The Disney Destiny has floated out of the Meyer Werft shipyard and will soon begin making her way to a new home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The maiden voyage will sail November 20-24 to the Bahamas, and I can’t wait to share some firsthand reviews! Here are 10 things I’m looking forward to.
1. Pride Lands: Feast of the Lion King – There are a lot of exciting things coming on the Destiny, but I am most excited about Pride Lands. The food looks exciting, but it’s all about the music for me! Listening to favorites from Disney’s vast catalog performed live while I’m eating dinner sounds like my perfect meal.
2. Cay-to-Cay – I’m calling a cruise that visits BOTH Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay a Cay-to-Cay, and it’s one of my favorite Caribbean/Bahamas itineraries. The Destiny isn’t the only Disney ship with this itinerary, but it’s offering it a lot! It used to be hard to find an itinerary that visited both, or even visited Castaway Cay twice, but no longer. Disney’s newest ship will be jumping right into these!
3. Sanctum and Cask & Cannon – The newest concept art for both of these new spaces onboard looks even better than I had pictured. The Cask & Cannon looks like another well-themed sports bar and a good complement to Keg & Compass and Periscope Pub, the similar spaces on the Wish and Treasure. Sanctum, similar to The Bayou and Skipper Society on the Wish and Treasure, looks like an elegant space that will soon be popular. Maybe we can even hope that Disney has found a way to turn down the obnoxious lights from the jewelry stores next door that take away from the immersion? Maybe?
4. DeVil’s – DeVil’s looks adorable. Is it wrong to say that something themed after Cruella De Vil looks adorable? Well, it does. The spots! And the spotted piano! I can’t wait to spend an evening—or two or three—relaxing there with a mocktail while listening to live music.
5. Fort Lauderdale – While it’s super convenient to sail out of Port Canaveral and combine it with a trip to Walt Disney World, I’ve grown to love the ease of sailing out of Fort Lauderdale. It’s easy to take the train down from Orlando or fly into Fort Lauderdale directly. The short distance between the airport and the port is wonderful.
6. Five-Night Sailings – I’ll be honest, a five-night sailing is just about the perfect length. Longer is always better, but sometimes longer just doesn’t fit into a schedule easily. Five nights is much easier. Yet it doesn’t feel too short like a three- or four-night sailing often does. It’s really a great length, and the Destiny has a lot of these sailings.
7. Grand Hall – The Grand Hall on the Destiny is full of gold tones and a spectacular statue of the Black Panther. It’s set up the exact same, and yet it still feels so different than the Grand Halls on the other Wish-class ships. I am a big fan of variety, and the Wish-class is bringing it.
8. Disney Hercules – I’ve always enjoyed Hercules, and I liked the first version DCL had on the Magic and Wonder, so I was already pretty optimistic about this one. And once I saw the puppetry videos that Disney released? Whoa! I’m ready to be blown away.
9. Stateroom Themes – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I like that the Wish-class ships have different movie themes in their staterooms. It’s very subtle, so it won’t make or break a stateroom for you, but if your family has a favorite movie, it’s a nice extra touch! The options on the Destiny are good ones like The Incredibles, Hercules, Brave, and Mulan. And that Tower Suite that’s themed after Tony Stark’s penthouse? Love it!
10. Hero Minnie – I saw Hero Minnie’s image on the bow of the ship, but I didn’t realize how much I liked Hero Minnie until I saw her at the ship’s Float Out in Germany. Minnie is living her best life.
What do you think? What are you most excited about on the Destiny?
