International,  Travel

Cruising on the Disney Dream

January 29, 2020 /

We never thought we would go on a cruise. And then we did. It just happened to be the best option for a family vacation and so off on a Disney Cruise we went! Based on our dates and the length of time we wanted, we ended up on the Disney Dream, cruising to Nassau, Bahamas and Disney’s Castaway Cay.

Because we had never cruised before, I did a lot of research beforehand and I am glad that I did! One of the most helpful sites I found was this one: 101 Magical Disney Cruise Tips It contains tips and information that, having never cruised before, I would never have thought of! Thank you Alisha Molen and picturethemagic.com!

One other tip that I read many times and I think is worth repeating here, is to check in at exactly midnight on your check-in date. When you “check in” online, you pick your boarding group, and, more importantly, can choose your extra activities. Because we were first time cruisers, we were in the last group to check-in, so many of the activities I was interested in (whiskey tastings, spa times) were already booked. Because I checked in at midnight, though, I was able to grab some fun activities, including character meetings, a martini tasting, a champagne tasting, and dinner at Remy. When I looked later that day (as in, after I had slept) most of those activities were filled.

Ok. Onto the details of our trip. As recommended, we flew into Orlando the day before our departure date. Although we had considered staying at Disney for a night, we ended up staying right at the airport hotel. The Orlando airport is huge, so there were plenty of food options and many fun stores to explore. Moreover, the kids thought it was so cool to sleep at the airport and watch the planes, and I thought it was great to not have to schlep our stuff all over creation.

The morning of the cruise we hired a private car to take us to the port. It was actually less expensive than the Disney transportation and gave us flexibility in our timing as well as the ability to stop at a grocery store and grab some water and wine. We used Access Line Transportation and had a wonderful experience! We absolutely will use them again if we have car service needs in Orlando.

Because we boarded the ship prior to 1 pm, we did not immediately have access to our room. However, we were able to grab some lunch and explore a bit. I had read that one of the sit down dining rooms offered lunch, but we ended up going to the buffet up on the pool deck; if I had it to do over, we would go to the sit down lunch. The buffet was crowded and overwhelming, so it was a bit of a chaotic start to the trip.

After lunch we explored the Oceaneer Club, the on-board kids club; they had a fun play room for the little kiddos based on Toy Story,

and an awesome Star Wars area, as well.

I have to say that the Oceaneer Club is an amazing feature on the ship. Although we didn’t send Little Man (we thought he was just a little too young, though he technically could go), L went a few times and we had to drag her out. She even chose to go to the Oceaneer Club over hanging out at the pool one morning! There is amazing technology that tracks the kiddos within the club and strong safety features to make sure that only approved family members can take the kiddos out of the club. This is an amazing option if mom and dad want to go to a martini tasting, or to Remy for dinner; the kid/s will be safe and having fun while you get to enjoy a few moments of child-free time!

Another fun feature we discovered is that the bathrooms all have short sinks for the littles… my kids thought that this was the coolest thing ever (and thank goodness since we washed our hands 8 bazillion times on the trip).

Once we were able to get into the room, we were pleasantly surprised by its size and the amount of storage space. As usual, I overpacked, but we were able to find a home for everything, with room to spare! I had also requested a pack and play for Little Man and that was set up in the room, along with a diaper pail. Disney certainly thinks of everything!

We were also happy that we had a balcony, as it provided some pretty amazing views (including one beautiful sunrise!).

After unpacking it was time for the Sail Away Party! We went up to the top deck and watched our favorite Disney friends dance as we sailed away from Port Canaveral.

After a wonderful sleep in a very comfortable bed, we docked in Nassau. We had decided to stay on the ship and take advantage of some of its amenities while there were less people on board. First we found Nemo’s reef – a splash pad for the kiddos. As an FYI, to go into the pools on board, kiddos must be fully potty trained (swim diapers don’t count!). If they are not potty trained, they can go in the splash pad area. Nemo’s Reef is full of fun water surprises and Little Man had a blast getting soaked and playing in the water.

We also found a secret little pool, that was perfect for him. By some miracle, we had it to ourselves for about 20 minutes!

L and I also went on the Aqua-Duck waterslide; it was pretty cool to be in a waterslide over the ship!

I am glad that we stayed on board as we were also able to get in a couple of character greetings as well as a visit to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

I purposely picked a mid-afternoon time for her appointment, as I knew she would want to swim during the day; having it later meant she would be all ready for formal dinner that night!

One of my favorite things about formal dinner night were the photographers everywhere and stations where you could get formal photos. We purchased the photo plan (which I highly recommend!), so we had access to all of the family and individual portraits; they are certainly wonderful to have.

The following day was Castaway Cay day. We made a quick detour to meet Olaf before disembarking to explore the Cay…

Even with this stop, we were off the ship relatively early — which was definitely a good thing!! There are not enough chairs at the beach for everyone on the ship, so you need to get there early to claim seats. People who arrived an hour after us weren’t able to find beach chairs.

There is plenty to do at Castaway Cay, even if you don’t book any specific activities. There is a huge waterslide that my family loved,

as well as a large swimming area and some beach for digging.

That night was Pirate Night on board. We had decided to go all in on this cruise, so we brought costumes with us (thank you Amazon!). It was certainly fun to dress up and we enjoyed a pirate themed dinner and an entertaining pirate show after dinner!

The final day was a day at sea. We had scheduled a few character meetings,

as well as a champagne tasting.

L spent a little more time in the Oceaneer Club, and we explored the ship a bit more with Little Man. He even discovered a very cool interactive picture!

After another yummy dinner, it was back to the room to pack up and get our bags out into the hall by the required time. We had an early breakfast the next morning, and then it was time to disembark. Off we went through a very organized baggage pickup and customs clearance process and then boarded the Disney Cruise Line bus back to the airport. Our first cruise adventure was over!

Overall, we had a great time. We would consider doing it again in a few years when Little Man is older; that way both kids could enjoy the Oceaneer’s Club and Dad and I could experience a few more of the adult activities. We also would not have to try and manage nap times and early bedtimes. We missed out on all of the shows as they were just too late for the kiddos to stay up; there also seemed to be a fun atmosphere around the ship in the evening that we never experienced (Dad and I did sneak out one night to eat at Remy – thank you Babchi and Papa for watching the kids – so we got a little taste of evenings on the ship.)

The service on the ship was exceptional and all of the crew were friendly and helpful; would you expect anything less from Disney? There were also little surprises here and there that made the kiddos and us smile. I will let you experience those for yourself. 🙂

I hope you enjoy your Disney Cruise adventure as much as my family did!

Disney dream cruise ship

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