Have a Happy Cruise

We booked our cruise about 6 weeks before sailing, through the Florida resident portal on the Disney Cruise Line website. Going on an family vacation had been a daydream during the tortured time I spent proctoring FCAT with my 8th graders and finding a good last minute deal was our first miracle. We reserved a family stateroom with a veranda and I stated scouring blogs for travel and packing tips. I really believe the things I learned helped us have such a great cruise experience.  While most of what I discovered can be found in various spots online already, here's a quick summary of my favorite tidbits: 1. Plan a reveal - We waited until I was finished teaching to tell the kids about the cruise. While it was excruciating to have to wait, it was definitely better than hearing them ask EVERY SINGLE DAY if it was the big day for six weeks. It also gave me time to figure out a special way to tell them about our vacation. Through the Disney Cruise website, you can schedule a phone call from the characters (we chose Mickey and Minnie) before your cruise. It's a scripted call, but the kids LOVED it. I also prepared a poem and ordered some special Disney branded beachwear for them to pack on the trip. It was a great surprise and it set the tone for how special our trip would be. I've always hated writing poetry.  Don't judge me. 2. Door Decorations - Staterooms have metal doors and many families use magnets to decorate them, especially for special occasions. You can buy decorations on Etsy or from Disney and even on board the ship, but I chose to make our own because (a) we didn't have that much time and (b) I didn't want to spend lots of money on door decorations when I could get paper, magnets, and stickers for under $5 at Michael's. 3. Pirate Party - On the second night aboard the Disney Dream, Captain Mickey hosts his Pirates in the Caribbean party. You will be given a red pirate Mickey bandanna, but it's fun to bring costumes too. We made our own basic costumes with black shorts and white t-shirts and lucked out finding foam swords, pirate hats, and eye-patches at the Target dollar spot. Since the fireworks show doesn't begin until after 11 PM, I also picked up glow necklaces from the dollar spot. The kids loved them, and it saved me from having to buy expensive glowing Disney merchandise during the show.  4. Be Beach Ready - You do NOT need to pack towels. When planning the big reveal, I ordered Disney swimsuits, flip-flops, sunglasses, and pajamas for the kids, but I held my ground and did not buy towels. Not only are towels too bulky to pack, you won't need them since the ship provides towels at the pools and on Castaway Cay. I do recommend bringing a good beach bag, cheap beach toys, refillable bottles, and large plastic bags.  The beach bag will help you tote your sunscreen, drinks, toys, camera, autograph books, and anything else from the ship to the sand. My bag had a separate zipper pouch that was perfect for holding our keys to the world.  The dollar spot is your friend again when it comes to beach toys.  Yes, buckets are bulky to pack (I stuffed socks and underwear in them, so we didn't lose suitcase space), but the cute Nemo branded sand toys on Castaway Cay aren't cheap. Rather than bring our sandy buckets home, we bequeathed them to another family when we headed back to the ship. Real life sharing + sand-free suitcase = win.  You'll want to bring refillable bottles (insulated if possible) for water on Castaway Cay.  Water and sodas are available for free, but if you don't bring your own bottles, you'll have to buy bottled water if you want it on the beach with you. A short walk to the restaurant areas feels a lot longer in the hot sun to a thirsty child (or adult), and a cold bottle of water prevents a lot of whining. I packed an extra gallon-sized Ziplock for each person in our family to bring home our wet suits and things when it was time to come home.  Even though we dried everything out overnight, our suits were still damp when it was time to leave and the plastic bags kept them separate from our other clothes. Keep your drinks icy cold! I ordered the Minnie Mouse cup from Disney, but had to get Mickey through Amazon.  Weird, right? 5. Personalized Souvenirs - This was one of my favorites. You can drop off two items per stateroom with customer service to have autographed by the Disney characters and then they will be delivered to your stateroom with all the signatures on the last night of the cruise.  A lot of people buy picture frames or pillowcases, but I'm a teacher by trade, so we brought books.  I figure the books will actually get used and I don't mind keeping them literally forever. The kids had no idea I had brought them, so they were a fun extra surprise at the end of our cruise. Seriously, so cool! I found the books at Kohl's and bought them with promotional Kohl's cash, making them less than $5 each.  A good cheap souvenir and we didn't have to wait in line for the signatures. 6. Keep Yourself Organized - A lot of blogs recommend buying over-the-door shoe organizers to store small items in your stateroom. Disney prohibits the use of these organizers because they can damage the doors, and there really is quite a bit of storage space in the room anyway.  We were maxed out with 4 in the room, but had ample space to unpack and store our luggage under the bed.  I would advise you to swing by the Dollar Store again (notice a trend?) and find some suction cup hooks.  We used these to hang our suits to dry after the beach and the pool because they didn't all fit on the clothes line in our bathroom. Plus it looked tidier. You'll also want a pen and a highlighter to help you plan your adventures on your navigator.  I had a pen, but was aching for a highlighter the whole time. But of course, I love office supplies. I also carried one of my larger purses during the cruise even though most blogs advised against it.  I found it worked well for toting the camera, autograph books, water bottles, and diaper changing wallet around the ship and on our excursions. There is a lot of cruising advice floating around on the internet with more details and better pictures than I can give you, but after reading through a lot of it, this is what truly helped us the most. (Read about our cruise here, here, and here.)  If you find yourself planning a Disney Cruise I hope it helps you a bit too!

