When I tell my friends about The Disney Cruise Line, they all think I am a little crazy, BUT when they finally give in and sail on DCL, they get it. They get why I book my vacations a year in advance, they get why I ONLY sail on DCL. There are many reasons to love the Disney Cruises, and each family has a different experience. For my family, entering the ship through the Mickey’ ears was the start of our love of the cruise line. The moment you step on the ship your cares float away. If you have ever walked through the gates at The Magic Kingdom you have this same feeling, but with the cruise line its better. Better because the cruise line caters to adults as well as the children.
Here are some of the reasons why The Beason Family LOVES the Disney Cruise Line:
Family Time: There are no cell phones or texting on our Disney Family Cruises. We totally disconnect from the real world and live the Disney Life! There are tons of family actives, shows, movies, swimming, the list is endless, and we want to experience as much as we can.
Port Adventures: While the Disney ships are amazing, the cruises are a great to show my kids other parts of the world and adventures. We have been to Bahamas and swam with Dolphins, Snorkeled on Castaway Cay (Disney’s Private Island), we learned how the Mayans first form of math took place on Cozumel, We met and fed stingrays in Grand Cayman, and we hung with the locals in Costa Maya and learned how to speak Spanish. I love that my children are learning while embracing a new culture.
No Stress: With Disney you do not have to worry about a thing! Our services have been top notch on every Disney Cruise we have been on. The first night your wait staff will get to know you and your children. By the second night; they are cutting your children’s food for you, while your favorite drink is waiting at the table as you arrive to dinner. By the end of our cruise, my kids are in tears saying good bye. We grow attached TO our wait staff after just a short 3 night cruise; we have even exchanged Skype address with our wait staff, so their Philippines children could to talk to my American Children. On our second cruise, saying good bye to Brendan and Natalie was even harder since we had them for 7 nights, we all exchanged trinkets to remember each other by…coins and a flag from their counties and while my children gave them each a Disney Pin.
Day Care: All my kids wanted to do was go to daycare?!?! I had to beg them to ride the Aqua duck with me when we sailed the Dream. The Disney Oceaneer Club (aka daycare) are for kids 3-12 and has activity after activity planned for your kids. Each night my kids would check the Personal Navigator for all the activates they wanted to do in the Oceaneer Club the next day…from boot camp with the Army Men for Toy Story to a PJ party with Pluto. They made flubber and learned to cook at Ratatouille’s cooking schools. Each stateroom is equipped with Wave phones that can be used aboard the ship and on Castaway Cay, so we always could get in touch with our kids and they could always call us. As a parent I felt completely secure with my children at the Oceaneer Club. They wear Mickey Bands so they can be located within the clubhouse when we would go to pick them up. We even have to give the Cast Member a code word to exit the Kids Club. When we sailed the Magic my daughter even did a show-Friendship Rocks-with her friends from the Kids Club and Mickey Mouse. It was super cute and a great experience for her to be on the theater stage with Mickey!!
Adult Time: Let’s face it..even adults want their own playtime, we did pay for this vacation after all. While our kids wanted to spend a majority of time in the Oceaneers Club, that left my husband and I some much needed peace and quiet. All the ships in Disney’s fleet have an entire section of the ship that caters to ADULTS ONLY… Pools, bars, restaurants, spa…all for adults only, you cannot even hear the kids from these sections. It was nice to sit by the adult only pool and enjoy a beverage or two with my husband and have an uninterrupted conversation..ahh the little things in life.
Characters, Characters and More Characters: We love meeting the Disney Characters and the cruises are no exception. There are plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with Donald, Pluto, Mickey, the Disney Princesses to name a few all on board the ships. On formal night you will find the likes of Mickey and Minnie in their formal attire; on Pirate Night all the characters are decked out in their Pirate gear. These make for some great pictures.
The Magic and the Wonder even a have Character Breakfast. Our wait staff made each of us silly hats at our Character Breakfast, while the characters came by and posed for pictures. Being that The Magic and Wonder are a smaller ship then the Dream and Fantasy (2400 passengers vs. 4000 passengers) they offer some fun “free” events that the Dream/Fantasy do not. Tea with Alice has to be our favorite. My daughter brought her Alice costume and it was the perfect attire for this fun tea (apple juice) and cookie event. Lucky I read about this before we embarked so I was able to get tickets from Guest Services the moment we stepped foot on the ship. After the silly show, Alice and The Mad Hatter pose for pictures with each and every family.
Our love for the Disney Cruise started in 2011, we started off slow, a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral to Nassau and Castaway Cay on the Disney Dream. The Dream is a gorgeous ship and not one picture will justify its beauty, you must see it in person.
A 3 night cruise was not enough time to see and do everything the ship had to offer, so what does my husband do…book another one. While on board, Disney gives an incentive to book another cruise and we took advantage of that. In 2012, Disney was starting to sail out of a new port-Galveston, TX. Being we are from Texas this was ideal. ..No airfare. We were now going to embark on a 7 night cruise on the Disney Magic; their first ship ever built. She is a classic ship with all the Disney “magic”. Now in 2013 we have two more cruises booked, one on the Fantasy in October, and one on the Wonder leaving New Year’s Eve. We even have our 2014 Cruise booked-a 7 night cruise out of San Juan Puerto Rico.
We always leave our vacations with some new friends and some great memories. Trust me, once you sail Disney you will be hooked!
Guest Author: Amy Beason from Under the Seas Travel
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