4 Night & 5 Night Bahamian, Disney Destiny Inaugural Season (Back 2 Back)

Kathy, Lisa, Thomas and I flew from Chicago Midway to Fort Lauderdale with the rest of our group of seventeen, ahead of the Destiny's inaugural season. We spent the night at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale before boarding the next day.

By Michael

We got to the terminal in Fort Lauderdale midmorning and posed for photos in front of the Disney Cruise Line backdrop before boarding. Kathy, Lisa, Thomas and I boarded the Disney Destiny for its inaugural season together with Michelle, Bill, Krissy, Kersten, Hannah, Nathan, Mackenzie, Joshua, Bianca, Tyler, Craig, Heather and Monica. Lisa and I stopped for a portrait at the ship-silhouette backdrop and came away with an Inaugural certificate.

By Michael

The Disney Destiny called at Lookout Cay this morning, Disney's newest private island in the Bahamas. We walked out along the pier for arrival photos with the ship behind us, then made our way through the colorful entrance archways with the rest of the group.

We met Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck one after another in a garden area near the entrance, and the whole group posed together for photos before splitting up to explore.

Kathy and I walked the shoreline path with Lisa, past seaweed washed up on the sand, while the wider group waded out into the turquoise water for a big photo together. Kathy found a coffee stand where they had drawn Mickey's face into the foam of a latte.

By Michael

We docked at Castaway Cay early, Disney's private island, and it turned into our busiest day of the trip. Before we even left the stateroom, Lisa filled out an ASL request form asking for an interpreter at that afternoon's 1820 Society ice cream social. Bob, her stuffed husky, was waiting on the bed with a towel swan the room crew had folded for us, next to two rubber ducks another family had hidden as part of the ship's duck game.

We walked down to the big Castaway Cay sign for arrival photos with the ship behind us, then headed to Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure. We met the stingrays in the shallows there, gliding along the sandy bottom close enough to watch clearly, and a couple of us snorkeled alongside them. Later in the afternoon we floated out on foam mats in the calm lagoon and just let the time pass.

By Michael

We had a full day at sea today. Kathy got a latte with Olaf's face on it this morning and photographed a set of Beauty and the Beast pins someone was trading. Sometime in the afternoon we found a Magical Moments card in the room, made out to me and Lisa for our reunion on the Destiny and signed by one of the crew.

Dinner was a soup course and a steak. Before we sat down we ran into a film crew shooting in the atrium, taping for the Inaugural Season, and the cast member working with them stopped for a photo.

After dinner the ship's photographers had a backdrop set up like a castle gate, and our group took turns posing for portraits there, including a hug photo with one of the grandmothers. Down the hall was a sketch-style wall of Disney villains, and Lisa struck a scared pose under the drawing of Hades.

Later we met Tiana, stopped by a display case of pins and medallions, and I got a selfie next to the hero statue in the Marvel-themed area before turning in.

Michael

By Michael

We boarded the Disney Destiny in Fort Lauderdale this morning, back to back off the ship we had just left. By eleven we were at the welcome aboard backdrop for portraits, all four of us in matching red Inaugural shirts, then again with an Inaugural Season certificate and the ship's world map mural.

Lisa had a latte with a Rapunzel design worked into the foam, from the first cafe we found. By early afternoon the four of us were at another bar with drinks in hand. By late afternoon the Florida coast was behind us and it was open water.

In the evening we stopped at the Worlds of Marvel photo backdrop, and Lisa had a solo portrait made at a Big Hero 6 backdrop. We stopped in the ship's jewelry shop, where a gold charm bracelet caught my eye. Kathy filled out Lisa's ASL request forms for tomorrow: the Little Hero Dash, pin trading, coffee time and crafts with the 1820 Society, a pop quiz show, and a Marvel comedy show in the evening.

Back in stateroom 11019, we hung a Mickey magnet on the door before the night was done.

By Michael

Another day at sea aboard the Disney Destiny, and the busiest one of the trip.

We started slow, coffee with a Star Wars message drawn into the foam, and later a latte with Mickey's face on it. Out on deck, Lisa leaned on the rail with nothing but open water behind her. Later on deck five she met Daisy Duck.

By mid-afternoon the ship's Haunted Mansion ghost hunt had us chasing clue cards from deck to deck, working Lisa's account up to four of ten hidden ghosts captured, with more clues still turning up past eleven that night. We looked at trading pins along the way too.

