We’ve frequented Disney Planet in Florida additional moments than I can rely. Just after so lots of many years of driving to Florida and browsing each individual concept park in Orlando, it was time for a alter. Our bags and passports have been ready to journey overseas.
We realized we desired to go on cruise and we realized we required it to be on a Disney ship. Just after years of wonderful Disney experiences we felt loyalty to the brand and snug with their stage of loved ones amusement. We commenced our exploration on the internet and started out laying out our program. The initial queries we answered were being “In which and when are we likely?”. Traveling with my my wife and two daughters, we desired to make sure we experienced as much obtainable with no spending a small fortune. We decided on a 4 night Bahamian voyage from Cape Canaveral, Florida to the Bahamas. We made the decision to sail the next 7 days of January to help save on Disney’s off-season charges. The itinerary incorporated a quit at Nassau, Castaway Cay (Disney’s personal island in the Bahamas) and a full day at sea.
We drove from New York to Jacksonville on Saturday, Jan. 19th 2013. This 14 hour travel has develop into a yearly ritual for us, so it was just an common incidence. We departed Jacksonville at 9:00am the pursuing morning in order to arrive at Cape Canaveral in time for our 1:30pm boarding hour. Cape Canaveral is amazingly straightforward to get to from I-95. We followed the signals to terminal B and in advance of 1:00pm, we have been now dropping off our baggage and parking our vehicles.
Disney’s terminal at Cape Canaveral offers on-website parking at $15 for each night costs. Bigger prices use for premium parking. I’ve read through lots of evaluations of families preserving about $30 by parking off-web-site at personal parking heaps or lodges. While this may appear like a bargain, I propose parking at the terminal just for the ease. The parking ton is right related to the terminal through catwalk. This would make disembarking a breeze, as well. At the time you round up your luggage, all you do is wander throughout the street and get in your car. No want to wait around for any even more transportation or taxi’s.
Check out-in at the terminal was amazingly speedy and straightforward. Be absolutely sure all occupants of your stateroom are together. You will require to indication some paperwork and consider a photo that will be utilized for identification when boarding or disembarking. The entire check-in system, a handful of images, and waiting around for our boarding selection to be identified as took approximately twenty minutes. As soon as we walked into the gangway, we took some far more pictures, then entered the ships atrium.
The Disney Dream’s atrium is a big, rectangular, three-stage gathering area adorned with an artwork-deco glass chandelier, marble steps, a grand piano, and a statue of Admiral Donald Duck. When onboard, we rarely had a opportunity to acquire in the sights right before we presented two eating choices: option 1 would send out us to deck 11 aft for a buffet lunch at Cabanas though alternative 2 led us down just one stage to the Enchanted Backyard garden lunch buffet. We selected the Enchanted Backyard. The buffet available a lot of seafood choices like shrimp and crab legs as perfectly as a carving station, chilly cuts, veggies, salad, and grilled lamb chops.
Immediately right after lunch, we headed to our stateroom. Our family members had picked a class 4A relatives verandah room on degree 9. The moment we entered the room, the very first issue we did was determine out the lights. We experienced to insert a space critical at all periods in get to flip the electrical power on in the area. Once we figured that out, we explored the balcony. The moment we pulled the curtain and opened the sliding glass doorway, we knew this was the location we’d commit most of cabin time. The balcony extra approximately 30 square toes of outdoor authentic estate. The glass wall offered unobstructed views of ocean when sitting down or standing. The balcony experienced two chairs and a smaller espresso desk that served as our breakfast table just about every morning.
At the time we have been acquainted with the home, it was time to head to our station for the mandatory drill. Once the drill was more than, we headed to the pool deck for the sail away celebration. The young children liked the dancing Disney characters and the streamers traveling just about everywhere. Definitely a good time if you have youngsters. Shortly after the get together started, the ship pulled absent from the terminal, sailed gradually down the jetty and into open ocean. We watched our 1st sunset from the deck 12 athletics space. Our cruise was last but not least underway!
That evening we dined at Animator’s Palate. The Disney Cruise Line delivers a rotational eating assignment which guarantees at least a person meal will be served at each individual of their a few major dining places. Animator’s Palate is an homage to the artwork of Disney. It also options huge screens depicting figures from Pixar’s Acquiring Nemo. Our table was directly upcoming to just one of the screens. Ahead of we knew it, we had been staying interviewed by Crush, the sea turtle. The ladies truly bought a giggle when Crush identified as my eyeglasses “sea goggles”. Our evening ended with chocolates and folded towel swan ready for us in our place. It was a good way to complete off a pretty active working day.
