My family just returned from a week about a Disney Cruise that set sail to Key West, Castaway Cay and Nassau, Bahamas. It was the trip of a lifetime for us and the first vacation for my 4 1/2 year old little girl. The bar has been set so high for future trips with her!
I did a ton of research before going reading articles on other blogs, looking at Pinterest for packing tips and talking to friends that sailed recently. They gave me great tips and I learned a few myself from my 8 days aboard the Disney Wonder.
I blogged it all on my family blog, but wanted to share a recap here in case any of you are curious, interested or booked for a future cruise!
First and foremost, I shared lots of pictures of our stateroom and everything you'd want to know about the blow dryer, the double bathroom, the special pink princess sheets and the TV guide.
As with any cruise, we ate some extraordinary desserts, steaks and seafood and Mickey bars at every meal. The cruise does a wonderful job catering to kids with special cups, stickers, and a great kid's menu. Most importantly, they handled my daughter's peanut allergy better than I've ever seen.
I big part of the Disney cruise experience is the characters and we took our picture with 20 of them! On top of that, we had our autograph book full in the first few days. There were princesses at every corner and we even learned how to find them without the crowds.
This is one of my favorite photos from the cruise taken on my husband's iPhone. My little bitty girl looking up at a real life Tiana with so much excitement and wonder in her face.
Don't worry if you have boys or aren't into princesses anymore, there were lots of other Disney favorites including Mickey Mouse and friends, Lilo and Stitch, Terk, Captain Jack Sparrow and some of the cast of Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
The ship's calendar was full of activities for kids, adults only and families. My little Izzy loved the pirate party on the top deck one night. It included fireworks and dancing characters. Oh, and Mickey, ziplined across the boat. I am not even kidding. Amazing stuff!
We also put Abby in the complimentary child care every day to give us some quiet time. I explain the whole system in great detail including the security, handling of medicine, and what happens in there for the kids. You know, little things like Snow White showing up and teaching everyone how to Do Si Do.
Our ship made three stops....
We spent the day at the Atlantis resort enjoying the waterpark and dolphin interaction.
We also stopped at Disney's private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay. It was like having the cruise ship with great food, free sodas and ice cream, characters and free childcare relocate onto land. My husband even ran in the cruise 5K on the island. We loved our time there!
Our ship's first stop was in Key West where we enjoyed seeing pretty houses, eating seafood, and finding a key lime dessert! We even left Abby on the boat for this excursion.... I promise the child care was amazing!
Nobody from Disney paid me to share my trip with you- I just loved it and can't recommend it enough! Please email me at annajenk@yahoo.com or leave a comment if you have any questions about the cruise. I am happy to help!
