You might remember the adorable Hall family who were the winners of our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
Service Experts sent the Halls on a Disney Cruise and paid for airfare for four. Rebecca and Bradley (Mom and Dad) took their two oldest children, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise earlier this summer. This was the first cruise for Korbin and Brooke and the first in about 10 years for Rebecca and Bradley.
“I cannot begin to describe all the fun we had and how seriously amazing the whole thing was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a vacation we could have never taken on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Halls were nice enough to show us their itinerary and some pictures from their awesome trip. If you’re thinking about going on a Disney Cruise, or just want to find out what it’s all about, keeping reading for the highlights from the Hall’s experience.
Monday
We were on the water for 2 days (Saturday and Sunday) and then landed in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We booked a Catamaran and went out with a few other families for several hours. It was my children’s first time snorkeling and they loved it. We saw turtles and stingrays – it was quite possibly the most fun experience of the entire trip!
Tuesday
We traveled from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we were able to snorkel some more, got to swim, and bummed around on the beach. The water was really that turquoise blue that they show on TV – truly perfect.
Thursday
We were on the ship all day Wednesday and then docked at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Private Island. The water was incredibly blue and had clear visibility below, so of course we had to do more snorkeling! They hid Mickey Mouses you could hunt for underwater, which was nice because there weren’t as many fish. They also have an 18 and older beach which we enjoyed while Korbin and Brooke played with other kids. They had employees everywhere to keep an eye on the kids so we (Mom and Dad) hung out and had a daiquiri. It was basically a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
I (Rebecca) get goosebumps reminiscing about everything on the cruise ship – everything was all so fun and amazing! They have a “Midship Detective Agency” where you choose the mystery you want to solve and the cruise gives you a card so you can record all your clues. When you place the card up to a painting, it actually springs to life – it talks to the group, tells you about the mystery you are solving, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery lasted two hours because we were going all over the cruise ship.
They are continually showing first-run movies out around the pool so we got to watch Jungle Book. We also got to ride the Aqua Duct, which is a big slide that takes you up and down and swings you out across the boat!
We went Goofy Golfing and they also have other games and a Tween Club called Edge with things like scavenger hunts and more.
It’s very easy to meet characters on the boat – you only have to wait a couple minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We saw about two a day, and one day we got five in a row! They also have different versions of the characters, such as Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The room was incredible! Ours included an ocean view room with a large porthole and window seat. Our stateroom was a perfect size and all four of us were comfortable and never felt squished.
Dining
You go between three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has awesome flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the ceiling changes colors while you eat and Royal Court was extremely elegant and put me in mind of Cinderella. The meals are very gourmet and they have an awesome medley. My son tried everything, including escargot at the Royal Court. (He told us it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they give you markers on your table so you can sketch a figure. They give you directions on how to draw a figure, then they take the drawings and at the end of your dinner, they animate your drawings on these screens on the wall. You have no warning! They put them to music and put them in Disney films. Our daughter is our artist so she put a lot of effort into hers and was ecstatic – the rest of us weren’t quite as accomplished
“We can't thank Service Experts enough for this once in a lifetime trip,” Rebecca wrote after they returned home. “I tear up when I think about it all. Submitting an entry I never thought would go anywhere, finding out we were a finalist, the nail-biting voting round, the big win, researching and picking which cruise, the excitement of going and finally experiencing an unbelievable adventure. It was such an amazing time living it all. We are so grateful!”
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