Disney Cruise June 23-June 30 2012
Our son and his family invited us to join them on a Disney cruise to celebrate our granddaughters 5th birthday (Which was actually in March). We were apprehensive to say the least. Firstly…we have NEVER been on a cruise…secondly…the idea of a thousand screaming children was not very appealing. However…it was only 5 nights and it stopped in Nassau which we had never been to before…so we thought we could kill two birds with one stone. So we took the plunge.

We booked a deluxe ocean view stateroom with a Verandah…cost $1620 pp. We were assigned room 6066…which was midship.

We also booked dinner at Palo…an adult only Italian Restaurant for $40 pp. additional and at Remy…an adult only French Restaurant at $75 pp. additional fee.

Our son drove his van and we paid for the gas, food and hotels to Florida and back.

We left St. Louis at 5:15 am Saturday June 23 and stopped for the night in Ocala Florida at 10 pm. We stayed at Homewood suites.

We got up the next morning and ate the free breakfast and were back on the road at 9 am. We arrived at port Canaveral about 11. We checked in and were given a card telling us what group we would board with. Our kids were assigned to a different group and when the time came for them to board…my granddaughter cried because we were not boarding with them. The lady helping control the crowd looked at her…then at me and we were both crying…so she opened the rope and said come on in! Chalk one up for Disney! We got on the board about 12:30 but could not go to our room until 1:30. So we explored the parts of the ship we could get to and went to the Bon Voyage Bar for our first drinks.

I was impressed with our room…though it was smaller than we are used to of course…but there was a LOT of drawer space and closet space and plenty of hangers. The verandah was wonderful. It held 2 chairs and a table. We were just above the lifeboats. There was a bathroom with the tub and sink and another with the toilet and sink. Both were small but well appointed.

We attended the Sail away party…which was held indoors because of the rain. I have to admit…it was so fun to see all the Disney Characters singing and dancing!

We had dinner at Palo at 6. The service by Fernanado was spectacular! We bought a nice bottle of chardonnay…Bramito…. $50. The food was wonderful and the dessert of chocolate soufflé was to die for!

After dinner we attended the play The Villains. It was ok…not great. Afterwards we went to the Bon Voyage bar where we had befriended Alexandra the bar tender. She gave us excellent service all week. We turned in for the night about 10 and the bed was wonderful!

The next day we had breakfast at the Enchanted Garden. It was a sit down buffet. The food and service was good.
We got off the board about 9:30 to go to the Disney Island Castaway Cay. It rained off and on so we only stayed a couple of hours. There were a lot of chairs and umbrellas and plenty bar service, shops and eateries.

We went back to the ship and had to go through security. There was a lady who was very rude….and I wanted to strangle her…but I didn’t…lol it seems there is always one jerk everywhere you go. We had lunch at cabanas…the buffet. Then we went on the aqua duck. It was fun! We then watched our granddaughter play in Nemos reef. We also went to the Adult only pool area where there was a pool, hot tub, bar, and lots of chairs.

We had dinner at The Royal Place. Our wait staff…Leo and Alberto…was fantastic all week!

Following dinner, we attended the Golden Mickeys show…which was wonderful! Afterwards, we did a little shopping, and then went to see Alex at the bar.

Tuesday…we had breakfast at cabanas buffet. We had booked an excursion to see the aquarium at Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas which left at 11:15. We got off the ship and got on a bus which took us to Atlantis. Once again it was raining. We toured the aquarium and then had lunch at Virgil’s barbecue. BIG MISTAKE. The service was terrible, the food mediocre and they messed up our bill.

We got back on the boat and went to the bar. We then got ready for dinner which was at Animators palate. Crush the turtle visits each family on a video screen. Dinner was good. Then we went to the show which was a 3D showing of Brave. I loved it! After the show we went to the bar.

Wednesday was our day at sea. We had breakfast at Enchanted Garden again. We had lunch at Cabanas. We shopped and hung out at the bar. It rained off and on all day. We dressed for dinner which was again at the animator’s palate. However…this was Pirate night so the video screen was captain hook and Mickey Mouse. Following dinner was the pirate party. Then we went to see the illusionist Mike Super. He was lavenous! The last thing of the day was the fireworks. Spectacular! Then we went to the bar and to bed.

Thursday we had breakfast at the Enchanted Garden again. We got off the ship about 9 and went to Castaway Cay. Steve and I went over to Serenity Bay…the adult only beach. It was very nice. We had lunch at cookies barbecue. We got back on the ship and went to the bar. We got ready for dinner and met with the sommelier to discuss our wine for dinner. We decided to do the wine pairing at $99 pp. Dinner was incredible. Dinner lasted 3 hours so we missed the show which was Believe.

Friday morning we had breakfast at the enchanted garden and were kicked off of the boat at 8 am. We drove to downtown Disney in Orlando and shopped, then had lunch at Rainforest café. Service was terrible.

We got to Marietta Georgia about 11 pm and stayed at Hampton Inn for the night. We got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way home and got home about 6 pm.

This trip was amazing! I loved it and we will definitely do this again!