Disney Cruise!

My family, Wang Family (Stacey, Wilson, and kids Tyson and Morgan), Robertson Family, Puo Puo and Rong

The Disney cruise was absolutely amazing. Thank you Mom and Rong! I highly recommend it for anyone with kids. I actually felt completely free of responsibilities (cooking, cleaning, activities, homework, forcing the kids to eat healthy) for the first time in as long as I can remember. Not only that, there were no internet or phone for the entire cruise, and I cannot remember the last time I went without internet or phone for that long. It was glorious!

The actual Disney cruise liner felt a bit to me like a luxury hotel. I could go on and on and on, but bottom line is when I left the ship I was actually sad to get back to real life. Even though both kids got kind of sick (Leelee with a fever for a majority of the cruise) it was still incredible.

Reasons I love the Disney Cruise (in photos and words -  haha):

1) Everything Disney does is magical. The service and the friendliness is unparalleled!

Entering the cruise ship. Miami was so cold, hence our fall/winter attire.

Not kidding, I think this was the only photo of my boys smiling while in the same frame as puo puo. More on that later.

2) The food. It was delicious. It was abundant. There is (FREE!) room service! There is a fro-yo self serve bar on the pool deck that the kids loved. There are healthy options like seafood, salads, and there are not-so-healthy options of course, too. They let you order pretty much whatever you want, even if it's not exactly on the menu. The servers are so good with kids, offering to cut their food for them, and folding napkins in to funny shapes to entertain us. 

Jeff with his 'tres entrees' (3 entrees)

Husbands had had a few rounds of drinks this evening pre-dinner.

We had the same servers throughout the cruise. Carlos from Spain and Brian from South Africa. Brian was so quirky and so nice. Dinners were serious feasts. By the end of the cruise I was ordering two desserts per meal!

Dinner at Animator's Palate. Mickey closing in on our table!

Happy. I would never buy Fruit Loops at home.

Close examination of a Mickey waffle for breakfast. Breakfasts were feasts as well.  With unlimited juice and Sprite, and cookies, chicken strips, mac & cheese, grilled cheese, fries, I actually had to have a small talk with the kids on the airplane ride home to tell them we were heading home and were going to eat healthy again and I didn't want them to be surprised. hahaha!

3) Room service: Did I mention free? Christian had a fever for 3 1/2 out of the 5 days we were on the cruise. It was a real bummer. But room service was a lifesaver! One of us would stay in the room with him and just order room service while the other did activities, and we'd switch. Ended up working out fine!

The used plates were piled high outside our door every day, and taken away like magic :) On the TV screen the movie "The Intern" was playing. We watched that movie about 5 times.

Even though he was sick, he managed to make it to a lot of the events.

Olin developed an ear infection. So both boys were out of commission, and quite ratty. Hence the no good photos with puo puo, even though she tried. Here is Olin at this doctor's appointment on the ship. They charged something around $150 for a consult. 

 4) The cruise ship: The actual interior of the ship was so pretty, it felt like a beautiful hotel to me. Our rooms, even though small, had everything we needed and were quite comfortable. Here are some random photos that also showcased the ship a bit.

This crew was cleaning our ship at the Castaway Cay stop

'Debarking' at the Cozumel stop

In front of ship at the Cozumel stop

Our room. Bunk bed came out of ceiling over the couch, which turned in to another bed. Naked kids watching Disney.

After bath, watching Disney

Sleeping in the last morning. Luckily Olin always wants upper bunk and Leelee always wants lower.

These large porthole windows were everywhere. We surprisingly could feel the waves of the ocean. Thank goodness for dramamine! Worked wonders. 

Olin enjoyed entertaining Mei, particularly this evening, with his hijinks

Such as dancin'

Talking. Probably saying "chicken parm you taste so good" like the Nationwide commercials with Peyton Manning that he says nonstop.

Boys

Girls

Our decorated door, courtesy of Mal and Ev

 5) The Themes: There was formal night and pirate night. It was fun to dress up.

Pirate Night! Ev, Tyson, Didi, Stacey

Grrrrr

 6) The characters: It was super fun to see Mickey or some of our favorite Disney characters.

Belle, Rapunzel, and Cinderella sightings

Hanging with Minnie!

Character party in the main atrium

Olin performing on our 5th deck hallway. Learning how to bow from Auntie Ev, which he then performed for us.

7) The pools: Perfect sizes for the kids. The adults' slide started with a vertical drop so naturally I hated it. However, the kids' slides and kids' areas were lots of fun. The kids just kind of ran around on their own. Olin with his water wings on. The main pool had a movie screen which played fun Disney movies throughout the cruise.

The 9th deck pool. Big movie screen playing Disney movies throughout the days.

Kids' pool

Kids' slide

 8) Activities: were abundant. We dropped the kids off multiple times to the Oceaneer club to cook, or do a Piston Cup Challenge, or Super Sloppy Science. They had TONS of activities. They also had pretty amazing shows. Tangled, Twice Enchanted, a juggler entertainer, and a compilation of Disney favorites which I loved (all the theme songs from Disney movies performed in a show).  While the kids were doing kids' activities, adults could relax and hit the adult pool, drink, work out, lay out, relax and read...Ev and I took a Pilates class that was pretty ok. There was also a 4th floor running 'track' which circled the perimeter. 3 laps equaled a mile, which is a lot longer of a track than I was expecting so I was pleasantly surprised.

At the Oceaneer club, the hand washing station was pretty cool. The kids just stick their hands in to these little holes and water sprays. Likewise, the little sensors for their wristbands lit up really fun when they entered. Small things like that.

Mei at Bippity Boppity Do boutique getting princess'd up

Adult Pool while kids were at Oceaneer Club. I had a martini, Dae had a margarita

Star Wars playing on the ship's theater. Even in 3D! Never mind that I left 30 minutes in to check on Leelee only to find him crying and having thrown up so I missed the movie. Oh well, I'm no Star Wars fanatic anyway. Every night they played a movie at 10:30pm. Good thing we were still somewhat on Pacific Time!

Mal getting dolled up at the salon!

Disney's app allowed us to text each other throughout. It was fun. It was the only reason I carried my phone.

We did this tour since Leelee was still sick and did not feel like walking. It was just ok until he took us on a tequila tour and then in to the locals area of Cozumel where we ordered 6 tacos and a horchata for $5.

Climbing up this rocky beach area in Cozumel

Local taco stand

 9) Castaway Cay: It was a full day which started out with Castaway Cay's 5K run (super fun, but definitely hot and muggy), followed by the beach, delicious BBQ, snorkeling (too murky to snorkel), laying out, sand castle building, the Pelican Plunge slide. It was one of my favorite days.

Minus Olin who refused to cooperate. (theme)

Pelican Plunge slide. Water was cold but swimmable. The Caribbean is salty!

Corona in one hand, Olin in the other. I made sure I let go of neither :)

Wilson said that Olin was here giving him a 10 minute monologue about who knows what.

Ev, Tyson, and Wilson all passed out. Didi did too, but he had just thrown up so he had good reason.

Buddies

Mei (Morgan), Stacey, Mom, Ev

Sand castle with moat, and some sort of volcano with tunnels.

They got the tunnels to connect!

Wilson and Tyson passed out

Leaving the island, unfortunately. It was quite a lovely day. So warm.

Shuttle shelter back to the boat.

Group photo with our ship in the distance. Didi definitely rallied, after throwing up multiple times, to take this photo. He promptly threw up immediately after the photo.

10) Family: It was super fun to have all our staterooms right next to each other. We just kept our rooms unlocked while we were in there and the kids would go hang with their cousins quite frequently.

Finally! After trying every single day to get a group shot with group T-shirts, we got one. Olin absolutely refused to cooperate. He was livid!

So we let him tantrum on the floor, ignored, until some irritated folks down below reminded us this was the adult pool and why were there screaming kids? Oh, see Dae's medal he's wearing? He enrolled himself in the Chip-It Golf challenge one day in the cruise atrium and won. He was the proud recipient of a navy blue Mickey hat that I took from him and this medal.

MIAMI: We took a night pre-cruise and the weekend post-cruise to visit Miami. Such a lively city. Everybody (I mean everybody) speaks Spanish. We heard way more Spanish than English.

Pretty pic of Robertson family, first weekend in Miami (South Beach)

Versailles Cuban food, supposedly a famous Cuban food place in Little Havana. Which, by the way, was my one goal: to visit Little Havana in Miami!

Cuban desserts

Piggyback at Versailles bakery

Cute boys eating Cuban food. Cuban food, as far as I could tell, consisted a lot of meats, fried plantains, beans, rice, Cuban coffee. Lots of fried stuff like croquettes and empanadas. Definitely not easy on the waistline!

Mojitos. I absolutely love mojitos.

Even shattering my iPhone glass didn't dampen our trip. A quick stop at the Lincoln Road Apple store (which is such a pretty outdoor mall) fixed me right up. Here is Olin checking out the games.

Outdoor lunch at Shake Shack before our Duck amphibious bus tour.

I love amphibious bus tours. I have decided to do one in every new city I visit, if they are offered. Such a good way to get acclimated. 

Beautiful multi million dollar mansions on Star Island, Palm Island, and a few other islands in Biscayne Bay.

Post-cruise

The everglades! Lots of swamp, or as they say, slowly flowing river.

Even saw a few 'gators!

It was a wonderful trip we will not forget!!!