Our party consisted of my husband (46), myself (43) and our son (12). This was our 4th Disney cruise and our 5th cruise overall. We were slated to leave for the Western Caribbean 8/26/06.
We started our trip at the WDW Polynesian Resort three days earlier. We stayed in Rapanui which is one of the recently refurbished buildings. The rooms are spacious and comfortable and the monorail makes park access extremely convenient. The cruise staff at the resort helped us prepare our documents and arrange to catch the bus to Port Canaveral. They were very friendly and helpful.
Embarkation was a breeze. It may have been a little quicker because we are Castaway Club members, but Disney, in general is pretty efficient. It is also a hoot to see the nautically attired characters as you wait to check-in. The one surprise we received was that our ship was no longer headed for the Eastern Caribbean but to the Western Caribbean because of Hurricane Ernesto.