I couldn’t think of a better winter to escape the seemingly endless snow of Indiana for the sun and fun of a Disney Cruise. We booked a 5 day cruise out of Miami on the Disney Wonder headed to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. John and I had both cruised before, but this was our first time cruising as a family. I didn’t want to deal with spring break crowds, so we pulled the kids out of shool for this one. Considering all the snow days, it wasn’t the best timing, but our family REALLY needed this break and the memories are priceless!

Our stateroom (aka cabin) was nice and spacious and they even break the bathrooms up into two rooms for a bit more privacy.

On Disney Cruises, lots of people personalize their doors with magnets. I especially loved having them as the kids felt the freedom to run down the hall and find their room easily.

The bon voyage party started off the fun. Joss jumped right up on deck and started dancing. She is the LIFE of the party!

Our kids didn’t think they would want to be away from us (and we felt the same) but they LOVED the kids clubs. Right away on the first day they went off to play in the Oceaneer’s Club and Lab while John and I went to the adult’s pool. It blew our mind to actually have some alone time on a vacation. That has NEVER happened!

Our first day was filled with playing in the pools on the ship, which were so warm and even supervised by a lifeguard, which is new.

The lunch buffets were so fresh and really surprised me with their variety of foods and how they changed every day. My favorite was the crab legs for lunch. The blue, blue, blue view of the water was extraordinary too.

We chose main dining, which was at 5:30, otherwise, the second seating dining is at 8:30. This is VERY important to pay attention to when booking. It’s my understanding that the pricing doesn’t change over time, but the dining availability runs out quickly. I don’t know about your family, but we are early eaters in our famiy and our kids had a hard time staying awake during even the early dinner, so having an early dining time was key to having a successful trip. We loved our food and Disney has rotational dining so you get to eat in a different themed dining room each night. Also, we got to just sit with our family of four and didn’t have to sit with strangers. The kids food was a bit disappointing. It’s typical kid’s fare of pizza, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, burgers, fries, etc. However, they did have fruit and veggies every night and sometimes switched it up with fish. So if it’s important to you that your kids have more sophisticated dining, talk about them ordering off the adult menu. I was ok with them eating a bunch of cheese pizza because they were getting plenty of fresh fruit through the week, which is plentiful all over the boat.

It seems like a little thing, but the fact that the wait staff caters to your kids and cuts their food for them was AWESOME. I could just sit and EAT! Awesome. Oh, and I usually hate resteraunt black coffee, but LOVED their black coffee. I even ordered it for room service one morning so I could get a head start on my coffee intake.

There was SO much you could do on the boat, there was never enough time to do everything you wanted! They played currently run movies like Frozen, Thor and Saving Mr. Banks. I tried to stay up and watch one in the theater one night, but couldn’t stay awake!

The difference between Disney World and a Disney Cruise is with a cruise, you are truly immersed in the magic. You’ll walk down the hall and there’s a princess or character saying hello and kissing your child’s hand. Disney music plays and it’s always your favorites somehow and you find yourself singing along. The walls are graced with charming sketches of Steamboat Micky by Walt Disney or a golden shimmering mosiac of Ariel and King Triton. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s magical!

The princess meet and greets were AMAZING. We stood in line for about 20 minutes and then got to meet all the princesses individually in the lobby. Joss kept saying that she only wanted to see Rapunzel. I told her that it looked like she wasn’t coming today. When Joss met Ariel, she asked her if she knew Rapunzel and Ariel replied that she was as her best friend! Then, at the last minute, just as we were finishing up the princesses, Rapunzel showed up! It was like she came just for Joss! She was so excited and said, “She came just for me!” I know it sounds silly, but it’s just so sweet to see the princesses, you can’t help but get choked up. They were all so patient and sweet. I couldn’t help but feel the tears brim in my eyes when a little girl with leg braces was struggling to get to Cinderella, so Cinderella came to her in line, spoke to her for a bit, and then helped her walk up to the platform for a photo. Those princesses stood there for three hours and never broke their smile or character, even taking a break to wave at kids (and adults) on the other floors, looking truly excited to see them. When Joss is asked about the cruise, she always mentions the princesses. Meeting them was such a special experience for both of us!

The shows, oh the shows! First of all, they have hilarious comedians for the adults that had us rolling and extremely talented performers that were just as amazing as any of the shows I saw at Disney World. The final show of the night, Dreams, blew our mind. Peter Pan flew, it snowed during Beauty and the Beast’s dance and bubbles filled the room during Under the Sea. We were captivated! (No photos allowed, of course.)

Pirate night with the party and fireworks ended up being a bust for us because Miles ended up getting too much sun and conked out at dinner. So we went to bed early while John and Joss (who had napped) enjoyed the party.

We were chosen as an extra magical family on the first day of our cruise. (truth be told, John had to go to guest services the first day and they became smitten with what a sweetie he is!) So our kids were treated to neat little surprises all week like stuffed animals, personalized magnets on our door, cheese and cookie trays and arcade passes. That was really neat and of course, extra magical.

The tv’s were always playing something great, so even downtime in the room was relaxing. They were even playing first run movies like Gravity and Captian Philips. Our kids especially loved the endless loop of the classic looking Mickey toons out now.

This blog is getting insanely long. So I’m going to break now and next blog will be the excursions to Grand Caymand and Mexico!