First up, our first day, which I titled on our trip planning spreadsheets as:
Let’s Set Sail!
Arrival to MCO: Level 1 Bathroom Tour Included at no extra cost
We took a red-eye flight from home to MCO. Boarding, flight and arrival were completely uneventful. After collecting bags, we proceeded straight to Terminal B Level 1 to wait for DCL representatives (expected around 8am) to check us in & load us to the shuttle to port. We arrived at 6:25am. Kids took turns resting or playing devices. Here you can see which kids slept on the plane and which did not. Plus the parents that somewhat slept in between trying to get everyone to rest.
And all was well until the first of us needed to use the bathroom.
If you have read the June 2025 liners in the world thread you already know the 
situation that was. But if you missed that delight, the airport had a water issue that day. Which meant a lot of time was spent looking for the least worst level 1 bathroom to get business taken care of in (the bathrooms on all other levels were all fully closed with zero water available; level 1 had some water, mostly diverted to the sinks to wash hands, flushing the toilets, not so much). 
Sometime in there Starbucks was mobile ordered for breakfast, bags handed off to the team there to collect luggage & we did the ship check-in in at the DCL counter once the reps arrived. We were assigned Tink stickers for the first bus out! 
What seemed like an eternity (but only a few hours later), we were driving out to port. I was so happy to leave the airport and its hardly-flushing toilets behind!
Port Arrival, Embarkation & First Impressions
The bus ride was about 50 minutes but seemed to go quicker than that. As we got off the shuttle we were given a cardstock card for each stateroom that gave us a boarding group number with the instructions that it superseded anything we had been previously assigned and to board when that number was called.
Printed on there was Boarding Group 1
Our bus was the only one there and we were the only ones going through security but once we got up to the waiting area it was JAM-PACKED. People everywhere sitting & waiting and no boarding had started but it was still early for that being 11:15am or so. My only guess is that a lot of people with later groups had already parked and/or been dropped off and were waiting to be called up to board.
We wound our way through the throng to a few embarkation day photos.
It was a little bit of a wait as more people crammed in & we could hear some cheering and rucus from Concierge’s walled off waiting area as they were let onboard just ahead of 11:30am.
Then it was our turn as Boarding Group 1 was called at 11:30! We were the 2nd (non-concierge & non-back to back) family to board presenting our Boarding Group 1 cards at the queue (one other family standing nearer than us to the entrance was faster to get their group in).
The atrium wasn’t quite empty as they had the Concierge families lining up to be let into the dining room adjacent to it for their lunch. But Belle was waving from above, the space was gorgeous & we quickly found out the rest of the ship was totally empty, for now!
We headed first to Skipper Society and the entrance of Haunted Mansion Lounge. So gorgeous!
Our plan had been to head to Haunted Mansion right when it opened at 12pm (expecting to be onboard at about or just before that time) but it was 11:40am and we didn’t want to kill 20 minutes waiting while the area filled up, especially since we could very much “rope drop” the buffet for lunch. So we pivoted.
Lunch, Guest Services & Stateroom
When we arrived to Deck 11 (Illivin!) aft, we found an empty Marceline Market.
We set up right next to the crab only to discover it was Jonah crab claws and not the full snow crab legs we love (and this was the 2nd cruise in a row this happened, so we had a tiny moment of sad). We did still enjoy a full lunch of all our other favorites in the buffet (and still ate plenty of crab claws just with more work and slightly less reward than the delicious snow crab leg meat would’ve been).
Bellies full, we got up from the table to exit a now max capacity and peak chaos buffet. At the entrance, I turned around to count heads to make sure we had all made it through, and DD5 (L) was with us & not emerging from any crowd around us.
DS13 (X) and I retraced our steps while the rest stayed at the front to look in that immediate vicinity. We found her at the table we had eaten at, sitting with the family that we had given up the table to, sobbing into her dessert (she had been carrying out one last chocolate mousse to go). And all my mom heart strings were pulled. 
She had alerted crew members, and they were already on the lookout for us (and also had collected a MagicBand+ that one of the other kids had left at the table that they returned to us with our tearful daughter). I carried her in my arms like a much younger tot, all the way up the front of the restaurant and assured her over & over that she did the perfect thing alerting crew members and then staying put at that table.
She was still sad as we headed to our next stop, Guest Services, to try to get DS8 (S) added to our existing reservation for Adventure Tea later on in the sailing. He had been offered the chance to do it or get a souvenir budget & had insisted he did not need to try the tea & wanted the spending money.
