First Disney Cruise!

⚓️ Ahoy! 1st family cruise ever and it was magical!!! The moment after we boarded the beautiful Disney cruise, a giant lollipop nearly went overboard and I’m proud to say that’s the worst of the damage! haha We’ve taken a cruise with the twins before and another cruise with just our oldest. This was my 10th cruise but a 1st with Disney & our complete family!!!❤️ The kids were either hitting the slides on repeat or in the kid’s club. I’m pretty sure they loved the kid’s club more than being with us. Actually, yes. I’m 💯 sure about it. Ethan was waiting for his turn to play Mario cart and legit cried when Aaron picked him up for dinner. It’s fine.🤣 We brought them on the Disney “Dream” boat to create memories and that’s exactly what happened! Tap ON THIS INSTAGRAM POST to see a few of our videos from the beach.

Disney World vs. Disney Cruise?

I asked y’all this question 3 weeks ago ON THIS INSTAGRAM POST and the votes were split down the middle. I answered a TON of questions in my DM’s but I’ll share a few of the top questions.

DISNEY WORLD VS. CRUISE- WHICH IS BETTER?

The better question is, What are you in the mood to do? Disney World is jam-packed with places to go, shows to see, adventures to ride, etc.. It involves a lot of walking and planning. I wrote a detailed post about our FIRST TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD OVER HERE. With a Disney Cruise, you could do zero planning and still have the best week of your life! The similarities between Disney World and a Disney Cruise involve the incredible food selection and the undeniably contagious excitement for magic that every Disney employee shares. How on earth did they find the happiest people to work for them?! We stayed in 2 connecting balcony rooms– Aaron and I slept on the bed while Avery slept on the pull out sofa. The other 3 kiddos had the same sleeping arrangements. We did a 3 night cruise and we could’ve stayed all week long! Our kid’s ages range from 8, 6, 6, and 2 (almost 3)!

Our Disney Cruise Tips!

What’s included? Entertainment, food, ice-cream, sodas, meeting Disney characters, kid’s club for kids 3+ years old, and so much more! The moment you board the ship, a cast member will ask for our family’s name and they announced loudly across the speakers, “Please welcome aboard the Crossley Family!“ The crew all cheered and my kids were all grinning from ear to ear. It was a special touch, the 1st of many to come!

KID’S CLUB– My kid’s will be the 1st to tell you that this was their favorite part of the Disney cruise! Kid’s ages 3-12 can go to the Oceaneer Lab + Club and is included in the cost of the cruise. It opens early in the morning until after midnight. Kids under 3 years old can stay in the Nursery ($10/hr) and Avery played there while we had a Sunday Brunch at Palo’s restaurant. The size of the kid’s club was enormous!! We toured the space on the 1st day and I instantly knew the kids were going to be in heaven. I definitely recommend pre-registering your kids before you board the boat to make it a quick process. Also, check out the club while you can during the “open play” time they have throughout the week! They have scheduled activities every hour for the kids: arts and crafts, video games, dance floors, Disney themed rooms, etc.. It was wild!

CASTAWAY CAY– Beautiful island! You can scuba dive, go snorkeling, rent bikes, and visit the sting ray experience! Definitely check out the schedule to see where to Meet Mickey on the island! The kids loved this! Make sure to get to the yummy BBQ Lunch (11:30-2pm). The fruit buffet was incredible and I ate my weight in mangoes! The Oceaneer’s Club moves from the ship to the island and the kids partied in the luau! The kids really enjoyed the unlimited ice-cream cones on the island.

DINNER– Every evening, you’ll rotate to a new restaurant for dinner. You won’t want to miss the dinner at Animator’s Palace! The kids were SO entertained! The servers got to know our family and drink orders (even did magic tricks for the kids). When we showed up to dinner, they had everything ready to go and would immediately walk over to the kids to take their orders (without my help)! You can even order a 2nd or 3rd dessert, it’s all included! Also, you can always ask for a Mickey Ice Cream bar, whether it’s on the menu or not. We won a brunch to Palo’s restaurant and it was I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E. Y’all were salivating over the instagram stories I shared of all the food. The kids hung out in the kid’s club and Avery went to the nursery for 2 hours. It was so sweet to have that alone time to catch up on what we were loving about the vacation.

CHARACTER MEET-UPS– We used our Navigator (downloaded the app) to map out where and when our favorite character’s would be. All of kid’s favorite Disney people were everywhere! That was such a treat and is exclusive to the Disney Cruise Line, obvi.

PIRATE NIGHT– Bring pirate outfits (black pants, white shirts, red bandanas) for the Pirate Night dinner! There’s a special Pirate event that evening with it’s own Fireworks show at sea.

SHOWS– The evening shows were another highlight for the kids and I! My favorite show was Beauty & The Beast. It’s won awards for being incredible and it even made me teary-eyed. On 1 of the nights, Ethan & Charlotte wanted to stay in the Kid’s Club during an evening show, so we took Savannah and Avery while the twins played in the club. On a cruise, the options are endless and everyone can have fun All The Time! Keeping kiddos happy is the main goal while on vacation.

ROOM SERVICE– It’s free! We always keep cash nearby to tip the deliverers. At night, I always order a few things for breakfast the next morning and slip them into the kid’s room. As soon as they wake up, they can snack on the fruit, juice, etc.. while they watch free on-demand Disney movies in bed! This lets Aaron, Avery, and I sleep in! On our last morning, we made it to breakfast at 6:30am and were able to walk off the boat by 7:30am. Super helpful for us to make our early afternoon flight! Such a magical vacation and we can’t wait to go back!

Have a question about Disney Cruises? Tell me in the comment section and I’ll reply!