About a year ago, my wife Susan started talking about doing a family vacation. We’ve heard from a number of friend that a Disney Cruise was an amazing experience. So we started doing some research and as we got further into it, the more excited we got. After much discussion and financial calculations, we made the plans in October. We held off telling our boys, Zach and Josh, until about 3 weeks prior to the trip. Needless to say, they were extremely excited to hear about our plans.

So in late April we packed our bags and headed down to Florida to catch the cruise. We’re excited to share some pictures and experiences that will last us a lifetime….or at least until we can save up for the next one!

Our Day In Florida

On Sunday we woke early and raced to the airport for an early flight down to Orlando. From there we rented a car and drove over to Cocoa Beach. It’s always a good idea to fly down the day before your cruise incase there’s any travel issues. Last thing you want to do is have a delayed flight then miss the boat!

Our cruise was embarking at Port Canaveral, on the east coast of Florida. Once we got to Cocoa Beach, we spent the afternoon at a Courtyard by Marriott hanging out at the pool and walking along the beach. For dinner, we went to a kid friendly place that served hot dogs, hamburgers, beer and assorted bar food. After that, it was over to the world’s biggest Ron Jon Surf store, putt putt golf and ice cream. We were up a bit later than usual with the excitement of the cruise.

First Day on Disney Dream

On Monday we woke up ready to get on the boat! Had a quick breakfast at the local IHOP and off to Port Canaveral. Being our first cruise, we weren’t exactly sure how the boarding experience worked. But after a few long lines, checking in and waiting we finally were aboard the ship around 12:30 pm. The room wouldn’t be ready until 1:30, so we headed up to the 11th deck where the main pool and buffet are located. We’d heard about buffets and cruises and this one didn’t disappoint! The boys were happy with the tried and true: pizza, chicken tenders and French fries (this will become a theme of meal time). For the grown ups, it was stone crab claws and jumbo shrimp!

After lunch we took our swim suits out of our backpacks and changed for a dip in the pool. It’s awesome, they have swim vest and kids float in the pool watching movies all day. After a while it was time to head to the room to drop our bags and go explore the rest of the ship. We found our way around and more importantly, found the Oceanaires Club. This is the place where kids get to hang out, play various games, do arts and crafts…basically have fun away from mom and dad! Disney has a very elaborate and extensive supervision program. Plus once the kids go in, they very rarely want to leave!

We were scheduled for the first dinner seating, which meant early dinner. So we showered up and headed to our appointed restaurant. There are three main restaurants on the ship and you rotate through them during the cruise. What’s really cool is your servers rotate with you! So you see them every night and they get to know your likes and dislikes. Naduk was our server and by the second day knew exactly what Josh was going to have: chicken nuggets, fries and fruit.


Nassau, Bahamas and Water Fun

Our first stop on the cruise was Nassau, Bahamas. The boys were excited as this would be their first time outside of the US! We woke early and had breakfast at the buffet. Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, pancakes, doughnuts, fruit loops…everything a young boy could want for breakfast. Mom and dad ate a bit more reasonably, fresh fruit and coffee.

As we were trying to keep expenses down, we didn’t sign up for any pre-arranged tours or activities. Instead, we planned to walk around downtown Nassau and have some lunch. Once we got off the boat, we realized it was tourist central with all the accompanying hawkers and souvenir stores. We did end up finding the Pirates Museum just off the main drag and that held the boys attention for about 30 minutes. Once we finished at the museum, we decided to head back to the boat for lunch and an afternoon of swimming.

The pool wasn’t too crowded as most people were off doing activities around Nassau. That allowed us to get seats in the shade (I tend to burn, so shade is essential!) around the pool. We also did a number of turns on the Aquaduck, the water roller coaster that goes around the pool deck. Both boys needed an adult to ride with them, so mom and dad got to tag along. I must say, it was fun! Not scary at all but you do get wet. During prime swim times, lines can be as long as an hour. But we had no more than a 20 minute wait at any time. When we weren’t doing the Aquaduck, we were floating in the pool watching Disney movies on the funnel screen. Later in the afternoon, we took in the new Jungle Story movie in one of the theaters. Since they’re Disney, the run first run movies throughout the day.