We woke up the next morning at 8am being aware of that space support will soon supply our early morning buy of the working day. The espresso, donuts, cookies, warm tea, juice and milk had been delivered appropriate on time! We poured our beverages, grabbed our snack and headed right for the balcony. The moment outside the house, in the horizon, we could see some pilot boats approaching and land mass rising driving them. We were slowly but surely approaching Nassau. Once we pulled into Prince Georges Wharf, the ship performed a 180 degree change in the basin and backed into the port. Directly opposite of our ship was the Royal Caribbean Attract of the Seas (an Oasis-class ship – the largest passenger cruise ship in the planet). Instantly powering this mammoth ship we could see the towers of Atlantis.
Atlantis is located on Paradise Island just north of Nassau. This resort island would be our desired destination for the working day. We booked a tour of the Atlantis Vacation resort by the cruise line. The $59 excursion granted us transportation to and from the terminal, a guided tour of the resort, and total access to the aquarium and the predators lagoon. We collected on the ship at D-Lounge to get our wrist bands, hand in our launch sorts and hold out to be escorted to the buses. At the time 11am rolled around, our excursion group disembarked the ship and walked about 5 minutes to the bus. The bus, which seated 20 travellers, was completely cleanse, air-conditioned, and suitable working buy. The bus driver also served as our tour tutorial of downtown Nassau. The travel took us through the federal government district as effectively as popular accommodations and landmarks.
At the time we attained Atlantis, we were being greeted by our hotel tour tutorial. He to start with walked us by the merchants and manner boutiques in the resorts foyer. It can be quite reminiscent of a Las Vegas-design and style hotel. We then walked across the resort casino and major lobby. The tour then proceeded to the underground ruins place known as “The Dig”. It can be suppose to mimic an archeological dig of Atlantis’ ruins. The primary attraction here is the giant aquarium loaded with tropical fish and large manta rays. Later on we toured the primary pool grounds of the resort which supplied fantastic views of the popular resort towers. A little bit more going for walks led us to the Predators Lagoon. Below you will stroll by way of an underwater tube surrounded by sand sharks, sting rays, barracuda, and vibrant tropical fish. After the tour finished, we ended up free of charge to discover any of the grounds we experienced earlier frequented such as the on line casino. About 4pm, we boarded our bus and headed back to downtown Nassau.
Downtown Nassau is entire of memento stores, retail, and jewellery suppliers catering to the cruising tourists. The spot is quite well known and can appear to be pretty crowded at periods. Despite the group, we constantly felt risk-free walking all-around and would like we experienced a lot more time to examine the spot. We did handle to halt by the local Tortuga Rum retail outlet for some fantastic rum cake!
As soon as we headed back again to the terminal, we walked instantly to the immigration business office for a passport stamp. The attendant stamped all our passports in no time and with no inquiries questioned. Later on, we went by way of the stability verify-in and boarded the ship.
Our second evening showcased a dinner at the Enchanted Garden. The a la carte menu featured seafood alternatives but also rooster and pork entree’s. If you might be a picky eater you can often get from the youngsters menu which incorporates more acquainted choices this sort of as burgers, sizzling canine, pizza, pasta, and chicken fingers. Every single meal also involves an appetizer and dessert. Our night ended after once more with sweets and a folded towel pet wishing us a great evening.
The third working day began with a knock on our door as place assistance was getting delivered Our morning coffee and tea led us as soon as all over again to the balcony and attractive check out of Castaway Cay! The parasailing and glass-base boats were being sailing by as we walked out. We could also see the personnel on the shore prepping the jet-ski and boat rental locations. The line of cabanas and colorful buildings served as a backdrop to the glowing blue waters of the Cay. We only had a single thing in head: let us hit the beach!
At the time we remaining the ship we have been greeted by Lilo and Sew posing for shots. We also took some pictures of the Desire right before boarding the tram automobile to the seaside. When we arrived at the seaside we picked up 3 floating tubes, transformed into our bathing suits, and hit the h2o. The beach front was beautiful and offered image-best views of the Disney Aspiration. This was mid-January so the h2o was about 70 degrees. It wasn’t great swimming temperatures but the solar was very hot enough to continue to keep us warm.
