What We Loved About Our Disney Cruise-Pools, Slides, and Room
1/13/2013 07:28:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
We recently got home from our first ever family Disney
Cruise, and I must say first and foremost, it was fabulous! I have absolutely
no regrets about choosing to cruise with Disney (and am already daydreaming
about when we can go again), however, I feel it necessary to share some things
that I wish I had known before hand-all of the details, the good, the bad, and
the ugly!
First off, because it was an overall fantastic trip, I’ll
start with the good-perhaps GREAT is a better word. This category contains so
many things I’m not quite sure where to start, so if this gets jumbled, bear
with me-I’m still running on adrenaline from the sheer awesomeness of the
experience!
Okay, I’m a researching/planning crazy person so I
thought there would be no surprises for me. I thought I had every single thing
figured out, planned out, and worked out. I was wrong-but mostly in good ways.
Let me explain.
During our planning stages I spent shameful amounts of
time online reading through other peoples’ experiences, browsing the DCL web
site trying to familiarize myself with the ship and what to expect, but trust
me, until you just GO, there is no real grasping the entire amazingness that is
the Disney Cruise!
We arrived to port at our designated time and checking
in/getting our “Key to the World” cards and boarding the ship was a breeze. I
expected long lines and tons of waiting, and though the terminal was full of
people, noise, and chaos, we had no trouble at all.
When we got close to the ship, we cruised on Disney
Dream BTW, we were literally overtaken with her size and beauty! Pictures
just do not do her justice! And as if being breathless from the enormous
floating palace you’re boarding wasn’t enough, toss in being welcomed, by family
name, with a thunderous applause from a “red carpet” style line of crew
members! We honestly felt like, and were treated like, royalty from the very
second we stepped foot on the ship.
After a dizzying glance around the elegant main lobby
atrium, we quickly made our way up to Deck 11 where the pools were located.
From my research I knew to bring us all a bathing suit in my carryon bag so we
could enjoy the pools, splash pad, and slides before our luggage made it to our
room. We quickly got changed and “jumped right in” so to speak!
The weather was perfect, sunny skies and temperatures in
the mid 70’s, but the heated water (and lights at night) just made it even
better! The girls ran and squealed themselves silly in the Nemo’s Reef splash
pad area before discovering the Mickey pool, which was a perfect depth for the
little ones to play and parents not worry, and was also close enough together
that I didn’t stress about one child being in one area and the other choosing
the other, because with a simple turn of the head I could see them both.
DH disappeared for a few minutes and returned bearing us “adult”
beverages in the reusable plastic cups I knew to bring onboard, as well as the
girls’ a refill in their own sport’s type water bottles.
Here is a GREAT thing
to know before you cruise and I’m so glad I did-you may carry your own alcohol,
in carryon bags (see
DCL’s full alcohol policy here) as well as bring your own reusable cups.
Because of the tiny size of the tossable cups offered at the soda fountains, I’ll
be forever grateful we took our own cups, with lids and straws, and the girls’
strapped sports bottles! This made refilling and transporting drinks a world
easier.
Around 1ish, I snuck off to find our room while DH and
the girls hung by the pool and enjoyed the slides, both the Aquaduck and the
Mickey slide. I was pleasantly welcomed by our luggage waiting there for us,
and even more pleased with the cleanliness, design, and size of our room-we had
a Deluxe Family Oceanview with Verandah.
The split bathroom plan is only available on the Disney
Cruise Line, and is absolutely brilliant! On one side you’ve got a toilet and
sink, and behind the next door is your shower/tub and another sink. Excellent
design, especially for families!
I was elated to find an abundance of storage space, as I’m
not keen on living out of suitcases, seeing piles of junk, nor stepping over
things in the floor. Disney has this all figured out!
There was a double sided closet with more than enough
room for our family of four, drawers on each side of the main bed, a desk area
with plenty of storage space, the bed was raised so that luggage pieces would
easily fit underneath, and there was even an ottoman with more storage in it!
The retractable curtain partition between the queen size
bed and living area, which “magically” converts to bunk beds in the evenings,
is perfect for privacy and really makes both adults and children feel like they
have “their own” space.
And the private verandah was perfect for taking in the
scenery, relaxing, and tossing our wet and/or sandy stuff, although there are
retractable clotheslines in the shower for these items too.
I’m just getting started! But this is what we loved about
the pools and our room!
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