Julie and I try to take a big vacation at least once a year. Our first trip was our honeymoon to Xcaret, Mexico. Last year, we stayed in a cabin in North Carolina. This year, we decided to take a Disney cruise, with stops in St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island in the Bahamas).

Here’s the quick outline of our week…
Saturday – Boarded, left Port Canaveral
Sunday – Day at sea
Monday – Day at sea
Tuesday – St. Croix
Wednesday – St. Thomas
Thursday – Day at sea
Friday – Castaway Cay
Saturday – Back in Florida

This is my first cruise, so I have nothing to compare to, but Disney has amazing quality in the customer service department. They are always making sure that you’re happy with everything going on. For example, we ordered warm cookies and milk from room service, and it was at our door within 5 minutes. Then within 15 minutes of the food being delivered, they called our room to make sure the food was to our liking and the cookies were the right warmth.

One thing that sets Disney apart from other cruise lines is that they have “rotational dining.” There are 3 main restaurants on the ship – Animator’s Palate, Lumiere’s, and Parrot Cay. Like on other ships, you have assigned seating, and sit with the same people during the entire cruise. When you board, you are given your dining rotation… so you will start at one restaurant, then the next night, you and your table-mates move to the next restaurant, and so on. But the cool thing is, your server changes restaurants with you, so you have the same server all week. The nice thing about this is that they learn what you like and don’t like and cater to your needs. For example, the first night, Julie and I both ordered Diet Coke with dinner and coffee with dessert. Every night after that, our server automatically gave us Diet Coke and coffee. If you don’t like mushrooms, you tell your server and they remember that and will let you know when dishes have mushrooms and when things can be made without mushrooms.

And the food is delicious. One guy that we sat with at dinner said that he’s been on other cruises where the food was inedible, but he loved the Disney food. They always had different choices, like lamb, lobster, etc… but in case you don’t like food like that, you can always order chicken, steak, or salmon. They also have a restaurant called Palo, that is not in the normal rotation. You have to make reservations for it, and it costs $15 per person. Julie and I both had lobster ravioli… and it was amazing.

Our stateroom host (aka maid) was amazing. We saw him in the hall almost daily and he always checked to make sure that everything was perfect for us. They clean your room twice a day… once in the morning, and then they clean your room and turn down your bed at night. It’s really hard coming home every night now and seeing the bed still unmade and my clothes all over the floor.

Fun fact: Disney ships can pump in 500,000 gallons of salt water and convert it to fresh water every day. Apparently most cruises have salt water in the pools, but the Disney pools are actually fresh water and chlorinated.

Like most cruises, Disney hires entertainers to come on the ship and … entertain you. On our cruise, we had the musical comedy of John Charles, the magic of Rich Purpura, the juggling of Team Rootberry, and the comedy of Alfred & Seymour. The shows were pretty good, except Rich Purpura really wasn’t that funny… and his magic tricks sucked. John Charles was in the “Welcome Aboard” show, and told everyone that we were on the safest cruise line in the industry. It’s the only cruise that’s on tracks. And we don’t actually really go anywhere. He said that all of the ports are on a giant lazy susan, and we sail out over the horizon, they turn it to the next port, we sail back in. And honestly… with Disney, I don’t doubt it.

Tuesday night was Pirates IN the Caribbean night and they had a deck party. Of course, the party is a massive show, and the party was taken over by Captain Hook. Of course, Mickey won’t stand for that and saves the day, and then has a fireworks show. Disney is the only cruise line that is allowed to shoot fireworks from the ship. And I must admit, it’s pretty cool to know that you’re in the middle of the ocean watching fireworks.

By the way, not all entertainment on a Disney cruise is Disney related. Yes, they have Disney shows and characters, but there are plenty of non-Disney things to do on the ship. You also don’t see kids all the time. There are areas on the ship designated for adults only, like an adult-only pool and cafe, and the clubs are 18+ after a certain time. Also, we had our dinner at 8:15, and most families eat at 6:15. So yeah, you see kids, but it’s mostly at shows and characters sightings.

Speaking of character sightings, there’s a character in Peter Pan named Wendy… and she came out to take pictures with people. When characters walk around, they have a “real person” walk around with them to help with crowd control and stuff. While waiting in line to take a picture with Minnie Mouse, the guy in front of me was talking to Minnie’s “person” and asks, “Are you Wendy?” She is clearly the same person that plays Wendy, but she smiles, points to her name tag and says, “No, I’m Katie.” The guy says, “I mean, like… are you… Wendy?” Again she has a big smile and says, “No… I’m Katie.” The guy, seemingly frustrated, says, “I mean, do you play Wendy?” and the girl says, “No sir…. I’m Katie.” They are obviously trained to insist that the characters are real.

Overall, the cruise was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that we have already booked a 7-day cruise for next February. And before we left the ship, they gave us a paper that said if we book a 3-night cruise in September, we can get it for $99 per person. It just so happens that Julie’s birthday is in September, so we’re thinking about going then, too.

If you like Disney, you should definitely try a Disney cruise. It may cost more than other cruise lines, but the quality of service that your receive is first class.

Be sure to check out our pictures.

Tags: dcl, disney cruise, vacation

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