DD12 (E) had easily picked the spending money, L easily picked the tea and X asked to be added to the tea but considered the spending money, ultimately deciding to go to the tea after all. We had asked S several times while getting ready for our booking window, if he really didn’t also want to be added just in case, and he declined & insisted he wanted the budget. After our booking window but before the cruise, and of course when it was all sold out for the day we were doing it, S changed his mind!
We had been scoping the app for an extra spot for him & had called DCL the last day reservations were open on the app to check & were told to go to Guest Services on embarkation day to attempt to add him.
Guest Services was exceptional & delightful. While we were in line, they noticed L was sad and the person directing the line traffic took a moment to talk to us, found out about her getting lost in Marceline & went to the back and returned with a small surprise gift for her tied with a ribbon, even. It was a black & white puzzle of Mickey & friends with travel size coloring pencils to color it in. She was instantly cheered! 
And when it was our turn, they very cheerfully added S to the wait list, told us they would see what they could do and chatted with us a few minutes in addition.
By now the staterooms were ready so we headed to ours. We always need 2 staterooms and all but once have done connecting rooms. We had booked Deluxe Oceanview (9B) on Deck 2 (have done the same on 4 of our 8 cruises). I love Deck 2 on the Treasure (& Wish) for its ease to the main dining rooms, the Walt Disney Theater, lounges, and also the Oceaneer Club. And the rooms this time were tucked into a small dead end RIGHT next to the staircase that went right up to the theater. Making it super convenient access.
On the Treasure(& Wish) the portholes in these rooms are a fantastic perch for kids to snuggle into & take in the views. So of course my kids went straight for the portholes.
We didn’t have any luggage delivered yet so after we tucked away the electronics & day bags that we carried on (in the very ample storage), we jetted back out to explore.
Oceaneer Club Open House, Sailaway & Pool Deck
Our first exploration was the kids club open house. None of the interactive games were available to play, but we were able to get the 2 younger kids’ registration information confirmed so their first drop-off to the club would go faster and we looked around and admired some of the spaces.
For me especially I love the Imagineering area and real-life props they include from various Disney locations. The hard hat in the case was Laura Cabo’s who featured in both documentaries of the building of the Wish & Treasure and oversaw all the creative design of the spaces, which I think she executed flawlessly on both ships and I will fight anyone who doesn’t admit it. So I was geeking out over seeing it on the ship.
As well as all the cool stuff they stashed in & around the Imagineering room.
I also got fun shots of the kids in the Marvel room that we all love checking out.
Next up, got changed to be pool deck/swim-ready, then to our muster station (in Sarabi lounge on forward Deck 4) and once that sardine packed affair of an in-person safety drill was over, straight up to deck 11 (illivin!) for the sailaway.
Our favorite sail away song is the catchy “Let’s Set Sail!” on the Treasure (&Wish) so we enjoyed it all right up to the Captain Minnie count down to the sound the horn.
While the dance party continued sans characters, we moved to get snacks & started our swimming. DH (Tom), X & S picked up some tacos/burritos from Donald’s Cantina and BBQ from Mickey’s Smokestack. I grabbed ice cream with L & E. After I shared some bites of the BBQ and burritos and finished my first swirl ice cream of the sailing, it was swimming time!
I took L to her favorite feature of the Treasure(&Wish) ships and what she had been asking to do again just about every week for the last 16 months since we had been on the Wish: swim in the “deep” (to her at 4.5 ft) circular Goofy/Donald pools (with a life vest to keep her afloat in that deeper water). She was in heaven to be reunited with her most favorite swimming pool of all time.
I convinced her to get out to wave a little bit as we passed the jetty park right before the ship exits the port to open sea but she was very antsy to get back to pool time so as soon as we were clear of the park & waving, back in the water we went.
Evening Activities, including dinner
We had the option to hear a singing group: the Fly Boys in the Walt Disney theater that night, but opted to relax more on the pool deck instead. At some point X & E left to shower & change to go to the tween club Edge.
Tom & I did want to do a trivia at 7:30pm in the Skipper Society lounge so we eventually dragged S & L away from the pool deck to rinse off & change and got them checked into kids club ahead of the trivia start. Our bags had also arrived so we were able to at least bring them in to the closets/under the beds until I could have more of a moment to unpack.
X & E met us for the trivia and we realized two things:
- The sailing was PACKED and there was not enough room for as many people who wanted to play but especially not at Skipper Society and we had to sit off to the side in front of one of the stores but basically in the hallway and,
- There were a lot of other very Disney-knowledgeable folks and winning the medallions this time around was going to be extremely competitive.
The silver lining to this was that once we knew we missed 2 or more questions, we didn’t need to stick around to find out if we won and could duck out a little early to the next thing. In this case it was our first night of dinner with a stop to pick up the littles from Oceaneers first.
