We just got back from our 3rd Disney Cruise and I swear it was our best one yet! I'll take you day by day of cruise and share WAY too many photos! Join me, if you'd like. ♡
Let's get into it!
We had an early port arrival time (11:15) so we opted to drive down the night before. We stayed at the JW Marriot hotel (which was GORGEOUS) and had a delicious breakfast at Cafe Bastille Downtown before heading to the cruise terminals.
THURSDAY:
Our Port Arrival Time was 11:15 but excitement had us parked and ready by like 9:30. Ha! We dropped our luggage with the porters and waited for our turn to board the ship.
family tees: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1375644027/disney-cruise-shirts-custom-disney
We got on and immediately headed to Cabanas for lunch. This is cafeteria/buffet style serve yourself food and the variety is great. After lunch, we hit the pool deck where Matt enjoyed the pool and Ben & Nick got in line for the AquaDuck (it's a waterslide suspended above the 11th deck and goes out over the boat as well!). Ice cream in hand, we soaked up the sun til our room was ready.
We had second seating for dinner (8:15) which gave us plenty of time to explore the ship before our first nights dinner at the Enchanted Garden. We got the boys registered for their kids club (Matt was young enough for the Oceaneers Club/Lab while Ben moved up to the tweens area - the Edge), ate more ice cream, rode the glass elevator as far as it would go, and did our muster drill (evacuation drills, so we know what to do in an emergency). We also delivered our first night Fish Extender gifts! If you're not familiar, Fish Extender Groups are organized by cruise passengers as a sort of secret Santa. There were 5 families in our group, which was the perfect size (this is considered a "mini group" and honestly I couldn't imagine doing it with more than that!!). Of course, I took pictures of NOTHING but I gave a little zippered pouch that I added a Disney Cruise Line logo to and included some fun family games (Disney's Eye Found It card game, a Family Talk card game, and a laminated "scavenger hunt" and "eye spy" game I typed up in Canva as boredom busters!)
Pocketed Fish Extender: https://www.etsy.com/listing/618898917/pirate-fish-extender-1-2-3-4-5-pocket
Door Magnets: https://www.etsy.com/listing/546279503/disney-cruise-door-magnet-marvel
FRIDAY:
Nassau day! We had no formal plans for the day - we just knew we wanted to check out the pirate museum. We slept in, ate breakfast on the deck at Cabanas, and then got help at guest services for how to find the museum (I didn't buy the international plan for our phones OR the on board wifi, so I had no way of looking it up myself - those sweet people at the desk even printed me a map!) and then headed on to the island. The weather was PERFECT! We explored the museum and then stumbled our way to a beach where the boys begged to go swimming. Unbeknownst to me... we were at a private beach. 😳 We played for about an hour before some one asked me if we were hotel guests and when I said no... we were kindly asked to move along. Whoops. HA! We ate lunch at Smugglers restaurant outside the museum. It was really good (Nick & I had the mango raddler - delicious).
Our fish extender gifts for Friday were ice cream kits! I found this idea and made it my own. I purchased these super cute ice cream cups & spoons, added a vial of adorable sprinkles (how cute are they??!?), and a couple bags of mini cookies for toppings.
We also checked out a live musical production of Disney's Believe that featured pretty much every Disney princess ever and a hilarious version of the Genie. Dinner Friday was at the Royal Palace.
SATURDAY:
Castaway Cay day! This is Disney's private island (pro tip: it's pronounced "castaway key") and we had a LOT planned for this day! I'd booked us a fishing excursion starting at 12:45 and would go til nearly all aboard, so we got up early to make the most of the island. We did breakfast at Cabanas again and then saddled up to head out. We stopped for a photo op with Pluto and then hit the beach! Ben & Nick enjoyed the water park area while Matthew & I acclimated to the cold water. Then the boys all headed out to snorkel while I enjoyed a lounger and my book. Pina coladas refreshed everyone (ours had "the good stuff" while the boys remained virgin) before we had burgers at Cookies BBQ. Then we set off for our fishing adventure! It was just the four of us, plus the two man crew. We did trolling and bottom casting and all the guys caught lots of fish (I basically fed the fish with my bait and never caught anything). It was showers & naps as soon as we got back on board, followed by room service chicken tendies to hold us over til dinner. I'm sure there was more AquaDuck riding, ice cream stops, kids club pit stops, and a couple rounds of Mickey's Detective Agency as well.
Photo dump!
Castaway Cay day is also PIRATE NIGHT! We ate at the Royal Palace again, and then split up - Ben & I raced down to try to catch a picture with Stitch while Nick & Matt saved us spots on the pool deck for the Pirate Party & fireworks (as far as I know, DCL is the only cruise line that can do fireworks at sea!). I totally forgot to delivery our fish extender gifts this day - we just had so much going on!
Boys pirate night shirts from here
Anyone else getting my Diane Keaton vibes?? 😂😂
SUNDAY:
Was a day at sea as we made our way back to Miami. We had no plans for this day, so we filled our day with ice cream (of course), character greetings, a live musical production of Beauty & the Beast, more Mickey's Detective Agency, mini golf, movie watching in our room with room service, souviner shopping, and giving our last round of fish extender gifts. I had made tote bags for everyone and filled the with our Florida treats (Indian Rocks Beach can koozies, Florida candies, IRB magnets) and then gave our prizes meant for the day before: special Croc charms of each kids fav Disney character, a DCL Croc charm, and the parents got a laser cut acrylic DCL keychain or Minne Mouse Pura Vida bracelet + an IRB sticker.
Our final dinner was at Animators Palette, and I have to say - this is the most exciting of the resaurants aboard the Dream. It's very visually stimulating and really entertaining for the kids!
All in all, it was a really great trip! Monday morning we docked, ate breakfast at Animators Palette again & said goodbye to our servers, then made our way through customs and the long drive home.
Cheers!
