We went on our first Disney cruise in January. We are "Disney people" and were very excited about this cruise - and it did not disappoint! A Disney cruise has been on our list for a long time, and God really blessed my Rodan+Fields business last year which made it possible to fund this trip!
1.The Ship
We cruised on the Disney Dream and it was beautiful. Every detail was Disney perfect. The most amazing space to me was the kids area - the Oceaneer's Club. For our kids, it was ideal. Our 6 year old is obsessed with Star Wars, and our 3 year old can quote every line of Toy Story - so this area was a huge hit with both of them!
Our room was much larger than the room we had on our previous cruise on a different cruise line 2 years ago. It was quite comfortable for a family of four and the view was phenomenal - the window was HUGE -- much more than a porthole window!
2.The Food
I don't even know if I can convey how amazing the food was. We ate in the formal dining halls, the counter service restaurants, the buffet, and had room service. (Yes, we ate a lot!) The food was phenomenal in each place! Bonus? Mickey Ice Cream bars as a bedtime snack!!! :)
3.Castaway Cay
To be fair, this is the first cruise line private island we have been on, but it far surpassed our expectations. We aren't necessarily "beach people" and yet we greatly enjoyed the time on the beach. It wasn't crowded, we got off of the boat early, and got a great spot to play in the sand! After a couple of hours, we were done with the beach and the kids checked into the kids area on the island - there was a splash zone and they had a ton of fun there while we had a grownup drink and walked around. There was an awesome character dance party and after that, we headed back to the ship for naps!
There were only 2 things that we were disappointed with:
1) The live bands/musicians on the boat left a lot to be desired. We love live music and were looking forward to that part of the cruise. The musicians who perform at the parks and Disney Springs are far superior to what we experienced on the ship.
2) The picture package. We pre-purchased the photo package so we could get all of our pictures that were taken on the ship. It was a huge waste of money! First of all, the photographers did not take nearly as many photos as the photographers do in the parks. They pretty much took 1-2 pics with each character. Secondly, we didn't get all our actual photos, but our photos were selected and pre-edited with frames While that is okay to include in the package, we would have liked to have the all of the pictures the photographers took so we could crop and edit them and add frames ourselves. I do not understand why Disney doesn't control the pictures on the ship and run it just like the Memory Maker photos in the park. The pictures are taken by an outside company.
So here is my TIP: Don't purchase the photo package in advance. Hand your camera to the Disney cruise employee at each character greeting and your pictures will probably be just as good as what you would get from the photo company. You will always be able to look at your pictures at the kiosks and decide if you want to purchase on an individual basis or get the digital package then.
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