We just got back from a 5 night Disney cruise and words cannot even describe how amazing it was! This was a "special" cruise called the "Merrytime Cruise" which means it was completely decked out for the holiday season. The characters wore their holiday outfits, beautiful christmas trees and decorations were all over the boat, we sang carols as Mickey and Friends lite the Christams tree the first night, and even the big man in red (yes, Santa!) was there to meet with all the good little boys and girls! This totally got us into the Christmas spirit!
From the moment we laid eyes on the ship, we were immediately impressed by its size and beauty. It was sitting next to other cruise ships in the Miami port and it just blew them all right out of the water. When we arrived at the port for check in we were immediately greated by Minnie! Thats when I knew this trip was definitly going to be something special!
Our stateroom was incredibly spacious and we are so glad we decided to go with a verandah as that made all the difference in the world! We cruised with our friends, the Shaws, who got a room next to ours that had an adjoining verandah. We were able to put the kids to bed at night and then meet out on the verandah to enjoy our night time cocktails and of course the ocean view! Wow, the view was something I have never witnessed before as I was a first time cruiser. It is impossible not to be in awe of the ocean and its beauty. All the staff members where so friendly and personable making sure that anything and everything was provided for you. The characters were plentiful and the girls absolutely loved getting their autograph books signed and of course meeting their favorite princesses and characters! The dinner's were fantastic and the nightly live shows were even better!
Day 1 and 2 were spent at sea, day 3 we visited the Cayman Islands, Day 4 was at sea, and Day 5 was at the beautiful Castaway Cay, Bahamas which is a private island owned by Disney. When visiting the Cayman Islands, the girls (and adults) loved the time on the beautiful "Seven Mile" beach. It wasn't crowded at all and at times we felt like we had the beach to ourselves! The second island we visited came on the fifth day and it was to beautiful Castaway Cay located in the Bahamas. This is Disney's island so you can expect it to be decked out in disney but with an island touch! Unfortuntely it rained pretty much all day but we were able to get out bright and early before the rain really set in. This was by far one of our favorite parts of the trip. The water was super calm (like a pool), crystal clear, and once again we felt like we had the beach to ourselves at times (a lot of people stayed on the ship due to rain). The characters even made appearances on the island and you also got an incredible view of the ship while sitting on the beach.
We so much enjoyed this special time as a family and having the Shaw's there was an added bonus! We are already sold on the idea of another disney cruise in the future!!! Stay tuned for a video collage from the trip! :-)
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| Twinkle the Christmas elf delivering their markers for their Disney Countdown Calendar!! |
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| 3AM picture before heading to the airport!!! |
DAY 1: AT SEA
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| Getting ready to leave the hotel and head to Mickey's Boat!!! |
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| Minnie was at check-in to escort us onto the ship!!! |
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| The Wolfe and Shaw Families! |
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| Checking out our room's verandah with the view of Miami |
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| Our room! |
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| Checking out the shower part of the bathroom. There were two separate bathrooms. One with a shower /bath and sink and the other with a potty and sink. Tons of room! |
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| Chilling out on the deck our first day! |
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| Checking our the boats big screen and pools below! |
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| Ice cream 24/7 |
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| Mickey's biggest fan! |
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| In the lobby waiting for the lighting of the Christmas Tree with the Characters! |
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| Here the characters come!! |
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| We had the cutest towel creations every night thanks to our stateroom host, Victor! |
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| The girls loved the "Good Dinosaur" themed creation and the nightly chocolates! |
DAY 2- AT SEA
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| Picture on the 5th floor looking down into the lobby |
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| We ventured to the very front of the ship! |
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| Large gingerbread house! |
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| Cool little windows to "relax" in! |
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| Jake!!! |
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| Elsa and Anna!!! |
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| OLAF!!! |
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| After visiting so many characters we hit the pool area! |
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| See that big slide? Guess what little girls went down it like a champ... |
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| Here she comes... |
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| It's.... |
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Mackenzie!!!
Her widest dreams came true that day! She has been begging to go on a slide since she first laid eyes on one and she was finally tall enough! |
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| Daddy followed her. |
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| We headed back to the room for naps and Jimmy and I got to enjoy this amazing view from our verandah. |
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| I could not get enough of this view! |
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| Verandah view |
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| RE-LAX-ING |
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| While the girls napped we would sit on the verandah and take in the sites! |
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| Waiting with the princess to see Goofy! |
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| Goofy!!! |
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| She loved getting their autographs! |
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| Mickey!!!! |
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Donald!!!
