Hey there princess!
Before I found out that I was pregnant, I scheduled a surprise Disney Cruise for my husband, Niles' 30th birthday. Just a few weeks after booking the trip, I found out that I was pregnant and the trip turned into a combined birthday celebration and babymoon. This was the first time either of us had ever been on a Disney Cruise (I went on a Carnival Cruise in 2008 and Niles has never been on a cruise).
Now, I will start off by saying that this cruise happened in January 2022, so there were a lot of COVID protocols in place, so for the most accurate information you should check the Disney website for the most accurate information. I will also say that the beginning of the Disney Cruise began at the port of entry (for us this was Galveston, Texas) where you were given a COVID test. It was at this test that I found out I had COVID and was not permitted to board the ship. I will put all of the information about what happened at the very bottom of this blog post for people who are interested, as I haven't seen a lot of information online about what happens when you test positive for COVID on the day you are supposed to set sail. Long story short - I rebooked the trip for three weeks later at no additional cost.
Above is a photo of what the waiting area looks like in Galveston while you wait for your test results. As you can see, the place isn't packed at all. In fact, the whole ship was pretty empty. Our cruise was only booked at something like a 20% capacity, which is terrible for business, but was incredible for our experience. There was no waiting in line, we got great seats for the shows, and we felt incredibly cared for.
Once we boarded the ship, there was a little performance put on by Mickey and Minnie to welcome us on the ship. As you can see, mask policies were very much in place, and we were required to be masked in all areas of the ship unless we were in our stateroom, outside, or actively eating or drinking. You guys know the drill. The show was super cute, but if I am totally honest after the anxiety of waiting for the COVID tests to come back negative, and the exhaustion of being 4.5 months pregnant... I mostly just wanted to go to the stateroom and crash.
Before you know it, we had completed our safety drill and were able to go to our room to put our things down and relax a little bit. However, being the pregnant woman I was... by then I was hungry! Thankfully, no matter what time it is, there is always food to be found onboard a cruise ship. We made our way to Cabanas, the buffet onboard and loaded up on chicken nuggets and French fries.
Above is a photo of the buffet (notice... no line!) and you can also see a photo of the classes that they give you to drink out of which have little Mickeys on them! So cute! Here is what I will say about the buffet - the food is great! There is something for everyone, and each meal rotates out the food so you don't ever get tired of anything. However, there is always something available for picky eaters as well, which is great because as a pregnant lady there are just some days where you want to eat something safer. There is also a fresh fruit stand open all the time in Cabanas so you can get in your vitamins.
Negatives for me would be the size of the glasses that they give you. I love the little Mickey heads, but I am from Texas where we do everything bigger - most certainly cup sizes (I mean have you been to Whataburger?). After lunch, I had to run myself to the gift shop and purchase a large Tervis tumbler to use throughout the rest of the trip. It was easily the best thing I purchased! While I didn't need it in the main dining room, it was essential the rest of the time.
After my very necessary trip to the gift shop, we took a stroll around the rest of the ship to get our bearings. Look at this place - totally empty! Now, keep in mind, this was the end of January/beginning of February and the weather was a little chilly (chilly to me is high 60s/low 70s). The weather was still gorgeous, but I understand why this wasn't prime cruise time for the average person. The boat was meticulously clean and there were tons of cast members available to answer any questions.
we went and listened to a live jazz band play before being seated for our dinner hour. All of the performers on the ship were absolutely wonderful. But who am I kidding? I was there for the food.
Our first meal on the ship was at Tiana's Place, which is a New Orleans-style restaurant complete with live jazz music and an end-of-meal parade. On Disney Cruises, they do something called rotational dining, where your servers in the dinner hour go with you from one restaurant to another (there are 3 different restaurants onboard the ship, so we transition from one style of cuisine to another, and the staff move with you).
Something else of note is that all of the food is included, and guests are encouraged to order as many items from the menu as they wish. The people seated next to us were food bloggers and ordered one of everything! On this first night onboard, I ordered the barbecue shrimp and grits as my appetizer followed by a salad. The real showstopper was dinner, where I ordered the pork chops and niles ordered steak. The servings were enormous and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of our meal! Everything was divine, and we were even given little Mardi Gras beads as a souvenir from the meal!
After that, I absolutely had to go straight to bed to sleep off our enormous meal in preparation for the next day. It was truly a 'wonder'ful day!
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Now - on to the story of what exactly happens to you if you show up to a Disney Cruise and test positive for COVID. The day of our first scheduled cruise, we showed up and took our COVID tests (these are PCR tests that you administer yourself, testing inside the nose). We then went to the waiting area which is pictured above, prior to boarding. I noticed that a lot of the people in the room had gotten the green light to go upstairs to the boarding area, except for us and a few other families.
At that time, we got a notice on our app to approach a staff member who would give us directions - my heart immediately sank and I knew in my gut what was happening. Immediately, one woman began yelling her grievances to the cast members working at the desk, which was rather upsetting. I waited behind her for her to finish speaking her peace, and another cast member approached us and another couple (there were 3 groups in total who tested positive on this day), and told us that our COVID tests were inconclusive and that we needed to follow them to retake the test.
We did follow this cast member out of the room and down a long hallway (note that everyone was masked this entire time), and went into an area of the pier that I now know is where luggage is transported on and off of the ship to be sorted. It was around 12:00pm at this time. A doctor in full gear (think hazmat suit) came into our area and told us that I had tested positive for COVID and that we would not be permitted to board the ship. A few minutes later, a cast member came by and asked if we would like any snacks and water while we waited for our luggage to be returned to us.
I thought this was super weird... how long could it possibly take to find our luggage? Either way, he came back with a water bottle for each of us about six single-serve bags of Lays brand potato chips. He explained that we could have a full refund on our trip, and I said that was totally ok and signed off on the paperwork he presented to me. We then proceeded to wait in the terminal until 3:30pm when the boat was scheduled to depart. At that time the same man came back and walked us from the terminal to the parking lot and that was the end of our little adventure. I admit, I shed a lot of tears that day and in the following days.
I still don't understand why we had to wait in the terminal for three and a half hours, and why I was told that I was being taken back to retake the COVID test when that was obviously not what was going to happen, but either way the experience didn't disturb me so much that I didn't rush to rebook the trip as soon as I could.
In all, I had an absolutely fantastic time! I just wanted to share that experience, since I haven't been able to find anyone else online who went through the same thing. If you have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask!
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