In 2015, Bryan and I decided to book a 4-night Disney Bahamaian cruise sort of on a whim. I was away for work at a conference and was in my hotel room one evening checking out Disney vacations (like I often do). Yes, I have a problem! I found a cruise at a price we were willing to pay on a week Noelle already was off school for two days because of conferences and the election and a room that was slightly bigger than its counterparts but the same price as other ocean view rooms. And it was right after I was pretty sure I'd be in Disney anyways for a work conference. Fate or Mickey was calling my name. And the deposit was small and refundable so we booked it.
Over a year later, Bryan and the kids boarded a plane to meet me in Florida after my conference and we arrived at Wilderness Lodge for two nights and one day of non-park Disney fun after my conference. We played in the pool, met my newly Florida resident brother at Disney springs for some exploring and dining, and we enjoyed the Disney bubble in more relaxing style than normal. On Monday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and packed up for our ride to Port Canaveral. When we got there we saw the beautiful Disney Dream and quickly went through check in and security and boarded the ship. The kids were absolutely amazed how big it was in and out and I still find cruise ships pretty awe inspiring myself, despite being a return cruiser. Bryan and I's first and only cruise before this was a 3-night Bahama Disney journey in conjunction with our first trip ever to Disney together in 2005, our delayed honeymoon.
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| Swimming at the Lodge! |
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| Our home away from home, Wilderness Lodge! |
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| Disney Springs with my big little brother who moved to Florida two days prior! |
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| Cracking up with the photopass guy! |
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| Disney Springs with my favorite three! |
It is so hard to put in to words how great this four night cruise was. The ship is massive but we rarely felt the crowds except on the pool deck. Disney does a cool thing with dinner where you rotate through a series of restaurants and your wait staff follows you so you have the same table and same staff night after night. They get to know you and your family and knew my daughter wanted ranch on her salad and Kel just wanted some plain lettuce and carrots and that Noelle would want a few shrimp next to whatever she was eating from the kid menu. Food quality was fine - some things were amazing and some just so so as I expected for a big cruise ship feeding thousands of people but in general we were so happy with everything and especially not having to worry about anything! And the soft serve ice cream any time of day and a huge breakfast buffet for my breakfast loving son were big perks too!
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| Yay we are on the ship! |
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| Finished our first dinner off with a Mickey bar! |
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| These two came to our last dinner to meet our wait staff. |
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| Our cruise was in early November but was the first Christmas sailing so we got to see the characters light the tree our first evening. |
Our room was amazing. We opted for ocean view without a balcony as our kids are sort of insane (as you may know...) and I pictured Noelle doing gymnastic moves over the ocean. We got a room that had been converted from handicapped to traditional which meant a little extra space for us above the already bigger than normal cruise room. We had a king bed, sleep sofa, and pull down bed, big bathroom, and two huge portholes that we could lounge in. That was definitely a reading favorite! And each night we came in after the show to the signature Disney towel animals that everyone loved!
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| We decorated our door this time after learning this was the thing to do in 2005 |
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| One of our portholes. So relaxing to sit and watch the ocean or the ports. |
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| Our first night we got a Sea Turtle |
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| And on our last night this guy was swinging from our curtains! |
One of the reasons we booked a cruise instead of going to our old stand by Disney was to have a more relaxing vacation. At Disney, we go go go. On the cruise we could relax, swim, hang out together or apart, watch movies and shows, eat great food, work out, and do whatever else we wanted. The kids club is included for kids 3-12 and huge - 1/2 a ship length long! The kids could pretend to pilot a Star Wars ship, go to cooking class, have a dance party with Stitch, play Disney video games, make crafts, or hang out in Pixie Hollow. Knowing our kids would be together but also could pick different activities and that they would have no problem playing at the kid club was a major selling point for us on a Disney cruise!
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| Piloting the Millennium Falcon at the Oceaneer Club Open House |
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| Our adult only meal at Palo, one of many times our kids enjoyed the kid club! |
Besides the kid club, the kids loved the Aquaduck and smaller water slides, the pirate party (even though we fell asleep before the fireworks), the Broadway style Disney shows, watching Finding Dory in the theater, and their favorite activity, playing the Detective games with the interactive paintings around the ship! These Disney and Muppet themed games were adorable and great family fun! And the technology for the paintings to change in to game portals was super cool too!
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| Enjoying the slides on board! |
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| Argh! I'm a Pirate! |
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| Yo Ho, Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me! |
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| Working on a Muppet case in the Midship Detective Game |
Booking a Bahama vacation came with two stops, Nassau and Disney's island, Castaway Cay. Bryan and I had been to Nassau before and weren't particularly impressed. Since there were no excursions we were dying to do, we selected to stay on ship that day hoping for lower crowds. Well apparently 3/4 of the people on the ship had the same idea (I am not making this up, our waitress told us the official numbers!) so we had a great day but our plan to have the ship to ourselves didn't pan out! Castaway Cay on the other hand is lovely. And they have even added activities since we were there in 2005. I started my morning doing the Castaway Cay 5K and was one of the first finishers although that wasn't particularly impressive given the field :) Then we checked the kids in to the kid club area on the island so they could do a treasure hunt and whale dig while we lounged on the adult only beach for a bit. We all ate lunch together and then enjoyed the family beach including the water slides, lounging in our inner tubes, and a few beachy drinks! It was a great day despite the temperature not being quite as warm as we had hoped!
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| Olaf, you're going to melt! |
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| My favorite beach balls! |
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| Chilaxin |
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| Yay, our kids are swimming rockstars. Or have life vests on and are within arms reach of their swimtastic big sister. |
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| Castaway Cay Beach Selfie |
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| The Saxton Four. And Kellen's ice cream cone. |
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| Little loves and a big ship! |
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| Seasons greetings from the islands! |
Of course it was Disney so we met princesses and other characters on our trip too!
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| They are asking where Olaf and Sven are. Anna isn't sure. |
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| Pirates! |
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| Oh Christmas tree |
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| Tale as old as time. |
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| Snow White and two of her dwarfs |
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| I just want to point out that my kids ate more food on this cruise than ever in their life. And with Noelle that is saying something because she can eat! Rapunzel loved them and their full bellies! |
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| A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes! |
I don't feel like I am summing our trip up well with this - it is so hard to remember everything and with no internet on the ship we often didn't have our phones with us so way less pictures than normal for us! But it was a trip we will always remember. And we can not wait to go back on another cruise. We are eyeing up August 2018 and are just trying to decide between the Caribbean, Alaska, or Europe - so many choices! Disney Cruises may just be our new favorite Disney vacation!
