My family and I just got back from our very first Disney Cruise. We sailed on the Disney Fantasy out of Port Canaveral for 7 nights with stops in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Castaway Cay (We missed the last stop due to the hurricane) Before we had our son my husband and I cruised a lot! We have sailed with Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribean, and Celebrity and while they were all fantastic vacations the Disney Cruise just went above and beyond. They thought of every little detail and everything is kid-friendly. If you are looking for an easy, fun and relaxing family vacation, Disney Cruise Line is the way to go!
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The Service
Starting at embarkation, the service provided by the Disney staff was outstanding. Upon entering the ship, they announced our names and applauded, which added an extra magical touch to the boarding process. Our room attendant, Bayou, was amazing. Every time we returned to our room it was spotless. I wish I could've taken him back home with us! After learning Levi liked dinosaurs he left him a special towel shaped like a dino on his bed. The service in the restaurants was great as well. They learned all of our names, always brought the kids food out first and were super accommodating. Every staff member we encountered on the ship was extremely friendly and they all call the kids "prince" or "princess". Poor Levi got called a princess a lot because of his long hair.
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The Room
We had a Verandah room which was very clean and spacious (compared to other cruise lines). I was impressed by the real queen-sized mattress, not just two twin mattresses pushed together like most cruises do. They even went the extra mile and put a toddler bed rail on Levi's bed. I loved that they had a curtain to separate the room so that everyone didn't have to sleep at the same time. The bathroom was also separated into two rooms, one with the toilet and the other with the shower/bathtub which was super convenient. One other cool thing, the tv had every Disney movie you could think of on-demand!
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The Food
There are restaurants, buffets, pizza, and ice cream everywhere you turn. We ate so much food on this trip. In general I am not a huge fan of buffet food (I think it's hard to make food taste good when you are cooking in such large quantities) but it was actually really good. I eat (mostly) vegetarian and there were always several options for me to choose from both in the restaurants as well as the buffets. For you meat eaters - my husband ate a lot of steak and said it was delicious. We also ate at Disney's specialty restaurant Palo twice, once for brunch and once for dinner. There is an extra fee for these, but it was totally worth it! Bonus - the specialty restaurants are kid-free! We dropped our little guy off at the "It's a Small World Nursery" and enjoyed a romantic, peaceful dinner by ourselves. The only food on the ship I really was not impressed with was the room service, but it was free and open 24 hours a day which was nice.
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Child Care
You all know I'm a stay-at-home mom so Levi isn't exactly comfortable or used to the idea of being away from me, especially with complete strangers. He was hesitant at first and cried when I handed him over, but right as I was leaving Donald Duck walked in to visit and play with the kids in the nursery. There were no more tears after that. Levi loved going to "Mickey Mouse School". The staff was kind, friendly and caring. There was a fee per hour for the nursery, but once your child turns 3 they can go to the Oceaneers Club which is free. We got to play in the Oceaneers club during their open house hours and it was so fun! They have a bunch of cool rooms to play in - A replica of Andy's room from Toy Story, a Star Wars control center, a Winnie the Pooh themed room and so much more!
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Activities
There was never a dull moment on the ship. There are so many activities happening ALL the time - character meet & greets, movies, crafts, games, shows, wine tastings, spa, splash pads, mini-golf, pool parties and so much more! My son was obsessed with meeting all the characters - getting to interact, play and dance with them was just magical. We also spent lots of time hanging by the pool and splash pads. We went to a few of the shows which were spectacular, it is Disney after all.
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The Downside
Okay so all these amazing things, there must be a downside right? There is - it's EXPENSIVE! I never understood why Disney Cruises are so much more expensive than other cruise lines, but now I get it. They really do go above and beyond. Disney knows how to do things right. They know how to cater not only to the kids but the entire family.
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The Conclusion
On the last day when I told Levi it was time to go home, he told me "this is my new home". In my head, I was thinking the same thing. If you want an easy, fun and relaxing family vacation, a Disney Cruise is totally worth saving for!
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