Disney Pandemic Cruise…..
A cruise, really mom??!! Mom had no intentions on sailing anytime soon and was even contemplating 2022, moving what cruise we have booked for then to another year or just canceling it all together. Well a friend of ours went on a Disney cruise out of San Diego mid September and got mom thinking so she spoke to her. Mom had been seeing how strict protocols were in place since cruising resumed, much lower capacity, etc but she didn’t really start thinking of us possibly cruising until she knew someone that went that would tell mom its not a good idea if she truly thought so. After mom spoke to her, did some more research and thought long and hard about it, mom decided lets do a short cruise out of our home port – safest way to go.
Mom even thought through every step we would take on our cruise/trip, every scenario we would end up in, etc how to be the safest and protect ourselves throughout, what we shouldn’t do, what we can do, what would be more of a risk, etc. Mom also developed a plan on what we will do – how many meals at an indoor restaurant on the ship, eat outdoors, room service, Broadway shows, outdoor show, games, etc. Mom also researched the port we would be visiting to see what their transmission and case rate was, protocols in place if any, etc in case we decided to get off the ship, which I, Miss Kayla LOVES to do as does mom. Mom had a difficult time deciding between the 3 night (Ensenada) or 4 night (Cabo San Lucas) but went with the 4 night since it was a more interesting port to visit if we decided to get off, if captain approves since it was a tender port so more to consider and a place I, Miss Kayla had never been to. Well, I haven’t been to Ensenada either, neither very exciting but more of a chance of doing a day trip to Ensenada than Cabo so.
Next mom called and inquired about booking the cruise but then remembered San Diego is not the most accessible place for wheelchair users and lack of services (big time) so she decided we better figure out the parking and port process for our situation (me, Miss Kayla being in a wheelchair) so mom held off on booking until we went to the port to check things out and develop a plan on how we will get ourselves and all our luggage from car to ship and even more so returning since all parking was off property. Mom went the next day after she dropped me off at day camp to talk to the port and see what options she had, closest parking lot, etc. That didn’t go so well, so when she returned home she contacted Disney special needs dept to see what they said for options which helped for arrival IF there were no others ships in port that day, which there wouldn’t be. Mom needed confirmation first so her and I went down to the port
to get confirmation and see for ourselves as this was the only way we were going to successfully do this without having to ask for friends help since our departure and return were on business days during business hours. Plus most aren’t comfortable driving my car which they would of had to to drop us off and pick us up. We went down to the port on a day Disney had a cruise embarking to be able to talk to the right people. Mom found out that as long as Disney was the only ship in port the day we embark we can drive our car in, unload our suitcase that we need to check then go park and mom would just maneuver me and carry all our carry on luggage. Yes, plan confirmed possible since Disney would be the only ship in port. So mom booked our cruise. Well then she realized what about the return, we will have our checked suitcase and all our carry on luggage to carry from ship to parking – opps, not possible for mom to do and maneuver me over a block away. So our cruise is booked and now this. Well mom started with contacting port parking and a few of the closest hotels (possible accessible shuttle) that offered cruise parking of which were already full. Port parking gave her suggestions and mom also grabbed a reservation at one of the few available parking lots closest to port (a block in a half away). Remember that awesome service the Park N Fly (one of their lots here) offered when we flew out of San Diego in 2018.. Well they went out of business during the pandemic – they were the only ones that offered wheelchair accessible transportation to/from airport/port. Now there is no one and hotels don’t have wheelchair accessible transportation to the port but most hotels don’t have shuttles to port only airport anyway. So after many calls and emails mom was able to get a special arrangement done through the parking lot she made a reservation with to where they would bring our car to the port upon disembarking. Wonderful.