The older girls were in the kids club listening to Princess Belle read them a story. |
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| Kenzie met Donald afterwards! |
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| Our nightly dinner drinks! |
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| Maddie and Isla at dinner |
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| Getting ready to watch the nightly show! |
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| We would be lying if we said it was all rainbows and unicorns! Isla was throwing a fit over not being able to have chocolate at 10:45 at night and Mackenzie was still dealing with a stomach bug she got before the trip! |
DAY 3- CAYMAN ISLANDS
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| Look who made the trip! Twinkle the Christmas elf! |
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| Pretty <3 |
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| Checking out the view as we head into The Cayman Islands! |
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| Sunrise as we pulled into the Cayman Islands |
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| Morning coffee, a fantastic view, and the Cayman Islands! |
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| Picture of the ship as we head off to the island on a little boat |
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| Boating it to the Caymans! |
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| Pic of ship from the smaller boat |
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| That is one pretty boat! |
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| Beach!!!! |
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| A little snack before more swimming! |
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| Beach to ourselves pretty much! |
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| The view from the beach wasn't too shabby! |
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| Swimming with my girls |
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| The group enjoying the warm water! |
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| She made friends with some pirates while we waited to get back on the ship! |
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| And once back on the ship she met her favorite pirate of all...Captain Hook!!!! |
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| Captain Hook and Mr. Smee! |
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| If you can't tell by now, Isla was all about meeting the characters but only if she was in Mommy or Daddy's arms! |
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| Pirate night on the ship! |
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| Showing us her pirate face before heading to the big pirate party with Daddy! The party started at 10PM and Isla Bean made it clear she needed to sleep instead of party so her and Mommy stayed back to rest. |
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| She was so excited for the party!! |
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| They left us pirate bandannas for everyone to wear to the party! Pirate night is no joke on the boat, kids and adults where dressed from head to toe in complete pirate costumes, it was so much fun! |
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| Pirate posing |
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| Those are some serious pirates! |
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| Giving pirate hugs before heading off to the party! |
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| Pirate party on the top deck that included a live show, tons of pirated out characters, and fireworks for the grand finale. |
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| Daddy and Daughter pirates! |
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| She loved every minute of it! |
DAY 4- AT SEA
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| On our way to meet the princesses!!!! |
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| Cinderella!!! |
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| Belle!!! |
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| Rapunzel!!! |
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| She was so excited!!! |
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| Mackenzie, Maddie, and Camilla with Rapunzel. Isla would't get in the picture. |
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| Once the princess were done, we were off to make gingerbread houses! |
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| Gingerbread house making! |
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| Camilla and Isla's house |
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| Maddie and Mackenzie's house! |
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| Oh no, the little ones house came crumbling down! |
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| If all the Disney characters weren't exciting enough, SANTA was also there!!! |
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| Telling Santa what she wants for Christmas! |
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| Isla telling Santa what she wants for Christmas safely in her Daddy's arms! |
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| Mackenzie and Santa! |
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| The Wolfes with Santa |
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| Putting her name and Isla's on Santa's nice list! |
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| Taking in the view |
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| And of course we had to have some more fun in the splash pad! |
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| Slide |
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| After naps it was then Pluto time!!! |
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| Dinner at Animation was really neat that included a super cool show and an appearance by Mickey! |
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| It was the night of the Rapunzel show ("Tangled") and before the show, they changed one of their bars into the "Snuggly Duckling" which is a bar for the "thugs" in the movie. It was so much fun and definitely a highlight of the trip! The "thugs" were in full action and were hilarious! Entertaining for both the kids and adults! |
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| Getting ready to watch the "Tangled" live show! |
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| Waiting for the show! |
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| Towel art for the night |
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Katie and I made the dads be in charge of putting the kids to bed while we snuck up to the top deck to watch Monday night football on the big screen! Super cool!
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DAY 5- CASTAWAY CAY, BAHAMAS
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| Heading into Castaway Cay!! |
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| Castaway Cay |
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| Everyone checking out Castaway Cay (see how our verandah's connected making it so nice for all of us to enjoy together!) |
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| Daisy Duck on Castaway Cay! |
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Mackenzie and Daisy!
Isla and the others weren't interested in meeting her so everyone continued on to get a spot on the beach. It is a little bit of a walk to the beach but a beautiful one and it was so nice to spend some one on one time with Mackenzie! |
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| Everything on this island was so pretty! |
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| The boat docked at the Island |
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| Walking to the beach |
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| We had no idea that while on our walk we would run into...MINNIE!!!! |
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| I love that the boat is behind them! |
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| Front row on the beach! Early bird gets the worm! |
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| Three little beach babes! |
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| This beach was so beautiful and calm. |
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| The grounds were spectacular! |
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| Family picture on Castaway Cay |
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| The Shaw girls on Castaway Cay |
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| There is one good thing about rainy days...rainbows! |
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| I loved the lobby on the ship! |
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| On the last night we surprised the girls with princess makeovers!!! |
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| Princess Isla getting her hair done! |
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| Princess Mackenzie getting her hair done! |
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| I loved their little crowns! |
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| Getting her nails done! |
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| Our two little princesses |
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| A little makeup |
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| She was so happy that she was finally allowed to wear some makeup! |
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| Putting on the finishing touch! |
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| Princess Isla Bean!!! |
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| Getting her nails done! |
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| Make up time! |
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| Introducing Princess Mackenzie! |
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| Making her grand entrance! |
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| Our crazy group waiting for the last live show of the trip and it was a good one!!! |
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| You weren't allowed to take pictures or videos during the shows but I snuck this one in just to get an idea! |
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| A little pig and two little piglets eating all the chocolate that was left on our bed for the night! |
DAY 6- MIAMI, FL
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| Posing with her autograph book at the airport! |
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| Isla loves looking at all her autographs! |
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| All good things must come to an end... |
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| ...but we will definitely be seeing Mickey and his boat again! |
