Our First Disney Cruise – Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Cruise
I’m so thankful that Andrew and I decided to book a Disney Cruise during the holidays of 2019. You know, before the world shut down. Unfortunately, cruise ships haven’t seen guests in almost a year. But this never ending snow and sub zero temperatures here in Chicago have me dreaming of the days that we are on Castaway Cay again. I thought it would helpful to share our first Disney Cruise experience if you are considering booking one for later this year or 2022!
The Itinerary
For our first Disney Cruise, we took a 4 night “Very Merry Christmastime Cruise” in December of 2019. We left from Port Canaveral, FL and traveled to Nassau, Bahamas and Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island) aboard the Disney Dream. Honestly, we didn’t really care where we were going. This was the first time we took the kiddos on a cruise and we didn’t want it to be a super long one, just in case they hated it or got sick or something.
The Ship
Oh. My. Gorgeous. If you have ever cruised before, you know that cruise ships are beautifully decorated and have a certain elegance about them. But man, Disney does it like no other. The attention to detail that you find in the theme parks carries over to the ships. The characters are present, but not in your face. There are hidden Mickeys everywhere you look and every section of the ship is, dare I say, magical? We were aboard the Disney Dream which is one of the newer and larger ships from Disney’s fleet. This ship is complete with gorgeous dining rooms, kids clubs, night clubs and adults only lounges, an amazing spa, a theatre, and even a waterslide that loops the top sun deck. There was no shortage of activities.
The Stateroom
Disney Cruise Line caters to its family friendly audience. The staterooms are like no other room I’ve ever stayed in aboard a ship. Most staterooms can sleep up to 5 people and have different categories like inside, oceanview, and verandah (balcony) rooms. What really sets these rooms apart are the bathrooms. It is a ‘split’ bathroom AKA two separate rooms – one with a vanity, sink, and shower with round tub (helpful when traveling with small kids!) and another with a vanity, sink, and toilet. This means one person can be showering, while another is getting ready in the other bathroom. Pretty convenient!
The Entertainment
There is no shortage of things to do on a Disney Cruise. The day you board the ship, you kick your trip off with Mickey’s Sail Away party. This includes the fab five characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy) plus your Cruise Director and friends. Music is blasting on the top deck of the ship and you do a countdown to when the boat takes off. If you have ever seen or been on a Disney Cruise, you know that the ships have a special ‘horn’ that blows. Ours belted out the tune of ‘a dream is a wish your heart makes.’ From there, your vacation has really started.
Every day you can open the Disney Cruise Line app to find your “daily navigator.” This is a schedule of events that go on throughout the day and evening. Our particular cruise included nighttime shows like The Golden Mickeys and a broadway style version of Beauty and the Beast. We also took advantage of bingo one afternoon and got to watch Frozen 2 in the theater on board (Drake’s first movie experience!). We barely scratched the surface with everything that we could have done. Given the kids were so little when we went, we didn’t do as much as we could, but still felt like our days were action packed.
Pools & Spas
The main pool deck has a family pool that non-diaper wearing individuals can enjoy. There is also a Nemo splash pad for your littles still in swimmer diapers to play in. This is where we spent a majority of our time! All Disney ships also have waterslides. The Dream has a coaster water slide called the AquaDuck. This wraps around the top of the deck and even goes over the water for a cool point of view! If you think Disney Cruises are just for families, think again. If you are traveling without children (or decide to drop them in the kids club for the day) you can take advantage of the adults only side of the ship that includes a quiet pool and hot tub.
After a relaxing trip to the adults only pool, you can head down to Senses Spa. Here, you will find a full service spa where you can get a massage and facial or take advantage of the rain rooms to shower in. Andrew and I took advantage of the kids clubs for an afternoon and got a couples spa experience. I highly recommend booking any of these spa treatments as far in advance as you can as they do fill up fast.
Kids Clubs
I think the biggest thing that separates Disney Cruises from other cruise lines is that Disney caters to families and really wins with the way they have set up their kids clubs on board. The logistics of the club are pretty slick. You check your kids into the kids club via a Magic Band. When it is time to pick them back up, a secret password you selected at your first check in is needed for the kids to leave. That way, they are always accounted for and cannot leave without an approved adult that is assigned to pick them up in the system. Children must be 3 years old – 12 years old to participate in kids clubs!
