- Kids Clubs - where some cruise lines have a nice, comfy room where kids can hang out, Disney's kids clubs are actual CLUBS. My kids spent an entire day exploring and playing in the Oceaneer Club with their friends before they even realized that there was a tunnel that led to another whole play area called the Oceaneer Lab! They enjoyed character experiences (which I didn't waste time standing in line for), played games, heard stories, participated in science experiments, and had a great time! In all honesty, I had to bribe them with free ice cream to get them to come out and play with me!
Let me take a brief mom time out and explain that I'm a **bit** of a control freak and I don't like the idea of my kids not being able to reach me or not being safe. Not only did I feel 100% comfortable leaving my kids in the clubs with all of the cast members who got to know each kid, but I also witnessed a child who came up to the desk and asked a cast member to call her mom. There was no hesitation - the cast member immediately grabbed a phone and dialed the girl's mother. That made the overprotective mama bear inside of me very happy.
Bonus points for being able to check the kids into the club and go enjoy the adult only hot tub AND relax together with a couples massage AND we got to do a beer tasting... there's no way we would have been able to enjoy those special things if our kids were in a comfy room on another cruise line... The kids club created the perfect balance between time for my husband and I to relax and enjoy each other and our family to enjoy lots of time together. - Dining Experiences - Cabanas (the buffet) has lots of amazing food, including all you can eat crab and peel and eat shrimp when you board the ship. Each evening, you'll be on a dining rotation to try each of the 3 main restaurants and you'll have the option for a sit-down meal for breakfast and lunch on a rotation, as well. Many people like to grab food quickly at Cabanas or one of the kiosks, but some people like to sit down and enjoy a fancy breakfast. It's nice to have options.
What makes Disney truly stand out are the servers. Every evening, you'll have the same two servers - one main server and one beverage server. They'll get to know you and try to have your favorite drinks waiting for you when you arrive. Of course, you can add or change your drinks to suit your fancy, but our kids loved to have chocolate milk waiting for them when we arrived at each restaurant. The servers will also cut your child's food for them so that you don't have to let your food get cold while you do it. Our servers even did magic tricks and puzzles and kept our kids busy when we adults had indulged in too many desserts. There simply isn't anything like the level of dining service on a Disney Cruise and the food is AMAZING!! We especially liked the fact that most room service items were also free, so that we could order french fries and cake of the day while the kids napped or in the evening while we enjoyed a glass of wine in our cabin. - Room Attendants - when we arrived at our cabin, we were surprised to find that our room was ready early. We were also surprised to meet a very friendly woman who introduced herself as our room attendant. Her job was to come into our room in the morning and make the beds, fold the fold-down beds up and tidy the room. In the evening, when we went to dinner, she came back into the room and cleaned again. This time, she did a turn-down service and prepped our room for bedtime so that all we had to do was change our sleepy kiddos into their pajamas. If you've ever traveled to a sandy, wet place with kids, you can probably guess how much we enjoyed the twice-a-day room servicing.
- Castaway Cay - I'll write an entire post about Castaway Cay soon, but for now suffice to say that the experience was truly unique. The water is gorgeous, the island is gorgeous, the food was delicious, and we never ran out of fun things to do. We were crazy enough to go out on a paddle boat, but my youngest daughter was terrified half the time, so it was rather short-lived. There is an adult only beach called Serenity Bay and we found a huge starfish out there! My only recommendation here is that kids (and adults) with sensitive feet may want to invest in water shoes, since the beach is both sandy and rocky. We saw lots of fish in the water, but those with shark concerns will be glad to hear that the bay is blocked from large waves and that prevents sharks from entering the swimming areas.
- Entertainment - evening shows are great, but Disney cruise line offers so many other entertainment venues... our most recent cruise was a Disney World/Disney Cruise combo, so we only cruised for 3 nights. During that cruise we enjoyed the main evening shows, the sail away party, the pirate night show and fireworks, crazy fun bingo (I think it was $40 for the 9 of us to play), live music entertainment, super insane 80s music trivia fun, movies by the pool, and current/recent movies in the FREE movie theater on board. There were also character meet and greets, various family activities, movies by the pool, and all kinds of adult beverage tastings.
- Adult Only sidebar... if you've got adults in your traveling party who don't have kids, have no fear! There are so many amazing things to do on board even if you don't have kids of your own or your kids are grown. Plus, the adult only areas are truly kept as adult only. No kids will splash you in the beautiful swim up bar areas or Serenity Bay (the adult only beach). And traveling groups where some families have kids and some don't can check their kids into the kids club and spend time with their adult companions doing adult things without feeling guilty or paying for extra childcare!
Contact me for a FREE, no-obligation Disney Cruise quote: Emily@Wishdrawals.com
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