Family at Castaway Cay

Family at Castaway Cay

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Staci's Trip Report

(Staci took her family of four, including two young children close in age to mine, on a 5 night Disney Dream trip in July. This is her feedback - I thought since so many of us will be doing a similar trip soon you would all enjoy the information - Thanks Staci!)

The trip was GREAT! The ship was even more than I imagined. I actually feel like we didn't get to do everything on the ship that we wanted to. We saw Cars 2 in 3D, but never ended up getting to see a live show. I think I would've liked at least another day at sea just to have more time on the boat...so maybe next time we'll have to do a 7 night cruise instead!

John and I had dinner at both Palo and Remy, and did brunch at Palo as well. The food was spectacular, as was the service. John and I were really happy we went to Remy. You can order a-la-carte...but they also have an "American" set menu and a "French" set menu...and our waiter suggested we each get one and then try a little bit of each others. So we did that and I was very happy with it! We weren't able to book brunch online for Palo...so ended up calling once we got on the ship and were able to get in...which was great because the brunch was FABULOUS!
We only went to our seated dining twice. It was just easier with the kids to go get a little meal from the cafe and take it back to the room and rest up a little bit.

Castaway Cay was beautiful. We spent most of our time on the beach. John went parasailing. The kids loved seeing all the characters there and taking their pictures with them.

We ended up at Atlantis in Nassau. We really enjoyed going through the aquariums and looking around. But Atlantis was SO HUGE and Jack was too short to do most of the slides...so we ended up going back to the ship pretty early. I think you need to spend a few days there (and Jack would need to be a little bit older) to really enjoy it. Most people said they booked a dolphin or sea lion adventure and loved it...so I would suggest something like this rather than spending the day in the park itself. Since you're going for 4 nights, I would definitely suggest staying on the boat while in Nassau. It might be easier to get on the Aquaduck during this time...most of the time there was a line about 30 minutes long!

We really spent the majority of our time at the pools on the ship. Jack and Kendall could move back and forth from the pools to the Mickey slide...and then they'd watch the big screen TV...they both loved it. Kendall was scared to try the Aquaduck...but we couldn't get Jack off of it!! At one point, when most people went to dinner...Jack and John rode it 12 times in a row.

The Oceaneer's Club and Lab were awesome, although the kids moaned and groaned a little bit each time we took them. I think if they had had friends to go in with them, it would've been better. And they just always wanted to be at the pools. John and I were able to get them in there for a while one afternoon while we went to the adult pool, and we enjoyed that.

The kids would both tell you that their favorite part was the Pirate Party...and I think it might be mine too. The shows and the fireworks were awesome. There were so many people that were dressed up...it was just a lot of fun for all of us. The pirate party was split into 2 shows. The first was the Captain Hook show with Mickey, Minnie, etc. There was a pirate that repelled down during this show...and that was fun. Then there was a break and then the Pirates of the Caribbean show with Jack Sparrow. This was phenomenal! We happened to be standing next to a small stage that a dancer stood on in the crowd...so the kids thought that was great. They leave hankerchiefs in your room that morning to put on your head. And the store sells everything from eye patches/fake earrings/play swords for the party to full-on pirate costumes. I'm attaching a picture of Jack and Kendall with Jack Sparrow. Keep in mind...this is NOT the Disney Jack Sparrow...just someone who dressed up. He was GREAT!

So, it was just a wonderful trip. Since this was our first cruise, I think we might be a little bit spoiled now. I think we will definitely look into doing another Disney cruise out of Galveston in a few years. Thanks for all of your help...it made things go much more smoothly!

I know you'll enjoy your trip as much as we did!

Staci

No comments:

Post a Comment