The Disney Dream | Merry Time Cruise

If you have ever been on a Disney Cruise, you know it’s addictive!  If you haven’t been on board yet, well I will just say our family and a bunch of other’s all agree it might just be better than the Disney parks!  We spent our Thanksgiving holiday on the Disney Dream with some of our friends who might as well just be family!  We set sail on a 3 day to the Bahamas and Castaway Cay and ya’ll it just wasn’t long enough.  Disney had the boat all decked out for the holidays and it definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.

From the real life size Gingerbread house, to the amazing Christmas tree which lit up before our eyes with Mickey and Minnie (and Santa and Mrs. Clause of course) to the whole boat smelling of Christmas cookies!  If you don’t leave that boat ready for holiday cheer, you are Scrooge!

We had so many wonderful adventures this time around and I do have to say, after doing the “Disney boat” twice, 3 days, even 4 days for us is not enough!

Disney just does it right ya’ll!  Everything is spectacular!  There is absolutely something for everyone of all ages and something magical at every turn.  Our dining experience was fantastic and the magic we experienced was over the top, especially experiencing it from Linc’s eyes!  He is still carrying around his magical crayon.

We watched Coca on board and some broadway theater.  Ok, our family didn’t watch broadway theater because Linc is terrified of all theaters.  I think he is afraid it’s some kind of scary ride, I know, he’s a bit strange!  We rode the aqua duct and even swam with Sting Rays!

If you are planning on taking a cruise in the near future, please please PLEASE consider Disney Cruise Line!  I promise you won’t be disappointed.  In fact, I give you my word that if you try the Disney boat just once, you will never go back to another cruise line ever!

Just take a look at some of our adventures from the Disney Dream!

Ivan had such an amazing Hook costume for Pirate Night!  We were taking family pictures outside the Theater with Walt and realized a line had formed!  Guests on board thought Ivan was a cast member, the real Hook, and had lined up to take their photos with him.  It was great.  Ivan was wonderful and stood patiently for each photo even after the families realized he was just a Dad who was pretty amazing and went the extra magic mile!

Castaway Cay day was my FAVORITE day!  We had booked an excursion and planned to just relax by the beach after!  If you want something extra and fun on your Castaway day, I highly recommend the Sting Rays!  Every single one of us had fun and learned something!  In our family, if you ask us what was a highlight of our trip, all of us would say the Sting Rays!

Gearing up for our Sting Ray Adventure!!!

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if Linc was going to love it.  He LOVES the sting ray tanks at the aquarium, but that’s a controlled environment and he knows exactly what to expect.  This was something new and although he was excited about it and had seen videos and pictures, getting right down to it would be something different!

I was incredibly proud of Linc!  He was hesitant at first and approached with caution.  He was nervous and hung back while we approached the table, but once our guide told us a few jokes and explained how everything worked Linc stepped right up and jumped in!

STING RAY SELFIE!!!

All of the castaways minus Liam because he was taking the photo (Ya’ll know I love survivor!!)

These next images make me laugh! Linc was having a blast in the shallow water chasing after the sting rays.  He tried snorkeling for a little bit but the water was super salty and was hurting his eyes.  He decided it was way more fun to try to play “tag” with the sting rays, in this particular image, I think one of the bigger female sting rays wanted to play and try to tag him back~

After our sting ray visit and lunch at Cookies, we swam out to the big obstacle course!

We ended up back on the boat around 3:30 pm where we ordered some snacks and rested until our dinner! Dinner was filled with magic tricks and fun! We even got to talk to Crush!
There are so many more experiences and adventures that I wish I would have captured on camera but I just didn’t have it with me. A lesson I learned for the next time!  It’s hard being in the moment and also capturing the moment at the same time!