Well for our first “official” family vacation (official meaning the first time we’ve traveled for something NON business related) I’d have to say that it was perfect. It’s going to be hard to top this one. We’re exhausted and Briley is completely wiped out so it’s difficult to think back, clearly, about the whole trip. After researching the 3 Best Dinner Cruises in Oahu compared to Disney tours, We took a 4 night Disney cruise to Nassau in the Bahamas. It took several naps and a 17 hour drive to get there.  We also stopped at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, in the Bahamas. We ended up being able to have 2 DAYS at Castaway Cay just because it was overcast a few hours and rained for about 15 minutes. The captain made the call to go back one more day (rather than spending that entire day at sea like the cruise originally called for. Neither B or I had ever been on a Cruise at all, much less a Disney one.. but it’s safe to say that we are spoiled to Disney now. We’re already planning one for late next year!

The first day of the cruise we docked in Nassau in the Bahamas. The only real reason we got off the ship was to visit the Dolphin Cay at the Atlantis on Paradise Island. I’ve always wanted to swim with the Dolphins and was really looking forward to this. B was able to hang out on the beach and watch and Briley built sand castles. The second day we ported at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, which was absolutely gorgeous. We spend the entire day on the beach. We found a couple of chairs and just dropped out stuff. Aside from what you might think, the water is still FREEZING in November, even in the Bahamas.. but nothing could keep us from that gorgeous beach. I sat on the shore right where the waves came in, playing with Bear in the sand for a bit until I started getting used to the temp.. then just sucked it up and swam out. Once you got out there it was perfect. The water was so clear, I was able to play around with my point and shoot and my underwater housing. I hate swimming in saltwater, but again, it’s easy to ignore the salt in that beautiful blue water! Briley came out a bit but she LOVES playing in the sand.. so she spent most of the day looking for sea shells with me and building sand castles, until she finally passed out and took a 2 hour nap on the beach chair under the umbrella!! We were even able to watch the “International Crab Races,” which she loved.

If you have never been on a Disney cruise, one of the greatest things, especially if you have children, is that you have the same wait staff every night of the trip! Pogi (from Hungary) and Petty (from Thailand) were our server and assistant server. I’m sure that we had the greatest staff on the entire boat! Every night when we got to our restaurant (a different restaurant every night) Petty had chocolate milk (Briley’s favorite) and a fresh box of brand new crayons and a coloring book waiting on her. She folded the napkins into animals and let Briley color on them. After the first night Pogi learned our tastes and was able to make recommendations as to what we knew we would probably prefer on the menu that night.

Our stateroom host was just as amazing. There was a joke on the ship that if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, when you go back to bed, your bed will be made and there will be a towel animal and chocolates waiting on the bed for you! I wouldn’t doubt it. The stateroom host came at least twice a day, every day, and cleaned and straightened our room! I don’t know how he did it, but he always managed to make it by when we weren’t there, without us even knowing! He would also always have Bear’s Mickey and princess dolls sitting around the room. One night B tried to set the alarm on the clock beside the bed but ended up just changing it to the wrong current time. The following morning after breakfast we came back to the room to find it spotless AND the time on the clock had been fixed!

We saw several of the shows while we were on the ship including Villian’s Tonight, Believe, Taylor Mason and we even watched the new Muppets movie in one of the big theaters! Briley LOVES Mickey or “icky” and Belle is her favorite princess. She got to meet Minnie and Mickey when we first go on the boat. She spotted them before we did and went completely giggly. She actually ran INTO Minnie’s arms. She did the same when we met the Princesses. We missed the first 2 opportunities to meet them so on the last day of the cruise we were determined to make that “gathering.” We even got there a whole hour before it was time to start so we would be first in line. Long story short.. we stood in line for an hour and it took a total of 30 seconds to see them. She ran up to each of the individually to hug them.. and then she was through! I had to drag her back to get a couple of pictures. She’s pretty much impossible to get pictures of now. Anytime ANYONE holds up a camera or even a cell phone she yells, “NO!” Needless to say she discouraged a LOT of cruise line photographers. Disney has photographers wandering around snapping pictures of families on the beach, in the restaurants or at any of the activities and you can go view and choose to purchase the images on the ship. We were stopped several times and asked if we wanted to take a picture. I’d tell them “thank you,” but that our daughter wouldn’t cooperate.. most of them assured me that she would cooperate for THEM. She always won.. whether it was just ignoring them all together or saying “uhh.. no ma’am!!!” and walking away.. she refused to be photographed every time.

We turned our phones off the first night of the cruise and didn’t turn them back on until we were leaving Port Canaveral in Florida. Although I had over 300 emails in my personal inbox, 105 on my business account and 10+ Facebook messages, it was nice to be cut off completely from technology for once. No emails, no phone calls, no work! I took tons of pictures.. I always had either one of my MK ll’s or my point and shoot with me.. here’s a small sampling of the pictures we came back with. Looking at them makes me want to go back right this second!! We’re already making plans for next year!!

A few from my point and shoot camera: