When You Wish Upon a Ship: Disney Family Cruise

Dinner in a different magical venue every night, free 24 hour room service, endless entertainment with Mickey Mouse and all of his friends—I mean seriously, what’s there not to love??

Our family trip on the Disney Dream cruise ship was magical indeed! For starters, we purposely chose the biggest room we could get without a balcony—as like many parents, I had dreams that somehow our little one would get onto the balcony while we were sleeping and somehow jump off the ship. To our surprise, Disney actually has rooms with oversized windows where we all enjoyed sitting in the picturesque window view as we sailed.

Welcome Aboard!

From the minute you step into the port, the staff were very welcoming and as we got onto the ship, the team members announced each family by name over the PA system, welcoming us each by family name aboard the ship! We never had to worry about missing seeing any characters at all because each day had a schedule of character meet and greets for you to choose from (we had actually signed up for a princess gathering meet and greet prior to even boarding the ship) but it seems that Disney is very accommodating for such requests.

Food: Yum!

We signed up for an early dinner each night at 5:30pm to try to keep to as similar of a routine as we have at home. The first couple nights took an adjustment as our little one was so tired from all of the day’s activities, he literally fell asleep at dinner—but my husband and I enjoyed the quiet time and I enjoyed the cuddles! The food differed in each restaurant with our favorite dining experience being Animator’s Palate not only for the salmon and steak but also the ambiance was delightful and relaxing. The staff members were very accommodating for whatever food our little one would eat or not eat and happily kept him entertained as well as other kids while parents ate.

Time to Get Off and Explore!

Our ship stopped in Cozumel, Mexico and also in the Cayman Islands. Disney did a great job with even providing bottles of water and cool towels for us upon return in the area before boarding back onto the ship. We spent most of our time at each port at the beaches and also at places of our interest such as Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville which had it’s own water area, music, and good times!

Adult Time and Family Fun!

You have the option of leaving your child in the nursery (because of our kid’s age, he would be sent to the nursery since he was not of age yet to go in the older kids club), but we noticed he had more of an interest in playing with the older kids such as at the dance parties and the Disney-animated interactive play rooms! You have the opportunity to go to these rooms during open house and play even if your child is not within the specific age limits which is great! They also collectively have dance parties in the evening as well for all of the family such as during Pirate Night. The ship also has an area designated for adults which we took advantage of and went for some wine and downtime. The atmosphere was quiet, relaxing, beautiful, and we enjoyed our wine by the water. Disney also had the latest movies playing in their onboard theater as well as broadway shows. We enjoyed watching the Beauty and the Beast broadway show (the first to be awarded a cruise ship broadway award in its class) and watching the newly released Lion King movie!

Safety!

Last but not least, safety! I get this question asked A LOT: Are you nuts, taking a kid on a cruise?! To be honest, if I had to choose any cruise line to take a child onboard to, it would definitely be Disney! They have many lifeguards in and out of the water at the pool areas AND they have pool activities and areas designated also by age. For example, our little one loved a slide area that they had specifically for little ones which was located more inward of the ship with high, clear, boarders that allowed for the kids to still run around safely without the parent worrying that they may be too close to the edge of the ship and such. Disney actually does a pretty good job with the way in which they have the activities designed to keep everyone safe.