It takes less than 90 minutes from Walt Disney World to Port Canaveral, which is great! 
Check in was pretty quick and flawless. We are Platinum cruisers now and have a separate check in and waiting area in Port Canaveral.
We took the obligatory board the ship picture…
Once onboard, we headed straight for Cabanas for lunch (Katie was obviously excited to be one of the first ones inside- as Platinum Cruisers, we are always in Boarding Group One). This has turned out to be the key to make sure we secure a table that is comfortable for all five of us. Before we were assigned boarding group one- we would do our online check in ASAP so we can have an earlier check in or eat inside the table service option vs the buffet to avoid the crowds- especially on the larger ships.
After lunch, which was basically the same as we have had during most of our sailings, we headed to the spa to sign the girls up for massages – which we couldn’t do prior as the Teen Spa isn’t open online prior to arrival. We also checked out the new smoothie bar on board, located inside the spa.
We skipped the sail away party this time- the girls and Mike went to Cove Café for some specialty coffee and Daddy/Daughter bonding…
while Mikey and I watched us sail away from our balcony while playing card games.
After we started to move, and everyone was back together, we decided to take a stroll around the ship. 
We found ourselves checking our Vista Café where we did indulge in some cheese and prociutto …
We did walk through the new high end stores as well…
but we decided to head back to our rooms, enjoy the view and freshen up before dinner.
On this cruise, we decided on second seating for dinner (yes, we actually gave up put first seating dinner time) and so far- so good. We had snacked a bit earlier and had a pretty chill evening before dinner, playing card games and some even napped (not naming names, but it wasn’t me!). We had seen the show several times, so we skipped our scheduled 6pm time slot to see it. Dinner tonight was inside Animator’s Palate:
My favorite, the girls and I started with the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes:
Crush even visited and chatted with Katie too!
For my main course I had the Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus beef Tenderloin carved to order on Wasabi Mashed Potatoes with Bok Choy and a Tamarind–Barbecue Reduction:
For dessert, I had the White Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake with Whipped Cream and Raspberry Coulis:
Our dinner was outrageously good. Like, we hadn’t remembered the food being this good onboard on a very long time- and we weren’t starving, etc- it was just delicious. We enjoyed each other and our fish visitors periodically through the evening. Our servers Adi and Heather were so, so amazing- personable, sweet, and incredibly accurate with our wants… on night one. It was great. Were left pleasantly surprised, really full, and really tired. We decided to go back to our staterooms and head to bed after an after dinner stroll around the ship.
