West Coast, by Land and Sea - Day 4

Cruise Day!

The day we board a Disney Cruise is always a fun day. And we feel lucky to have done it a few times. We kind of have a routine down for part of it, but first we have to get to the ship!

Checking out of Anaheim was easy enough. Before we head south, we want breakfast at a family favorite - King's Hawaiian.

Yes, it was the wrong direction, but.....

enough said ;)

Now we head south to San Diego. After returning the rental we hopped a Lyft to the port.

First view of the ship! Disney Wonder

The port experience in San Diego is quite different from Port Canaveral or Vancouver. The baggage process is really laid back. Just leave your bags with the pile of bags outside. It was easy and fast, but if you have a tendency to worry... this requires a small amount of faith. The baggage workers had no uniforms or name tags to identify them as port employees...only your basic neon work vests. Anyway.. it was easy enough.

And boarding was quick. We arrived mid-day and they were boarding everyone, so once our paperwork was in order we boarded.

At this point we break into our "Embarkation day routine" - lunch up on deck at Cabanas. Then tour the ship - walk our young man through the club, just in case this cruise he decides to go. [Editor's Note: Ha!] And by the time we are done, our room is ready.

Ran into an old friend ;) Boy, this girl and her books. 

Our muster station was inside, which was a fun change. Then it's time to watch the ship set sail.

But we didn't leave when we expected to. The paperwork said we would depart at 5pm, but it was actually 6 pm. So we were at dinner by the time we started to move.

So long, San Diego!

We had table mates for this cruise. This was new for the kids, but was nice. They sat us with another family of four who had two kids the same age as ours. We enjoyed the chit chat and introductions the first night. Our kids hadn't had table mates on a cruise before. But the "B" family from Ontario, Canada was very nice.

As soon as possible our young lady hit the clubs. Being older now, she has more club options - which was very exciting.

We skipped the evening show - another first for us, and settled into the room. I always like to get unpacked the first day and do first run through the stores. Hubby and I have a new tradition of each getting a Tervis or waterbottle on the ship. We like to have something to keep filled with water, so we each picked up something for that.

So, after settling in and getting the young lady from the club... we slept.