All around 1pm we determined to eat at the nearby cafe, Cookies II, an out of doors grill-model eatery. Cookies II served up burgers, warm dogs, ribs, hen, as nicely as a variety of salads and sides. Infinite drinks and an ice cream are also available. Eating at these dining places is integrated in the rate of the cruise so no excess revenue is demanded on the island. If you would like to hire any beach front gear at the time there, you merely swipe your room crucial and the charge will added to your room.
Immediately after lunch, we made the decision this was ideal time to head back again to the ship and strike the Aqua-Duck experience. We boarded in a flash and headed straight to deck 12. There was a incredibly shorter waiting line for the ride, substantially shorter than we had noticed beforehand. We rode the Aqua-Duck many times right before ultimately heading again to our stateroom. When we did get there at our room we experienced pirate bandana’s waiting around for us on our bed. It was pirate night!
Our third meal was at the Royal Palace. It was also pirate night on the Disney Dream. The complete employees is dressed in the pirate garb and a surprisingly large amount of money of visitors wore whole pirate costumes! The menu also showcased a pirate concept with selections these kinds of as Jolly Roger’s salad, and Jack Sparrow braised quick ribs. The evenings festivities also included the “Pirates IN the Caribbean” reside-motion exhibit followed by the “Buccaneer’s Blast” fireworks! At the time, the Disney Desire was the only vessel that includes fireworks at sea. They have been a serious address! We we retreated to our stateroom we were being greeted by a folded towel monkey hanging from the ceiling and a handful of chocolates spread out on the bed.
Our fourth working day was a total day at sea. With no established strategies in mind, we understood this would be our only opportunity to rest in late. We also realized this would be our only possibility to examine the ship. We had our area assistance shipped at 9am this morning. We invested a great amount of time just relaxing and savoring the watch from our verandah. We then headed out on our ship exploration campaign. Our to start with halt on the ship was the outside promenade on level 4. After walking around the promenade, we headed indoors to the shutters image studio. Immediately after a speedy evaluation of the relatives pictures, we made a decision to obtain the DVD package deal which consists of each and every printed 8×10 along with a electronic duplicate for foreseeable future printings.
We then headed to degree 3 forward to stop by the retail merchants. Listed here we picked up all our souvenirs which includes Disney Cruise sweatshirts, shot eyeglasses, and resin designs of the ship. We then decided to stroll the three amounts of the atrium the place we encountered a picture-op with none other than Captain Mickey Mouse himself! Quickly afterwards, we headed to the Walt Disney Theater to see the musical demonstrate “Imagine”. “Consider” is a tale of father who’s so fast paced with his do the job to understand the real essential things in life are not items, it truly is people. The show is will have to-see for all family members and I remarkably suggest it.
Additional exploration of the ship took us all over the numerous lounges and golf equipment in decks 4 and 5. We then headed to deck 11 aft for lunch at Cabanas buffet. Right after lunch we trekked throughout the 11th and 12th decks exploring the pool locations, sunbathing lounges and sports sophisticated. Viewing all the entertaining experienced us dashing back again to our staterooms and switching into our bathing fits for a couple much more rides on Aqua-Duck. My wife also experienced time to consider in a number of rounds of Bingo even though we put in our time outdoor.
Our previous evening meal on the Disney Desire was when again at the Royal Palace. The menu highlighted a French concept with appetizers like French Onion soup, and crème brulee desserts. Entrees integrated beef tenderloin, baked salmon, organic chicken breast, and other people. Our last night also featured a folded towel rabbit, some a lot more sweets and a shopper satisfaction survey. They’re going to also give you a brochure for scheduling upcoming sailings which consists of an onboard lower price of 10%. Immediately after evening meal, we packed our bags and put them exterior our doorway for decide-up. It was our remaining evening on the Disney Aspiration and our remaining perspective of the starry sky from our balcony. Our Desire getaway was coming to an end and considerably sooner than we’d like.
Our last morning on the Disney Desire provided a sit-down breakfast at the Royal Palace. It was the final possibility to exchange pleasantries and very well-needs with our eating employees. Our waiters, which had been with us throughout the complete voyage, ended up cordial and very attentive. For those four evenings and remaining early morning, they had been component of the family members. It is really all element of the Disney attraction that retains every person exclaiming how great Disney locations can be.
Immediately after our breakfast, it was time to disembark. It was bitter-sweet to action off the Dream and back to the neat Florida winter season weather. We rounded up our baggage, walked to the parking deck, and strike the road to New York at the time a lot more: an knowledge we hope to repeat quickly!