The evening leaned into Marvel Day at Sea. I put on a black TVA shirt and met a fully costumed Loki near the atrium, then we stopped at a Spider-Man graffiti wall for photos, Kathy and me first, then Lisa with Bob riding along in her arms.

Kathy photographed Lisa's ASL request form for tomorrow in Nassau, asking for an interpreter at 1820 Society Trivia at 5pm and the Basketball Free Throw around 10pm.

We spent the rest of the night at Shutters working through several backdrops, the grand staircase, a ship at sunset, and the villains' room with its glowing green cauldron, Bob posing along with us at every stop.

By Michael

The Disney Destiny called at Nassau today, our first port of this cruise. We walked along the port past the Bearded Clam sports bar sign, with the pink towers of Atlantis visible across the harbor. Kathy and I also finished the ghost-hunt game on the ship's app that we had started the day before, a 9 out of 10 by late morning.

The ship sat at the dock most of the day, its gold Sorcerer Mickey emblem bright on the bow. Lisa wore her Beignet All Day shirt to dinner.

In the evening the four of us went to the Haunted Mansion photo backdrop together, lining up in front of the purple wallpaper while the ghosts appeared behind us one at a time. We also met Rapunzel and Flynn Rider near the grand staircase, posed by the Black Panther statue in the atrium, and Kathy and I split a Mickey-shaped ice cream treat.

Late that night we filled out another ASL request form for Lisa, asking for interpretation at tomorrow's 1820 Society Ice Cream Social at 4pm and "A Pirate's Life For Me" at 6:30pm.

By Michael

The Disney Destiny called at Lookout Cay this morning, Disney's private island in the Bahamas. We were down at the pier by nine for arrival photos with the ship behind us, then spent the morning at three character stops: Pluto first, all grins and no words, then Chip and Dale in matching safari vests, then Goofy, who tipped his hat and reached out to high-five me while Lisa stood alongside. We also stopped at a flower arch near the entrance for pictures. Kathy photographed the yellow hibiscus blooming along the paths, and Lisa and I posed with one for a selfie under the leaves. Early in the afternoon we caught a stage show with Maleficent, and Lisa and I were pulled up to join her on the small round stage.

The evening was Pirate Night. It started at dinner, when Lisa was handed a small plush Mickey dressed as a pirate, at a table marked "Pirate Night." Kathy and I put on our matching skull-and-crossbones shirts for a backdrop photo. Later Lisa and I both changed into full pirate costumes, tricorn hats, coats and sashes, with Bob dressed to match in his own small pirate coat. We worked through a run of Shutters portraits, a treasure cove backdrop, a painted island scene called Neverland, and the grand staircase. Around quarter to eleven we were out on deck with the ship lit up in blue and purple behind us, and the last backdrop of the night, just after eleven, was just me in the coat, arms out.

By Michael

Our last full sea day, and there was a lot packed into it. Lisa and I posed for Magic Shots with the ship's photographers, first out on the open deck and then again by the grand staircase. Shutters adds the characters in afterward, so Mickey and Minnie, Pluto and Donald turned up in our pictures.

At midday we met Mickey Mouse dressed in his ship captain's uniform in the atrium. In the afternoon Lisa had a one-on-one meeting with Maleficent on a small stage with a shadowy forest backdrop, just the two of them, while I photographed the whole thing.

Lisa spent part of the day drawing a portrait of the four of us. By early evening Jessica, their housekeeper on this cruise, had helped her finish it and posed for a photo with her and the finished piece.

That night we went to Shutters for portraits: first at the Hercules columns, then under Pegasus, and finally in front of a night sky backdrop with the ship's silhouette behind us. We also found The Sanctum, the ship's Marvel-themed lounge. Later Lisa came away from somewhere on the ship with a gold coin and a photo with a cast member, though I'm still not sure what the coin was for.

By Michael

We said goodbye to the ship this morning, with a crew farewell before we carried our bags off in Fort Lauderdale. Lisa picked up a latte with a pig and rooster traced into the foam while we waited near the terminal. From there we boarded our Southwest flight out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood. Somewhere over Indiana the clouds broke and we watched the snow-covered fields of home come up under the wing before we landed at Chicago Midway.