So our cruise leaves on a Friday and that Tuesday right before mom decided to check the Disney website to make sure selfie sticks were allowed as mom wanted to bring it to use for our selfie photos. Its just too difficult to do them with just holding the phone.. Up came the prohibited list which allows selfie sticks but my one medication I, Miss Kayla just started on last spring for my increase in seizures that I am doing so well on was not allowed, was on the prohibited lists and if I tried to bring it it could get confiscated during boarding. Mom immediately called the special needs dept to verify since my medication was prescribed, FDA approved in the USA and UK, not a controlled substance, legal under federal laws, etc. She was told that 90 day notice was required to try to get an exemption to be allowed to carry it onboard but that we can try to get a rush approval from the Bahamas since that is where the ships are registered at. So mom started the process. Thank goodness I still had my life long neurologist as he responded immediately starting his part of the paperwork and what not. If I didn’t have him, the response would have taken a good week to get from any of my other doctors which would have been too late. Paperwork took about 24 hours to finally complete and submit. Well the one dept they submitted the urgent paperwork to at the government office immediately denied the exemption. The special needs dept then submitted the request to the health and safety dept which was the only other dept in the Bahamas that can offer an exemption. The dept said they usually respond within 7-10 business days so fingers cross. There is always HOPE. We were boarding in two days.
Mom explained to me what was going on and backed off on the subject. I, Miss Kayla was confused and not sure what was going on and my excitement level dropped too. I had been so excited about going since mom told me we were, plus Mickey had called me to invite me on his ship already.
Friday morning came and mom was taking me to day camp which wasn’t the original plan and she told me she wasn’t sure if we were going on Mickey’s ship or not today. Mom said I looked lost and not excited anymore. She felt bad. The latest mom was able to wait for the approval was 1:30pm as she would have to pick me up at camp and then get us to the port with minimal traffic delay – ugh. Mom had everything planned out for a 1:30pm PST deadline. Well it was that time and still no word so mom called her contact person in the special needs dept and we decided it was time to cancel and see if we could be moved not to the next cruise but the last departure cruise the Wonder was doing out of San Diego in October before leaving for Galveston, TX in November. Mom figured we needed all the days we could get for a response to come through and this one would give us 7 business days. The process to change dates went smoothly, thankfully for the supervisor mom got on the phone. I, Miss Kayla was disappointed but went on with life. Mom tried to make the weekend fun for me.
Mom kept everything packed and still had a positive attitude and HOPE that we will board the Disney Wonder on October 31st.
Then mom found out that the Disney Wonder will not be the only ship in port the day we board which changed a few things. We couldn’t drop off our luggage off to check until after we parked which put us back into the impossible to do mode. The parking lot we had reservations in were nice enough to just move our reservation to the new dates and they also offered to have an employee meet us at the port when we arrive to bring our car to the parking lot for us since we wouldn’t be able to do as we originally planned. That was such a blessing. Mom took this as a sign that this was all meant to be and that we really did have HOPE.
So mom explained some more what was going on and how we still might be going on Mickeys ship, but wasn’t sure. She kept the cruise on the low side that next week in case we ended up not going. That seem like the longest week ever.. Mom knew we had until Friday, October 29th at 2pm PST to cancel, change dates/itinerary or hopefully have a decision since that would have been 7 business days. Well, Friday was here and mom got a call at 2;15pm PST from her contact at the special needs dept. 2:00pm PST was the latest we were going to hear from them but they held off an extra 15 minutes to call. Well her contact said that they had not received word but just heard that the security dept feels hopeful that they will hear something that evening and since they are open 24/7 they are willing to take over from here and wait. Mom was shocked as she thought the call would be the final decision as did her contact at the special needs dept. They were both shocked and relieved we still had time, we now actually had until Sunday again that 1:30pm PST mark to get the approval and go. Well that was if someone in the Bahamas decided to work after hours on it since they are a M-F 8-5 office. So mom hung up and we were still in waiting mode. By then mom was tired of being in limbo and just wanted to know what we were doing or not doing but was also very grateful to have more time to get an answer and that security was hopeful wanting to see this happen for us. Not even an hour later mom received an email from them saying “you are approved to take your medication onboard and its good for 90 days. Have a wonderful cruise”. Then listed what all to do, etc. Mom was almost in tears as that was such a nice surprise and only an hour later. Mom immediately told me and got me signed up for a phone call from Mickey that night and then one the next day on Saturday. She got me all excited again. Of course, there was always the possibility of something changing as they warned, but the chances were low..