That night we took in a show about Disney Villains and it was nice. The boys and mom really liked it. After that, the boys went into the Oceaniares Club while mom and dad headed to the adult area for an adult drink! Unlike other cruise lines, Disney does not offer drink packages. So all adult drinks get charged to your room. I guess that’s done to keep the parents inline!

Did I mention the turn down service every night? It’s awesome! Firstly they pull the bunk bed for the boys down from the ceiling….that’s right I said the ceiling! Then they clean up the room and make the beds. They always arrange some towels in neat shapes on the bed. We enjoyed coming back to the room after dinner just to see animal they created this time!

Castaway Cay and the Magic Show

The third day of the cruise was spent at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. We got up early so we could get off the boat and pick out prime beach spot (meaning lots of shade and close to the water). We spent the swimming and going down a water slide. I had to help both boys swim out to the slide, but they loved it. The highlight of the morning was the crab races! They get about 8 hermit crabs and put them in the middle of a circle. Families get to name a crab and the first one to get out of the circle wins. They had 4 heats and then a final race. We were lucky enough to “sponsor” a crab, which we promptly named “Mr Lazycrab”. I told him if he lost, I was going to have him for dinner! Mr Lazycrab came through and won one of the heats…but lived up to his namesake in the championships. He didn’t even move. Lucky for him the Disney staff saved him from being my dinner.

We had lunch on the island than early afternoon went back to the boat. This turned out the be the best time to ride the Aquaduck as just about everyone was on the island. We waited no more than 10 minutes to ride and rode it numerous times.

That night at dinner, Naduk surprised us with a special dessert to celebrate our 12th anniversary! It was actually about a week early, but who were we to correct them? Then we hit the magic show in the Disney Theater. The magician was Mike Super who has been on “America’s Got Talent” and won some magician reality contest. Guess who got picked out of the crowd to help him to a trick. Josh! It was hysterical, Josh totally showed up the magician. The rest of the cruise people would come up to Josh and ask “Hey aren’t you Josh from the show last night?” He loved the attention but wouldn’t admit it.

This night also happened to be Pirate Night! Josh was all dressed up as a pirate, hook and all. So after the show we went up to the top deck where there was a pirate show by the pool and fireworks. After the show was a late night buffet. Josh and mom were tired so they conked out early while Zach and hit the show and buffet. It was a good night!


A day at Sea!

Thursday was a full day at sea, no stops anywhere. Just a nice relaxing day to enjoy the boat and all its activities. The downside was that meant that everyone else had the same idea! It definitely felt more crowded and finding a place to sit by the pool was nearly impossible. But we managed to scam some seats and watched a few movies while swimming.

In the afternoon, after copious amounts of sun, Josh and decided to take in another movie. This time it was “The Good Dinosaur” in 3-D! It was both of our first time seeing a movie in 3-D. While the movie was good, neither of us were really impressed by the 3-D gimmicks.

While we were off at the movie, Zach and mom were doing the Mickey Mouse Detective Agency adventure around the boat. This was really neat, kids have to find clues all around the boat at these interactive screens that look like art pictures. You hold your badge in front of the screen and it scans it. Then it gives you a clue and where to go find the next one. It’s quite the workout as there’s 12 decks on the boat! Josh and I ended up doing this after the movie, but didn’t finish it. We got sidetracked at some point by the bar in the lobby!

That night after dinner, the boys went back to the Oceanaires Club while mom and I packed up. We had to have our bags outside our rooms by 10:30 pm so they could be ready to unload when we docked early the next morning. The boat docks around 7 am and they want you out of your rooms and off the boat soon their after. They have to turn the boat around as the next cruise starts to board around noon!

We were sad to leave but had a great time. I definitely recommend a Disney Cruise for all families as they really do make it a vacation for all. Now we’re trying to figure out when we can go again and how we can come up with the money to pay for it!