Our Disney Cruise - Day Three

I've started writing this so many times, the first draft pecked out on my phone while the kiddos splashed away during a swim lesson.  A month has passed since my last publication, and while I've filled my time with useful things like taking care of sick kids, a trip to the beach, and teaching a home-based summer preschool program, I’m wondering why I felt like a blog was a good idea in the first place. Surely we've all lost interest, right? (Audible sigh.)

But I’m not a quitter, at least not today, and I do want to chronicle the rest of our cruise before it's forever lost in the mommy fog. I need to check it off my list, close the Sticky Note list of pictures that has been driving me crazy, and make space in my brain for new concerns, like lesson plans for the homeschooling that starts in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS.

I know you've been waiting with bated breath to see more pictures from our trip, so without further ado…

Our third and final day on the cruise was our last chance for tropical relaxation before returning to regularly scheduled life. The ship was full of activities, but my main goal was to play in the white sands and sparkling blue waters of Disney's island, Castaway Cay. (FYI, Cay is pronounced like "key" of course.) But we had to begin the day with food. We enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the Royal Palace dining room since the kids missed it for dinner. There weren't as many options as in Cabanas, but it was significantly less crowded too. Also, in the dining rooms servers bring drinks to your table which makes managing buffet plate logistics significantly easier when you're also making selections (read: choosing doughnuts) for two kids.

Breakfast selfie!

After breakfast we returned to our room to change into our swimsuits and grab water bottles, snorkeling equipment, and sunscreen. This is where packing a beach bag comes in handy. There is water readily available on the island, but it's a great idea to bring something (insulated and portable) to keep water by your beach chairs. According to our Navigator, we could meet characters on the gangway so we book-ended our beach day by meeting Captain Hook and Mr. Smee on the way out and Stitch on the way back. Captain Hook, though a man of few words, indicated that through some unspeakable act of mutiny he was now our captain. The Bug loves the idea of mutiny.

Our new captain.

Be patient! That's not sand!

In true Disney fashion, you take a short tram ride to the various beaches. We stopped at the first, and probably most crowded, family beach, but managed to find two unoccupied lounge chairs and an umbrella with no trouble. We rented a tube for floating and dragged our chairs down to the edge of the water. The water was so clean and calm that even The Bug, who is normally terrified of the ocean, was waking around chest deep. We built sandcastles and tried to catch fish with our dollar store buckets while Matthew took some time for snorkeling in the artificial reefs. When he returned, The Bean and I relaxed in the tube while The Bug explored the big kids water playground. The warm sun, cool water, and gentle rocking actually put The Bean to sleep and we transferred him to a chair under the umbrella, proving that vacation miracles do exist. If there is anything more relaxing than a two hour nap in the shade of an umbrella on a beach in the Bahamas, I don't know what it is. We ate in shifts at Cookie's BBQ while The Bean napped before heading back to the ship to meet Stitch.

Best nap ever.

Love this beach beauty.

I let The Bug try the camera. Not too bad!

The Bug was SO excited to meet Stitch.  Incidentally, I finally saw Lilo and Stitch for the first time right before our cruise.  I love it! Also, why do I look so freakishly tall?

We decided to make one last stop at the Mickey Mouse pool before our swimsuits dried out completely, enjoying a smaller crowd due to so many beach goers so off the ship. We also picked up more food at Flo’s V8 café since The Bean slept through lunch on the island. 

After we cleaned up and changed into regular clothes, I took The Bug for some one-on-one time decorating cupcakes with a genuine French pastry chef in the kids club. Again the Disney memory making magic was in full swing as we donned matching aprons and hats, and attempted to use a plastic knife and spoon to craft Disney inspired cupcakes. Given the lack of proper tools, I think we did a great job! On the way back to the room we ran into Pluto and Daisy for autographs and Pluto was even kind enough to sign the pillowcase she made during the pajama party.

So artistic!

My Belle inspired cupcake.  Would have been nice to have a piping bag.

Priceless! 

The parenting relay continued, and we switched off so I could get my shop on with The Bean while Matthew and The Bug played mini golf on the top deck. (Apparently she's very good!) They found us back in the stateroom watching Toy Story 2 and playing with his new set of toys before dinner at the Animator's Palate.

The Animator's Palate is a real treat, both in terms of the food and the atmosphere. Matthew looked up the menus because I had forgotten what I ordered, (I remember now: Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes, YUM) and I realized my dinner game has a long way to go. The restaurant is full of Disney memorabilia and there is a fun interactive show featuring Crush from Finding Nemo. The Bug joined the clean plate club and was rewarded by our servers with two desserts. You get the feeling that the cruise ship is staffed by young, single people who are completely unaware of the ramifications of two desserts at 10pm, but they do know how to make kids happy.

After dinner, we went back to the room and finished packing our large suitcases to be picked up for the morning. My last surprise for the kids had been delivered to our stateroom: two Disney storybooks autographed by Mickey and his friends and all the princesses.  Even though they were a really cool souvenir, they went hastily into the suitcases and into the hallway because no one wants to carry to heavy books through customs. We collapsed into bed (seriously, where do people find the energy for week long cruises?) because we had to wake up early for breakfast the next morning.

I was pleasantly surprised though to learn that the late dinner seating means you also have a "late" breakfast seating. We had one last meal with our much-loved servers, gathered our carry-ons and made our way through customs and back to the car.

Did we have fun? Yes. Was it worth the money? Yes. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. On the ship, it felt perfect. On the drive home, it felt perfect. Two months later, it feels perfect. We don’t take fancy vacations. We work hard, we find fun in the little things. But, boy, was it nice to spend time as a family enjoying new experiences, eating lots of new food, and making very special memories.