Disney Dream Cruise: Day 1

Well we are back from the most magical vacation ever! I highly recommend a Disney Cruise for everyone. Our family needed this time together! This was definitely a great bonding experience for us. We were on a 4 day Bahamas cruise where we docked at Nassau and Disney's own island of Castaway Cay! I took lots of lots of pictures (with my phone because I am a terrible blogger and forgot the memory card for my DSLR) and have decided that this vacation will be recapped in a series of posts. 

Warning: Lots and lots of photos!!

We will start with everyone's favorite crew member: Mickey Mouse!!

Friday morning we packed our car with our luggage, fish extender gifts and all the kids tablets and 3DS. It's a 3.5 hour drive up to Port Canaveral where we were to board our cruise. 

I want to say a BIG thank you to Allison from Three Threads for the kids shirts! They were a big hit!

Our first view of the ship. We all got a little teary-eyed!

As soon as you walk into the port, you stand in a long line (that moves so fast!) to check in. With a sold out cruise (about 4000 people) I thought it would take forever to check in but nope, it was about 20 minutes. Elizabeth below was amazing with the kids. She answered all their boarding questions in the friendly manner known by Disney staff. 

Then it was a picture with the ship. Since JC makes 3-D models at work, he needed to study this model. It is breathtaking!

And then the man of the hour! JC has never been to Disney so this was a BIG moment for him! I love how the kids posed like Mickey. 

This picture is everything!

We boarded the ship to "Welcome to the Arias-Calero family!!" and then ran into our pal Goofy.

Another framer!

We were starving and made a beeline to the Enchanted Garden for lunch.

Then we went to check out our room! 

I made sure to pack all of our door magnets and the fish extender in our day bag so I was able to decorate our door right away!

I came back in the room to this:

We had the late dinner seating (5:45pm dinner is WAY TOO EARLY for us!) and these dinner tickets were waiting for us in our room. On the tickets were our table # and our dining schedule for the three nights.

Then it was time to explore the ship! 

and get a drink: Mango Mojito please!!

I feel in love with this chandelier as soon as I boarded the ship. Everytime I walked by it, I would stop and stare at it's glory for a couple minutes!

The kids had already changed into their swimsuits and were ready to ride the Aquaduck. I, of course, stopped and asked for a picture. Terrible mother, I tell ya!

Sail away party!

I managed to get Amberly and JC passing by me in the Aquaduck. I missed Adrian and Gian that rode before them. They rode the Aquaduck at least 5 times on the first day. 

These brats! 

Someone at Amberly's school told her that there was a mystery you can solve while you cruise and she drove me insane until we found it: The Midship Detective Agency.  This is such a fun activity for the kids to do. You register on the computer, get a badge and clue sheet and then explore the ship finding clues in the interactive picture frames. 

Someone found the ice cream station. Honestly, there wasn't a time that one of my kids came near me that they didn't have an ice cream cone in hand. On Saturday, Amberly had 6 back to back!

We had our first gifts when we got back to our cabin!!

We showered, changed and headed down to Deck 2 for dinner. During this time, the crew comes out, all dressed in the sailing finest to meet the guests. 

All over the ship, little girls were rocking their princess costumes! Amberly wore her Rapunzel dress since I knew that at 7pm, a special person was coming out to meet her! She was so surprised and so thrilled! It was a dream come true for her!

Waiting in line for Rapunzel!

Amberly and JC had so many daddy-daughter moments. Anytime she could, her hand was in his. 

When we got back to our room, we were so surprised to see our towel swan and the magical appearance of our beds. The sofa turned into a bed, there was a murphy bed and the top bunk bed came down from the ceiling! Truly magical and perfect room for 5. Our room also had a balcony but I forgot to take pics of it. Sorry! :(

A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep....

Day 1 was full of fun!!! We all passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillows.