I shared part 1 of our Disney Cruise vacation earlier this week and today I am sharing part 2! Lets dive in!
DAY 2
Our first full day on the ship was a port day and we went to Disney’s private island Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. We woke up, head breakfast on the ship and then headed out to the beach. Yall, Castaway Cay is incredible. First of all, it is everything you would expect from Disney. Beautiful, clean, organized, every little detail thought out, etc. Also, it was so easy. Since Disney owns it you just dock right on the island, walk out and everything is right there. I have been on other cruises and you have to do a lot more work. Typically you dock in a crowded tourist spot with other cruise ships, have to disembark, take a bus to a beach with lots of other tourists, etc. Not here, you just got off and it was like you had a private beach. It was only the people that were actually on your ship. It was incredible!
The island is not very big. There were 3 main areas you could set up. 1 was a beach with watersports, excursions, and a ropes course thing in the water, the next was the main beach and where we set up. It had a huge beach front in a cove with a fun slide, play thing in the water, and the 3rd beach section was adults only. We hopped on the little tram right off the boat and in 1 minute were at our spot. We saw a few Disney characters along the way along with Jack Sparrow.
I cannot get over this beach and water. It was perfection. Perfectly clear, ZERO seaweed, calm water, great sand, I mean we all LOVED it. The water could have been a tad warmer, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. We set up on a lounge chair and hung out all day. I read a book, napped, helped the kids build sand castles and had the most amazing day. The kids loved the slides, made friends on the beach and built epic sand castles. They had dining right there on the island that was amazing. Yummy BBQ, fruit, and my favorite soft serve ice cream!
I don’t know about yall, but during this chapter of life I really appreciate EASY! I am tired and going most of the time, so when I go on vacation I want to relax. I don’t want to have to make a million decisions and Disney helped make this a reality. Everyone had fun, it was safe, everything was convenient and I so appreciated all of it! Kids could play by themselves, get their own food, etc and I didn’t have to worry that we were in another country and I had to watch them every second. It was so relaxing. We had to be back on the boat by 4:45 and we stayed until 4. At the end of the day it felt like we had our own island. There were only like 5 other families still at the beach. It was incredible!
After a full day we went back to the ship, showered and got ready for dinner at Animators Palace. What a cute restaurant. It was set up like we were under the sea with Nemo and friends. Crush went around the dining room, talking to the tables on these huge screens and it was “magical”. After dinner we went and saw our first show called Believe and WOW! What a performance. I laughed, I cried, I loved it. Everyone did. Avery is really into acting/Broadway so it was really cool to see a show of this caliber on the ship! Such a fun night. After the show we went and did another trivia game and then up on the deck for ice cream and fireworks! I will never forget watching fireworks in the middle of the ocean, eating that insane ice cream with my favorite people in the world. After fireworks they had a dance party and that was so much fun too! Geoff decided to watch from the side lines, but the rest of us let loose! Unfortunately I only took video of the night and Braden made me promise not to share ๐ His dance moves (according to him) fall under the category “what happens in the middle of the ocean stays in the middle of the ocean” ;).
Day 3
This day we were at sea. Our particular cruise had 2 port days, both at Castaway Cay, so we basically just drove around in the ocean this day. I really like the days at sea, because there were lots of fun activities to do on the ship. We woke up, had breakfast, then did all kids of stuff. We went to an animators class and learned how to draw Mickey which was so cool. They broke it down into small shapes and made it easy for everyone. We got a surprise visit from Mickey at the end of our class! Please note, Braden is still in his PJs living his best cozy life!
We played another trivia game (I think we did 5 total on the cruise). Everyone loved them! Then we went and did a scavenger hunt on the ship and this was a huge favorite for everyone! If you go on a Disney Cruise I highly suggest doing this, no matter what age your kids are. You go around the ship and have spots where you wave this special card and it changes the art into TV screens with clues, etc. You have to catch the villain that caused the crime! It was amazing! After several activities we had lunch and then spent the rest of the day on the top of the ship swimming, riding the AquaDuck, watching movies, etc. Its so much fun up there. They have 2 pools, a slide, a splash pad for little kids, a huge rollercoaster slide that goes off the side of the ship (the Aquaduck) that we all loved, a huge movie screen playing Disney movies and several food spots. Lots to do! The kids did go to the kids club for about an hour because they had a slime making class they wanted to do. After a full day it was time to get ready for dinner! We were back in Animators Palette and the theme was pirate night! So fun!
While we were in our room getting ready for dinner we looked outside our balcony and saw a huge rainbow in the middle of the ocean! Well, played Disney, well played!!!
After dinner we planned on going to the show Beauty and the Beast, but it was at capacity. Luckily it was playing the next night too! We went to the theatre and watched part of Encanto and then went back to the top of the ship to see more fireworks and have our 2nd dance party. Another amazing day!
Day 4
This was our last day on the cruise and we woke up docked back at Castaway Cay. We loved it so much the first time we were very excited to be back. We had breakfast and headed off the ship!
This photo was our view of Castaway Cay from breakfast on the ship!! I mean, COME ON!!! So gorgeous!
We enjoyed another incredible day on the Cay! The weather was perfect and zero complaints! We swam, we played, we ate, we relaxed. Me and my favorite boy!!
Lots of questions on these sunglasses! They no longer sell mine, but very similar pair linked HERE. Swimsuit HERE.
Another amazing day with tons of memories. Back to the ship for dinner! This night we ate at the Enchanted Garden restaurant.
At this restaurant Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald came to say hi! I love how they have things to entertain the kids while you wait for dinner! After dinner we went back to the show and got in line early! We couldn’t wait to see Beauty and the Beast and it did not disappoint!! SO SO GOOD!! After dinner we went to our last 2 trivias of the trip! The first was Mouseketeer trivia and Braden got called and WON (we may have had a little help from the crowd)!!! Then we went to Disney Music triva. That one was so much fun and very humbling. I thought I knew Disney music, but um, no, there are some experts on these cruises! We seriously had the best time!!
Back to the room to get some sleep!
DAY 5
We were sad the cruise was over, but we still had 1 day of vacay left. I am telling you, I highly recommend doing a day before and after in Florida if you go on these trips. It really made everything seem so much longer for no extra $.
Like I said in Part 1 of our vacay recap we were planning on flying home this day. We were going to disembark and then head straight to the airport. When we looked at tickets it was an extra $500 for us to fly out this day vs the next day so we decided to stay an extra day for the same price! We had an early breakfast, got off the ship and went straight to a Disney shuttle which took us back to Disney World. Since we knew we would be at the hotel all day we stayed at a Moderate hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. This was our 3rd time to stay there. It is my favorite. The resort feels like old school New Orleans with gorgeous mansions everywhere and the river running through it. It is absolutely gorgeous and has a great pool with a slide. We checked into our room, grabbed lunch and then hung out at the pool all day. Avery has been at this pool when she was 4, 7 and now 10. So fun to see her on the same slide all these different ages! Our friends who did Disney world all week happened to be staying at the same hotel and came back from their day at Epcot early and hung out with us. Really cool seeing friends on vacay.
My friend Kelly & I poolside at Port Orleans Riverside!
After hours of swimming, we went back to the room to get cleaned up and headed back to Disney Springs for an early dinner to beat the crowds. We went back to The Boathouse because we loved it so much. The outdoor patio opens at 5 and is first come first serve so we made sure to grab a table right then so we had no wait. We loved it just as much the 2nd time!
Then we walked around a bit and headed back to the hotel to meet back up with our friends for a night swim!
Next morning we didn’t have to check out until noon. The weather was terrible this day. Very rainy so we grabbed breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then went back and got cozy in the hotel and watched a movie. Then we packed up and headed home.
Yall, we seriously had the most amazing trip! I cannot wait to go back on another Disney Cruise with our family. It honestly was the perfect trip that had something for everyone and allowed us to all spend tons of quality time together. I think this is a trip we will all always remember!
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