You might remember the precious Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year by submitting a picture of their creative snowman. Check it out!
Golden Seal Service Experts sent the family on a Disney Cruise and paid for airfare for four. Mom and Dad (Rebecca and Bradley) took their two oldest youngsters, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise earlier this summer. Korbin and Brooke had never been on a cruise before and Rebecca and Bradley hadn’t been in about 10 years.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun we had and how absolutely unbelievable everything was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a trip we could have never made happen on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Halls were sweet enough to give us their itinerary and some snapshots from their awesome trip. If you’re interested in taking a Disney Cruise, or just curious what it’s all about, keeping reading for the highlights from the Hall’s cruise.
Monday
We sailed for a couple days (Saturday and Sunday) and then landed in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We scheduled 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 spotted turtles and stingrays – it was quite possibly the coolest experience of the whole cruise!
Tuesday
We sailed from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to snorkel even more, went swimming, and bummed around on the beach. The water was actually that turquoise blue you always see in pictures – truly perfect.
Thursday
We were on the ship all day Wednesday and then got off at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Exclusive Island. The water was very blue and had clear visibility underneath, so of course we had to do more snorkeling! They placed a bunch of Mickey Mouses you could find underwater, which made up for not having as many fish. They also had an 18 and older beach which we lounged around on while our children played games. They had employees everywhere to keep an eye on the kids so we (Rebecca and Bradley) laid out and had a daiquiri. It’s like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
It gives me goosebumps reminiscing about everything on the ship – everything was so much fun and unforgettable! They have a “Midship Detective Agency” where you pick the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can record all your clues. When you place the card up to a painting, it comes alive – it speaks to the group, tells you about the mystery you are solving, and gives you signals and directions. One mystery took us two hours because we were chasing clues all over the cruise ship.
They are always running first-run movies out near the pool so we got to watch Jungle Book. We also got to ride the Aqua Duct, which is a big slide that zooms you up and down and swings you out above the boat!
All of us went Goofy Golfing and they also have other games and a Tween Club called Edge with activities like scavenger hunts, ice breakers, and more.
It’s so easy to see characters on the cruise – you only have to wait a couple minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We met about two each day, and one day we hit five in a row! They also have several versions of the characters, like Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The stateroom was awesome! Ours included an ocean view room with a large porthole and window seat. Our stateroom was a really great size and all four of us were comfy and never felt squished.
Dining
You rotate through three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has awesome flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the colors on the ceiling change while you eat and Royal Court was really elegant and put me in mind of Cinderella. The meals are very gourmet and they have an awesome selection. Korbin tried everything, even 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 illustrate a figure. They offer directions on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the very end of dinner, they animate your drawings on big screens. It’s completely unexpected! They choreograph them to music and put them in Disney movies. Our daughter is our artist so she put a lot of effort into hers and was so excited – the rest of us weren’t quite as polished
“Our family can’t thank Service Experts enough for this once in a lifetime experience,” Rebecca said after they returned from their cruise. “I get emotional when I think about the whole experience. Submitting our picture to a contest I never thought would go anywhere, finding out we were a finalist, the nail-biting voting round, the big announcement, reading about and selecting which cruise, the excitement of going and finally experiencing a sensational vacation. It was such an amazing time living it all. We are forever grateful!”
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