New friends

I know I start a lot of these blog posts with "One of my favorite things..." and this one will be no different.  One of my favorite things about cruising is getting to meet people from other places.  And with two opportunities, we'll get to meet a lot more people from a lot more places.  By participating on the DISBoards, we've become acquainted with other Disney Cruise fans who are also active members, so we have some virtual introductions already.

As I was looking over the roll call for each of our cruises, I counted people from 34 states and four other countries, and that's just people who've found their way to DISBoards.  There are over 120 families represented in these groups; that's a lot of new people to meet!  And that doesn't count the people that we'll meet standing at the Safety Drill, or on our excursions or at the next dinner table, or even in the laundry room.  Nor does it include the new friends the boys will make in the Youth programs.  The ship carries over 2,000 passengers on each voyage, and at last check there aren't many cabins available to book, so it looks like the ship will be at capacity.

At the beginning of a cruise, conversations tend to be about the adventures in getting to the ship (good and bad), and later on they turn to adventures in port and plans for the next day. But as you see the same people and talk with them, they become your community - at least for the time you're on board.  There's a difference in this experience on longer cruises like these versus the 3-4 night cruises to the Bahamas that a lot of people enjoy.  And if you're lucky, some of these new community members become your friends.  Thanks to social media, it's easy to keep in touch post-cruise and who knows? You may end up traveling on the same cruise with your fellow passengers in the future.  We've done it and it's been a blast!