time in our cruising history that we have been disappointed by the food. It was an ongoing problem throughout the 4 days, despite talking to both our server and the Head Server. This was the best night out of all the other meals as there were options on the menu that did not need any changes. (I will go through the other problems with the food as we get to those meals). We ordered the Smoked Salmon Tartare, Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup, Grilled Tuna Steak (without sauce because we were told no sauce on board was safe for gf free. It was dry and disappointing) and the Jumbo Shrimp Salad.
We were brought an Almond Cake for Dessert, despite it being noted that there was a nut allergy at the table. We were told only a Mickey Bar was available for that night for dessert which was fine. Dining was very slow and took almost 90 minutes from start to finish. Mickey also did not come to dinner for his appearance (he was still meeting people) which was disappointing. By this point, we left dinner quickly as we wanted to get a spot for the Deck Party.
The Deck Party was quite cold (most people were jackets) and it was fairly quite since it was at 10:30pm. While it was fun, it was anti climactic as we had sailed away hours ago. As soon as the characters left, most people left too despite them trying to keep the party going.
The drink station was full afterwards. I went to make a coffee as we were going to the club but I was a little tired. I asked the attendant for lactose free milk (there was only full cream and half and half there). He left to get a supervisor. 10 minutes later, they returned with rice milk. I explained the difference as I would have preferred dairy lactose free. The supervisor left to get it from 'downstairs' and I waited another 15 minutes until I eventually gave up and left. There were no other crew around and I don't know if they ever came back.
At Azure, we did Match Your Mate and the Silent Disco before returning to our State Room. We called Room Service, where we were told they could not serve us because we had allergies and unless we ordered before 11pm each night, they wouldn't be able to give us food as the allergy supervisor 'left'. There were gluten free options on the menu but again, we were told they would not give them to us. We asked if we could have the cheese platter without the crackers but we were told no. Eventually, they offered two donuts and 2 muffins We were desperate and ordered these but they were terrible and we couldn't eat them.
This was the end of day one.
Someone asked what movies were being shown during our sailing. It was Haunted Mansion, The Little Mermaid, Guardians Vol 3, Indiana Jones, Elemental and Encanto. Our final sea day was Halloween so the line up was slightly different as they showed Hocus Pocus (original) and then Hocus Pocus 2, Haunted Mansion. First movie was 8:30am, last movie of the night was between 11pm - 11:30pm. The first movie in embark day was 6pm.
For day two, we woke up and went to do Cabanas for breakfast. The line was out the door and every table inside was full. We decided to leave and do trivia at 9am in French Quarter instead. My sister ordered an iced latte with lactose free milk and it was brought to our table. Then I went to the bar and ordered a lactose free latte and was told they didn't have lactose free milk available there. When my sister then went back to check hers was lactose free milk, she was told that it wasn't lactose free milk but just regular milk and there had 'just been a mistake'. She had already had a quarter and was offered a refund (which never came and we had to follow it up with Guest Services two days later but they did eventually remove it from our room charges) This was very disappointing.
After trivia, we had the Princess Meet and Greet at 9:45am and Palo booked at 11am. We thought that was enough time between the two but we were rushing to make our reservation on time. We got in line at 9:40am, met the first Princess at 10:35am and finished with the final Princess at 10:50am. We met Belle, Ariel, Tiana and Cinderella. There were Shutters Photographers for each Princess.
Finally, we were on the way to Palo. When we arrived, we were seated right away after a short tour of the restaurant. We had been told Palo was fully booked but as we walked in, it was half empty which was surprising. Our server was fantastic, very knowledgeable and able to work with us to ensure food was safe for us. She told us we could order as much as we wanted and while the suggested time for the table was 90 minutes, we could stay for as long as we liked. In the end we were there for just over 2 hours.
We ordered between us:
Bread Service - This was very disappointing. The bread the dry and we barely had a piece each
Antipasti - meat selection. This was delicious
Three Cheese Omelette - This was fairly standard. I wouldn't have this again.
Poached Egg with Smoked Salmon/Hollandaise and Cavier (with a gf Muffin) - This was excellent.
Giant Mickey Waffle - with Apple Cinamon and Strawberry On the Side - I'd recommend the apple. Also the whipped cream had to be made especially due to cross contamination with gluten.
Flatbread with Goat Cheese & Sundried Tomato (with a gf base) - This was delicious and would get it again. We had wanted the Italian Sausage but was told this wasn't gluten free.
Roasted Snapper -This was decent. Snapper wasn't cooked well and felt like it had been sitting there a little too long.
Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast - They had to change this slightly to ensure it was gf but it was delicious and would recommend
The only thing that was slightly disappointing was dessert. Only one thing could be made gluten free/nut free which was the Italian Zabaglione without the biscotti. We didn't finish it. I wish they could have offered a better dessert.
Overall the experience was a good one and we would happily go again.
Afterwards, we stopped by our stateroom to change, before we went to get in line for Black Widow at Preludes but her line had already been cut. Spidermans line had started so we got in line to meet him. We waited around 90 minutes from the time we got in line to the time we met him. During this time the line for Black Panther had started, despite him still being 90 minutes from starting his set.
We stopped by the gift shop briefly before I bought a latte at Cove Cafe. Then it was onto Wonder Quest in D Lounge (which was quite busy) We left here and went for a short walk and bumped into Pluto and his attendant coming out of the lift. His attendant told us to follow them out on Deck 4, where we had a nice little interaction and managed to get some cute photos.
They were showing a movie in the theatre (Haunted Mansion) that night instead of a show so we skipped that. We returned to the room to change and they had an announcement to come and visit the lobby at 7:30pm for a surprise visit - more to come.
