What can I say? We're in our Disney Cruise Era! We've checked off all 4 original Disney cruise ships now, sailing on the Fantasy, Magic, Wonder, and Dream. We've also sailed from a different cruise port each time-this time from Port Everglades in Florida. All the ports have been great, but we especially liked that this one was just 10 minutes from the Fort Lauderdale airport. We did a back-to-back cruise on the Dream, combining a 3-night sailing with a 5-night sailing around the Bahamas. Ports included Nassau, Disney's Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay private islands.
Day 1: Embarkation
We flew in a day early and stayed at the Hyatt Centric in downtown Fort
Lauderdale. The next morning the ride to the cruise port was super short and we didn’t
have to wait very long at all to board the ship! We were on by 11:45. Stephen headed straight to the dining line to change our dinner
seating to a private table and the crew member who helped him was our
head server named Dev from our Wonder cruise last year! We also needed
to get our dining time changed and a private table for the 2nd sailing
and Dev told Stephen that he didn't need to come back to stand in line again and that he would take care of us, and he sure did! We even got a table right by a huge window in one of the dining rooms. This is just an example of the
excellent customer service on a Disney cruise. The crew really does make you feel special and valued and every time we get off one of these cruises we have the conversation that the world would just be a much better place if everyone was as nice as the Disney Cruise Line staff.
We had a delicious sit down lunch at Animators Palate. Having cruised several times now, one of our tricks is that we don't usually do the lunch buffet anymore. The sit down lunches are way more relaxed and quiet, you get to meet more of the awesome wait staff, and the food is exceptional!
On the "Welcome Aboard" lunch menu:
Grilled Salmon Salad ~ Grilled Salmon filet on tossed Iceberg, Citrus-Marinated Couscous, spinach, artichokes, tomatoes and cucumbers
Sliced Roasted Beef Sirloin ~ Roasted Beef Sirloin with a double baked potato, green beans, and a Thyme Red Wine Jus
Welcome Aboard Sundae ~ Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Pecan Caramel Cupcake Bites, Butterscotch Sauce and Whipped Cream (YUM!)
After lunch Stephen and Hannah rode the Aqua Duck water slide 4 times and Hannah swam in the pool. The Sail-A-Wave party was super fun on the Dream. Stephen enjoyed watching all the air traffic from the ship deck since we were docked so close to the airport. We were on deck 12 looking down on deck 11 where the party was and Hannah got in a dance-off with an entertainment crew member named Sam. He kept pointing up to her and dancing because she was dancing her tail off! We talked to him later on the 2nd sailing and he remembered her!
My only complaint on the Dream is that they play a different horn to start the cruise- since it's the Dream they play the melody of "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes". All the other cruises play "When You Wish Upon A Star" and it's just better.
We unpacked and Stephen went to Mickey's Mainsail as soon as it opened to get us our first round of merch. We love some Disney Cruise Line merch and my wardrobe at this point is mostly spirit jerseys and t-shirts from our cruises. The most exciting thing we finally got on this cruise was the "Scent of the Seas" Disney Cruise line diffuser and the official Animator's Palate butter knife that looks like a paint brush.
Dinner on the first night was at Royal Palace. I was very adventurous and tried duck! It was actually really good! Then we went back to the room to our first turn down service (I love turn down service) We got a lobster towel pal. The show that night was the Golden Mickey's, which is wonderful. The highlight was "Under the Sea" with Ariel suspended from the ceiling looking like she was swimming and a starfish that kept getting stuck on stuff like a real starfish would. The details in the shows are so cool!
Day 2: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point
We had a nice early breakfast at Cabana’s. Then we watched the ship dock at Lookout Cay and then we played the Midship Detective Agency game. It's an interactive game that takes you all over the cruise ship to solve a mystery. You get a map and a list of suspects and a card with a code on it that unlocks special artwork that's around the ship. When you hold the card up to the paintings they become animated and give you clues to the mystery. It's really fun and only available on the bigger ships so we haven't played it since we were on the Fantasy 2 years ago. It's also a great workout!
We got off the ship at as soon as they let us at 10am and took a blazing hot walk to the island. In order to preserve the coral reefs around the Bahamian island of Eleuthra, where Lookout Cay is is located, the ship docks over half a mile away from the island. Now, walking a half mile is normally not a huge deal for most able-bodied people, but in the scorching hot Caribbean June sun, with not a single patch of shade around, it was pretty brutal. The walk back was even worse and my advice to anyone going would be take a change of clothes and wear biker shorts to avoid chafing, and don't wear flip flops- wear socks and sneakers. I appreciate Disney taking care of the environment but why they haven't put up any kind of shade coverings over this pier is beyond me. (Or why they didn't just make it wide enough to have trams going back and forth?) With all that being said, Lookout Cay is one of the absolute most beautiful beaches I have been to and the miserable trek getting there is 100% worth it.