Mom unpacked our suitcase and repacked it for the new weather forecast and to make sure I, Miss Kayla had everything I needed since she had used a few things out of there for me this past week – my costume stuff. Yay!!
Wow, we were going on a Disney cruise again with strict protocols in place and lower capacity (a tad higher than when they started back up, but still).
Mom confirmed our parking plus arrangements that had been made and we were all set. Unfortunately, not being the only ship in port the day we board, we now had to do the whole bus route for testing, etc which mom was really wanting to avoid the hassle. Ugh. But we will take it since this means we can cruise Disney.
Oh I don’t think mom and I, Miss Kayla slept much since getting the word GO… 🙂 Little did we know what we were in for…
That morning came
and due to the new circumstances at the port we had to arrive at 10:15am. We arrive to chaos. I don’t think anyone paid attention to the fact that Disney says, “do NOT arrive earlier than your assigned port arrival time, but later is okay”.
Mom and I parked our car in a temporary spot and took our one suitcase over to get checked. The port wasn’t happy about us doing this and then returning to our car, but we had no other way and it wasn’t like we were doing anything wrong. We returned to our car, got all our carry on luggage and met the gentleman that was picking up our car to go park it. Then we were sent over to the bus to get on to go get tested a 1/2 block away. Mom realized that people were getting upset that the staff took us to get onboard before them but for whatever reason they needed us to board asap before putting more on. Mom offered to just let us stroll over to the building since we weren’t in a bubble just yet to avoid the hassle and people reacting badly as it would be so much easier than boarding the bus, etc. Plus safer. The staff said, “no, its too far and not necessary”. Hmmm, mom and I both could see the building we had to go to just a few hundred feet away. Barely not even a 1/2 block. Mom just kept quiet and went with the flow trying to keep us both safe. So we got on the huge bus and departed to the testing building.
The testing process went smoothly and got our negative results
(here I, Miss Kayla and Cubby waiting for the results to appear on the screen so we could get out of there)
This time we had no choice but to board and if you walked out of the Disney bubble space you would have to get retested. We couldn’t board the first available bus as there wasn’t a lift for me, so we waited for the next bus that pulled up that had a lift.
However, we had to stay put where we were waiting and not go anywhere due to the bubble we were in.
No big deal, right? And makes sense Disney wanting to create a bubble to keep us safe. Back on a bus
to head back over to the building where the boarding process begins for the Disney Wonder. We almost got the bus to ourselves, but more people boarded. Not too many though..
We took the scenic route back. 🙂
But then this is where Disney screws up and the bubble is negatively effected. So you get off the bus and go through hundreds of people that ARE WAITING TO GET ON A BUS FOR TESTING so you are exposing yourself to potential positive cases. Ok, Disney, our bubble just broke, doesn’t make any sense. So we stroll, walk through a ton of people exposing ourselves from the bus to where you enter the building for security and start the boarding process. Disney tries, right?! I, Miss Kayla and mom oh and Cubby goes through security screening where my prohibited medication is not even caught by the security screening process. Hmmmm… this is why so many people get away carrying on the actual illegal, prohibited versions. No one checks. Now larger items that are prohibited do get confiscated but smaller items seem to go undetected from what I have heard and in our experience here. But for moms own peace of mind, she is so glad she did the right thing. Without permission and if it got confiscated mom would have had to cancel our cruise right then and there as I, Miss Kayla can not miss a single dose.
So we went through security, went through the boarding process down special lines to check in, meeting so many nice and helpful cast members.
This cast member insisted taking two of our carry-ons to the gangway for mom.
and was on board Mickeys ship.
Yay, I, Miss Kayla was sooo EXCITED. We immediately had a first stop as soon as we got onboard to say hello to Mickey and Minnie and watch the little show they did.
I also got to meet, Vito a really nice cast member that was in charge of Mickey from time to time. So cool to meet him.
