The Weltes at Disney: Cruise Planning

Our family is heading back to Disney..... on a Disney Cruise!!!!

The last time, we headed to Disney, I shared several posts about our planning process, and I thought I'd share a little pre-cruise & planning post before our trip, and then I'll share each day starting tomorrow!

Around the end of August, I got an itching for our family to head on a Spring Break Vacation!... and then we thought it would be fun to go on a Disney cruise. So, I got DJ on board, and then called my sister in law and mom, and got them on board too! We decided that we needed a big family cruise vacation! 

 So, I got on the Disney website myself, and thought I could maybe handle everything, and then quickly discovered that I wasn't finding the rooms we needed, we couldn't get rooms near each other, and I felt stuck. In fact, the ship was mostly booked, even 7 months out for our trip. So, I turned to Jennifer Lowery (Small World Big Fun) because she had effortless planned our first Disney trip. 

We discovered that because we were a family of 5, we would need to stay in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with a Veranda. (Gah, say that three times fast). Disney Cruise also has family staterooms without a veranda, but we decided that the extra outside space would be nice to have. In our room, we will have a queen size bed, (with storage underneath), a sofa that converts in to a bed, a bed that pulls down from the ceiling (making bunk beds with the sofa), and a Murphy bed! We will also have 1 1/2 bathrooms. One of the bathrooms has a tub/shower (which was so nice for the girls), and the other 1/2 bath has a sink and toilet. Which will give us plenty of room!

So, we decided to take a 5 day, 4 night cruise. Our cruise will take us to Nassau, Bahamas and Disney's Island, Castaway Cay. We will also have one day at sea.

Because we arrived the day before we were scheduled to leave Port, we had to rent a van to take us to the port. Thankfully, Jennifer was able to do this for us! The van was extremely clean, the driver was professional and helpful, and they even had car seats for all of the girls!

The boarding process was smooth. We arrived around 11, handed off our luggage, and went through the quick screening process. Our agent, had all of our documents ready, and we walked right in to the line and were given a group number to board. Within minutes of completing the process, we were aboard the ship and headed out for lunch. 

Disney cruises does have excursions at both ports of call. However, we've opted out of an excursion in Nassau. Because my mom had been to Nassau before, we knew there was a straw market not too far from port. So, we planned to do some shopping, and then park it on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. I know that several have done the excursion to Atlantis, but I heard that the ride to Atlantis is long, and none of us wanted to be stuck on a bus. Plus, I head that it was pretty crowded.

 At Castaway Cay, we booked an excursion for Deep Sea Fishing for DJ, my brother, and my sister in law,  but the rest of us just wanted to enjoy the beach. Just, stick me on a lounge chair in the sand, and I'm happy.

Our Disney Cruise, also has a Pirate Night! On this night, lots of people dress up, everyone gets a bandanna, the wait staff is dressed up, and there's a big deck party!

I was not aware at first, but Disney Cruise line has a Bippiti Boppiti Boutique on board! Since our girls did BBB while we were in Disney, we opted out of doing it for the cruise. In December, we toyed with the idea of going ahead and letting the girls have a night, and ya know what.... it was completely booked! I'd recommend booking BBB as soon as you book your cruise, or as soon as reservations open up.

We had one day at sea while we're on board our ship! I was looking the most forward to this day because we hadn't been able to explore the ship as much as we would have liked.  We also scheduled  reservations for the girls to meet characters early in the morning. Afterwards, we planned on on soaking up the sun, and letting the girls enjoy the kids club for a few hours!

On a Disney cruise, you rotate through the different dining rooms each night. Your wait staff also rotates through with you. I loved our waiter. He took extra time to spend with the girls and make each of them feel special. He also brought us extra desserts and made fabulous recommendations off the menu.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to share Day 1 of our trip! Hopefully, this gave you a little idea of what you'd expect if you chose to take a Disney cruise with your family! And, i'll be throwing out some tips that I picked up along the way!