Our rotation had us starting in 1923.
We also met our serving team, Satria from Indonesia and his assistant, Paloma from Argentina. They were kind, energetic and amazingly efficient. This cruise was the first one where weren’t one of the last groups sitting down because of how much butt they busted getting us food on the earlier end so we could finish and be done and on our way within 75 minutes.
Usually we are there 90 min minimum and often times lingering even a little longer. It was definitely a pro for us though as it gave us more time after dinner to enjoy things on the ship, when that had been impossible to consider on previous cruises because after dinner activities started at 9:30/9:45pm. The first few days we appreciated quickness but also felt it came at the expense of really clicking/connecting with our serving team, but as the sailing went on, we connected more with them both.
Tonight’s menu was one we had done on the Wish several times last year and loved.
My favorites on this menu that I was sure to order were:
Tortellini pasta for an app
Peppered filet for the main
Bavarian Cream cake for dessert
All were excellent and a great first dinner. I also tried the (new addition that hadn’t been on the Wish’s menu) donut holes with chocolate sauce drizzle.
I also got my favorite glass of wine: Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon to go along with my steak.
Most of us ordered the steak for the main. I believe Tom, X & E ordered some variety of other apps and desserts that I don’t have documented. But I traded bites with them of things and we all enjoyed everything. S ordered a cheese-potato soup and some entree off the kids menu.
I did snag a photo of S’s dessert which was a brownie a la mode from the kids menu.
L ordered only the cheesey-potato kids soup and the donut holes dessert, wanting nothing to do with a main dish. Before her soup came she ate 2 rolls and then less than half her bowl of soup declaring that she would be too full for dessert if she ate another bite of anything else.
When dessert came, she devoured nearly all of her donut holes. Living her #bestcruiselife for sure!
After dinner I herded the family all together for one set of photos with a Pocahontas backdrop in the atrium including one magic shot with Meeko. I was super happy they happily obliged.
After that, X & E disappeared off to Edge, and S to Oceaneers. DH, L & I stayed in the atrium to watch a show being put on the stage by the 2 main “characters” of the ship, the adventurers Sage & Coriander. They would continue to show up hosting many shows and interactive experiences throughout the week up through the finale atrium show.
This first show tonight was a retelling of Aladdin called something like Stories of(from?) the Lamp. It was done in a very humorous style with plenty of props and physical comedy. Reminded us a lot of the Storytelling at the Royal Theater in DL which we also love, so this was a hit with us.
The only con: I was nodding off sitting down on the floor watching because I was ready to pack it in for the night!
Also, we didn’t realize it then because we didn’t think it was separate from the show we were watching, but this was the only night we caught the atrium chandelier/lighting show. On the Wish the chandelier and lighting in the atrium light up at 10pm/11pm and last time at midnight with a Cinderella themed “So This is Love” medley that is a sweet little “kiss goodnight”.
With how beautiful the Treasure atrium was and all the lighting effects we could see ready we were excited to see how the Treasure’s compared (and I was fully expecting it to tie into A Whole New World with how impactful that song is).
We were sitting in the atrium waiting for the show to start when the 10pm lighting show started and we saw the side of the stairs light up to the introduction song from Aladdin and a tiny bit of effects on the chandelier. It was a nice touch, but not the same magic and enchantment we had experienced on the Wish’s chandelier show, which had been one of our favorite things about the atrium. And until the next day when we heard that the lighting show was at 5pm and 10pm each day, we didn’t realize this was the equivalent of that. And were mystified that first night thinking, maybe the Treasure didn’t have it, when the kids went down at midnight to watch it and nothing happened.
Goodnight & Mickey Bars at Midnight
Back in the room though I realized I needed to still unpack our cases and that I would really have a much better day the next day if I just did it. So I did. Somewhat grumpily (the kids hadn’t started the one thing I had asked them and were off having fun now instead). But it got done & I got over my grumpiness. L was in the room with us and getting sleepy so DH helped her get into her pjs and tucked in with a movie of her choice going so I could focus on getting the room setup and get to bed.
He also got our traditional room service order figured out (always Mickey bars and usually some hot foods). Tonight it was Mickey bars for the 5 of us hanging on until midnight and some chicken tenders for him and the awake kids.
I changed into pjs the second I was done arranging the room, had my Mickey Bar while half-asleep on the bed (they are so much better on the ship than anywhere) and then crashed to sleep.
All in all a great day on a great ship having a mostly (grand) old time.
Looking forward to your TR!
) and bailed on the trivia. It was a very enjoyable lunch.
