Key West

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Today was Key West for the passengers. Our plans was suppose to rent a car and drive the seven-mile bridge and head towards the mainland. We abandoned this plan as it seemed exhausting, instead we had a relaxing day on the ship while most of the passengers were on shore at Key West. This turned out to be a very relaxing time for all of us. 

And of course we had time alone on the ship while the kids enjoyed the Oceaneer Club.

Dinner was Pirate night at the Parrot Cay dining room

The remaining evening plans was suppose to be pirate party on the deck and fireworks but instead everyone opted for a night watching TV in the cabin. An uneventful day but a restful one, after all the going we've been doing since arriving in Florida.

Day at Sea

Friday, October 3, 2014
So how does one spend a day at sea on the Disney Cruise? Send the kids to the Oceaneer Club (kids club) while the parents enjoy some peace and quiet. And this is what we found ourselves doing:

We found the "Voyage Data Recorder" and decided to hang out by it, since it is ALWAYS the first thing recovered in an accident. I felt safer! Seriously though we found ourselves relaxing pool side basking in the sun, before we had to interrupt our fun and take Amber for her photo sitting with....

Elsa and Anna (of course)! Then back to the kids club so mom and dad could get on with their alone time. But we couldn't enjoy the time very long before Mason was ready to leave the kids club. So we got them both out and head to the slide at the pool and some lunch poolside.

Never enough time, we had to get dressed for costume night at dinner in the Animator's Palette dining room. The family (that would be us) dressed up and Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet.

After dinner we settled in for story time around the Pumpkin tree in the atrium of the ship. Well done Disney! Then for our final event of the night, the Golden Mickey's, a dance musical of sorts with snippets of Disney movies. Very well done and entertaining.

After the Golden Mickey's we were done for the night, well almost, we did a little shopping in the gift shop onboard.

Castaway Cay I

Thursday, October 2, 2014
Early morning and the group is moving slow and quietly like ninjas as we get ready for the morning. We will be running the Castaway Cay 5K and must disembark the ship early. The kids are not allowed to run with us due to age restrictions but we have made arrangements with the kids club on Castaway Cay to take them early.

This was going to be an adult morning, we start the day running the 5k, no earth shattering record but it was nice to start our day with a brisk run. After the grueling run in the tropical humidity we settled into some lounge chairs to rest and enjoy some yummy lemonade.

It was now time to make our way to the adult only section of the island while the kids were still in Scuttles Cove kids club. But as our luck would have it, ten minutes in the water before the rain and lightning started. What else to do, eat! But lunch wasn't quite ready, so we waiting in the rain until lunch was served, then we had our feast. 

After lunch we got the kids and had some family time in the family area before getting back on the ship and getting ready for dinner. The family area of the island had Pelican Plunge  which had two twisting water slide which spit you out into the lagoon.

Dinner tonight was in the Triton room, a bit more formal than Parrot Cay, but the food was along the same quality and tastiness. Following dinner, the kids went off to the Oceanear Club and we went to the onboard movie theater to watch Maleficent, after which we all ended the night.

Disney Cruise Begins

Wednesday, October 1, 2014
The much anticipated cruise day. With no need to be anywhere early we had  plans to sleep in late but housekeeping had other plans for us, at 8:30am housekeeping came knocking, they decided we needed to get up so they could clean our rooms. Since we were already up with the wake up call from housekeeping, the baggage thugs decided they would get our bags fifteen minutes later. So much for sleeping late today.

With everyone now awake and eventually  dressed, it was time to fortify ourselves with a delightful breakfast of Krispy Kreme donuts. With our sugar levels restored we were able to get to the business of packing our belongings into our travel boxes for transporting to the cruise ship. We did our final checks of the room, called down for luggage pickup and we bid farewell to our comfy hotel room. At about 1130 we embarked on the hour long journey that would deliver us to Port Canaveral. Before this journey could begin we had to check in with the Disney cruise concierge at the airport where our papers were checked  and we were ushered to the proper line to wait for our bus before being whisked away,

Upon arrival at the Disney cruise terminal we disembarked the bus and went through security quickly while we waited to be "sorted out". Every part of checking in for the cruise was painless. We got our Key to the World cards, got the kids signed up for the kids club, then within 45 minutes we were heading to the ship.

Now that we were on board, we had to get food before someone had a melt down and to wait until we could gain access to our room. At this point everything was going smoothly, unexpected smoothly. After lunch we dropped our bags at the room, where I had a surprise waiting for the kids and Brenda, birthday decorations for Brenda, and sweet treats for the kids.

With our bags no longer dragging us down, it was time to explore the ship, first stop would be to check out the kids club, after all it was open house time. 

We couldn't forget to get that family photo on the top deck, with the port in the background, boy I look confused.

Of course we had to authenticate our Disney Cruise by getting the ship's stack in the background. Did I mention everything was going smooth at this point. Waiting for something to go wrong.

By now it has been a very long day, the ship was pushing away from port, kids were getting tired and hungry and our bags were delivered to our room. Now we could dress  for dinner and feed the "beasts" in Parrot Cay dinning room. After dinner everyone was ready for bed, so we ended the night without any problems. I was very impressed so far with the Disney Cruise experience.