We were invited to a private lunch which we accepted as mom and I, Miss Kayla were both hungry and thought, private would mean just a small amount of people and plus still not many on board yet despite being 1pm now. So we went to lunch. I, Miss Kayla was so excited to be on Mickeys ship and then to be going out to lunch in a restaurant which I love to do.
I, Miss Kayla was so excited I could hardly even eat my nice puree lunch they fixed me. I did get a few bites in towards the end of our lunch time there. 🙂 While we were there, we met with our ship host to go over all my needs, wishes, etc and to get a meal plan in place which mom wasn’t crazy about as we don’t need to have every little detail of our cruise laid out and that we would be taking each day, each meal as it comes. Mom likes to take vacations without rigid schedules as that is what she is taking a vacation from. No biggie as we all came to an agreement on how things would proceed and that this was a vacation. Well, Disney kept pushing all week every time we saw our ship host for a planned out meal schedule but mom refused as I, Miss Kayla don’t even know when or what I want until that time, but mom compromised and gave them a heads up as much as possible throughout the cruise.
After lunch I, Miss Kayla made a quick stop at guest services so I could add my Disney gift card to my account so I can go shopping in Mickeys store. Mom and I went to Target to get our discounted Disney gift cards for our cruise.
Then we went to our cabin to get settled in and so I, Miss Kayla could get a break out of my wheelchair and drop all our luggage off.
Mom almost forgot that we had to check in to our muster drill station by 3pm which was almost that time so off we went. We kept getting lost as instructions weren’t very good, but we finally found it. I, Miss Kayla was “S”..
After checking in to our muster station and going over the safety guidelines mom and I, Miss Kayla went exploring. It was such a nice day out that we explored the outdoor areas. We plan to spend a lot of time outside on this cruise and if we need to be indoors due to weather, we will spend it in our cabin. Little does mom know that I, Miss Kayla has other plans in mind… 🙂
Then it was almost dinner time – ugh, we just had lunch but since we wanted Animators Palette as one of our dinner restaurant we decided to go. I, Miss Kayla got my Mickey costume on since it was Halloween…
Boarding on Halloween, celebrating Halloween on Halloween kinda messed up my “dress up” schedule but that is okay. Mom and I were just so grateful to be on the ship!!
So off we were to Animators Palette which we will officially meet our server team (two of them pictured with me at our table) even though we already met some of them earlier at lunch. 🙂 Animators on the Wonder is definitely not the same as on the Dream :(, but it was still fun. I, Miss Kayla missed seeing the animated marine animals and of course, Crush (the turtle). Theme and décor is fun and cute.
Since I, Miss Kayla and mom had a late and good lunch we were not too hungry for dinner so we both ordered light. I, Miss Kayla got three flavors of gelato (only ordered one but they brought me three) and mom ordered a delicious shrimp salad. And again, I was so excited, loving to be there that I, Miss Kayla had a difficult time eating my gelato before it melted. Oh, there was a vanilla light flavor (very plain), typical chocolate, AND a coffee one which I loved!! Coffee gelato became a must on the nights I ordered it!
After dinner it was time to go trick-or-treating… They had the same Halloween bag that Disney California Adventure had for OBB Halloween party I just went to. 🙂 They had a trail to follow with candy stations along the way both indoors and outdoors. I, Miss Kayla didn’t get candy at each stop, but said hello to everyone. Mom gave our candy to our room steward as neither of us needed it (well its very difficult for me to eat it so).
Yay, my favorite part was next… After trick-or-treating we went over to the deck 9 outdoor show stage to see
I, Miss Kayla LOVES the deck show parties that Disney puts on with the characters!! We got there early and mom got me a great spot right up front on the side (no one else there yet). It was a semi long wait but I waited very patiently. Plus my friend, Vito came over and visited with me for a few… He was monitoring the social distance markers making sure everyone stayed on theirs. I, Miss Kayla held my trick-or-treating bag the entire evening. When I want to, I will. 🙂
What a great first day on Mickey’s ship.. Mom and I, Miss Kayla went back to our cabin for the night and when we arrived we found our first animal towel on our bed.. We LOVE the animal towels!!
Next day is on its way.. 🙂
Love,
Miss Kayla
