You might recall the cute Hall family who were the winners of our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
Comfort Masters Service Experts sent the Halls on a Disney Cruise and paid for airfare for four. Rebecca and Bradley (Mom and Dad) took their two oldest youngsters, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise during mid-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 truly incredible the whole experience was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a trip we could have never made happen on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall family was kind enough to send over their itinerary and some snapshots from their awesome trip. If you want to a Disney Cruise, or just looking to see what it’s all about, read on to see the highlights from the Hall’s trip.
Monday
We sailed for a couple days (Saturday and Sunday) and then landed in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We had reservations for a Catamaran and went out with a few other families all day. It was my son and daughter’s first time snorkeling and they had a blast. We saw turtles and stingrays – it was quite possibly the best experience of the whole trip!
Tuesday
We sailed from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we were able to snorkel some more, got to swim, and hung out on the beach. The water was truly that turquoise blue you always see in pictures – 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 amazing visibility underneath, so of course - more snorkeling! They hid Mickey Mouses you could find underwater, which helped make up for the fact there weren’t as many fish. They also had an 18+ beach which we enjoyed while Korbin and Brooke played games. Castaway Cay had people everywhere to keep an eye on the kids so we (Mom and Dad) hung out and drank a daiquiri. It was just like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
It gives me goosebumps remembering everything on the ship – everything was so much fun and extraordinary! They have a “Midship Detective Agency” where you pick the mystery you want to solve and the cruise gives you a card so you can record all your clues. When you place the card up to a painting, the painting comes to life – it talks to you, tells you about the mystery you are working to solve, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery lasted two hours because we were running all over the cruise ship.
They are continually showing first-run movies out around the pool so we got to watch Jungle Book. We also got to experience the Aqua Duct, which is a huge slide that takes you up and down and swings you out over the boat!
We went Goofy Golfing and Disney Cruises also have other games and a Tween Club called Edge with activities like scavenger hunts, get to you know you games, and more.
It’s very easy to see characters on the boat – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We saw about two per day, and one day we met five in a row! They also have different versions of the characters, such as Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The stateroom was amazing! Ours came with an ocean view room with a HUGE porthole and window seat. The stateroom was a really good size and all four of us were comfortable and never felt smothered.
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 during your meal and Royal Court was very elegant and put me in mind of Cinderella. The meals are very gourmet and they have an awesome selection. My son tried everything, even escargot at the Royal Court. (He told us it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they put markers on your table so you can draw a figure. They give you directions on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the end of your dinner, they animate your drawings on big screens. You have no warning! They choreograph them to music and place them in Disney films. Our daughter is our artist so she did really well with hers and was ecstatic – the rest of us weren’t quite as accomplished
“Our family cannot thank Service Experts enough for this unbelievable vacation,” Rebecca wrote after they returned from their cruise. “I tear up when I think about the experience as a whole. Submitting our picture to a contest I never thought would go anywhere, finding out we were a finalist, the nail-biting voting stage, the big win, researching and selecting which cruise, the excitement of going and finally experiencing an incredible adventure. It was such a fun time living it all. We are forever grateful!”
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