You might recall the adorable Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winner contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
R & M Climate Control Service Experts sent the family on a Disney Cruise and provided airfare for four. Rebecca and Bradley (Mom and Dad) 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 even begin to tell you how much fun we had and how truly unbelievable the whole experience was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a vacation we could have never done on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall family was nice enough to send us their itinerary and some snapshots from their amazing trip. If you want to a Disney Cruise, or just want to find out what it’s all about, keeping reading for the highlights from the Hall’s cruise.
Monday
We were on the ship for a couple days (Saturday and Sunday) and then docked in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We booked a Catamaran and went out with 4 other families for several hours. It was my kids’ first time snorkeling and they were in heaven. We spotted turtles and stingrays – it was probably the coolest experience of the entire trip!
Tuesday
We went from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we were able to snorkel some more, went swimming, and bummed around on the beach. The water was really that turquoise blue that they show on TV – truly beautiful.
Thursday
We were on the ship all day Wednesday and then ported at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Private Island. The water was so blue and had amazing visibility below, so of course we had to do more snorkeling! They placed a bunch of Mickey Mouses you could hunt for underwater, which helped make up for the fact there weren’t as many fish. They also have an 18 and older beach which we enjoyed while the kids played games. They had people everywhere to keep an eye on the kids so we (Rebecca and Bradley) laid out and enjoyed a daiquiri. It’s like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
It gives me goosebumps reminiscing about everything on the boat – it was all so fun and unforgettable! The cruise has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you select the mystery you want to solve and Disney gives you a card so you can record all your clues. When you put the card up to a painting, it springs to life – it speaks to you, tells you about the mystery you are solving, and gives you signals and directions. One mystery took us two hours because we were chasing clues all over the ship.
They are constantly showing first-run movies out around the pool so we got to enjoy 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 above the boat!
We went Goofy Golfing and Disney Cruises also have games like foosball, basketball, and a Tween Club called Edge with events like scavenger hunts and more.
It’s very easy to meet characters on the boat – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We met about two per day, and one day we got five in a row! They also have several versions of the characters, like Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The room was awesome! Ours included an ocean view room with a large porthole and window seat. The room was a really great 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 change on the ceiling throughout your meal and Royal Court was extremely elegant and made me think of Cinderella. The meals are very gourmet and they have a good variety. My oldest tried everything, even the escargot at the Royal Court. (He told us it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they give you markers on your table so you can illustrate a figure. They give you a tutorial on how to draw a figure, then they pick up the drawings and at the end of your meal, they animate your drawings on the wall. You have no warning! They choreograph them to music and put them in Disney films. Our daughter is our artist so she worked really hard on hers and was thrilled – the rest of us weren’t quite as polished
“Our family can’t thank Service Experts enough for this unbelievable opportunity,” Rebecca said after they returned home. “I get emotional when I think about the experience as a whole. Entering a contest I never thought would go anywhere, finding out we were a finalist, the stressful voting phase, the big reveal, reading about and picking which cruise, the anticipation of going and finally experiencing a sensational adventure. It was such a wonderful time living it all. Thank you, thank you!”
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