Ending Crossover into Opening!

Hello! Today is Saturday, February 21 and we are docked at Castaway Cay. Also, a Happy Birthday to Emily Beason and Quinn Vaira!

I had to buy some crew internet minutes because I left my toggle on and ran out. Whoops.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we head back to our home port of Fort Lauderdale and dock on Monday, February 23. My internet will reset then but it will be a crazy day so I am posting now.

Monday marks the day that the entire Destiny 1* cast debarks, and we, Destiny 2, move into our official rooms and take over! Aka it's D2's opening cruise! So, D1 debarks early in the morning, we move into the rooms they've emptied shortly thereafter, our cruise guests start arriving around 1pm, and we'll prep to welcome them for the opening show of "Set Sail" around 4:10pm EST. It's an impressively quick turnover.

(*This is how DCL (Disney Cruise Line) distinguises between casts. So, the Disney Dream is on cast like...30 or 40? We being the second cast of the Destiny are called Destiny 2. You often hear crew members say something like, "Yeah, I worked on Treasure 4." And I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but since we are on a ship, all Disney employees are called "Crew Members" instead of the usual "Cast Members"- that's reserved for land.)

D2 is ready for their opening. Naturally there will be little bumps as we perform in front of live audiences for the first time that week, but I know it'll smooth out as we get into our rhythm.

I have yet to get off the boat since we've emabarked on February 9th. Much of the cast has but my schedule hasn't allowed it. There was a day or two where I could have, but I used that time to do laundry, catch up on texts, and just relax.

Once we get into our cruising schedule, I plan to get off the boat every time we port. Like I keep saying these two weeks of crossover have just been nutty.

Oh! There goes Pluto on a golf cart to Castaway!

What else...I am battling a cold. I woke up two days ago with swollen lymph nodes but thankfully it's getting better and not worse. I should be 100% by opening cruise. 2026 has not been my year of body coorportation. But, we're figuring it out. Picture below of Day 1 of cold in a guest elevator. Any photos I take "backstage"in crew areas I won't be able to post here. If I were to do such a thing....I would print them off and show you in person.

Today I will go watch and support the Pride Land's final dress rehearsal run aka The Lion King show in the Pride Lands restaurant. Then Cal and I have our final Dress Rehearsal run of our Marvel show, With Great Power. Then I will nap, and late tonight we will have our final run of the big rock n roll Pirate show.

Excited to get in the rhythm of normal cruising. Excited to be over this cold.

All in all, I am happy to be tan and to be on this boat.

Oh! And those inquiring about safety and security on the ship. They take it veeeeeeery seriously. Especially in the kids areas. In our security and safety meetings they don't go into nitty gritty details with us as they keep security tight, but just know, if you on a Disney boat, big brother is watching. And as a crew member, they confiscated my fabric scissors so yeah, no one is getting on this boat with anything larger than that.

For those of you who I have spoken to about coming on as a Sign On and then fingers crossed getting the upgrade. I said $50/night, but it's $60/night plus port fees. I have heard a few numbers tossed around, but I would say for a 4-7 night cruise it will be around $300-$500 total per guest (yes, that includes all food and most non-alcoholic drinks like soda and coffee. Alcohol and speciality coffees are available for purchase.)

For my discounted cruises, numbers vary. But overall that looks like a 5 night cruise for around $800 total/ per person. Could be less, could be more depending on room. Still learning!

Ta ta for now!