You might recall the charming Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year by submitting a picture of their creative snowman. Check it out!
Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning sent the family on a Disney Cruise and provided airfare for four. Bradley and Rebecca took their two oldest youngsters, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise in July this year. This was Korbin and Brooke’s first cruise and Rebecca and Bradley had not been on a cruise in nearly 10 years.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much fun we had and how absolutely magnificent everything was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a getaway we could have never taken on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Halls were sweet enough to give us their itinerary and some photos from their amazing trip. If you’re interested in taking a Disney Cruise, or just curious what it’s all about, read on to see the highlights from the Hall’s cruise.
Monday
We were on the water 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 the day. It was my kids’ first time snorkeling and they had a blast. We got to see turtles and stingrays – it was probably the best experience of the whole cruise!
Tuesday
We went from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we were able to snorkel some more, swam, and bummed around on the beach. The water was really that turquoise blue that they show on TV – truly picture perfect.
Thursday
We were on the ship all day Wednesday and then ported at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Cruise Line Guest-Only Island. The water was very blue and had clear visibility underneath, so of course that meant more snorkeling! They had hidden Mickey Mouses you could hunt for underwater, which made up for not having as many fish. They also had an adults-only beach which we lounged around on while our children played basketball, pool, and shuffleboard. The island had people everywhere to keep an eye on the kids so we (Bradley and Rebecca) hung out and had a daiquiri. It was basically a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
I (Rebecca) get goosebumps reminiscing about everything on the ship – everything was so much fun and unforgettable! The cruise has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you pick the mystery you want to solve and the cruise gives you a card so you can write down all your clues. When you put 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 clues and directions. One mystery lasted two hours because we were running all over the boat.
They are constantly showing first-run movies out around the pool so we got to see Alice Through the Looking Glass, Jungle Book, and Big Friendly Giant. We also got to go on the Aqua Duct, which is a big slide that zooms you up and down and swings you out across the boat!
We went Goofy Golfing and Disney Cruises also have games like basketball, fooseball, and a Tween Club called Edge with events like scavenger hunts, ice breakers, and more.
It’s so easy to see characters on the boat – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus a half-hour or more at Disneyland. We saw about two per day, and one day we hit five in a row! They also have multiple versions of the characters, such as Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The actual room was incredible! Ours included an ocean view room with a
really big porthole and window seat. The stateroom was a really good size and all four of us were cozy and never felt smushed.
Dining
You alternate 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 made me think of Cinderella. The meals are very gourmet and they have a great selection. Korbin tried everything, even the escargot at the Royal Court. (He said it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they put markers on your table so you can sketch a figure. They provide instructions on how to draw a figure, then they take the drawings and at the end of your meal, they animate your drawings on these screens on the wall. It’s completely unexpected! They arrange them to music and place them in Disney clips. My daughter is our artist so she did really well with hers and was ecstatic – the rest of us weren’t quite as proud
“We can't thank Service Experts enough for this unbelievable experience,” Rebecca told us after they returned from their cruise. “I get emotional when I think about it all. Submitting an entry I never thought would go anywhere, learning we were a finalist, the anxious voting phase, the big announcement, researching and selecting which cruise, the anticipation of going and finally experiencing an unbelievable vacation. It was such an amazing time living it all. Thank you, thank you!”
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