Family Vacation Part I - Disney Cruise

my mom has been wanting to take our entire family on a big vacation for a while now, so as her retirement approaches she decided to treat the whole family to a disney vacation, starting with a 3 day disney cruise in the bahamas, followed by 5 days in walt disney world!!!

we left late christmas night, excited to start our vacation



btw, no family pre-boarding, delta? weak!

the boys ready with their matching luggage. these things got a lot of attention everywhere we went, when you push the blue button r2 talks and his red led blinks.



this was my first cruise, i was never too sure how much i would enjoy being trapped on a boat. this cruise was a short one though... 3 days, 2 of which we spent docked in the islands of the bahamas. alright, lets get aboard this ship... the disney dream!

first family photo as we boarded





the dreams beautiful center lobby







kiddies excited to be on vacation!







everything from getting on/off the ship, entering your room, and making purchases is accessed with your disney "key to the world" card. no cash or credit cards are used while on the ship, everything is done with your key to the world card. very convenient, and very easy to spend a lot of money!



our stateroom with ocean view!







awesome sunrise view from our room







the boats deck had plenty of pools, splash zones, and water slides





welcome party our first night on the ship



there were tons of activities on the ship, but some of the coolest were the live musicals that you can only see on disney cruises, which were held in the main theater



besides the pools and shows, there were tons of other activities on the boat such as basketball, an arcade, arts and crafts, and a kids club that my nephew nolan loved, but aiden wouldnt let us leave him in there. unfortunately we didnt get to take advantage of all the ship had to offer since we spend the majority of our time docked on the islands. first stop was nassau, the capital of the bahamas













there wasnt a ton to do in nassau, mainly shopping. we didnt spend much time there since we booked an excursion to atlantis, which was about a 30min shuttle ride away









the beach at atlantis, where we spent most of our time. slightly annoying with all of the dudes bugging you to rent their jet skis, buy toys, or get you a $20 umbrella. we just wanna chill dude! kinda gave the place a seedy vibe, but once we made our way past them to the beach we were able to relax.



anyone know who these kids belong to?



cool aquarium in the hotel





the next day we spent on castaway cay, disneys private island. as you can imagine, being disney owned and run entirely by disney staff, it had a much different feel than nassau and atlantis. it was basically an extension of the ship, with friendly staff, great food, and very clean and well kept. your key to the world card was also used on castaway cay too which was nice.













fed the stingrays



our first time parasailing, so fun!









protip: (disclaimer, i love and trust my wife completely!) but......... for anyone with a gopro, whenever i let nanci use it on stuff like this, i switch out my memory card full of footage with a fresh blank memory card. if she drops it in the ocean, i can easily replace the camera... but not the footage on my memory card!

that was basically how we spent our days of the cruise. explored the islands during the day, and about 5pm we got back on the ship to play in the pools, watch shows, and eat.

speaking of eating... disney does not mess around! all of the food was excellent... in particular the dinners. ive been to plenty of all you can eat buffets, but the restaurants on the ship were sit down, plated meals... but you can basically order as much of anything you want on the menu and it was all GOOD! heres a look at one of our dinners at the enchanted garden...





sorry for the weird light in these photos...

appetizers, pretty much tried them all... ahi tuna and avocado tower, lobster ravioli, and thyme/garlic brioche







couldnt decide if i wanted pan seared sea bass, prime rib, or caramelized scallops for my entree... so i just got all 3







these 3 desserts paired nicely with my 3 entrees







we had the same servers every night, and they were awesome! the girl even sat down and cut nancis food for her when ava was acting up!



a few group shots the night of our formal dinner





one last shot as we get ready to leave the ship



all in all, everyone loved this cruise and i would highly recommend it to anyone with kids. the cruise offers tons of top notch entertainment, awesome food, and staff that literally bends over backwards to make sure you are enjoying your stay. i will say that 3 days was too short for a cruise that docked for 2 days. everything was very rushed, and we had to put a lot of effort to squeeze in all of the things we wanted to do in such a short time, and i still feel like we missed out on a lot. we got on the ship friday afternoon, saturday we spent docked at nassau, sunday we spent docked at castaway cay, and monday morning we disembarked. it would have been nice to have one full day at sea to relax and take advantage of more of the activities on the ship. but thats ok theres always next time!

ill also add that if youre a young adult looking to "party", this is probably not a good cruise for you. they do have an after hours 21+ club, but from what we heard they are usually pretty empty. everyone is too burned out from the daytime activities to go out at night... plus most people have kids they need to stay with after hours.

hopefully ill get to part II soon, walt disney world!