Thanks to watching lots of Disney Cruise vlogs, we took the advice we heard on one of them and walked as far to the right as we could when we got to the main part of the island. The island is laid out really well with lots of boardwalks and easy ways to get to the beach. Most people are exhausted after the aforementioned pier walk so they just go to the closest spot on the beach, but if you just walk a little bit further you basically have a private beach.
The sand was velvety smooth and soft and when you looked real close it was pink. It was perfect for making drip towers! Hannah and I made several drip towers and played in the clear water. The cliffs and scenery were gorgeous. Stephen ran a 5K!! There isn't an official 5K course yet, but he just made his own. They do however already have the 5K merch in the gift shop so he left with a t-shirt and ornament. He said it was one of the hardest things he's ever done, because like I said- it's so blazing hot and humid you feel like you're running on the surface of the sun!
Lunch was really good at Tru Tru BBQ. Yummy Mac 'n cheese, potato salad, ribs and rotisserie chicken and huge chocolate chip cookies. We went back to the beach and moved our chairs down to the water. It was such a fun day and we were excited to get to come back later on our 2nd sailing.
Back to the ship- we had dinner at Animator's Palate. The big news here is that Hannah tried pizza and liked it! The show at dinner is that the sea turtle Crush from Finding Nemo is animated on screens around the restaurant and is actually interactive and talks to you. He talked to Hannah this time!
After dinner we did some more shopping and then went to the Beauty and the Beast show. This is one we hadn’t seen yet as it's original to the Dream. It was outstanding. The "Be Our Guest" scene was my favorite with so many special effects like champagne bottles that popped with fireworks and streamers that shot out at the audience.
One of the new things we did on this cruise is participate in "Pixie Dusting", which is where cruise guests give each other little trinkets and gifts in bags they leave hanging outside their stateroom door. We put together 20 little sets of Stitch Croc charms and Stitch stickers to give out in honor of the live action Lilo & Stitch movie that came out just a few days before our cruise. Hannah had so much fun with it and she got some really cool stuff like a pair of Minnie Mouse sunglasses, and some handmade wooden ornaments.
We ended the night with Pirate Night and fireworks at sea!
Day 3: Nassau
Since this was the last day of the 3-day cruise we got the famous Mickey churro waffles at Cabanas! They are delicious! We got off the ship and walked around the Nassau port for a bit. It was overrun with people from way too many cruise ships that were docked that day, and just not really our scene so we headed back to the ship for a chill day on board. We pixie dusted some more people and Hannah went to a craft session and made an Inside Out globe ornament.
We had a great sit down lunch at Royal Palace and had the nicest server named Chloe Anne from the UK. Here's what we ate:
Salted Stitch ~ Coconut Cream, Pineapple, Hawaiian Salted Caramel and fresh Lemon Juice (this is our favorite drink- we discovered it on our Magic cruise.)
Mexican Tortilla Soup ~ with black beans and tortillas
Sliced Serrano Ham ~ with Manchego Cheese and Tomato Bread
Fettuccine ~ with Roasted Chicken Breast, Heirloom Tomato Sauce and Pecorino Cheese
Warm Hazelnut Chocolate Molten Cake ~ served with rich Chocolate Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream (otherwise known as Lava Cake! We figured out that on the shorter cruises they only serve this dessert at the sit-down lunch and not at dinner, so we always make sure to get it. It's one of the best desserts in our opinion!)
We went back to our stateroom and we all took a nap since we were up so late the night before for Pirate Night. Then we went to see the live action Lilo & Stitch in the Buena Vista Theater. One of the perks of Disney cruises is that they show current Disney releases in the movie theater on board. Our dinner was at Enchanted Garden. Here's what we ate:
Spinach and Raspberry Salad ~ Baby spinach tossed with fresh Raspberries, Toasted Pine Nuts, crumbled Gorgonzola, and Raspberry Vinaigrette
Marjoram Scented Roasted Chicken ~ Served with Baked Crushed Sweet Potatoes, Buttered Baby Spinach and a Thyme Red Wine Chicken Jus
Slow Roasted Prime Rib ~ Carved and served with Thyme-roasted Vegetables, Baked Potato, Natural Jus, and Horseradish
Chocolate Peanute Butter Brownie Sundae ~ Peanut Butter Brownie Bites with Rich Chocolate Ice Cream, Whipped Cream and Chocolate Fudge Sauce (We had never had this dessert before and it was SO good!)
We skipped the Disney's Believe show since we were going to get to see it on the next sailing and Stephen and Hannah enjoyed some quieter pool time and rode the Aqua Duck. We also got dessert at Vanellope's Sweets & Treats. It's themed really well after the character in Wreck It Ralph.
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