The kids club takes up virtually half of a deck onboard the ship. On the Dream, the kids club is broken up into two areas, The Oceaneers Club and The Oceaneers Lab. The club has sections that included Pixie Hollow (Tinkerbelle themed), Andy’s Room (Toy Story themed), and Star Wars play zones. The Oceaneers Lab had different play centers to color, do experiments, play with the interactive screen/floor, etc. For those that don’t know, my daughter is pretty shy, and I was really nervous that she wouldn’t like it. Turns out, she loved getting dropped off there and making new friends. If you are nervous for your little ones, try it out! They give the parents a call on the cruise phones provided in case your child is feeling sad and wants you to come pick them up!
Drake was only 16 months old at our time of travel, therefore was not eligible to go into the kids clubs. However, we got to take advantage of the “It’s A Small World” nursery with him. First of all, how cute is this place? This is an additional charge of $9/hour but it was one of the best things we invested in on this trip. When Drake had to take an afternoon nap, we could drop him off there and we still got to take advantage of the pool, entertainment, and games that were offered onboard. We had the best experience with everyone we encountered in the nursery and Drake always came back so happy. They even had little arts and crafts activities in there so they definitely weren’t bored!
Dining
One thing that you will read over and over again about Disney Cruises is their unique ‘rotational dining’ set up. When you arrive to check in for your cruise, you are given a “key to the world” card. This card acts as your room key and many other things on board the ship. On the bottom, it tells you what your dining rotation is every night. For our cruise, our schedule was “RAAE.” This meant that we ate at Royal Palace, Animator’s Palate, Animator’s Palate again for Pirate Night, and Enchanted Garden for our final dinner. Another unique feature of your dining experience is that your Servers and Wait Staff rotate with you! This is so awesome because you get to know them, they get to know what you like, what the kids like, and they even cut up the kids food for them. Talk about service! Let’s break down the rotational restaurants a little bit more:
Royal Palace: French and American cuisine with decor straight from your fairytale. (This was our favorite rotational dining restaurant!) Think of entrees like duck breast and rack of lamb.
Animator’s Palate: This place is so sweet. You walk in and the walls are black and white blank artist renderings. As you sit there for dinner they come to life with color and animation. They also have interactive walls where Crush from Finding Nemo will come and talk to your family on the screen. So cute. As for the food, you will find Pacific Island, Asian, and Californian inspired dishes. Sample entrees include Pacific black cod, stir fry, and penne with white shrimp.
Enchanted Garden: Described as an “arboretum of appetizing delights” Enchanted garden’s decor matches the floral and fresh dishes that it serves. Some entrees include Curried Carrot and Apple Soup, Lobster Ravioli, or Ahi Tuna and Avocado salad.
There are a few specialty restaurants that you can book reservations at for an additional charge above and beyond what is included in your cruise price. These two restaurants, Palo and Remy, are signature dining experiences for adults only. Andrew and I did get an opportunity to eat at Remy one night and it was the best dining experience we have ever had. Be on the lookout for a future post about this!
Lastly, there is always a sitdown breakfast restaurant open (one of the above rotational dining spots) and the buffet on the top deck is always open for lunch and dinner. Cabana’s may be one of the best buffets I’ve ever been to. The food was always fresh and there was a huge variety to choose from. There is also a pizza window and all of the ice cream you care to enjoy on the pool deck.
Castaway Cay
One of the main reasons people choose to cruise with Disney is their private island. Castaway Cay is located in the Bahamas and is owned and run by Disney employees. This place is seriously awesome and may be the sole reason why we only cruise to the Bahamas again.
First of all, the island is gorgeous. It is a picture perfect serene escape from the world. Here you can participate in beach activities like snorkeling, tricycle pedal bikes, paddle boards, even touch some stingrays! There are also floating splash pads and water slides in the middle of the water for the kids to go have fun and explore (adults too!).
For lunch you can head over to Cookies BBQ (or Cookies II) where you can nosh on some amazing bbq with all of the accompaniments. If you are looking for some adult only time, you can drop your kids off at the kids club on the island (same process for checking in and out as on the ship!) and head over to Serenity Bay which is the adults only side of the island where you can relax without the chaos that the family beach tends to have. Disney really thought of everything for guests to enjoy this beach. You really only have to bring yourself (and maybe some sunscreen!) and they take care of everything else. Chairs, towels, life jackets for the kids, etc. Everything is there waiting for you to enjoy. Truly, the saddest part of your cruise, is the all aboard time from Castaway Cay. It was definitely the highlight of our trip.
This post is truly just scratching the surface of our cruise, but it’s a good overview of our experience. We definitely want to do more cruises. If you read my Disney Bucket List post, you know Alaska and European cruises are high on my list. With COVID, the cruise industry is really up in the air right now, but I’m hoping we get the all clear later this year. Have you ever been on a Disney Cruise? What was your favorite part? Let me know in the comments below!
-Melinda
