Our First Cruise

As I mentioned, as part of the trip, we went on the Disney cruise, and we truly loved every minute of it. I don't think I have seen Alex ever more relaxed and carefree. We both agreed it was amazing-the crew was so nice, the island was lovely and the ship was gorgeous!

Us by the Disney Wonder on Castaway Cay, the private island. We had 2 days here instead of just the one, which was the original plan (also had a day in Nassau). It was very nice and quiet. They have a separate beach, Serenity Bay, just for adults so we went there the first day. It was a lot more secluded that I expected; I was surprised they only had one small souvenir shop instead of Disney merch everywhere; it kept the whole Bahamas feel.
As we were getting ready to sail off Port Canaveral, the crew/characters had a big celebration. There is actually a pool where everyone is standing, and throughout the cruise, movies and sports (Disney/ESPN, of course) were shown on the big screen. There were 4 pools on the ship; a kids one (shaped like Mickey), adults one, family one and one for the crew.

This is the main atrium, when we first entered the ship. The art on the ceiling is by the glass blower Chihuly, who did the Bellagio one. Most of the characters came here for pics/autographs.

Here is us with Minnie. It was so nice not having to wait in long lines outside for pics of all the characters. And their outfits were so cute! Jack Sparrow even made some appearances....

This is our spacious stateroom. We loved looking out at night and seeing the water flow by. It was nice being spoiled with twice a day cleaning, cute towel art and free room service! Every time we were in the room for more then 5 minutes, Alex had some kind of movie on. I looked forward to getting the next day's agenda and hearing the When You Wish Upon a Star chime that indicated an announcement:)

Anyone recognize this ship? Yep, the Flying Dutchman from Pirates. It was at Castaway Cay next to where the ship docked. Crazy to think it was used in the movies since they make it seem so much bigger in them.

This is all of us in Animator's Palate on dressy night. During our meal, the restaurant goes from this to being in color and they do a little show. Our servers were very nice. Almost all the crew was foreign, we had fun learning bits and pieces of new languages. All the food was delicious, we ended up buying the palate plates so we can make fancy desserts like these at home!

Brian took this pic of us in the Walt Disney Theater waiting for Disney Dreams, one of the night shows. The Hercules one the night before was hilarious and the other two were classics. It was also Pirate Night, so after the show, they had a big party on the deck, ending with fireworks and more food, including 2 huge ships carved out of chocolate and an ice bust of Jack Sparrow. Also, for entertainment, there were a couple adult lounges where they had funny shows and dancing. Even though we had no kids, we felt right at home.

This was our last night on the ship at Parrot Cay. We rotated restaurants, but kept the same servers. It was fun being with the Devers and going over our day's activities together; great travel buddies!

After the last night's show, they had a special goodbye gathering. A lot of the characters did a little number and hung out for last-chance pics. The guy in the white was the cruise director, Darren; he kept everyone informed of the day's events and was always around doing something.

Right as we were eating breakfast, before we got off the ship, we had a very special surprise. We saw a rocket take off from NASA in Port Canaveral! It was super cool, a nice grand finale of a wonderful 4 nights. Then it was off to the rest of Disney World. We definitely enjoyed being spoiled. It was weird afterwards not having people giving us wipes to stay clean around every corner, having to make big decisions, not having tax free purchases and having to pay for food again. Hopefully, we can do it again someday!!